Chapter Twenty

  The body of the first servant lay on its side in the withered grass outside the lake embankment, with bright red blood gushing out from his neck and dyeing a large area of withered grass. Gu Ying stood beside the spreading blood, wearing a green jacket and a cyan skirt, holding a bloody dagger in her hand, like a shocking impressionist painting.

  The three grooms riding on horseback, of course, did not know what Impressionist works were, but the strong impact of Madame Qis resolute knife struck their hearts, making them dare not ignore or question Madame Qis words, at least not for now. They didnt even have time to mourn the death of their companion who had fallen on the dry grass heap, and all three grooms drew out the knives in their hands, turned their horses heads towards the lake embankment and galloped away urgently.

  Even if the three strong men in their hearts are clear that the fleeing bandits who killed Lin Xie were sent by the second young master to avenge his shame, they want to save Lin Xie here, and they will inevitably offend the second young master. However, between two evils, choose the lesser one, offending the second young master at least temporarily has no life worries, and will not implicate their families.

  Watching the three strong men drive the horses down to the lake dam, Gu Yingzi seemed to have exhausted all her energy and fell onto a pile of withered grass, not even bothering about the bloodstains all over her body, propping herself up with her hands on the withered grass, staring at the bottom of the lake dam.

  The maids and old ladies were all frightened, their faces pale as they stared at Gu Yingxu. They usually knew that the Seventh Lady was a formidable person, but no one could have imagined that she would be so clean and decisive in cutting down her disobedient servants and forcing others to go down to the lake dam to rescue people. Gu Yingxu sat on the ground, which was cold and hard, the maids and old ladies wanted to help her up or hand her a handkerchief, but at this time everyone was stunned, even Gu Yingxus personal maid did not dare to come forward to serve her, as if rooted to the spot.

  Madam Zhao saw the Seventh Lady kill someone, and although she was also shocked in her heart, she was concerned about Lin Jus safety as well as that of her son who had not appeared yet. Seeing the four strong men refusing to listen to the Seventh Ladys orders to go and rescue them, Madam Zhao hated them so much that she wished to kill them. Although she thought so in her heart, when she saw the Seventh Lady kill someone with her own hands, Madam Zhao was still greatly shocked; she went forward to support the Seventh Lady and together they looked towards the open country below the lake dike.

  Three strong men rode horses down the lake embankment, still four or five hundred steps away from Lin Village. The road to Lin Village was blocked by the cavalry of Dongyang Prefecture, and the retreat route had been sealed off by the pursuing bandits, so they could only dismount and kill these thieves.

  Gu Yingxiu could see that Zhou Pu and the two strangers from yesterday at Luoma Market were all brave warriors, but there were seven bandits chasing them. When Lin was almost thrown off his horse while being tied up, Gu Yingxiu worried whether Zhou Pu and the two outsiders could protect Lin from getting hurt until they arrived to provide support.

  The subsequent development of the situation far exceeded Gu Yings imagination.

  Gu Yingxiu saw Lin Xie fall off his horse and roll on the ground, then get up as if nothing had happened. He loudly shouted at the Dongyang Fu cavalry blocking the village entrance. From a distance, Gu Yingxiu couldnt hear what Lin Xie was shouting, but he guessed that Lin Xie was probably telling the cavalry blocking the village entrance that they were the ones who had foiled the assassins plot and saved Gu Wudengs life yesterday at noon in Shiliang County.

  The cavalrymen of Dongyang Prefecture were not moved, and they didnt have enough men either. What if the other side tricked them into killing another one by surprise? On the contrary, I saw a cavalryman returning to the village, probably to ask the Gu family to come out and verify.

  Zhou Pu and the two outsiders dismounted, and saw that the outsider who had been holding a bow in the back to harass the pursuing soldiers threw the horsebow and the remaining three arrows to Zhou Pu. Zhou Pu took over the bow and arrow, drew his bow and put an arrow on it, with two more arrows held in his mouth. The archery skills of this outsider on horseback were already good enough, and now that he had handed over the horsebow to someone else, the seven bandits who were chasing them naturally became cautious, charging to the edge of the horsebows range before turning around and dismounting, leading their horses forward, with their bodies hidden behind the horses sides as they rushed forward.

  Zhou Pu didnt hesitate, first shooting an arrow that hit the neck of a horse. Taking advantage of the horses pain and panic, he swiftly shot out a second arrow, which pierced the chest of a bandit. Gu Ying had seen rural guards perform archery before, but she felt that Zhou Pus archery skills were unmatched by anyone in the village.

  At this time, Zhou Pu only had one arrow left in his hand, while the other side had six people. The three strong men who were forced to rescue Lin Xuan had not yet ridden out more than 40 or 50 steps away. Gu Yingxue knew that Zhou Pus bravery might not be afraid of these six bandits, but she was worried that Zhou Pu would not be able to protect Lin Xuan completely when he was outnumbered by the enemy. These bandits were so ruthless that they could kill people in front of the Dongyang Prefecture cavalry without hesitation, showing how strong their determination to kill Lin Xuan was.

  But at this moment, the sound of horseshoes came from afar, and Gu Yingxus heart was shocked. Were there still bandits chasing after them? Lin Xuzongs privately raised bandit soldiers were far more than seven or eight people. Standing on the lake embankment, looking down, he saw two fast horses coming from the northeast and northwest corners, each with a quiver and arrow bag on their backs. Gu Yingxu felt her heart chill. Zhou Pu and the two outsiders might not be able to handle six bandits, let alone those who came with bows and arrows. However, the four people who rushed up from behind quickly approached the side of the six bandits, about a hundred steps away, dismounted their horses, took out hard bows that were one-third longer than their horsebows, and shot at the six bandits who were actually surrounded in the middle. The six bandits fell to the ground with five or six arrows each, and couldnt get up again, bleeding all over the place.

  The sudden change in front of them shocked the people watching at the lake dam and village entrance, and the three strong servants who were about to rush to rescue also stopped their horses from a distance, not knowing whether to advance or retreat.

  Gu Yingxiu suddenly understood what was going on, and Lin Xuanming made it clear that this was a plot to assassinate the Second Young Master Lin Xuexiong by these privately raised bandits. Could it be that he had said "Wait for him to come and kill, then send another gift to Sister Yingxiu" in the carriage last night?

  It happened in a very short time, and the villagers had not yet appeared at the village entrance to identify Lin Tie and others. The Dongyang Prefecture cavalry looked at Lin Ties fierce tactics of luring and killing the bandits, and they couldnt help but tense up, naturally becoming even more vigilant and not allowing them to approach the village.

  Gu Ying saw Lin Xie pat the dust off his body and clumsily climb onto his horse, following Zhou Pu and those six outsiders riding towards this direction.

  Lin tied up his horse and got onto the lake embankment, also a bit clumsy. After getting off the horse, he saw the withered grass on the ground and seemed to know what had happened on the lake embankment earlier. He went straight to Gu Yingxu and said: "Why did Seventh Madame come to see Master Gu?"

  Gu Yingxiu was so angry that she wanted to stab him in the chest, her heart had almost jumped out of her throat. Lin Xian ignored the corpse on the pile of dry grass, but Gu Yingxiu had to force herself to suppress the nausea after killing someone, and calmly instructed the three strong servants and the maids and old women: "If a member of the Lin family encounters difficulties, who dares to stand by and do nothing? He and Zhao Neng are examples! When you go back, tell them that he was killed by bandits for the sake of Lin Xiucui, his family can still receive consolation from the clan, do you understand? Aunt Zhao, help me back to the carriage, I have a headache from the cold wind."

  Aunt Zhao was still worried about Zhao Hus safety, but she couldnt reveal in front of others that the Seventh Lady had agreed to meet Lin Xie at Lake Dam, so she could only help the Seventh Lady into the carriage first.

  Three servants and the maids and old women didnt dare to make a sound, they just carried the corpse to the horse carriage in front, and tied the unmanned empty horse behind the carriage.

  Although the imperial courts laws and regulations strictly prohibited masters from meting out private punishments to their servants, in reality, in rural villages where clan power reigned supreme, every single wealthy and influential family used private punishments as a crucial means of intimidating their servants and clansmen. Even when such private punishments resulted in loss of life, if the matter was reported to the authorities, the officials would mete out extremely lenient sentences to these masters who had beaten their servants to death, merely sentencing them to three years of exile.

  Todays matter is urgent, the servant with the duty of guarding has disobeyed orders and failed to rescue his master, and even if he kills him with one knife, it will only be punished with a fine when reported to the authorities.

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  The family member finally appeared at the village entrance, it was the middle-aged guard who had appeared beside Gu Wudu yesterday.

  When the news came that the assassins were approaching, Yang Pu was shocked by their audacity and arranged for the cavalry from Dongyang Prefecture to be stationed at the village entrance to intercept them, not allowing the assassins to enter the village and harm the Gu family. He himself stayed by Gu Wudangs side, protecting his safety personally. Before long, a messenger came from the Dongyang Prefecture cavalry to report that someone claiming to be Gu Darens lifesaver was being surrounded by seven or eight people who were thought to be assassins. Yang Pu immediately thought of Lin Xie, whom he had identified as an assassin at the teahouse the previous night. He couldnt let Gu Wudang take risks at the village entrance, so he hurried there himself. If Gu Darens lifesaver was killed by bandits at the village entrance due to inaction on this side, it would be a source of inner guilt; if word got out, Gu Daren would become a laughingstock in official circles: who would treat their own lifesaver like that?

  Yang Pu looked at the seven bandits shot dead with arrows in the field, the battle had ended before he arrived. There were also three horses lying on the ground, one horse was already dead, and the other two horses were hit by arrows, bleeding a lot, their hooves scratching the ground, their noses spraying white mist, and they were about to die too. Several other horses had already escaped far away, and the Dongyang Prefecture cavalry also sent four people to chase after them separately.

  Just then, Lin Xie rode his horse and followed behind Gu Yings carriage as it slowly descended from the lake embankment, with a team of knights trailing behind.

  "Uncle Yang," Gu Yanruo saw Yang Pu coming to the village entrance, and let Zhao Shi lift up the curtain, saying to Lin Fu, "Twenty years ago, Uncle Yang went to Yanjing with my second uncle..."

  Lin had heard of Yang Pu before, but didnt recognize him when they met yesterday.

  The Yang family has been serving the Gu family for four generations. In his youth, Yang Pu was a Wu Xiucai of Shiliang County, but in this dynasty, martial arts were not as valued as literature. Those who passed the literary examination and became Xiucai or Juren had a promising future, while those who passed the military examination and became Wu Xiucai or Wu Juren had to accumulate military achievements in the army before they could gain recognition. Twenty years ago, Yang Pu did not think of joining the army to gain fame and escape his humble status, but instead accompanied Gu Wudang to Yanjing to attend a meeting, and ended up staying there for twenty years.

  "Lin Juren, I apologize for earlier. As the guardian of Lord Gu, I have a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. I hope you can understand." The leader of the Dongyang Prefecture cavalry was a Yunqi deputy lieutenant from the eighth rank of the military officer in the Dongyang Prefectures garrison, and he also knew that refusing someone at the village entrance earlier was very offending, so he came over to apologize as well.

  Lin Xie didnt speak, but Wu Qi, who was riding a horse behind him, coldly snorted and said: "Probably its because we look suspicious, so you dont trust us. In that case, we wont stay to disturb you." He then bowed with his fist and said to Lin Xie: "Lin Xiucan, well meet again someday."

  Its not that they had to make the conversation unpleasant, but Wu Qi and his men were eager to leave and return to their horses, so they naturally made the conversation a bit unpleasant. Wu Qi and the other five people turned their horses around and galloped away in the distance. Yang Pu and the Dongyang Fu cavalry deputy commander thought that these people were really difficult to serve, but they had no choice but to watch as Wu Qi and his men rode away into the distance, forgetting to try to retain them.

  Yun Qis deputy looked at Wu Qi and others leaving in the distance, still thinking: Fast horse and hard bow, skilled in riding skills, originally suspicious. But he wouldnt dare to say this, which big family doesnt have some private soldiers these days, thinking that Lin Juren didnt give him a hard time was good enough.

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  By the way, click on the red ticket casually.