Chapter 247: Surrounded by Wolves (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ye Jingtang went out of Baywater Town, called down the bird circling in the sky, and carried it back to the river. He looked up to see Ning’er and Third Lady standing side by side at the top of rhe deckhouse, looking at the mountains and wilderness behind the town.
Ye Jingtang jumped up and landed on rhe ship. He turned around and looked at Baywater Town. “What’s wrong?”
Pei Xiang]un was holding a monocular in her hands and searching through the misty mountains. “When you were handling affairs just now, I seemed to see a white shadow leave rhe town and disappear in a flash…”
Ye Jingtang landed behind his two fiancees and leaned in front of Third Lady’s face. She brought the monocular to his eye. “White shadow… where?”
Luo Ning felt Ye Jingtang’s hand on her lower back and pushed ir away calmly. “I was looking ar rhe street just now, but 1 didn’t see any white shadow. I think she must have been dazzled by the Dragon Form Picture these few days.”
Pei Xiang]un, who was helping Ye Jingtang hold the monocular, said unhappily, “How can I be seeing things? It’s clearly your eyesight that’s bad.”
While they were talking, Pei Xiangjun also noticed that there was a hand on her lower back. She glanced at Jingtang, who was focused, and pursed her lips, pretending not to notice anything.
Ye Jingtang scanned the boundless mountains and wilderness through the monocular. It was empty without any abnormality. He asked rhe bird, “Did you see the white shadow?”
“Chirp chirp! ” The bird, standing at the top of the mast, shook its head like a rattle drum, indicating that it had been paying attention to the buildings around Ye Jingtang and hadn’t paid attention to the outside of the town.
Pei Xiangjun searched for a while and found nothing, so she put down the monocular. “Forget it. It has nothing to do with us. Let’s go to the Black Tortoise Hail to inquire about the situation in Wu Province first.”
Hearing this, Ye Jingtang retracted his gaze and jumped down from the deckhouse with the two of them in his arms. Then he went forward, pulled up the sail, and steered rhe boat away from the river bank.
The Red Flower Pavilion had branches in the twelve provinces of Great Wei. Back then, the various major ship gangs had formed an alliance to establish the Red Flower Pavilion. The Guan family near Wu Province s Rising Sun City were elders and belonged to the Black Tortoise Hall of the four main halls.
During the Red Flower Pavilion’s heyday, rhe Black Tortoise Hail had a martial arts Grandmaster presiding over it. With the backing of a top rich and powerful force, it had a very high status among the twelve sects in Wu Province.
But now, fortune was not on its side. The Black Tortoise Hall was the first to fail behind among the four main halls. It had spent a lot of money but had failed to raise a Grandmaster to support it. After the former Spear Chief passed away, rhe Red Flower Pavilion s headquarters had also collapsed. It could no longer manage the affairs in Wu Province at all.
In a situation where the Black Tortoise Hall had no backing and no successor, it rapidly declined in just ten years. Now, there were only about two hundred people left in the hall. It relied on three docks to survive. If not for the Red Flower Pavilion s reputation in the past, it wouldn’t have the qualifications to rank among the twelve sects of Wu Province.
Rising Sun City had been very chaotic for rhe past two days, and ir was very rare to see pedestrians near the city. The Guan family’s docks near the river had closed, and the merchants had all fled to avoid the war. The Guan family’s businesses near the docks were also closed, and only a few Guan family disciples were patrolling the surrounding area.
Ye Jingtang docked the ship on the river bank. Immediately, people from the Black Tortoise Hall came over to inquire.
As the pavilion lord, as long as Pei Xiangjun appeared, Ye Jingtang, the young master, could only stand at the back like a vase. In order to let him take over as soon as possible, she naturally hid behind the scenes and let him handle matters on his own.
Luo Ning didn’t have such concerns. She wore a veiled hat and followed behind, pretending to be Ye Jingtang’s sword-carrying maid.
Ye Jingtang brought Luo Ning to the Guan residence and saw a large group of people running out of the manor. The leader was the hall master of the Black Tortoise Hall, Guan Shengxing, and behind him were the helm masters of the Black Tortoise Hall and the disciples of the Guan family.
During the annual meeting of the Red Flower Pavilion, Ye Jingtang had met Guan Shengxing. He was in his fifties, stout, and had business acumen, but his martial arts skills were basically not ranked high. They hadn’t spoken much with each other.
At this moment, Guan Shengxing, dressed as a wealthy merchant, came out. His face was full of joy as he walked to Ye Jingtang and cupped his hands. “Young Master, why didn’t you send a message in advance when you came to Wu Province? I didn’t welcome you properly. Please don’t blame me… What are you waiting for? Quickly bow…”
Many of the disciples behind him were seeing Ye Jingtang for the first time. When they heard this, they hurriedly cupped their hands. “Greetings, Young Master.”
The hall masters of the four main halls were elders of the Red Flower Pavilion, and Ye Jingtang had to call them uncles. Guan Shengxing’s courtesy was clearly too much.
Ye Jingtang raised his hand to help Guan Shengxing up. “Uncle Guan, you’re too polite. I heard that something happened in Wu Province, so I came over to take a look. Let’s go in and talk.”
Recently, Wu Province was in a mess. When Guan Shengxing saw that the young master of the headquarters had come to support the scene, he was really grateful from the bottom of his heart. He hurriedly brought Ye Jingtang to the Guan family’s incense hall and first offered incense to the founder of the Black Tortoise Hall. Then he dismissed the people around him and sat down in the tea hall.
Guan Shengxing personally carried the teapot and poured tea. Hearing Ye Jingtang ask about the situation in Rising Sun City, he shook his head and sighed. “Two days ago, news came that the heir of the Prince of Wu was plotting a rebellion in rhe capital, and something happened in Rising Sun City that night. It seemed that the Prince of Wu wanted to mobilize his private army to rebel. But the twenty thousand private soldiers raised by the Prince of Wu can only scare the people of Jianghu and don’t have the courage to rebel. 1 heard that the Imperial Court mobilized two hundred thousand border soldiers to quell the rebellion, and the vanguard army would arrive in Rising Sun City in three days. So the private soldiers ran away, leaving only a few hundred personal guards to guard the Prince of Wu Estate. The Prince of Wu is isolated and helpless. He didn’t dare to stay in the city and ran away with his personal guards the day before yesterday…”
Ye Jingtang took the teacup and asked, “Where did he go?”
Guan Shengxing shook his head. “Wu Province is surrounded by Yan, Ya, and Jiang provinces. Prince of Wu can’t leave at all. He probably escaped into the Wu Mountains. Young Master, you’re from the capital. Do you know what’s going on in the capital? Did the Imperial Court really dispatch two hundred thousand soldiers?”
Ye Jingtang shook his head. “The Imperial Court didn’t dispatch a single soldier. Only an imperial envoy and officials from the Six Ministries are coming to take over the Prince of Wu’s assets. They’ll probably arrive in a few days..”
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel