Chapter 435: Chapter 410, Hit by a Sap_1
“Granny!”
When the old granny fell, Daohua immediately cried out in alarm.
“Master, come quickly, Granny has fainted!”
Hearing Daohua’s cry, Gu Jian snapped out of his shock and swiftly turned around to run towards the old granny.
Opposite them, the fifth master saw the old granny’s pale face and her labored breathing and was also frantic with anxiety. He tried to rise and investigate, but the ropes binding him were too tight to allow any movement. Just as he was about to reprimand, a handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth.
Suffering the same fate were three others along with Public Official An.
“Mmm-Mmm!”
Seeing the fifth master’s bulging, fierce eyes glaring at him, Yan Wenkai felt a chill on his back and said to Yan Wentao, “These gold thieves are quite vicious. Just look at those eyes, they’re like knives. When the Little Prince comes to take them away, we must insist he deals with them harshly to prevent any retaliation against us.”
Watching the fifth master’s furious demeanor, the four men with Public Official An all silently mourned for the naivety of the two young men from the Yan Family.
“Let’s go, let’s see how the old granny is doing.”
Saying so, Yan Wenkai and Yan Wentao quickly ran toward Daohua.
At this moment, Gu Jian was rapidly administering acupuncture to the old granny. Daohua was kneeling by her side, her face filled with self-reproach and eyes red-rimmed with tears, “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have insisted that Granny watch those thieves. She must have been scared by them.”
Listening to his disciple’s tearful voice, Gu Jian knew she was frightened by her sister’s condition, but at the moment he could spare no time to console her and only said, “Hurry, go to the mountain and fetch the medicine pills that Sister usually takes.”
“Oh, right!”
Daohua nodded repeatedly, getting to her feet in a scramble and then hurried towards the estate’s main gate, lifting her skirt as she ran.
“Maybe I and third brother should go, we can move faster,” Yan Wenkai shouted.
“You don’t know which medicine Granny takes.”
As the words were still echoing in the air, she had already vanished from sight.
Yan Wenkai clicked his tongue, “Our big sister can really run faster and faster.”
Behind them, Wu Jingyi and Wei Qi exchanged glances, both privately thinking that the young girl must have learned some special steps; subsequently, they looked at Gu Jian with even more wariness.
In such a rural place, there were masters that even they were wary of.
Over here, Public Official An and Yang Chenghua noticed something off about the fifth master.
No doubt the fifth master was angry; they understood that anyone with a mouth stuffed with a handkerchief would be infuriated.
But what was with the fifth master’s bulging veins and anxious face?
Following the fifth master’s gaze, they both looked towards where Gu Jian was administering aid, their minds suddenly brimming with thought.
As the person in charge of attending to the fifth master’s every need, Public Official An knew his affairs very well. After closely observing Gu Jian’s swift and steady acupuncture, an amorphous figure emerged in his mind, and in an instant, his heart began to pound furiously.
Yan Wenkai and Yan Wentao were also intently watching as Gu Jian administered the needles.
“I never expected Master Gu to have such an impressive skill. Once our big sister learns it, we need not fear headaches and fevers in our household anymore,” one said.
“This kind of skill is not something that can be learned without decades of practice.”
The courtyard was somewhat quiet.
When Daohua and the others got here, they had sent away the people in the courtyard.
Aside from the five masters, who were gagged, only Yan Wenkai and the others remained.
At this moment, Yan Wenkai and Yan Wentao were focused on the old granny and Gu Jian. Wang Manman and Xiaoliu were gathered together, speaking in hushed tones, occasionally glancing at the five gold thieves thrown on the ground.
No one noticed the figures that had appeared on the roof.
The Imperial Guards climbed onto the roof of the estate, taking stock of the situation in the courtyard. Spotting the fifth master and the others thrown on the ground, they silently leaped into the yard along the wall.
While administering the acupuncture, Gu Jian’s ears twitched, and he cast a glance towards the oblivious Yan Wenkai and Yan Wentao. He thought about warning them but decided against it.
Teenage boys always think they are invincible; it does them good to suffer a little.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
The sound of bodies hitting the ground resonated one after another in the courtyard.
Yan Wenkai and Wentao quickly turned around and saw about a dozen robust young men, their hearts skipped a beat, and they cried out in alarm.
“I’ll hold them off, third brother, quickly take Master Gu and Granny Gu and leave!”
Yan Wenkai took a step forward, positioning himself in front of Master Gu and Granny Gu, watching the attackers with a guarded expression.
Wentao indeed wanted to take them and leave, but sadly, the Imperial Guards didn’t offer him the chance.
Apart from those untying the binds of the fifth master, the rest of them attacked the two men.
The pair was no match for the Imperial Guards and were beaten into a state of defenselessness in no time.
As the fifth master had regained his freedom, he saw the Imperial Guards striking with severity and thought, “Just give a lesson, don’t hurt anyone.” When he noticed the Imperial Guards rushing towards Gu Jian and Granny Gu, he immediately intervened, “Don’t harm the two elders!”
The fight was over soon.
Seeing that Yan Wenkai and Wentao were merely knocked unconscious, Gu Jian continued to administer acupuncture to Granny Gu without changing his expression, paying no attention to the fifth master and the rest.
The fifth master took a deep breath, feeling a mix of nervousness and unease as he walked toward the two elders.
Wu Jingyi, Yang Chenghua, and Wei Qi saw how cautious the fifth master was and their expressions fluctuated.
Something dawned on Wei Qi as he cast a quick glance at Eunuch An, who stood motionlessly with his eyes downcast. An idea immediately took shape.
Over the years, he had been in charge of searching for the two elders, but unfortunately, due to the scarcity of clues, he had always come up empty-handed.
Could it be that the people they were looking for were these two right before his eyes?
The fifth master slowly approached Gu Jian and Granny Gu. By now, Granny Gu’s violently heaving emotions had calmed down, and her breathing had become more regular. Hearing footsteps draw nearer, she slowly opened her eyes a slit.
When the tall figure of the fifth master came into view, a tear trickled down from the corner of her eye.
From the moment she escaped from the devastating fire, she never dared to hope that she could one day see her son again, especially this one right before her.
Seeing the tear in Granny Gu’s eye, the fifth master’s heart clenched. He was just about to speak when the gates of the manor were thrown open.
“Master, I’ve brought Granny’s medicine. How is she?”
Daohua realized something was wrong the moment she ran into the courtyard.
There was no way around it; the five gold thieves who should have been tied up on the ground were nonchalantly standing, not to mention the dozen or so burly men resembling combat-ready bodyguards, which she couldn’t ignore even if she tried.
Seeing Yan Wenkai and the others collapsed on the ground and then glancing at her ‘coerced’ master and Granny Gu, Daohua’s heart plummeted.
“My father is the Magistrate of Ningmen Prefecture; if anything happens to us, he will investigate thoroughly, and none of you will escape then.”
These gold thieves had let her third and fourth brothers go last time, clearly not wanting to escalate the situation. Now she could only try to stabilize them and prevent them from killing.
As Daohua spoke, she began to step backward, fortunately close to the door.
Just as she neared the door, an Imperial Guard silently appeared before her. Seeing this, Daohua turned and ran without a word, but sadly, after only a couple of steps, her neck was struck hard.
Instantly, Daohua felt darkness descend before her eyes, and the world spinning. As she fell into the darkness, she exerted all her strength to throw the hawk she clutched to her chest.
Now, her only hope was Xiao Yeyang would come to their rescue.
“Girl!”
The moment before Daohua’s eyes closed as she fell to the ground, she saw her master stand up in fury, pick up a wooden stick from the ground and hurl it, and then, the one who had struck her with the cudgel was sent flying, spitting blood.
So master was that powerful! But it would have been better if he had taken action just a moment sooner.