CHAPTER 197: CHAPTER 31: LV YANG CAPTURED

Yu Tuanzi mimicked the call of a cuckoo outside the Gu Family’s courtyard, waiting for Gu Chengyu to come and find him.

Upon hearing Yu Tuanzi’s signature call, Gu Chengyu quietly slipped out of the house. He leaped over the wall effortlessly.

"Young Master! The person has already been taken to that house! Found him in the town’s gambling den; Qian Laizi from the den had caught him, saying he had to deliver Silver tomorrow. When I went, he was saying he could get the Silver by tomorrow! As we were taking him away, the gambling den folks said we still had to send him back."

For the past couple of years, Yu Tuanzi had made a name for himself in this area with a few young followers, and everyone here called him Mr. Yu! So the gambling den paid him some respect.

"Hmm! Tomorrow, take fifty taels of Silver from the pastry shop account and give it to them. Just tell them that this person is ours now!"

Gu Chengyu knew the rules of the gambling den; Lv Yang definitely hadn’t owed fifty taels; it was just that the gambling den had accumulated interest to reach fifty taels.

"Ah? Pay off his debt?" Yu Tuanzi was puzzled, like a monk in confusion; weren’t they supposed to teach a lesson? Why are they paying off the debt?

Gu Chengyu and Yu Tuanzi walked along the small path behind the village, with Yu Tuanzi’s group taking the person into a small courtyard that the Gu Family previously rented. The courtyard was secluded and uninhabited, making it very convenient.

"Of course! After all, he’s my uncle, right?" Gu Chengyu said while his lips curled into a cold smile.

"Steward Yu! You’re here? Huh? The young master is here too?" At this moment, a young boy standing by the door came up; this boy was Ding Er, about the same age as Ding Yi and now followed Yu Tuanzi.

Ding Er stepped forward to pay his respects, "Greetings, Young Master! The man is already inside the room!"

Gu Chengyu nodded, pushed open the door of the house, the dim light of the oil lamp inside was very faint, so as to not be seen by the villagers and attract them. Although it was quite secluded here, it was still better to be cautious.

Inside the house stood three burly men, followers collected by Yu Tuanzi; they had seen Gu Chengyu before, knowing he was the master of Yu Tuanzi. But now, he was also their master.

The three men cupped their hands and called out, "Young Master!"

Gu Chengyu acknowledged them and fixed his gaze on a burlap sack by the table leg. At this moment, the sack was still moving, indicating a living thing inside, which was also making muffled "mmh mmh" sounds.

The leading burly man stepped forward and gave it a kick, "Keep still, or I’ll chop off your hand!"

As he spoke, he stepped forward and untied the sack to reveal the person inside—it was Lv Yang!

"Damn! You woke up quick!" The man who spoke was named Li Zhuang, his name fitting his muscular build.

"Ahem!" Yu Tuanzi pretended to clear his throat, as the young master was a scholar, different from these rough men.

Gu Chengyu did not mind, they were just a bunch of rough guys, though crude, they were loyal!

Lv Yang felt pain all over, not knowing who had taken him from the gambling den, as his hands were tied behind his back, and his mouth was stuffed with rags, he felt a bit scared. His eyes had just adjusted to a bit of light, which felt somewhat dazzling.

His eyes involuntarily shut, suddenly overhearing someone speaking nearby. Opening his eyes to look at the speaker, his eyes widened—wasn’t this the little boy from the Gu Family?

"Lv Yang! Surprised to see me?" Gu Chengyu curled his lips, sitting on a bench wiped clean by Yu Tuanzi.

Gu Chengyu signaled for them to remove the rag from Lv Yang’s mouth.

"So it was you? Why did you bring me here?" As soon as Lv Yang’s mouth was free, he began to shout.

"Why? I warned you during the day, but it seems you didn’t take it seriously. So tell me, what kind of people in this world can’t talk anymore?" Gu Chengyu touched a small Jade Bottle taken from his space, placing it into his sleeve.

He then drew a dagger from his ankle, tapping it in his hand.

"What are you going to do? Don’t do anything stupid!" Seeing Gu Chengyu there already made Lv Yang apprehensive; now seeing the dagger, he was even more terrified. He was never bold, if the gambling den hadn’t pressed him, he would have slipped away after being beaten.

"You now have two choices; either swallow this pill or I’ll send you to the afterlife." Gu Chengyu had lost his patience.

Originally, he wanted to sneak into Lv Yang’s family and settle the matter quietly, but Lv Yang’s family surely knew about this too, he couldn’t possibly kill or silence the entire family, could he? After pondering, he decided to bring Lv Yang out, settle it alone, then send him back to intimidate them!

"What’s this? I won’t eat it!" Lv Yang shook his head like a rattle, this certainly wasn’t anything good.

"Life or the medicine, choose one! Don’t you have two sons? Don’t you want to see them perish along with you?"

"Oh, Xiao Bao! Please spare us? I won’t dare again, really!"

Gu Chengyu poured a pill from the Jade Bottle into his hand, it was a muting pill; Lv Yang liked to talk? Then he would make it so he could never speak again. He flicked the pill directly into Lv Yang’s mouth.

Lv Yang instantly tried to spit it out in horror, but the pill had already slipped down his throat, no matter how much he tried, it wouldn’t come out.

Soon enough, Lv Yang felt his throat burning and painful, opening his mouth in hopes of some relief, wanting to scream from the pain, but once his mouth was open, no sound came out.

He was terrified, eyes wide, tears streaming down as he looked at Gu Chengyu in pleading, hoping for mercy.

"Alright! This is just a muting poison, it won’t end your life! As long as you behave, I won’t take your miserable life."

"Leave this matter to you guys, go easy on him, just let him rest in bed for a week or two! Once it’s done, find someone unfamiliar to take him back to his home at night, warn his family that speaking what they shouldn’t is the end, or they’ll end up like this too!"

The burly men in the room exchanged looks. Before running around with Yu Tuanzi, they were street thugs, used to beating people up; there was no fear in that. Only this little master was ruthless; he muted the man and wanted him beaten too, leaving them with no doubt that if Lv Yang’s family didn’t comply, they might be silenced for good!

They thought, following this young fellow might get them into similar situations. If ordered to kill in the future, would they do it? They were hesitant.

At this moment, Li Zhuang was the first to move. Since choosing to follow, then make the most of it now, who cared about the future? On seeing Li Zhuang act, the other two followed suit.

Gu Chengyu looked at Li Zhuang with satisfaction; this was a decisive man and might be someone to rely on. He pulled a bag of loose silver from his pocket, about a dozen taels, placing it on the dust-covered table beside them, "Thanks for your hard work! Buy yourselves some drinks!"