Jiang Kangning immediately said, “Let your men lead the way! Yunan was probably captured by the people from the Marquis Hengyuan mansion! No one in Yongxiu County would dare to act so bold.”

“Your Excellency, please follow me!”

The direction of pursuit that Wang Shijing said coincided with the location provided by shopkeeper Xu, so both parties went toward the south. The more Jiang Kangning thought about it, the more he felt that it was most likely to be the work of the Hengyuan Marquis. 

Shao Yunan was the magistrate’s adopted brother and Elder Cen’s adopted son, so no one would dare to act against him in Yongxiu County. The magistrate of Cainan Prefecture was also Jiang Kangning’s senior brother, so the merchants from Cainan Prefecture would also not dare act like this against Shao Yunan. After eliminating all possibilities, the Marquis of Hengyuan mansion was the most suspicious.

“Vice commander! There is a mansion on fire ahead. The sound is coming from there.”

“Do you know whose mansion it is?”

“I don’t know. The people around here said that a few people only came to live in that mansion a few days ago, but their accent seems to be from the capital.” Dai Jiang narrowed his eyes and ordered, “Go! Go put out the fire!”

The fire ignited the weeds and trees in the yard, making the fire more and more uncontrollable. In order to prevent the fire from spreading to their own homes, the owners of other houses also sent their own people to help put out the fire. Just as chickens and dogs were jumping, a few horsemen came, dismounted, and joined the firefighting team. Many people came to help so no one suspected them.

Dai Jiang rushed into the house with someone pretending to fight the fire and heard from a distance, “The young master and that person have not been found yet. That person probably escaped!”

“Impossible! He must still be in the house, find him!”

Dai Jiang’s gaze became darker as he drew his saber. The five men who came with him also drew their sabers. Soon, the courtyard was filled with cries of pain and the ear-splitting sound of swords clashing.

The place where Shao Yunan was hiding was not on fire and the outside was in a mess, so he went into the space to rest, eat, and drink water before coming out to observe the situation outside the window.

Kicking open the door, Dai Jiang rushed in with his sword, “Search!”  Two people rushed into the room from behind him, rummaging through boxes and cabinets. Someone opened the cabinet, saw someone inside, and immediately yelled, “Deputy Commander!”

Dai Jiang stepped forward to see, stretched out his hand and pulled the cloth off the head of the bound man then narrowed his eyes. “Both of you watch him!”

“Yes!” Dai Jiang went out quickly, looked left and right at the mansion where the fire had been brought under control, and shouted loudly, “Shao Yunan! I was sent by the Empress. Are you there? You’re safe now, your captors have been subdued by us!”

Shao Yunan, who was hiding on the beam of the house, froze at first and then pursed his lips, really? He wasn’t trying to cheat him again, right? He had already fallen for it once. Unless Wang Shijing or his Big Brother came, he would never show up.

The man under his command said, “Vice Commander, he hasn’t left, has he?” Dai Jiang couldn’t decide. In case Shao Yunan had already escaped, it would be a waste of time for them to stay here. At this time, someone ran over. “Vice Commander, Wang Shijing has arrived.”

Dai Jiang immediately turned around and saw a dark-faced Wang Shijing striding over. After he approached, Dai Jiang said, “Brother Wang, we haven’t found Shao Yunan yet, but we found the person who kidnapped him.”

Wang Shijing asked anxiously, “Yunan escaped?” Dai Jiang said, “I don’t know if he escaped. There was a fire here when we arrived.He probably started it. The person who kidnapped him was Wei Hongzheng. When we found him, he was knocked out, tied up, and hidden in a closet. Shao Yunan probably did it. I called him for a long time and he didn’t respond, so he most likely escaped.”

Wang Shijing spun in place and then shouted loudly, “Yunan! Where are you? I’m coming! Yunan!”

‘Shijing?’ Shao Yun stood up from the beam and shouted, “Shijing? Shijing?!” Dai Jiang was stunned, but Wang Shijing already ran wildly toward the direction of Shao Yunan’s voice. “Yunan! Yunan!”

“Shijing! I’m over here!” Shao Yunan hurriedly took out the ladder from the space, but thinking about it, he put it away again. It was already too late to climb down. There were outsiders around and if it was seen, it would be difficult to explain the origin of the ladder.

“Yunan!” Shao Yunan raised his gaze and his wildly beating heart finally calmed down.

“Shijing!” Wang Shijing ran to the beam of the room, followed by Dai Jiang. Seeing Shao Yunan’s face, Wang Shijing’s face instantly became extremely ugly. He stretched out his arms and said, “Yunan, just jump down.”

The beam was quite high, so Shao Yunan shook his head. “No, it will crush your arms. Go find a ladder or a rope. I climbed up with a rope. But the rope fell down and was picked up.”

“It’s okay, just jump down. I can catch you, it will not injure my arms. Come down, Yunan.” Wang Shijing did not want to waste time to find a rope or ladder, he just wanted to hug Shao Yunan immediately. Shao Yunan looked at Wang Shijing, who had his arms outstretched and many similar scenes from movies and TV popped up in his head.

“Yunan, come down! Don’t be afraid I will catch you.”

“Then, I’m jumping ah.”

“Jump!” Shao Yunan took a deep breath, and jumped towards Wang Shijing. Wang Shijing’s feet stomped hard and his body moved, catching Shao Yunan in mid-air and then landing easily. His arms hugged Shao Yunan so tightly that it hurt him.

“Shijing! Shijing!” Shao Yunan also wrapped his arms tightly around Wang Shijing’s neck, and only then did he have a kind of afterthought after being kidnapped. Wang Shijing put Shao Yunan down and raised his face. His taut body gave away the anger in his heart. Shao Yunan also touched his face and said, “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”

Dai Jiang spoke out at this time. “Shijing, Little Brother Shao, you guys go home first. I’ll take care of the aftermath here.” Only then did Shao Yunan have time to pay attention to the things around him. Wang Shijing said, “This is the deputy commander of the imperial guard that the Emperor and Empress sent.”

Dai Jiang said, “We were careless this time. Does Little Brother Shao have any other injuries?” Shao Yunan saluted. “Greetings Deputy Commander. I’m fine, I just got slapped by that guy. I don’t know who kidnapped me, but I knocked him out, tied him up, and hid him in a cabinet.”

Dai Jiang said approvingly. “We found him. Everyone in this house has already been subdued. Brother Shao was fearless in the face of danger. He protected himself and caught the criminal. I admire you. The person who captured you was Wei Hongzheng, the eldest son of the Marquis of Hengyuan. I will truthfully report this matter to the Emperor and Empress. I will definitely not let him go.”

“From the Marquis of Hengyuan?” Shao Yunan got angry. “No wonder, no wonder he asked me to hand over the tea and wine recipes. Commander, this guy can’t be spared. It’s not enough that he coveted the recipe, he even spoke rudely about the Emperor and the Empress.” Dai Jiang immediately asked, “What did he say?”

“He said the Emperor has no money, so his position is just an empty shell. So he wants to rob the Emperor’s money to see what the Emperor can do then. He also said particularly insulting things about the Empress that I can’t even say. Commander Dai can ask them. His men were right next to him when he said those words.”

Dai Jiang’s face was already extremely ugly at this moment. He raised his arm in salute and said, “I will ask them. The two of you can go back first.”

Wang Shijing, “Thank you, Deputy Commander Dai.” After saying that, he picked up Shao Yunan, not even wanting to let him go for a moment. Shao Yunan knew how scared Wang Shijing was, so he didn’t struggle and let Wang Shijing carry him out.

With no one else around, Shao Yunan leaned on Wang Shijing’s shoulder and asked in a whisper, “Shijing do you know kung-fu?” Wang Shijing lowered his head and kissed him on his wounded face, whispering, “Not lightness kung fu. We all have to learn some basic kung fu in the army. But since drinking the spiritual spring water and spiritual milk, my body feels lighter and lighter, so performing kung fu also became easier.” There was still suppressed anger in his voice.

Shao Yunan exhaled and said with hatred, “I have never been so insulted in my two lifetimes. That guy actually said that if I didn’t write the recipes he would let his people gang ra*e me. If it weren’t for the spiritual milk, I wouldn’t be able to speak now since he slapped me with all his might. He also hit me in the stomach and grabbed my hair, Shijing you have to avenge me.”

When Shao Yunan said these words, the veins on Wang Shijing’s arms bulged. “I will take revenge for you!” Once again hugging Shao Yunan tightly, Wang Shijing took a big step outside.

Just outside the door, they meet Jiang Kangning, Shopkeeper Xu, and the yamen officers who come with them. Seeing Shao Yunan’s face, Jiang Kangning hurriedly got off his horse and ran over in two or three steps.

“Yunan!” Shao Yunan touched his face. “Brother, someone beat me, you need to avenge me.” Didn’t that guy take his backer seriously? He just wanted to see if his backing was working or not. If his face wasn’t so bruised, he wouldn’t know why the flowers were so red!

Edited by: Jaisland

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