The Incense Monopoly Order

Chapter 142 All is Well
The sword followed the line of assassins. By the time they reacted, the first few only had time to dodge, while the fourth one swung his knife and knocked the sword away from Shang Mingshu. The assassins, whose attention was drawn to the sword, did not notice Shang Mingshu's movements under the cover of darkness. Two gunshots rang out, and Shang Mingshu took down two of them.

With his last bit of strength, Du Zhong rolled along the ground with Shang Wenshu in his arms, dodging the two men's knives.

They tried to give chase, but were stopped by the forceful Shang Mingshu.

He Mu and his men charged forward, brandishing their weapons. It was a six-on-four situation, with Shang Mingshu holding off three of them, making things as easy for He Mu and his companions as possible.

These people were quite skilled, but fortunately, the guards Shang Mingshu brought were all recommended by her master and were not ordinary house guards; otherwise, they would have been extremely difficult to deal with.

"Du Zhong, what should I do?" Shang Wenshu climbed out of Du Zhong's arms, looked at Du Zhong lying on the ground, covered in blood and breathing heavily, and tears streamed down her face.

"I have a bottle of medicine in my arms..." Du Zhongqiang struggled to teach Shang Wenshu.

He always carried with him precious life-saving pills, and this was the only bottle he had.

Shang Wenshu found it easy. With trembling hands, she poured out a pill and fed it to Du Zhong. Suppressing her panic, she began to bandage Du Zhong's deeper wounds. Neither of them had any medicine on them.

Shang Mingshu kept the three of them entangled, ensuring that none of them could escape the battle circle she had created. She could never find an opportunity to defeat them, and no matter how well the three of them coordinated, they could not harm Shang Mingshu in the slightest.

Meanwhile, He Mu had already dealt with the assassin he was fighting, freeing up his hands to support Shang Ming Shu.

The master and servant quickly locked eyes, their silent understanding allowing He Mu to draw his sword and restrain the two assassins. Shang Mingshu then quickly dealt with one of them, and the two joined forces to eliminate the other two.

Shang Mingshu ran towards Shang Wenshu and Du Zhong, while He Mu went to help the two guards deal with the remaining two.

"I have some medicine here, let's treat the injury first." Shang Mingshu took out some wound medicine from her bosom and handed it to Shang Wenshu. "Where is Second Sister?"

"Ming Shu, hurry and find Second Sister. We'll split up ahead and she'll distract some of us..." Shang Wen Shu said urgently to Shang Ming Shu, looking up at her.

“Third Sister, it is my incompetence…” the weak Du Zhong whispered guiltily.

"You've done an excellent job," Shang Mingshu reassured her, then turned and ran to her horse, quickly mounting it. "Hemu, you protect my elder sister and Doctor Du."

"Third Sister..." With a swift stroke of his sword, He Mu felled the last assassin, only managing to watch Shang Ming Shu speed away.

"Hemu, go help Third Sister!" Shang Wenshu shouted hurriedly.

He Mu didn't move. He was Shang Mingshu's subordinate, and the entire Shang family obeyed Shang Mingshu's orders. Even though he was worried about Shang Mingshu, he decided to stay and check Du Zhong's wound with the two guards.

Two consecutive battles, especially the duel with Chi Wulang, left Shang Mingshu exhausted. She also had some minor wounds on her body, all from her fight with Chi Wulang, which she only had time to treat briefly.

If she didn't see Shang Zishu for even a moment, Shang Mingshu wouldn't allow herself to show any signs of fatigue.

She whipped the horse harder, urging it to run even faster. If anything happened to Shang Zishu, both Shang Wenshu and Du Zhong would be filled with unease. She knew that Du Zhong hadn't asked Shang Zishu to lure the assassins away for them.

Of the three, only Du Zhong possessed martial arts skills. If they all surrounded them, Du Zhong would have no chance of protecting the two vulnerable women. If Shang Zishu ran away alone, most of the assassins would focus on Du Zhong. Shang Zishu was luckier and had a higher chance of survival than Du Zhong and Shang Wenshu.

At the time, it was a choice that suited all three of them.

Without Shang Wenshu telling her the location, Shang Mingshu quickly caught up and arrived at the place. There were corpses there, and she easily found the direction Shang Zishu had fled in. It wasn't suitable to ride a horse, and what made her heart clench was that someone had also abandoned a horse there...

Besides the assassins chasing Shang Zishu, someone else arrived before her and followed her along this pathless trail; it was unclear whether they were friend or foe. This was another spot at the foot of Huangshan Mountain, with a mountain path leading upwards.

Over the years, Shang Zishu has become very familiar with Huangshan. She has ventured deep into various places countless times in search of tea trees.

While filling two empty muskets with gunpowder, Shang Mingshu hurried along the trail.

When she reached the mountainside, she saw two people dressed the same as those who had been chasing Shang Wenshu and Du Zhong. She squatted down to check their wounds and breathed a sigh of relief, as this was a move she was familiar with.

Cheng She!

When Shang Wenshu and Shang Mingshu met, Cheng She had already tracked them down to this place. He roughly guessed that Du Zhong and the other two had split up their assassins and sent his men to follow the trail, while he went up the mountain.

When Shang Mingshu arrived, she took a shortcut, which is how she brushed past Cheng She's men.

Shortly after seeing two more corpses, Shang Mingshu found a fire. Cheng She sat in one spot, while Shang Zishu sat beside the fire, hugging herself tightly. Shang Zishu was covered in soot and looked quite disheveled.

"Second Master Cheng, how much longer do we have to wait?" Shang Zishu's ankle was in unbearable pain.

Cheng She saved her, but refused to carry her down the mountain, saying that there was a difference between men and women. On the day her third sister fell into the water, she didn't know who carried her third sister off the boat!

She knew that Cheng She had feelings for her third sister, but she had to act quickly. She felt a burning sensation on her forehead, wondering if it was caused by her injury.

"Second Madam, please wait a little longer. My men will arrive within an hour," Cheng She said softly.

Shang Zishu opened her mouth, wanting to say that she felt cold, but was afraid that Cheng She would misunderstand. Fortunately, her younger sister's voice rang out just in time, like heavenly music: "Second sister!"

Shang Zishu mistakenly thought she was hallucinating due to her high fever. She looked up blankly and saw Shang Mingshu walking quickly towards her. The usually strong Shang Zishu's vision blurred instantly when her sister ran towards her.

When Shang Mingshu ran to her side, Shang Zishu burst into tears and hugged Shang Mingshu tightly.

She had just teetered on the brink of death several times, her heart pounding with fear, yet she struggled to control herself and avoid becoming trapped in her own panic. She used her familiarity with the mountain paths to maneuver, but ultimately fell into the assassin's hands. If Cheng She hadn't arrived in time, she…

The thought of her brush with death made Shang Zishu cry even harder.

Shang Mingshu gently comforted her, then took off her cloak and draped it over Shang Zishu: "It's all over now, Second Sister, don't cry. Are you hurt? Let's go down the mountain as soon as possible."

"I...I sob, my ankle hurts so much..." Shang Zishu cried as she stretched out her foot.

Shang Mingshu saw Shang Zishu's ankle, which was swollen and shiny in the firelight.

The moment Shang Zishu stretched out her foot, Cheng She turned his back and did not see Shang Zishu's injury.

Shang Mingshu felt sorry for Cheng She, but she had no right or qualification to blame him for his negligence. Thinking of the four people chasing Shang Zishu, if it weren't for Cheng She, Shang Zishu would never have been able to wait for her. All Shang Mingshu felt for Cheng She was gratitude.

"I'll carry you down the mountain!" Shang Mingshu immediately squatted down with her back to Shang Zishu.

Shang Zishu didn't hesitate. She knew her sister was strong enough to carry her down the mountain, so she rushed over.

Carrying Shang Zishu on her back, Shang Mingshu felt a surge of relief that they were all safe and sound.