Chapter 159 – Sneak Attack at Night

Most capable people have some quirks.

 

After listening to the words of the chief guard, Miantang stopped talking.

 

Cui Xingzhou has a lot of things to do every day, and many small details are ordered to be done by his subordinates. He no longer asks about them, and he probably doesn’t know how Master Xie lives.

 

But according to her intuition, this place of residence was inappropriate. When she sees Master Xie later, she will say a few words.

 

However, it wasn’t until she met Master Xie that Liu Miantang truly understood the difficulties faced by the bodyguards.

 

He was a descendant of Xie Yi, a great scholar of the previous dynasty, who has always regarded himself as a noble and proud family.

 

He didn’t want to come to the North Sea this time, but the people under the control of Prince Huaiyang came, half-persuading and half-coercing him to help.

 

If he was served nicely with warm dishes and alcohol, it’s fine. However, the hot and dry weather and unbearable illness have stirred up Master Xie’s temper.

 

When Liu Miantang and Zhao Quan entered the inner courtyard, they only heard an old man shouting angrily, “That plague killer Prince Huaiyang, has brought me to such a poor and treacherous place! Even the Holy Emperor was polite when he sought me out to build a ship. Who does he think he is, sending people to urge the drawings all day? I have been sick all the time, and don’t he expect a single draft to be presented to him.”

 

The Zhennan Marquis raised his eyebrows and shook his fan as he walked in, saying, “Master Xie, why are you raging? Be careful that your internal fire is even stronger while there is nowhere to release.”

 

The disciple next to Master Xie looked at him and said, “Who are you?”

 

Zhao Quan said, “Zhao Quan, the Zhennan Marquis of the State of Zhen.”

 

He was not engaged in formal work but had a reputation in the Capital, and most of the people who sought medical advice from Zhao Quan are high-ranking officials and dignitaries. Master Xie has also heard of the reputation of Zhennan Marquis and naturally knows that he has excellent medical skills.

 

Miantang was watching from the side, looking at this gentleman with a bright red face, still eating lychees and ambrosia fruits, which are specialties of the North Sea!

 

Although Master Xie has a foul temper and a foul mouth, he was now inseparable from the North Sea. Even if he curses, everyone must endure it.

 

Liu Miantang felt a bit awkward if she were to declare her identity now, after all, Master Xie was just cursing Prince Huaiyang a moment ago.

 

So she only gave Zhao Quan a look, indicating that she didn’t want to reveal her identity.

 

After Miantang came to the North Sea, she abandoned her luxurious clothing and, following the customs of local women, wore some light and thin short skirts. So although Master Xie also glanced at this exceptionally beautiful woman a few times, he only considered her to be like the intimate concubine of Marquis Zhao.

 

After Zhao Quan checked his pulse, he confirmed that Master Xie was not muchly ill, and his diarrhea was not very obvious. It was just a matter of taking a few packs of antidiarrheal medicine.

 

However, Master Xie looks as sick as a terminal illness, so he can only explain his dietary taboos in detail and say, “Master Xie, there’s nothing wrong with you. If there’s anything wrong, it’s probably because you’ve been lying too much in the past few days…”

 

Miantang had been listening silently on the side, and towards the end, she said to Master Xie, “Master Xie, the heavy water vapor here is also very detrimental to your health. Lord Su has arranged another house for you that is suitable for regulating your body. How about…”

 

 

Before Liu Miantang finished speaking, Master Xie interrupted angrily, “Unless you are letting me leave the North Sea, I won’t go anywhere.”

 

Miantang smiled slightly and said, “I know that you miss your hometown. You can draw the blueprint earlier to help Prince Huaiyang pacify the Japanese people, so naturally, you can go back.”

 

Master Xie sneered and said, “Do you want me to help him get promoted? How about showing your sincerity first? After I came to the North Sea, everything I lived and ate was not satisfactory. You should go and inquire about it. What kind of sincerity did those who asked me to design and build ships in the past seek.”

 

Miantang’s good temper has been almost worn away by this old man, She sneered and said, “Master, since you have been in the bustling city for a long time, you naturally look down on the poor hometown of the North Sea… Those luxurious nobles that have been begging you to build are probably for pleasure boats. However, the court has not built any new warships for a long time, and even if ships are sailing on inland rivers, they can be built according to the previous drawings. Master… I’m afraid you have lost your skills in designing sea ships anymore, right?”

 

Master Xie was originally talking to Miantang for the sake of her good appearance, but when he saw her speak rudely, he immediately became angry and said, “The craftsmanship of the Xie family is ancestral, how will it be difficult to just build a sea ship?”

 

Liu Miantang’s face straightened and she said, “Since you did not intentionally shift the blame due to his lack of expertise, why hasn’t a single blueprint been produced now?”

 

Master Xie sneered and said, “What kind of thing are you? How dare you try to instruct in front of me?”

 

Upon hearing this, Zhao Quan was also very angry with the old man and said in an angry voice, “This is the Huaiyang Princess Consort. Be careful what you say, don’t rely on your old age to sell off.”

 

Upon hearing Zhao Quan’s words, Master Xie’s face slightly changed. He looked up and down at Liu Miantang again and raised his eyebrows, saying, “I used to be clumsy, but I didn’t realize that it was the Huaiyang Princess Consort who personally arrived. Greetings to you. However, I have been in a bad mood for the past few days, so I naturally can’t draw it.”

 

Liu Miantang used to only know the words “virtue and art are both popular”, but now she understands that “virtue” and “art” can sometimes be separated from each other. It was obvious that Master Xie was one of them.

 

He was also accustomed to being ridiculed by people in the capital and wealthy businessmen in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions for his arrogant temper.

 

At present, she was not angry and only stood up and smiled, saying, “Since that’s the case, Master, rest well.”

 

Out of the yard, Miantang suddenly narrowed her eyes.

 

Just now, she noticed a flicker of light in the distance. Although it was fleeting, Miantang was certain that it was a reflection of binoculars and said to the bodyguard, “Someone is peeping at the courtyard, I’m afraid it will be detrimental to Master Xie. You should be careful these days. If someone comes, Master Xie can suffer a little, but you must not let anyone harm Master Xie’s life.”

 

The captain of the guard was startled. He was somewhat aware of the power of the princess consort and dared not take her words lightly.

 

The captain of the guards has actually been tormented by Master Xie these days, so he called all the guards in the courtyard who were protecting Master Xie aside and secretly instructed them.

 

After Miantang returned to the mansion, she asked Servant Li if the prince had come back. Servant Li said, “The prince has sent a servant back to inform you that he will lead the imperial envoy to inspect the accounts tonight, so he will not return to the mansion.”

 

Lu Yi had been following Liu Miantang all along. After hearing this, he said to her, “I think it’s better to inform the prince.”

 

Liu Miantang replied, “I can’t help with anything normally, and these things are not a big deal. Calling the prince back at this time will allow those officials who come to find fault and have an excuse to smear the prince. You can bring more brothers and let Fan Hu recruit some people.”

 

On the other hand, after spying on Liu Miantang coming out of the courtyard, Takatsukasa was even more certain that this must be the resting place of the famous shipbuilding craftsman in the capital and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

 

But for some reason, he kept looking up at the sky. Just as the sun was rising from the clouds, he suddenly shook his already retracted sunglasses slightly before leading the person around and leaving.

 

It was night, with the curtain hanging low and the moonlight dim, making it a good time for sneak attacks and theft.

 

When the banger sounded, it was the time that people were sleeping soundly. More than ten black shadows silently emerged from the water and came directly to the wall of the mansion where Master Xie lived. These people are wearing shark skin-tanned diving suits, which are both knife and gun resistant and conducive to swimming.

 

They did not use ropes, only saw the strongest black figure stretching out his arms, putting his hands together, and another person lightly jumping up, with his toes tapping lightly on the person’s palms, and then climbing over the courtyard wall. The figure leaned down and saw several suffocating wind lamps shining in the courtyard, but only illuminating a small area, with most of the courtyards submerged in darkness. He listened attentively without making any sound and lowered his head to make a gesture outside the courtyard. The others, like him, all rolled over the wall, and in the end, the sturdy black figure jumped up. Several people on the wall reached out their hands and pulled him up at the same time.

 

Quietly, they slipped down the wall and sneak to the main room. They are all skilled Japanese ninjas, they can even walk quickly on sandy roads without making a sound, occasionally hiding behind large rocks and small trees in the courtyard. When they arrived at the main room, the two ninjas led by them gently flicked the door latch with the tips of their knives, opened a small gap, and dodged into the room. The other ninjas stayed outside to take care of them, hiding themselves.

 

The ninja who entered the room felt the darkness and walked to the head of the bed. He vaguely felt someone on the bed, and his left hand went forward to cover his mouth, while his right hand raised a dagger and fiercely plunged it downwards.

 

At this moment, a loud shout suddenly came from outside, “There is an assassin,” and at the same time, there was a sudden bright light inside and outside the house, illuminating both the house and the courtyard as bright as day.

 

In his sleep, Master Xie only felt a tightness and pain in his ankle, and then he flew straight out of the bed, hitting the wall with a loud sound. The pain made him scream out loud, and he instantly woke up. Looking up, he saw two people standing in front of him, dressed in black water jackets, both holding daggers. One of them had already pierced the bedboard with a dagger.

 

If someone hadn’t grabbed his ankle and dragged him down just now, he would have already had a broken stomach and intestinal discharge.

 

Master Xie no longer had any reserved demeanor, and he let out a startled sound. Due to fear, his voice changed pitch, sharp and high. In the stillness of the night, he heard a distant sound, and at the same time, he heard a wave of barking dogs coming from around him.

 

The unarmed ninja took a step forward and stabbed the dagger at Master Xie. The person at the bedside also gave up the dagger on the bedside, pulled a short knife from his waist, and cut it towards the corner of the wall.

 

A person was standing in the corner, the captain of the guard, holding a rope in his hand. The rope was tied to the foot of Master Xie, and he had just used the rope to pull Master Xie out. As for the lights inside and outside the house, they were already lit, but three thick layers of black cloth were covered outside the wind lamp, making the light unable to penetrate at all. And the black cloth was tied with thread on top. As soon as the thread was pulled, the black cloth will drop off and the light will shine.

 

Master Xie didn’t understand what was going on yet. Seeing someone wanting to kill himself, he closed his eyes and screamed sharply, causing a burst of barking from the dog.