Chapter 27: Returning to the Pan Mansion

Yang Lin motioned for Qi Si'an to sit down. Then he took out a jar of ointment from the depths of the medicine basket. Before Qi Si'an could react, he pulled off his robe and directly applied the ointment to Qi Si'an's body, avoiding only the deepest knife wound. "Your wound must be stitched up, but I'm not a doctor who carries thread with me when I go out."

Pan Yueqing rested her chin in her hand and watched Yang Lin's actions. She was caught up in Yang Lin's mysterious theory of "the two sharing one fortune". She deeply felt that she had really suffered a great loss. You know, if she had avoided those scoundrels she met in her previous life, she still had a great chance of living a good life. But it was different for Qi Si'an. Judging from her previous life experience, he had at least three life-and-death tribulations, and this was only the first one.

"Girl, why are you staring at me like that? I didn't put any poison in it," Yang Lin met Pan Yueqing's absent-minded gaze and chuckled. "You don't have to be so protective, do you?"

"I have just one question. Please answer me sincerely, Mr. Yang," Pan Yueqing said to Yang Lin with great sincerity.

"Feel free to ask," Yang Lin put away the medicine jar and whispered to Qi Si'an to put on his clothes after the medicine had been absorbed.

"What about this 'the two sharing one fortune'... How can I separate my fortune from his? What if he really dies? I'll suffer a great loss," Pan Yueqing waved to Yang Lin, pulled him ten steps away, and then lowered her voice. "I have a gut feeling that he's a short-lived person!" Yang Lin waved his hand, gave a mysterious smile, and didn't answer. But the smile didn't stay on his face for more than three breaths. He suddenly turned around and said to Pan Yueqing helplessly, "I think your intuition is really accurate." He suddenly pulled Pan Yueqing and at the same time shouted into the cave, "Get down!"

The sound of the star-spiral arrowhead cutting through the air was like the grimace of death claiming a life.

A familiar face came into Pan Yueqing's view. It was Di Geng!

"Miss Pan," Di Geng stopped in front of Pan Yueqing. After bowing slightly and saluting, he smiled and said, "There are rumors in the capital that you have been kidnapped by mountain bandits. Miss... It's quite normal if you can't go back, right?"

While Di Geng was speaking, the green-pointed venomous snake on Yang Lin's body had quietly coiled around Di Geng's left leg and slowly crawled up to his neck along the iron armor. Yang Lin smiled sarcastically, looking as if Pan Yueqing was doomed to die today. It wasn't until a soldier behind Di Geng let out a loud scream, "There's a snake!"

"I should have said it. Don't talk too much before killing someone," Pan Yueqing's gaze was cold, and there was a sneer on her smile.

Yang Lin let out a slight sigh. Suddenly, a sound similar to a snake spitting out its tongue came from his mouth. The little snake opened its mouth and was about to bite Di Geng's neck. But in a flash, a soldier behind Di Geng used a sword to flick the snake away. Di Geng, who had snatched his life back from the King of Hell, laughed arrogantly. "What? Could a little snake really take your Uncle Di's life?"

"Di Geng, I originally wanted to spare your life," Qi Si'an walked out from the depths of the cave with his hands behind his back. He had a long sword at his waist. Although he looked ragged, he still had an imposing manner. Qi Si'an murmured this sentence, and a trace of pity and reluctance appeared on his face. But this emotion disappeared in an instant. The moment he raised his eyes, his gaze became sharp. "Shi Guang, take action."

Just when Pan Yueqing was a bit stunned, the soldier who had flicked the little snake away behind Di Geng suddenly moved extremely quickly. He put a dagger on Di Geng's neck, and Di Geng didn't even have a chance to react before his throat was slit. Di Geng's personal guards suddenly fell one by one, replaced by a team of men in black, each holding a dagger.

Yang Lin held his little snake in his hands with a pained expression. He hissed a few times as if comforting it. He slowly put the little snake into his sleeve and said to Qi Si'an unhappily, "My little treasure is very precious!"

As soon as Yang Lin finished speaking, the next moment, Shi Guang pointed the dagger at Yang Lin beside him. Seeing this, Pan Yueqing felt that something was wrong. Without much thinking, she rushed forward and stood in front of Yang Lin. At the same time, she shouted at Qi Si'an, "Stop!"

"Shi Guang," Qi Si'an was quite cooperative and stopped Shi Guang's steps. But when he looked at Pan Yueqing, his gaze was displeased.

Pan Yueqing turned around and looked at the entrance of the cave. There was not a single person left. The bodies of the iron-clad guards brought by Di Geng were lying in all directions, and there was blood all over the ground. She murmured, "When did you come?"

"A quarter of an hour ago," Qi Si'an replied. He raised his eyes and motioned for the people around him to put up a circle of blocking cloth. He raised his hands and let others change him into a new robe. Looking brand new, he stood with his hands behind his back and leisurely sat down on the stone at the entrance of the cave. He said to Shi Guang, "Arrange for someone to send Miss Yue back. Let... Hong Gong send her back!"

"Yes," Shi Guang nodded in agreement without the slightest hesitation at Qi Si'an's order.

The Hong Gong that Qi Si'an mentioned was probably Hong Qiqiao from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Weaving Bureau. It was rumored that Hong Qiqiao was a capable minister during the previous emperor's reign. He single-handedly helped the current emperor ascend to the throne and was called "the heart as clever as the seven orifices" by two generations of emperors, so he was called Hong Qiqiao. Hong Qiqiao was originally from the capital. Because of his official position, he had been in the south of the Yangtze River for many years. Now that he was old, he had returned to the capital to retire some time ago and had pushed all his affairs to his late-born son to take care of.

"Just say that I said so. Please ask Hong Gong to tell a complete story."

With Qi Si'an's instruction, after leaving the mountains of Ten-Thousand-Ghosts' Sorrow, there was a resplendent carriage waiting in the deep mountain forest. In front of the carriage, a very proper middle-aged man, who looked like a butler, greeted them respectfully. Without saying a word, he invited Pan Yueqing and Yang Lin into the carriage.

It was said that after the Assembly Incident, Pan Haiyun was quickly summoned back to the capital by the emperor. Although he had instructed the Old Madam Pan to go to Cibei Temple to pick up Pan Yueqing, after he was busy for two days, he was told that there was nothing left in the small courtyard of the Lian Tan Pavilion where Pan Yueqing lived except for the two maids in the cabinet. Gu Pan and Wan'er were locked in the firewood room on the charge of not protecting their master. Liu Shi even called in servants to torture them, saying that she was forcing them to reveal Pan Yueqing's whereabouts, but she shifted all the blame onto these two maids.

The door of the firewood room suddenly opened. Gu Pan was slightly blinded by the strong light and opened her eyes. She saw Pan Miaoqian whip just hitting her face. Fortunately, Gu Pan dodged slightly, otherwise the whip would have blinded her.

Wan'er, whose mouth was stuffed, let out a dull cry, as if cursing Pan Miaoqian.

"What are you shouting for? Do you think Pan Yueqing will come to save you?!" Pan Miaoqian whipped Wan'er. Her red cardamom-painted nails pinched Wan'er's chin, and the sharp nails dug into the tender flesh of her chin, tearing off a layer of skin and flesh. Pan Miaoqian laughed triumphantly. "She's been kidnapped! Even if she comes back, she'll be a dirty person without honor! Father will never protect her again!"

Gu Pan struggled to remove the cloth堵住 her mouth and shouted at Pan Miaoqian, "You're talking nonsense! Our young lady won't! There are no mountain bandits at all!"

"Do you know what the saying 'a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth' means?" Pan Miaoqian kicked Gu Pan's shoulder, hitting the wound exactly. She sneered. "If everyone says she is, then she is!"

"So the Third Sister knows what 'a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth' means,"

Pan Yueqing's voice suddenly came from behind Pan Miaoqian. Pan Miaoqian turned around. Although she was full of anger, remembering Liu Yingwei's teachings to her these days, she was just about to curtsy gracefully while suppressing her anger. But Pan Yueqing slapped Pan Miaoqian in the face. Facing Pan Miaoqian's stunned expression, she smiled. "I don't know what 'a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth' means. I only know that those who lie deserve a slap in the face!"