Chapter 125: Zhang Min Is A Fortunate Woman
Two hours later, E Ji was sleeping soundly, Yun Ce quietly got up, quickly put on his clothes, and glared at Milk Dog who was staring at him with wide eyes; Milk Dog immediately burrowed under the bed.
He gently closed the door and happened to see E Ji stretching her leg over the quilt that Yun Ce had just rolled up.
“This girl is already awake, pretending not to know.”
Yun Ce muttered to himself, then flipped over the high wall of the guesthouse, walked forward less than a hundred meters, and saw Zhang Min, who was already fully geared, waiting for him; she quickly came over, and Zhang Min led him into a small courtyard.
Steward Qiu had been waiting with over a hundred hunters for a long time.
Without saying a word, Zhang Min unrolled a map of Ji Ming Post Station drawn on animal hide and pointed to a red dot on the edge of Ji Ming Post Station: “This is Ren Hu’s manor.”
“How many people are inside?”
“Normally there are sixty warriors, ninety family retainers, two hundred maids and servants, and twelve hundred slaves living in the horse ranch east of the manor.”
“Are there any experts?”
“Yes, Ren Hu is one, a bit stronger than me.”
1 “Huh, aren’t all those stronger than you supposed to go through Iron Enclosure Pass?”
1 “Not everyone sees going to Iron Enclosure Pass as a lifetime glory; Ren Hu does.”
1 “Good, I’ll deal with Ren Hu and the warriors; you take Steward Qiu and the others to ambush and kill anyone trying to escape, and you must also prevent them from sending signals.”
1 “We must kill Ren Hu first to have a chance to make them panic.”
1 “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely spot Ren Hu first; the focus is on you all, make sure to give us enough time to move the money.”
1 “Are you always this hasty and sloppy when killing and robbing money?”
1 Yun Ce thought for a moment and sighed: “No choice, I also want to make things airtight, but unfortunately, my luck is always bad; when killing, it seems like I’m always seen.”
1 “Can you imagine, on a heavy rain night, killing someone on the wasteland, and still attracting thousands to watch; this luck is really too poor.”
1 “So, you’re not hiding it anymore now?”
1 “If hiding worked, I wouldn’t be seen through at a glance; now I’m starting to give up; I want money, they push Ren Hu out to me, so I just kill him at some time and take his ill-gotten wealth to use for the righteous path.”
2 Zhang Min was stunned for a moment and said: “Fine, this time I’ll help you clean up; your luck might not be that bad.”
2 Yun Ce nodded and said: “Good, if you can really bring me good luck, I’ll take you as my concubine.”
2 Zhang Min was about to curse upon hearing this, but saw Yun Ce had already run into the darkness, while not far away, Ren Hu’s house lay on the ground like a fierce tiger, inspiring fear.
2 “I won’t be anyone’s concubine!”
2 Zhang Min spat at Yun Ce’s retreating back, then began arranging ambush points for Steward Qiu and the others.
2 Just as Zhang Min drew her crossbow and patrolled the bright and dark sentries around Ren Hu’s manor, she suddenly saw Yun Ce come back.
2 Zhang Min went up to him and asked: “Something wrong?”
2 Yun Ce smiled: “Saw some acquaintances; our plan changes, I’ll go in first to scout, later no matter what happens in the manor, don’t attack proactively.”
2 “I think tonight, I’m not the only one wanting Ren Hu’s money.”
2 “Who else?”
3 “The Great Han’s Imperial Consort Yu.”
3 Hearing Yun Ce say this, Zhang Min’s eyes nearly popped out; as far as she knew, Imperial Consort Yu despised money the most, and indeed, if she wanted money, countless people would eagerly offer it with both hands, no need to rob.
3 Yun Ce’s body moved like a hunting cheetah, silently scaling the high wall; he glanced in the direction Doggy pointed, pulled down the cloth from his face, and stepped lightly toward the front residence of Ren Hu’s house.
3 Earlier when he came in, he had seen Qing Feng and Ming Yue here; Qing Feng looked fine, but Ming Yue’s face was pale, his injury apparently not healed yet.
3 The living room in the front residence was brightly lit, with a large group of people inside seemingly congratulating the person in the high seat; too far to hear clearly, Yun Ce slowly approached the living room along the corridor rooftops.
3 Under the bright lights, a woman in a white palace gown sat in the highest seat, with Qing Feng and Ming Yue standing behind her; the hall was filled with people.
3 “King Huo’s mansion will soon establish its own banner, all thanks to your assistance; Yu Heng will never forget it, nor will King Huo forget your merits; as for today’s contributions, I believe in the future, you will receive tenfold, hundredfold returns.”
3 “This concubine once heard of a merchant Lü Buwei who didn’t sell grain, didn’t herd, nor buy low and sell high; he merely invested his money in Qin Yiren and gained returns hundreds of times greater than selling grain or sheep.”
3 “In the future, this concubine still asks you all to continue supporting my son Huo Qing as steadfastly, aiding him to become a wise king like his father.”
3 After hearing Yu Heng’s speech, as Yun Ce was about to get closer, he saw Qing Feng’s gaze suddenly turn toward his direction; Yun Ce immediately flattened himself on the rooftop until Qing Feng looked away, then continued to approach slowly.
4 “Ren Hu respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu five thousand taels of gold.”
4 “Ren Zhong respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu three thousand taels of gold.”
4 “Ren An respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu two thousand taels of gold.”
4 “Zhang Mingyu respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu one thousand taels of gold.”
4 “Zhao Deshi respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu one thousand taels of gold.”
4 “Mei Ziling respectfully offers Imperial Consort Yu one thousand taels of gold.”
4 Watching the lively donation scene and hearing those strings of blush-inducing numbers, Yun Ce felt he should let Ren Hu go today, especially seeing they were all gold vouchers; Yun Ce immediately thought shifting the target to Yu Heng was not bad.
4 Seeing the pile of gold vouchers in the plate before Yu Heng growing higher, Yu Heng, who usually shunned men, unusually picked up the wine pot today and personally poured and toasted the donors.
4 The men, entranced, happily drained their cups; some even pulled out more money just to exchange for a word of thanks from Yu Heng.
4 After Ren Hu personally presented a jade immortal statue to Yu Heng, the atmosphere reached its climax.
5 Ren Hu, the first to drink, suddenly collapsed to the floor with a thud; then, the others in the hall who had drunk also fell one after another.
5 The servants and maids who hadn’t drunk didn’t survive a second longer; Qing Feng and Ming Yue moved ghostly through the hall, and after one sweep, the servants and maids all fell lifeless.
5 Seeing blood flowing from under them, they were clearly dead.
5 After Qing Feng finished with the people in the hall, he stood outside the hall and whistled; Yun Ce saw over a hundred black-clothed men leap out from various places and charge toward Ren Hu’s rear residence, apparently intending to leave no survivors for the Ren family.
5 Yun Ce was very lucky; these fierce black-clothed men had been hiding around the hall earlier; if he had approached three more feet, he would have left the rooftop’s cover and fully exposed himself to their assassins’ eyes.
5 “Looks like Zhang Min really brings good luck to her man.”
5 “Wife, should we kill these people?” Qing Feng’s voice rang out in the bloodstained hall.
5 Yu Heng slowly stood and said to Qing Feng: “Are you feeling reluctant?”
5 Qing Feng dodged Yu Heng’s reaching hand, his pretty face flushing as if blood would drip; meanwhile, Ming Yue stared fixedly at Yu Heng’s hand, hoping the comfort Qing Feng didn’t want would fall to him.
5 “Zhang Heng hands over Ren Hu and his two brothers to Yun Ce for disposal, in exchange for him going north of the Great Wall to establish colonies; alas, if Yun Ce succeeds in colonizing north of the Great Wall, the Great Han will have no worries at its back, leading to another northern expedition and another slaughter of lives.”
6 “Qing Feng, today’s Gui Fang people and Great Han commoners are practically the same kin; what can’t be settled by sitting down to talk properly, instead of meeting in battle?”
6 Qing Feng frowned and said: “Then kill them all; since many know Yun Ce is taking money from Ren Hu, if Ren Hu dies, people will think it’s Yun Ce’s doing; he’s at Ji Ming Post Station today anyway, he can’t escape this dirty water.”
6 Yu Heng nodded in satisfaction at Qing Feng’s words.
6 Ming Yue quickly said: “In this hall now, it’s not just the Ren family three brothers; there are also several spoiled young masters from top families in Chang’an City.”
6 “If they’re all dead, someone will definitely strike back at Yun Ce, making his goal of colonizing north of the Great Wall fail.”
6 While the three were eagerly discussing, Doggy stretched its body long, slowly inching toward the plate full of gold vouchers.
6 Screams kept coming from Ren Hu’s rear residence, while the blood in the hall had spread, gradually forming a blood lake on the glossy floor.
6 Yu Heng sat on the threshold untouched by the blood like a young girl, Qing Feng on her left, Ming Yue on her right; they ignored the blood lake in the hall and the screams from the rear, gazing up at the eerie blood moon in the sky with longing, like three innocent youths.
6 Doggy shakily used its tentacle to carry the plate slowly toward Yun Ce, afraid of making any noise; Yun Ce’s two eyes—one watching Yu Heng and them, the other watching Doggy’s movements—were busy enough.
6 “Doggy, that woman Zhang Min brings good luck to people; do you think if I slept with her, I’d get even more good luck?”
7 “If you slept with Zhang Min first, believe me, E Ji could chop off Zhang Min’s head and boil soup for you.”
7 “E Ji is a very kind girl.”
7 “That woman’s brain is single-minded; only after confirming she’s the principal wife, bearing your eldest legitimate son, will she not care how many women you have; otherwise…”
7 The gold plate full of gold vouchers finally reached Yun Ce’s hands and was instantly stored in the dragon pearl; seeing Yu Heng and the others still posing as innocent youths watching the moon.
7 Yun Ce slithered like a maggot, inching off the rooftop, quickly jumped onto the high wall, and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Murder!”
7 His voice was loud; though not shaking ten li, it carried three to five li.
