Miao Chu

Chapter 209 Caught
Rui Fusheng's strike was unstoppable, rising from his chest upwards with his full weight and the force of his hand, making it truly unstoppable.

The bones in his chest provided some obstruction, but they also tore his skin and flesh, splitting his chest and breaking his bones. As he continued upwards, his throat was ripped open.

Xiang Yuan rolled on the ground a few times, first screaming, but the scream only rose halfway before it stopped. He froze on the spot, like a duck whose neck had been squeezed, only able to make gurgling sounds.

Everyone present looked on with pity, and the head official hurriedly shouted, "Doctor! Quickly, call a doctor!"

They then led their men forward to retrieve Xiang Yuan.

Rui Fusheng reacted extremely quickly, immediately abandoning the larger one and grabbing the smaller one on the ground.

Xiang Lin lay paralyzed on the ground, terrified at the sight of his father. He couldn't speak or shed a tear, just staring with his mouth open and his eyes wide open. He didn't struggle at all, just like a chick being held under Rui Fusheng's arm.

Rui Fusheng pressed a dagger against Xiang Lin's neck and shouted, "Get out of the way! Who dares to step forward!"

Seeing that he could kill without hesitation, no one in the room dared to gamble anymore, so they had to look to the leader.

With a child as a hostage in the hands of the criminals, the leader naturally dared not make any rash moves and had no choice but to obediently step aside and stop his men from advancing.

Rui Fusheng, holding the man tightly, ordered, "Open both the front and back doors. If I see anyone following us—"

He didn't even give us time to haggle, and just casually chopped it down.

A pinky finger rolled on the ground.

Xiang Lin finally reacted, screaming like a pig being slaughtered.

The child's voice was so sharp that it seemed to pierce the heavens.

Rui Fusheng swung his hand back again, and another finger—this time the ring finger—rolled to the ground.

He snarled, "Say another word, and I'll cut your head off!"

Xiang Lin's cry caught in his throat, and he dared not move again.

Not only Xiang Lin, but everyone in the courtyard, seeing how vicious Rui Fusheng was, dared not make a move.

The leader dared not delay any longer and immediately ordered his men to open the front and back courtyards, and then ordered them to leave.

Rui Fusheng led the group towards the front door, but after a few steps, he ordered everyone not to follow, and moved at a very slow pace.

Such an action naturally meant that someone who was quick enough to run had already received the leader's order, and, following Rui Fusheng's direction, hurriedly slipped out to report.

Once the higher-ups received the news, troops were immediately deployed and positioned at the front gate.

Seeing that Rui Fusheng had slowly walked halfway, he was initially backing away, but for some reason, he suddenly turned around and walked to the side.

Everyone was puzzled when they saw this person take a few steps and slip into a side door.

As the group rushed inside, the person at the front suddenly shouted, "Oh no!"

The sound that followed was the neighing of a horse.

The stables were located inside the side gate.

A fast horse charged out and collided head-on with the crowd.

The tall, powerful horse with four legs and iron hooves was a life-threatening beast for the two-legged guards. Even if they weren't afraid of death, they were afraid of being injured or maimed. They couldn't stop it, and they didn't dare to. They hurriedly dodged away.

Even so, two people were kicked over by the horse's hooves and rolled on the ground in pain.

Rui Fusheng seized the horse, straddled Xiang Lin in front of him, grabbed the boy's hair with one hand to expose his neck, and pulled on the reins with the other, galloping away.

Instead of heading towards the front or back door, he went straight to the side door and burst out.

The house was quite large, and the forty or so people sent there were assigned to different roles. Twelve of them were divided into three teams, each guarding a gate. Since Rui Fusheng went to the front gate first, one person from each of the back and side gates was sent to ambush at the front gate.

At this moment, there were only three guards left at the side gate. Hearing the commotion, they came forward to block the way, but Rui Fusheng sprinkled two handfuls of powder on the left and right, forcing one of them back. The other two did not react in time and were met with the white powder.

The two men cried out in pain, covered their eyes, and rolled on the ground—it turned out that Rui Fusheng had sprinkled lime powder.

He spurred his horse and galloped away, not forgetting to snatch the sword from the waist of one of the guards before leaving.

When we arrived at the roadside, there were three or four people blocking our way at the intersection.

Hearing the noise, the guards grabbed the fence to block the way and tried to surround the horse, but when they saw the long knife in Rui Fusheng's hand, they panicked and retreated hastily, hoping that the fence would force the man off his horse so they could capture him.

But Rui Fusheng's horse was bought at a high price and was extremely fine. At this moment, it galloped all the way and when it saw the fence, it did not hesitate at all. Instead, it rushed even faster and, when it was close to the fence, it leaped up and flipped over it effortlessly.

Everyone panicked.

One of them, wielding a shield, was about to give chase.

Rui Fusheng threw a long knife, temporarily blocking the attacker.

Two legs can't beat four legs. After blocking them for a while, no one could catch up. They could only faintly hear the sound of horses' hooves behind them, and finally they had a moment to catch their breath.

As they approached the river and saw a fork in the road ahead, Rui Fusheng took a burlap sack from the horse's back, gagged Xiang Lin with a cloth, blindfolded him, and wrapped him completely in the burlap sack. When they reached the fork in the road, he abandoned the horse and drove it to another path.

Taking advantage of this moment, instead of taking the other fork in the road, he continued forward, took a small path, and, carrying his bundle and sack, leisurely headed towards the river. As he walked, he didn't forget to dust off his clothes and straighten his headscarf.

Once he was sure he had gone far enough and that the houses and streets behind him were completely hidden from view, he lit a tinderbox and lit a candle he carried with him.

Today there was only a crescent moon in the sky. When I arrived at the river, it was indeed very dark and deserted. Only a small boat was moored on the bank, with a solitary lamp hanging from it, which could be faintly seen slumped at the bow of the boat, looking like he was dozing off.

Rui Fusheng stepped forward and called out, "Boatman."

The man seemed to wake up suddenly, looked up and hurriedly said, "Sir, you've arrived? Why are you so late? I was worried you wouldn't come!"

He then pointed to the cabin and said, "We bought a lot of food, it's all inside. Please check if it's enough for you."

As he spoke, he reached for his waist again.

At this moment, Rui Fusheng held a candle in his left hand and a knife upside down in his right. Upon seeing this, his pupils contracted, and he took a step forward, ready to make his move.

The boatman pulled out a handful of copper coins and handed them over, saying, "Twelve coins left..."

Rui Fusheng said, "Here you go."

The boatman thanked him repeatedly and then laid out wooden planks to invite the guests onto the boat.

Even knowing that time was of the essence, Rui Fusheng remained completely calm and composed.

He first raised the candle in his hand to illuminate the face of the person opposite him.

With a white beard, small eyes, and protruding ears, he wore a cloth shirt with a patch on the right sleeve—it was indeed the boatman he had booked, who hadn't even changed his clothes.

After taking pictures of people's faces, he went to take pictures of the bow of the boat.

There was a circle at the bow of the boat with a horizontal line drawn in the middle—both were white—that was a mark he had made with talcum powder.

The boat was the same boat, and the boatman was the same boatman. Rui Fusheng finally relaxed a little. He first told the boatman to take a step back, and without even using a board, he jumped into the boat himself.

"It's pitch black outside and the wind is strong. Sir, go inside the cabin and take a nap. When you wake up, we'll have arrived at our destination."

The boatman chuckled and was about to turn around to collect the planks when he suddenly stopped and, with great tact, reached out to Rui Fusheng, saying, "Let me help you with your luggage, sir."

Rui Fusheng slapped the boatman's hand away and urged, "Stop nagging, don't meddle in things you shouldn't—hurry up, don't delay my important business!" After saying that, he stood still and stared.

The boatman readily agreed, gathered the planks and ropes, took the pole, and pushed off towards the riverbank.

The small boat gently swayed and drifted downstream.

Seeing that the boatman was skilled and that the boat had already sailed away, Rui Fusheng stopped talking and turned to walk towards the cabin.

He walked to the cabin door and was about to go in when he saw a curtain hanging straight down to the ground, blocking out no gaps. He was immediately struck by a thought: Was there this curtain before?
Thinking of this, his hand, which was halfway outstretched, suddenly stopped.

The boat had already started moving, and the river wind came from behind, causing Rui Fusheng's headscarf and sleeves to flutter—but the curtain remained completely still.

Not only is it not moving, it's practically stretched too straight and too tight.

Rui Fusheng did not move forward, but instead stepped back. Just as he was about to untie the sack behind him, he heard a "ripping" sound from the doorway of the opposite cabin.

—The curtain fell with a sound, and three or four burly men rushed out from inside, each holding a stick and swinging it forward.

Judging from their clothes, they were clearly all officers and soldiers.

Rui Fusheng knew he had fallen into a trap. He took two steps back and was about to grab the boatman behind him when he heard a "plop." He turned around and saw that the boatman was nowhere to be seen—he had jumped into the river and escaped.

He was holding the sack upside down, and there wasn't time to untie it. He used the dagger to pull hard, not caring where the knife cut inside, just as he was about to expose Xiang Lin inside to use as a threat, when the stick opposite him was already thrust in front of him.

Weapons are always stronger the longer they are.

The boat was small to begin with, and in such a confined space, even if Rui Fusheng's dagger was a divine weapon, he couldn't get close to his opponent and would naturally suffer a great loss.

Several sticks forced him to keep his hands from leaving, so he had to drag the sack behind him. He caught a glimpse of the wooden plank that the boatman had used earlier, so he put down the sack in his left hand, jumped up, picked it up, and smashed it towards the other side.

To avoid the heavy wooden planks, the soldiers on the other side had to turn their heads to the side.

Rui Fusheng finally had a moment to catch his breath and was about to grab Xiang Lin when he turned around and saw that the sack was moving—two heads and two hands appeared from the side of the boat, pulling the sack outwards.

One of them was the same boatman from before—he had surfaced again at some point.

Rui Fusheng was furious and was about to give chase when he heard a whooshing sound behind him. Turning around, he saw several wooden sticks being thrown at him, followed by three or four officers rushing towards him. One of them stood at the cabin door, shouting, "Lü Mao, surrender now! If you resist any longer, don't blame us for being impolite!!"

Amidst the sounds of sticks, shouts, and calls for surrender, the group did not advance but instead engaged him in a prolonged struggle with their sticks.

Rui Fusheng assessed the situation and, after a quick calculation, knew that there was no time to capture Xiang Lin. Staying any longer would only result in losses. So he didn't linger or get entangled. Instead, he grabbed a few paper packets from his waist, popped them, and scattered them forward—using the same trick again, he spilled out a large handful of lime.

Realizing the danger, everyone retreated.

Taking advantage of the retreat, Rui Fusheng sneered and said, "The person who can catch me hasn't even been born yet!"

After saying that, he turned around and jumped into the river with a "plop".

In the darkness of night, only the sound of water could be heard in the river; to the naked eye, it was all pitch black.

Rui Fusheng disappeared without a trace once he entered the river.

But no one on the boat was in a hurry. Several people had already crawled out of the cabin, went to the side of the boat, took the fishing net head from the side of the boat, and began to pull the net up.

Amidst the rushing sound of water, many nets were hauled onto the boat, most of them empty. Some nets contained fish and rubbish, but one net stood out. The person pulling it up shouted, "It's with me!"

Everyone rushed to help.

Sure enough, as soon as the net was pulled up, a person inside, wrapped tightly and soaking wet, was dragged straight onto the boat—it was Rui Fusheng, who had just called himself "I" and made those harsh remarks.

The officers and soldiers on the boat rushed forward to subdue the people, gagging them, tying their hands and feet, and working in a flurry of activity.

Then the same boatman and another man climbed onto the boat, dragging a large burlap sack—it was Xiang Lin, who was wrapped in something wet inside.

After capturing the criminal, the boat hurriedly headed towards the shore.

Many people had already lit torches and were waiting on the shore.

The leading officer hurriedly stepped forward, saluted, and first called out "Inspector," but when he spoke, he was actually addressing another person opposite him.

"So that the official may know, so that Young Master Han may know, that Rui Fusheng has been captured!"

This is a true case of being "caught in the net".

He was an official, so there were many things he couldn't say, but the boatmen who followed behind him didn't have so many concerns.

As the crowd followed, they couldn't help but kick Rui Fusheng, who was still trapped in the fishing net and being carried along. They spit at him as they kicked him, cursing, "You heartless bastard! You don't do good deeds, you become a human trafficker!"

May human traffickers die a horrible death!

"Run! Go ahead and try to run! Let's see if you can swim fast, but my fishing net is bigger—I'm the boss, you're nothing!"

"You little bastard, you dare to cut my net! The day you die, I'll use you as a sacrifice for my net!"

"You scoundrel! Bah!"

Everyone was busy cursing and spitting.

They tried to advance, but soldiers stopped them, forcing them to give up.

Upon looking up, the one at the front saw the group of people opposite him and stepped forward with delight, saying, "Scholar Han, you are such a diviner! How did you predict that he would definitely not enter my cabin and would jump into the river? You told me to set a net in the middle of the river—and sure enough, the net caught him!"

***
Rui Fusheng was caught and sent to the yamen (government office).

Xiang Lin was rescued, but he was also covered in injuries.

He lost two fingers, an ear, and a deep gash from his left eye to his mouth and chin, cut by Rui Fusheng when he used a dagger to cut through the sack. As soon as he got ashore, he kept crying and wailing.

A doctor came over early on, gave him acupuncture, and applied medicine.

The medicine he drank and the medicine he applied contained anesthetic, and he gradually lost the pain, but his mind was filled with a jumble of chaotic thoughts.

For a moment, he wondered what he would do if he lost his hand and an ear—at that moment, he had no mirror, only knew that his face hurt, but he didn't think much about it or know how badly he was injured.

Then I thought, my father was stabbed like that, I wonder how badly he was injured, he must be furious. If he finds out that I was the one who broke the plum blossom stake, he will definitely beat me to death.

But what does this have to do with me?

He urged him several times, scolded him, and even hit him, but not a single servant was willing to go find him a saw or an axe.

Left with no other choice, he grew increasingly angry in the middle of the night, so he stole a dagger and personally went to the scene with a lantern.

To be fair, that dagger was indeed incredibly sharp, cutting through iron like mud, and it was no trouble at all to break a few stakes.

But who could have imagined that what was originally intended to target Liang Yan would end up affecting his own father?

It's probably no use crying now. Will they really cripple me?

　Double monthly votes! If you have any extra monthly votes, could you please vote for Xiaomiao? Thank you so much!

　　It seems that the operations manager, Xiaotu, will be launching a monthly pass event tomorrow. To find out how to participate, you'll have to keep an eye on Xiaotu's post tomorrow. You'll need to reply to the post and vote to receive a subsidy.

　　However, Miaomiao's operating funds are too small, so only a few friends can receive subsidies, while most friends have to give it to her for free!

　　Let's see if we can secure a little more funding next month, so that everyone who voted can recoup some of their money.
　　(End of this chapter)