Chapter 120: Do Not Use A Knife Unless Absolutely Necessary

  As soon as Xiao Qi returned from Longxing Temple, her mother seized the opportunity to drag her into her room: "Daughter, people say 'near water tower', but what about you? You can't even eat meat now, and you're going to have to drink soup too. Is Young Master treating you badly? Don't think your mother is being petty, it's true that I took a liking to Young Master's character, family background, and wealth, but I'm not trying to ride his coattails. Your father is the chief manager of the Yang household, so we're well taken care of, and I've enjoyed the benefits too - we don't have to worry about food or clothes. But even if you married Young Master, our family wouldn't be greatly changed. However, your father and I are getting old, how can we not worry about you? If we didn't find a reliable husband for you to entrust your life to, could we rest easy?"

  Xiao Qi pouted, suddenly jumped onto the bed, covered her ears with a quilt, and Xiao Shi was furious, picked up a broom and fiercely whipped her buttocks, Xiao Qi let out a painful cry...

  In Xia's house, Xia and Peng Ziqi sat facing each other, a letter quietly lying between them.

  Peng Ziqi had finished reading and asked Xia Xun: "This should be written by a woman, the handwriting is beautiful and delicate, I also smelled a faint fragrance, it should be a very young woman."

  Xia Liu smiled: "You're really paying attention to something special. I was wondering, do you think what's said in the letter is true or false?"

  Peng Ziqi looked at him and said with a sour tone: "This person doesn't even know who it is, but they're so eager to deliver a warning message to you. Don't you care? Maybe it's one of your romantic interests."

  Xia Yu let out a "heh" and laughed: "I knew it, you've been holding onto this all along. What red beauty do I have? Even if I did, she wouldn't be here."

  Peng Ziqi thought for a moment, and indeed, even if it was a red-faced confidant, it should be Yang Xu's fate, and Xia Jiu shouldn't have anything to do with it. He felt a bit more comfortable in his heart, but then he thought again and said: "If that's the case, why did this woman do this? It's really intriguing, what is she after?"

  "You can't even bother to verify whether the contents of this letter are true or false?"

  Peng Ziqi couldn't help but want to laugh, and then said: "What the letter says should be true. If everything is indeed as stated in the letter, it's not impossible that our treasure chests were switched with someone else's. If someone was going to take them by trickery, they would have done so already, and it wouldn't be easy to deceive us out of twenty large carts of goods. As long as we are vigilant and pay a little attention, no one will be able to get their hands on them."

  "Uh-huh, I think so too. In that case, what do you think we should do?"

  Peng Ziqi straightened her waist, gripped the knife handle tightly, and said with a fierce aura: "When the army comes, we'll block it; when the water comes, we'll dam it. I'd like to see which blind fool dares to make a move on our family's head, making plans against us!"

  Xia Xian stared at her without speaking, Peng Ziqi stole a glance and quickly shrugged his shoulders, smiling somewhat guiltily and asked in a low voice: "Then what do you think we should do?"

  Xia Xun sighed, opened his hands, shook his sleeves, and said slowly: "Zi Qi..."

  "Hmm!"

  "Your husband is a government official, a scholar with a good reputation, and now that you're my woman, don't go around shouting and causing trouble, waving guns and rods, okay? When we can talk things through, let's not resort to violence. And when it comes to official business, let's not use violence either, hmm?"

  "Oh..."

  Xia Fu stood up straight and tightened his belt. Peng Qi followed him to stand up, asking: "Where are you going?"

  "Inspector!"

  As he watched Xia Yu leave, Peng Ziqi's mouth curled up slightly: "Hmph, when you kill people, your eyes don't even blink, you're ten times more ruthless than me, what kind of refined person are you pretending to be, huh!"

  Wan Songling and others were very patient, they followed all the way to Hengtang Mountain before going down the mountain.

  They divided the people into several groups, with him leading the first group, posing as a merchant selling dates, and setting out on the road at the same time as Xia Jiu's caravan, traveling together, stopping together, intentionally getting close to each other on the way, and forming friendships.

  The second group set up obstacles on the road, making it difficult for a lone traveler to stop, but they had ways to stop a large convoy from stopping for half a day.

  The third group of people occupied a small temple on the road ahead, controlling the monks inside and disguising themselves as Buddhist monks. They waited for the delayed travelers to seek lodging under the leadership of Wan Songling and others, and had previously designed several monk houses in the temple, including porridge, rice, tea, water, and hidden doors. The specific method used was determined by the disguised monks according to the situation.

  The fourth wave of people are cheap and do things that fill in the gaps. If any link goes wrong, they need to follow several pre-planned plans to make up for it, ensuring that the delayed plan returns to its original track. If everything develops smoothly, their mission is to cover up the exposed accomplices after the fact and safely withdraw without leaving any flaws.

  Therefore, the fourth group of people and those who came with Xia Liu, such as Wan Songling, were the key to grasping the overall situation and filling in the gaps, they were the most important people in the entire plan, they must have a clever mind, such people are not common, this is also the reason why Wan Songling found Xie Yufei.

  This girl is intelligent and resourceful, not only beautiful but also bold and meticulous. He appreciates her very much and plans to make this deal a success, formally inviting Xie Yu Fei to join the partnership. Such an outstanding talent would be wasted if she were to work alone, at most just doing small things.

  He wasn't worried that Xie Yu Fei would betray him, everyone was a scammer, she could just walk away and stay out of it, what reason did he have to be bad for her good deed? Moreover, this girl had also shown her greed, since she had cheated Zhao Zi Kai, that big merchant, there was no reason to let Yang Xu off the hook, twenty carts of wealth, giving her one cart wouldn't hurt. He even wanted to cultivate this girl into his own deputy.

  But he never expected that Xie Yu Fei would actually submit a memorial to Emperor Ming of Han, and really sound the alarm.

  He then got acquainted with Xia Jie and they became sworn brothers on their journey.

  They found out smoothly that the road was damaged and it was too late to change route on the same day.

  He smoothly took Xia Chou and his family to a temple at the foot of a nearby mountain, where he often passed by when doing business, and was familiar with the road like an old horse. Xia Chou followed him gladly.

  He also let Xia Yu very smoothly take off his wealth, all locked in a Zen hall, although someone was sent to guard the door.

  Finally, the men and horses of Fengyang Xunjian suddenly appeared, successfully rescuing Zhenhe Shang who was locked in the cellar, catching them all at once...

  On the hill, in the woods, two girls stood shoulder to shoulder, watching Xia Yu's convoy continue south.

  Nan Fei flew over and nudged Xie Yu's shoulder: "The other party has already agreed, and when they return, they will come to your house to propose. What you are willing or not is useless, older brother is like a father, your brother makes the decision, actually this person is not bad either, rich and handsome, obediently go home and wait for marriage, okay? In the future, there's no need to run around like this,"

  Xie Yu Fei irritably said: "Stop chattering, is it possible or not? Don't bother me!"

  Nan Fei feigned a sulk: "You're putting on airs again, get it straight, in terms of age, I'm your elder sister. In terms of who started first, I'm also your elder sister. Your master is my own mother, no matter how much older you are, you still have to call me 'elder martial sister'."

  Xie Yufei hummed and stepped down the mountain, Nan Feifei asked with a smile: "How, have you figured it out?"

  Xie Yu Fei said: "Can't think it through but have to go back, that stupid brother of mine... Sigh! Don't bother me anymore..."

  Nan Fei Fei stuck out her tongue and muttered to herself: "When you didn't see him, you scolded him eight times a day. In fact, weren't you still thinking of him? Now that he's here, you're putting on airs and refusing to marry him? I'd believe it if you said so. As soon as you saw your big brother, wouldn't you obediently listen to his orders? Hmph!"

  Since the Qin and Han dynasties, Moling has been the political, economic and cultural center of Jiangnan, until the early years of the Three Kingdoms when Sun Quan moved this center to Jinling, so in Jiangnan there is a saying "first have Moling then have Jinling".

  Moling Town is located at the intersection of important roads, with a thriving market and a very large town. However, it's not often seen that more than 20 big carts rush in all at once, so this team of carts attracted attention as soon as they entered the town.

  Xiao Guanshi sat in the front of a large carriage, dressed in bright clothes, with his chest held high. He looked at every blade of grass and every tile of the village of Muling with excitement. Every time he saw a place that had not changed since he left, he felt a burning sensation in his heart.

  "He's back! He's finally back! Old master, mistress, if you're watching from heaven, behold, our young master has returned!"

  Gently stroking the ancestral tablet of Old Master hidden in his bosom, Xiao Guan Shi's excited tears welled up in his eyes.

  The team, under his guidance, walked along the main streets and alleys, gradually entering a long alley with two large Chinese scholar trees welcoming guests. The fourth house in the alley was Yang Dingkun's residence.

  "Master, our home is almost here, do you still remember this place?"

  Xiao Guan, unable to contain himself, jumped off the car as soon as they entered the alley and ran to Xia Chong's side. Xia Chong also got off the car and walked forward, with a group of curious children from the town following behind them.

  Xia Liu lightly shook his head, and Xiao Guan Shi couldn't help but smile with tears in his eyes: "Yes, young master left his hometown when he was so small, how could he remember this place. Hehe, young master, old Xiao will take you there, look, look at the two big willow trees' gate, that's our home."

  As they approached the gate, Xiao Guan Shi ran over: "This lock is probably rusted shut, it's been many years, Master, why don't we..."

  Xiao Guanshi was just about to say break open the courtyard door, when suddenly he saw that the courtyard door was slightly ajar, and he couldn't help but pause: "What's going on? There's nothing left in the house either, could it be that we've been robbed?"

  At this time, Xia Yu had already walked up to him and, seeing his appearance, said in a deep voice: "Come in!"

  Xiao Guanshi took a deep breath and pushed the courtyard door with force...

  The courtyard is very messy, with a lot of straw scattered on the ground. Not far from the entrance, there is a large pit, and in the pit, there is a small pool of water accumulated, and the bottom of the pit is white, which is the remnant left by someone who stirred up the lime to paint the wall. Looking further to the right, nearly thirty elm trees that Yang Dingkun personally planted when he built his new house and married his bride are gone, replaced by a row of sheds, where cows and donkeys are raised, and against the wall are pigpens and sheep pens.

  The house, a three-roomed tile-roofed house, had lost its tiles on the roof, revealing a mixture of straw and yellow mud on top. The windows and doors were gone, and an old hen was leisurely pecking at insects on the empty window sill.

  Xiao Guanshi's face turned deathly pale, then suddenly became bright red. He trembled with rage, his forehead bulging with blue veins: "Who is this? Who has turned our home into a pigsty?! Who demolished our ancestral mansion?! Oh heaven! Where is the memorial tablet of my wife?" Xiao Guanshi rushed into the house, tears streaming down his face, and saw a flock of chickens and geese flying out from the doors and windows.

  The servants who came with Yang's family were all furious. The master was humiliated, and the subjects were also humiliated. If their own master suffered such humiliation, wouldn't they lose face too?

  Xia Liu's face slowly began to turn green, Peng Qi Xi worriedly said: "Officer..."

  Xia Liu didn't say a word, but instead reached his hand into her waist and grasped her Ghost Eye Dagger.

  "Sir, you... what are you doing?"

  Xia Liu smiled and said, "Nothing, let's go home and slaughter a chicken or sheep to celebrate? Hehe, you haven't seen me use a knife yet? My knife skills are not inferior to yours, Flower Bud. The moves are simple, but the person who taught me was a tiger general who had fought on the battlefield for many years and had killed thousands of people. His knife skills were the most practical, do you want to see it?"

  Xia Fu said, without waiting for an answer, he took a step towards the cowshed. Xiao Ding saw him and snatched the root of the shepherd's staff, his eyes red, with tears in his eyes, shouting: "Listen to Young Master's words, slaughter them all!"

  The Yang family, with so many people traveling far away, how could they not bring clubs, knives and guns to protect themselves? As soon as the master of the house made a move, the servants rushed out with their clubs, knives and guns. In an instant, the entire courtyard was in chaos, with chickens flying and dogs jumping around, and blood everywhere.

  Peng Ziqi was somewhat at a loss, she had never actually killed chickens or dogs before, and as for being trampled on the head and having someone defecate on her, that was something she had never experienced either. Suddenly seeing Xia Jie rush towards the cowshed, Peng Ziqi suddenly remembered something and hastily shouted: "Master, you must not! According to the Great Ming Code, killing cattle is a serious crime!"

  Xia Jiao gritted his teeth and let out a sinister laugh, raising the Ghost Eye Knife in his hand. With both hands gripping the hilt, he stood firm on the ground, as steady as a mountain. Then, with a flash of cold light, the snow-white steel knife descended like a streak of white silk.

  "Cut!"

  "Pffft!"

  What a quick knife! What a clever force!

  Xia Liu made just one knife cut, and a huge cow head was chopped off, a belly of cow blood sprayed him all over his head and face, a giant cow head rolled to the ground, causing a commotion.

  "Slaughter the gods and eliminate the ghosts, one settles all! Kill! Kill! Kill kill kill!"

  As Xia Yu's loud shouts rang out, Peng Zikai truly witnessed his knife skills.

  Not bad, his knife skills are indeed not as exquisite as the Peng family's Five Tigers' Broken Gate Knife Style, but every one of his knives is a single-minded and fearless attack, with no retreat. His footsteps are steady and powerful, moving quickly, merging man and knife into a series of lightning-fast strikes, each one a fatal blow.

  Wherever Xia Yu passed, the glittering knife light flashed and flickered, with each flash a blood light burst out. In an instant, he had pierced through the shed, leaving behind him a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, a scene of utter devastation that made one's hair stand on end.

  The half-grown kids who were watching the excitement at the gate were frightened stiff, and they shouted as they ran out: "Fourth Master, Fourth Master, something's wrong! Your family's cow has been killed!"

  "Third Uncle, Third Uncle come quick and see! The sheep your family raised have all been killed!"

  Xia Fu stepped out, his feet stained with blood, and handed the Ghost Eye Knife to Peng Qi. He smiled: "It's been over a decade since we last met, my place is really old and worn out, I need to tidy it up before you can stay, sorry about that... however..."

  He turned around and said lightly: "My fellow villagers, the welcoming banquet they prepared for us is quite sumptuous, don't you think?"