Chapter 376

Urgent knocking on the door, the familiar gatekeeper.

But the attitude was different!

Previously, the gatekeeper, following Su Qiao's instructions, had treated Cui Linyu with great kindness, very warmly.

Now, seeing him, although he did not immediately drive him away,

he acted very coldly.

"I am looking for your Master, Su Qiao!"

Cui Linyu said to the gatekeeper, somewhat anxiously.

"Wait!"

The gatekeeper slammed the door shut with a "Bang!", expressionless, tone cold.

Completely different from his previous attitude.

Cui Linyu felt insulted, but could only endure it for the moment.

Liu Ruzi was brewing tea for Su Qiao in the courtyard. "You ordered the gatekeeper to do that; aren't you worried Cui Linyu will be enraged and humiliated?"

"Hehe, I did it on purpose to provoke him. He has a backup plan. I don't believe he came to Jingcheng with only himself and seven or eight subordinates; that would be too honest. Even that General Li Kangcheng couldn't defeat the King of Joseon."

Su Qiao took the tea and explained with a smile.

Liu Ruzi was very smart and reacted extremely quickly; she just didn't want to get involved. "Are you saying he has hidden people? You deliberately provoked him, wanting him to act from the shadows. Isn't that too dangerous?"

Sensing Liu Ruzi's concern, Su Qiao patted her hand. "Rest assured, arrangements were made long ago. His backup plan might be eliminated before it even moves. I have made complete preparations; I estimate he will arrive soon."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Ma Kui stood at the courtyard gate and shouted: "Mr. Su, Vice Envoy Cui has arrived!"

"Speak of the devil, and the devil appears. How fast! Take him to the side hall; I will go see him."

Su Qiao waved his hand and said.

Cui Linyu entered Su Fu again, but his state of mind was different from his many previous visits.

At this moment, his heart was a mix of emotions, mostly worry and anger.

He felt Su Qiao had deceived him and set a trap!

"Young Master Su, you should know the result of today's matter. Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

As soon as Cui Linyu saw Su Qiao, he couldn't suppress his emotions; anger made him stand up and confront Su Qiao directly.

Su Qiao paid no attention to his angry appearance.

Instead, he sat on the chair with a smile. "Vice Envoy Cui, your words are beyond my understanding. You previously begged me to help you speak well on your behalf, and I did. The result failed; that was your own stupidity. What do you mean by coming to me now?"

"Return the money! You said back then that if it failed, you would return the money. Besides, don't say you helped. I was anxious and confused before, but I am not stupid. You have been deceiving me all along!"

When he said this, Cui Linyu roared it out.

Hearing this, Su Qiao burst into laughter. "Vice Envoy Cui, are you too naive? First, regardless of success or failure, we are even. Second, don't forget this is the capital of Great Ming, not the capital of your Joseon Dynasty!"

"You..."

Cui Linyu glared angrily at Su Qiao, unable to stop himself from lunging forward.

Ma Kui suddenly appeared beside Su Qiao.

This made Cui Linyu calm down.

"There is a saying in your Central Plains: 'Leave a way for others, and you will meet again later!' Does Young Master Su intend to leave no room for compromise?"

"Think whatever you like. Su Fu does not welcome you now. If you want me to act again in the future, you must bring money!"

Having said all this in one breath, Su Qiao didn't even look at him, turned his head, and said: "Show him out!"

"Yes!"

Ma Kui went straight to Cui Linyu's side, stared at him fiercely, and said coldly: "Please!"

Cui Linyu was so angry his face turned purple; the look in his eyes directed at Su Qiao was full of malice.

He hated Su Qiao more than anything.

But in front of Ma Kui, he could only endure and leave for the moment.

After Cui Linyu was escorted out of Su Fu by Ma Kui, Su Qiao finally let out a sigh of relief and sat on the chair in the main hall.

He had deliberately angered Cui Linyu just now.

Deliberately provoked him.

Only this way could Cui Linyu act without Gu Ji, going all out to fight him.

All hidden forces would be exposed.

That night, Su Qiao made preparations, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard kept watch on Cui Linyu.

At night, Su Qiao and Liu Ruzi were not in Su Fu, but hid in the mansion opposite Su Fu.

Many Embroidered Uniform Guard members were ambushing inside Su Fu!

Just waiting for Cui Linyu to bring his people into the trap!

Cui Linyu had gone to many places this afternoon.

To be honest, this fellow is truly a cunning rabbit with three burrows; he is too good at hiding.

Only because the Embroidered Uniform Guard had already deployed across the entire Jingcheng could there not be a loophole allowing him to escape.

Moreover, it was not just the dozens of people in that one courtyard investigated before.

Roughly calculating in total, this Cui Linyu gathered no fewer than two hundred men.

So many people were skilled fighters; in Jingcheng, they could do quite a lot of things.

Especially for raiding private residences; even an ordinary Duke Prefecture could not withstand a raid by so many people.

Su Qiao felt cold sweat running down his back. "Have the Wucheng Military Command been notified? Make sure not a single person escapes! These poisons must be cleaned up today!"

Ma Kui nodded and said, "Rest assured, Mr. Su. With the prepared against the unprepared, we've made so many preparations—if a single fish still slips through the net, we might as well quit the Embroidered Uniform Guard altogether."

"Then it's settled, I'll leave it to you. I'll wait for the result. It's best not to kill Cui Linyu—capture him and lock him up; there are still things to be extracted from him."

........ 0

Su Qiao gave a word of caution, then turned and left.

Cui Linyu truly hated Su Qiao down to the marrow of his bones.

He personally led his men, faces masked, short blades in hand, and launched the assault on Su Fu.

First they climbed over the wall, and then came the sounds of screams and the clash of fighting.

The front gate was smashed open, the back gate was blocked off—it was nothing short of an attempt to wipe out Su Qiao's entire household.

Liu Rushi hid in Su Qiao's arms, trembling with fright, wanting to look yet not daring to.

Her eyes were red as cherries.

"What's wrong? You're not the sort to get sentimental!"

Su Qiao said, teasing her with a grin.

Liu Rushi stretched out a small fist and thumped Su Qiao once. "It's not that I'm being sentimental—it's that I'm heartbroken over all those flowers and plants I worked so hard to put together in the inner courtyard. I specially gathered every one of them, and now with this bunch of people charging in, I have no idea how many will be left in the end."

"So that's what you're heartbroken over?" Su Qiao burst out laughing at her words.

"Of course I'm heartbroken—after all, it cost silver and took a lot of thought!"

"Fine, I'll help you gather more later."

"Quite a few of them are southern varieties—you can't find a complete set of them up north."

Liu Rushi's heart stirred for a moment, then she shook her head and said.

Su Qiao gave a faint smile, looking utterly inscrutable. "Can't say for sure. In a while, we just might be heading south!"

"Heading south—going south?"

Liu Rushi, upon hearing this, couldn't help but sit bolt upright at once.

She truly did miss the scenery of the southern Jin Ling, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Hangzhou and such. three.

230, Cui Linyu killed himself!

Just as Su Qiao and Liu Rushi were chatting here.

Cui Linyu, face masked and bristling with murderous energy, personally raised his blade and led his band of thieves charging toward the inner courtyard.

The whole way through, unimpeded!

The entire Su Fu was as silent as a haunted house.

Given that Cui Linyu and his men had planned a stealthy surprise attack, the sounds of fighting were this loud—there's no way the people inside the residence weren't alarmed.

There's no way on earth they could have slept through it and not heard, right?