Wen Feng set Wen Rusheng down, and Wen Rusheng huffed indignantly: “Someone bumped into me and my foot hurts so much I can’t move. Doctor Gu, please examine me quickly.”
Doctor Gu gently lifted Wen Rusheng’s pant leg and pressed down lightly.
Wen Rusheng cried out loudly in pain: “Doctor, be gentle!”
Doctor Gu smiled: “Master Wen, don’t worry. The bone isn’t injured. Just apply medicine and rest properly, and you’ll be fine.”
“That’s good. If I really had to lie in bed for two months, I couldn’t bear it.” Upon hearing there was nothing serious, Wen Rusheng’s cries of pain diminished.
“Thank you for your trouble, Doctor.” After Wen Feng finished being courteous, he had time to speak with Lin Hao. “Ah Hao, you should head back early. The doctor said my father only twisted his foot.”
Lin Hao’s gaze fell on Doctor Gu’s face, her tone somewhat casual: “Oh, I’ll leave once Eighth Uncle returns home.”
As she spoke, Doctor Gu glanced casually in this direction.
Their eyes met briefly, and Lin Hao was the first to lower her gaze and look away, though her heart beat rapidly several times.
This Doctor Gu’s facial features… seemed to match the person in the portrait!
Once this thought arose, she could no longer control it.
One moment she felt there couldn’t be such a coincidence, that she had looked at the portrait too much and was too eager to find Master Fox whose true appearance was unknown; the next moment she felt that coincidences do happen, otherwise there wouldn’t be the old saying “finding something without effort after wearing out iron shoes searching for it.”
Her lowered lashes were like small fans, concealing the turbulent emotions in her eyes. She couldn’t help but look again.
No need to overthink it. Since this person reminded her of Master Fox, she should just investigate. Even if it wasn’t him, there was no loss.
Having made her decision, Lin Hao’s expression returned to calm.
After some unknown time had passed, a gentle voice rang out: “All done. Remember to change the dressing tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Doctor Gu.” Wen Feng cupped his hands, signaled Wen Ping to pay the consultation fee, then lifted Wen Rusheng onto his back and walked outside.
Lin Hao silently followed behind, forcibly suppressing the urge to look back, yet she constantly felt a gaze falling on her back.
It didn’t take long to get from the clinic to Wen Feng’s residence. Lin Hao said a few polite words and proposed to take her leave.
“Feng’er, quickly see Ah Hao off.” Wen Rusheng felt as if granted amnesty. Finding his son too slow, he even pushed him.
Wen Feng was speechless for a moment and accompanied Lin Hao outside.
“Eleventh Brother, the place where you’re living is quite convenient. Not to mention restaurants, teahouses, and general stores—even the clinic is so close by.” Lin Hao subtly steered the conversation toward the clinic.
Wen Feng didn’t think much of it and said casually: “At the time, I rented this place precisely because I felt life here was convenient. Yang Zhe and Li Lan also live nearby.”
Lin Hao raised her eyebrows slightly: “They also live nearby?”
Wen Feng nodded with a smile: “Among the friends we regularly associate with, the three of us are all from other places. They rented here first, and later when I moved out from… my sister’s home, I moved here on their recommendation. The three of us can look after each other.”
“Being able to have a few like-minded examination peers is truly rare.” As they spoke, they had already walked out of the alley. Lin Hao glanced at the clinic across the street and stopped. “Eleventh Brother, don’t see me off any further. Eighth Uncle is still waiting for you to care for him.”
“Safe travels, younger sister.” Wen Feng stood at the alley entrance, watching Lin Hao walk toward the carriage before turning back.
Lin Hao quickened her pace. Though her face remained impassive, urgency grew in her heart.
A clinic not far from her cousin, Yang Zhe, and Li Lan’s residence, a doctor whose appearance reminded her of Master Fox—was this purely coincidence?
If that doctor was Master Fox, then three of the five people who drank with the Crown Prince were all within his surveillance range. If Yang Zhe was innocent, his movements would be easily monitored by the other party; if he was colluding with them, it would be convenient for communication.
Thinking these thoughts, Lin Hao bent down and climbed into the carriage.
In that instant, her hair suddenly stood on end, making her aware something was wrong.
But it was already too late. A cold, sharp object pressed against her neck, and Lin Hao saw a pair of pitch-black eyes.
“Baozhu—” She didn’t turn around, nor did she move. “Just sit outside. I feel a bit stuffy.”
Behind her, the raven-blue curtain fell, and Baozhu’s clear voice of acknowledgment came through.
As the driver cracked his long whip, the carriage slowly started moving.
Outside the carriage, people came and went, horses and carriages flowed like dragons—everything looked perfectly normal. Inside the carriage compartment, however, the atmosphere was tense to the extreme.
“Leave the city!” The person holding the dagger to Lin Hao’s neck spoke very softly, his voice cold without a trace of warmth.
Lin Hao pressed her lips tightly together and got a clear look at the man’s appearance.
He was an ordinary-looking young man, but his sharp gaze and overwhelming killing intent left no doubt that the dagger at her neck had seen blood before.
“Hurry, go to Qinglu Temple.”
Lin Hao clenched her fists. Given the current situation, there was no room to refuse. After a brief silence under the man’s impatient and murderous gaze, she raised her voice to instruct the driver: “Go to Qinglu Temple.”
Her voice was steady, revealing no abnormality. This cooperation caused the killing intent in the man’s eyes to fade somewhat.
Lin Hao had ample freedom at the General’s Mansion, so the driver had no suspicion whatsoever about her sudden request to go to Qinglu Temple. With a crack of the whip, the carriage changed direction.
Sitting outside the carriage, Baozhu asked: “Miss, it will take some time to get to Qinglu Temple. Should this servant buy some food to bring along?”
Under that cold gaze, Lin Hao calmly refused: “No need. We’ll go and return quickly.”
The carriage soon left the city and ran along the official road, picking up speed.
The man said nothing more. The hand gripping the dagger remained steady, demonstrating his extraordinary control.
Lin Hao calculated the time it would take to reach Qinglu Temple, but her intuition told her that place wouldn’t be his actual destination.
After some unknown time had passed, the man suddenly reached out one hand to lift a corner of the window curtain. Cold wind surged in, bringing the chill of the outskirts.
“Tell the carriage to stop.”
Lin Hao pressed her lips together and called out: “Stop the carriage.”
The carriage slowly came to a halt. Baozhu’s confused voice came through: “Miss, we haven’t reached Qinglu Temple yet.”
The man gave Lin Hao a look. Somehow, she understood what that look meant.
“Where are we?” she asked.
The driver answered her: “We’re about to pass Wuyin Mountain.”
Lin Hao’s heart sank.
She knew of Wuyin Mountain. It was in the same direction as Qinglu Temple, with continuous mountain peaks. If someone entered, they could hide anywhere and would be nearly impossible to find.
A great force came, and she was pushed out of the carriage compartment.
The man followed her out, one hand firmly restraining her while the other gripped the dagger.
“Miss!” Baozhu was so terrified her pretty face contorted. She instinctively stepped forward, but as the man’s dagger moved, she dared not move again.
The driver was also extremely frightened: “Who are you? Quickly release our miss!”
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, at this moment there happened to be no one else on the official road.
“Go back and tell your master to bring ten thousand taels of silver to the ruined temple in the mountains to ransom her. Don’t move—one step closer and I’ll take her life!” Having spoken, the man retreated step by step while holding Lin Hao hostage, quickly disappearing into the mountain forest.