TPATTHU Chapter 41

“Stop!”

Xiao Zhinian’s skills were obviously superior to the assassin’s, and he soon caught up, flying up and kicking the man squarely in the back, sending him crashing from the roof to the street.

The assassin rolled a couple of times, raising a cloud of dust. He was about to get up and flee when he realized he was trapped in a narrow alley, with a high wall behind him, leaving him nowhere to escape.

Xiao Zhinian landed on the ground, casually picked up a discarded bamboo pole, and leisurely looked at the turtle in a jar, saying, “Surrender, you can’t beat me. Tell me, why did you instruct Luo Xiaobei to drug the courier horses?”

Xiao Zhinian’s powerful aura forced the assassin to retreat a step. He swallowed hard, and his hand holding the bow sweated. He stammered, “What… what’s it to you! Get away, or I’ll kill you!”

Shen Zhejiang said, “If the courier horses die suddenly, the post station will have to buy new ones, which would undoubtedly be a huge expense. Although I don’t know who’s behind you, there are only a few businesses in Luo City that deal in courier horses.”

The assassin’s face changed dramatically. “Why are you telling me this! I don’t understand!”

Xiao Zhinian twirled the bamboo pole and sneered. “If you don’t understand this, then you took people’s money to help them eliminate trouble. You killed the people, so the prison sentence will naturally fall on your head. I advise you to surrender yourself to the authorities as soon as possible.”

Having heard this much, how could the assassin not understand?

He looked around, immediately nocked an arrow, and shot at Xiao Zhinian. Xiao Zhinian twisted his wrist, and the bamboo pole deflected the arrow to the side.

The assassin fired two more arrows, but Xiao Zhinian managed to block them all. Cold sweat broke out on the assassin’s forehead. He had never encountered such a strong opponent.

Xiao Zhinian took a step closer, stretched his muscles, and said, “I’ve had enough fun. Now it’s time to deal with you.”

Suddenly, an arrow shot from the side, as fast as lightning.

Shen Zhejiang’s pupils widened, and he strode forward, blocking Xiao Zhinian.

“Careful!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a cloud of white smoke enveloped them, rendering everything invisible. The rustling sounds quickly faded away.

“Shen Zhejiang?!”

Xiao Zhinian exclaimed, feeling for Shen Zhejiang’s location. He only breathed a sigh of relief after pulling Shen Zhejiang into his arms.

Shen Zhejiang’s voice sounded somewhat muffled, as if suppressing something: “…I’m fine.”

As the smoke gradually dissipated, Xiao Zhinian saw how “fine” Shen Zhejiang really was, and his heart suddenly contracted—

An arrow was buried in Shen Zhejiang’s chest!

His face was extremely pale from the pain, but he endured it, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Are you stupid! Why did you rush over knowing there was an arrow!”

Xiao Zhinian was anxious and blurted out, only realizing after he had actually gotten angry at Shen Zhejiang.

If Shen Zhejiang had only suffered a small cut, he would have felt heartbroken. Now, it felt as if a sharp knife was stabbing a hole in his heart.

Seeing Xiao Zhinian’s self-reproach and anxiety, Shen Zhejiang endured the pain, raised a hand to touch him, and forced a smile to comfort him. “It’s nothing, just an arrow wound.”

“I’ll take you to a doctor!”

Xiao Zhinian scooped Shen Zhejiang up in his arms. He was unfamiliar with the terrain of Luo City, and the more anxious he became, the more mistakes he made, running around like a headless fly, repeatedly running into dead ends.

A large patch of blood stained Shen Zhejiang’s chest. His head was beginning to feel dizzy, and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. His eyes were half-closed.

He was so tired, he wanted to sleep.

Something warm and wet seemed to slide across his face.

What was it?

Shen Zhejiang struggled to open his eyes, wanting to see clearly, but he saw that Xiao Zhinian was silently choking back tears, his eyes wet.

He was crying?

Silly boy, what was there to cry about?

“Xiao Zhinian, don’t cry…”

I’m really fine.

He couldn’t say the rest of the words. Shen Zhejiang had lost too much blood and couldn’t hold on any longer. He passed out.

“Shen Zhejiang!!”

–

Zhao Residence.

“What are we going to do now?”

A fearful, low voice came from a secluded house in the backyard. It was Zhao Yuanwai speaking.

At this moment, he was pacing around the tightly closed room, his face anxious, like an ant on a hot pot, unable to sit still.

In stark contrast to him, the person sitting calmly on the other side of the main seat was holding a cup of hot tea, using the lid to scrape away the tea leaves floating on top, and then slowly sipping.

Zhao Yuanwai turned back, saw his calm demeanor, exclaimed in dismay, and plopped down in the seat next to him, distraught. “Prefect Yang, what time is it? You still have the leisure to drink tea? If the Emperor finds out that you and I are responsible for the sudden death of the courier horses, we’ll lose our heads!”

Prefect Yang praised, “The tea in your residence is indeed excellent. I’ll take two more cans later.”

Zhao Yuanwai was anxious and raised his voice without realizing it. “Drink what drink! If you drink any more, you’ll be drinking in the underworld!”

With a bang, the teacup was placed on the table.

Prefect Yang said coldly, “Only you will die, what does it have to do with me?”

Zhao Yuanwai immediately got angry with him, slamming the table loudly and jumping up. “It was clearly your idea! You told me to send someone to threaten Luo Xiaobei to add drugs to the horses’ troughs, create the illusion of the sudden death of the courier horses, cheat the court of money, and embezzle public funds! We’ll both die!”

Prefect Yang retorted, “Oh really? Then tell me, which part of the whole affair did I participate in?”

“……”

Zhao Yuanwai was suddenly choked by this sentence.

Thinking back, he realized that Yang Shihui had indeed never shown his face. Buying murderers to kill the horses was his doing, and trading the horses was also his doing, while Yang Shihui only pointed him in the right direction behind the scenes.

The only part Yang Shihui played was when they were dividing the money.

The more Zhao Yuanwai thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. Only now did he realize that he had fallen into the trap of Yang Shihui, that sly fox.

Why should he do all the bad things, and in the end, only he would take the blame, while Yang Shihui would be able to emerge unscathed from the whole affair?

“Heh! Yang Shihui, don’t forget, I’m also a businessman,” Zhao Yuanwai leaned forward, speaking in a threatening voice, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. “I’ve recorded every penny you’ve received in my accounts. When the time comes, we’ll compare them, and you won’t be able to escape.”

Prefect Yang raised an eyebrow and said nonchalantly, “Slandering a court official is no small crime. Anyway, no evidence can be found in my residence. If you spread it around, before the Emperor catches you, I can also bite you.”

“You!”

Zhao Yuanwai was so angry that he was panting, clutching his rising and falling chest for a long time before he recovered. He never expected that he would jump into the pit dug by Yang Shihui.

Damn it, Yang Shihui really caused him great harm!

Prefect Yang, who had been cursed bloodily, stood up, shook his sleeves, and folded his hands behind his back. “I still don’t know what you’re so anxious about. Look, the Shen guy is injured, and now his life is hanging by a thread. That little Emperor is surrounding him, how can he have time to care about your affairs? Listen to me, take advantage of these days to destroy all the account books that should be destroyed, and don’t leave any clues.”

“I know that without you telling me, but if Shen Zhejiang really dies, do you think the Emperor won’t turn Luo City upside down to find the murderer? Then it will still be traced back here.”

Zhao Yuanwai was very worried.

Prefect Yang turned his eyes to the tightly closed windows. The sky had long been dark, only the setting sun remained. He was hidden in the shadows, his face looking unusually cold.

Even colder words slowly came out of Prefect Yang’s mouth, “Who is in charge of Luo City is still up for debate. What is an Emperor to us?”

Zhao Yuanwai suddenly understood what he meant and felt a shiver all over his body. A chill crawled up his legs, and he said in horror, “You want to…”

He didn’t dare to say any more, and he drew a line across his neck with one hand.

Prefect Yang said coldly, “Luo City is thousands of miles away from the capital. The journey is long and uncertain. If the Emperor unfortunately dies on the way, who would suspect?”

After saying that, he lifted his robe and left.

However, Zhao Yuanwai sat slumped on the cold, hard stool for a long time, his hands and feet were icy cold, as if he had been fished out of the icy lake in winter, covered in cold sweat.

Too terrible, Yang Shihui actually dared to…

What was this if not rebellion?