Chapter 458: Ox Cart Stealer
“Moo—”
The bright knife scared the ox pulling the cart so much that it almost ran. Thankfully, Lu Sheng stopped it.
The men in black made way for Lu Sheng to see a horse carriage parked in front.
At this moment, the curtain of the carriage was lifted and a familiar face appeared in front of Lu Sheng.
“Miss Lu, we meet again.”
Bing Ji got off the carriage with the help of a servant and smiled at Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. “Miss Bing Ji, long time no see.”
Bing Ji frowned imperceptibly. She did not expect Lu Sheng, a young lady, to remain so calm despite being surrounded by so many men in black.
“Miss Lu is indeed courageous. No wonder Lord Chu treats you differently.”
These words were definitely Bing Ji’s heartfelt words.
Lu Sheng smiled. “Miss Bing Ji, you’re too kind.”
She scanned the group of men in black and returned her gaze to Bing Ji. “I wonder why Miss Bing Ji has arranged such a big scene to welcome me?”
“Miss Lu, don’t worry. As long as you cooperate with Bing Ji obediently, Bing Ji will definitely not harm your life.”
The Crown Prince had once said that Lu Sheng held more weight in Chu Sihan’s heart than anyone in the Chu Mansion.
Now that the Crown Prince was trapped in the East Palace, she could only capture Lu Sheng, force Chu Sihan to beg the Prime Minister, then get the Prime Minister to plead for the Crown Prince with the Emperor.
Now that the Crown Prince was grounded, many of their plans could not be completed. They were very troubled.
“Oh?”
Lu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “What if I don’t cooperate?”
Bing Ji covered her mouth and giggled. “Then, Miss Lu, don’t blame me for being heartless.”
She looked at the men in black, twirled her hair, and said coquettishly, “Tie her up.”
Lu Sheng smiled evilly.
“If you want to capture me, we’ll have to see if you have the ability to do so.”
When the men in black heard that, they held their knives and surrounded her.
Lu Sheng smiled at them, but a few yellow talismans had appeared in her hands.
Afraid that the commotion here would attract others to watch, Lu Sheng threw a Boundary Talisman before throwing the Explosive Talisman.
With a bang, the men in black who swarmed over were sent flying. Miserable screams rang out.
Bing Ji only felt her ears ring and the world spun around her. When she regained her senses, the men in black she brought were dizzy and injured. In short, none of them were fine.
She looked at Lu Sheng in shock. However, she saw that Lu Sheng was still sitting on the carriage with a smile and looking at her with her eyebrows raised.
“You… you…”
She pointed at Lu Sheng and said ‘you’ for a long time, but could not say anything else.
Lu Sheng smiled faintly. “You want to capture me and threaten Chu Sihan to save the Crown Prince, right?”
She knew that Bing Ji was one of the Crown Prince’s men.
He thought that the Crown Prince’s henchmen would settle down after he was grounded. She did not expect them to not give up.
“How did you know?”
When Bing Ji finished speaking, she realized that she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly covered her mouth.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about. What saving the Crown Prince? How would I know the Crown Prince?”
“Miss Bing Ji is really good at twisting logic. You’ve clearly admitted it just now.”
Lu Sheng clicked her tongue and smiled. “The Crown Prince didn’t ask you to capture me, right?”
If that was the case, then the Crown Prince was hopelessly stupid.
“Of course not. I wanted to capture you myself.”
After Lu Sheng exposed her ident.i.ty, Bing Ji could not be bothered to conceal it.
The servants guarding Bing Ji had unsheathed their swords and s.h.i.+elded her behind them.
Lu Sheng smiled faintly. “I guess so.”
He had been the Crown Prince for so long, so he should not be so stupid.
If they had not met Chunyu Dong, the Crown Prince might have succeeded in usurping the throne.
“What do you mean?”
Bing Ji was a little afraid of Lu Sheng now.
Thinking about it, if a person did not have any capabilities, why would she remain calm when surrounded by swords?
She was too careless. Unfortunately, it was too late.
“As the Crown Prince’s spy, have you not heard of my deeds?”
When she was in the capital, even the officials knew about her exorcism with Chu Sihan, the State Minister, and Ye Luo, let alone the Crown Prince, who had seen her in person.
Bing Ji frowned. “What have you done in the capital?”
She remembered that the first time she met Lu Sheng was because a servant told her that Chu Sihan was having his meal in Peach Blossom Alley. That was why she met Lu Sheng and Chu Sihan on the way.
The reason why she noticed Lu Sheng was because a girl suddenly appeared beside Chu Sihan, who had never been close to women.
Other than that, she did not know anything about Lu Sheng.
This time, she thought she was smart and followed Lu Sheng here.
She initially thought that Lu Sheng was just a weak woman. Who knew that she actually had such a trick up her sleeve?
The sudden explosion had rendered her men useless before she could even understand what had happened.
“Miss Bing Ji, I have always been a kind person. I will spare you today. If this happens again, you will not be so lucky.”
Lu Sheng smiled and winked at her.
Bing Ji was speechless.
Lu Sheng was about to ride the ox cart away, but Bing Ji’s carriage was blocked in front and she could not get out.
“Miss Bing Ji, please move the carriage. You’re blocking my path.”
Bing Ji pursed her lips and glared at her angrily, but did not intend to move.
“If Miss Bing Ji wants to change a new carriage, I don’t mind blowing up this carriage for you.”
Thinking of the explosion just now, Bing Ji’s eyes widened.
Her carriage cost a few hundred taels. If Lu Sheng blew it up, her heart would ache.
“Bizhu, Biyu, let’s go!”
She glared at Lu Sheng, stomped her feet, and left in a huff.
Lu Sheng raised an eyebrow and scanned the group of people who were still moaning on the ground.
The Explosive Talisman earlier was actually a failed product. If she had taken out the real Explosive Talisman, these people would have long lost their arms and legs.
If not for the fact that she did not like such a b.l.o.o.d.y scene, these people would not have just been injured.
When the road ahead finally returned to normal, Lu Sheng left slowly on the ox cart.
Bing Ji was not a smart person. She thought that she could save the Crown Prince by capturing her.
Little did she know that if she was so easy to deal with, Bing Ji would not have had the chance to do anything.
Lu Sheng parked the ox cart beside the bustling city. She had just alighted from the ox cart and was about to go to the grocery store to buy some flour and rice.
Unexpectedly, just as she entered the shop, a sneaky person took her cart away.
“Miss, your cart!”
The boss of the grocery store standing at the door happened to see that scene and hurriedly reminded her.
Lu Sheng turned back and smiled faintly as she watched the ox cart disappear into the distance.
“It’s alright. He’ll send it back himself.”
When the boss heard that, he mistook the cart thief for Lu Sheng’s relative and did not speak further.
“What do you need?”
“Give me two bags of rice and a bag of flour.”
After everyone was treated to a meal previously, there was not much rice left at home.
—————
On the other hand, the cart thief was secretly happy that he had succeeded.
Unexpectedly, a chilly wind blew and everyone who was walking around disappeared. The bustling street became silent instantly.
“What… what happened?”
The cart thief rode the ox cart and became terrified.
Just now, there were still people walking around him. Why did they disappear in the blink of an eye?
“Hahaha—”
Strange laughter suddenly came from all directions.
“Who’s that?”
The cart thief looked around fearfully, but there was no one.
Suddenly, a few black figures appeared on the empty street.
Moreover, the black figures were floating.
When the cart thief saw this scene, he was so shocked that he forgot to scream. He just stared ahead with his mouth agape.
“Bring the ox cart back to its original place. Otherwise, I’ll send you to the Netherworld.”
Jia Zheng said with a strange smile.
“Ghost! Ghost!”
The cart thief jumped off the ox cart in a panic, wanting to escape.
However, whichever way he ran, he would encounter a wall. Almost all directions were covered by an invisible wall.
“Send the ox cart back to its original place!”
Jia Zheng warned coldly again.
“Send, I’ll send! Brother Ghost, you… you must not kill me!”
The cart thief knelt on the ground and bowed to Jia Zheng. He hurriedly climbed up and turned the ox cart around.
The moment he turned the cart around, the street returned to its previous bustling state and the people around him appeared again.
The thief’s hand trembled as he held the whip.
This was his first time stealing an ox cart. He did not expect to encounter a ghost right after he succeeded.
He did not know if this was considered lucky or unlucky.
Lu Sheng had long carried the items to the roadside to wait. From afar, she squinted her eyes and smiled when she saw the ox cart in the crowd.
When the cart thief saw her smile and thought of the ghost he encountered just now, he was so scared that he rolled off the ox cart.
Ignoring his bruised palm, he screamed and escaped.
Lu Sheng did not even look at the cart thief. She placed her items on the carriage and rode to the nearby village.
“What do you want to buy?”
Lu Sheng walked into a shop. An old lady was sitting inside.
Perhaps because she had been in this business for too long, but the granny seemed to resemble the standing paper figurines.
Last time at Lin Jiang Mansion, Lu Sheng had promised to buy gifts for everyone. However, she did not go after that.
After Jia Zheng performed meritorious service today, she finally remembered what she had promised them.
Lu Sheng asked for ten sets of paper clothes, five sets of green and five sets of red. When Jia Zheng and the rest, who followed her in, saw this scene, their eyes widened.
“Master, change ours into black!”
The red ones were definitely for Tan Jun and the rest. Then, the green ones were definitely for them.
They did not want to wear green!
Unexpectedly, Lu Sheng ignored them and casually took some items before letting the granny settle the bill.
The granny sized her up with a gloomy gaze before letting her pay the bill.
Now that Qing Ming was approaching, it was not surprising that someone bought these items.
The strange thing was that although this girl had a gloomy aura around her, she was not affected at all.
“A total of three hundred coins.”
Lu Sheng thought for a while and bought two more courtyards, some ingots, two red sedans, and eight paper figurines.
“Two courtyards cost sixty coins. Eight paper figurines cost a hundred and sixty coins. Two sedans cost thirty coins. Ingots cost ten coins. A total of two hundred and sixty coins. Adding the previous one hundred coins, it’s three hundred and sixty coins.”
The granny’s voice was very deep and she spoke very slowly. If she had heard it at night, Lu Sheng would have believed that she was a ghost.
After she paid, she asked the granny “Granny, is there a place to burn these things nearby?”
“Yes.”
After accepting the money, the granny looked at her and said, “Follow me.”
“Thank you!”
Lu Sheng carried some and followed the granny to the backyard. She realized that there was a big metal bucket there. Smoke was still coming out of it. Someone must have burned something just now.
“Burn it here. Before you burn it, shout the name of the person who will be receiving it so that it won’t be stolen.”
Before returning, the granny kindly reminded her.
Lu Sheng smiled and nodded. After placing the items down, she went back to move the remaining items over.
When she burned them, she did not mention their names.
That was because when she came over, the surrounding things had already escaped, leaving only Jia Zheng, Tan Jun, and the rest behind.
As Lu Sheng burned the things, she mumbled, “Jia Zheng, you guys will wear green clothes. Tan Jun and the rest will wear red. Five of you will share one courtyard, four paper figurines, and one sedan chair. Split the ingots among yourselves.”
Looking at the new clothes on them, Jia Zheng and the rest looked like they had nothing to live for.
“Don’t put on that expression. You’re ugly. Even if you wear red, you’ll still be ugly. Tan Jun and the rest are handsome and beautiful. They look good in green too.”
Jia Zheng and the other ghosts were speechless.
She was destroying their hearts.
On Tan Jun’s side, two ladies covered their mouths and giggled.
After the items were burnt, Lu Sheng clapped her hands and decided to leave.
“Can you see those things?”
She was about to walk out of the shop when the granny suddenly spoke.
Lu Sheng stopped in her tracks and turned to look at her. “Granny, do you need me to help with anything?”
That granny was just asking casually. She did not expect Lu Sheng to reply like that.
Her eyes lit up and she confirmed again. “So, you can really see those things?”
Lu Sheng nodded. “Yes.”
“That’s great!”
The old granny suddenly walked over agitatedly. She held her hand and said in a trembling voice, “I have a grandson who died from drowning when he was eight years old. Recently, I’ve been dreaming about him. Although he has grown taller, I can still recognize that it’s him.”
“I thought that he came to find me because he didn’t have money to spend, so I burned a lot of ingots for him. However, even so, I still dreamed of him. When I asked him, he didn’t answer my questions.”
“Since you can see those things, you can probably communicate with them. I want to ask you what he wants. Oh, right, his name is Sun Qi.”
The moment Lu Sheng lifted her head, she suddenly saw a youth standing behind the granny.
Seeing that he did not scare Lu Sheng, the youth frowned in frustration.
Seeing Lu Sheng staring at him back silently, the granny turned her head suspiciously.
Lu Sheng suddenly said, “You’re this granny’s grandson, Sun Qi?”
When the granny heard that, she turned her head agitatedly. However, she did not see anything other than the shop full of dead people’s items.