Chapter 20: Gongsun Yi's Thoughts, Xie Qingwu's Shock (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Inside a guest room of the Pei Mansion.

"I have failed Brother Mo, my heart is filled with guilt!"

Although several hours had passed since the slaughter at dawn, the murderer Gongsun Yi seemed unable to move on, his heart heavy with remorse, nearly to the point of vomiting blood.

"Senior Brother, you were forced into this, it was all for the sake of Yebai and Lan'er." Liu Yuheng walked over, full of heartache, and gently pulled her husband into her embrace, comforting him as if soothing a child: "Besides, the Mo Fu has been annexing land and acting without benevolence in Tongzhou all these years; you can be considered as acting on behalf of Heaven, there is no need to blame yourself so much."

"It is different, it is different." Gongsun Yi wept bitterly while holding his wife, tears streaming down his face, "Anyone could act on behalf of Heaven against the Mo Fu, but I am the only one who lacks the qualification. Brother Mo has done nothing to wrong me! Yet I slaughtered his entire household for the sake of two disciples; my conscience cannot find peace!"

"Senior Brother!" Aside from the passing of her father, Liu Yuheng had never seen her senior brother cry; she was heartbroken and began to sob along with him, "Senior Brother, my husband."

Although Gongsun Yi was crying, there was actually no emotional fluctuation in his eyes; he wiped the tears from his wife's face and said, "This matter must absolutely not be known to Yebai and Lan'er."

"Mm, mm." Liu Yuheng nodded repeatedly.

"Bang!" The door was suddenly pushed open.

The couple looked toward the sound.

Pei Shaoqing smiled slightly, "Apologies, I am used to being in my own home and forgot to knock, please forgive me. However, it seems I have come at a bad time?"

"Ah!" Madam Gongsun realized belatedly and hurriedly rose from her husband's embrace, a flush of red flashing across her face.

"Master! Mistress!"

Zhao Zhilan supported Jiang Yebai as they walked into the room.

"Lan'er! Yebai!" Liu Yuheng could no longer care about etiquette; overjoyed, she stepped forward to embrace them both.

Gongsun Yi was also very agitated, but he rose first to straighten his robes and bow in thanks to Pei Shaoqing, "Many thanks, My Lord!"

"Call me Young Master from now on," Pei Shaoqing said.

Gongsun Yi followed his lead, "Yes, Young Master."

"Mistress, sob, sob, sob." Filled with grievances, Zhao Zhilan wailed in the arms of the mistress she had always viewed as her own mother, venting all her negative emotions.

"It is alright, it is alright." Liu Yuheng's heart felt as if it were being twisted when she saw the wounds on Jiang Yebai's body, "Lan'er, stop crying for now, help your senior brother to the bed and let him lie down."

"I will send someone to treat his wounds. You will stay here for now; once he has recovered, you may return to Bazhou." Pei Shaoqing paused here and looked at Zhao Zhilan, "However, she must remain by my side to serve and be responsible for our communication."

Since the Iron Sword Sect was loyal to him, they naturally had to send someone to work by his side and take on the role of communication.

"I don't want to!" Zhao Zhilan blurted out, her face deathly pale, as she hid behind her mistress and shivered.

"No!" Jiang Yebai, who had just gotten onto the bed, sat up in shock despite his dying state and volunteered, "I will stay!"

"I only want her," Pei Shaoqing said firmly.

Gongsun Yi was the Sect Leader of the Iron Sword Sect and could not stay by his side long-term, and his wife even less so. If one of the four had to be chosen, compared to a young pugilist like Jiang Yebai, a beautiful young girl full of youthful vitality like Zhao Zhilan was more to his liking.

"Young Master, this girl Lan'er has been spoiled by us since she was small; she does not know how to serve others, and her martial arts are mediocre. I hope you will reconsider." Liu Yuheng naturally did not want her beloved disciple to walk into the tiger's den and looked at her husband for help.

But Gongsun Yi pondered for a moment before replying, "The Young Master's personal selection is Lan'er's honor."

"Senior Brother!" "Master!"

The three people in the room spoke in shock simultaneously.

"It is settled." Gongsun raised his hand.

Pei Shaoqing smiled slightly, dropped the words "Come see me later," turned and left, and pulled the door shut.

Zhao Zhilan said anxiously, "Master, I don't want to stay here, that bastard has ill intentions!"

"Silence! Have you not learned your lesson yet?" Gongsun Yi scolded, then sighed, "Lan'er, you have no idea what a high price your mistress and I paid to save you two this time. Do you think we have the qualification to bargain with him? Be good, just listen."

"Young Master Pei comes from a prestigious family and has received a strict education since childhood. Perhaps he admires your appearance and figure, but if you are unwilling, he certainly will not act recklessly. Besides, he still needs the Iron Sword Sect to serve him; no matter what, he will not go too far. Set your heart at ease."

Jiang Yebai dared not believe these words; he had just witnessed Pei Shaoqing stick his finger into his junior sister's mouth and stir it around. If she were left here, the next thing stuck in there to stir might not be a finger, but something else!

"Master, I beg you, let me stay, you absolutely cannot leave Junior Sister here! I beg you!" He was nearly crying with anxiety and struggled to get off the bed to kowtow.

Gongsun Yi roared, "Silence! Is the trouble you've caused not big enough? Are you the master or am I?"

He sighed inwardly; originally, Lan'er and Yebai were a match made in heaven, but now that Pei Shaoqing might have taken a fancy to Lan'er, such a good opportunity for the Iron Sword Sect was one he certainly could not miss.

"I will stay too!" Liu Yuheng said.

Gongsun Yi turned his head in astonishment to look at his wife.

Liu Yuheng held Zhao Zhilan's hand, bit her red lips, and said, "I will stay to accompany Lan'er. If Pei Shaoqing wants to bully her, he must first get past me!"

After all, she was a beloved disciple viewed as a daughter; facing that unscrupulous fellow Pei Shaoqing, she still could not set her heart at ease, nor did she want to see Jiang Yebai in such pain.

"Mistress!" Zhao Zhilan was deeply moved.

Jiang Yebai no longer objected; if the mistress were accompanying her, he naturally would not be as worried.

Although Gongsun Yi did not want his wife to stay here and hinder Pei Shaoqing from taking Zhao Zhilan, he could not refuse based on his outward stance, "That is also fine."

If Lan'er took the initiative to throw herself into his arms, then the junior sister would have no reason to stop it, right?

…………………………

"Big Brother, why must you keep that little girl?" Ye Hanshuang asked with her eternal icy face.

Pei Shaoqing chuckled and replied, "Of course it is to keep a hostage, and incidentally to serve as a communication tool for contact with the Iron Sword Sect. What else could it be for?"

"I thought you had taken a fancy to her," Ye Hanshuang said faintly, a stiff smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Pei Shaoqing smiled without answering.

While chatting, the two had already entered the small courtyard where he and Xie Qingwu lived alone, and saw her swinging on a swing.

Strands of dark hair rose with the wind, golden hairpins shone brilliantly, jade ornaments clinked like a spring, a smoke-hued bodice dress wrapped around her exquisite figure, her snow-white shoulders glowed softly under the sunlight, her ample bosom seemed ready to burst out, her two rounded buttocks were slightly deformed by the pressure on the wooden board, and the layers of her skirt rippled open to reveal a small section of slender ankles wrapped in black Ice Silkworm Silk.

She tilted her head and laughed softly, light dancing in her eyes, her laughter as crisp as silver bells, her beauty beyond compare.

All this beauty existed only because behind the swing, a cat standing on its hind legs was exhausted and panting.

"Have you been bought off by her?" Pei Shaoqing walked over and asked the fat cat, which was panting with its tongue out like a dog.

He remembered the last time he saw such a beautiful woman on a swing, it was Pan Jinlian, eating grapes while swinging.

Li Jiangjun panted and pointed at its neck.

Pei Shaoqing then noticed that the Storage Jade Pendant had already been tied around its neck with a red braided cord.

He suddenly realized and said, "The rope was braided for you by the Madam, in exchange for you helping her push the swing."

Li Jiangjun gasped for air and nodded repeatedly.

The swing came to a stop, and Xie Qingwu, sitting on it, gripped the ropes on both sides, her small feet in embroidered shoes dangling and swinging in the air; she glanced at Pei Shaoqing and said to Li Jiangjun, "Hey, you haven't pushed for a full half-hour yet, don't tell me you're as untrustworthy as your master."

"When was I ever untrustworthy?" Pei Shaoqing, having been shot for no reason, looked at her with an innocent face and asked in return.

But Xie Qingwu only glared at him fiercely.

Pei Shaoqing couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind and said to Li Jiangjun, who had caught his breath, "Give me that book."

Li Jiangjun nodded its little head, and in the next second, a white light flashed from the jade pendant, and the diary flew toward Pei Shaoqing.

Pei Shaoqing reached out and caught it.

"A Storage Magic Treasure!" Xie Qingwu on the swing exclaimed with wide eyes, and in a moment of distraction, her body suddenly tipped forward, and she screamed in a panic, "Ah!"

The next second, she felt herself crash into someone's embrace, her vision went black, and as she slowly lifted her head, she saw the icy face of Ye Hanshuang; it turned out the other party had been quick-witted and caught her just in time.

"Many thanks," Xie Qingwu said, her red lips parting slightly.

Ye Hanshuang did not respond, and with a cold face, let her go.

Xie Qingwu felt it was strange, but her attention was quickly drawn back to the Storage Jade Pendant, and she asked Pei Shaoqing with an expression of disbelief, "How do you have such a treasure?"

With a talking Demon by his side, and an extremely rare Storage Magic Treasure passed down from ancient times, could that coverless book in his hand be some kind of secret manual?

How could a mountain bandit possess all these things at once?

She felt that the other party was shrouded in mystery.

Perhaps he was far more than just a simple mountain bandit?

"Found it," Pei Shaoqing replied with two words.

Xie Qingwu didn't believe him at all; she stared at Pei Shaoqing's back and gave a soft huff, *I am right by your side, sooner or later I will figure out what secrets you are hiding, you fellow! *

At the same time, the news that the Mo family had been wiped out by the Xuanhuang Sect was spreading rapidly throughout the city.

"Have you heard? The Mo Fu was wiped out last night; rumor has it that it was the work of the Xuanhuang Sect."

"If you ask me, this Xuan Sect is acting on behalf of Heaven; with their great wealth and power, how many wicked things has the Mo Fu done?"

"But Master Mo often donated money to repair bridges."

"Pah! So what if he repaired a bridge? Wasn't that money squeezed from us poor folk?"

Some people clapped and cheered, while others denounced the Xuan Sect.

And the people of the Xuanhuang Sect were currently furious about this.

I went into the operating room at nearly 10 o'clock last night and was woken up at 1:30; the surgery is over, and now comes the painful recovery period, but I will still be writing while injured. Please give me monthly votes! Please keep reading!

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(End of this chapter)