Chapter 138 Blood Fight at the Lane Entrance
Leng Changxi cleverly turned his backhand to pull up the sharp arrow in the wood. And then he twisted his wrist lightly again. The sharp arrow cut through the thick air with the smell of blood like a meteor. It shot the squinting archer behind the eaves opposite, directly hitting his eyes that aimed at Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan.
Seemingly inspired by Leng Changxi, the troubled queue of Prince Ning’s Mansion began to fight back. Eighteen shadow guards had already circled the eaves and got behind the ambushing assassins. Taking out their short daggers, they cut their throats briskly.
“General, retreat.” Shang Xianhua pulled out the heavy sword from his waist. This sword made of black iron was given to him by Leng Changxi on the first day of his entry into the Leng Army. It was no problem at all blocking the arrows.
After a while, the alleyway returned to tranquility. Prince Ning’s Mansion’s queue had a total of fifty-three people, with thirteen dead and more than twenty injured. Their opponents had twenty-two people. Twenty of them were dead, and the other two were caught before they took the poison and committed suicide.
“General, the men were here.” Leng Wu grabbed the collar of an assassin who was tied tightly and led him to Leng Changxi. His body was scratched by the blade.
Leng Changxi glanced coldly at the captive, who was crushed to the ground. And then he looked around at the blue wall covered with blood. The mansion servants were laying on the ground, covering their wounds and sighing. He smiled, “You guys are brave. Challenging Prince Ning’s Mansion with only twenty people.”
The assassin began gasping. The other was rolling his eyes.
“No.” Leng Wu strived to pry apart the two assassins’ mouth. Before he sent them over, he had checked that there was no suicidal material on the two assassins, but why….
“Forget it.” Leng Changxi shook his head sharply as he watched the two continue to spit foam, twitching all over their bodies. After a while, they lay straight on the ground one after another with stiff bodies.
“It’s my incompetence.” Leng Wu cupped his hands, and Shang Xianhua knelt afterward. The attack came too suddenly. Although the eighteen shadow guards and the Leng Army had no losses, Prince Ning’s Mansion was already in an intolerable catastrophe. They failed to keep their captive alive, and even the last clue was broken.
“You shouldn’t be blamed.” Leng Changxi calmly circled the body of the two, “They had been forced to take poison before performing the mission. They were the legendary death fighters. Even if captured alive, he could say nothing. Instead, it’s beneficial to us that they are dead now.”
“Sister.” A little man suddenly climbed out of the sedan behind him. That was Qin Baochuan. During the raid just now, he had been protected well by Leng Shuang and Leng Wu. Except for the shock, he didn’t suffer from it even a little bit. Leng Wu hurried out to help Leng Changxi after everything was about to end, leaving Leng Shuang alone to protect Qin Baochuan. Only when Leng Shuang had fully confirmed that there was no threat around did she let Qin Baochuan come out.
“Baochuan.” Qin Yunuan ran to him with weak legs. The sister and brother embraced each other. Qin Baochuan meant everything to Qin Yunuan. She would drown in sorrow if Baochuan were gone.
Leng Changxi knew it well enough that he sent the most powerful subordinate, Leng Wu, to protect Qin Baochuan. As for Qin Yunuan, he could protect his own woman.
Other children would certainly cry in such a situation, but Qin Baochuan did not. His eyes were determined, and he even looked like an adult, holding Qin Yunuan and asking if she was injured.
“I’m fine. I’m very good.” Qin Yunuan said while looking at Leng Changxi subconsciously. Misfortune reveals true love. Qin Yunuan knew very clearly how Leng Changxi used his life to protect her in the face of disasters.
“Look, sister, that is the mark of the East Qin assassins.” Qin Baochuan suddenly pointed to the mark of a plum blossom petal on the black waist belt of the two poisoned assassins.
And that sentence was exactly what Leng Changxi wanted to say.
“Was them the remnants of East Qin?” Shang Xianhua said cautiously.
“Impossible,” Leng Changxi sneered, “The party of East Qin had long been cleared. The Leng Army removed it. We knew that there would be no remains left. The mark was to deceive the public. Obviously, the person behind this is very shrewd and good at hiding. He doesn’t want his true identity to be revealed, so he just used the best one to disguise himself.”
Leng Changxi’s remarks were very reasonable. Now the remnants of East Qin are already on the cusp of the storm. After the Leng Army had cleaned them up a while ago, even the party inside the territory of East Qin had calmed down. It was too risky to commit a crime at this time.
“However, the more he tried to disguise, the more he revealed himself,” Leng Changxi raised his neck slightly. His tone was confident and calm. If he was right… “There are only two kinds of people who have the ability and knowledge of affairs in East Qin. They should be either in the palace or in the army. Who do you think will be?”
After Leng Changxi finished, he glanced at Shang Xianhua and Leng Wu. The subordinates all bowed their heads, “We didn’t dare to speculate.”
Leng Changxi shrugged indifferently. Behind the black mask, his eyes showed incomparable wisdom and sharpness, as if he could see through everything, “I don’t know, either.”
The Leng Army was of high efficiency. Hardly had the messy ground been cleared up when a brand-new carriage came from the alley to take Qin Yunuan and Qin Baochuan back to Prince Ning’s Mansion.
“Aren’t you leaving?” Qin Yunuan felt distressed at Leng Changxi, although she believed his ability. He was sufficient to cope with all incidents just like before, but she still had a lingering fear. She was afraid and unsure if the other party was coming for Leng Changxi or herself.
Leng Changxi smiled. In front of Qin Yunuan, he always showed his most tender side without hesitation. He kissed Qin Yunuan’s forehead, “Good girl, go back to rest early. I will come back to accompany you before the sun goes down. Is that OK?”
The attack happened, and it happened in Qingshui Alley, where the distinguished dignitaries crowded the street. Leng Changxi must have a lot of other chores to deal with.
“Okay,” Qin Yunuan stand on her tiptoe and gently pecked on Leng Changxi’s perfect chin. “I will make your favorite lotus soup and wait for your return.”
Qin Baochuan had already got on the carriage. Leng Wu was standing on the shaft, preparing to bring Qin Baochuan up. But he didn’t expect Qin Baochuan to just return him a salute, “Thank you, Brother Leng. It’s just that a man should get on the carriage by himself.” Then he gathered up his strength and climbed up.
Waiting for Qin Yunuan to come in, Qin Baochuan looked firm. He seemed to be deep in thoughts. Nobody knew what the little guy was thinking.
The carriage moved slowly. Leng Shuang and Leng Wu were guarding the two sides of the carriage, which was undoubtedly the safest for them. The only servant girl who followed Qin Yunuan was Maner. Her face was a bit pale, and she was trembling at the moment because it was the first time for her to see bloody scenes like this. Fortunately, Leng Wu had escorted Maner to a safe area in time when the incident happened, so that she was unscathed, but her heart didn’t calm down.
Walking beside Maner, Leng Wu would turn his head from time to time to look at Maner, who was not looking well.
“Are you still scared?” Leng Wu asked Maner softly. For the first time, the voice of an eight-foot-tall boy was so gentle and moving.
Maner shook her head, lowered her eyes, and followed the carriage step by step. The only thing she was most afraid of was not seeing the dead man or the arrow rain. What Maner worried about was Qin Yunuan. When she saw those flying arrows aimed at Qin Yunuan’s carriage, her heartbeat almost stopped. She could not imagine her life without Third Miss. Her love for Qin Yunuan had already surpassed the relation of masters and servants. They treated each other as relatives.
Qin Yunuan thought the same in her heart, but…
“Sister Maner seems scared,” Qin Baochuan murmured, “Sister, let’s pick up Maner and let her sit in the carriage with us.”
Qin Yunuan just smiled and stroked Qin Baochuan’s head, “You are too young to understand, your sister Maner is now protected.”
“By whom?” Qin Baochuan was stunned. He lifted the carriage curtain and poked out his head, just to see Leng Wu stretching out his big hand, tightly clutching Maner’s cold and white hand. He lowered his voice and asked, “So, are you still afraid?”
Mane blushed instantly because of shyness, but she kept her head low, and her voice was weak like mosquitos, “No… I’m not afraid.”
Qin Baochuan widened his eyes. He seemed half understood, but Qin Yunuan pulled him off the carriage window by the side.
“You are not allowed to disturb sister Maner, do you know?” Qin Yunuan touched the tip of Qin Baochuan’s nose. She would like to make some more jokes, but she was exhausted after such a thrilling event. The point was that if it had been as Leng Changxi said, either the people in the palace or the people in the army could do this, it would only be more troublesome.
All the ladies in the palace have their means and ways of living, and all the generals in the army have their background and connections. It must be a tough battle, with the enemy in the dark and them exposed in the light.
“Oh, and what were you wondering about?” Qin Yunuan suddenly remembered. She knew Qin Baochuan too well. They were, after all, brother and sister. She knew every expression of Qin Baochuan.