The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 495 The City of Striking

Wu Mingxiao was stunned for a moment, then shocked.

The blood that had been pumped up by the hot wine cooled down considerably in an instant, and he immediately sat down and began circulating his internal energy to examine his body.

After a long while, he opened his eyes in confusion.

"Uh, Miss Zhao, is there anything unusual?"

Zhao Ying said coldly.

"It will be too late if there are any abnormalities."

Wu Mingxiao looked embarrassed and somewhat angry.

After all, to him, Zhao Ying was just a woman who had been rescued. In addition, Gao Lei had given him a good impression earlier, and being rebuked without any evidence made it difficult for him to believe him.

So he began to speak.

“Miss Zhao, Brother Gao has been very hospitable to us and has confided all his troubles to us. He is so sincere in trying to befriend us, yet we are so wary of him and even treat him coldly. Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”

Zhao Ying snorted coldly and remained silent.

Wu Mingxiao became even angrier and raised his voice.

"Miss Zhao, let's—"

"Alright, Xiao Wu."

Li Miao, standing beside him, smiled and waved.

"Xiao Zhao is right. Don't think too highly of Gao Lei. You can't be too careful."

Wu Mingxiao still respected Li Miao, so he immediately backed down and sat back down, looking aggrieved.

Seeing him like this, Li Miao smiled and said.

"You say Gao Lei is sincerely trying to befriend us? I don't think so."

“In the martial arts world, if someone doesn’t announce their origins or destination upon meeting you, it means they don’t want to. I’m the oldest, so he should have been talking to me the whole time, but instead he’s asking you these questions. Isn’t that because you’re young and easy to get information out of you?”

"Besides..."

Li Miao took a leisurely sip of wine.

"Next time you meet someone who immediately tells you about their unspeakable troubles, just remember this: don't tell them a single word of the truth."

Wu Mingxiao was puzzled by what he heard.

"what?"

"But Brother Li, doesn't saying these things signify closeness?"

Li Miao scoffed.

"Only when you have a good relationship with someone do your words have meaning; otherwise, they're just empty talk."

There's a trick at the dinner table called "speaking too intimately with someone you don't know well."

"To put it bluntly, it's all about exchange. First, you bring up your sore spots, and then you subconsciously feel that you should also make an equal exchange. At that point, it's easier for him to get those hard-to-get things out of you... Those guys at the dinner table who call you 'brother' and talk about their difficulties after just a few words are mostly like that."

Wu Mingxiao suddenly realized.

"Like feigning an opening during a battle?"

Li Miao smiled and nodded.

"That's right, the dinner table is like a battlefield, that's exactly what it means."

Wu Mingxiao finally understood, scratched his head sheepishly, stood up and bowed to Zhao Ying.

“Miss Zhao, I was naive. Thank you for covering for me earlier. I... I apologize to you.”

Zhao Ying gave a cold laugh.

"Just don't do something stupid again next time."

Wu Mingxiao was no longer angry. He was honest and willing to admit defeat. Knowing that Zhao Ying had helped him, he stopped caring about the few cold words and sat back down, looking at Li Miao.

"Brother Li, does... Gao Lei have ill intentions towards us?"

Li Miao smiled and shook his head.

"We'll set off tomorrow; if we're going to make a move, it'll be tonight."

"Eat well and sleep well. We'll find out tonight whether you have malicious intentions or not."

Having said that, he got up and went back to the main house.

"Go to sleep tonight, I'll watch the fun."

The door slammed shut.

--------

As the sun sets, a sudden chill sets in.

In early spring, the days are short, and by the time it's late afternoon, it's already completely dark.

Unlike a city, a farm emphasizes working at sunrise and resting at sunset, so there was no sound of people at this time. The small courtyard where Li Miao lived was also completely quiet, with only the flickering light inside casting shadows of the window frames on the ground.

A moment of silence. Click.

Suddenly, a soft sound.

A figure leaped over the courtyard wall, and judging from the movements, it was clear that the person had a solid foundation in light-footed martial arts. However, after landing, the person suddenly paused, standing still with a slight tremor.

After a few breaths, he recovered and quietly crept into the courtyard, looking around.

This small courtyard faces south, with the main house on the north side, where Li Miao naturally lives. The side rooms are on the east and west sides, where Wu Mingxiao and Zhao Ying live respectively.

At this time, the east and west rooms were lit up, while the main room on the north side was completely dark, as if the lights had been turned off and the room was asleep.

The man hesitated for a moment, feeling the pain in his groin. He estimated that he had lost about 70-80% of his lightness skill, making it difficult to remain silent. If he went to the east or west rooms, he would probably be discovered as soon as he got close.

So he slowly approached the main house.

When he reached the window of the main room, he tiptoed open it, took a piece of paper from his pocket, and placed it on the table.

Then he took out a bamboo tube from his pocket, carefully lit the cotton thread on the tube, blew out the flame, brought it to his lips, and blew it into the window crack, and a wisp of smoke drifted in.

"Hu-hu-"

After blowing into the bamboo tube four or five times, he reluctantly put it back in his arms, shook his head, and thought to himself.

"We told you to leave during the day, but you wouldn't. Now we don't even know if you'll be able to get away... Sigh!"

After shaking his head and sighing, he turned to leave.

Before he had taken more than a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

shhhhh--

In the brief moment that his eyes widened and his mouth gaped open, seven or eight men in black jumped over the wall! They all carried Japanese swords at their waists, their faces covered with black cloths, and landed with murderous intent. Seven or eight pairs of eyes swept across the courtyard before fixing on him.

"Fuck!"

"Nani!"

Both sides were taken aback and looked each other up and down.

They were all dressed in the dark and masked; they were clearly not good people.

On a dark and windy night, people are killing people and setting fires.

But his mother... she can even go so far as to cause a market upheaval when seeking revenge!?
After a moment of hesitation, both sides tacitly pressed down on their weapons and spoke in low voices.

"who are you?"

"who are you?"

After looking at the black mask covering the other person's face, another silence fell.

Silence reigns in the courtyard tonight.

After a long pause, it was the one who came later who spoke.

"Sir, do you have a grudge against the people who live here?"

The first person to arrive shook his head.

"A favor?"

Still shaking his head.

"If there's no gratitude or enmity involved, what are you after?"

The leader of the men in black waved his hand, making way for them.

"We have a grudge, and we don't want the things. You can come back to collect them in an incense stick's time. For now, you just need to leave, and you don't need to worry about the rest... How about it?"

The first person to arrive gritted his teeth.

He really wanted to leave.

During the day, he inexplicably slipped and fell, and the scabbard unfortunately struck an acupoint in his groin. The pain in his groin was unbearable, and his dodging and weaving skills were rendered useless by 80%. His martial arts skills also dropped by more than half, making it extremely unwise to fight at this time.

Besides, is it worth it for a few strangers?
As he hesitated and remained silent, the person opposite him grew increasingly cold, their hands gripping the hilts of their knives as they slowly approached him.

At this time.

Swish!
A short, stocky figure leaped into the courtyard, tapped the ground with his staff to dissipate the force, and headed toward the main house.

The moment he took a step, he suddenly froze in place.

"What the hell!?"

Ten pairs of eyes met in the courtyard.

They stopped moving.

Inside the room, Li Miao's eyes shone, he tapped his face with his finger, and the corners of his mouth curved more and more.

"interesting!"

"So interesting!"

(End of this chapter)