177 Leaving (2/2)

About 2 dozen machetemen took action. Before long, they had put together a makeshift mourning hall. The corpse of Master Yu was placed in the middle. Candles and incense paper were prepared but they were not lit.

Xu Xiaoyi sensed that something was amiss. But he did not dare to say anything. He crept silently up the stairs and went into his sister's room. Both siblings understood the gravity of the situation and looked at each other. They were too afraid to think of the outcome.

Downstairs, the machetemen swarmed out of the house. They guarded the entrance and the back of the house. Some even climbed onto the roof. One could say that the brothel has now been hermetically sealed.

As dawn approaches, Shangguan Ru led the machetemen to the place. They had passed by through the checkpoints and seemingly had nothing to do with Fifth Young Master's disappearance.

Maid Lotus lit candles and Gu Shenwei opened the wrapped package. He doused water on the person inside to wake him up.

The Fifth Young Master was simply too careless. On the night when he killed Master Yu, he did not stay in his house. Instead, he went out drinking. There were only a few taverns in the North City. There was only one that had a much more elegant atmosphere compared to the rest and Meng Mingshi had been there. He did not notice that he had been followed the moment he stepped out of his house.

It seemed like Shangguan Ru and Wildhorse had no use for such a complicated plan that they came up with. Shangguan Ru put his hands together, thanking Master Yu's spirit for blessing them from Heaven.

Wildhorse and Shangguan Ru jumped onto the roof of the tavern. Fifth Young Master was actually drinking alone, to their amusement. Even his servants had been taken outside and no one dared enter.

Meng Mingshi was so drunk that the two kidnappers only had to put some knockout powder in his mouth before carrying him out through the window. No one was disturbed and they did not have to kill anyone. This went unexpectedly well. When they reached downstairs, Shangguan Ru pulled Meng Mingshi by the hair and looked at his face. She was making sure that she had not caught the wrong person.

When the servants realized that their master was missing, the unconscious Meng Mingshi was already in South City. The anxious servants ran back to Meng's residence, shivering with fear, contemplating whether they should awaken the great master. But in South City, Shangguan Ru was already standing before the Fifth Young Master's body, his hands holding a blade. He was prepared to behead the said person.

After this incident, explanations would be given out as followed: Fifth Young Master had assumed that the South City had entered a truce. Hence, he had secretly run to a familiar brothel in Pleasure Alley but he ended up falling into Shangguan Ru's hands.

As for the agreement of the truce, Shangguan Ru also had a set of explanations. She was not afraid of the fact that the Meng family might resent her. Nobody would dare to touch her if a plausible explanation was provided. Moreover, the Horned Dragon Society had once kidnapped the Tenth Young Master and had thought of killing her. However, they did not succeed.

Meng Mingshi opened his eyes. He was hungover. It felt like all his bones had been broken and somehow reattached again. He did not realize where he was for a long time. When he could clearly see the sword in Shangguan Ru's hands, he was startled and immediately sat up. He quickly sobered up too.

”You... who are you? Where is this place? What are you doing? Don't do anything stupid. I will call for help...” There were only masked killers in the house. One thing that he knew for sure was that this was Pleasure Alley. Meng Mingshi could not be more familiar with the layout of the house. However, he did not know whose house this was. ”We... we're currently in a truce.”

Shangguan Ru knew that Meng Mingshi would say this. She yelled at the door. ”Who's outside?”

”Machetemen of the Kun Society.” Tuo Nengya replied loudly.

”Who is the leader of the Kun Society?”

”Tuo Nengya.”

”What about Shangguan Ru?”

”Has been removed from the member's list.”

”Yang Huan?”

...

Shangguan Ru repeated every single one of the killers' names. The only reply that he got was: ”They have been removed from the members' list.”

”Kun Society and the Horned Dragon Society may have agreed to a ceasefire, but we're no longer members of Kun Society.”

Meng Mingshi felt that Shangguan Ru was obviously insisting on something absurd. But he could not think of anything to refute him. ”You... I'll go back and tell my grandmother. The Meng Family is not done with Stone Castle yet.”

”You can't go back. Grandmother's good grandson will be leaving her first.”

Meng Mingshi had only just understood what Shangguan Ru meant now. He turned pale. ”No, no. You can't kill me. I...”

The anger that Shangguan Ru had been suppressing for a long time finally exploded. ”I can't kill you? I can't kill you! How dare you! If you wanted that, you shouldn't have killed Master Yu.”

”Master Yu?” Meng Mingshi came to his senses. When he saw the corpse of Shangguan Yushi, his face changed. He clambered towards the body with an unexpected energy and lifted one of her hands, as if to ascertain if she was really dead.

”Let go of her!” Shangguan Ru was both astonished and angry at the same time.

Meng Mingshi turned his head. The grief on his face stunned Shangguan Ru.

”Don't you know already? It was not me that sent men to kill her. How could I have killed her? I love her, and she loves me. Tenth Young Master, we have both been in love for a very long time.”