Chapter 42

Chapter 43: The Stabbing Incident

Duan Mingyu patted his forehead. That was right; Cheng Zhiyuan had mentioned this matter to him before. Counting the days, the political upheaval in Bianliang was indeed drawing near.

At this thought, Duan Mingyu felt quite depressed and made a mournful face. "Alas, without old Cheng shielding me, I won't be able to run amok anymore."

Yang Yanguang paid no attention to Duan Mingyu's absurd remarks. After composing himself, he said, "My purpose in coming here is to ensure the princess's safety. In a few days, the Emperor will return from Chengdu to Chang'an, and I must return to his side to guarantee His Majesty's security."

Hearing that Yang Yanguang was about to leave, a deep sense of reluctance suddenly welled up in Duan Mingyu's heart. Yang Yanguang had taught him with great kindness and was his guiding light in martial arts. Moreover, if Yang Yanguang hadn't intervened that day, Qin Shou would surely have escaped, and he himself wouldn't have lived in peace all this time.

Yang Yanguang said, "Since the princess has already arrived in Bianliang, Zhu Wen must not be far behind. I will return to Chang'an in a few days. During these next few days, I will thoroughly teach you swordsmanship. I don't know what grievances you have with the Qin family, but they are truly despicable. You still need to practice diligently and build up some self-preservation strength."

Duan Mingyu bowed deeply. "I shall never forget your teachings, Master."

"Very well, you may leave now!" Yang Yanguang closed his eyes, acting as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

Duan Mingyu slowly backed out of the room. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Xie Xiande and Xu Zuye walking toward him with broad smiles.

Seeing Duan Mingyu, Xie Xiande laughed heartily. "Mingyu, old man, I went to observe your training camp in the outskirts just now. Not bad at all! Those two hundred men are truly well-trained, and their orders are strictly obeyed. I now deeply feel that I have stepped into a den of thieves. I've made a temporary decision to stay right here in this den of thieves from now on. You simply must take in this old man of mine!"

How does this old man talk? What is this about a den of thieves? He is making me sound like some bandit leader!

Duan Mingyu glared fiercely at Xie Xiande. "Fine! I happen to lack a gatekeeper here. Starting tomorrow, you can go guard the door!"

Xie Xiande hurriedly said, "Wait, this matter is of great importance. It's better to discuss it thoroughly first. Hehe, let's discuss it thoroughly."

Xu Zuye suppressed a smile. "What is Mr. Xie saying? The young master is just joking with you. With your talents, how could you possibly be a gatekeeper? At the very least, you should be a waiter!"

Xie Xiande said indignantly, "I would rather die than be a waiter."

Xu Zuye replied, "If being a waiter won't do, we still have plenty of vacant roles here. For instance, we need someone to fetch water, cook meals, wash clothes, scrub the latrines..."

Oh, Old Xu, you are truly merciless! Ever since you started following this top scholar, your eloquence has improved day by day!

Xie Xiande's face began to turn purple, and then shifted from purple to black, looking just like a piece of charcoal, poised and ready for a volcanic eruption...

After enduring for a long time, Xie Xiande made a very unrefined and arrogant gesture: he picked up a bench.

"Run, Old Xu!" Duan Mingyu spun around and fled like the wind. Xu Zuye was a split second too slow and took the full, solid impact of the flying bench. With a muffled groan of "Ugh," Xu Zuye lived down to expectations and promptly fainted.

Duan Mingyu cried out in shock, "Old Xie, are you serious? You're using a weapon just because you're flying into a rage from embarrassment?"

Xie Xiande panicked as well. "What do we do now?"

Duan Mingyu barked, "What else can we do? Hurry up and send him to the hospital for a doctor—oh... call a physician!"

And so, Duan Mingyu and Xie Xiande each grabbed one of Xu Zuye's ankles and frantically dragged him out the front door, completely oblivious to the fact that as they crossed the threshold, the back of Xu Zuye's head made violent, intimate contact with the wooden doorsill.

Fresh blood immediately poured from the back of Xu Zuye's head, leaving a trail from the threshold all the way into the apothecary.

Ever since this vigorous and dramatic stabbing incident, Xu Zuye hadn't spoken a single word for half a month. Whenever he saw Xie Xiande, he couldn't help but want to pounce on him and take a bite.

"Hold it steady! Keep the sword level! If you can't even handle this trivial task, how do you expect to practice advanced swordsmanship in the future?" Yang Yanguang berated Duan Mingyu angrily.

Duan Mingyu felt like crying without tears. Over the past few days, Yang Yanguang had made him do only one thing: hold the sword with both hands and keep his arms raised horizontally.

At first, Duan Mingyu had thought, *Does such a minor thing even need practicing?* He had resolutely opposed it and refused to train. As a result, after being kicked flying by Yang Yanguang twice, Duan Mingyu's two resolutions turned into resolute execution. By the time he had bitterly endured it for a whole day, Duan Mingyu didn't even have the strength to lift his chopsticks. It was a miserable scene indeed, so pitiful that even Yang Zhaoniang—who always loved making mischief—could no longer bear to target Duan Mingyu.

Facing the scorching sun, Duan Mingyu held the sword aloft, gritting his teeth in perseverance, standing as steady as a monolith. Wang Aiqing and the others would occasionally step forward to wipe the sweat from Duan Mingyu's brow and hand him a cup of water. Life was simply beyond wretched.

The overall combat effectiveness of the two hundred men at the suburban camp was improving rapidly. Through Duan Mingyu's modernized training methods, this troop was now combat-ready. Duan Mingyu had specially transferred fifty men from the camp to the shop to serve as a standing garrison.

However, Duan Mingyu had never deployed them in actual combat yet—not because there was no one who could defeat them, but because he intended to use these two hundred men to deal the enemy a fatal blow.

Xie Xiande hadn't been idle during this period either. His primary duty was to act as an instructor and political commissar, conducting ideological work among the men. Duan Mingyu greatly admired Xie Xiande's methods, because this fellow had genuinely whipped those two hundred men into absolute obedience.

If these men had previously followed Duan Mingyu merely out of desperation for survival, they now held absolute submission toward him. To use the rough words of Xu Zuye: if told to go east, they would never go west; if told to chase dogs, they would never catch chickens. *Sigh. Xie Xiande's great-great-grandfather must have specialized in training loyal assassins for secret sects.*

In the past, Duan Mingyu had long hesitated to uncover the treasure hidden by Wang Yongchang beneath Bian Lake, fearing that men would die for wealth just as birds would for food. He had worried that leading these men to unearth the treasure might cause someone to mutiny, or that they would behave like a rogue army—violating him first and killing him later, or killing him first and violating him later, before dividing up the treasure amongst themselves. Now, things were different. Duan Mingyu trusted that they could completely resist the temptation.

Xu Zuye managed the sales of wooden clogs, and everything developed steadily and rapidly, just like a socialist economy.

After careful deduction, Duan Mingyu, Xu Zuye, and Xie Xiande reached the conclusion that the person who had poisoned Wang Yongchang back then was Cao Hong of the Yangwei Escort Agency.

There were two main points of suspicion: first, after Xu Zuye stepped down, Cao Hong rose to prominence overnight from an ordinary escort guard to become the chief escort. Could he have achieved this without the backing of a powerful force? Second, once Cao Hong assumed the position of chief escort, he purged dissidents with ruthless methods, to the point that Xu Zuye could now look through the escort agency and not recognize a single soul. If there was no fishy business going on here, what was?

The plan formulated by Duan Mingyu was to first uproot the Yangwei Escort Agency, and then pacify the Qin family. This plan was by no means small; perhaps by the time it was realized, it would be the day a dragon soared through the nine heavens.

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