496: The State Preceptor Was Attacked 1

The State Preceptor Was Attacked 1

He stayed in town that night and set out early the next morning. When he was getting ready to depart, Li Ruoxuan looked around and frowned, thinking that it should be time for that man to appear, but he never did. What was old man Gongsun thinking? Did he not intend to attack him anymore?2

That was impossible though.

The old man had been following them quietly all the way, waiting for an opportunity to show his hand. He must be waiting in the dark somewhere…

In the evening, Li Ruoxuan checked in at an ordinary tea shop he had come across…

He had not booked the entire tea shop this time. After all, it was not part of his home territory. Lu Yan had wanted to pay the store owner to drive out other guests, but Qi Qingyao stopped him.

"This place is between the two capitals. There is only this single tea shop on the official road. If you drive away the other guests, they will have to sleep in the wilderness. You can't bully others just because you have money."

"..." Lu Yan thought she made a fair point.

After they entered, the tiger guards quickly surrounded the entire tea shop.

Seeing this spectacle, the other guests were shocked; they wondered who exactly had come here.

The shopkeeper of the tea shop was bathed in a cold sweat when Dong Jing came forward. He simply explained that they wanted to stay in the shop and asked for all the remaining rooms. The shopkeeper looked at the black-armored cavalry outside and could not help shaking all over. He held back his voice and did not dare ask anything.

After Jiang Yeqian sat down, he noticed that the other guests in the inn were looking at them with curious eyes. He could not help asking Lu Yan, "Aren't you going to drive away the others?"

Lu Yan glanced somewhere upstairs. Qi Qingyao had brought the children to freshen up and wash their faces after the day's journey. "She said that if we were to drive the people away, these people would have to sleep in the wilderness as there are no other inns within the next 80 miles. She added that we should not bully others even though we are rich."

Jiang Yeqian, "..." To drive these people out without warning would leave them with no place to go that night; her words were reasonable.

Li Ruoxuan snorted coldly. "Compassion is truly overflowing."

Things would become chaotic with so many people in the tea shop, so the group did not dine in the lobby. They went upstairs directly into Qi Qingyao's room and asked the servant to deliver the food.

After dinner, Qi Qingyao, who was very tired from sitting in the carriage all day, waved her hands and carried her three children into bed.

"Please enjoy yourselves. Thou shall head to bed first."

With that, she went straight to bed.

Li Ruoxuan and Lu Yan left the room.

Jiang Yeqian thought in his heart: "..." What was with the 'thou', huh?! (TN: Original word in mandarin is a more arrogant version of 'I'.)

He left without saying anything.

Li Ruoxuan left Qi Qingyao's room and went straight back to his room. While drinking some tea, he said to Zhu Shen.

"Someone is following us."

"Your Excellency?" Zhu Shen felt his heart thump.

Li Ruoxuan added, "They're at least rank nine."

Zhu Shen tried to relax and asked, "Could it be Old Sir Gongsun?"

"I'm certain, they're a rank nine." Li Ruoxuan smiled with some amusement. That was because he could sense the other's distance from them...they were far away! However, the stalker did not give up and was still following them.

Zhu Shen instinctively wanted to call for a troupe of tiger guards to solve the problem, but His Excellency was smiling profoundly. There must be a reason for that. "What should we do?" he asked instead.

Li Ruoxuan drank some tea and the corners of his lips pulled up into a very strange smile. "I wonder what this rank nine's purpose is."

Zhu Shen, "..."

A rank nine was following them… What could their purpose be?

Could it be an assassination?

…

…

After eating, they went back to their rooms. The tiger guards in black armor were also stationed everywhere in the corridor.

The awful atmosphere was enough to frighten the other guests out of their wits.

In the hall, there were still some guests who were eating while curiously observing the emotionless tiger guards as they discussed among themselves quietly.

"Who do you think those people just now were?"

"Can't you see those guards? They are probably all officers and soldiers of the imperial court."

"Every one of them is wearing armor and they look extremely grim and cold."

"Then, what about those handsome men and women who went upstairs with three children?"

"I guess they're some noble folks!"

"Don't provoke these people. Just look at the man with the eye patch—I fear they're not a bunch we should provoke."

A handsome crippled person, a young man who was more beautiful than a woman, and a man who looked gentle and clean but wore an eye patch. 

What a strange combination they were.

What was even stranger was that there was a beautiful little lady between them. However, this little lady seemed to be leading three children who looked very similar to her…

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