News about the Qi Residence spread to a particular residence at the very first moment. Not caring if the State Preceptor had already received the news or not, Zhao Xin rushed to inform his master the moment he received the news.
“Master, something has happened.”
“Has the grandmaster who came to Qingzhou City been found?” Jiang Yeqian asked.
“No,” Zhao Xin answered.
“Then what happened?” Jiang Yeqian looked at Zhao Xin against the light, his expression somewhat alarmed.
“Hearsay everyone in the Qi Residence is dead.” Zhao Xin licked his very dry lips nervously.
The person on the bed fell into silence.
For a long time.
Then, Jiang Yeqian said measuredly, “That’s just what you heard. Zhao Xin, since when did you know how to listen to rumors only?”
Zhao Xin’s forehead was leaking cold sweat.
Despite the obvious injury on Jiang Yeqian’s chest, he still shouted angrily, “Why the f*ck aren’t you going to investigate it now!”
Zhao Xin scrambled out.
Before Zhao Xin closed the door, Jiang Yeqian dropped another sentence lightly.
“Bring someone with you to investigate it. No one is allowed to approach the Qi Residence. If any outsiders dare approach, kill them all.”
Zhao Xin expressed that he had acknowledged the order.
Then he hurriedly called for other people
Zhu Shen had of course also received the news. Noticing the other man’s hurried figure, he did not say anything either.
He just walked into Li Ruoxuan’s room and reported the matter.
“Master, hearsay is that everyone in the Qi Residence is dead.”
“Everyone’s dead? Who did it?” Li Ruoxuan was still calm.
Zhu Shen hesitated for a moment. “It’s just hearsay. And the Head Grand Secretariat has already assigned Zhao Xin to go over and investigate it.”
Li Ruoxuan with one eye wrapped in gauze looked over. He eyed Zhu Shen, his gaze cold. “And what about you? Why are you still standing here?”
“…”
Zhu Shen felt his scalp go numb and he immediately exited the room.
Li Ruoxuan lay on the bed, looking at the beams of the room apathetically. He thought, ‘Everyone dead?’ What kind of a joke was this! Lu Yan was there, how could he also be dead? If he were dead, the Lu family would be in an uproar. He could only wait for Zhu Shen to look into the matter.
…
When Zhao Xin brought people with him and hurried to the gates of the Qi Residence, there were already some people gathered there. They looked like they were curious, as if they wanted to crane their necks to take a look. The moment they noticed that the Head Grand Secretariat’s people had arrived however they all backed away to the sides. Zhao Xin approached the door, then crouched down and checked the condition of the guards. He said to his subordinates behind him. “They’re knocked out. Everyone is just unconscious.”
The subordinates were stunned for a moment. They looked at the guards and then at the spies by the road.
What kind of a knockout was this that it took out all the people halfway down the road?
The entrance was, after all, outside the main gate and the weather was not good. The smoke would have cleared out quickly when the wind blew.
Zhao Xin leaped swiftly onto the roof and glanced at the condition of the smoke in the Qi Residence. After leaping down, he said, “The scent of smoke has not dissipated completely. Pay attention to covering your mouth and nose when everyone goes in.”
The subordinates immediately fetched out two strips of black cloth from the pouches on their thighs and covered their mouths and noses.
After Zhao Xin got ready himself, he then led the people and pushed open the door and went in. The moment they entered, they saw all the servants scattered on the ground, looking as if they were fast asleep.
Zhao Xin tried waking them up but none of them would.
He brought the people straight to the main courtyard.
Then he noticed that there was still smoke all over the place. He thought to himself that they should be fine.
“F*ck!” The second Zhao Xin landed on the ground, he knew that they were done for. It was useless to cover his mouth and nose. The smoke would hit his eyes…
Zhu Shen had brought people with him and arrived a while later. They waited at the door for a long time and realized that it did not seem like Zhao Xin and the people he brought would be coming out.
The subordinates had initially wanted to go in and take a look.
Zhu Shen stopped them.
Then they waited for another hour. Zhu Shen got someone to scan the situation in the residence from a high vantage point to see if there was any smoke still around. Then, he had one person head in first to investigate.
“Master Zhu, Master Zhao and his people who he brought it had all…fallen.”
“How useless.”
Zhu Shen muttered, “Looks like the knockout smoke is really potent. It’s useless even if we cover our mouths and nose.”
Then he instructed, “I want a few groups of you to first keep watch at the exits. Do not allow anyone in. Only enter when the smoke dissipates in the afternoon.”
The subordinates did as they were told.
Zhu Shen thought for a bit. Since they could not enter the house to investigate, he went back first.
After he returned to the residence, he reported the matter to Jiang Yeqian.
“Head Grand Secretariat, Zhao Xin and the people he led over have fallen.”
“…” Jiang Yeqian took a deep breath but did not say anything.
Zhu Shen coughed once and said somewhat embarrassedly, “No one can approach the house for the time being. This servant thinks that it would be better to wait for the knockout smoke to clear out before we send people in. So in the meantime, we will keep guard at the exits and are thinking of going in in the afternoon.”
As before, Jiang Yeqian said nothing.
Zhu Shen thought to himself, he was the State Preceptor’s man and so it was normal for the Head Grand Secretariat to not want to pay attention to him. Anyway, since he had already reported the situation…
They waited till the afternoon to make sure that the smoke in the house was completely gone.
After Zhu Shen had located Qi Qingyao and her people, he did not dare to make a move.
Since the State Preceptor still very much cared for this little lady, it was likely that she was still useful.
He hurriedly went back and reported this to Li Ruoxuan.
“Master, the smoke has more or less cleared. We already found Qi Qingyao and her people. It looks like there was a pot in the house with god knows what in it. She and Lu Yan had fallen to the ground and the others were also all unconscious. This servant has returned to ask you specifically, what we should do with these people?”
“You can’t wake them up?” Li Ruoxuan asked with a frown.
“No, we can’t,” Zhu Shen answered awkwardly.
It was not only her that they could not wake up but the others as well.
Li Ruoxuan, who was lying on the bed, suddenly understood what it meant to find something by accident rather than when having gone looking for it. “Why, that’s good then. I’ve long thought about capturing her as bait and I had been suffering from the lack of excuses and opportunities. Now, the opportunity has delivered itself to me.” After a pause, Li Ruoxuan said, “Bring her, Lu Yan, and the children to me. Prepare three rooms for them.”
Zhu Shen asked, “What about the servants?”
Li Ruoxuan answered, “We don’t need to worry about the servants. Get some people to guard the house first and wait for them to wake up.”
Zhu Shen turned around and was preparing to leave. Before that, he pondered for a bit and asked again, “Master, this matter, do we inform the Head Grand Secretariat?”
“Why do we need to inform him? Do we have to inform him of everything we do?” Li Ruoxuan said all of this without embarrassment, then added in a low voice, “He will definitely agree to this too! Any bait that one could control by themselves is good bait.”
Zhu Shen expressed his understanding.
Then, he immediately rode horseback to the Qi Residence.
He got people to lift Qi Qingyao, Lu Yan, and the children into the carriage…
As for the big batch of medicine in the house.
Zhu Shen still hesitated at that.
A subordinate asked, “Master Zhu, what do we do with this medicine?”
Everyone asked around but no one dared touch it.
Since the smoke seemed to have come from the pot, they could not tell if the surrounding medicine was poison or medicine for wounds.
“Or it could be poison!” Zhu Shen said seriously, “Nobody simply touch anything, cover it lightly. Take it to the courtyard intact and arrange it according to the present furnishings.”
A subordinate pointed at the pot and asked, “And this pot?”
Zhu Shen said, “Take it along!”
