Liu Zhenqing stiffened and immediately looked up at Huo Fenglie, who noticed his reaction and reached out to support him with worried and questioning eyes.

And Liu Zhenqing hesitated for a moment before saying softly: “I saw the vice president of the southern branch of the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce. If I remember correctly, he is indeed involved in a section of the river transportation business.” If he hadn’t participated in the family assessment, he wouldn’t have seen this.

Huo Fenglie frowned. “He must transport the food and broken silver.”

Liu Zhenqing’s heart sank. It seemed that he had transported the assassins from before to the capital and infiltrated the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce, doing a lot of things to deceive others.

Sure enough, the Old Master was elderly, and the two uncles were just frogs in a well. They only knew how to fight for the power in front of them, and had not carefully reviewed the matters of the Chamber of Commerce. This allowed the villains to take advantage of a loophole.

“Catch him,” Liu Zhenqing whispered.

The Liu family had been arrested in the name of the Imperial Examinations, so only the actual members of the Liu family had been taken. The chamber of commerce was too big to implicate, so the emperor hadn’t taken action for the moment. Many businesses were still running, but the president was not there, and the vice president was still in charge of the overall situation. Unexpectedly, they had caught him on the spot.

Just as he spoke, the party below seemed to have come to an end, and everyone was enjoying themselves. As soon as the leader clapped his hands, they saw his subordinates open the doors and push women in white clothes and veils to stagger inside. There were dozens of them. Faint sobbing could be heard, but it was covered up by the lively music.

“Everyone, look, these are the young girls we just collected. They are very clean. I wish you a good time tonight.”

“Leader, don’t let it get too out of control when the time comes. It is unsightly when they get bloody,” one person said.

“Ai, you don’t like it, but some people do. I like the strong ones. I’ve prepared beautiful ropes and whips.”

“Don’t worry, everyone. Look at them crying obediently. They were given the choice to either starve to death or behave themselves. The ones whose mouths are gagged are the strong ones. If they still can’t figure it out after everyone has trained them, then forget it.”

As soon as the leader said these words, everyone burst into laughter, as if they had found satisfactory prey.

Although Liu Zhenqing had experienced many terrible things, he was still unable to watch these disgusting things ruin the young girls. The hand that was holding Huo Fenglie’s arm unconsciously clenched down as hard as it could.

Huo Fenglie glanced at Liu Zhenqing and said nothing. When the people below left, the two decided not to take the evidence here for the time being and followed the leader instead.

The leader had a big appetite, and directly picked two girls. One was quiet, while the other struggled wildly.

Following the leader’s footsteps, they came to the inner courtyard. The guards drove the two women into the room to wait, and the leader went to the study first to listen to his men report on the night’s patrol.

Liu Zhenqing quietly waited for some time without speaking, but felt that every minute was very difficult. What was happening to those girls who were taken away now? If he hadn’t seen them, he wouldn’t have thought about them much, but now that he had seen them, he couldn’t be ambivalent. Those who had gone with the leader were of course going to be saved by them, but he also knew that there was nothing they could do about the others.

Just as he was thinking about this, Liu Zhenqing was embraced by Huo Fenglie and they landed under an unguarded hidden windowsill. Liu Zhenqing looked at Huo Fenglie in confusion. 

Huo Fenglie put Liu Zhenqing down and said in a deep voice: “I have observed their patrol routes, and they will not pass through here. You stay here and don’t move. Wait for me for a while.”

Liu Zhenqing said doubtfully: “You want to go to the study? But…..” Liu Zhenqing was about to say that the courtyard was full of guards, and the least likely way to alert others was to wait for the leader to enter the inner room alone.

“I’m going to save those girls.”

Liu Zhenqing was taken aback, and stared at Huo Fenglie in astonishment, his eyes flickering. Logically speaking, the overall situation should be the most important thing, not……

Huo Fenglie explained: “There is enough time. I’ll just knock them all out and lock the doors. It won’t take long.” As he spoke, he gave Liu Zhenqing a firm look. “Someone once said, if you can’t save the people in front of you, how can you save all living beings?”

Liu Zhenqing was stunned for a moment, but before he could react, Huo Fenglie flew away.

Huo Fenglie had listened to that sentence Liu Zhenqing had once said? This was not an unusual statement. They were the words of a young person who was inexperienced in the world, full of heroic intentions, convinced that he was the protagonist of the world. He did not know the heights of the sky and the cruelty of existence. 

Reality would prove that this sentence was very idealistic, so idealistic that it was a bit silly. When you really had everyone in your hands, you would realize that nobody was the protagonist of the world, and there was no protagonist halo to make the journey smooth. There were only extremely heavy burdens, and trade-offs to be made.

But it must be said that when Huo Fenglie left so decisively, Liu Zhenqing felt more at ease than ever before, as if Er-gou had taken away the breath that was stuck in his throat.

Liu Zhenqing didn’t realize that he had a smile on his face. At some point, he heard movement from the window sill next to him. “Mom and Dad, I’m sorry. This daughter will be filial again in the next life.”

Liu Zhenqing was stunned. He immediately stood up and opened the window in front of him to see a woman hanging beside the window sill, her body struggling and swinging wildly.

He immediately leaped over and hugged the girl’s legs, dragging her back in an attempt to save her, but she struggled fiercely. At this moment, he saw a white shape flash in the corner of his eye. The other woman had noticed and come over. He didn’t see the woman rushing to help, but only sensed her raise her hand. In the next second, the tension of the rope loosened. He didn’t know if the rope had been tied loosely or something, but the girl fell down directly. Liu Zhenqing could only hold her awkwardly, but the girl had already lost consciousness when she fell.

Liu Zhenqing quickly looked at the woman, and saw her regarding him calmly. She was rather tall, and he couldn’t see her face clearly because of the veil. She only looked at him with a pair of beautiful eyes.

Liu Zhenqing smiled at once and said: “Young lady, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad person. I’m here to save you.”

The girl raised her eyebrows and had just reached up to remove her veil when there was the sound of footsteps and the door opening from the outside.

This was the inner room’s dressing room, so they wouldn’t be exposed for the moment. Liu Zhenqing sensed that it might be the leader coming in. He quickly shushed the woman, looked around, and found a cabinet. He hid the unconscious girl inside and picked up the cloak on the ground, wrapping it around himself. He said to the calm woman: “Young lady, you can see by my appearance that I’m not a bad person, right? So let’s cooperate to buy time. A great hero will rescue us later, but you don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let that beast take advantage of you, just hide behind me.”

As he spoke, Liu Zhenqing scattered his hair, put on a veil, and did his best to cover himself up. Hiding a dagger in his sleeve, he protected the woman behind him.

Suddenly, he heard the woman behind him whisper: “You’re too tall.”

When he heard this, Liu Zhenqing automatically crouched a bit to lower his height, but suddenly realized that the voice just now didn’t sound feminine.

He wanted to look back, but it was too late.

“Come out from wherever you are, do you still want me to invite you personally?”

Hearing the sound of the leader’s voice accompanied by the door closing, Liu Zhenqing’s heart calmed down. Patting the woman on the arm to comfort her, Liu Zhenqing extinguished the lights in this area, darkening the illumination in the dressing room while impatiently waiting for the leader to come inside.

Because of his disguise and the leader’s drunkenness, he didn’t realize that the person had changed, and he stepped forward to grab Liu Zhenqing’s wrist. “Weren’t you very spirited just now? Why are you quiet? Have you figured it out? Hahaha, it will be to your own benefit to serve this leader well.”

The leader reached out to remove Liu Zhenqing’s veil.

Liu Zhenqing was very experienced when it came to pretending to be a woman, and lowered his head shyly, dodging like a frightened little rabbit. This actually aroused the other person’s interest, and the pulling and tugging was like a game to delay time.

Finally, the leader became impatient and pulled this person into his arms. 

“Come, let me give you a kiss.”

Liu Zhenqing suppressed his nausea, and was about to use this opportunity to press a dagger against the other’s neck.

But before he could thrust the dagger out, the other party grabbed his wrist.

“You!”

Damn it, he didn’t realize he was a martial artist when he saw his sloppy steps.

“You’re courting death!”

The opponent was obviously angered by Liu Zhenqing, and was about to use the dagger to strike back. Facing this move, Liu Zhenqing also remembered the killing move he had learned before and was about to retaliate when a silver light suddenly flashed and a dagger appeared at the leader’s throat. The dagger was instantly stained with blood, and seemed like it was about to cut deeper.

The leader took a sharp breath.

“Shut up! Don’t move!” The sinister voice sounded like a snake crawling in the darkness. It was the woman from just now.

Liu Zhenqing was quickly pushed away by the leader. It was obvious that he wanted to resist the woman, but she was faster and covered the leader’s mouth with one hand from behind. Without blinking, she gripped the dagger and slashed, and three fingers of the hand the leader had raised were cut off. Clearly, only someone with internal strength could do such a thing. 

And the leader’s shrill scream was blocked back into his throat.

“I told you not to move.”

The leader was furious, but also knew he couldn’t fight back. The other party’s martial arts were clearly higher than his.

The dagger was placed back against his neck, and the woman chuckled: “I want you to speak. Just call out obediently and tell all the guards in the outer courtyard to leave. If you dare speak an unnecessary word or if someone breaks in, don’t blame me for cutting off your head and giving it to your father.”

Before the leader could speak, he felt the dagger on his neck bear down again. He was truly frightened now. When the woman let go of his mouth, he could only obey her command and call in embarrassment: “Everyone outside, go away. No matter what sounds you hear, you are not allowed to come in. If you disturb me, laozi will kill you!”

The guards outside looked at each other in confusion. But after all, the leader had the authority, so they could only obey and stay away from the courtyard.

The woman listened silently for a while, then kicked the leader over and said, “Kneel.” When the leader got up awkwardly, he could sense the person standing behind him. Although he didn’t know their position or how close the dagger was to him, the fear still oppressed him and kept him motionless. 

“What are you doing? Don’t kill me. If you want something, I can give you a lot of money, as much as you want.” The leader pretended to be calm.

Liu Zhenqing was presently dumbfounded. This turn of events had happened so fast that he was caught off guard, and the woman in front of him suddenly seemed familiar. Just as he was stunned, he felt a cold wind blow from behind him. 

At the same time, the kneeling man naturally saw the situation behind Liu Zhenqing and watched as a man flew in from the window. His eyes were as sharp as knives, and with a flash of red, he pounced on Liu Zhenqing like a terrifying beast in the late nighttime forest pouncing on its prey. The aura he brought in with him was simply more terrifying than that of the woman threatening him with the dagger.

The woman also saw this scene and was stunned for a moment. Just as she was about to speak, she watched as that person reached out and grabbed Liu Zhenqing’s arm, pulling him suddenly.

Liu Zhenqing felt an overbearing force change his posture. He was frightened, and when he turned around, he beheld a face that was about to freeze over.

Liu Zhenqing couldn’t see the anger and impatience in that face, but instinctively sensed the danger and tried to retreat. But when he realized who had come, his first reaction was to ask, “So fast? You did it? Have you taken care of everything? We haven’t been discovered.”

Huo Fenglie paused, and for a moment, he went along with the other person out of habit.

“En, I took care of it. Everything is fine.” After answering, he had to forcibly suppress his wild emotions after not seeing this person where he left him. He choked and couldn’t help feeling a little aggrieved, although it wasn’t evident in his tone. “You…..why didn’t you wait for me?”

Liu Zhenqing thought Huo Fenglie was blaming him for acting without authorization. After all, without martial arts, it would be easy to alert someone, but he couldn’t turn a blind eye at that time. He could only briefly explain the situation and then glance at the strange woman who knew martial arts.

Huo Fenglie seemed to be interested in seeing who the woman was. When he came in, he had just instinctively determined if the situation was okay and then focused all of his attention on Liu Zhenqing. 

When he turned around, Huo Fenglie paused for a moment and his expression became a bit subtle.

Liu Zhenqing was still wondering why the person in front of him looked familiar when he heard the woman say in an unkind tone: “What a coincidence.”

As the woman took off her veil, Liu Zhenqing’s eyes gradually widened. Then he took a sharp breath, and the other’s cold gaze swept over, as if he was saying with his eyes: Dare to laugh? Try it.

Liu Zhenqing swallowed his laughter, realizing that the person in front of him was actually Qin Yu disguised as a woman.

It wasn’t that Liu Zhenqing wanted to laugh, but the Qin Yu before him was dressed up so exquisitely, with makeup and powder. Even his lips were painted an extremely bright red. If he didn’t know Qin Yu or wasn’t sure of his voice, he would have thought this was Qin Yu’s sister. Even though he was pretending to be a woman, he didn’t have to sacrifice so much. Were there steamed buns stuffed in his chest?

And it was simply unimaginable that someone with Qin Yu’s temperament would dress up like this.

It was really too shocking. Liu Zhenqing said with a dry smile, “Actually, your disguise is quite good. No wonder you managed to sneak in.” Just as he was curious about why Qin Yu was with the contingent of women, this casual sentence made Qin Yu unhappy, and he seemed to be holding back his anger.

Qin Yu narrowed his eyes and said: “It’s not as good as Young Master Liu’s. With only a veil, this fool became obsessed with you, tugging and playing with you.”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s mouth twitched, and he heard Huo Fenglie beside him say in a deep voice, “What?”

Qin Yu directly told on him. “He even embraced Young Master Liu.”

Liu Zhenqing: I have no face, ah!

This Qin Yu was truly sinister and evil. He usually looked mild and quiet, and was also a bit aloof. But when it was time for him to speak out, he never spoke softly, and specialized in deceiving people.

As soon as he turned around, he found that Huo Fenglie’s face was so dark that he couldn’t look at it.

How strange, Er-gou seemed to be angry? He had thought he would only receive a complicated expression.

A figure suddenly flashed around him, and the leader grunted as his chin was punched. Then a kick broke his arm, and the agonized leader could only make muffled sounds and roll on the ground.

Qin Yu scoffed coldly, and found that Huo Fenglie had already raised his head to look at him. His meaning was obvious: why didn’t you help?

Qin Yu choked, then said with a shrug: “It’s not that I wouldn’t help, but the timing didn’t allow for it. This fellow knows martial arts, and I was afraid of disturbing the situation. I also thought Young Master Liu’s performance was very smooth, so I played it by ear.”

Liu Zhenqing said speechlessly: “I’m a man, so I wouldn’t suffer. I was just buying time.”

However, he saw that Huo Fenglie was still looking at him with disapproval.

And at this moment, the strange sound of a cat’s meow came from the roof.

Then a voice with an obvious smile came: “Has Beauty Qin been captured? Do you want me, the hero, to save the beauty?”

Qin Yu’s expression darkened instantly, and he raised his sleeve to wipe his face.

Liu Zhenqing: Okay, now I know why Qin Yu was holding back his anger.

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Chapter Thirty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty