On Jiang Li"s side, a full-blown fight had taken place after Jiang Li mentioned a name that was actually a taboo in the household. Lady Yu. A sickly woman from the prominent scholarly Yu family. Before she fell for a boorish man who only how to brawl and ride horses, she was one of the most sought after ladies by countless aristocratic men, famous for being peerless in appearance and possessing a gentle water-like temperament. When her sedan was carried into the Grand Marshal"s household, there many many men who cried rivers of tears for her, lamenting why the heavens were so blind to wed her to that unworthy commoner-born man, Jiang Ke.
Perhaps, since the man she married knew he didn"t deserve her, he did everything to rise in ranks and give her the kind of life that she deserved. Unfortunately, the woman was truly sickly.
She had died at the prime of her life seven years ago, much to the lamentations of many people in the capital. Yet oddly, the husband who used to cherish her at the palm of his hand did not grieve much. In fact, even though her bones were yet to cool underground, the man she married already chose the current Second Madam to be his new princ.i.p.al wife. Several concubines also entered the household. Lady Yu had only been dead for three months then.
Now the heartless man who did that was suddenly being so antsy at the mention of that dead woman"s name. Why?
Jiang Li watched the guards Jiang Ke brought surround him from all sides. A moment later, he returned his eyes in front, to the bear-like middle-aged Marshal glaring daggers at him. One of his hands blocked the fist coming for his chest. When another soldier tried to hack him with his sword, he dodged to the side then grabbed that soldier"s face and smacked it on the ground.
"Your Excellency got angry because This Prince dragged Lady Yu"s name in my guess?" he asked with a mocking smile on, eyes pinned at the magnificent-looking sword the Marshal unsheathed. Weapons had been lunging at him since minutes ago, so he was not finding an additional one alarming. Somebody who already died had no fear of death.
With this as his reason, he courted more by remarking to the Marshal in an insulting manner. "For somebody who didn"t even honor his first wife"s death properly, or care for the daughter she left to you, your acting is not really that convincing, Grand Marshal Jiang Ke... No, who the heck are you actually?"
While Jiang Ke began to transform into a raging bear, there was no change in the faces of the guards. That detail caused something to dawn on Jiang Li"s mind.
"Even the guards know the one who"s been with them and commanding the estate for several years is no longer their real Marshal..." He frowned, not expecting this result and for his divide and conquer strategy to not have any effect. His mood plummeted down, resulting in him accidentally using a bit more strength when he kicked one of the attackers over the piles of rubbish.
To his left, the greatest enemy around flashed towards him, leaving a blur before his eyes. With the troublesome opponent making a move, Jiang Li had no choice but to turn serious.
Time quickly pa.s.sed. After ten or so minutes, Jiang Li became exhausted and annoyed. The guards were hard to kill because even though he was way above in martial prowess, the Marshal was too, add to this the fact that Jiang Ke was good at leading and fighting. Since Jiang Li couldn"t kill anybody there due to Jiang Ke, he resorted to fleeing. Anyway, his mission was already accomplished. The villainess only requested for him to stall the Marshall half of the time that he did.
...
"Search the premise! He must be still around!" angrily roared the Marshal to his people for the nth time.
"Master, I don"t think he"s still nearby. He fled to the northeast which is the nearest to the street."
Jiang Ke coldly looked at his subordinate that spoke. However, he did not berate him, but contemplated why that man would appear here. Almost a quarter of an hour already pa.s.sed since Chen w.a.n.g suddenly fled from the melee.
Chest still heaving, he swept his eyes around the place in hopes the intruder was only hiding somewhere. The first time he got here, the ruined house was all that he cared for, its unsightly state causing him to fly in rage. But, now that he thought about it, why was the house ruined again?
Chen w.a.n.g was known for being a tactical genius. What if that prince purposely did that to cloud his head in anger? For what reason? To divert his attention away? Then from what?
"Look around the place for any unusual traces." Jiang Ke then barked out, his own eyes wandering around for clues.
A minute later, when his men were still busy wrestling with the wreckages, the Marshal finally discovered something. He was suspecting the fight was also provoked intentionally because Chen w.a.n.g wanted to borrow their hands to destroy all the pieces of evidence ratting out that somebody else had come with him. With a grave look on, the owner of the residence mobilized his people to check anyone and everywhere in the estate for another person who could have trespa.s.sed alongside Chen w.a.n.g.
Unfortunately, they realized it too late. They did not manage to locate anybody.
All they discovered was that everybody in the Second Madam"s compound was found unconscious. And there was a woman dressed in an elegant dress found lying motionless in the main hall at the foot of the daybed.
One of the Marshal"s loyal guards tapped a maidservant"s face to inquire from her what happened, yet all they heard from her mouth was nonsensical stuff...
"The First Madam. The First Madam is back! and she knocked us all out through some unknown means! I-It"s absolutely terrifying! I, I"m saying the truth! S-she is back and is taking revenge against Lady w.a.n.g for maltreating and framing her daughter! AAAAAHHHHH!"
Jiang Ke got incensed by the maid"s shout so he ordered the guard to knock her out again. A second later though, another shout reverberated in the place, this time, while it was also full of fright, it came from a man. They checked the source of the shout and found a guard falling down and landing on his b.u.t.t, one finger frantically pointing at something. All eyes promptly followed that finger to the unconscious woman next to the daybed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
The sight gave everyone a fright. Considering how each and everyone was ex-soldiers or people trained to fight and kill, there should have been very few things in the world that could scare them. Yet one of those that could get into this list happened to be just right in front of them.
To what it was?
Oh. Just a b.l.o.o.d.y face... If it could even be called a face. An entire skin seemingly torn off from it. And countless small red fleas, insects, and other unrecognizable little creatures squirming, digging, and crawling onto the raw wounds and flesh...