In the Xu Manor.
Xu Chengxuan was bored out of his wits. His father rejected his second outing after he went out the first time. He was about to be bored to death, so he could only disturb his father again, annoying him so that he could let him out.
The courtyard was quiet. There was not a single servant.
“Strange, where did they go?” Xu Chengxuan muttered.
Of course, Xu Chengxuan did not expect Xu Shao to send the servants away. The servants had always known the rules. They would not return to the courtyard until the time Xu Shao specified. Others would not casually step into Xu Shao’s courtyard. Only Xu Chengxuan relied on his status as the legitimate son to barge in from time to time.
Of course, Xu Chengxuan did not barge in in the past. It was just that he was so bored recently that he could not sit still.
Xu Chengxuan did not find Xu Shao in the room and went to the study room. This time, the door of the study was closed, but there were faint sounds of conversation coming from inside.
“Master, there’s news from Gong City,” the confidant said.
Xu Shao frowned. “What’s going on?”
The confidant said, “There are traces of someone touching that house.”
It was not surprising that a large house that had not been lived in for a long time had traces of people touching it. After all, thieves will patronize it. However, the problem was that firstly, nothing valuable was missing from the house. Secondly, Yan Ruyu happened to remind them that Yan Jiuchao was suspicious of her. When the two were combined, it was difficult not to guess that it was Yan Jiuchao.
“Master, Yan Jiuchao has returned to the Capital,” the confidant said.
Xu Chengxuan frowned suspiciously. Why was his father paying attention to Yan Jiuchao? Didn’t he say not to go against Yan Jiuchao after the Tianxiang Restaurant was smashed?
“The time is just right.” Half a month was enough for a trip to Gong City. Of course, it was in a hurry. Xu Shao believed that Yan Jiuchao had such ability.
“How did he suspect Gong City?” The confidant was puzzled.
“I’m even more puzzled than you. I told you that he’s not as simple as he looks, but no one believed me.” Xu Shao sighed faintly.
“What should we do next?” The confidant asked.
Xu Shao said thoughtfully, “What can we do? Since he has found Gong City, it means that he has enough evidence on hand. I might even be exposed.”
What was his father talking about? Xu Chengxuan was confused.
Xu Shao closed his eyes as if he had made a major decision. “There’s only one last way left.”
“Master, you mean…” The confidant looked at Xu Shao.
Xu Shao nodded. “That’s right. We’ll go all out and kill Yan Jiuchao!”
Dong! A collision sounded from the door, and their expressions changed.
Xu Shao said coldly, “Who?”
The confidant quickly walked over and opened the door. He saw Xu Chengxuan, who was holding his aching forehead and wanted to run, but couldn’t. “Young Master?”
Xu Chengxuan had long heard this person’s voice and found it familiar, but he could not remember who it was for a while. Now that he saw him, he recognized him as a shop assistant in Tianxiang Restaurant. His nickname was Lin Leng’zi. He usually looked inconspicuous, but he did not expect him to be his father’s trusted aide.
Xu Shao also walked over and looked at his son resentfully. “Why are you here? Who allowed you to leave the courtyard?”
Xu Chengxuan curled his lips and said, “I’m bored.”
Xu Shao gave Lin Leng’zi a look, and Lin Leng’zi understood and left. Xu Shao called Xu Chengxuan into the study room.
“How much did you hear just now?” Xu Shao asked.
Xu Chengxuan said truthfully, “I heard you guys talking about Gong City and killing Yan Jiuchao.”
Xu Shao looked at him solemnly. “Remember this. No matter what you heard just now, you better forget it. Otherwise, once word gets out, even I, your father, won’t be able to protect you!”
Xu Chengxuan snorted. “Got it, Dad.”
… .
Xu Shao moved very quickly. Yan Jiuchao’s carriage was chased down on the way back to the Capital. Yan Jiuchao did not sleep all night and was lying on the carriage bed to catch up on his sleep when he suddenly heard a whoosh. Immediately after, an arrow was nailed to the carriage.
Shadow Thirteen handed the reins to Shadow Six and drew his sword. At the same time, countless arrows flew towards their carriage.
Shadow Thirteen rose into the air and circulated his internal energy. He used his sword techniques and blocked all the arrows that flew over. When the other party saw that their arrows had failed, they changed to close combat. In an instant, more than ten masked men in black rushed over with sabers.
At this moment, the sky was bright but not bright. The surrounding scenery was hidden in darkness, and the killing intent was even more hidden than during the day. This was also why Shadow Thirteen did not sense the aura of this group of people immediately.
However, Shadow Six, who had always been more vigilant, did not notice it in advance too. It could only mean one possibility. This group of people’s martial arts were really unfathomable.
“Protect Young Master!” Shadow Thirteen said before raising his sword and charging towards the assassins.
Shadow Six gripped the reins tightly. Shadow Thirteen and the assassins fought fiercely. Yan Jiuchao lifted the curtain.
“Young Master,” Shadow Six said, “they don’t look like ordinary assassins.”
Yan Jiuchao’s eyes were cold. “Yes, they’re sacrificial soldiers.”
Sacrificial soldiers were experts trained in extremely cruel ways. Shadow Thirteen and Shadow Six also almost became sacrificial soldiers. Later on, they met Yan Jiuchao and he took them in. Yan Jiuchao also had true sacrificial soldiers, but he did not bring them out today.
“Shadow Thirteen can deal with it.” After observing for a while, Yan Jiuchao calmly lowered the curtain.
“Can he really deal with them?” Shadow Six expressed his doubts. The martial arts of that group of people were definitely not inferior to Shadow Thirteen, let alone their numbers. Shadow Six was prepared to help Shadow Thirteen at any time. However, to his surprise, every time he thought that Shadow Thirteen was about to fall, he would erupt with even more terrifying potential.
Shadow Thirteen took down one, two, three…
Half an hour later, Shadow Thirteen knelt on one knee in a pool of blood, using his sword to support his body that could fall at any time. Blood mixed with sweat flowed down from his forehead and fell to the ground. None of the men in black in front of him survived.
Shadow Six sat in the carriage and looked at his back worriedly. “Hey! Are you alright?”
Shadow Thirteen restrained his killing intent, stood up, and walked towards the carriage. “Young Master.”
“Get in,” Yan Jiuchao said. He did not ask Shadow Thirteen why he did not leave anyone alive. In that situation, he was already lucky that he could win. It would be too much to leave anyone alive. Besides, he could guess who did it without prying open those people’s mouths.
“Is it Xu Shao?” Shadow Six asked.
The carriage resumed its journey. Shadow Thirteen was still immersed in his killing intent. Shadow Six was driving the carriage.
Yan Jiuchao leaned against the wall of the carriage and closed his eyes indifferently. “Yes.”
“It’s really him?” Shadow Six frowned. “That old bastard! Did he discover that we went to Gong City? Did he guess that the Young Master already knew the truth, so he wanted to kill him to silence him? Why is he so bold?!”
Yan Jiuchao mocked, “If he’s not bold, how would he dare to scheme against me back then?” He had some impression of what happened back then. He knew that someone had drugged his food. He avoided those drugs, but unfortunately, he fell sick and ate something else.
Someone helped him to the brothel. After entering the brothel, he shook off the group of people and went to the woodshed. Coincidentally, there was a woman in tattered clothes locked in the woodshed. No matter what, this woman would not be someone arranged by the other party… That was why there was an accident.
However, at that time, Yan Jiuchao did not suspect Xu Shao. He only noticed this lowly merchant whom he had neglected after finding out about Yan Ruyu’s relationship with Xu Shao.
“What does Xu Shao want?” Shadow Six asked.
Yan Jiuchao said casually, “Who will benefit the most from killing me?”
“…Little Master? No, Yan Ruyu!” Shadow Six’s thoughts were suddenly enlightened.
Before the truth was revealed to the world, as long as his Young Master died, there would be no evidence of the little masters’ biological mother. After that, the little masters would inherit everything in the Yan Manor. As the “mother” of the little masters, Yan Ruyu would rightfully move into the Yan Manor and become the mistress of the Yan Manor. At that time, the little masters would be puppets controlled by her and Xu Shao!
Shadow Six gritted his teeth. “Detestable!”
Yan Jiuchao dusted his wide sleeves. “That’s a good idea. Unfortunately… I didn’t survive until now by luck. Let’s go to the Xiao Manor first. We’ll talk about this later.”
“Yes!” Shadow Six whipped the horse. The most important thing now was to let the little masters see their own mother and not be deceived by Yan Ruyu, that imposter. However, no one expected that when they arrived at the Xiao Manor, they would be told that the little masters had been picked up.
Shadow Six asked the pageboy guarding the door, “Who picked them up?”
The pageboy replied, “Young Master Yan!”
Shadow Six waved his hand and pointed. “Open your dog eyes and look carefully. My Young Master is in the carriage! When did he come to pick up the little masters?”
The pageboy scratched his head and said, “That’s what Miss Yan said just now. She said that Young Master Yan asked her to pick them up…”
Shadow Six grabbed his collar. “Which Miss Yan? Make yourself clear!”
The pageboy trembled in fear. “The-the little masters’ mother…”
Yan. Ru. Yu!
