Chapter 257: The Road Ahead

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Before long, Wang Fuqi emerged from the inner courtyard into the front courtyard with two men in tow.

The front courtyard was the open space just inside the main gate. Because the ground was paved with bluestone slabs, Wang Fuqi's front courtyard was rather extravagant — in this rural area, it carried a certain high-class air.

The fishermen from Chengwei Village, who had visited Wang Fuqi's home many times, were already familiar with the layout and had placed their fish baskets in the front courtyard, waiting for the owner to come out and inspect the goods.

Wang Fuqi was actually not very old, only in his early thirties. He was tall and lean, with a gaunt, sharp-featured face. A sapphire-blue brocade robe hung loosely and flapped around his frame like a bamboo pole. All in all, he had the look of a born villain — a thoroughly unlikable character.

After arriving in the front courtyard with his two ruffians, Wang Fuqi saw that the visitor was none other than Yu Chengde and couldn't help but laugh heartily. "Old Yu! The moment I take your daughter, you crawl right out of your hole. I don't believe for a second you were out at sea — more like you sneaked off to Deyue Tower for a few days behind your wife's back! Ha!"

As soon as Wang Fuqi finished speaking, the surrounding thugs burst into raucous laughter. Yet Yu Chengde, the target of their mockery, showed no reaction whatsoever — his ruddy face remained as still as an ancient well. After standing there dumbly for a moment, waiting until the ruffians around him had stopped laughing, he fixed his gaze on Wang Fuqi and asked a single question: "All the fish from the sea voyage are here. Where is Third Sister?"

"Your family's in luck — that wench is still locked up in the back room." Wang Fuqi first took a long, satisfied drag from the copper tobacco pipe in his hand, then unhurriedly continued, "But this bit of salted fish won't settle the account. Old Yu, Third Sister was taken against that thirteen-tael debt. We're neighbors, after all — you can't expect me to take too big a loss, can you?"

"If it's not enough, I've also brought a family heirloom."

"A family heirloom? Now that I've got to see!" Wang Fuqi's eyes narrowed the moment he heard those words, his interest thoroughly piqued.

Yu Chengde wasted no more words. He stepped forward two paces, and as he walked, he drew the military spike from behind his back. Then, with effortless ease, he plunged it into Wang Fuqi's left side, just below the ribs.

Yu Chengde had planned this blade for a long time, so he didn't use much force — and he pulled the knife out again very quickly.

Yet by this point, Wang Fuqi could no longer even speak. With his liver punctured, he was hemorrhaging badly, but the spike had missed his heart and other vital spots. So instead of dying, Wang Fuqi was still full of frantic energy, clutching his wound and rolling wildly on the ground — he probably had about five more minutes to live.

The very moment Yu Chengde pulled out his blade, the six fishermen behind him also flipped over the fish baskets... Only the top layer was covered with salted fish; underneath, the baskets were empty, holding knives and axes.

After pulling out their blades and axes, the ragged fishermen didn't hesitate for an instant, swinging their weapons straight at their opponents' heads and necks. In the first breath, five of the surrounding circle of thugs and ruffians were cut down. By the time the remaining three realized what was happening, the second blade was already slashing toward them.

After stabbing Wang Fuqi, Yu Chengde left the man writhing on the ground. Without pausing for a moment, he stepped over the body and headed straight for the back courtyard.

People like Wang Fuqi were, in essence, civil servants.

Unlike the old landlords who lived in clan clusters with dozens or hundreds of tenant farmers under their command, men like Wang Fuqi got by on the system. Strip away that institutional shell, or put them up against opponents who no longer submitted to the system, and their fatal weakness was laid bare: they had no real hard power.

Had this been the compound of any landed gentry, Yu Chengde and his men would never have made it out the gate after pulling this stunt. But at Wang Fuqi's house, they could: just like those yamen runners who strutted around so arrogantly every day, once stripped of their official backing, they were nothing but ordinary working stiffs — they didn't have hundreds of men around to protect them at all times.

The scene descended into utter chaos. The gang of thugs who styled themselves the big shots of Shuixiu Town were hacked down in short order by the very fishermen they usually bullied and abused. Meanwhile, Yu Chengde had already stepped through the gate into the second courtyard.

After stabbing an oncoming household servant dead with one thrust, Yu Chengde shouted at the top of his lungs, "Third Sister! Daddy's come for you!" as he pressed further inside. By now, the womenfolk of the Wang household, having heard his shouts, came rushing out of the house.

Spotting a middle-aged woman in gaudy red and green, fat-headed and big-eared, emerge from the main hall, Yu Chengde charged forward without a word and stabbed her. Before the maidservant who had witnessed the carnage could open her mouth to scream, a blood-dripping military spike was pressed against her neck. "Speak. Where is the captured girl being held?"

The girl turned out to be a remarkable one. First, she extended a trembling hand and pointed at the door of the wing room. Then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted dead away on the spot.

Just then, four of the fishermen who had finished off the thugs came running in from the outer courtyard. Seeing them, Yu Chengde pointed at the one leading the group — his nephew — and shouted, "Chushui, with me! The rest of you, search the main hall for silver!"

With a loud bang, the wing-room door was kicked open, and the two Yu men charged inside. Once in the room, they looked closely and saw their daughter: a cloth stuffed in her mouth, her hands bound behind her back to the bedpost, staring at them with tear-filled eyes, whimpering ceaselessly.

Third Sister was a typical fisherman's daughter — round face, big eyes, wheat-colored skin. She was the youngest child in the Yu family, only fifteen now. In their family, girls weren't given formal names; she had been called Third Sister since childhood.

Since Wang Fuqi's original plan had been to sell Third Sister to a brothel in town, the girl hadn't suffered much after being captured — if a person was beaten, the "merchandise quality" would suffer, and the madam would haggle down the price.

After bursting into the room, Yu Chengde tore the cloth gag from Third Sister's mouth in one motion, then cut the ropes binding her hands and feet. He helped his wailing daughter onto Yu Chushui's back... Her limbs numb and sore, hungry and terrified, the girl could do nothing now but be carried.

After charging out of the wing room, Yu Chengde shielded his nephew as they headed out, shouting twice toward the main hall to signal the men inside to stop messing around — getting away was the priority.

A few minutes later, as the three of them reached the main gate, the two fishermen carrying flower-print cloth bundles on their backs caught up from behind. At the same time, following the plan they had agreed on beforehand, the rear guard had set fire to the back residence of Wang Fuqi's house.

After a brief rest and reorganization at the main gate, once the rear-guard man came running over, all seven let out a single shout. Covered in blood, with black smoke rising from the back residence behind them, they burst out through the gates of Wang Fuqi's home.

At the dilapidated wooden dock in Chengwei Village, two unanchored fishing ships waited anxiously for their returning people.

According to the plan made beforehand, all the village's elderly and weak were now gathered on the larger ship, the Green Fish: if Yu Chengde and his men did not return, then Monkey was responsible for taking Yu Sibao and the others to Dayuan... this way, the Yu family line would at least be preserved.

Fortunately, Heaven never bars all paths. When the elderly and weak had waited until six in the evening, a young attendant who had been lying in ambush at the village entrance finally came running back, waving his arms and stomping his feet in excitement: "Uncle Yu and the others are back!"

Not long after, both ships set sail, their destination clear: reach Luci before nightfall.

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