Chapter 590: Chapter 590: Kill the Man with the Surname Guo

Throughout the journey, he had realized that without these people, he and his son would have died countless times over.

Therefore, he had tried to bribe them the entire way, but those cold black-clad youngsters completely ignored him. When they were annoyed by the noise, they simply gagged them.

Hu Miaomiao’s smile took on a murderous shade as she found the sensation of being bribed quite interesting and asked, “How much wealth do you have? Are you carrying any silver coins on you?”

He Fuchang, upon hearing this question, thought there was hope and joyfully responded, “To answer the lord, there is gold, silver, precious gems, and antiques. You name it, we have it and as much as you desire.”

Ever since the fall of the Lian Family, the He Family had become the wealthiest in town, owning much of the city’s taverns and rural lands—up to seventy to eighty percent were theirs.

He had plenty of silver.

To show his sincerity, he excitedly tore a corner from his inner garment and pulled out a high-denomination silver note, saying obsequiously, “I’ve brought a few silver notes, please kindly accept them. If you can ensure my son and I come out of this unscathed, there is a treasure vault in my house that I am willing to give to you.”

“Oh, you were hiding it quite deeply,” remarked Hu Miaomiao as she took the silver note and her smile became even more cheerful through squinted eyes.

She stuffed it into her bosom and said to the other Shadow Guards, “Search them more thoroughly next time.”

“Yes.”

He Fuchang began to realize something was amiss; the reaction was completely different from what he had anticipated, and he started to look increasingly unsure.

The younger one, He Hao, was almost tormented to death on the road. Now, seeing Hu Miaomiao accept the bribe, he thought there was hope.

He hurriedly said, “Lord, our family’s treasure vault has everything, as long as you kill that Guo… our family’s estates, taverns, and lands—whatever you want to take…”

“Hao’er!” He Fuchang reflexively shouted to stop him. His son had accidentally let slip words that should not have been said.

Only when he saw the smile on Hu Miaomiao’s face did he realize and quickly resumed a humble smile, “Lord, my foolish son was talking nonsense. Our He family are good citizens. We don’t recognize that thief, nor do we know why we’re suffering this wrongful punishment…”

He Hao was both dissatisfied and aggrieved as he said, “Father, didn’t you say that the Guo surname wants to kill our entire family and that you wouldn’t let him off even on Yellow Spring Road? Why are you still covering for him now?”

He Fuchang felt both anger and urgency. His foolish son—previously seeing death imminent, who had much to worry about—had been entrusted with the matter and had cursed a few times privately.

Now that they were safe, these people were not going to kill them, so that past event must not be exposed, otherwise their He Family would be doomed just the same.

“The Guo surname?” Hu Miaomiao watched them with an amused smile, raising her hand to prevent He Fuchang from making any excuses, “No rush, there will be a time for your explanations.”

The death of a Shadow Guard had not yet been accounted for; The He Family’s entire wealth was worthless, not enough to compensate for the life of a single Shadow Guard.

She stopped caring about the two of them and pointed a pudgy finger somewhere not too far off, “Bring those pig cages here. Put them in and tie them up; it’ll stop them from running around. Let’s go.”

“Yes,” the Shadow Guards immediately responded and efficiently brought the pig cages over.

The He father and son struggled and pleaded while being put in the cages.

Never had they endured such treatment. All along the road, despite how dismissively the stern-faced, black-clad young men treated them, they never went so far as to put them in pig cages.

Who would have thought that this seemingly kind and friendly fat man, with a face thick and a heart black, would take the silver without doing the job, treating them like pigs or dogs…

At noon, the Guo residence.

Guo Neng lay comfortably in his reclining chair, pampered by two beautiful servants massaging his back and legs.

He barked at a servant boy, “Go see if they’ve confessed yet.”

“Yes,” the servant boy responded and trotted off.

After a while, the servant boy returned and hesitantly said, “Young master, they haven’t confessed yet…”

“What?” Guo Neng suddenly opened his eyes and impatiently waved the beauties away. Rubbing the jade ring on his left thumb with his right hand, his eyes turned frosty.

The servant boy and the beauties were so frightened they dared not even breathe too loudly.

After a long while, a sinister smile crept across his face, “Very well, he’s got guts. I’ll personally meet with him to see just how tough that old thief’s bones are.”

Having said that, he immediately stood up and strode out of the bedroom, his eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty chill.

The Servant Boy followed closely behind him, step by step.

The two Dead Soldiers at the door followed as well.

These two Dead Soldiers were the most skilled of the Guo residence; with them around, going anywhere was reassuring.

On the way to the dungeon, a dagger pierced through the air from outside the wall, flying towards Guo Neng.

His two stalwart Dead Soldiers abruptly looked up and drew their weapons to block, impaling the dagger into a pillar.

Having just walked back from the brink of death, Guo Neng was still shaken.

Before, the letters had only been shot onto the main gate, but this time it had actually reached inside his residence, despite the long distance, the force was so strong that the dagger, when deflected, embedded halfway into the pillar, with a letter still attached to it.

One Dead Soldier said, “There’s a master!”

The other Dead Soldier took a few quick steps, leaped onto a rockery to gain momentum in an attempt to pursue.

Guo Neng immediately stopped him, “Don’t go, stay here to protect me.”

Inside the residence, these were the only two useful men left; what if it was a ruse to lure the tiger away from the mountain?

The Dead Soldier who had jumped onto the rockery had no choice but to leap back in front of him and respectfully said, “Yes.”

Guo Neng looked at the dagger, his heart still racing, and pointed, “Take it down for me.”

The Servant Boy hurried over, tugged hard for a while, but couldn’t pull it out.

Already irritated, Guo Neng saw this and flew into a rage, marched over, and slapped him away, “Useless fool, get out of the way.”

He knocked the Servant Boy to the ground.

He himself tried to pull it out forcefully, but couldn’t, and the rage in his heart intensified, he then ordered one of the Dead Soldiers, “You do it.”

Finally, when the letter was retrieved, he tore open the seal with a few quick movements and quickly unfolded the paper inside to read.

Before he finished reading, he threw the letter furiously onto the ground, stamped on it hard, his face twisted with ferocity.

After a good while, when he had somewhat calmed down, he finally looked towards the outside of the wall, his expression alternating between dark and light, and in the end, he still had someone pick up the letter to read through the contents inside.

Not far from the Guo residence.

Lian Bao, escorting Qian Chen, moved swiftly.

The power of Qian Chen was indeed extraordinary.

His action today was not about killing Guo Neng, and indeed he could not, otherwise Uncle Ma would certainly die without doubt.

He was merely testing the strength of the Guo residence’s Dead Soldiers, and another purpose was deterrence; letting Guo Neng know that there were top master fighters on his side, aiming for a chance to negotiate terms.

The last purpose was to warn Guo Neng not to fatally harm Uncle Ma, for if he dared, he would face endless revenge from top masters.

The continuous effort turned Lian Bao’s complexion pale, but he couldn’t stop, he had to set up in advance for the night’s trade location.

Inside the Imperial Academy.

Lian Musu rubbed his brow, set down the rare book he was holding, gazed out of the window to take a brief rest, and at this moment, for some reason, he felt a bit unrestful.

To the upper left of the desk were several neatly stacked rare books, to the upper right were prepared ink and brushes, and in the center was a stack of unfolded paper, neatly written with small characters and dry ink, next to the rare book he had just put down and still open.

The content of the rare book was profound and difficult to understand; he had been studying it for the past few days.