YNRHPCYC Chapter 89

He Yuncheng looked at the Gecha Mansion with a cold expression and said in a cold voice, “The fire started from Zhong Wenting’s cell, and the surroundings were sprinkled with a petroleum and alcohol mixture. No matter how much water was poured, it was useless.”

Wen Chan mocked, “It seems that someone did it on purpose.”

He glanced at Wen Chan, suddenly set off, and walked slowly, “When the Zhong family was still there, they were powerful and made a lot of enemies. Now that they were in prison, someone would naturally take revenge.”

“The Zhong family had evilness in their hearts, and they ended up in this situation because of their own evilness.” Wen Chan said.

He Yuncheng raised the corners of his mouth slightly when he heard the words, and there was a little sarcasm in his smile, “There are no absolutely good people in the world, and there are no absolutely evil people.”

He felt that He Yuncheng was a little strange. Although his words did not have a clear target, they were slightly biased towards the Zhong family. Wen Chan felt that if they continued to talk, he would probably have a fight with him.

So he nodded slightly and turned to leave.

“Your Ninth Royal Highness.” He stopped Wen Chan from behind and said, “It’s better not to go.”

Wen Chan looked at him in confusion.

He continued, “The roof beams are still unstable after the fire, and it is somewhat dangerous.”

“Thank you for your reminder.” Wen Chan gave him a distant smile but did not listen to his advice and took Ah Fu into the Gecha Mansion.

After the interior of Gecha Mansion was devastated by the fire, it really became unsightly. The fire not only burnt Zhong Wenting but also burnt some of the vicious sinners in the past.

The surviving prisoners were all transferred to other places. Now there were only some guards and some garbage that had not been cleaned up due to not getting enough time in the Gecha Mansion.

Wen Chan glanced around the courtyard, glancing over the charred walls of the house, and casually called a guard, “You, come here.”

The guard saw that he was dressed in extraordinary clothes and thought he was a noble young master of some family. He hurriedly responded and ran over, “My lord, what do you want?”

“Cough!” Ah Fu coughed dryly behind him, “Our Ninth Royal Highness is concerned about yesterday’s fire. So he came to take a look.”

“Oh! It turned out to be His Ninth Royal Highness. This subordinate has bad eyes and didn’t recognise him!” The guard looked at Wen Chan in surprise and knelt on the ground to salute, “Greetings, Your Ninth Royal Highness!”

“Get up.” Wen Chan stood with his hands behind his back and said directly, “Take bengong to Zhong Guoyi’s cell.”

The guard responded, stood up from the ground, and led Wen Chan to the backyard. They followed a broad path, and soon the prison cells came into view. Each one is a standalone structure, specifically built to imprison high-ranking court officials guilty of serious crimes.

This was the most severely burnt area. One of the cells had become completely black, and you couldn’t see its original appearance at all. However, even with such a big fire, these cells were still strong and had not collapsed.

“These cells are different from those in the front yard. They are all built with special materials, and the exterior and inside are painted with fireproof coating to prevent fire. But who would have known that the fire yesterday would be so big that it would spread to the front yard. We only had time to put out the fire in the front yard. By the time we could enter the backyard, the fire had almost been extinguished by itself.” The guard said as he walked.

“How are the guards here distributed?” He asked.

“Each cell has four people guarding it, two in front of the door and two under the window. And they take turns day and night.” The guard replied.

Wen Chan sniffed carefully and felt that there was a faint smell of alcohol in the air around him, which was very faint. He suddenly remembered that he had also smelt the smell of alcohol when he met Liang Yanbei last night.

The fire was set by Liang Yanbei, and nine out of ten, the alcohol was also spilt by him. As long as he used his brain a little bit when doing bad things, God would be on his side.

What method did Liang Yanbei use to sprinkle a large amount of alcohol here when the guards were so strict? It was almost impossible to do.

Just thinking about it, the guard said to Wen Chan, “Your Ninth Royal Highness, please stand back. This door was deformed by the fire last night, and it is difficult to open it. This subordinate is afraid that some dust will splash on Your Highness later.”

Wen Chan took two steps back cooperatively and signalled the guards to take action with his eyes.

But the guard felt that he was still too close after retreating these two steps. So he bit the bullet and said, “It’s still too close. Why don’t you step back a little bit more?”

He moved his heels very cooperatively again. And he estimated visually and felt that he was far enough away, so he said, “It’s okay now.”

This was equivalent to not retreating in the eyes of the guard. He was weighing in his mind whether to remind His Ninth Royal Highness again at the risk of His Highness’s anger or to just open the door directly.

He thought about it again, and if something really hit His Highness, he didn’t know if he could save his life.

After a moment of thinking, the guard was about to speak again and remind him for the third time. But at this time, a strange sound came from the side.

The sound was like two blades hitting each other. The sound was very light, but because of the crispness, the sound cut clearly through the air.

The three of them looked over at the same time and saw a man in a black robe standing not far away. His head was covered by a large hood, his head was lowered, and he was holding a machete that was more than two palms long in his right hand, and his index finger was knocking on the surface of the knife.

The first thought that popped up in Wen Chan’s mind was: How long would it even take to make that sound just by using a fingernail?

However, this insignificant thought flashed by, and he frowned slightly, showing a vigilant look, “Who are you?”

A person dressed like this in broad daylight was obviously not an ordinary person. He was also holding a weapon in his hand, and his whole body was full of a strange aura.

The guard directly gave up on opening the door, took out a sabre from his waist, walked in front of Wen Chan a few steps, and shouted, “It’s forbidden to enter here. So leave quickly!”

When the visitor heard these words, he raised his head and faced Wen Chan.

Under the hood, there was a pure black mask covering the entire face, and only a pair of eyes was exposed, staring at him closely.

A familiar feeling came through the cold mask, and it flashed by. Wen Chan tried to look at those eyes, but he didn’t catch anything.

The man in the black robe didn’t say anything but turned the blade with his backhand, reflecting the cold light of the sunlight, and stabbed at the guard’s eyes first. Currently when the guard subconsciously closed his eyes, he rose a bit from the ground and rushed straight to attack Wen Chan.

The action was not fast. But Wen Chan just watched him attack and didn’t dodge. Instead, he reached out to grab the guard beside him and pulled him back.

The man in the black robe came in front of him quickly, holding the scimitar high, and slashed him from above. Just when the blade was about to fall on his shoulder, Wen Chan stepped back with extreme agility, and the sword rubbed against the fabric and slid past.

At the same time, a long sword flew from the side, aimed at the back of the black-robed man’s head, and came slashing quickly.

The black-robed man seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He dodged the attack by flipping to the side. The longsword missed and stabbed into the ground diagonally, buried halfway into the ground.

Immediately afterwards, two people flipped down from the wall. They were Qin Qi and Shu Hua, who had been guarding Wen Chan in the dark.

Qin Qi had a sword in his hand and rushed straight to the black-robed man to kill him, while Shu Hua landed beside Wen Chan and pulled out the sword stuck in the ground. He said to Wen Chan solemnly, “It is not advisable to stay here for long. Your Highness, please leave quickly!”

“Ah Fu, take Your Highness away!” He said out softly and then joined the battle with his sword in hand.

Wen Chan did not leave immediately, always feeling that something was wrong.

The guard beside him also urged anxiously, “Your Ninth Royal Highness! This subordinate will escort you away and then call the guards in the front yard to catch the assassin!”

He made a gesture, “Don’t talk yet.”

Wen Chan gave him the order to shut up, and the guard had to step aside, which happened to block what Ah Fu wanted to say. His anxious face turned to the colour of pig liver, but he was helpless.

He knew that although his master usually seemed to have a forgiving character, if it came to a serious time, he had to listen to the orders he gave.

Wen Chan’s eyes were still glued to the battle over there. He saw that the man in black robes was still not at a disadvantage when fighting one against two and even seemed to be at ease when swinging his sword. And the sword repeatedly brushed past the necks of the two people, Qin Qi and Shu Hua, but he didn’t move forward a step.

Wen Chan broke out in a cold sweat. He was very clear about the strength of his two guards. As the elite secret guards, carefully chosen through rigorous selection from within the palace, Qin Qi and Shu Hua could almost stand at the forefront of the entire Xi Liang. Therefore, Wen Chan did not panic when he went alone to Wu Yue Island.

But now, even with the two of them fighting side by side, they were clearly outmatched. Had the black-robed man intended to kill, their throats would’ve been slit with his very first strike.

After a few moves, the black-robed man put away the blade, chopped Shu Hua’s arm with his palm, and pushed him onto Qin Qi with a backhand. And Qin Qi gave up the attack to catch him.

The black-robed man also took this opportunity to jump to the roof and stood on the top of the roof, looking down at the few people.

The cell he stepped on was exactly the cell that Wen Chan wanted to enter, Zhong Guoyi’s cell.

Wen Chan seemed to understand the black-robed man’s intention in an instant.

He had no intention of killing anyone from the beginning; he was just warning and persuading them to retreat. So when the guard wanted to open the door, he tapped the blade with his nails to attract Wen Chan’s attention. The first cut he just made also showed obvious signs of him letting him go. If he really wanted to kill someone, he would have chopped him down directly, and Wen Chan would have had no chance to dodge.

He was protecting Zhong Guoyi’s cell; why?

People said that Zhong Guoyi disappeared out of thin air, so the severely burnt cell in front of him should be empty. So what was the purpose of this black-robed man doing this?

However, since the man was intent on stopping them from opening the cell door, insisting on it would almost certainly lead to another fight. It was just that it was unknown whether the black-robed man would show mercy the second time. Wen Chan felt that this risk was not worth taking.

If they wanted to go head-to-head, they would have to call Liang Yanbei over.

He raised his hand lightly, “Let’s withdraw first.”

When they heard him say to retreat, they all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Ah Fu went up and helped to support Shu Hua and waited for Wen Chan to leave first.

Before he left, he glanced at the black-robed man again.

The man’s eyes were extremely dark, without any emotion, and he looked straight at Wen Chan, which was a bit weird.

It was a pity that the mask covered his face; otherwise, at least he could have guessed the identity of this person. Wen Chan thought secretly.

He led his men out of the backyard, and the black-robed man really didn’t move again, watching them leave.

When he arrived in the front yard, the guard wanted to ask someone to catch the assassin in the backyard, but Wen Chan stopped him, “You are not his opponent, and you will be risking your life if you go. Leave it alone for now. Keep the front yard tightly shut and don’t let anyone in again. Bengong will come again.”

The guard was a little hesitant, but seeing Wen Chan’s firm eyes, serious tone, and orders, he had to agree.

After leaving the Gecha Mansion, Wen Chan recalled what had just happened, and a feeling of uneasiness quickly surged into his heart, getting stronger and stronger. He took a deep breath and said to Ah Fu, “Go to Liang Mansion.”

Translator’s corner

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