good season

Chapter 268 Kidnapping (Two chapters combined)

"What...what do you want with me?" Even Yang Shengqiu himself didn't realize that there was a hint of fear in his voice.

The name "Shanmen Huisheng" loomed over his entire childhood like an inescapable dark cloud.

He didn't emerge from the shadows until he arrived in the capital.

But now, this woman who pretends to be a ghost has suddenly appeared.

Yang Shengqiu didn't want to see any of these people at all; he didn't want to see anyone who was related to Huisheng.

Fairy Cao smiled slightly: "Since the top scholar asks such a question, he must know his own background very well, and he must also know why your parents died. Don't you want revenge?"

Yang Shengqiu no longer cared about the dignity of a scholar. He kept shaking his head and muttering, "No, no, I don't want to!"

Cao Xianzi's smile vanished: "Whether you want to or not is not up to you. You have to come with me now."

"Go? Where to?" Yang Shengqiu involuntarily took a few steps back.

Fairy Cao snorted coldly: "Of course, you should go where you belong."

"No, I'm not going anywhere!"

Yang Shengqiu turned to leave, but Cao Xianzi was faster. Cao Xianzi, who had been sitting upright, suddenly leaped up and blocked Yang Shengqiu's path.

Yang Shengqiu had practiced martial arts since childhood, but he was subdued by Cao Xianzi in just a few rounds.

"Young Master, please don't be willful."

When the words "Young Master" reached Yang Shengqiu's ears, he was taken aback. Why would this woman call him Young Master?

Didn't the people at the mountain gate want to exterminate us all?

"Kill me if you want, I'm all alone anyway, I have nothing to hold me back."

He said it on purpose because he had a vague feeling that he might have misunderstood something.

Fairy Cao chuckled: "Does the young master think that I came all this way just to kill you?"

"Isn't that right?" Yang Shengqiu retorted.

"Of course not. Over the years, the young master has been missing, and the strategist has been worried sick about you. He has sent countless people to look for you, but he has never been able to find you. Now that the strategist is getting old, he is even more eager to find the young master and hand over the family business he has built up over the years to him. He finally learned that you are the young master, so he couldn't wait to send me here. Young master, you can't let the strategist down."

With tears in her eyes, Fairy Cao looked at Yang Shengqiu and said, "If Young Master is unwilling to return, I can only atone with my death."

Yang Shengqiu's gaze froze for a moment. What strategist, what young master, what family business? What was going on?

"Are you really from the sect?" This is what he wants to know most right now.

Fairy Cao smiled helplessly: "It is, and it isn't."

She told Yang Shengqiu about the events of the past years, about the strategist Wang Yin, the bodyguard Quan Gang, and the gyrfalcon.

Yang Shengqiu froze.

From childhood, his grandfather instilled in him the idea of ​​staying away from the mountain gate, and for this reason, he has not returned to Zhuxitang to pay homage to his grandfather until now.

But now, someone suddenly told him that there is another organization in the world that is just like the Mountain Gate, or even more powerful and terrifying than the Mountain Gate, and that organization is his!
How could he possibly accept this?
Fortunately, Fairy Cao did not take him away immediately, but gave him two days.

The reason it was only two days was because the fourth prince was to set off in two days.

Emperor Yongjia sent people over and reprimanded the fourth prince. The fourth prince then carried out emergency repairs on the bridge, which resulted in the deaths of two people.

Fortunately, the bridge that had been washed away by the flood would be repaired soon, so the fourth prince decided to set off in two days.

Fairy Cao left, just as she had appeared and disappeared suddenly.

Yang Shengqiu felt as if his bones had been removed; his whole body was limp, and he couldn't stand up for a long time.

The Fourth Prince felt extremely unlucky. Why did he have to pass through Yanzhou City? He could have avoided the official road. If he hadn't taken the official road, he wouldn't have passed through Yanzhou City. If he hadn't passed through Yanzhou City, he wouldn't have heard of that so-called Fairy Cao. If he hadn't heard of Fairy Cao, he wouldn't have stayed for two more days. If he hadn't stayed longer, he wouldn't have been poisoned. If he hadn't been poisoned, he wouldn't have been delayed. If he hadn't been delayed, he would have already arrived in Tongzhou, resettled the disaster victims, organized disaster relief, and made a name for himself!

Yes, in this day and age, without the need to fight on the battlefield or human disasters, the only way for princes to achieve great things is through natural disasters.

He set off for Tongzhou a month in advance, everyone thought it was a rumor, he was the only one who asked his father for permission, he clearly gained the upper hand!
The fourth prince grew angrier and angrier, and drew his knife to stab a eunuch. The eunuch was caught off guard and was stabbed through the neck.

Blood splattered all over the Fourth Prince's body and face, and the pungent smell of blood hit him. He was momentarily dazed, and the memories he had buried returned. He remembered that year on Shiji Mountain, when the leopard pounced on him. The excruciating pain, like flesh being cut and bones being ripped out, rose from the bottom of his heart and quickly spread throughout his body. The Fourth Prince let out a heart-wrenching scream and fell straight backward.

After waking up, the fourth prince couldn't wait to leave Yanzhou.

He didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second.

"Your Highness, the bridge is not yet repaired. Let's stick to the original plan and set off again in two days."

The fourth prince's eyes widened as he glared at the person in front of him. The next moment, he looked around frantically, searching for his sword. Where was his sword? He was going to kill this treacherous and wicked servant!
Fortunately, his knife had been hidden, so the fourth prince didn't get a chance to touch it. However, he grabbed a cup and smashed it hard against the eunuch in front of him.

The eunuch was hit on the head and bled profusely. He was helped out by the young eunuchs.

Now, no one dared to persuade the Fourth Prince. That very night, the Fourth Prince's carriage left the official post station in Yanzhou and headed towards Tongzhou.

Yang Shengqiu followed the group like a walking corpse. The Fourth Prince needed to reach Tongzhou at a rapid marching speed, so even civil officials could no longer ride in sedan chairs. The elderly rode in carriages, while he was assigned a horse.

The Imperial Guards and the guards of the Fourth Prince's residence who were escorting him became more vigilant. Tongzhou was suffering from floods, and countless people were displaced. Where there are refugees, there will be bandits. Once people are driven mad by hunger, they will stop at nothing. Ordinary merchants, officials, and even princes and nobles will be robbed.

A tense atmosphere permeated the entire group, and the Fourth Prince's inexplicable anger only added insult to injury.

From time to time, roars and wails could be heard coming from his car. All the injustices and grievances he had suffered over the past two years were finally unleashed at this moment.

In the capital, he humbled himself before the emperor and empress, playing the role of a docile and obedient son. When facing ministers, he was modest and polite, playing the role of an approachable prince.

That wasn't enough. He also had to face the various demands of Consort You and that bunch of fools in the You family, and he had to dodge the Third Prince's ridicule and schemes.

His life is so hard, it's so difficult for him!
Finally, the cursing stopped, and what followed was the Fourth Prince's crying. He cried and wailed.

He tried so hard, but fate was still unfair to him. Why did all these bad things happen to him? Poisoning, floods, bridge collapses, his father even sent someone to scold him, giving him a thorough dressing down. He was finished, he had no hope, he was ruined!
The fourth prince's cries shook the heavens, and everyone dared not even breathe. Would the fourth prince kill them all to silence them after he had finished crying?
Everyone's attention was focused on the fourth prince's cries, and no one noticed the danger that was quietly approaching them.

They didn't even notice that the last person in the group had already collapsed.

By the time the Imperial Guards realized what was happening, the massacre had already begun!

The fourth prince was still crying when suddenly, the sound of clashing swords came from outside. His crying stopped, and he subconsciously lifted the carriage curtain.

In the darkness, torches flickered and shadowy figures appeared. The Fourth Prince was terrified: "Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!" A squad of guards had already been protecting his carriage. At this moment, that damned memory was activated again. The Fourth Prince, Hua Bao and Shi Jishan, cowered inside the carriage, pulling up a brocade quilt to wrap himself up like a cocoon.

Fortunately, the massacre ended quickly, and the leader of the Embroidered Uniform Guard let out a long sigh of relief.

Although many were killed or injured, the bandits never approached the Fourth Prince's carriage. As long as the Fourth Prince was safe, everything was fine.

The guards quickly cleared the scene; five of the enemy's men were dead, and no survivors were left.

Seven of our men died, ten were wounded, and a dozen others were also injured, but not from swords or knives; rather, they were injured when they fell from their horses in panic or when they tried to escape from the carriage.

Of the seven who died, two were officials from the Ministry of Works.

With such a major incident, it's clear we can't continue. The Fourth Prince was also frightened and is still covering his head with a blanket.

The group temporarily requisitioned a nearby inn. The dead were sent to the mortuary for temporary care, while the injured were treated by the accompanying imperial physicians.

The officials of the Ministry of Works were the most affected. They were all civil servants and had never seen such a scene before. Moreover, the two officials who died were their colleagues. They had been chatting together during the day and died under swords at night. Who could bear this?
Most of them were injured; some twisted their ankles, some had scraped their skin. Everyone sighed and groaned, some cried silently, and others took out statues of the Heavenly Venerable from their luggage and knelt down to pray.

"Hey, where's Scholar Yang? Has anyone seen him?" someone asked.

Everyone looked around and suddenly remembered that they hadn't seen Yang Shengqiu when they checked into the inn.

"Could it be that Lord Yang is so frightened that he's hiding away?"

It's also possible that everyone was so frightened that they scattered and hid, and some were even injured in the process.

"But the bandits have all been driven away, why hasn't he come out yet?"

"Oh dear, I remember he was on horseback. Could he have fallen and been knocked unconscious, unaware that the bandits had retreated or that we had arrived here?"

The more they thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Although they were not familiar with Yang Shengqiu and had no good feelings towards him, none of them were truly evil, and no one wanted anything to happen to him.

The Imperial Guards quickly learned of this incident. When they resumed their journey, there was indeed an unridden horse, but at the time they all assumed it belonged to a dead or injured person and therefore paid no attention to it.

Now that I think about it, that horse was very likely the one Yang Shengqiu rode.

The Imperial Guards immediately returned along the route to search, but they still couldn't find Yang Shengqiu by daybreak.

Yang Shengqiu has disappeared!

No, a living person can't just disappear into thin air, and Yang Shengqiu isn't stupid or idiotic, so there's only one possibility.

Yang Shengqiu was kidnapped by that group of bandits.

The head of the Imperial Guards escorting the Fourth Prince out of the capital was Zhenfu Li Qing.

The Fourth Prince's emotions had not calmed down, and Li Qing had no chance to voice her suspicions.

His so-called guess was that he felt this group of people were not ordinary vagrants or bandits; they seemed to be professionally trained assassins.

When Li Qing thought of assassins, he thought of the mountain gate.

Given his official rank, he was not allowed to have access to the mountain gate, but having served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for many years, he knew a little about it.

Therefore, he knew that the mountain gate was working for the imperial court.

If it were a mountain gate, how dare they intercept the Fourth Prince's convoy?
But if it's not the sect, then who's behind these assassins?

Furthermore, what was their purpose in kidnapping Yang Shengqiu?
Yang Shengqiu was an orphan, and his biggest backer was Feng Ke. Yang Shengqiu almost became Feng Ke's son-in-law.

If those people really wanted to target Feng Ke, kidnapping Yang Shengqiu wouldn't have mattered at all. Even if ten Yang Shengqius died, they wouldn't have been able to harm Feng Ke in the slightest.

Li Qing couldn't understand it, she just couldn't figure it out.

Yang Shengqiu was also puzzled at this time.

The decision to set off today was made on short notice. He was riding his horse absentmindedly when a fight broke out. Then, he was pulled off his horse and lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was already lying in a coffin. The coffin had ventilation holes, so he could breathe in fresh air from outside and hear people talking.

From the conversations of the people outside, he learned that he had been kidnapped by Cao Xianzi's people and hidden in a coffin. They were currently hiding in a coffin shop, and they would take him away once the storm had passed.

Yang Shengqiu had never been so angry; he was about to go crazy with rage.

These people actually tried to take him away by force, completely disregarding him.

This is how it is now. If it comes to the Dalu, things will only get worse. Yang Shengqiu doesn't see this as an opportunity. He has never heard of or seen a military advisor before, and the Dalu King is known for his ruthlessness.

He wanted to rush out and confront them, but as soon as he tried, he found that he couldn't move at all. It turned out that he had been tied up and put into a coffin.

Just then, a sound of wood breaking suddenly came from outside, followed by two screams.

His guards were killed!
The next moment, the coffin was pried open with a knife, and the sunlight and the glint of the knife shone brightly, making it impossible for him to open his eyes.

He was rescued by a burly man in tattered clothes who looked like a refugee.

Jin Shier smiled at him and said, "Young Master Yang, I'm late. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

The journey was extremely dangerous, with many near-death experiences, but he finally managed to snatch Yang Shengqiu from Cao Xianzi's hands.

When Cao Xianzi arrived, her two subordinates were lying in pools of blood, while Yang Shengqiu, who was hiding in the coffin, had disappeared.

Enraged, Fairy Cao stabbed herself in the pillar with her sword.

The fourth prince and his entourage rested for only half a day at the inn before continuing their journey.

They endured wind and rain, sleeping in the open along the way, and several horses died of exhaustion, before finally arriving at the bridge.

Because they set off two days early, the bridge was not yet completed when they arrived.

The river flowed ceaselessly beneath the bridge, and the fourth prince only glanced down before taking several steps back in fright.

He pointed under the bridge and asked, "Is this the flood?"

The Ministry of Works official reassured him, "Your Highness, please do not worry. Although this is a flood, it has not yet reached the riverbank. This place is safe."

In other words, it's safe here, but it's not safe to go any further after crossing the bridge.