Volume 1, Chapter 70: Just Try Laying a Finger on Fan Xiu

Xie Tangfeng rubbed his hands in excitement and looked at the women brought in by the commander.

However,

upon seeing the appearance of these women, his expression instantly turned gloomy.

"Commander Sun, who are they? Where did you capture them from?"

Xie Tangfeng asked angrily.

He had indeed seen portraits of Xiao Ruoqing and Shadow, but not a single one of these women resembled them.

Although they wore the uniforms of the Blood Feather Guards, they did not look like martial artists at all, and their appearances were worlds apart from the portraits.

"Reporting to Young Master Xie, they forcefully tried to break through, so our men directly surrounded them, captured them, and brought them here," Commander Sun replied.

Xie Tangfeng asked with a dark expression, "Did they resist?"

"No!"

Commander Sun shook his head and said, "As soon as they saw us, they stopped, and then our men captured them!"

Xie Tangfeng pointed angrily at Commander Sun and said, "You..."

Without waiting to question him further, he turned to the women and demanded, "Who are you? Who told you to break through?"

"Spare my life, My Lord!"

One of the women hurriedly said, "We didn't do anything! Someone gave us silver and told us to come over! They gave us these clothes too!"

"Was the person who gave you silver a woman?" Xie Tangfeng quickly pressed.

"Yes. And she was quite pretty."

"How many of them were there? Where are they now?"

"I'm not sure how many. After she gave me the silver, she left. I have no idea where they are!"

Just at that moment,

a soldier covered in blood came running over at top speed.

"Young Master Xie, female spies from Xingye broke through the blockade from the west side. We killed one on the spot, but the others broke through!"

Xie Tangfeng’s expression shifted drastically, and he roared furiously, "Bastards! We've been played! This is a diversion! Immediately send everyone in pursuit; do not let them escape under any circumstances!"

"Yes!"

Everyone present rushed toward the west side.

Little did they know that after escaping from the west side, Shadow and the remaining members of the Blood Feather Guards headed south toward Yuzhou.

Zhiyuan County.

After packing his belongings, Xie Tangfeng prepared to leave overnight.

Liu Wenyang asked in confusion, "Young Master Xie, what has happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Mind your own business!" Xie Tangfeng retorted without even looking back.

Liu Wenyang hurriedly asked, "Then what about Fan Xiu's matter?"

Hearing this, Xie Tangfeng's anger flared up instantly. He lashed out with a kick, sending Liu Wenyang flying, and shouted coldly, "You motherfucker are still lying to me! I've already sent people to investigate. Su Ying'er was simply displeased that Fan Xiu used her name in a wager, so she demanded three hundred liang of silver from him. Fan Xiu didn't even get to see Su Ying'er in person; it was her maid who collected the silver!"

"Ah?"

Liu Wenyang was instantly dumbfounded.

He had never expected that Liu Wenyang would actually send people to investigate this matter.

Xie Tangfeng continued, "Su Ying'er would never lower herself for Fan Xiu! However, since Fan Xiu did take one thousand liang of my silver, you take some men tomorrow and give him a severe beating!"

With that, Xie Tangfeng boarded the carriage returning to Pengcheng.

He had to hurry back and inform the Cheng family that the Empress had escaped from Zhiyuan County, so they could make preparations in advance!

Otherwise, once the Empress returned to the capital, their entire Xuzhou would probably have only one path left—rebellion—for the Empress would certainly never spare them!

The next day.

Early in the morning, Liu Wenyang led a group of men straight toward the Fan family residence.

On the other side.

Fan Xiu's family had also packed their belongings for moving, preparing to leave Qinglin Village that very day and head to the horse ranch.

However, there were quite a few things to move.

Previously, to make cold skin noodles and marinated eggs, Fan Xiu had purchased a great deal of items. Qinglin Village was quite far from the horse ranch, and relying solely on their family, it would take several trips to move everything.

"Fan Xiu,"

Fan Shoucheng said, "Why don't you go find Village Chief Zhao and ask him to have some villagers help out, or perhaps find a few horse-drawn carriages?"

"Alright,"

Fan Xiu replied, and turned to leave.

Just at that moment, Liu Wenyang strode in from outside, followed by six thugs.

"Scholar Fan, where are you off to?" Liu Wenyang sneered, a malicious grin plastered across his face.

Fan Xiu frowned and said, "Liu Wenyang? What are you doing at my house?"

Xiao Ruoqing, who was busy packing belongings alongside Li Chuntao, also stopped and furrowed her brows.

"What do you think?"

Liu Wenyang sneered. "How dare you take Young Master Xie's money! Today, we're naturally here to teach you a lesson! Brothers, go get him, beat him up!"

As soon as his voice fell,

the six men trailing behind Liu Wenyang immediately lunged toward Fan Xiu.

Xiao Ruoqing's gaze sharpened.

Given Fan Xiu's physical condition, he was definitely no match for these men.

However, her injuries had not fully recovered yet, and acting rashly might worsen them or even expose her identity.

Yet if she didn't step in, Fan Xiu would be in grave danger!

No!

Fan Xiu must not come to any harm!

Xiao Ruoqing took a deep breath, then stepped forward, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Fan Xiu shouted coldly, "I am a imperial scholar! If you dare to lay a finger on me, I will surely report you to Magistrate Teacher! Assaulting a scholar is a capital offense!"

Those men who had rushed forward instantly hesitated.

Liu Wenyang sneered, "What are you afraid of? Just say I ordered the beating! As for the magistrate, I'll handle him!"

Hearing those words, those men no longer hesitated and charged straight at Fan Xiu.

At that moment,

Fan Shoucheng, Fan Yuan, and Fan Xiu's second uncle Fan Shouyan immediately stepped in front of Fan Xiu to block them.

"Just try laying a hand on Fan Xiu!"

"Come on then!"

Right then,

Fan Tie let out a thunderous roar, "Who dares touch my Brother Xiu!"

With that,

he wrapped his arms around a heavy stone mill and lifted it straight off the ground.

Seeing this, Fan Xiu widened his eyes in utter shock.

That stone mill weighed at least three hundred catties!

A brilliant flash of light crossed Xiao Ruoqing's eyes as well.

Fan Tie's strength was simply monstrous!

With such strength, even within the military ranks, very few people could achieve this feat!

The thugs who were charging forward were also frightened into stopping by this display.

"Raaah!"

Fan Tie let out a roar and hurled the heavy stone mill directly at them.

Their complexions changed drastically, and they scrambled away in all directions to save their lives.

Boom!

Accompanied by a deafening crash, the stone mill slammed heavily into the ground, causing the earth to tremble violently.

Watching this, those men instinctively swallowed hard.

Had they been crushed by that stone mill, their bones would undoubtedly have been pulverized into dust!

At that moment,

"Fan Xiu! We're here!"

Village Chief Zhao's voice suddenly echoed from outside.

Immediately afterwards, Village Chief Zhao was seen rushing in with a shoulder pole in hand.

Following closely behind him were a dozen villagers—all the Qinglin Village residents who had previously helped the Fan family make cold skin noodles.

"How dare anyone touch Scholar Fan in our Qinglin Village! Villagers, charge!"

Village Chief Zhao roared, then raised his shoulder pole and swung it fiercely at Liu Wenyang and his thugs, with the rest of the villagers surging forward right behind him.

"Ah! Run!"

Liu Wenyang's face turned pale with fright. He hurriedly clutched his head and fled toward the entrance, but despite running fast, he still took two solid strikes to his backside from Village Chief Zhao's shoulder pole!