Chapter 1125 – Across the Nine Provinces, I Want 100% (24)
Xu Yansiao had been sobbing quietly, trying to suppress her voice.
After a while, she lost control and wailed loudly, her voice becoming hoarse.
Looking at her in such a disheveled state, any trace of a noble girl’s grace had vanished!
Anyone could feel her despair and pain from her cries, yet Qin Gong couldn’t even provide basic comfort.
Qin Gong spurred his horse onward, but soon his supporting troops caught up.
Cheng Yuan hopped off his horse, panting, and peered from a distance before lifting the cloak from a box strapped to his horse.
“Captain Qin—”
Cheng Yuan handed him the cloak, causing Qin Gong to snap back to reality and look up at Cheng Yuan.
“Cheng Supervisor?”
Taking the cloak in a daze, he glanced at Xu Yansiao, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
Arriving late wasn’t his fault, but for Qin Gong, failing to protect the old master’s family was a heavy burden of guilt.
He didn’t dare approach Xu Yansiao, fearing it might rekindle her heartbreak.
Qin Gong spread the cloak with both hands, laying it over the body of the Qiqi.
Her clothing was mostly made of precious silk, beautiful yet not strong against forceful tearing.
The thugs, in their haste, didn’t care about carefully disrobing.
After a scuffle, the clothes on the Qiqi were nearly torn into strips.
Although she hadn’t suffered tangible humiliation before her death, just her appearance would surely invite misunderstandings.
Coming from a noble family, Qiqis valued personal reputation and family honor.
Qin Gong thought, perhaps even in the underworld, she wouldn’t want others to point fingers at her corpse.
Cheng Yuan entered the courtyard and found several terrified, half-clothed women hiding. A male corpse was hanging from the large tree.
Unsurprisingly, this was Xu Fei, the former master of Qin Gong.
“Get him down—”
Cheng Yuan wasn’t naive, but he hadn’t encountered such gruesome scenes before. Xu Fei’s face was ashen, his tongue lolling out, and Cheng Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. He turned away, directing the soldiers to carefully take him down and cover him with a white cloth to preserve dignity.
“Captain Qin, we found a hanged male corpse inside—”
Qin Gong gazed at the body being carried out, hesitating for a moment, but he eventually stepped forward and slightly lifted one corner of the white cloth.
In just a glance, his eyes turned red, the rage that had just started to subside flooding back.
“Xu Pei—”
Qin Gong’s eyes reddened as he gritted his teeth and squeezed out those two words.
Cheng Yuan sighed lightly, patting Qin Gong’s shoulder and offering comfort, “Captain Qin, take care. You still have matters to handle regarding Lord Wen’s funeral arrangements; his wives and family need someone to look after them. This isn’t the time to drown in hatred. The deceased is gone, but the living must carry on. If Lord Wen could see from beyond, he would want them to be treated well. Most of his former officers have already perished, and now only you can bear this heavy responsibility. If you let hatred dominate your reason, who will care for these old, weak, women, and children?”
Cheng Yuan’s words were reasonable, forcing Qin Gong to stifle his grief.
He was right; he couldn’t collapse just yet. At the very least, he had to take care of Lord Wen’s family.
But—before that—
Qin Gong cast a glance in the direction the thugs had fled, steeling his heart.
The humiliation suffered by Lord Wen’s family must be paid back in blood!
“Cheng Supervisor, we’ve found Lord Wen’s family, but we still don’t know about Military Adviser Yang…”
Cheng Yuan, understanding, smiled, “Don’t worry, Captain Qin. I’ll send someone to inform the military adviser right away.”
“Good, thank you, Supervisor.”
Cheng Yuan had a good temperament, and encountering such a reasonable and considerate supervisor was a stroke of luck for the commander.
As the commander, Qin Gong certainly wouldn’t rush off solo to capture the thugs.
Fortunately, the thugs hadn’t run far; how could two-legged men outrun warhorses with four legs?
In less than fifteen minutes, the fleeing thugs were rounded up one by one by the cavalry scouts, heaped on the ground like a pile of discarded goods.
Meanwhile, Xu Yansiao had cried enough.
“All the thugs have been caught, let Lady Xu deal with them.”
Qin Gong didn’t stay by Xu Yansiao’s side; instead, he went to deploy troops, preparing for the fierce battle that could erupt at any moment.
Once that was settled, he finally had time to see Xu Yansiao.
Now, she had stopped crying, but the tear stains were still very visible, her eyes swollen like a goldfish.
Qin Gong didn’t dare come too close, speaking softly several notches down.
Cheng Yuan watched the two, hands tucked in his sleeves, quietly stifling laughter.
In Yang Si’s words, the usual Qin Gong was like a little wolf, but now he seemed to have tucked his tail between his legs, pretending to be a harmless puppy, carefully retracting his claws and teeth; he looked so pitiful—sigh, if he were a young lady in a boudoir, she might be tempted.
Cheng Yuan chuckled at the imagined scene in his mind.
Yang Si asked, “What’s so funny? Thinking about some fair maiden?”
Cheng Yuan laughed, “Sir, don’t tease me! I’ve got a wolf at home, looking fierce. Can’t provoke it!”
He had only gotten married a few years ago; his wife was a distant relative, and Cheng Yuan hadn’t seen her before their marriage. They only started to interact afterward. Though it was a blind marriage, they had adapted well over time, and now they were lovey-dovey, quite happy together.
“Then what made you laugh so much just now?”
Cheng Yuan replied, “Seeing Captain Qin reminds me of a blunder my wife made back home.”
“What blunder?”
“My wife bought a wolf pup at the market, mistaking it for a puppy and raised it for a while.” Cheng Yuan chuckled, “At that time, I was busy and hadn’t returned home for half a month. When I got back, that little wolf was panting heavily, and she still didn’t realize how big a joke she’d made. Thinking about it now, don’t you think Captain Qin resembles that little wolf trying to pass as a harmless pup?”
Yang Si seriously examined him and said, “He does!”
Both of them, having been through what Qin Gong was facing at that age, could clearly see his feelings for Xu Yansiao.
Because he cared, he was being so cautious.
On the other hand, Xu Yansiao stared directly at Qin Gong, her hoarse voice asking, “Anything you decide is fine?”
Qin Gong replied, “Yes, even if you want them to be cut into a thousand pieces, I’m willing to pass you the knife.”
Xu Yansiao forced a smile, her gaze vacant as if lost somewhere else.
“I want to peel their scalps off, one by one, from their skulls. Will you help?”
Qin Gong said, “I will. It’s tedious and time-consuming, but they deserve it.”
Xu Yansiao’s tears, which she had finally managed to hold back, began to flow again.
“What if I castrate them?”
Qin Gong replied, “Would you prefer a dull knife or a sharper one?”
Xu Yansiao sobbed as she buried her face in her knees, whispering, “I want to watch.”
Qin Gong worried about her seeing the bloody scene but couldn’t deny her request.
“Alright, but don’t get too close, so you don’t get splattered with blood,” Qin Gong said, then added, “We have over ten thousand troops here, and we are very near Shanweng City. In less than half an hour, Xu Pei’s scouts will discover us. You might not be able to see it all…”
