Volume One: Unable to Distinguish the Mulberry Leaves, A Free and Easy Journey Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Oriole Lurks Behind

Yang Ning knew that the pill inside was certainly poison. He smiled faintly and said, “It seems I have no choice. But there are still some things I do not understand. I wonder whether you could enlighten me?”

“What does the young lord want to ask?” Zhao Yuan said, unhurried, confident that everything was already under control.

Yang Ning asked, “The estate takes forty percent of the taxes. That, naturally, is not fake. The ledgers that Third Madam saw were also forged, of course.”

“Correct,” Zhao Yuan said. “It does not take much effort to make false accounts.” He smiled slightly. “Those ledgers were prepared precisely to welcome your arrival. I knew that Gu Qinghan would surely inspect the books, so I made ready long before.”

“To welcome us?” Yang Ning’s heart sank. “You already knew we would come?”

Zhao Yuan smiled. “Why else do you think tax silver had been sent to you year after year without interruption, and why would it be stopped only at this time? Your return to Jiangling was already part of our plan. The forged ledgers were naturally prepared in advance.”

Yang Ning’s brow tightened. “You were so certain we would come back?”

“Absolutely certain,” Zhao Yuan said leisurely. “The Brocade Marquis Manor was short of silver, the tax silver could not be delivered in time, and the men sent out never returned with reports. In the end, you had no choice but to come yourselves.”

A chill ran through Yang Ning. He thought of how the manor had never received the tax silver, how people had been sent out repeatedly to inquire, yet none had returned to report. Only then had the manor sensed that something was amiss. He frowned and said, “So the men you sent were all...”

“You are asking what you already know,” Zhao Yuan said with a laugh. “They never even reached the old residence. They died on the road, so of course they could not return to report.”

“You mean you had informants in the manor too, and knew every move they made?” Yang Ning asked. “From the very beginning, you had laid every trap?”

Zhao Yuan chuckled. “Once the young lord takes the pill, many things will become clear.”

Yang Ning tightened his grip on the small bottle and asked, “I want to know exactly what you need me to do for you. You have gone to such lengths to place me under your control. At the very least, I should know what it is you want me to accomplish.”

“In truth, the young lord need do nothing,” Zhao Yuan said. “If you had committed incest with Gu Qinghan and this scandal had broken out, I fear you would no longer have the face to inherit the Brocade Marquis title...”

Yang Ning suddenly understood something and said sharply, “Qi Yu? You are Qi Yu’s people?” He suddenly realized that the illegitimate branch of Qi Yu had long been coveting the Brocade Marquis title. That mother and son had always wanted to seize the title in secret. Zhao Yuan seemed to be trying to force him to give up his claim. Once he could no longer inherit the marquisate, the only one left in line would be Qi Yu. Could these people really be Qi Yu’s men?

Zhao Yuan gave a soft “oh” and said dismissively, “The Qi Yu you speak of—do you mean the illegitimate son of the Brocade Marquis Manor? You think far too highly of him. We are not his men. Rather, he is a pawn we can manipulate.”

Yang Ning was astonished. So this group was indeed connected to Qi Yu. But from Zhao Yuan’s tone, it was clear he did not take Qi Yu seriously at all. Yang Ning also believed that with Qi Yu’s abilities, he would not have had the power to set such a trap. Zhao Yuan’s claim that Qi Yu was merely a pawn in their hands was probably true.

This group had occupied the ancestral residence, intended to create a scandal of incest to hold the heir apparent hostage, and meant to elevate Qi Yu to power, all while using Qi Yu as a pawn. They had plotted every step with such care, never rushing. It was truly hard to imagine what their ultimate purpose could be.

Yang Ning knew full well that once he swallowed that pill, life and death would be in the other man’s hands. His legs tensed, but his mind was already on the Free and Easy Steps.

The villagers of Prince Lu had already made a move. The two burly men behind Zhao Yuan were ordinary fighters and easy enough to handle. The real danger was the crossbow in Zhao Yuan’s hands.

He knew that weapon well enough. It fired with astonishing speed. At such close range, with the two of them only a few steps apart, if the other man pulled the mechanism, the bolt would shoot out and Yang Ning would have no easy way to dodge it. But if he could somehow evade the crossbow bolt, he might well turn defense into offense.

The Free and Easy Steps were profound and elusive, but there were withered vines and old trees all around, making it difficult to fully display them.

As he considered whether he should risk it, Zhao Yuan said, “Young lord, there is still plenty of time. Take the pill first. After that, whatever you want to know, I will tell you without needing to be asked.”

Yang Ning opened the stopper. A foul, fishy stench rushed out at once. Just from the smell alone, he knew the pill inside could not be anything good.

Zhao Yuan kept the crossbow leveled at him, clearly wary that Yang Ning might try something clever.

At that very moment, something suddenly flew down from the sky and instantly wrapped around Zhao Yuan’s wrist. Zhao Yuan only felt that the thing was icy-cold and slippery. The moment it coiled around his wrist, it began to writhe. He was shocked and jerked his arm back, only to see that what had wrapped around his wrist was actually a green-and-red patterned snake, hideously fearsome.

Zhao Yuan’s face changed. He released his grip and shook his arm hard, trying to fling the injured snake off, but the snake coiled too tightly, as if it had already fused with his arm. No matter how hard he shook, he could not get it off.

Seeing this, Yang Ning silently cried, heaven is helping me. Seizing the opportunity, he rolled to the ground and grabbed the cold blade. Knowing that to catch the thieves one must first catch the leader, he rolled straight toward Zhao Yuan.

Zhao Yuan’s reaction was quick enough. With his arm ensnared, he could not operate the crossbow. Seeing Yang Ning rolling toward him, he immediately backed away, retreating to a large tree. Then he slammed the arm with the snake coiled around it violently against the trunk. This move was indeed effective. With that forceful blow, he smashed the middle section of the snake into a bloody mess, and the coils loosened.

By then, the two burly men had also come to their senses. Both let out low roars and swung their blades toward Yang Ning.

They had only taken two steps when one of them cried out in terror, “Snake... snake...!” He no longer dared move forward. Then he saw more than a dozen snakes falling from the sky, like a rain of living things.

Yang Ning had wanted to seize Zhao Yuan in the confusion, but he also felt snakes being dropped from above toward him. He could no longer worry about Zhao Yuan. He swung the cold blade in his hand and, in an instant, sliced two falling snakes into halves.

These snakes had appeared under strange circumstances. Yang Ning no longer moved toward Zhao Yuan, but instead dodged swiftly to the side.

Zhao Yuan had just smashed one snake to death when more than a dozen more dropped from the sky. In the blink of an eye, three or four snakes landed on him, immediately wrapping themselves around him. Some coiled around his arms, and one had already wound itself around his neck.

The two burly men were now pale with terror and dared not advance. Suddenly one of them convulsed as if struck by lightning, dropped the broad saber in his hand, and frantically groped at his collar and across his back, jumping wildly as he screamed, “No good, there’s a snake on me! Hurry and pull it out!”

His companion dared not help him. Instead, he backed away, then suddenly cried out in alarm and turned to flee. He had only run a couple of steps when a towering figure blocked his way, and then he saw another man approaching with a three-pronged fork in hand.

Startled, the man did not stop. He raised his saber and struck at the newcomer. But the other man thrust the three-pronged fork straight at him with lightning speed, striking first despite acting later. Just as the burly man was about to split the fork’s tines apart, the fork suddenly spun beneath his wrist and then flicked upward, stabbing into his wrist. The pain shot through him like a knife, and the saber fell from his hand.

The other man casually twisted the fork and dragged him to a large tree. Then he lifted him up so that his arm was raised above his head and drove the fork fiercely into the trunk, pinning one of the man’s arms to the tree. The burly man screamed miserably, the cry carrying far into the distance.

Yang Ning knew immediately that something was terribly wrong and moved to dodge to the side. After running only a few steps, another figure appeared directly ahead of him, broad and powerfully built. One glance was enough for Yang Ning to recognize that this man wore exactly the same kind of clothing as the snake-catcher he had seen earlier.

He knew this man was ruthless and merciless. Seeing the three-pronged fork thrusting toward him, Yang Ning did not retreat. The cold blade flashed in his hand, and with a series of crisp metallic rings, he actually sliced all three tines of the fork clean off in an instant.

The snake-catcher froze. Then from his mouth came a beastlike howl. Brandishing the now toothless three-pronged fork, he swung it at Yang Ning.

The man possessed tremendous strength. When the fork came crashing down, the force of the wind it stirred was sharp and fierce. Seeing the man’s height, Yang Ning knew he could at most reach only the other man’s chest. He could not afford a direct clash. He stepped back two paces to avoid the blow, and suddenly felt a tightening around his arm. A snake had fallen from the air onto his arm.

Yang Ning reacted with extraordinary speed, but the snake was no slower, moving as if it had been trained. It quickly wound itself around his arm. Yang Ning did not hesitate. The cold blade flashed; the blade-light flickered; and he severed the snake’s head from his arm in one stroke.

He had expected the snake-catcher to take the chance to rush in, but instead the snake-catcher retreated a few steps. Yang Ning was still puzzled when a buzzing sound came from behind him. His heart turned cold. He spun around and saw a swarm of insects flying everywhere. By the sound of them, they were clearly bees.

Snakes could be cut down easily, but bees were far harder to drive off. More than a dozen poisonous bees were already charging at him head-on. It was too late to tear off his collar to cover his head. He felt a sting of pain on his neck and knew he had already been stung by one of them.

By this point, seven or eight snakes had already coiled around Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan struggled desperately, but it was useless. The other burly man was rolling on the ground as well, with three or four poisonous snakes wrapped around him.

Then a clear, sharp sound rang out, like the tone of bamboo slats being blown upon. The poisonous bees, which had been swarming in every direction, suddenly all flew upward into the sky. Yang Ning followed the direction in which they went and saw a tree branch extending from a large tree. On that branch sat a person, legs swinging, holding a short bamboo tube in hand. The bees were all drilling into that bamboo tube.

Yang Ning looked more closely and saw that the figure perched on the branch was a girl of sixteen or seventeen. Though it was night, her two legs were dazzlingly white, and most of her arms were exposed as well, fair as snow. The girl said in a crisp voice, “Useless trash. You’ve even ruined the show for me, so now I can’t watch the good part. You all deserve to die!”

Her accent was unmistakably that of the Shu region.