Chapter 209.1 - Loyalty of Four People
209.1 – Loyalty of Four People
“What now? Boss, do we begin?”
The first one to break the silence was a bald man with a conspicuous sword scar tracing diagonally across his fierce face. He looked at the least conspicuous person of the other tree people — a short man dressed like an errand boy — and asked in a subdued voice.
Judging by his businessman-like facial features and the beaming smile on his face, the shorty looks like someone unrelated to the word “boss”.
However — you cannot judge a book by its cover.
Oftentimes, the most harmless-looking people are most dangerous.
In fact, the shorty is the most skilled among the four, since he is in the Earth Realm. He is an extremely dangerous person.
The shorty looked at his subordinates around him, chuckled, and threw out a question.
“What do you guys think?”
“It’s a rare opportunity.”
A subordinate gave a short answer in a flat tone. Plain in appearance and dressed in a duanhe [1], he looks no different from an ordinary passersby.
“Well… it’s indeed a rare opportunity.”
The baldy stroked his bearded chin and nodded approvingly.
“Gong Tianyang never leaves the Gong Clan. Even when he occasionally does go out, he is protected by numerous guards –“
“It can’t be helped since Vice Minister Gong and the Great General of the North treat their son and grandson respectively as a treasure.”
A subordinate — a young man dressed as a scholar suddenly unfolded the folding fan in his hand and butted in in a frivolous tone. The baldy cast him a slightly displeased look and said in a calm voice.
“The Great General of the North is old and cannot conceive any more children, while Vice Minister Gong is infertile due to an injury. Gong Tianyang is the last kin of the Gong Clan. As such, it’s normal for them to value him highly.”
“However, the ‘treasure’ of the two high-ranking officials has gone mad!” The scholar showed an enigmatic smile and ridiculed, “To go out with just a young girl, does he not know that there are countless eyes focused on him?”
“Not only did he go out with just a girl, but his dozen plus guards have become a girl midway.”
“Tsk, whatever. But — tsk tsk, that girl is excellent goods… you won’t find such first-rate goods anywhere.”
The scholar drew a lewd smile on his face that is inconsistent with his attire and asked in a hoarse voice dyed with excitement.
“Boss, can I have a little fun?”
“Bitch, does your lower extremity do the thinking for you?”
The baldy was so angry that he instead started smiling and criticized the scholar.
“Even sages are not without desires of the flesh. Since I am lustful, why not indulge in it?”
“What a stupid thing to say! We are shouldering an important task as well as master’s expectations, we cannot allow you to mess around!”
“It’s okay as long as I don’t make a mess, is that it?”
“Shut up, your way of thinking is insufferable.”
As the two bickered, the shorty, who is the leader, just watched quietly with a smile on his face, without any intention to stop them.
“Flowing Water Garden Villa.”
After a while, the shorty suddenly uttered four words. The baldy and the scholar froze, and then, as if they realized something, their expression turned dignified at once. The shorty is happy with their reaction.
“He-he, it seems that you finally noticed why I wanted everyone to gather here.”
The shorty clasped his hands behind his back and slightly widened his eyes, which were narrowed until now due to the smile on his face. The extremely sharp gaze coming from inside the half moon shaped slits outlined by the eyelids pricked the skin of the other three people.
“According to the intelligence, Gong Tianyang has been clever ever since he was little. Shadow abducted his older sister from the Gong Manor yesterday. No matter what, he would not be so foolish as to go out at this time, let alone leave the protection of his guards and stroll the streets with only a girl.”
“Boss thinks that he has something up his sleeve?”
“To pull a snake out of its hole.”
The one who answered the baldy’s question was not the shorty, but a man dressed as a civilian. His words are as brief as ever, but they are often incisive.
The shorty laughed admiringly and put up two fingers in front of the three.
“Gong Tianyang may be trying to bait us so as to catch all of us who have evil designs towards the Gong Clan — or towards him — in one go.”
He closed a finger, leaving only the index finger standing upright, which could easily catch people’s attention.
“Maybe Gong Tianyang thinks that the young girl by his side can withstand more than a dozen plus guards and believes that she can protect him in any crisis.”
The shorty stopped smiling and looked coldly at his three subordinates. The expression in his eyes is surprisingly ice-cold, as if he could freeze people with just his gaze.
“The three people from the Merak Temple are staying in the Flowing Water Garden Villa and the young girl accompanying Gong Tianyang came from the Flowing Water Garden Villa, isn’t hat suspicious?”
The shorty smiled again. However, his eyes aren’t smiling and his tone is still ice-cold.
“Reportedly, the Merak Temple’s ancestor — ‘Natural Disaster’ Xue Qilin looks like a young girl. Furthermore, she is rumored to have beautiful bright yellow eyes, just like the young girl accompanying Gong Tianyang. Although the hairstyle differs from that of the intelligence, but it’s not like it can’t be change, right?”
The shorty gazed at the people around him again, a meaningful look in his eyes.
Every time his eyes swept through a person, the sound of swallowing rose.
“Who of you is certain that the young girl the scholar wants to play with is not Xue Qilin?”
No one answered.
Silence, like a net that fell from the sky, covered the dark alley. The cacophony of people coming and going outside the alley can still be heard. Only, the atmosphere in the allay has frozen silent.
After some time, baldy broke the silence.
“Does boss mean that we should wait and see?”
The shorty nodded, a confident smile on his face.
“Reckless actions often indicate that we are blinded by the small prize in front of us, which only leads to destruction. Since the mouse is following them, we just have to do thing like we always –“
“Boss?”
In an instant, a voice of alarm came from the depths of the alley.
The shorty is familiar with this voice. In a flash, the smile on his face froze, and he looked into the depths of the alley.
A young woman in a plain dress and a whicker basket in her hands slowly emerged from the depths of the alley.
She looked at the shorty with an indescribable astonishment in her eyes, as if asking why they are here. The shorty looked back at her with distinct shock in his eyes.
“Mouse?” The smile on his face faded, and the shorty asked in bewilderment, “Didn’t you go to follow Gong Tianyang? Did you lose him?”
The mouse shook her head blankly and mumbled, “I am following… they just turned into this alley…”
[1] – duanhe