Despite her sympathy for Liu Mentang, Li Mama, as the prince’s loyal servant, still reported every detail of Liu’s daily activities, interactions, and conversations to Cui Xingzhou.
When the Huaiyang Prince heard that the shop had few customers and no one had come to contact or recognize Liu Mentang, he said nothing. After all, to catch a big fish, one needs patience. For the sake of Lu Wen, this bandit, he was willing to devote some effort.
The prince knew little about Lu Wen personally, but during the bandit suppression campaign, he had felt a sense of kinship and regret for “how unfortunate it was that you became a bandit.” Although the bandit had strayed from the righteous path, he was a talented military strategist. He had repeatedly forced the prince’s generals into desperate situations, especially excelling in feints and surprise attacks.
Initially, the prince hadn’t taken this rabble seriously, but seeing his generals suffer unexpected losses sparked his competitive spirit. He took charge, commanding a long-distance surprise attack that captured the bandits’ lair and severely crushed Lu Wen’s arrogance.
With their base lost, the bandit and his followers scattered like stray dogs. It was during this flight from pursuit that the severely injured Mentang was left behind.
Although the bandit managed to escape, recruit new followers, and launch a frenzied counterattack, whether due to fear or not, he had made frequent blunders over the past year, gradually losing his edge.
Now, that small band of bandits could no longer significantly disrupt Zhen Prefecture’s stability. However, Cui Xingzhou still wanted to capture Lu Wen alive, curious to see what kind of man had once matched him in battle.
It was for this reason that he painstakingly arranged Liu Mentang as a chess piece.
Liu Mentang had initially been thrown into the river. If Cui Xingzhou hadn’t been passing through on official business to the capital and happened to rescue her, she would have drowned. Later, a surrendered member of Lu Wen’s group identified her as Lu Wen’s beloved wife, prompting Cui Xingzhou to personally oversee her treatment. Once she could withstand travel, he brought her back to Lingquan Town.
He believed that Lu Wen wouldn’t have abandoned such a beautiful woman unless forced by desperate circumstances.
With this in mind, Cui Xingzhou felt that Liu Mentang was still a valuable chess piece worth keeping in play. The charade of the North Street couple needed to be maintained a while longer.
So, after five days, realizing he could no longer use Go lessons as an excuse to stay away, Cui Xingzhou had his attendant Mo Ru prepare civilian clothes for him to change into before leaving the military camp.
The weather was gradually warming, and the evening breeze was refreshing. Before reaching North Street, Cui Xingzhou had the carriage stop, deciding to walk and clear his mind in the night air.
Having timed it perfectly, when Cui Xingzhou arrived at the North Street residence, it was again deep into the night. The neighbors who usually chatted by the door had all gone home to sleep.
He could come quietly and leave early without issue.
However, this time, the usually quiet North Street had moving shadows.
With his keen hearing, Cui Xingzhou detected the movement and signaled Mo Ru. They quickly hid around a corner, listening to the conversation ahead.
“Damn it, there’s not a woman in all of Lingquan Town that I can’t have! Seeing her grand manner and martial skills, I thought she was the wife of a Zhen Prefecture military official! Who knew she was just the wife of a porcelain merchant? If I don’t bed her, won’t I be disgracing my reputation?”
The speaker was the nephew of the garrison commander who had harassed Liu Mentang on the street some days ago.
Since Liu Mentang had pierced his neck with a hairpin, he had been recovering at home, behaving himself for a while. Due to his habitual bullying of men and women, he didn’t dare tell his family how he was injured, only calling a doctor to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound, vaguely saying he had been scratched by a bamboo pole while walking.
After recovering and going out again, he happened upon the opening of a new shop and went to see the commotion with his lackeys. To his surprise, he saw Liu Mentang behind the counter, working an abacus.
The beauty was even more alluring than before, but the nephew was too frightened to approach. Her cloud-like hair was still adorned with hairpins – he didn’t want to risk another attack!
However, knowing her husband’s occupation gave the young master some confidence. They were just merchants from out of town with no backing! Moreover, he had heard that the woman’s husband was neglectful of his duties and rarely at home, leaving no man in the house.
This was truly unclaimed sweetmeat – it would be a shame not to taste it! Women always acted chaste and virtuous until you got them in bed. Once there, they’d become addicted and cling to you.
The libertine was well-versed in stealing flowers and jade, and secretly sleeping with respectable women. He only needed a good ladder to climb over the wall and sneak into her bed! Married women whose husbands were away, even if taken advantage of, wouldn’t dare to make a fuss, only able to endure with tears and covered mouths. If they cried out in the middle of the night, their reputation for chastity would be ruined.
Remembering that the woman seemed to have some martial arts skills, his lackeys had thoughtfully prepared a tube of smoke to subdue her. Once they entered the courtyard, they would blow the smoke through the window paper, rendering her helpless, unable to call for heaven or earth!
Today, the nephew had sent a servant to scout, confirming that the Cui family’s man hadn’t returned home. So he prepared his tools for stealing jade, with his servant carrying a ladder to the wall outside the Cui family’s North Street home.
After nightfall, he had his servant set up the ladder, preparing to sneak in. Excited by thoughts of the beauty’s charms, the young master couldn’t help but sway slightly, muttering curses under his breath to bolster his courage as he prepared to climb in and do his evil deed.
However, he was unaware that his actions were being observed by Cui Xingzhou, hidden around the corner.
The Huaiyang Prince initially thought it might be the rebels finally unable to resist coming to meet Liu Mentang secretly, so he remained hidden, planning to wait until the intruder climbed over the wall.
Just then, one of the secret sentries stationed around the North Street Cui residence crept over, whispering to report the intruder’s identity to the prince – it was the garrison commander’s nephew who had been injured by Liu Mentang before. The sentries had thoroughly investigated his background; he was a local libertine who specialized in seducing respectable women but had no connection to the rebels.
However, he had been suspiciously lingering outside the shop with his men, so the sentries had kept a close eye on him.
Today, his servant had gone to the pharmacy to buy mosquito repellent incense and sleeping incense. When combined, these could be made into smoke to subdue people. Additionally, the servant had bought virility-enhancing supplements for his master, reportedly to be boiled down from three bowls of water to one, drinking which would grant endless stamina in bed, ensuring the lady’s legs would turn to jelly…
The sentry’s words made Cui Xingzhou frown deeply, immediately understanding the wall-climber’s intentions.
Although the woman in the house wasn’t his, the Huaiyang Prince’s woman, from their limited interactions over these days, he knew Mentang was far from a fickle woman. Although she had lost her chastity, she had no memory of it. Now she considered herself a proper married woman. If this scoundrel succeeded, she might be so ashamed and angry that she might take her own life in a moment of despair, wouldn’t that ruin his plan to lure out the enemy?
Thinking this, Cui Xingzhou wordlessly took the lead, quickly approaching the courtyard wall. With a raise of his hand, he knocked out the two lackeys standing guard by the wall.
He didn’t bother knocking on the door. With a powerful flex of his waist and a light touch of his toes, he leaped over the wall in one bound, landing in the courtyard.
As soon as he landed, he strode quickly to Liu Mentang’s room. He saw that the window paper had already been punctured, and a bamboo tube lay on the ground.
Liu Mentang’s door was wide open; the flower-stealing scoundrel had already sneaked in.
Cui Xingzhou, expressionless, stepped in, ready to drag the libertine off the bed.
But the next moment, he heard agonized screams from inside the room, followed by a golden flash as something was hurled at him.
Cui Xingzhou blocked with his arm, feeling something searing hot brand his arm. The pain made him frown and grunt.
Just then, Mo Ru also climbed over the wall using the ladder, loudly calling for Li Mama. Suddenly, the lamps in the courtyard were lit.
“Husband… is it you?” As Cui Xingzhou was about to kick his attacker, he realized Liu Mentang was standing there, holding a copper kettle, her eyes brimming with tears.
The garrison commander’s nephew who had snuck in was jumping around, soaking wet and cursing. His face was bright red and steaming as if scalded by boiling water.
Seeing the Cui family courtyard brightly lit, he ignored the pain and frantically tried to escape, but Cui Xingzhou mercilessly kicked him, sending him flying onto a table. With a crash and clatter, the table was smashed to pieces under his weight.
It turned out that when the scoundrel had snuck in, Liu Mentang wasn’t yet asleep.
Chen’s hand-painted work was still not showing promise, and the shop’s business hadn’t improved, making it difficult for her to sleep. Moreover, knowing her husband returned home very late, she thought he might knock on the door, so she had been lying on the bed with her eyes half-closed, feigning sleep.
As a result, she heard the rustling sounds from the courtyard. At first, she thought her husband had returned and quickly got up to greet him. But when she reached the door, she saw light coming through the window – the window paper had been punctured.
She froze, watching as a bamboo tube was inserted. She immediately realized that some lowlife had snuck in.
Her maternal grandfather had run an armed escort agency, traveling the jianghu. What tricks hadn’t he seen? Mentang had grown up listening to her mother’s stories of her grandfather’s jianghu experiences, so she was well aware of these underhanded methods.
Seeing the dense smoke being blown in, she wanted to call for help but didn’t know how many people were outside the window or if Li Mama and the others had been subdued by the intruders.
So she didn’t dare to startle the grass and alert the snake. She quickly moved behind the screen, wet a handkerchief in the bathtub, and quickly covered her face to avoid succumbing to the smoke. Then she grabbed the copper kettle that had been heating on a small charcoal stove and, as soon as the intruder entered, doused him with the scalding water.
But another person was entering behind the scoundrel!
Mentang tried to scald the newcomer with the bottom of the kettle, not realizing it was her husband!
When Li Mama lit the lanterns in the courtyard and Mo Ru dragged in the two unconscious lackeys from outside, Mentang finally understood that her husband had returned home and, encountering the intruder climbing over the wall, had leaped over first to save her.
Although she hadn’t seen her husband’s gallant wall-climbing, his kick that sent the scoundrel flying was truly swift, powerful, and decisive, full of masculine vigor. The sight made Mentang’s heart melt.
Her husband’s martial arts were not just for show – they were real and formidable!