On her way to the capital for her wedding, she was kidnapped by Ren Jiuxiao, who was known as the Sea Dragon King.
Ren Jiuxiao went further, giving the court seven days to consider his offer. If they released Ren Feng, he would return Ye Mingzhu intact. If not, he was simply looking for a wife to keep as a concubine.
Chapter Index 57 | 56 | 55.3
Chapter 57:
Ye Mingzhu's father, Ye Wei, the current Provincial Governor of Zhejiang, comes from a prominent family in Shanxi. [No pop-ups, I love this kind of website, definitely deserves a good review!] Her husband's family is the Duke of Cheng's Mansion in the capital.
What was originally a perfect match between equals has now been tragically thwarted. Ye Wei is determined to risk his future and his life to save his daughter.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Just as Chu Yao began to suspect that the murder at the Hangzhou Maritime Trade Office was related to Ren Feng, he petitioned Emperor Deqing to secretly escort Ren Feng to the capital. Ye Wei ultimately had no choice but to disguise himself as someone who resembled Ren Feng.
The transaction with Ren Jiuxiao went very smoothly without any obstacles, except... the Ren Feng they sent out was fake, and the "Ye Mingzhu" they received back was just a maid.
Since it concerned the reputation of a young woman about to be married, everything was done in complete secrecy, and outsiders had no way of knowing. Because of her young age, the adults always thought that Wushuang was too young to understand, and Junshu and his wife rarely avoided talking to her, so she had the opportunity to hear about what was going on while playing with her younger brother.
However, since she hadn't had a chance to see Chu Yao, Wu Shuang was completely unaware of his progress.
On the evening of the same day the fake Ye Mingzhu was exchanged, Chu Yao received a letter. The letter stated that he requested Ren Feng in exchange for the real culprit in the Maritime Trade Office case, to be exchanged in three days, with the location to be determined. The letter was signed with the flamboyant calligraphy of "Ren Jiuxiao".
Three days later, early in the morning, a boy of about seven or eight years old knocked on the back door and delivered a letter. The guards at the door, following Chu Yao's orders, immediately seized the boy for questioning. However, the boy knew nothing about the letter; he had only agreed to run the errand for the few taels of silver given to him by a stranger.
The letter specified that the transaction would take place on Mingxia Island.
Mingxia Island is located fifty miles northwest of Hangzhou, requiring a boat trip to the sea. This means the terrain is more advantageous to Ren Jiuxiao. If Chu Yao breaks his promise and leads the navy to capture Ren Jiuxiao, or if he again fails to deliver Ren Feng Zhenren, Ren Jiuxiao could easily deal with him.
Chu Yao could not possibly hand over Ren Feng, but he still went as agreed without hesitation.
The large ship sailed northwest until midday when it finally came into view of a lush, green island. The weather was fine, and the view was unobstructed. Standing on the bow deck, one could see with the naked eye the people standing guard in the watchtower on the shore.
Fortunately, Chu Yao did not intend to bring the navy to besiege Ren Jiuxiao. Otherwise, under such circumstances, there would have been no way to hide their tracks, and they would probably have started a war before even landing.
A small boat sailed out from the island and led the large ship carrying Chu Yao and the others to shore.
Waiting on the shore was a scholar-like figure who introduced himself as Yue, and said he was Ren Jiuxiao's advisor.
"Ninth Master has been waiting for a long time. Your Highness, this way please." Master Yue gestured to lead the way. Seeing that the other party was open and unguarded, Chu Yao only took Lu Peng with him, while the rest of the people stayed on the shore to wait.
Mingxia Island is covered with lush vegetation. They wandered along the narrow, tree-lined paths, and it took them about two cups of tea's time to finally see a house.
Master Yue stepped forward and pushed open the door, the angle just right for Chu Yao to see the scene inside—Ren Jiuxiao was sitting alone in the head chair, without any attendants beside him.
"Your Highness, please come in." Master Yue gestured for Chu Yao to enter, but he himself remained standing still. Chu Yao knew that Ren Jiuxiao wanted to speak with him alone, so he ordered Lu Peng to wait outside.
Ren Jiuxiao had dark skin, a tall and muscular build, and a lazy expression on his handsome face. When Chu Yao entered the room, he remained leaning back in his chair, clearly not taking his status as a prince seriously.
On someone else's turf, Chu Yao didn't bother to argue. He sat down in the chair on the left and spoke first: "Ninth Master, is this the real culprit you mentioned in your letter?"
After he entered the room, he saw a man huddled in the corner, bound hand and foot. His face was obscured by a burlap sack covering his head, and he could not recognize who he was.
Ren Jiuxiao said calmly, "That's right. I brought the real culprit of the murder case at the Hangzhou Maritime Trade Office as promised, but the Prince broke his promise and failed to release my godfather. Your government officials have never been trustworthy. It seems that this transaction will fail again." There was a hint of regret in his tone.
“Ninth Master, since you are so frank, I will be frank with you as well. Ren Feng has already been secretly escorted to the capital. Three days is not enough time for him to return to Hangzhou. I was unable to contact you before to inform you of this matter, so I have come here in person today, not for a transaction, but simply to tell you the truth,” Chu Yao explained calmly.
Ren Jiuxiao remained silent for a few breaths, seemingly weighing how much of Chu Yao's words were true and how much were false.
"If that's the case, then Your Highness, please go back. I have plenty of time and can wait as long as I can. Once Your Highness brings my godfather back to Hangzhou from the capital, we can arrange a time and place to meet again."
Since we've come all this way, how can we possibly leave empty-handed?
Chu Yao said, "What Ninth Master said makes sense, but how do I know that this person... is the real culprit in the murder case of the Maritime Trade Office? Ninth Master keeps accusing the court of being untrustworthy, but as far as I know, you are no less so in this regard. The one who used a maid to impersonate the Ye family's daughter was your doing."
"Is that so?" Ren Jiuxiao narrowed his eyes, concealing the glint in them, and feigned surprise. "Could that not be Miss Ye herself? I personally boarded the ship and brought her here. She was dressed in finery, and Madam Ye and the other women were wailing and crying." He laughed, "I had never seen Miss Ye before, so how would I know they had swapped her for a maid? I thought I had captured the real Miss Ye. As for the whereabouts of the real Miss Ye, you'll probably have to ask Madam Ye. Perhaps she couldn't bear to see her daughter marry so far away, and thus hid her away."
He spoke with absolute certainty, but unfortunately, Chu Yao didn't believe a word he said.
If Ren Jiuxiao were to become this muddle-headed, he probably wouldn't be able to hold onto the position of Sea Dragon King.
"Ninth Master is quite the joker," Chu Yao said. "Getting back to the point, please allow me to verify the identity of this suspect." Ye Mingzhu's whereabouts were none of his business. He was merely trying to provoke Ren Jiuxiao, and since Ren Jiuxiao didn't fall for it, he decided to let it go.
Ren Jiuxiao didn't waste any more words. He pulled and shook the rope he was holding, dragging the man closer. He reached out and removed the sack covering the man's head, revealing a weathered face.
Chu Yao had never met Lin Han, but he had met his twin brother Lin Song several times in his previous life. Although they were of different ages now, he could still recognize him at a glance.
His gaze fell on Lin Han's hands, and he saw that the knuckles of his fingers were thick, just as Wushuang had said that day, which confirmed it without a doubt.
Lin Han had a piece of sesame seed stuffed in his mouth, making muffled noises, but he couldn't make out anything clearly.
Seeing that Ren Jiuxiao remained seated, Chu Yao personally got up and stepped forward to remove the hemp peach. Lin Han then shouted, "I was only acting on Master Jiu's orders..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ren Jiuxiao kicked him in the lower back, sending him flying a long way.
"You're spouting complete nonsense!" Ren Jiuxiao rebuked. "You came to join me, but my brothers had already heard that you were wanted on the shore for murdering your own brother and treason. Either one of those crimes is the work of a despicable person, utterly contemptible. Although many of our members come from poor backgrounds, we value loyalty and righteousness, so of course we refused to take you in. You begged and pleaded, but when I wouldn't budge, you left on your own. Ten days later, you returned, claiming that we had done something great. After questioning you further, I learned that you had indiscriminately killed innocent people again, so I immediately had you bound. I neither explicitly nor implicitly instructed you, nor did I know anything about it beforehand. How did you come to claim that you were acting on my orders? A leopard can't change its spots; once you lie, you'll lie forever."
The last sentence clearly refers to Lin Han's cheating in the imperial examinations in his early years.
Chu Yao was secretly surprised. If he hadn't been investigating the Lin family case in Mo City, he wouldn't have known about Lin Han's early life. But Ren Jiuxiao knew so much about it, which showed that his information network was even better than that of the government. He was not to be underestimated.
"Your Highness, as far as I know, the Lingguang Guard was ordered to arrest the Lin family murderer. I suppose Your Highness also knows that Lin Song and Lin Han are twins who look very similar, so it shouldn't be difficult to identify them. Now that their identities have been verified, when can my godfather be brought here to exchange for the real culprit?" Ren Jiuxiao was a very decisive person. After scolding, he immediately changed the subject and asked.
Although things differed slightly from Chu Yao's predictions, they were largely the same.
As for whether Lin Han was acting under Ren Jiuxiao's orders or acting on his own initiative, Chu Yao leaned more towards the latter.
After all, Ren Jiuxiao dared to openly tell him one of their hiding places, clearly showing he wasn't afraid of the imperial court attacking them. In other words, he was confident that his gang's naval combat strength far surpassed that of the navy. In Zhejiang, the Governor-General's Office held the highest position of authority, under which were the Provincial Administration Commission, the Provincial Judicial Commission, and the Provincial Military Commission, responsible for civil affairs, criminal matters, and the military, respectively. The Maritime Trade Office was merely a small office under the Provincial Administration Commission. If Ren Jiuxiao dared to capture the Provincial Governor's daughter and wasn't afraid of the army, then he certainly wouldn't take the insignificant Maritime Trade Office seriously.
Furthermore, Ren Feng's maritime kingdom has a large number of followers and a wide reputation. If Ren Jiuxiao wanted to rescue Ren Feng by force, he could simply land and attack directly. There was no need for him to sneak around the Maritime Trade Office to kill Ren Feng and vent his anger.