Chapter 928 Came to Catch Adultery
Zhang Heng had been eagerly waiting for the reward. He didn’t expect to get a big slap instead of a reward.
He asked in confusion, “General, you said that Qin Haodong is still alive now? That’s impossible. I’ve already cut off his head.”
Jiang Bin kicked him to the ground and said angrily, “Bulls.h.i.+t. General Xiahou and I just met Qin Haodong. Let alone his head, he didn’t even lose a single hair.”
Zhang Heng said, “That’s impossible. I’ve already beheaded him.”
Xiahou Hongxiang said gloomily, “Where is the head?”
“I threw it on the roadside but I can get it back now.”
“Take us there,” Xiahou Hongxiang said.
Zhang Heng got up from the ground. Then, he led Xiahou Hongxiang and Jiang Bin towards the shrub he had pa.s.sed by last night.
When he arrived, the strong smell of blood was still there. He jumped into the shrub and picked up a head with dried blood.
“General, look! I did kill him…” Zhang Heng said as he raised the head in his hand.
When Jiang Bin saw the appearance of the head clearly, he was instantly unable to restrain his rage. He then sent Zhang Heng flying once more with a hard kick.
“Take a look! Who the h.e.l.l did you kill?”
Zhang Heng didn’t know why he was kicked. He looked down and found that he was holding Li Gao’s head in his hand.
Jiang Bin said angrily, “Zhang Heng, I asked you to kill Qin Haodong but you killed Li Gao. What do you mean by this?”
“I… General, the one I killed was Qin Haodong…”
Zhang Heng was completely dumbfounded. He had clearly seen Qin Haodong lying on the bed and then cut off Qin Haodong’s head. How did Haodong’s head become Li Gao’s?
Jiang Bin gave him a distasteful look. “You are such a waste. What’s the use of keeping your head!”
After that, he waved his hand behind him. Immediately, seven or eight guards rushed over, pressed Zhang Heng to the ground, and cut off his head.
Xiahou Hongxiang didn’t even spare Zhang Heng a glance. He furiously returned to his Lord Mansion. Jiang Bin followed closely behind him.
“Please forgive me, General,” Jiang Bin said.
“Forget it.” Xiahou Hongxiang said with a gloomy expression, “That Qin Haodong is incomparably cunning. It seems he has some hidden means that we are unaware of.”
Jiang Bin gritted his teeth and said, “General, Why don’t I just take our men to surround him tonight? Let’s see what he has?”
“You can leave now. I’ll think about it first.”
Xiahou Hongxiang waved his hand impatiently and asked Jiang Bin to leave.
He really wanted to kill Qin Haodong. However, he didn’t want to make too much trouble for himself and get into trouble with Princess Xingyue.
Just as he was thinking about how to kill Qin Haodong quietly, a black shadow suddenly appeared in his room.
This person wore a black robe and a ghost mask on his face. He exuded a ghostly aura from head to toe.
“The man is from Ghost King Sect.”
After realizing the ident.i.ty of the man, Xiahou Hongxiang immediately tensed up. His Genuine Qi surged wildly. He was ready to take action at any time.
However, the man on the opposite side said, “General Xiahou, don’t be nervous. I’m here to talk about cooperation with you.”
“Cooperation?” Xiahou Hongxiang said, “I can’t think of any reason to cooperate with anyone from Ghost King Sect.”
However, he did not dare to act rashly, because the man on the opposite side exuded a powerful momentum, whose cultivation was not lower than his. The man must be prominent in the Ghost King Sect.
The man in black said, “General Xiahou, just a few days ago, Qin Haodong killed the ghost slaves of our Ghost King Sect and Zhong Xiaodie, the Ghost Concubine of our Ghost Lord. Do you think it’s possible for us to cooperate?”
Xiahou Hongxiang’s expression changed. “Do you also want to kill Qin Haodong?”
The man in black said in a cold voice, “No one can get away scot-free after killing the people of our Ghost King Sect.”
Xiahou Hongxiang quickly calmed down. Although he really wanted to kill Qin Haodong, Ghost King Sect was the enemy of Tortoise Kingdom after all.
He said, “Your Ghost King Sect is now wanted by the entire Tortoise Kingdom. It’s good enough that I don’t kill you. It’s impossible for us to cooperate.”
The man in black was not afraid at all. He continued, “I know what you are worried about. Our Ghost King Sect will attack Qin Haodong tonight. As long as you watch at the sidelines and don’t send anyone to help him, it will be fine.”
Xiahou Hongxiang came up with an idea. As long as he was not involved with the people of the Ghost King Sect, he would not be caught red-handed by others. This cooperation was still feasible.
He said, “I can accept your suggestion but you must promise not to hurt Princess Xingyue and the others.”
The man in black said coldly, “The only person we want to kill is Qin Haodong.”
“Deal.” Xiahou Hongxiang said, “I’ll remove the city guards from the courtyard tonight, so it will be convenient for you to take action.”
“Sure!” the man in black said and then quickly disappeared from the room.
Xiahou Hongxiang walked around the room twice in deep thought and felt that there was no loophole in the matter. After calling Jiang Bin to his room, he told him what had happened just now.
“General, do you think the man of the Ghost King Sect is trustworthy?” Jiang Bin asked.
Xiahou Hongxiang said, “Although the people of the Ghost King Sect are cunning, I heard from Xiao Yulong that Qin Haodong did kill 12 ghost slaves of the Ghost King Sect and Zhong Xiaodie, the Ghost Concubine of Ghost Lord, in the Seven Storeys PaG.o.da.
“With their vengeful characters, Ghost King Sect won’t spare the boy. Besides, we don’t need to do anything. Thus, others won’t have any evidence against us.
“I feel like we can give it a try. You transfer the courtyard’s city guards tonight. Let’s have the Ghost King Sect kill Qin Haodong for us.
“If Qin Haodong dies in the hands of Ghost King Sect, Princess Xingyue will only vent her anger on Ghost King Sect. It has nothing to do with us.”
Jiang Bin gave him a thumbs-up and said, “Great plan, General. This is indeed a good way to get someone else to do the dirty work. I’ll arrange it now.”
Just when Xiahou Hongxiang and Jiang Bin had decided to let Ghost King Sect do their dirty work for them to kill Qin Haodong, in a room not far away, a middle-aged woman in her fifties glared angrily at a guard.
“Have you investigated clearly? The General did not come home directly when he returned to Golden Horse City yesterday. Where did he go? Also, he went out this morning after breakfast. Where did he go?”
This woman was Xiahou Hongxiang’s wife, Zhangsun Lan. She was the niece of Imperial Preceptor Zhangsun Chengdu. Xiahou Hongxiang had relied on his wife’s relations.h.i.+p and became Wu Yuenian’s man.
His abilities were ordinary and his cultivation was not too high. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to reach his current position.
However, there was always a price to pay. Xiahou Hongxiang’s wife was very fierce and cruel. She watched him closely and prevented him from contacting any woman.
Just yesterday, Zhangsun Lan found out that her man did not go home directly after returning to the city but went somewhere else. She immediately became suspicious.
Xiahou Hongxiang also had his own consideration. His brother and nephew had been killed by Qin Haodong. He could do nothing about it. Naturally, he did not want this shameful deed to be revealed.
Therefore, when he returned, he did not reveal Zhao Xingyue’s ident.i.ty, nor did he explain the situation to his wife.
The more he acted like this, the more suspicious Zhangsun Lan became. Therefore, she sent someone out to investigate the situation early on.
The guard was the chief guard of the Lord Mansion, Hu Zhiwen, who was also Zhangsun Lan’s henchman. He said, “Madam, I have already investigated it. General went directly to the courtyard after he came back yesterday. He also went to the courtyard this morning.”
“The courtyard?” Zhangsun Lan’s expression was vicious. “That courtyard is my summer resort. There’s basically no one there on a daily basis. What is he doing there?”
Hu Zhiwen said, “I don’t know the specific situation but there are people there now.”
Zhangsun Lan asked, “There are people? Who are they?”
Hu Zhiwen said, “I don’t know their specific ident.i.ties. I saw six very beautiful young women in the courtyard.”
He was Zhangsun Lan’s trusted subordinate from the Zhangsun family. Naturally, he would not hide anything for Xiahou Hongxiang.
Zhangsun Lan grasped the teacup in front of her tightly and flung it to the ground. She yelled angrily, “This old thing! How dare he hide mistresses behind my back?! Watch how I punish him!”
Then she walked out of the room angrily. Hu Zhiwen stopped her and said, “Madam, where are you going?”
“I’m certainly going to look for him and handle this matter. I’m not dead yet. He dares to keep women behind my back.”
Hu Zhiwen said, “Madam, we must take our time to think about it. We can’t rush it.
“If you go now and the General refuses to admit it and asks someone to send those women away, you will have no evidence at all.
“If the General is on the alert, it will be difficult for us to find those women in the future.”
“That’s right!” Zhangsun Lan calmed down a lot. Knowing that her chief guard was a wily fox, she asked, “Then what should I do?”
Hu Zhiwen said with a sinister smile, “Madam, don’t forget that as the saying goes, to catch a thief you must find the stolen goods. Of course, we have to go to the courtyard first to catch those women. At that time, the General can’t deny it even if he wants to.”
“You’re right. Let’s catch those vixens first. We’ll deal with that old thing later!” Zhangsun Lan cried out, “Hurry and summon all my trusted guards. We are going to the courtyard to catch those vixens.”
“Okay, Madam! I’ll do it right away!”
After Hu Zhiwen finished speaking, he immediately summoned 30 guards. All of them were the elites of the mansion. The weakest among them had a cultivation at the stage of the Apotheosis Realm. Seven or eight of them had reached the stage of the Voiding Realm.
Zhangsun Lan led these people to the courtyard in an aggressive manner.
Qin Haodong, Zhao Xingyue, and the others had just finished breakfast. They heard a loud bang outside. The gate had been kicked open.
Then, more than 30 people rushed in from outside. They were led by an old woman who looked ugly and ferocious.
The Little Witch asked, “Who are you? Who asked you to come?”
“This is my house. I can come and go as I please. Do I need to report to you?”
Zhangsun Lan sized up Zhao Xingyue, the Little Witch, Murong Jinghong, and all the other women. As for Qin Haodong, she automatically ignored him.
“That old thing actually hid so many vixens. It’s no wonder he didn’t return home directly after he came back from outside.”
Qin Haodong immediately understood that the woman was Xiahou Hongxiang’s wife and she was here to catch him in the act of adultery.
As the little Princess of the Tortoise Academy, the Little Witch had never suffered a loss before. Now that she was called a vixen, she immediately placed her hands on her hips and said with dissatisfaction, “Od lady, who are you calling vixens?”
“b.i.t.c.h, chutzpa! How dare you call me ‘old lady’!”
Zhangsun Lan had always been the boss in Lord Mansion. She was used to being rude and unreasonable. She had never been addressed as an old lady before.
Hu Zhiwen cried, “Little girl, do you know who you’re talking to?”
The Little Witch cried out, “I don’t care who she is. She’s just an ugly old lady!”
“You… You…”
Zhangsun Lan trembled all over and was about to go crazy.
Zhao Xingyue frowned. She was now the Princess, so her status was naturally different from before.
“Who are you? Who asked you to come here?”
Hu Zhiwen said, “Little girl, this is the wife of General Xiahou, Mrs. Zhangsun.
“Kneel down quickly and apologize. Madam may let you go. Otherwise, you’ll have to bear the consequence.”
Zhao Xingyue was immediately furious. “How dare you talk to me in that way? Where is Xiahou Hongxiang? Ask him to come and see me quickly!”