Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 104 Just right

Jia Chuan nodded and muttered, "That means the things hidden in the manor are things the Prince's Mansion can't or dares not put there, and they need someone to watch over them, so they can't be lost or seen by anyone..."

Jia Chuan was muttering to himself when he heard the sounds of fighting getting closer. He frowned. According to his previous plan, if things went smoothly, the fighting shouldn't have reached the edge of the courtyard.

Since they've reached the edge of the courtyard, it means they've broken through the defenses...

Jia Chuan looked into the courtyard and asked, "Which direction did the people come from to the outside of the courtyard wall?"

A voice answered from the darkness: "The main entrance."

Jia Chuan frowned, because he had previously deduced that the people coming would not come directly to the door, but mainly to ambush in the surrounding area. Since it was an ambush, they would not openly pass by the alley in front of the door and then climb over the wall to ambush, so there were no people stationed at the main entrance.

Jia Chuan's house was not at the very end of the alley, but in the middle. Wu Bing bought several houses to build this one. After it was built, it was very conspicuous. If it weren't for the ghost story, it would have been hard not to attract the attention of the people in the Han Prince's mansion.

This house stands out from the crowd. The other houses in the alley have smaller courtyards with lots of clutter. Gao Yuntian and his group had been lying in ambush beforehand, so logically no one should have been able to fight their way to the door. The fact that someone did fight their way to this place means that... one of them couldn't hold on any longer.

"Let's go help them under the wall." Jia Chuan turned around and picked up the knife on the table. Dong Yuanyuan had already rushed out with the knife in hand.

Old Zheng took a deep breath and picked up his knife. Shunzi solemnly slung his quiver over his shoulder, picked up his bow and arrows, and went out of the house with Old Zheng.

Nobody wants to be treated like trash. Working for Jia Chuan means you don't need to think; just do whatever he tells you to do, and Jia Chuan will take care of your life and death.

Several people remained in the courtyard to report the progress to Jia Chuan from various parts of the courtyard. In order to conceal their strength, there were more than thirty people underground who would not come up unless absolutely necessary.

Jia Chuan first whispered a few words to the group. Except for Shunzi, they stood under the courtyard wall. The walls on both sides of the main gate were the highest, and there were no traps below them. This was mainly to prevent accidental injury to their own people. The main gate was a more likely location to be used, and the crossbows on the walls were hidden on the walls, not on the top of the walls.

Jia Chuan stood at the gate and shouted, "We are ready, let them in."

Then he stood next to Shunzi.

Letting them in wasn't about opening the door; it was about waiting for them to climb over the wall. Although the wall was high, Jia Chuan believed that it shouldn't be too difficult for someone who practiced martial arts.

There was a moment of silence outside the courtyard, then someone outside shouted, "They're not going in, they just want to run!"

Jia Chuan waved his hand, and someone carried the ladder to the side of the courtyard wall and set it up. He looked at Shunzi, whose expression was solemn but full of confidence. He quickly climbed the ladder, and Old Zheng hurried over and nervously held the ladder. He wanted to say something, but when he looked back at Jia Chuan, he kept his mouth tightly shut.

Dong Yuanyuan put the knife on the ground. She wanted to go and hold the ladder, but she had another task. There were several torches next to her. She held one of the torches and waited for Jia Chuan to call for it to be lit.

The moment Shunzi peeked over the courtyard wall, Jia Chuan signaled Dong Yuanyuan to light a torch. Dong Yuanyuan then threw it with all her might, sending the torch flying over the wall. Shunzi's arrow followed, and Dong Yuanyuan threw another one immediately afterward...

The sound of arrows piercing the air was accompanied by shouts from outside the door. Jia Chuan couldn't tell if it was his own people cheering or the enemy crying out in pain. In any case, after a few arrows were shot out, the people outside shouted, "Leave the rest to us."

"How are things elsewhere?" Jia Chuan asked loudly.

No one answered.

Shunzi came down, and Old Zheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked to Jia Chuan's side, asking softly, "All done?"

Jia Chuan shook his head seriously and said, "No, it's still a long way off."

Dong Yuanyuan pulled Shunzi up and down and looked him over carefully. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Teach me archery in the future. If something like this happens again, I'll go up."

Upon hearing this, Jia Chuan said disdainfully, "He's not your son!"

Dong Yuanyuan turned her head and asked, "When can I go out?"

"Someone will come to pick you up."

"My sister said it should be quick, but we've been calling for ages and no one's come yet."

Jia Chuan asked, "Does Duoduo think it will be quick?"

"Yes! My sister said we were the ones who ambushed them first, and they came later. It was a sudden attack, and no one could escape it."

"But they don't know who's who. If they can't quickly deal with those skilled guys at the beginning, they'll be exposed."

"What should we do?" Old Zheng asked anxiously.

Jia Chuan circled the house, listening carefully to the sounds around him. He wanted to judge which side was in more trouble based on the sounds without any news, so he could come up with a solution. Just now, it seemed that someone on the other side wanted to run away to report the news, but was stopped by Wu Bing's men. Quite a few people wanted to run away, so that meant that place was struggling to hold on and couldn't take care of everything. But when he asked, no one answered.

……

It's not that no one answered, it's that no one had time to answer.

After finishing off the enemy, the men at the main gate ran to the alley entrance to intercept those trying to escape.

The Gao siblings were placed in the houses on the right side of the house and in the houses on both sides of the alley. Wu Bing and his men were responsible for the back of the house, while Chen Mo and Wu Bing's men guarded the left side of the house and in the houses on both sides of the alley.

The alley where the house was located was a dead end; Jia Chuan could only go out by turning right.

Zhu Heng's goal was to intercept and kill Jia Chuan immediately after he left the house.

Therefore, Zhu Heng planned to arrange for the three people from the manor to stay in the houses on the right, and for the rest of the people from the royal palace to stay in the houses on the left, in order to block Jia Chuan from escaping back to the mansion. As for the outer side of the backyard, Zhu Heng did not arrange for anyone to stay there.

On this dark and windy midnight, a number of men dressed in black emerged from the side gate of the Han Prince's Mansion. Under the cover of darkness and with the night patrol soldiers feigning blindness, they rushed toward Jia Chuan's residence.

The alley splits into left and right sections on the right. The three men didn't care; one on each side and two on each side. In their eyes, as long as Jia Chuan came out of the house, no matter how many people were with him, he was doomed. But Gao Yuntian and Gao Yunduo were left to their own devices. Although they were accompanied by Wu Bing's men, no one knew exactly how many people had come from the manor. They only knew whether the surprise attack in the darkness could take care of the expert first.

However, the people from the village held a position of authority in the royal palace, and none of the people who came to ambush them were from the village.

Just when the Gao siblings thought the matter would be resolved quickly, and Gao Yuntian even believed that his skills had improved further, people from the manor arrived. Two went to find Gao Yunduo, and one went to find Gao Yuntian.

Well, it depends on which angle you look at it from. The people in the village originally planned to come closer to dawn, so they had the people from the Prince's mansion lie in ambush first. In this cold weather, the three of them wouldn't have come so early.

But Zhu Heng had a premonition. He felt he understood Jia Chuan a little better. Jia Chuan liked to do things unexpectedly. Was it possible that he would leave early and go to the prefectural government office to wait for a new murder case? That way, he wouldn't have to go to the crime scene, and then, like today, he could cause a scene at the Prince's mansion, and then lead everyone directly back to his residence, followed by a large number of people...

Therefore, Zhu Heng felt it was best to make a move when Jia Chuan left, and he insisted that Jia Chuan was likely to leave earlier, which forced the three people from the manor to come and ambush with the people from the Prince's mansion, only a little later.

The soldiers on night patrol saw a large group of people pass by. They had just closed their eyes, and when they opened them again, they breathed a sigh of relief. But after walking a few steps, another group of people arrived...

Jia Chuan couldn't understand why the people in the Prince's mansion wanted to ambush at such close range. Weren't they afraid that he had arranged for people to watch over these houses? This was perfectly normal. You need someone to keep an eye on your own doorstep at all times, and to report back every few days.

Zhu Heng had naturally considered this point, and his opinion was: Kill!

In Zhu Heng's view, Jia Chuan, who had gained the emperor's trust at such a young age, must be a person who couldn't listen to advice, was audacious, and self-righteous. Just by looking at how domineering he was, Zhu Heng could confirm his deduction. Therefore, Zhu Heng believed that even if the people on guard outside the house didn't send any news back, Jia Chuan would still stubbornly go to the state office before dawn. Moreover, it was possible that he hadn't arranged for anyone to be on guard outside the house because of his arrogance.

Zhu Heng deduced that Jia Chuan's deduction was that the Prince's Mansion would send people to find a way into the house, and that would make a big commotion, so there would be no need for anyone to keep watch outside.

Therefore, anyone encountered in a civilian residence, regardless of who they are, must be killed! It was precisely because of this order that the people in the village who arrived later had no other suspicions and assumed that, as Zhu Heng had deduced, someone was keeping watch there.

Otherwise, the three of them also brought people with them, and if they found anything amiss, someone would immediately go back to report.

But it all happened so perfectly, the misunderstanding just happened at the perfect time.

If they had arrived later, Jia Chuan's arrangements, though not entirely in vain, would still have brought trouble in the future if he hadn't managed to keep these three people.

Without the help of a sneak attack, Gao Yunduo and Gao Yuntian are in a lot of trouble right now.

Chen Mo's side is doing alright. Although he can't quickly eliminate the people who came, he has them under control.

Wu Bing hesitated. He dared not leave rashly, but there was no one coming from the houses behind the main house. In the end, he decided to leave a few men to guard the place. He led his men over the wall to the house where Gao Yuntian was. Seeing that his men were all injured and Gao Yuntian was fighting fiercely with someone, although he had not yet lost the battle, Wu Bing was an experienced man. He could tell at a glance that Gao Yuntian was putting on a brave face. He was about to go forward and take Gao Yuntian's place, but Gao Yuntian squeezed out four words in such a difficult situation: "Go help Duoduo!"

Wu Bing immediately realized, "There's one here, but how many are elsewhere?"
"You guys stay and help General Gao out!" Wu Bing said, then pushed off with his feet and quickly climbed over the courtyard wall.

When Wu Bing climbed into the courtyard where Gao Yunduo was, he was shocked to find his men lying dead, their fates unknown. Although Gao Yunduo was dressed in black, several sword wounds could be seen peeking out from her white undergarment. She was struggling to fight two opponents at once, facing a perilous situation.

Wu Bing dared not delay and swung his knife forward. With just one move, Wu Bing knew that tonight was likely to be a dangerous night. The man's sword was as fast as a dragon, so fast that Wu Bing could not predict it. He could only see the cold light but not the man. For the first time, he felt that his long knife was clumsy. In just three moves, he was hit on the left arm by a sword.

Gao Yunduo was filled with regret. She shouldn't have shown up so early. She should have waited patiently for a while. How could she not have expected that they would come in groups?
She was covered in injuries, and Wu Bing was already struggling to deal with just one person. If she fell...

Just then, they heard a familiar business call.

"Collide!"

With a loud shout from Jia Chuan, the walls on both sides of the alley collapsed instantly.

The courtyard belonged to a poor family and they didn't need any other tools. With Dong Yuanyuan on one side and two of Wu Bing's men on the other, the courtyard wall was knocked down.

It's good that it collapsed. People on both sides can see each other, and the people Jia Chuan brought can know where to go. At the same time, for those three, seeing that none of their own people are left and that the people who came are all strangers, this feeling must be bad. No matter how strong they are, they need some time to adjust.

It happened in an instant, and Dong Yuanyuan captured that moment.

Jia Chuan had originally planned to take Yuan Yuan over once the situation was under control. The knife in her hand was powerful enough to kill anyone who wasn't a member of the manor.

Of course, that's what Jia Chuan thought.

At this moment, Jia Chuan and Old Zheng were holding torches, while Shunzi was carrying a bow and arrow. Old Zheng entered Gao Yuntian's courtyard, and Jia Chuan naturally entered Gao Yunduo's courtyard. However, although he was holding a torch, he couldn't see as clearly as Dong Yuanyuan, who had already rushed into the courtyard. After Dong Yuanyuan, holding a knife, staggered to her feet, she immediately saw the wounds on Gao Yunduo's body. She panicked and rushed forward with her knife, shouting, "Sister, get out of the way! I'll chop him up!"

Dong Yuanyuan's roar was so loud it startled even a horse, let alone someone hearing it for the first time. Jia Chuan had heard it several times before, and he almost dropped the torch in his hand.

Gao Yunduo did not intentionally give up her position. She was already nearly exhausted. When Dong Yuanyuan shouted, she couldn't catch her breath and collapsed. The sword in the hand of the person opposite her trembled in the air. Before she could finish off her opponent on the ground, a huge force rushed towards the person's face.

The man instinctively tried to deflect the oncoming longsword with his sword. The moment the swords clashed, the man felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him. Let alone deflecting it, he would have been lucky to even hold onto his sword.

That person was truly remarkable. There were very few people in the world who could resist Dong Yuanyuan's powerful and furious strike, accompanied by her roar. Even fewer could withstand such a powerful attack and not be knocked down. But this sudden turn of events left that person completely bewildered, even with his rigorous training.

Dong Yuanyuan is a nimble fat girl, and also a fat girl who listens to her older sister. Gao Yunduo once said that Yuanyuan doesn't need to learn any moves; she can use the knife however she wants, and no one can stop her.

What couldn't be blocked was not the technique but the force. Seeing that the vertical slash was useless, Dong Yuanyuan twisted her wrist and brought the long sword horizontally again. The man took two steps back, barely dodging the slash, and couldn't help but feel fear.

Gao Yunduo was afraid of hindering Dong Yuanyuan's pace, so she wanted to move aside, but she was powerless to do so.

Just then, a pair of large hands pulled her aside, and a familiar voice asked, trembling slightly, "Where are you injured? Do you have any small bottles of pills on you?"

Jia Chuan's words left Gao Yunduo bewildered. She wanted to ask about the little bottle, but then she heard Dong Yuanyuan roar, "Dare to hurt my sister? I'll chop you to death!"

Gao Yunduo tilted her head and saw that the person who had just beaten her to the point of near defeat had failed to dodge Dong Yuanyuan's third slash and had fallen into a pool of blood in fear.

(End of this chapter)