They dragged the person in front of Tie Miaoqing. Sun Ping poked two fingers into Cheng Shanping’s body, released the restriction on his mute acupoint, and did not give him the strength to shout loudly or allow his blood and qi to flow fully. But at least he could make sounds from his mouth.
Cheng Shanping opened his mouth and asked, “Madam boss, what does this mean? Why treat me like this?” He looked furious.
Zhu Shangbiao, who had followed over, looked at one then the other. He also wanted to know what this meant.
The bright eyes under the bamboo hat held a complicated gaze. After looking at him for a while, Tie Miaoqing finally said, “Old Cheng, why were you so eager to go out?”
Cheng Shanping analysed this sentence in his heart and thought to himself, as expected. A bitter feeling gradually spread in his chest, but on the surface he looked shocked. “Madam boss, I do not understand what you are saying.”
Yu Qing, with furrowed brows, interrupted, “Save some time. Cheng Shanping, I will not listen to your excuses. I only want to know who is ambushing outside.” He felt Tie Miaoqing’s efficiency was too low and was tired of her dragging things out, so he cut in and questioned personally.
Or rather, he had already achieved his goal. He had already controlled Cheng Shanping and had no more scruples. It was time to act!
These words shocked Zhu Shangbiao. Even a fool could hear that they were suspecting Cheng Shanping of something.
Sun Ping also stared closely at his reaction.
Cheng Shanping however was furious. “What nonsense are you spouting?” His gaze flashed urgently towards the others, and he hurriedly defended himself. “Madam boss, it must be this kid. This kid has always been at odds with me and is used to swindling and cheating. It must be this kid framing and trapping me. No matter what he said, he definitely has other motives. You must not be deceived by him!”
Upon hearing this, the uninformed Zhu Shangbiao looked at Yu Qing with some suspicion. It was true that this person did not get along with Cheng Shanping.
Emotionally speaking, Yu Qing was still an outsider. Relatively speaking, anyone would be more willing to believe their own people.
Yu Qing showed full disdain and contempt on his face. He reached behind, took out another incense stick, lit it, and blew on the green smoke. “You are not worth me wasting this energy. I still need to save some energy for breaking out. I will give you two choices. First, you can choose not to speak. I only need to drag you to the cave entrance. Whether I have wronged you or not, the answer will come out instantly. If the people outside have nothing to do with you, they naturally will not pay attention. If they see you being held hostage and all rush out, what colour do you think you are?”
Cheng Shanping’s feigned angry face became somewhat twisted.
“At this point, being stubborn is meaningless. If I drag you to the cave entrance and the people ambushing outside see that you have fallen into our hands, do you think they will spare us for your sake? If we use you as hostage and the outside refuses to let us go, the knife at your neck will definitely be faster than their move. We will definitely send you on your way first. If you really have such great charm that having you in hand makes them wary, then perfect. We can use you to clear the way and escape.”
Tie Miaoqing, Sun Ping and Zhu Shangbiao all carefully savoured these words.
Cheng Shanping’s face looked even worse. He could imagine the scene after being pushed out. The people outside would definitely rush out immediately.
Clang! Yu Qing suddenly drew his sword, startling several people. Sun Ping quickly pulled Cheng Shanping behind her. It was impossible to let someone kill Cheng Shanping before things were clarified.
However they had overthought it. Yu Qing’s sword tip pointed at the ground and swished to draw and carve out a square frame. Inside the frame he drew an arrow.
He lowered the torch in his other hand to shine on the carved pattern, raised his chin, and said, “Mr Cheng, can you see it clearly?”
Cheng Shanping was not blind. The corner of his mouth twitched, his eyes widened a few degrees, his Adam’s apple moved with a dry swallow, and he slowly raised his eyes to look at Yu Qing opposite.
This pattern left Tie Miaoqing and the other three confused. They did not know what it meant, but they felt it had touched Cheng Shanping.
Yu Qing cheerfully gave the answer. His sword in hand dinged as it pointed at the pattern. “You thought we did not know that you left road markers for them all the way? This is what you left when you came out of the ancient monster forest. You thought we did not know that you ran out last night to meet them?”
Tie Miaoqing was shocked inside. She stared at Yu Qing, knowing that if what he said was true, it meant this fellow had known early on that the inner traitor was Cheng Shanping. Yet this fellow had not said anything. What did he mean?
Last night? Zhu Shangbiao thought of something.
Cheng Shanping stared at Yu Qing with dead eyes. The humiliation of being exposed face to face made him want to devour Yu Qing alive.
“Do not look at me with those eyes. Do not delusionally try to drag me down as a cushion. You know very well in your heart that even if I fall into the hands of those people outside, I will not die!
They need my help to find the third fire cricket, so they will not kill me. I only need to use the two fire crickets and my own life as leverage to exchange for Madam boss and the others to escape. After all, what they want is the fire crickets, not the lives of Madam boss and the others. I believe they will make the wise choice.
As long as Madam boss and the others escape, the people outside will not dare to kill me!
Who am I? I am a juren from Jin Kingdom heading to the capital for the imperial examinations, a candidate of this session who has been重点 escorted all the way from Sinan Prefecture of Jin Kingdom.
In this world, the number of people who dare to openly slap the old face of Sinan Prefecture can be counted on one hand!
Not to mention far away, recently the old monster of Qixia was slapped to death by Sinan Prefecture with one palm!
Just those sneaky fellows outside, let them try touching me!
If they violate the neutral rules of Youya, Sinan Prefecture will demand an explanation, and even Youya cannot protect them.
As long as I explain the pros and cons clearly, I doubt they will have the guts to touch me!”
Tie Miaoqing and the other three listened in a daze and felt that it seemed to make sense.
Suddenly things had become like this for no apparent reason. Cheng Shanping felt as if the ground had suddenly given way beneath his feet. His face showed grief and indignation. He felt as if he had been stripped bare in front of this kid with no resistance at all, and he did not even have the qualification to speak harsh words.
“Do you think we still need to waste words with you? It is Madam boss who is sentimental! What kind of person Madam boss is, you know better than I do. To put it nicely, she is kind-hearted and soft-handed. To put it unpleasantly, she has the benevolence of a woman. Even now, she still cannot bear to act against you and still wants to give you a way out. But she does not understand why you did this. She only wants to know the truth. Madam boss said that as long as you give her an explanation, she will let you leave!”
A long string of words left the scene quiet. It seemed that Yu Qing alone had said everything that should and should not be said.
A look of difficulty gradually appeared on Cheng Shanping’s face, along with more shame and guilt.
Several people gradually understood. In Tie Miaoqing’s eyes there also appeared an expression of unbearable pain. She no longer cared about the promise Yu Qing had casually made for her, and even if she did she would not deny it. Yu Qing had not spent these days with her for nothing. He had indeed spoken her true thoughts. She could not bring herself to kill the people of Miaoqing Hall.
Sun Ping suddenly questioned sternly, “Old Cheng, why did you do this?” Her tone also held uncontrollable anger.
Zhu Shangbiao glared furiously with both fists tightly clenched.
Sun Ping’s stern shout tore through Cheng Shanping’s window paper. He looked helpless and powerless all over his face and gave a difficult reply, “It is the people from Jian Yuan Zhai!” He raised his eyes to look at Tie Miaoqing, whose face showed grief because of his confession. “Madam boss, I really never thought of betraying Miaoqing Hall, but I had no choice. You know, I still have an old mother. My old mother has fallen into the hands of Jian Yuan Zhai.”
“Jian Yuan Zhai?”
“Miaoqing Hall and Jian Yuan Zhai have no grudge or enmity. Why use such despicable methods?”
The three from Miaoqing Hall were all shocked and each had questions.
Cheng Shanping stared at Tie Miaoqing and smiled bitterly while shaking his head. “Madam boss, it is Jian Yuan Zhai. Think carefully again. Is there really no connection at all?”
As soon as these words came out, the three from Miaoqing Hall all looked thoughtful.
What was going on? Yu Qing looked at their reactions in confusion, not understanding. He guessed that there must be some unclear entanglement between Miaoqing Hall and that Jian Yuan Zhai.
Cheng Shanping said, “Madam boss, at this point, do you really not understand why they held my old mother hostage? Am I wronged or not?”
This question clearly made Tie Miaoqing’s expression extremely unbearable.
Sun Ping suddenly stared at Cheng Shanping and asked, “The boss’s trip that time was secret and should not have been known to outsiders. He was suddenly attacked. The matter was suspicious. Does it have something to do with you?”
Cheng Shanping seemed too ashamed to face them. He closed his eyes and looked up at the sky. “It was me who leaked the boss’s whereabouts to Jian Yuan Zhai. I had no choice. If I did not agree, they would humiliate my old mother!”
“You…” Zhu Shangbiao was furious and stepped forward wanting to slap him.
Sun Ping grabbed him with one hand, shook her head slightly, and then raised her chin towards Tie Miaoqing, indicating that this matter should be handled by Tie Miaoqing.
Tie Miaoqing lowered her head. The bamboo hat covered her face, so outsiders could not see her expression.
Yu Qing was somewhat confused and could not help asking, “What grudge or enmity does that Jian Yuan Zhai actually have with you?”
Sun Ping threw back a sentence, “This matter has nothing to do with you. There is no need to ask more.” She clearly did not want outsiders to know. Obviously there was some hidden matter that could not be spoken about to outsiders.
Yu Qing snorted, “If we really talk about the cause and effect, harming me and trapping me, how could it have nothing to do with me? Since you do not want to say, I cannot force you. Cheng Shanping, there is one thing I do not understand. Why have you been against me from the beginning, and even wanted to kill me? It is not my illusion, right? Why?”
Cheng Shanping immediately turned his head and stared at him fiercely. “If not for your meddling, how could things be like this? If you had no way to find the fire crickets, how could it have turned out this way?”
One or two sentences revealed all the truth. Everyone understood as soon as they heard it.
For the fire cricket task, Jian Yuan Zhai might not have counted on Miaoqing Hall. But once Miaoqing Hall found the fire crickets, Cheng Shanping would not dare not report it to Jian Yuan Zhai, otherwise he would not be able to explain himself afterwards.
“…” Yu Qing was speechless and understood.
It turned out that from the beginning when he said he had a way to help, it had already made Cheng Shanping uneasy. All these days of fussing were not because they did not believe him, but because they wanted to stop him. No wonder from the start they had wanted to get him killed and did not even want to give him the chance of possibility.
It was unknown whether Cheng Shanping did not want everyone to know his identity as a traitor or wanted to protect everyone.
At this point, none of that mattered anymore.
Tie Miaoqing, who had been lowering her head, suddenly said in a pained voice, “You go. From now on we owe each other nothing and will not see each other again!”
Sun Ping slowly released Cheng Shanping but did not completely remove the restrictions on his body. She reached out to indicate a direction, the direction leading to the end of the underground passage. “It is impossible to let you go report now. Go hide at the end.”
Seeing that this side had kept its promise and let him go, Cheng Shanping, whose legs and feet were somewhat weak, staggered forward. When passing by Tie Miaoqing he said, “Madam boss, I dare not say I am not afraid of death, but I still do not want to die, because my old mother is still in their hands. I cannot die now!”
Tie Miaoqing remained silent and turned her head to look aside.
Cheng Shanping smiled miserably. He knew this woman no longer wanted to speak to him and did not even want to look at him again. The Sun Ping couple felt the same.
The boss was seriously injured and two old companions had lost their lives. He no longer hoped to obtain their forgiveness. With a gloomy expression he took off the bundle on his body and unloaded the spare items of the group. Then he staggered forward.
However, before he had gone far, his body trembled. “Mm…” He let out a muffled groan.
A cold light reflected by the torch flashed across the cave wall.
Tie Miaoqing and the other three turned back in alarm.
They only saw a sword hilt exposed at the heart position on Cheng Shanping’s back. Blood quickly spread and expanded on the clothes on his back.