He opened the door, but what greeted him was neither the soft warmth of a beauty nor a scene of disorder. The room was empty; only wisps of smoke drifted in the air, floating gently upward under the sunlight.
There was no one anywhere. The imagined scene did not appear. Wen Mingfeng felt somewhat startled and subconsciously even turned back to take a look.
How could this be?
He knew very clearly the character of those people in Duke Cheng’s residence.
Especially Ling Qiang and Ling Chuhan, sharp-tongued and mean were already well-known within the noble circle.
It was just that they had always bullied the weak and feared the strong, only targeting those beneath them, so nothing serious had ever happened.
At Dazhao Temple, Qi Yuan had offended them so harshly, and with the Liu family matter beforehand, since Ling Qiang had already made up her mind, she would absolutely not change it.
So what was going on here now?
He turned to open the door and leave, but after taking a few steps, he stopped again and raised his brows before turning back.
Not right.
Someone was here.
His hand pressed against the door as he slowly turned his head, and he saw a corner of clothing quickly pulled into the cabinet.
The cabinet…
So she was hiding.
Right, what uniqueness?
What extraordinary skills?
In the end, she was just a woman. When something really happened, wasn’t her first reaction still to hide?
He knew Ling Qiang’s methods were old-fashioned.
But what did that matter?
Old-fashioned methods, but effective.
When dealing with women, women always know best how to make the other suffer more.
He slowly curved his lips, closed the door again, then turned and staggered inward as if unsteady. As he passed the cabinet, he slowly hooked his belt onto the cabinet door; as he moved, the cabinet door was immediately pulled open by the belt.
The person inside instantly pounced out. Wen Mingfeng seemed startled and asked in a low voice, “Who is it?”
Usually by this point, what followed would proceed naturally.
A relaxed, relieved smile appeared on his face as he turned the person around.
Then he met a pair of terrified eyes.
Their gazes collided. Wen Mingfeng’s expression changed instantly, and he asked in shock, “Who are you?!”
What was going on?!
He had seen Qi Yuan, Qi Yuan’s eyes were clear and strikingly bright. The person before him was not Qi Yuan at all!
What exactly was Ling Qiang doing?
Could she not even carry out a scheme properly?!
The little maid trembled, dizzy and weak, letting out a soft whimper as she collapsed into his arms.
Wen Mingfeng’s whole body tensed, yet he still forcibly grabbed the maid by the throat and demanded sharply, “Where is Miss Qi?!”
He thought of how Duke Cheng had said that plotting against Qi Yuan would not be easy, that Qi Yuan’s martial ability was extremely good, and for a moment he found it hard to believe.
No, no matter how good her skills were, if she encountered drugged incense she should still go limp.
Unless… she had not been drugged at all!
Wen Mingfeng’s heart jolted. He ground his teeth and shut his eyes. “Qi Yuan!”
At this moment, Qi Yuan had already knocked Ling Qiang unconscious, this was not difficult. As for where Ling Qiang was, asking Xiang Rong, the host, made everything clear.
As for knocking out Ling Qiang and her maid, that was naturally even easier.
She carried Ling Qiang over her shoulder, avoided the guards, and jumped out through the rear window.
Not long after, dressed in riding clothes, she appeared on the grassy field at the back mountain.
The sika deer had already been released by Xiang Jie and were now running wildly across the hills.
He pointed at the deer and teased his future brother-in-law Gao Xiang with a smile: “If you can’t shoot even one today, then don’t come to my house tomorrow!”
Everyone couldn’t help laughing.
Gao Xiang had an excellent temperament and immediately smiled. “I’ll certainly do my best.”
Qi Yuan stood silently on the slope. She had originally intended to leave, because the ladies’ hunting field was on the other side.
But halfway there, she happened to see Shen Jialang and Qi Yunzheng mounting their horses not far away.
One was a half-grown youth, and the other was outright a child, so the Xiang family had been very cautious and specially assigned two grooms to lead their horses.
The two little ones were extremely excited. From afar they were already trying to draw their bows and set arrows, faces full of smiles.
Qi Yuan also smiled.
Just then, the groom leading Shen Jialang’s horse suddenly had his legs go weak and knelt, losing balance and falling to the ground, then rolling straight down the slope.
The smile on her face froze.
With no one leading it, the horse suddenly reared and neighed sharply.
Qi Yunzheng beside him was startled and instinctively shouted, “Ah Lang, be careful!”
Qi Yunzheng’s groom reacted quickly and instinctively tried to reach out to help, but it was already too late, the horse bolted almost instantly.
This was a slope!
The two children were riding tall horses. If the horse ran down from such height, the huge momentum would be difficult even for an adult to withstand, let alone a child.
He was so frightened he froze, then in panic released Qi Yunzheng’s horse and rushed forward to save Shen Jialang.
Qi Yunzheng was even more anxious than he was. Forcing himself to calm down, he squeezed the horse’s sides and quickly chased after Shen Jialang.
Shen Jialang clung tightly to the horse’s neck, remembering the instructions previously given by Xiao Yunting and Qi Yuan, pressing himself flat against the horse’s back. When they reached level ground and the force had lessened, he finally straightened and pulled the reins.
The two of them had originally been at the back. The Xiang family knew they were children, so they had specially arranged for grooms to simply lead them around for fun.
With this accident, they had actually caught up to Xiang Jie and the others.
Shen Jialang had already stabilized his horse, but Qi Yunzheng’s horse raised its hooves high, and when they came down, they stepped directly onto a hunting dog.
At the same time, Xiang Jie’s expression changed drastically. “Run!”
He naturally recognized Shen Jialang and Qi Yunzheng.
Xiang Rong and Qi Yuan were close friends, and so the Xiang and Qi families had also become closer. Shen Jialang and Qi Yunzheng often visited the Xiang family’s residence in the capital.
If anything happened to these two little ones here,
How would the Xiang family explain it to the Qi family?!
He quickly lashed his whip hard against the horse’s flank.
But it was already too late.
A pack of hunting dogs suddenly rushed forward, surrounding the horses of Qi Yunzheng and Shen Jialang, scrambling to bite at them.
These hunting dogs were all slender and tall, nearly half the height of an adult, their coats glossy and their ferocity obvious at a glance.
Everyone’s expressions changed instantly.
Xie Ying immediately spurred his horse forward without a word, almost arriving alongside Xiang Jie, raising his whip high to drive the dogs away.
But the dogs were completely out of control. Even when the whips struck them, they still clamped onto the two horses without letting go.
The horses circled in place, frantic to the extreme.
Everyone was terrified.
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