Sink to the bottom of the river

  The horse carriage stopped in front of the Zhang family's courtyard gate.

  Two flower thieves were carrying Zhang's family members who had just walked into the courtyard gate, and they were immediately surrounded by a group of black-clothed masked men, with several shiny steel knives placed on their necks.

  The two of them hadn't even had a chance to enjoy Zhang's hospitality before they were slapped on the back of their heads and fainted. Several men in black clothes carried them out to the horse carriage at the door and sped away towards the south of Luoyang city.

  Mr. Zhang was so tense all the way that he didn't even dare to breathe too hard until he was thrown to the ground, and then there were rustling footsteps in his ears, as well as the sound of a carriage driving away, after which there was no more movement.

  She didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief, her hand tightly grasping the small scissors that Zhen Ming had given her before he was put into the bag, and she lay motionless on the ground.

  After about half a time, there was still no movement around her, and she confirmed that there was no one around. She used the scissors in her hand to cut open the burlap sack and crawled out from inside.

  The yard was still the same as it was before she entered her room last night, the soybeans soaked in clear water had swollen into a full bucket, and the little donkey was still standing by the fence, staring intently at its owner, chewing on hay, seemingly curious about why its owner would crawl out of a sack.

  The master bedroom came a loud snoring sound from Old Song, who had just returned from the casino not long ago and didn't notice that Zhang was missing for a whole night.

  It's no wonder he didn't notice, first because of his age and blurry eyesight, secondly because the chores in the courtyard were all done by Zhang every day. When he returned home to see the usual courtyard, with the gate still open for him, how could he have imagined that Zhang had been kidnapped by thieves?

  Zhang's tense mood gradually subsided, and then walked to the courtyard water tank, washed his face with clear water, picked up the soaked soybeans, pulled the little donkey, and turned into the house.

  ……

  In the woods on the south bank of the Luo River in Chengnan.

  A man with his hands and feet bound, a straw stuffed in his mouth, was hung upside down from a tree branch on the riverbank by ropes, his two swollen red heads almost touching the water surface.

  They coughed loudly, with water gushing out of their nostrils and mouths in great gulps.

  Holding the other end of the rope were several people in black clothes with their faces covered in black cloth, only revealing two eyes.

  "Boss, I think these two don't have much money, why not just tie a stone to them and sink them into the river to feed the fish?" one of them asked in a shrill voice, turning to the man in black beside him.

  "Ask them who their boss is, are they tired of living, daring to touch even my woman."

  From the half dull and half sharp voice, it can be heard that the speaker is still a boy in the changing voice stage. The words "my woman" coming from his mouth sound somewhat ridiculous, but the two people hanging upside down on the tree don't think so at all.

  When someone is hung up like a pig and dunked into the river until they are half dead, and the other person keeps saying that they want to kill them and throw them into the river to feed the fish, as if killing them is easier than squishing an ant, no one will find it funny.

  "Spare our lives, we're just taking people's money and doing things for them. We haven't touched your woman, if you want to find someone, go look for the Salt Gang's Pei Zhuo, he's the one who told us to kidnap that Tofu Westerner... spare our lives... glug glug... spare... glug glug..."

  They were plunged into water again.

  "Weren't you just acting all tough a moment ago? You even threatened us, saying that the Salt Gang wasn't someone we could mess with. How come now you've turned into a coward?"

  That young man seemed to be having a great time, occasionally putting down the rope in his hand and laughing loudly, his voice entering the ears of those two people, like the laughter of a devil, crying and begging for mercy.

  The thin man beside him asked: "Boss, it seems that it was done by Pei Qian's useless younger brother. Now that we've figured it out, what do you want to do with these two..."

  As he spoke, he made a throat-cutting gesture with his hand, and his rich body language suddenly made the two people hanging upside down on the river surface cry out in grief, tears and snot flowing all over their faces, crying to their grandfathers and grandmothers for mercy.

  The young man's tone was full of anger: "You deal with it, I'm going to find Pei Qian now and settle the score. I'd like to ask him how he taught his brother!"

  Then he turned around in a flurry and left, taking away the several black-clad men by his side, leaving only that thin man in the forest.

  "The little one understands." The thin and handsome man sent him away, turned around and brought the two flower thieves who were almost crying and fainting to the shore, carefully tied a large stone of several tens of kilograms to their feet, confirmed that there was no sign of loosening, and then said coldly: "Whether you can survive or not depends on your luck."

  The two men's faces had turned pale with fear, and they cried out for mercy: "Spare our lives, sir! We'll never dare to do it again. We'll leave Luoyang immediately and never come back..."

  "You've enraged our boss, do you still want to live? If I let you go, I won't be able to live either. Blame it on Lord Pei for making you do this."

  The thin and gentle Han man said, raising his hands with two palms, slapping them on the back of the heads of the two men, who immediately fainted.

  That young man jumped out of the woods, tore off the black cloth on his face, and it was the handsome young man who peeked at Zhang's bath. He clapped his hands and laughed: "It's so much fun! I've never encountered such a fun thing before, what to do next?"

  The frail Han man also pulled down the black cloth on his head, revealing Zhen Ming's scarred face, and said with a smile: "Take them downstream and put them on the shore."

  "Isn't it supposed to sink into the river?"

  Zhen Ming's hand shot out and slapped him, saying in a low voice: "You think killing people is fun? It's just for show, to scare them. When Pei Er Ye sees that they've suddenly disappeared, he'll definitely catch up with them and ask questions. At that time, these two brothers will make an announcement in front of him, and Pei Er Ye won't know what to do next. Before figuring out who's behind the scenes, he absolutely won't dare have any ideas about Zhang Jie again."

  That young man rubbed the place where he was hit, and didn't get angry at all. He excitedly said: "Great, from now on Zhang sister will be mine alone! Yesterday I misunderstood you, thinking you had taken away Zhang sister. Who knew you're actually quite interesting? From now on, just follow me, Ben Shao Ye. Whatever requirements you have, just tell me. Since you still have some skills, I'll let you follow Zhang sister and be in charge of protecting her. When I grow up and marry Zhang sister into the manor, you can come to my manor and serve as the captain of the guards."

  Zhenming was speechless at the misfortune of these two ancestors, sighed and let the young man's slaves lift them up and place them by the riverbank downstream of the Luo River, creating the illusion that they had been washed ashore after narrowly escaping death. Only then did he wash his hands by the river and get back on his horse carriage.

  "Go and see if your elder sister is okay."

  "Good!"