WangJiang Prefecture was the Liu family’s place of origin. As a family that has spread throughout this territory for almost a century, their words have almost more credibility than the local county magistrate.
Then came Imperial Concubine Hui, giving their family even more power. It’s hard not to guess that the local government is probably all run by the Liu family, completely living their lives as the local tyrant.
Xie Lin Lang took out a fan from who knows where and started fanning, wrinkling her eyebrows at the group of people attempting to snatch a common girl not far in the distance.
In the Capital, it had been a very long time since someone dared to bring their drama in front of Xie Lin Lang, because whoever had tried it all knew that once she set her eyes on them, she would investigate it. And once she investigated, the matter will be amplified, and once it’s amplified, it becomes impossible to round up without creating a big scene.
And what’s even more maddening was that no matter how big the problem became, in the end, Xie Lin Lang was never the one to be punished.
She closed her fan and said, “Xiao Xi, go save that girl.”
Xiao Xi was a little hesitant, “GongZi, aren’t we being pursued by a lot of people right now? Is it really alright to be so conspicuous?”
But Xie Lin Lang wasn’t so worried, “What are you panicking for, save the girl first. After you rescue her, go…”
She leaned and whispered.
Hearing her words, Xiao Xi nodded his head repeatedly. With a light step, he easily departed from the carriage.
Stepping over the crowd of people and kicking with his feet, he easily sent the group of thugs surrounding the girl rolling on the floor!
The sudden appearance of Xiao Xi startled the silk pants-wearing person who was in the process of snatching the girl. Before he could blurt out any order, a thin sword was already placed on his neck!
“Let the girl go!”
The lavishly dressed Liu Second* GongZi immediately let go unwittingly. The hired thugs next to him finally managed to get off the ground, but seeing the situation, they didn’t dare to act rashly either, only yelling weakly from the sidelines.
*He’s ranked the second oldest in his immediate family.
“Let go of the childe!”
The moment he let go, the girl who was caught immediately ran for her life, not even caring that she left a shoe behind.
Seeing his captured prey flee like that, Liu Second GongZi openly glared at Xiao Xi and roared, “Who are you? How dare you get in my business! Do you not know who I am? I am the second direct* descendant of the Liu family! My aunt is the newly emerging Imperial Concubine Hui!”
*Someone born from the primary wife, as ancient Chinese men had multiple wives.
The moment he finished that sentence, Xie Lin Lang heard the curtains behind her being lifted. Panicked, she immediately pulled it close. As she pulled, she also added, “Don’t look, don’t look. He’s just a nobody. He clearly hasn’t experienced the real world yet. We’re currently fugitives, you’re not allowed to kill anyone!”
Seeing her like this, the Qin Jue who was blocked behind the curtains was a little dumbfounded.
At this moment, someone from the crowd quietly whispered.
“Ever since that woman from the Liu family became the favored concubine, the family’s got their butt up in the air, especially this Liu Second GongZi! In the past, when he tormented women, it was only toward the servants in his household. But now, there’s no one stopping him even when he’s snatching women on the streets. I heard that last month, he kidnapped seven women back home. Four of them didn’t even survive the next day and their bodies were dumped into the wild. If it wasn’t for the passerby today, this young lady wouldn’t be much better off either!”
Another passerby answered worriedly, “I wonder who this swordsman is. The Liu family is very hard to deal with. If he doesn’t have someone backing him up, it’s possible that the Liu family will end up involving his family too…”
While the others spoke, Liu Second GongZi was also releasing his unending threats toward Xiao Xi; threats along the lines of having a horrible death without proper burial, hoping his family will suffer terribly, and all the things that Xiao Xi was already sick of hearing so much about…
In the Capital, he had sabotaged the marquis’ gambling house and had set the duke’s gold melting factory on fire under Xie Lin Lang’s command. Compared to these threats, the threats he received then were way more extreme, yet he was still standing here fine and well, so what’s a fancy pant-wearing boy got on him?
Xiao Xi’s sword only pressured closer, discontinuing the boy’s flustered string of rambling threats, and whispered, “Why would I care about the Liu family? I’m from Capital City’s Xiao marquis’s family. If you’re not satisfied, come find me at the marquis’s house! Do you think I’d be scared of you?”
Done speaking, he finished with a kick aiming at his ribs.
Sure enough, following the sound of something breaking, Liu Second GongZi, who had been blinded by alcohol and women, immediately flew far away.
His thugs promptly went to help him up. Taking this opportunity, Xiao Xi had already flown over the crowd of people into the distance.
“What are you waiting for? G…Go after him!”
The Second GongZi’s face was deformed due to the broken bones, yet he was still yelling at his people to go after him. Whoever dared to go against someone in the Liu family in the WangJiang prefecture was obviously tired of living!
A few thugs immediately chased after Xiao Xi while Liu Second GongZi was helped up and to be brought towards a clinic.
The crowd immediately began to disperse in fear of suffering retaliation from being near Liu GongZi when he was in a bad mood…
But being able to hit someone from the Liu family and still leave unscathed like that, the swordsman wearing a light green robe from earlier was certainly impressive!
Xie Lin Lang was very satisfied with Xiao Xi’s performance. Not only did he fight fast and ended the conflict fast, but he also didn’t leave any evidence. Xiao Xi was certainly getting smarter and smarter.
Just when she was getting ready to leave, the sound of something dropping was heard. Her carriage immediately went from the regular dusty panels to the original elegant appearance!
This quickly caught the attention of the bunch of Liu family people who were weakly walking each other to safety. They were shocked! They had never seen a horse carriage as advance as this!
When Liu Second GongZi saw the carriage, his gloomy, ruthless eyes scanned and sized up Xie Lin Lang who was standing outside of the carriage.
With fury in his voice, he demanded, “Get the fuck out. Can’t you see that I’m hurt? Your carriage is mine now, go ask the Liu family if you want money!”
As he spoke, the people by his side immediately walked forward, with an attitude of seizing the carriage by force either way.
Xie Lin Lang was dumbfounded. Since when was this okay to do?!
Before she could react, Qin Jue had already taken their luggage and exited the carriage. He appeared very sickly, holding onto Xie Lin Lang’s hand the moment he got out.
“Lin Lang*, since Liu GongZi is injured, let’s just let him use the carriage.”
*When people call each other just by their first name, it typically signifies a close relationship and endearment.
“You…” She glared at him, so upset she couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.
Seeing how acquainted they were, Liu Second GongZi told his men to drive them off and headed into the carriage.
His whole body was aching and sore; he didn’t have time to waste on these irrelevant peasants. However, this carriage was quite interesting, it even had hidden mechanisms, and the insides were also surprisingly comfortable and very suitable to his tastes.
After he laid down, as he clutched onto his injuries and yelled in pain, he was also thinking viciously about how he’ll definitely weed out the person that hit him and make sure that his corpse will be torn to millions of pieces!
And that slut from earlier as well. If it wasn’t for her stubbornness causing such a scene, he wouldn’t have to encounter that meddlesome boor. He decided: no one from her family will escape punishment!
Seeing the carriage that originally belonged to her get driven off into the distance, Xie Lin Lang stood holding her bag of luggage on the side of the road, not knowing how she should be reacting at this moment.
People glanced at them with sympathy as they passed by. The carriage obviously seemed like it was worth a lot of money and was very unique. Now that it was stolen by someone from the Liu family, they couldn’t even go ask for payment. Because if they did go, they would only get beaten up.
Qin Jue saw her just standing still, slightly lifting his eyebrows, he said deliberately, “Lin Lang, I was just thinking that your carriage was too big of a target, easy for the pursuers to discover. That’s why I gave it to them. You’re not blaming me, right?”
Xie Lin Lang took a deep breath and gritted her teeth seeing how his face was fully content and delighted.
“How could I blame you? Hey, did you ever clean up that poison you were making?”
He signaled the luggage carried on his back, “It’s all here. Don’t worry, I won’t poison people so carelessly.”
“Then, did you clean up the poisonous powder that was spilled all over the rug?”
He immediately looked at her with speechlessness in his eyes, “Powder that thin? How would I possibly clean all that up?”
Alright, she finally understood the situation. Clearly, he was just playing with her!
Once Liu Second GongZi gets into an accident, they’d have to leave WangJiang Prefecture immediately! Dammit, she hasn’t even gotten to eat a warm meal yet!