Chapter 2726: The Capital (Part 82)
Shortly after Liu Zhao departed, Zhou Lezhi began pacing circles in the courtyard—an old habit of his. Whenever anxiety gripped him, this rhythmic movement brought calm. His master had taught him the technique long ago.
His mood was deeply troubled. Kidnapping Leng Ningyun had been a gamble from the start. If the plan were exposed, the peace talks would not merely fail—the entire position he had painstakingly cultivated for Lord Wang over many years would collapse in an instant.
The Australians were cunning by nature, supremely skilled in schemes and espionage. They would exploit the slightest flaw. Could Liu Sha's sudden silence mean something had gone wrong?
A shudder ran through him at the thought. Liu Sha occupied a central position in this operation. If he was lost, the entire plan would unravel immediately. Worse still, it would put Zhou Lezhi himself in danger.
Of course, Liu Sha did not know his location, just as he did not know Liu Sha's whereabouts in Tongzhou. But once the enemy captured Liu Sha, he could hardly count on the man's loyalty. Following the vines, they would eventually find traces leading back to him.
With this realization, he could no longer remain calm. "Wang Zhi!" he called out immediately.
Wang Zhi had been busy in the gatehouse. Hearing the summons, he ran over at once. "Sir..."
"Pack up immediately. We're leaving this place."
Wang Zhi started in surprise. "Sir, our lease isn't up yet. If we leave now, what do we tell the monks? And you still have scheduled clinic appointments."
"Write a note and hang it on the door," Zhou Lezhi instructed. "Say we had urgent business and returned to our hometown for now, but will be back soon. Tell the monks to keep the house for us—rent is paid through the end of the year. Leave everything unnecessary where it is. Bring only the essentials."
"Yes!" Wang Zhi acknowledged, then asked, "Sir, where are we moving to?"
"The lodging in the western part of the city."
For safety, besides the old residence at Wanggong Factory in the southern city, Zhou Lezhi had secretly purchased a small courtyard in the western city as an emergency refuge.
Several people in Wang Yehao's group knew about the southern city residence. Before launching this operation, he had quietly moved his family from the Wanggong Factory house to that hidden location. He practiced medicine at Chongxiao Temple as a contact point.
Now that Liu Sha's whereabouts were unknown, if he had been captured, the southern city residence would certainly be raided—and this place would not be safe either.
"Leave someone at the temple to watch for anyone who comes asking questions," Zhou Lezhi added. "Also send someone to notify Wang Liang."
"Yes, sir."
"This is the Nanyuan Earth God Temple?" Li Rufeng asked in surprise.
"It is," Wu Cheng confirmed.
"Wasn't this temple imperially commissioned? How has it fallen into such disrepair?"
"The Emperor hasn't come here in over a hundred years. The Superintendent's Office itself is falling apart—who would care about an imperially commissioned earth god temple?" Wu Cheng said with feeling. "At least the buildings haven't collapsed."
Ningyou Temple was in terrible condition. Many years ago, when the Emperor still frequently drove to Nanyuan for horseback hunts, this temple had thrived with incense offerings. But for nearly a century now, no one had paid it any attention.
Though decrepit, the temple's scale remained impressive. Dozens of ancient scholar trees and willows grew bare around it, their branches swaying in the cold wind.
The terrain was not exactly treacherous, but the surroundings consisted entirely of empty wilderness and marshes. Anyone approaching would be noticed by those inside. So several li away, they halted their advance and chose a densely wooded area to conceal themselves, observing through binoculars.
The temple appeared surrounded by wild grassland, but a careful look revealed large stretches of marshes and waterways on the north and east sides, now frozen solid. Withered yellow reeds trembled in the cold wind. This place lay only about five li from the Eagle-Airing Platform—a water country within Nanyuan.
Li Rufeng felt a chill of alarm. If the kidnapping had occurred during the spring or summer floods, the villains would not have needed temples or buildings at all. A small boat hidden among these thousand mu of reed marshes would truly have been a needle in the ocean.
Now that the marshes and waterways had frozen over, while it made it easier for the villains to keep watch, it also left them nowhere to flee.
The temple halls had become dens for foxes and rats. Thorns choked the courtyard, and dust coated the pavilions. The roof gaped open to the sky, and crumbling walls had become doorways. Left unattended, the complex would eventually be swallowed by the encroaching wilderness. Yet like a centipede that keeps twitching after death, this ancient temple of over ten bays still offered shelter from wind and rain. The cleared vegetable garden, the roughly patched walls, and wisps of black smoke drifting into the sky made it clear that people still lived inside.
Deep winter had set in. No one stirred outside. From the smoking chimneys, Li Rufeng could tell at least three or four rooms were still occupied.
Suddenly, a horse whinnied from within the temple, followed by several answering calls. Li Rufeng started in surprise. There were horses inside?
Wu Cheng grew alert as well. Before Li Rufeng could speak, he muttered, "Hm? Why are there horses?"
"Old Wu, how many people live in this temple?"
"Just the abbot and his two disciples," Wu Cheng replied. "All former eunuchs. The abbot is very old; the disciples are both past fifty. They spent their whole lives muddling through in the palace. Now they stay here, collecting a little money and rice to scrape by..."
"Good!" Li Rufeng felt a spark of excitement. If there were only three people, there could not possibly be three or four heating stoves. Though firewood was not hard to find in Nanyuan, these men were all elderly, and gathering wood was no easy task. They could not afford to be so wasteful.
"Good my ass!" Wu Cheng wore only a ragged cotton jacket covered in patches. He had mustered the courage to venture into the wilderness in this season only because the escort bureau had given him an old sheepskin vest. But even that could not withstand the biting wind of the northern wilds. Shivering, he wiped his runny nose with his sleeve. "Are you done looking? If so, let's hurry to the next place."
"Don't rush." Li Rufeng chuckled. These Australian binoculars truly worked well—he could see clearly from several li away.
Perhaps because of the freezing cold, there were no signs of hidden sentries around the temple perimeter. But atop the dilapidated gate tower, he spotted a man in black crouching behind broken lattice panels. A small brazier sat before him; from time to time, he rubbed his hands and blew on them for warmth.
A ruined temple housing three impoverished eunuch-Daoists—obviously no one would hire someone specifically to keep watch. Who this person was needed no further explanation.
Li Rufeng immediately signaled his subordinates: "Approach from three sides for observation!"
Three escort masters slipped away at once. Seeing this, Wu Cheng grew alarmed and said in a low voice, "Chief Escort, are you going to..."
"Big things are happening!" Li Rufeng declared. "If we succeed, you'll have your share of the fortune!"
"This... this... this..." Wu Cheng began trembling involuntarily. "If there's going to be fighting, I'd rather not have my share..." He was about to say "leave," but seeing the killing intent already filling Li Rufeng's eyes, he swallowed his words.
"How many people can the temple house at most?" Li Rufeng asked sharply.
"About twenty..."
"Twenty-one or twenty-nine?!"
"In winter... at most... at most twenty," Wu Cheng stammered.
"Besides the main gate, where else can people enter and exit?"
Wu Cheng's expression turned pained. "There's a door in the back. After it collapsed, the abbot blocked it up. There are side gates on both the east and west sides, also locked every day."
"When was the last time you came here?"
"Not since winter set in. This place is remote, and... and..."
"And there's no profit to be had, right?"
"You understand, sir. I can't live without worldly sustenance."
Li Rufeng now felt certain that Leng Ningyun was hidden here. But he had brought only seven or eight escort masters to explore Nanyuan. If there were twenty people inside, he was not confident he could take the place in a single stroke. The people inside also had horses. If they put Senator Leng on horseback and rode away, his group could never catch up.
After about half an hour, the three escort masters sent to reconnoiter returned with their report. The north, west, and east sides showed nothing unusual. There were no hidden sentries outside the temple. All three doors were closed. At the dock behind, a boat sat frozen into the marsh.
Li Rufeng immediately left three people to monitor the site while he led the others by the shortest route out of Nanyuan. He needed to gather more men.
The temple was dilapidated with few buildings, but more than twenty people had gathered inside. Sneaking in quietly for a surprise attack was virtually impossible. The only option now was to mass superior forces and rush in all at once to protect Senator Leng's safety. Fortunately, the enemy considered Senator Leng precious cargo and would not easily kill him. As long as their side moved quickly enough, all would be well.
He immediately dispatched someone by fast horse to Haidian to notify Liao Sanniang, while also gathering more men. The purpose of notifying Liao Sanniang was not to summon her as reinforcement but to have her guard the silver carefully. According to intelligence from Min Zhanlian's squad, the enemy had their eye on the silver at the estate and planned to "take it by wit"—they had to be extra vigilant.
Heliansheng had over a hundred people in total, counting both escort masters and hired hands. About a third were stationed at the Haidian estate guarding the silver. Over ten more were at Delong Bank providing protection—though with Shuntian Prefecture's seals on the doors, no one would dare touch it, so few hands were needed. The remaining fifty-odd people took shifts roaming throughout the city, gathering leads.
Li Rufeng decided against recalling them immediately—it would be too conspicuous. Instead, he would wait until after the evening drum. The capital maintained its nightly curfew as usual, and the escort masters who had gone out would have to return to the bureau.
That evening, an escort master came to report: "The messenger escort and Little Bazi have returned!"
Li Rufeng was privately puzzled. If Liao Sanniang had a message, she could simply have the messenger escort bring it back. Why send this youth specifically?
"Chief Escort!" Little Bazi bowed deeply. "I bring a message from Lady Sanniang." He then recited the message word for word: Lady Sanniang now understood the situation and would guard carefully. She asked the Chief Escort to proceed boldly.
"Understood." Li Rufeng nodded. "Go rest."
"Lady Sanniang also said: please look after me, Chief Escort!" With that, he dropped to his knees.
Li Rufeng started in surprise, then immediately grasped Liao Sanniang's intent. He laughed and lightly kicked Little Bazi. "You little monkey! Gone just a few days and you've already grabbed onto Lady Sanniang's thick thigh!"
"Please grant it, Chief Escort!" Little Bazi said loudly.
"Fine!" Li Rufeng nodded. "I agree! Now go get some sleep!"
(End of Chapter)