Catching Monsters

Chapter 704 What enemies do you have in the capital?

"Are you worried she's not human?" Jiang Yun touched his nose and said doubtfully, "But she doesn't have any demonic aura."

"There is no evil aura like that of a ghost."

Xu Suwen nodded: "I am aware of all this. If she were just an ordinary person, I would be too lazy to investigate her. But now that Xiaogang likes her so much, she may even be able to enter the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion in the future."

"We need to find out all of this."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun understood Xu Suwen's thoughts and nodded, saying, "It's getting late. I'll personally investigate her first thing tomorrow morning to see what's going on."

Seeing that Jiang Yun had agreed, Xu Suwen felt somewhat relieved.

Then Jiang Yun asked, "How has Qiaoqiao been lately? Does she still go to Qiao Haotian's house often?"

"She hasn't been going to Qiao Haotian's house as often lately, mainly because you were away for so long this time and we didn't know how things were going. She was worried about you, so she didn't feel like going to Qiao Haotian's house as often."

"In addition, I arranged some odd jobs for Qiao Haotian's parents at the Jingzhao Prefecture government office. Although they were hard jobs, they were still better than working in the homes of some wealthy people."

"Furthermore, I had Dong Qiaofeng introduce you there, and the Jingzhao Prefecture, out of respect for Dong Qiaofeng, will not treat you two unfairly."

Xu Suwen took this matter quite seriously.

After listening, Jiang Yun nodded. With Xu Suwen watching over things, he didn't need to worry too much about this matter.

……

In the evening, Xu Xiaogang was still unaware of Jiang Yun's return. During this time, he had spent most of his time with Dongfang Yao, wandering around the capital.

Xu Xiaogang was truly captivated by this girl from the East. The main reason was that he had always longed for the world of martial arts, and ordinary women did not possess the martial spirit that Dongfang Yao had.

Xu Xiaogang has absolutely no interest in wealthy heiresses.

As for Dongfang Yao, she was somewhat surprised by this. She hadn't taken Xu Xiaogang's pursuit too seriously at first, nor did she intend to agree to it.

Having lived at the bottom of society, I've witnessed countless wealthy young men pursuing women, using them, and then discarding them.

Moreover, Xu Xiaogang is not just an ordinary rich young master, but the most decorated general in the Zhou Kingdom.

Their identities are vastly different from hers.

However, in contrast, after more than a month of getting to know him, Xu Xiaogang has very little of the arrogance often associated with wealthy young masters.

He treated her with great sincerity.

At this moment, they are dining in a private room in a ship-shaped building on the Grand Canal in Beijing.

"The crabs in this restaurant are all freshly caught and are quite delicious," Xu Xiaogang said.

A pot of fragrant crabs was then served.

"Are there crabs in this canal?" Dongfang Yao blinked her beautiful eyes, looked at the crabs that were burning red in front of her, reached out and took a bite.

"Of course not, it was fished out of Orange Lake, which is 200 miles away, and was delivered on horseback overnight using ice blocks," Xu Xiaogang explained with a smile.

"In addition, I may have to go to the Northern Border in a while. I have stayed in the capital for too long. There are many things at Jianchi Pass that I need to go back to deal with."

Dongfang Yao understood and nodded, saying, "You are a great person, you shouldn't spend so much time in the capital with me."

These words left Xu Xiaogang speechless. He tentatively reached out and grasped Dongfang Yao's hand, saying, "Miss Dongfang, you must have seen during this time that I have been sincere towards you."

Dongfang Yao subconsciously pulled her hand back and said, "Xu Xiaogang, I know what you're thinking, but we need to think about this more. Our statuses are too different."

"I'm afraid I'm not good enough for you."

"Moreover, people like me from the martial arts world have never been highly regarded by those in your court."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaogang became somewhat anxious and said, "You don't need to worry too much about that. Some time ago, you came to my house, and my mother met you. She was very satisfied with you."

The two were already somewhat attracted to each other, and when their eyes met, the atmosphere made Dongfang Yao blush slightly.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door of the private room.

The knocking broke the atmosphere inside the room. Xu Xiaogang coughed and quickly got up to open the door.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the door was opened, two masked people were standing outside.

After glancing at Dongfang Yao inside, the two men said in a deep voice, "It's her. Take her away."

After saying that, the two were about to go inside.

"Who are you people, and what do you want!" Xu Xiaogang's expression changed slightly, and he quickly made a move, raising his hand to strike the two men's chests.

Although Xu Xiaogang had been leading troops on the front lines for a long time, he was busy with military affairs and his own strength was not particularly strong. After these two palm strikes, he realized that the two men were quite powerful.

He hurriedly shouted to Dongfang Yao behind him, "Run!"

Dongfang Yao was not a lady from a respectable family; after all, she had been wandering the martial arts world for many years, and she quickly broke through the window and jumped out.

"It happened."

The two masked men's expressions changed slightly, and they were about to give chase, but Xu Xiaogang desperately stopped them.

Soon, one of them knocked Xu Xiaogang unconscious with a single palm strike, causing him to fall heavily to the ground.

The other person quickly ran to the window and looked outside. The canal bank below the ship was full of pedestrians and merchants, but Dongfang Yao was nowhere to be seen.

The man gritted his teeth slightly and said with icy eyes, "She got away."

"We won't be able to explain ourselves when we get back."

The expert who knocked Xu Xiaogang unconscious glanced down, frowned, and said, "Where's this guy? Is he even useful to take back?"

"What use is this human with such weak magical power?"

"But this person is of noble status; he is the Duke of Zhenguo of Zhou. With his life, we can definitely get the Zhou court to hand over Dongfang Yao."

Upon hearing this, the two exchanged a glance and quickly abducted the unconscious Xu Xiaogang.

……

At night, Jiang Yun was sitting in his study drinking tea. He had been working hard for a long time on his trip to the Buddhist kingdom in the Western Regions, and he was exhausted when he returned. He finally had time to rest.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Jiang Yun pushed open the door, but the person who came in was Wen Chen.

Wen Chen was panting heavily, clearly exhausted. He said anxiously, "Master, something's happened, something's happened."

"The Duke of Zhenguo has disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun subconsciously asked, "Where could he have gone? What about the brothel? Have they looked for him?"

“No, no.” Wen Chen shook his head: “Doesn’t the Duke of Zhenguo like Miss Dongfang? He made an appointment with Miss Dongfang to have dinner on a boat on the canal today.”

"But just now, Miss Dongfang suddenly ran back and said she was attacked by two people..."

Soon, Wen Chen recounted what had happened.

After hearing this, Jiang Yun's expression changed drastically. He knew that Xu Xiaogang was not only his brother-in-law, but also a very important figure in Zhou.

If he were to disappear, the consequences would be significant.

Jiang Yun returned to his study, took out two fireworks, and immediately launched them into the sky.

By this time, it was already getting dark. In the North and East Garrison Commands, apart from the staff on duty, most people were having dinner at home.

Upon hearing the sound of fireworks, all the Imperial Guards' expressions changed.

Everyone immediately put down their rice bowls, threw them on the ground, and rushed towards their respective government offices.

"We must not let Suwen and my mother-in-law know about this for the time being, so as not to worry them."

"I'll go back to Qingfeng Temple first and meet this Miss Dongfang."

Soon, Jiang Yun rode his horse and headed towards the Sanqing Temple with Wen Chen.

Before long, they arrived at the Sanqing Temple, where Dongfang Yao lived.

Dongfang Yao sat anxiously in the courtyard, while Uncle Tian and Li Chengdao comforted her.

Dongfang Yao was fine; after all, the world of martial arts was dangerous, and she was often chased and killed when she stole things in the past.

She could tell that the two masked men were after her.

However, this implicated Xu Xiaogang.

Soon, Dongfang Yao saw Jiang Yun striding over.

"Lord Jiang." Dongfang Yao quickly stood up.

Jiang Yun took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice, "Who did this? What exactly happened? What enemies do you have in the capital? Tell me everything clearly."

(End of this chapter)