"Haha, Huai En, where did you find such a wild horse, giving me such a chase?" Zong
Zheng Lihan sat astride his horse, smiling warmly at Huai En, who was clad in white
and exuded calm. Yet, there was not a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Huai En glanced over the family guards behind Zong Zheng Lihan, then assessed
his own men. Even with his usual arrogance, he couldn't help but feel uncertain.
"Ah, I get it now," Zong Zheng Lihan exclaimed, as if he had an epiphany, clapping his hands. Despite being in his thirties, the gesture seemed somewhat childish. "It must have been that Mr. Jin, whom you are mutually devoted to and secretly engaged with, who gave you this horse. Only someone as wealthy and generous as him could afford such a fine steed. How envious!"
Huai En pulled off the thin veil from his face, revealing his stunning beauty under
the moonlight, his eyes filled with coldness.
Zong Zheng Lihan squinted, examining his features. "Tsk, tsk, you really do look just
like your mother."
A flicker of displeasure crossed Huai En's face as he coldly replied, "You flatter me,
uncle. Indeed, you're still vigorous in your old age. But chasing after your nephew in
the dead of night, I wonder what for. If you were to catch a cold, how could I bear the
responsibility?"
"Hmph, Huai En, you're quite sensible. It seems your father has raised you well.
Since you're worried about your old uncle's safety, why don't you hand over what you
took from my estate that day? In consideration of our family ties, I might overlook your mischief."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, uncle," Huai En said, smiling lightly.
Even Zong Zheng Lihan, usually so composed, couldn't maintain his facade any
longer. The loss of such an important ledger could potentially give them control over
the entire Zong Zheng's economic lifeline. That was unacceptable.
With a cold huff, Zong Zheng Lihan lost patience for further pretense. "Huai En,
hand over the ledger. Out of respect for your mother, I'll spare your life."
Huai En also snorted coldly in response. "Prince Shen, I took the ledger, and you
know exactly why my father needs it. This world should never have been yours to
begin with. My father is merely reclaiming what belongs to him. Do you really think
you can stop us?"
"Outrageous! Your father would jeopardize the state for his own selfish desires.
How could such a person ever be fit to be emperor?"
"Whether he's fit to be emperor or not, I couldn't care less. I'll just do what I need to
do." If he wins, then I can have my own realm.
"Foolish! Huai En, do you really think what your father wants is the empire, the throne? He merely seeks revenge against the Emperor."
"I've said it's none of my business. Whatever he asks me to do, I'll do it. Right or wrong, I don't care at all. The empire? The people? What have they got to do with me?"
"You... You're not a pedantic person. Why do you blindly follow your father's orders?"
A shadow flickered in Huai En's eyes. "I'm not interested in telling you. If you want
to fight, then come on. Don't waste time."
Zong Zheng Lihan sighed deeply, his tense posture relaxing slightly as he leaned back, giving Huai En a long, deep look. Then his expression hardened as he coldly ordered, "Kill!"
All through the night, the wealthy young master Jin had been cursing that self-
proclaimed "number one tracker in the world," Mo Lu, calling him every name under
the sun until even Xiao Bao was parched.
Despite being quick-witted and articulate
from a young age, unleashing such a torrent of verbal abuse was a first for him. He wasn't a professional at this! Normally, he'd just sic his dogs on anyone who irked him. But to find his betrothed, he had no choice but to rely on this utterly useless "expert" who had been trailing for just over ten miles in several hours.
"I'm warning you, if you don't find her, take your two lazy, good-for-nothing apprentices and get the hell out of my house. You've been freeloading off us, and when it's crunch time, you're useless."
The poor, skinny old man, wiping the sweat from his forehead, smiled apologetically, inwardly cursing his luck. His tracking skills were picked up over thirty years ago while working as a constable, before turning to thievery and being hunted by the law, which forced him into a life of crime. Later, destitute and desperate, he self-styled a title and ended up at the wealthy Jin family in the south, mooching off them until death.
Everyone knew the Jin family couldn't tell a hawk from a handsaw; as long as you had a few intimidating titles, they'd take you in. Thus, the Jin family's "Money Gang" was a motley crew, and the household was filled with freeloaders with little to no real skills. The Jin family, wealthy and not caring about the expense, tolerated these hangers-on, never imagining a day would come when they would actually need to rely on him.
Pity the old man, his aged bones dragged from bed in the middle of the night to crouch on the ground, examining horse hoof prints and smelling horse dung, all while enduring a barrage of verbal attacks and insults! Life is hard for everyone, it seems.
Some are worried about their runaway wives, while others, like him, have no wife to
worry about. He just had to endure it.
"Ah! Ah!" Suddenly, the old man perked up, "There are significantly more hoof prints here, and a group of horsemen came from another direction. After that, they seem to have been followed. Let's move forward."
Xiao Bao glanced at him skeptically, thinking, what use is it to keep you around if
even I can see these obvious hoof prints? But he held his tongue, fearing that any
further shock might make the old man lose even this basic tracking ability. So, he spurred his horse to follow the old man.
"Master, master! It's terrible, there are many dead ahead," the old man shrieked, his voice tinged with coldness and fear.
Xiao Bao's heart clenched, and he galloped forward, shocked by the sight that greeted him.
Under the cold, stern moonlight, the ground was strewn with the bodies of men in
black, but the one who had captured his heart at first sight was nowhere to be found.
Jumping off his horse, Xiao Bao rushed towards the pile of bodies, unable to be
restrained by his guards.
Normally, he would have screamed and run away or hidden behind his bodyguards.
Now, he disregarded the blood-soaked earth and the nauseating smell of blood in the
air, desperate only to ensure that the one dressed in white he constantly thought of
wasn't among them.
Frantically moving through the pile of corpses, his guards' calls and attempts to pull him away were in vain until he had checked each body that bore a hint of white fabric and confirmed Huai En was not among them. Only then did his tightly wound nerves begin to relax, fear creeping over him from the soles of his feet and slowly receding.
The panic and anxiety he felt were unbearable, a sensation he had never experienced before and could not sustain any longer. He needed to find Huai En, safe and sound, immediately.
"Master, the hoof prints of Red Cloud lead that way," the old man finally announced,
after a long scrutiny on the ground under the dim moonlight, distinguishing the unique shape of Red Cloud's hoof prints among the many chaotic tracks.
Xiao Bao wiped the blood on his hands onto his moon-white silk robe, mounted his
horse, gripped his sword tightly, and commanded, "Lead the way!"
The hoof prints veered into the mountains, where the underbrush was thick. Dawn
was breaking, the moisture heavy, and within a few hours, the trail had disappeared.
The old man spent a long time searching the ground but found nothing.
Frustrated, Xiao Bao cursed loudly, but was powerless to do anything else.
He ordered the old man to return to the estate immediately to summon more people
to search the mountain, while he and his guards would split into three groups to
continue the search.
The guards voiced their objections in unison, "Master, that's absolutely unacceptable. It's too dangerous."
"Who's in danger? Right now, it's my wife who's in danger!"
"Master, in these deep mountains and old forests, let alone whether there are any
villains, what if a fierce tiger or a hungry wolf appears? How will you deal with that?
If anything happens to you, how can we explain it to your father?"
"Don't underestimate me. After all, I've trained in martial arts for years, and I have
some poisons and elixirs on me. Dealing with beasts or bandits shouldn't be a
problem."
"Master," one of the guards said with a pained expression, "at least let one of us
accompany you. There are many dangers you can't face alone." This reckless young
master, with his half-baked martial arts, wasn't even intimidating enough to scare
anyone.
"We'll cover more ground if we split up into three groups, which will give us the best chance of finding my wife quickly. Enough talk, let's go."
The guards reluctantly refused to leave his side, but Xiao Bao, seeing daylight
approaching and knowing they couldn't delay any longer, made a decision. "Zhaocai
Jinbao will come with me. You, the chatterbox, go search on your own."
Seeing the young master finally compromise, one of the guards nudged the taciturn Zhaocai Jinbao, "Take good care of the master."