Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 574 - 572

Chapter 574: 572

Shen Chengyao paused, looking out at the twinkling river surface, no longer seeing the trace of the leather water bag. He didn’t know whether to continue the chase along the riverbank.

At a fork in the river, two more leather water bags appeared, drifting far with the flow of the two streams!

"Damn, whose idea was this trick? It’s too cunning!" Feng Yang, who was hidden in the shadows, couldn’t help but curse.

At that moment, the porter approached Shen Chengyao: "Sir, do you want to buy some of our big, sweet peaches?"

Shen Chengyao twisted to look at the peaches in his basket and shook his head.

"Sir, why don’t you go home? Leave the rest to us," the porter whispered, audible only to them, then raised his voice slightly, "Sir, these peaches are really sweet, buy a few for the children at home!"

Shen Chengyao waved his hand and left, occasionally looking back.

The man, who had been described by the boy as the bearded uncle, watched Shen Chengyao leave. He looked around, hid here and there, waited about 15 minutes, and after seeing nothing unusual, slowly tore off his fake beard. Acting as if nothing had happened, he walked towards the riverbank, descended the stone steps, picked up an inconspicuous leather water bag from the bushes by the water, hid it in his robe and left.

Feng Yang revealed a cold smirk, and followed him.

The man arrived at a courtyard with two entrances in the southern part of the Imperial City, opened the door and walked in.

Feng Yang lightly leaped onto the roof, quietly lifted an eave tile to peek, and his face changed slightly, about to escape.

From the streets outside came a loud shout: "The murderer is there, catch him!"

"Damn it! It’s a trap!" Feng Yang gazed at the soldiers surging from several streets, cursing.

Soldiers were coming from several streets, forcing Feng Yang to choose the rooftop as his escape route.

As Feng Yang moved, countless cold arrows shot at him. Forced into a corner, Feng Yang could only parry the oncoming arrows with his sword as he jumped down.

The officer of the Five Battalions, Yang, appeared at this moment.

Feng Yang raised an eyebrow: "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Yang?"

"General Feng, someone reported that you killed Deputy General Li Mingfang, please surrender."

"You believe whoever makes the accusation? I could accuse you of killing Li Mingfang!" Feng Yang scoffed.

"General Feng, stop your excuses. I saw you trying to escape from this courtyard! Please come with us. Arrest him!"

"Wait a moment, I’m on a mission from the Sixth Prince. The real killer of Li Mingfang is someone else. If you arrest me and delay the Prince’s business, can you bear the consequences?"

"So it’s the Sixth Prince who ordered you to kill Li Mingfang. I will report this to the Emperor. General Feng, if you continue to resist, I won’t hold back."

On hearing this, Feng Yang was so angry he almost spat out blood. He suddenly understood, it was a trap the Third Prince had set for his master!

How bloody ruthless! He killed his own fiancée to frame his master!

The audacity of it!

"There’s no need, I will go by myself."

...

After Xiao’er and his group boarded the ship, Di Shaowei, in gratitude for their help, generously gave the boat owner ten taels of gold, and asked him to prepare a meal for them.

On seeing the gold, the boat owner’s eyes flickered.

He enthusiastically invited them to come and sit in the cabin while he went to catch some fish for their meal.

In the cabin, Shangguan Xuanyi helped Xiao’er dry her clothes with his inner strength.

The others let their clothes remain wet.

Xiao’er was puzzled: "Why don’t you dry your own clothes?"

Di Shaowei glanced at the fishing boat, looked at the fishermen busying themselves with the fish on the deck, and murmured in response, "For unexpected needs."

Xiao’er only then looked at the fishermen on the deck, their net-casting movements seemed strangely awkward!

Have they just escaped the inferno only to jump onto a pirate ship?

She was so engrossed in feeling Guan Xuanyi’s potent inner strength earlier that she completely forgot about this.

Spent inner strength needs time to recover. Activities as draining as those needed for drying clothes would, understandably, not be done in front of strangers.

Only Shangguan Xuanyi, worried about Xiao’er feeling uncomfortable in her wet clothes, would do such a thing.

But his inner strength did seem to be much more formidable than anyone else’s.

The fishermen fumbled about for a while before they finally caught an unimpressive netful of fish. Seeing the lone fish struggling in the net, Xiao’er couldn’t help but laugh.

The fishermen looked at their catch, bewildered. They sheepishly glanced towards the cabin.

The boat captain, with an awkward smile, said: "The fish today must have been scared off by the loud noise, they’ve swum farther away. Usually, we catch a lot of fish with just one throw of the net."

Having heard this, Di Shaowei nodded and responded with a simple, "I see."

"Brother Shangguan, I want to try fishing!" Xiao’er said to Shangguan Xuanyi, who was sitting beside her.

Shangguan Xuanyi gave a nod of approval.

The two of them stood up and stepped onto the deck. "Uncle, if you don’t mind, I’ll cast the net!"

"Not at all, not at all!" The boat owner quickly made room for her.

Xiao’er directed the boat to a certain area of the sea, then she skillfully cast out an entire fishing net, dropping it in the water.

The people on the boat applauded her commendable efforts.

"Honestly, this is our first time fishing at sea, so we’re not well versed. We heard that there’s more money to be made fishing at sea, so we pooled our resources to buy a boat and go out." Seeing that Xiao’er’s actions were much more proficient than his own crew’s, the boat owner explained.

Xiao’er simply nodded in response, thinking to herself, ’Does fishing at sea bring in more money than robbery?’

These people probably used to dabble in petty theft and are now trying to turn over a new leaf, as inferred by their actions.

However, when Di Shaowei flaunted the gold bar earlier, they might have been tempted by the allure of wealth again.

She needed to dazzle them with a display of her abilities to deter them from resuming their criminal ways and continue on the path of reform. If not, their fate would be to feed the fishes in the sea.

Once the net was cast, the boat continued to sail for a while. When Xiao’er felt the net in her hands getting significantly heavier, she said, "Brother Shangguan, help me pull this up!"

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Xuanyi took the net from her and easily pulled the full net onto the boat.

The fishermen on deck were dumbfounded - she managed to haul up a substantial number of fish with just one cast, while they had only managed one. The contrast was devastatingly stark.

The boat captain, watching Shangguan Xuanyi, had a glint in his eyes: this man was incredibly strong!

Xiao’er selected a few large fish and some squid to clean. She then asked the boat owner, "Do you have a stove? I would like to make some grilled fish."

"Yes, we do!" The boat owner quickly had someone bring out a stove and some charcoal.

"Hurry up and help the young lady light the fire!" he barked at the person carrying the stove with disdain.

"That’s not necessary, we can do it ourselves." Xiao’er took the stove and sprinkled some powder at the bottom, placing charcoal on top of it.

"Brother Shangguan, you light the fire with your inner power!"

Upon hearing this, the boat owner was shocked, almost bursting into laughter.

’Fire made with inner power!’ Was this a joke?! If anyone had such potent inner strength, wouldn’t they be invincible?!