ebookland Chapter 256 Shake people
Chapter 256 Shake people
Ye Kang dismissed the group of young masters and then continued his body tempering without a care in the world.
It's true that people call him a body-tempering maniac. He finds that the more he tempers, the better it feels, especially after he completely refines the precious plant. The physical comfort is immense, making it irresistible.
Meanwhile, Zhou Xun led a group of young masters straight to the Duke's mansion.
He needs to call in reinforcements!
The Great Jin Dynasty was founded on military strength. The first group of generals who followed Emperor Taizu in conquering the country were naturally granted titles and ranks. Among them, ten generals made outstanding military achievements and were given the title of Ten Pillars of State.
These ten dukes were not subject to any rule, and while they did not wield overwhelming power, their status was second only to the emperor.
Of course, these were the first batch of dukes; now the titles are inherited by their descendants, and their power has declined accordingly.
For example, the Duke of Wei in Qiantang City had a reputation that outweighed his actual power, making him almost like a prince with no real authority.
However, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. The Duke of Wei's mansion has a deep foundation and also supports a large number of assassins and martial artists. Even the Qinglin Guard does not dare to easily investigate the Duke's affairs.
Zhou Xun rushed straight into the mansion. Taking advantage of the Duke's favor, he did not announce his arrival but went straight to the back garden, where he found the Duke of Wei watching the beautiful concubines dance.
"Uncle! Xun'er has been beaten! Please, Uncle, do justice for Xun'er!"
Zhou Xun's acting skills came to the fore; he knelt down without hesitation and wept bitterly, displaying an extremely pitiful performance.
Duke Zuo Mingyue of Wei immediately frowned.
"Xun'er, who hit you again?"
"Uncle, please understand! This time it really wasn't Xun'er who started the trouble. It's just that I finally got to go out, so I invited a few friends to visit the West Lake Pavilion. I was thinking of personally catching a few big lake trout to go with your drinks, but someone took advantage of his strength and forcibly occupied my private room and even knocked me into the lake!"
Zhou Xun twisted the hem of his clothes while crying.
With a single twist, water would spill onto the floor. Of course, this was because he had deliberately poured a bucket of water on the floor before entering the room to achieve this effect.
Zuo Mingyue leaned back lazily in the recliner, while his young and beautiful concubine fed him grapes.
He waved his hand: "I know, take a few people and handle it yourselves."
Zuo Mingyue knew what kind of person Zhou Xun was, and she suspected that things were not quite the same as what he said.
But it doesn't matter. Asking too many questions is exhausting. Just get the person out of there.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun immediately stood up excitedly, thanked him repeatedly, and then went to the front yard to look at the group of retainers who were exercising.
After all, it's the Duke's mansion. Having thousands of retainers is no problem at all, and there are countless experts among them. Just a few of them would be enough to give that person a hard time.
"Mr. Han, please come with me."
Zhou found a man dressed as a clerk and respectfully bowed.
Han Xiu is a disciple of the Golden Mouth Diviner, possessing exceptional divination skills for seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune.
He is a top expert at the ninth level of the initial realm, ranking among the top ten among the thousands of disciples.
Most importantly, this person is acquainted with Zhou Xun, so with him taking action, things will definitely go smoothly.
As expected, Han Xiu didn't say anything, but simply said to the back, "Dazhuang and Erzhuang, let's go together."
Two burly, bare-chested men, as strong as bears, followed with their hands clasped in front of them.
Zhou Xun was immediately delighted and said, "I'm so sorry to trouble you, Mr. Han. Don't worry, I'll treat you all to the entire Fengyu Tower tonight."
Han Xiu shook his head: "I am not interested in women, so Young Master Zhou need not say more. I will help you because I have calculated that today is different from usual. Whether it is auspicious or inauspicious is still unknown, but the variable should be in Young Master Zhou's matter."
Zhou Xun looked bewildered; he couldn't understand any of this. He simply said, "Then I must treat you to a meal, sir. How about the deluxe special edition West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce?"
"No need. Even dogs wouldn't eat West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce."
"Well... that's true."
Without saying another word, the four headed straight for the West Lake Pavilion.
As Han Xiu left, several plainclothes scouts quietly relayed a message outside the Duke's mansion.
Soon, the Qinglin branch learned of what had happened at the Duke's mansion, and the branch manager took the intelligence and headed straight for the garrison.
"Lord White Stork, Han Xiu from the Duke of Wei's residence has gone out!"
"Oh? He still dares to go out at a time like this?"
The white stork, which was writing a case file, became interested.
"The White Lotus rebels always manage to cover their tracks when they launch large-scale operations. This time, they even managed to deceive all our scouts. No one would believe it if we said that they didn't have the help of a divination expert."
"What you say is true, sir. Han Xiu is a disciple of the Golden Mouth Divine Calculator and is highly suspicious. However, it seems that he went out this time to stand up for the Duke's nephew."
"A ninth-rank expert standing up for a spoiled brat? What's going on?"
The steward immediately recounted what had happened at the West Lake Pavilion. Upon hearing that Ye Kang was the one living there, the white stork was completely dumbfounded.
"Ye Kang? That deputy commander of the Imperial City Guard who's been ordered by the emperor to go around begging for money?"
"That's him."
"That's strange. Xi Yuan has been looking for him for ages. When did he enter Qiantang City?"
"Even the scouts don't know."
The white stork fell into deep thought.
He knew that Ye Kang was just trying to gain experience in various branches, since he had received orders from above. He had previously thought Ye Kang was just a slacker.
However, he made great contributions in the battle against the Jiao King in Poyang Lake and was highly appreciated by Xi Yuan, which changed Bai Guan's opinion of him.
Now that he heard that Ye Kang had gone up against the Duke's Mansion, Bai Guan couldn't help but smirk.
“Interesting. Our people are following us at all times, but make sure we don’t get discovered. Report back to me immediately.”
"Aren't you going to lend Lord Ye a hand?"
“We won’t help. He came to Qiantang City but didn’t even come to see us, so naturally we know nothing about him.”
"That makes sense, I'll go then."
After the steward left, the white stork immediately took out the intelligence about Ye Kang and Han Xiu and fell into deep thought.
……
Soon, Zhou Xun and his three companions arrived at the West Lake Pavilion.
The manor's guards had already surrounded the area and dispersed the pedestrians.
On the balcony of Langhua Residence, Dai Huanhuan looked expectant, while Lu Wentao stood to the side, his face pale.
"It's over, it's over! Those are guards from the Duke's mansion. Zhou Xun has brought people from the Duke's mansion!"
"Yes, and I brought a few pretty strong ones with me."
"What should we do then! Miss Dai, you must go and talk to Young Master Ye and make him apologize. We can't afford to offend the Duke's mansion!"
"I'm not going, you have to go yourself."
Dai Huanhuan shook her head.
Lu Wentao was speechless. If he could have gone in, he would have gone long ago.
Seeing Zhou Xun walking towards him menacingly, his face was filled with despair.
Is my West Lake pavilion, which I've cultivated for so many years, really going to be destroyed today...?
"You inside! Come out! You dare to touch Zhou Xun? You've gone too far! Today I'll show you what the words 'Duke's nephew' really mean!"
Zhou Xun suddenly launched into a tirade against Yan Xilou. As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of true energy struck, instantly lashing out at his right cheek.
Snapped!
With a crisp, loud bang, Zhou Xun was sent spinning around a dozen times in mid-air by the sudden slap, flying dozens of meters away.
Blood and knocked-out teeth littered the ground, a gruesome sight.
The scene fell silent.
Everyone was stunned and motionless.
"What...what happened?!"