Chapter 1395

"Garrison Commander Huang was reported by the Qingyang Regent and imprisoned. Who knows how many people he confessed? Xue Zongwu should be worried." Seeing the leopard through the tube, the contradiction between Qingyang and King Yao is already on the table.

Dong Rui said 'ah yo': "Wait, five days after Garrison Commander Huang was convicted, he was executed."

"Yes, I sent people to inquire in the Yao Nation, and there was no further inside information. But connecting these things, there must be something fishy."

Garrison Commander Huang's death, it seems, is also not simple.

He Lingchuan smiled. "But in any case, Xue Zongwu should worry about being targeted by the Grand Regent."

"Didn't he once stand toe-to-toe with Qingyang?"

"That's different; at that time, King Yao stood behind him." He Lingchuan analyzed. "But if Qingyang wants to deal with him, she only needs to seize his criminal evidence, make it public, and then use the power of public opinion to force King Yao."

Xue Zongwu has committed many crimes, but in the past, no one in the Yao Nation dared to do this.

"Dealing with Xue Zongwu is pulling out King Yao's claws; Qingyang is likely happy to do so." He Lingchuan said. "When Qingyang attacks King Yao, she must be righteous and stern, hitting the opponent where they cannot stand on moral and justice grounds. This is called 'righteous and awe-inspiring'."

Just like how he used the Anti-Aging Pill case to hit Qingyang back then.

Some things are just festering scars, just dying in the light.

Of course, it also depends on who the whistleblower is; at least they cannot be easily suppressed by King Yao and Xue Zongwu.

Dong Rui looked at him for a long time and understood a bit: "Borrowing the tiger skin of the Frost Leaf National Teacher wasn't enough, now you want to borrow the great banner of Qingyang?"

He Lingchuan sighed leisurely. "It's still a lack of intelligence; otherwise, I could formulate a better plan."

"Enough idle talk, how exactly are we going to act?"

He Lingchuan said sternly: "If we want to kill Xue Zongwu at Little Peach Shanzhuang, we must make him isolated, cut the number of people around him again and again, preferably leaving only a few."

Making Xue Zongwu alone is too difficult.

Besides, any plan, when executed, is not perfect.

"He enters Little Peach Shanzhuang, two hundred elite soldiers can only bring in ten or twenty; how can there be a chance to be alone later?" Dong Rui shook his head. "The one surnamed Xue is even more cautious than you; I think he likely won't be alone."

"We need to create an opportunity to make him drive away the experts around him." He Lingchuan said in a deep voice. "Since it's his own initiative, he won't be suspicious."

Dong Rui spat: "Can Xue Zongwu obediently listen to your words?"

"He won't listen to my words, but perhaps..." A sharp light flashed in He Ling's eyes. "He will listen to his mentor's words?"

The relationship between Xue Zongwu and Qi Yunsheng is very close; rather than mentor and disciple, they are more like allies.

Allies in officialdom.

"Manager Qian said that Xue Zongwu asks his mentor when he is indecisive." He Lingchuan smiled. "Something happened at Frost Creek, Qian Yu died, the account books were burned; by reason and logic, Xue Zongwu will definitely find Qi Yunsheng to discuss it properly."

"You designed this long ago?!" Dong Rui stared at him. Having been with this person for many years, he still felt it was incredible. "When you burned the account books at Frost Creek, you calculated this in as well?"

"Better safe than sorry." He Lingchuan shrugged. "That was a backup plan. The first plan should have been implemented in Tao River City, but unfortunately, Feng Zhirao was investigated, and Xue Zongwu took a detour."

"..." Dong Rui was speechless, and it took a long time before he said, "Xue Zongwu is already very hard to fight; if his father-in-law also runs out, whoa, mentor and disciple join hands to fight you alone."

Xue Zongwu's skills were all learned from Qi Yunsheng; although he surpassed his mentor, Elder Qi himself must also be a fierce person.

"Then lure the father-in-law away too."

"..." The more they talked, the more boundless it became. Dong Rui believed that if Qi Yunsheng himself were here, he would also be dizzy from He Lingchuan's circling.

When should Qi Yunsheng appear, and when should he leave?

He is the master of Little Peach Shanzhuang, can He Lingchuan summon him at will and dismiss him at will? He Lingchuan also fell into deep thought.

The essence of the plan to assassinate Xue Zongwu lies in the word "fast."

Act fast, succeed fast, and retreat even faster.

Hopefully, this time, there will be fewer accidents.

"Finally, finally arrived at Mangzhou!" The Weng brothers were dusty, both people and horses covered in gray.

As soon as they entered the Mangzhou city gate, the horses automatically squeezed to the trough to drink water, not listening to Weng Xing's commands at all.

Let alone the horses, even iron-forged people were exhausted. Over the past ten days or so, the Weng brothers hadn't had a single day of rest. While Xue Zongwu and He Lingchuan were recuperating and enjoying the wind and waves on the boat, they were still working hard under the boat foreman's surveillance.

Once they got ashore, they rushed to Mangzhou without stopping.

But no matter what, they arrived earlier than Xue Zongwu, so they had more time to make preparations.

The two first found an inn, washed away the dust from their faces, and ordered big fish and meat to their room to soothe their rumbling stomachs.

The hundreds of taels they scraped from Qian Yu were enough for them to eat and drink well for a long time.

"Arrived, finally arrived!" Weng Xing tilted his head and finished a whole cup of wine, only then feeling that his throat was no longer smoking.

Putting down the cup, he let out a long 'ah', feeling that he was saved.

"Back when I was chasing fierce bandits for a thousand li on the Wang River, I wasn't as tired as this time."

This time it wasn't just physical exhaustion, the heart was also very tired; truly physically and mentally exhausted.

"Revenge is never easy." Weng Su grabbed his chopsticks, fiercely poked a large piece of fatty meat, threw it into his mouth, and then washed it down with wine.

He never tired of this kind of rich and thick flavor. "I hope that after the revenge is successful, we still have our lives to get out."

The world is beautiful; he still wants to eat a few more pieces of braised pork.

"What do we do next?" Weng Xing started gnawing on a duck leg, speaking indistinctly.

"On our way into the city, how many powerful figures were traveling with us, also from out of town?"

Weng Xing had actually counted: "Seems like seven or eight teams? They all have family emblems painted on their carriages, very easy to recognize."

"Since they've come, they'll likely go to visit Qi Yunsheng." Weng Su had been thinking seriously along the way. "The Qi mansion is very lively recently."

"Ah, right. And then?"

"Lively places have many people. Places with many people, then..."

"Then?" The duck leg was truly delicious, not dry or hard, the sauce was just right.

"Then it's easy to cause chaos!" Weng Su glared at his younger brother. "This is a major matter, can you pay more attention and let's discuss it properly?"

"I, I'm stupid." Weng Xing smiled sheepishly. "Among our three brothers, Big Brother Tu was the smartest, you are second, I'm not good!"

Now that "Big Brother Tu" was dead, the task of using his brain fell on Weng Su.

He sighed. With Big Brother Tu gone, the actions of his two brothers were not going smoothly anywhere. He looked at his younger brother: "Big Brother Tu always said you were blessed, why didn't I see it?"

Weng Xing just chuckled. How would he know?

"If everything in the Qi mansion goes according to plan, we won't have a chance. So, the first step is to make it chaotic!"

Weng Xing blinked: "Wait, how do we sneak into the Qi mansion? You don't have connections on Little Peach Mountain, right?"

"No, but I have other ways!" Weng Su smiled mysteriously. "The Qi mansion will be feasting guests for the next half month. Do you know how many people a high-ranking family like his needs to hire to do the work?"

"Don't know..." Weng Xing was about to say 'don't know' out of habit, but suddenly remembered, "Oh, right, when we were fourteen or fifteen, we worked as short-term laborers at the Zhu family manor! The Zhu family held a wedding and three hundred guests came; they didn't have enough hands and hired forty more!"

"What grade is the Zhu family, can it compare to the Qi mansion? The higher the grade, the more people they need to hire!" Weng Su counted on his fingers. "Even if the Qi mansion receives fifty distinguished guests a night—that's a low estimate—the guards and servants they bring must be at least three or four hundred. Continuing like this for half a month, how many people do you say they receive in total?"

Weng Xing blurted out: "More than six thousand?"

"The Qi mansion's original staff is definitely not enough; they will inevitably hire temporary laborers to help. At that time, there will be unfamiliar faces everywhere in the villa. We just need to appear boldly, and no one will ask who we are."

"Fine, let's do it!" Entering as guests would require identity verification; but entering as short-term laborers should be much easier, right? The two were full of wine and food and fell asleep, calling it recuperating.

This sleep lasted six hours.

Then it was the next day.

Just as Weng Su expected, there was endless work on Little Peach Mountain, and they were constantly recruiting people to help in the mansion.

It was never fully recruited.

But the Weng brothers' infiltration plan encountered a small setback, because—

The Qi mansion didn't accept short-term laborers of unknown origin unless they had a guarantor.

This was also one of the important reasons why the Qi mansion never fully recruited; they preferred quality over quantity.

The Weng brothers were newcomers, standard outsiders, and had ulterior motives; where could they find a guarantor? Who would dare to guarantee them? "Didn't expect the Qi family to be so cautious, even servants have to have their identities verified." Weng Xing was troubled. "Can we still sneak in?"

"We must!" If Xue Zongwu doesn't die, they won't give up.

Weng Su took his younger brother to wander around Little Peach Mountain, then went to the tavern to inquire about news and look for opportunities.

After a whole day, they spent quite a bit of money on wine and meat, and the brothers' bellies were round, but there was still no solution for sneaking in.

Time passed quickly, Xue Zongwu was coming soon, but they couldn't even pass the first hurdle of sneaking into the Qi mansion?

Weng Su was secretly annoyed while comforting his younger brother, when he suddenly saw a few mule carts driving toward the back gate of the villa.

There were several rows of markets outside the back gate of Little Peach Shanzhuang, all living off the villa; over the years, they had formed a small ecosystem. The brothers were sitting in a wine shed in the market, with wine and meat on the table, eating with troubled faces.

The mule carts passed in front of the shed, bringing a fishy wind, with flies buzzing along behind them. Weng Su had sharp eyes and discovered that water was still dripping from under the cart boards.

This was for transporting fresh fish and meat to the villa.

Although Little Peach Shanzhuang is called a "villa," it is actually a luxury mansion within Mangzhou City; rice, flour, meat, and vegetables all have to be purchased from outside, unlike ordinary manors that have their own agricultural production.

Weng Su felt a surge of spirit. Hmm, he had an immature idea.

Happy May Day!

Reporting my May Day itinerary:

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain!!...

Thanks to the reward from the leader 'Yinbing Shinian'.

(End of chapter)