Chapter 229 – The spider starts to weave (2)
“Shopkeeper, why are you just standing there? Go to the authorities and get help!” Ji Man shouted. She pushed Ning Yuxuan away and left the area underneath the falling shelves. Dust immediately rose in the room as several daggers flew through the air and almost struck her body. Frightened, she immediately went back to hiding in Ning Yuxuan’s arms.
“You’re such a troublemaker,” Ning Yuxuan angrily said.
Ji Man pouted. She was totally innocent.
He picked up her and jumped towards the antique store’s doors. They landed outside on the street. There was a considerable amount of people outside. Hearing such a large commotion, one after another, they stopped to watch.
Several of the dagger-wielding men followed them outside and hurled themselves at Ning Yuxuan without regard to their lives.
While protectively guarding the woman behind him, Ning Yuxuan pulled out a piece of wood from a market stall. As he used the makeshift weapon to block the daggers, he shouted, “Guibai!”
The carriage hadn’t been parked from here. Hearing his name, Guibai swiftly ran over and caught the woman that was flung over. He protectively moved her to the center of the crowd.
It would be difficult enough for one person to fight three people at once, much less four armed people. These people seemed to not recognize him and only thought of him as a hindrance. Two people stayed behind to deal with him and the other two people tried to move towards the crowd to to grab Nie Sangyu.
This was critical juncture between life and death, but Ji Man had crouched down at the edge of the crowd to calculate.
Qian Lianxue had sent people to kill her, but there wasn’t an absolute guarantee that they would be able to succeed. And so, she guessed that Feiwan Courtyard would definitely be set on fire in order to destroy the letter. Perhaps, the prepared item she had left behind would be put to good use.
After today, even if she didn’t have undeniable evidence that Qian Lianxue was guilty, Marquis Moyu and Old Madame’s formerly unshakable belief in Qian Lainxue would waver. At minimum, Qian Lianxue’s position as an honored concubine could be taken away, and the number of spies in the household would be cut in half.
Calculating it this way, as long as her view of Qian Lianxue as a person with evil plans was accurate, then this had been a worthwhile transaction.
The antique store had other employees. Before the shopkeeper left to get the city’s guards, he ordered them to surround the group of people that had shattered so many antiques and seize them. This helped Ning Yuxuan out a lot. Although the store’s employees weren’t actually able to stop them, they would be able to delay them until the capital’s guards arrived to arrest them.
The guards that were responsible for this area were quite quick. The shopkeeper hadn’t been gone for long before these guards arrived on the scene and seized the remaining men that were fighting with Ning Yuxuan. Because Ning Yuxuan had also been vigorously fighting and was dressed in a commoner’s clothing, he was also taken along to be judged by the local magistrate.
Looking at Ning Yuxuan’s livid face, Ji Man was laughing so hard that she almost cried. She had Guibai drive the carriage and follow after them so that she could bail Ning Yuxuan out.
—
The arrested assassins had ordinary-looking faces. Although they had been arrested, there weren’t any hints of fear on their faces.
One of them nonchalantly mumbled, “We failed, might get punished.”
The leader of the group glared at Ning Yuxuan and said, “If he hadn’t suddenly interfered, how could we have failed?”
A person behind him murmured, “He’s one of the marquis’s household guards, right? His martial arts is pretty good.”
Ning Yuxuan coldly harrumphed and sarcastically said, “Thanks for the praise. You’re guilty of attempted murder, and yet you’re in the mood to idly chat. You’ll be facing Magistrate Yin soon. Do you still want to live?”
The group of assassins remained unperturbed. It seemed as if they were unafraid of death, or perhaps, they thought it was impossible for them to be sentenced to death.
Ning Yuxuan’s mind slightly turned. He lowered his head and didn’t say another word.
—
After they were brought out of the cells to be judged and sentenced by Magistrate Yin, Ning Yuxuan took out his waist accessory that proved his identity and told the judge what had happened. He asked Magistrate Yin to take charge of this matter and enforce justice.
Magistrate Yin had only come into this position recently and hadn’t seen Marquis Moyu before. His only thought was that this person had an attractive appearance. After taking an extra look of him, he said, “They hadn’t actually harmed anyone, so they naturally can’t be given the death sentence. It’ll be fine just to imprison them for a period of time.
Under the laws of this dynasty, killing someone was a death sentence. Attempted murder was also a death sentence. And yet, this judge had breezily said this matter would be settled with locking them up for a while.
Ning Yuxuan smiled, “Sir, let’s speak in private.”
—
Ji Man waited outside the local magistrate’s office for the announcement of the judge’s decision. She hadn’t been waiting long when she saw Ning Yuxuan coming outside by himself. His expression was very ugly.
Ji Man asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ning Yuxuan waved his hand. “Let’s go back. Have other people buy the rest of the items.”
Ji Man could see that he was in a terrible mood, so she didn’t dare to be troublesome and obediently followed him back.
However, after they returned, Ji Man didn’t go to Feiwan Courtyard. Instead, she went looking for Nie Chenyu.
—
Ji Man smiled as she asked, “Younger sister, do you want to come over to Feiwan Courtyard for a bit? Since Old Madame wants us to happily get along, we shouldn’t let her down.”
Nie Chenyu looked at her with a guarded expression. “Older sister, you’re suddenly showing such great hospitality. It makes younger sister feel a bit afraid.”
When they were younger, there had been countless times when she and Nie Sangyu would mutually fight each other. But, Nie Sangyu didn’t have a mother and she had one. And so, every single time, no matter who was in the wrong, there could only be one outcome. Nie Sangyu getting scolded and punished.
Ji Man continued to smile. “Nothing bad will happen. The marquis just returned home with me. I’m sure that he’ll be coming over soon after he finishes up his work in his study.”
Nie Chenyu’s eyes brightened. After tidying up, she followed Nie Sangyu.
As soon as they entered Feiwan Courtyard, they could see Dengxin standing outside.
She said with a bright smile, “Mistress Yu, there’s a surprise waiting inside. You should open the doors slowly.”
Nie Chenyu curiously asked, “What surprise?”
Ji Man shrugged and gestured for Nie Chenyu to open the doors.