Chapter 432: Chapter 407: Hunting Geese All Day Only to be Pecked by Them in the End_1
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“Where have you three been?”
Madam Li’s expression was slightly displeased as she looked at Daohua, Wentao, and Wenkai returning together.
Daohua smiled and said, “Mother, we just went for a casual stroll.”
Madam Li frowned and said, “What about Manman?” As she spoke, she turned to Wenkai, “And what about both of your servants?”
Daohua stepped forward, took Madam Li’s arm, and smiled, “Mother, I saw the camellias behind the temple bloomed exceptionally well, so I had Manman go pick some. But I was worried about her being alone, so I sent the servants with her too.”
“Mother, don’t be angry. Once the camellias are picked, I will make some lip balm and bring you the first one.”
Madam Li glanced sideways at her daughter with displeasure: “Look at you all, grown people already. Even if you want to go out and about, you should at least inform your elders beforehand. Suddenly disappearing like that, doesn’t it make people worry?”
Daohua shook Madam Li’s arm, “Mother, we won’t dare do it again next time.”
Madam Li looked at the three of them and said, “Alright, come with me to the courtyard, your grandmother must be anxious by now, and the temple’s novice has also delivered the vegetarian meal.”
At mealtime, Daohua said to the old Madam Yan and Madam Li, “Grandmother, Mother, it’s peak season for pears now, I’m planning to stay in Taohua Village for a while to pickle some, so Old Madam Gu won’t run out.”
Old Madam Yan asked, “Has Old Sister Gu’s cough improved?”
Daohua nodded, “Much better.”
Madam Li was silent for a moment, then glanced at her daughter, “…Yunyan and Yunxi are still at our place, so make sure you come back early and don’t neglect our guests.”
Daohua nodded repeatedly, smiling, “Mother, rest assured, I’ll head to Taohua Village this afternoon and promise to come back as soon as I’m done.”
Madam Li was surprised, “Today? What’s the rush?”
Daohua hesitated, “It’s just that I ran out of the preserved pears I had before, so I’m in a hurry.”
Madam Li was about to say something more, but old Madam Yan chuckled and interjected, “Alright, the girl knows what she’s doing, you don’t need to worry so much. We rarely get to go out, so let yourself relax a bit.”
Madam Li had no choice but to nod and smile, “Yes, Mother.”
…
The docks at the outskirts of Ningmen Prefecture.
Qin Xiaoliu, along with Qin Xing, Qin Wang, Tieshou, and Tietou, exhausted themselves carrying two heavy boxes onto the ship.
Wang Manman stood to one side, keeping watch.
“These five lads are really heavy!”
Qin Xiaoliu wiped the sweat from his forehead, then opened the chests to check and seeing all five unconscious, he said, “There’s no need to close the boxes, we wouldn’t want to suffocate them.”
Having said that, he led the other four out of the cabin.
No sooner had they left, Wei Qi and Wu Jingyi swiftly opened their eyes.
The two were often in contact with sleeping powders and had developed some resistance.
Wei Qi struggled to sit up, poked his head out of the box to look around, and after determining there was no danger, he breathed a sigh of relief.
At this point, Wu Jingyi also popped his head out, panting, “Eunuch An should think about losing weight, his bulk nearly suffocated me.”
Upon saying that, he exchanged a look with Wei Qi.
Then both of them revealed a bitter expression.
To think, one a dignified leader of the Imperial Guards, and the other a commander of the five armies, had been knocked out and tied up by a few youngsters, it was downright embarrassing.
Wu Jingyi grumbled, “To spend all day hunting geese only to be pecked by one, it’s really absurd.”
Wei Qi didn’t speak, he tried to shrink back, careful not to bump into the Fifth Master in the same box.
Wu Jingyi looked around, “What do we do now?”
Wei Qi said, “The Imperial Guards will notice we’re gone and surely search for us.”
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Upon hearing this, Wu Jingyi heaved another sigh, “We shouldn’t have sent all the Imperial Guards out to gather intelligence on Jing Cao. We should have kept a couple of them behind.”
They had been a bit too confident. Had they left two people by their side, would they have been captured?
Wei Qi remained silent without joining in the conversation. He never indulged in futile regret over things that had already happened, but instead, he silently adjusted his internal breath to quickly dispel the drug’s effects from his body.
Wu Jingyi stopped talking as well, and began to meditate, but after a short while, he spoke again, “I must say, the potency of this Sleeping Powder is really strong. After this ordeal, we need to get some for ourselves.”
Wei Qi nodded, “This Sleeping Powder is indeed better than what we have.”
Not much later, the other three also opened their eyes.
“Fifth Master!”
As soon as the eunuch An woke up and saw that he, along with Wu Jingyi and Yang Chenghua, had been captured, his face changed drastically with fear as he shouted frantically, “Fifth Master, where’s the Fifth Master?”
“Cough cough~”
Only when the coughing sound came from the neighboring crate did Eunuch An breathe a sigh of relief. His already slumped body relaxed even further, and he muttered under his breath, “You scared me to death.”
Once he had calmed down, Eunuch An immediately looked at Wu Jingyi with blame, “Commodore Wu, how did you protect the Fifth Master? How could you let the Fifth Master be captured?”
Wu Jingyi was somewhat speechless, “Eunuch An, weren’t you the first one to fall? If you had given a timely warning, would we have ended up like this?”
Eunuch An was stunned for a moment, then said with righteous indignation, “I am responsible for attending to the Fifth Master’s food and drink, and you are in charge of his security. The Fifth Master was captured; you are the primary person responsible.”
“Enough, stop talking. Do you want to embarrass us even more?”
The Fifth Master’s slightly depressed voice sounded.
In an instant, both Wu Jingyi and Eunuch An fell silent.
The Fifth Master looked at Wei Qi, “People from the Yan Family?”
Wei Qi nodded.
Seeing this, the Fifth Master wasn’t too worried. At worst, he would lose some face when brought before Yan Zhigao.
Yang Chenghua, seeing the atmosphere growing too tense, joked, “When Lord Yan sees us later, he will probably be scared to death. Once he gets back home, he will surely avenge us.”
Eunuch An immediately said, “Definitely, especially that young girl. A girl from a good family, yet she uses Sleeping Powder as soon as she makes a move, and quite massively at that, not giving me any time to react.”
Wu Jingyi nodded, “She’s also quite skilled with the slingshot, aiming straight for my face. Have a look, did it bruise?”
Just then, footsteps were heard outside, and the five men quickly closed their eyes again.
“Big Sister, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, you’ve finally come!”
“Start the boat!”
“Big Sister, where are we going?”
“To Taohua Village.”
“What are we going there for?”
“Xiao Yeyang said not to publicize his search for someone. If we directly deliver the people to his residence, what if the news leaks and causes him trouble? We’ll transport the people to Taohua Village and then let him come and fetch them himself. That way, we can avoid any leaks.”
Upon hearing this conversation, the five men inside the crate couldn’t help but open their eyes.
The Fifth Master looked at Wei Qi and whispered, “Does Yang’er have a good relationship with the siblings from the Yan Family?”
Wei Qi replied, “Fifth Master, have you forgotten? The Little Prince was saved by the eldest daughter of the Yan Family.”
The Fifth Master nodded, said nothing further, and closed his eyes again.
Daohua and the others had already come inside and checked the five people still unconscious in the crates.
“By the way, you didn’t get seen by anyone else while you were moving them, did you?”
“Don’t worry, Miss, no one saw us.”