Chapter 276: Planning to Go South
The room fell silent for a while. After a long while, Zhiqiu said:
"Miss, Zhichun and Zhidong knew that something happened to you and Zhixia, and they both wanted to come over. During those days, because we didn't know where you were taken abducted, I asked them to wait in Pingyang first. Now that you are back, I will send a message to my brother and ask them to come over as well."
"Forget it. The journey is not safe. Let them stay in Pingyang. It will be safer. Besides, we are in a hurry to go south and don't have time to wait for them. Let's just buy two maids to help them along the way."
"Miss, in this emergency, I'm afraid that the buyers won't be able to back up their investment..."
As the master and servant were talking, Ying'er came in and said:
"Miss, Miss Cheng is here and wants to see you"
"Ms. Cheng?"
"Miss, you must have forgotten that Miss Cheng is the daughter of the leader of the Green Bamboo Gang, and her maiden name is Cheng Yuan. This time you were kidnapped by the King of Yan, and Master Ouyang used the Green Bamboo Order. When Master Cheng heard that you were kidnapped, he personally brought people to rescue you. The King of Yan has many experts under his command, and this time it was thanks to the Green Bamboo Gang, otherwise the Second Master, Master Ouyang, and those guards would not even be able to enter the gate of the villa."
Seeing Mengxi's doubts, Zhiqiu added:
"Really, young lady, you don't know, the Second Master and Master Ouyang went there last night, but they came back empty-handed."
"Where is Boss Cheng? I should go and thank them in person."
"Second Master was worried that if they all gathered together, they would be too conspicuous. After saving you, Gang Leader Cheng did not return to the inn, but led the King of Yan's men south. Gang Leader Cheng heard that you were a girl, so he specially left Miss Cheng behind to protect you."
As he spoke, he had dried Mengxi's hair. He put the towel down and looked up. Ying'er was still standing there. She glanced at the young lady and said,
"Miss, do you want her to wait a while until you are done cleaning up, or do you want her to come in now?"
Mengxi thought for a moment and said:
"Ms. Cheng is a woman of the world, she won't care about these lame rules. It's getting late, and it's time for dinner soon. Just tie her hair simply, don't let her wait outside for too long."
Zhiqiu responded, found a hairband, and simply tied up Mengxi's hair. He then helped her put on a coat, and then asked Ying'er to invite Miss Cheng in.
After a while, Ying'er led Cheng Yuan in. Mengxi stood up quickly. Cheng Yuan rushed to Mengxi's side, took Mengxi's hand, looked her up and down, and said with a smile:
"My benefactor is really a girl. Why didn't you tell me earlier? You made Yuan'er sad for a long time..."
After hearing Cheng Yuan's frank words, Mengxi recalled that she had once offered herself to the Medicine God in order to ask her to save Boss Cheng, but she had rejected him. Mengxi looked at Zhiqiu unnaturally, coughed, and said:
"It was inconvenient at the time, but please don't take it to heart, Miss Cheng."
Seeing Mengxi's embarrassed face, Cheng Yuan smiled, showing two rows of fine teeth, which was very cute. He shook Mengxi's hand and said:
"As soon as Yuan Er heard that the benefactor was a girl, she stopped being sad. The benefactor's daughter was so beautifully dressed and had fair skin, like a fairy."
Hearing Cheng Yuan's praise, Meng Xi's face felt a little hot. She smiled at Cheng Yuan, who was straightforward and honest. She also liked him. She held her hand and said:
"Miss Cheng, please don't be so gracious all the time. It's so awkward. This time, I am indebted to you and Gang Leader Cheng for saving me. We are both women, so why don't we call each other sisters?"
"That's great. Father has only one daughter, Yuan'er. She is all alone, without anyone to cheer her up. Yuan'er has long wanted to have a sister. Father will definitely be happy if she can call me a sister!"
Cheng Yuan jumped up happily and shook Meng Xi's hands vigorously. After hearing her words, Meng Xi deliberately frowned and said:
"And you still call me benefactor!"
Cheng Yuan stuck out her tongue and smiled coquettishly, and when she told her age, they were surprisingly the same age. Mengxi was two months older than her, so she regarded herself as the elder sister. Then they sat down. Ying'er had some tea in the morning, and Cheng drank a sip of tea and began to chatter about the process of rescuing Mengxi. Mengxi listened with a smile, nodded and occasionally interjected a word or two.
They were chatting happily when Ying'er came in and told them that Xiao Xia was coming over and wanted to see the young lady. The three of them were startled. Thinking of the Second Master's attempt to rape the young lady, Zhiqiu's face turned cold and he wanted to chase her out. But at this moment, he was afraid of making a big mistake, so he turned to look at the young lady and heard Mengxi say:
"Let him in."
After a while, Xiao Xia came in sweating profusely. He greeted Meng Xi and said without waiting for her to ask:
"Second... Miss Li, the Second Master and Young Master Ouyang are fighting in the backyard. They are all family members. Swords have no eyes. It is not good to hurt anyone. The Second Master and Young Master Ouyang will listen to you. Miss Li, I beg you to go over and persuade them."
"A fight broke out. Why?"
Xiao Xia said hesitantly:
"Mr. Ouyang wants to ask you for an explanation because the Second Master bullied the young lady..."
"Miss, Master Ouyang can't beat the Second Master!"
Zhiqiu on the side blushed anxiously after hearing this. Mengxi glanced at her and it seemed that her Zhiqiu still cared about Mr. Ouyang at least a little bit. She nodded ambiguously and said to Cheng Yuan:
"Wait a moment, sister. I'll be back soon."
Cheng Yuan stood up, patted the soft sword at his waist and said:
"I will go with you. Let's see who dares to bully me. I will teach her a lesson on my behalf."
Seeing Cheng Yuan's enthusiastic face, Mengxi didn't know what to say. He nodded and let Xiao Xia lead the way. They hurried to the backyard and saw Ouyang Di and Xiao Jun holding long swords, fighting with their figures flying. Ouyang Di's steps were a little disordered and he was at a disadvantage. Cheng Yuan drew out the soft sword at his waist and was about to step forward, but was grabbed by Mengxi.
Mengxi was about to shout to stop when she saw Ouyang Di's sword kicked away by Xiao Jun. Zhiqiu saw it and screamed. Hearing Zhiqiu's shout, Ouyang Di paused and Xiao Jun stabbed his throat with the sword.
Zhiqiu was so scared that he closed his eyes suddenly. He didn't hear any sound for a long time. He opened his eyes and saw that Xiao Jun's sword was just less than half an inch away from Ouyang Di's throat. The two of them stood there motionless, staring at each other.
Everyone held their breath. Even Cheng Yuan, who was a soldier, opened his eyes wide, fearing that Xiao Jun's sword would stab him. After a long while, Xiao Jun said coldly:
"Remember, what happens between Xi'er and me is none of your business!"
Ouyang Di stood there without saying a word, looking at Xiao Jun coldly.
Meng Xi came back to his senses, and after hearing what Xiao Jun said, his face darkened. He slowly walked forward, came in front of the two people and said:
"Second Master, put away your sword. It's not your turn to teach my people a lesson!"
After hearing Meng Xi's words, Xiao Jun turned his head and looked over. He saw Meng Xi wearing a moon-white floral brocade casual dress with her hair simply tied up, which made her look even more elegant and refined. When he saw the faint purple kiss mark on her neck, Xiao Jun's heart trembled. He was reckless and hurt her again. He slowly withdrew his sword and shouted:
"Xi'er, I..."
Xiao Jun wanted to say sorry to Mengxi, but when he saw the people in the yard, he swallowed the rest of his words.
Seeing that the Second Master had withdrawn his sword, Ouyang Di took a step back, came to Mengxi's side, and called out:
"Owner."
Mengxi nodded and motioned him to step aside. Zhiqiu had already picked up Ouyang Di's sword and handed it to Ouyang Di. He stood beside Ouyang Di and glared at Xiao Jun.
Seeing that everyone around Mengxi was treating him coldly, Xiao Jun couldn't help but groan inwardly. His face became hot and he couldn't help but cough violently. He finally stopped coughing and stood there, looking at Mengxi without saying a word.
"Second Master, you..."
Hearing the cough, Mengxi felt distressed. She remembered that he had been coughing since she left Xiao Mansion. It had been so long and he hadn't gotten better. She wanted to take his pulse, but she was halfway through her words when she saw the people in the yard. She was afraid of revealing her identity, so she swallowed her words and changed the topic:
"Second Master, everything is fine. Mengxi will take his leave first."
Seeing Mengxi and his group about to leave, Xiao Jun remembered the arrangements for tomorrow and called out:
"Xi'er, we have to get up early and travel tomorrow, so let's discuss our plans for tomorrow now."
Although Ouyang Di and others had deep prejudices against Xiao Juncheng, they also knew that the situation was pressing and King Yan was eyeing their master covetously. Today, it was Gang Leader Cheng who led King Yan's men away so that everyone was able to return to the inn safely. The big deal tomorrow was how to avoid King Yan's eyes and ears and head south.
After hearing what Xiao Jun said, no one refuted and they went to his room together.
Xiao Xia had already cleaned the house, asked for a few chairs from the inn, and served tea. When Xiao Jun saw everyone sitting down, he asked Xiao Xia and Xiao Ke to guard the door, and then said to Meng Xi who was drinking tea:
"Xi'er, the spies reported that the people chasing after Gang Leader Cheng have discovered that they have been tricked and have returned to Jinyang. They are looking around our whereabouts. It seems that King Yan is not willing to give up."
Mengxi nodded and asked:
"Second Master is right. We have so many people that we can't be too secretive when we go south. The King of Yan will definitely find out where we are. What do you think?"
Xiao Jun drank a sip of tea, moistened his throat and said:
"We have invited so many people to rescue you this time. The King of Yan must be suspicious of your identity. His main target is still you. The King of Yan has many followers and a huge influence. There are many experts around him. No matter how many people we have, we can't defend against them. Only when Xier arrives in the south as soon as possible, the plague in the south is resolved, and the prince has a firm foothold, can we solve the problem once and for all."
Needless to say, everyone knows this. The question is how to reach the south safely! After hearing what Xiao Jun said, Meng Xi glanced at him and was about to speak when Ouyang Di said:
"I think so too. The key is how the master can successfully reach the south. It seems that there will be several fierce battles along the way..."
"Today, I was the only one who showed my face in front of King Yan to rescue Xi'er. You all had your faces covered, so King Yan couldn't find out your identities for a while. I think King Yan will definitely pay attention to my whereabouts. In my opinion, we should split into two groups tomorrow to go south. I will lead the Xiao family guards on one group, and have someone pretend to be Xi'er and follow in a carriage. We will take the official road to the south in semi-brightness and semi-darkness to attract King Yan's attention. Ouyang Di, Miss Cheng and others will dress up as merchants to protect Xi'er and secretly go south to meet up with the prince."
Ouyang Di thought it was a good plan, but once the plan was carried out, Xiao Jun would be in danger all the time. Prince Yan hated the Xiao family, and Xiao Jun snatched Mengxi away from him on his wedding day. How could Prince Yan let Xiao Jun go easily? He might even want to kill him.
Thinking of this, he did not dare to nod and looked up at his master.
Seeing that no one was talking, Xiao Jun was about to speak when Cheng Yuan said:
"That's a good idea, but if you do that, Brother Xiao might be in danger of his life. You took my sister away today, and the King of Yan must hate you to the core. I'm afraid he'll want to kill you. What's more, the Xiao family has already..."
Cheng Yuan wanted to say that the Xiao family had already declined, and that the King of Yan would not care about the Xiao family's power and would definitely kill them all. Although he was speaking his mind, he knew it was not a good idea to say this in front of Xiao Jun, so he swallowed the rest of his words.
