Yang Guo said he was looking for Aniu.
Cheng Ying supported Lu Wushuang and led him toward the front courtyard.
Lu Wushuang didn't dare put weight on one of her legs.
She paused after every couple of steps.
Her forehead was beaded with fine sweat from the pain, yet her mouth remained stubborn:
"Why did you tie it so tight just now?"
Yang Guo followed behind.
"Too tight?"
"Then I'll just untie it for you."
Lu Wushuang shut her mouth immediately.
Cheng Ying lowered her head and pressed her lips together.
Lu Wushuang caught it instantly.
"Cousin, you're making fun of me again."
"I'm not."
"The corners of your mouth are curling up."
Cheng Ying said in all seriousness,
"It's just exhausting supporting you."
"My face twitched."
...
In the front courtyard.
Lu Liding held a saber in hand, shouting at the top of his lungs to arrange defensive positions for the guards.
Lifting his gaze, he saw several tree branches bound firmly around his daughter's leg.
Lu Liding's eyes shot red, and he strode forward in two long steps, saber in hand.
"Shuang'er, what happened?!"
Before his words fully landed,
Lu Liding had already spotted Yang Guo following behind.
Yang Guo instinctively shifted half a step to the side.
Lu Wushuang quickly said,
"Father."
"I accidentally fell out of a tree myself."
Lu Liding froze for a moment.
"You climbed a tree again?"
Lu Wushuang shrank her neck back slightly.
"I..."
"I saw that you were in a bad mood today,"
"so I wanted to pick some flowers for you."
The scolding right on the tip of Lu Liding's tongue vanished instantly.
He looked at the few withered flowers in Lu Wushuang's hand:
"Don't climb so high in the future."
Lu Wushuang immediately nodded.
"Got it."
Hearing the noise, Lu Erniang hurried out from inside the house.
Seeing her daughter injured like this, her face turned pale:
"Shuang'er, does it hurt?"
"It hurt earlier." Lu Wushuang pointed at Yang Guo.
"It feels much better after he bound it up for me."
Only then did Lu Liding look back at Yang Guo:
"Little brother, who are you?"
"How did you end up in my manor?"
Cheng Ying explained from the side:
"Uncle,"
"this young brother is here to find his friend."
Lu Liding looked down, glancing once more at the wooden sticks securing his daughter's leg.
"Did you tie this?"
Yang Guo nodded and said,
"An emergency fix in the jianghu, my skills are mediocre."
"Manor Master Lu doesn't need to pay me."
Lu Wushuang immediately undercut him:
"Mediocre indeed."
"And really ugly."
Yang Guo gave her a sideways glance:
"Be glad it saved your leg."
"If you want it to look nicer,"
"that costs extra labor fees."
Lu Wushuang gritted her teeth in annoyance.
"Little money-grubber!"
Seeing that his daughter still had the spirit to bicker, the tension in Lu Liding's mind relaxed slightly:
"Thank you, little brother."
Yang Guo waved his hand:
"Just a casual favor."
"However, Manor Master Lu, I didn't come here for this."
"I have a brother named Aniu."
"He came to your manor this morning as a short-term laborer."
"Your Lu family provoked a formidable enemy, and it's fine for your own people to stand together through life and death."
"But keeping a group of handyman servants locked inside the manor—that isn't quite right, is it?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Wushuang's eyebrows shot up:
"Hey, brat!"
"How dare you speak to my father like that?"
Yang Guo looked over:
"Was I wrong?"
Lu Wushuang said indignantly, "Of course you're wrong!"
Lu Liding immediately interrupted her:
"Shuang'er, do not be impolite."
He did not put on the airs of a manor master, merely asking:
"Little brother, when you came,"
"did you see the bloody handprints outside the manor?"
Yang Guo answered very straightforwardly:
"I saw them, and I've heard about it."
"You provoked the Scarlet Maiden, Li Mochou, right?"
Lu Liding gave a tragic nod:
"Since you know, little brother, I won't hide it from you either."
"This afternoon, a servant in the manor got scared"
"and slipped out through the side gate."
"Half an hour later, his corpse was thrown back to the front entrance."
Cheng Ying's face turned slightly pale.
Lu Wushuang didn't cut in again either.
Lu Liding continued:
"I sent two guards out together"
"to ask several jianghu friends nearby for help."
"They hadn't been gone long before they were murdered as well,"
"and their corpses were thrown back here too."
At this point, the casual demeanor on Yang Guo's face vanished.
This situation was even more ruthless than he had anticipated.
Lu Liding looked toward the courtyard gate.
"Therefore, only then did I order the manor locked down,"
"keeping the servants as well as the short-term laborers who came today inside."
"It isn't that I refuse to let them leave,"
"but that I fear if they go out alone, they will fall victim to her brutal hands."
He pointed to the surrounding guards:
"My wife and I know some martial arts, and with these guards,"
"if push comes to shove, we can still fight with all our strength to hold her off for a moment."
"When things turn chaotic, they can take the opportunity to flee."
Yang Guo didn't speak; he just felt those words sounded a bit naive.
He had originally thought this manor master was using the servants as cannon fodder and meat shields, but he hadn't expected him to be taking the brunt of it to protect them.
He was indeed an honest, generous person.
Unfortunately, the jianghu was not a place where talking about righteousness alone could keep one alive.
A person like Lu Liding was no match for old jianghu veterans.
Most of his martial arts were taught by his elder brother, Lu Zhanyuan.
Coming from a wealthy family background, he rarely traveled the jianghu in practice.
To put it bluntly, he knew a bit of martial arts, but didn't really understand the jianghu.
A dozen or so guards trying to block Li Mochou?
To put it bluntly, having more people would merely force her to take a few extra steps.
Yet at least Lu Liding hadn't thought about using servants as meat shields.
He genuinely believed that with more people holding out together, the odds of survival would be slightly higher.
Lu Liding added:
"Please rest assured, little brother."
"No one has made things hard for your friend."
"I will have someone bring him here right away."
With that, he waved his hand.
"Uncle Fu,"
"go bring over the short-term laborers who came today."
"Yes." The old housekeeper left quickly.
Before long, footsteps sounded from afar.
Aniu arrived, and upon seeing Yang Guo, his eyes lit up on the spot.
"Yang Guo!"
Yang Guo saw him too, ran over, and raised a hand.
Smack!
Flicked him right on the forehead.
"Ouch!" Aniu clutched his head.
"What did you hit me for?"
Yang Guo pointed at his nose.
"A job paying fifteen wen a day,"
"and you actually dared to take it?"
"Don't you want your life anymore?"
Aniu was older than Yang Guo and somewhat taller as well.
However, he usually listened to Yang Guo, because among the three of them, Yang Guo always had the most ideas.
Aniu looked aggrieved:
"When I came, nobody knew"
"it would require risking my life."
He quickly added:
"Manor Master Lu really didn't detain us."
"It was after we knew people were dying outside that we didn't dare leave on our own."
"Manor Master Lu even had the kitchen make us good food,"
"telling us to eat more so that if a fight really broke out,"
"we would have the strength to run once full."
After a moment of silence, Yang Guo very decisively cupped his fists toward Lu Liding:
"Manor Master Lu."
"Just now I misjudged things."
"My words were rather harsh, so I apologize to you."
Lu Liding was taken aback, then waved his hand:
"The little brother was merely worried about his friend."
"What fault is there in that?"
Aniu widened his eyes from the side:
"Yang Guo,"
"you actually admit when you're wrong?"
Yang Guo slowly turned his head:
"My name is Yang Guo, courtesy name Gaizhi—correcting mistakes when I make them. Is that so strange?"
"I also beat people up."
"Do you want to experience that while you're at it?"
Aniu shut his mouth instantly.
Lu Wushuang couldn't help bursting out in laughter with a pfft.
Yang Guo glanced at her sideways.
"Does Miss Lu's leg no longer hurt?"
Lu Wushuang immediately pulled a strict face.
"It hurts."
"If it hurts, why are you still laughing?"
"Mind your own business."
...
Lu Liding then had the housekeeper settle all of today's wages.
Fifteen wen a day.
Additionally, he gave everyone ten extra wen to soothe their nerves.
Aniu held the twenty-five copper coins,
counting them back and forth three times, his eyes practically dropping into the pile of coins.
Yang Guo remarked from the side, "You sure look happy?"
Aniu grinned widely:
"It's twenty-five wen!"
"Usually it takes several days of hard work for that."
Yang Guo glared at him:
"Your life is worth twenty-five wen,"
"and you're actually quite satisfied."
Aniu hurriedly stuffed the coins into his robes.
"My life is worth more than that, of course,"
"but I can't just leave the money behind either."
Yang Guo froze for a second, then raised his hand to pat his shoulder.
"Not bad."
"After hanging around me for so long,"
"you've finally learned a bit of the essence."
Once the wages were settled,
Yang Guo glanced at the people in the courtyard, then looked toward Lu Liding:
"Manor Master Lu,"
"I have a piece of advice that you might not like to hear."
Lu Liding smiled as he looked at Yang Guo, thinking that although the young boy was small, he spoke with a sense of mature experience:
"Little brother, feel free to speak your mind."
Yang Guo said softly, "It's better to dismiss everyone."
Lu Liding was startled: "What?"
Yang Guo pointed at the surrounding guards:
"Have the people of your household disperse if they can."
"Don't bunch up here."
"You think there is safety in numbers,"
"but that depends on who your opponent is."
"If it were ordinary enemies coming,"
"a dozen or twenty guards would indeed be useful."
"But Li Mochou..."
Yang Guo shook his head:
"The more people there are,"
"the easier it is for her to finish off everyone at once."
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