Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 573 - 571

Chapter 573: 571

Xiao’er’s face changed, "Run!"

Shangguan Xuanyi and the white tiger seemed to have an understanding. He grabbed Xiao’er’s hand and the two quickly fled using Qinggong.

Shangguan Xuanyi felt Xiao’er’s speed was too slow, so he circled his arm around her waist, picked her up, and accelerated their departure.

Xiao’er: "When will I catch up with someone in terms of martial arts!"

Di Shaowei had just thought of sitting down to rest when the white tiger was already several meters away. Without a second thought, he leapt up to follow using Qinggong.

The others also hesitated for not a moment and quickly ran toward the direction of the ship.

Although they didn’t know why they were running, following the white tiger who seemed to be fleeing from a fierce flood beast wouldn’t be wrong.

Soon, large explosions echoed behind them, one after the other.

Everyone didn’t dare to look back, they just ran with all their might. Each time their feet hit the ground, they could clearly feel the earth beneath them tremble even more violently!

Then they wished they could grow another pair of wings to run even faster!

Xiao’er had the chance to look back since someone was carrying her. The fire soared halfway into the sky.

Exactly how much explosives did these men in black bury on this island? Were they planning to blow up the entire island?

Having barely reached the shore, the explosion’s proximity meant they didn’t even dare to board the ship. They directly jumped into the sea and quickly swam away.

"Brother Shangguan, I can swim on my own!" As soon as Xiao’er hit the water, she broke free from Shangguan Xuanyi’s hold and started swimming on her own.

Only after swimming a great distance did everyone dare to look back. Bat Island was blasted apart, water splashed and debris flew halfway up into the sky, then the whole island was inundated.

The sea slowly regained its calm. If one ignored the debris floating on the water, it was quite a picturesque sight.

Shangguan Xuanyi stared at the calm sea, his eyes dark and unreadable. According to information he received, the Li family’s secret weapons production was supposed to be hidden on this island.

"What now? Our ship has also been blown away." Di Shaowei wiped water off his face and asked.

"Swim to the nearest island." As soon as Shangguan Xuanyi finished speaking, he led Xiao’er and started swimming.

Xiao’er: "Brother Shangguan, should we race to see who can swim faster?"

"Sure." Shangguan Xuanyi would always agree to Xiao’er’s requests, as long as they wouldn’t endanger her mental and physical health.

Di Shaowei: "..." These two were really something. Even at a time like this, they were still racing!

Where did they find the leisure to do so? Were they taking advantage of the fact that his wife wasn’t around?

Once they returned to the Imperial City, he would definitely bring Jingya and their daughter and flaunt them in front of Shangguan Xuanyi.

Feng Qing thought this was a good idea. With a race as a cover, it made swimming less boring.

"Lads, let’s have a race too. Whoever loses treats everyone to a meal at the Four Seasons Restaurant."

Treat everyone to a meal? With so many of them, a meal would cost several hundred taels! He’d be using his entire dowry! That was unacceptable!

Upon hearing this, everyone started swimming harder than when they were fleeing for their lives.

Swimming from one island to another was akin to a marathon swimming competition.

While swimming, an exhausted Xiao’er thought: In the future, I should keep a boat in my spatial storage, just in case.

The world is really big, anything could happen. It’s always better to be prepared!

Luckily, a fishing boat passing nearby rescued them.

...

Around the same time, outside the Imperial City, at the mountain temple

Even before dawn, Shen Chengyao took 200,000 taels in silver banknotes and left the city, heading to the mountain temple. He looked around and, finding nobody around, placed the 200,000 taels worth of silver banknotes under the statue, and then left, looking back three times with every step.

Shen Chengyao didn’t go far; he found a place and hid himself.

From the moment Shen Chengyao left the city, someone had been secretly following him. He was relieved only when he found that there was indeed nobody following Shen Chengyao. Seeing Shen Chengyao placing the silver banknotes and then hiding, his heart became even more certain.

This was indeed what a normal father would do. If Shen Chengyao had just left after placing the silver banknotes, he would have had to suspect that the banknotes were fake or that it was a trap.

But even so, they were well prepared!

After the sun rose, a young boy ran into the mountain temple, picked up the bundle of silver banknotes, and then ran out.

Shen Chengyao was dumbfounded: a young boy? Those people were too cunning.

Shen hurried to follow the boy, to see who he would give the silver banknotes to.

The boy, clutching the huge sum of silver banknotes, ran to the edge of the Huai River, picked up a sheepskin water bag, stuffed the huge sum of silver banknotes into the bag, sealed the top, then threw it with all his might into the Huai River.

In the Huai River, the sheepskin water bag drifted downstream following the current.

Feng Yang watched the sheepskin water bag in the river and frowning, his gaze shifted to the distance and he quickly reacted.

Feng Yang signaled, via eye contact, to a peddler with a load on the road nearby. The peddler then began hawking goods along the riverside.

Shen Chengyao could no longer remain calm. He quickly ran out, grabbed the boy: "Who asked you to throw those silver banknotes into the river?"

When the boy saw that he was being grabbed, he was startled. After hearing Shen Chengyao’s words, he was on the verge of crying: were those silver banknotes? He was finished! The man wouldn’t ask him to compensate for the silver banknotes, would he?

His mother had always said that each silver banknote was equal to a lot of silver.

"Were those silver banknotes? I didn’t know they were silver banknotes! There was a bearded man who gave me money and asked me to pick up the stack of paper under the statue, put it into the sheepskin water bag, and throw it into the middle of the river." The boy looked downcast.

"Where is the bearded man?" Shen Chengyao asked, looking around.

The boy looked around and shook his head, "I don’t know, he disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chengyao frowned: was the boy telling the truth or lying?

Seeing that Shen Chengyao was still holding onto him, the boy worried that he would be asked to compensate for the silver banknotes. He handed the money to Shen Chengyao.

"Sir, here is the money. I really don’t know where the bearded man went! Please, let me go!" Please don’t make me compensate for the silver banknotes!

At this moment, a woman burst in: "Hey, what are you doing with my son!"

Shen Chengyao regained his senses and let go of the boy. "It’s nothing!"

Seeing that he was no longer grabbing him, the boy quickly took his mother and left.

"Mother, let’s go! I accidentally threw someone’s silver banknotes into the river!"

Silver banknotes? His family didn’t even have one tael of silver, let alone silver banknotes! The woman, upon hearing this, didn’t wait for the boy, she quickly grabbed her son and ran away at great speed.

Shen Chengyao didn’t have time to pay attention to the mother and son, he looked at the sheepskin water bag that was getting further and further away, quickly chasing after it.

The sheepskin water bag suddenly sank to the bottom of the river right before reaching an intersection with a tributary.