“Useless!”
“How did you handle things? You actually let them get away?”
Liang Mingcheng spoke to him like a master scolding a servant.
This immediately made Xiong San lose his temper. “Who do you think you are? How dare you question me?”
His words turned Liang Mingcheng’s face a deep shade of purple. After taking a couple of deep breaths, Liang Mingcheng threatened him again.
“Don’t forget, if you mess up today’s business, you’ll be in serious trouble—”
“I don’t need you to teach me how to do my job!”
Xiong San led out one of the chestnut horses, opened the bag on its back, and changed his clothes. Once he was ready, he mounted the horse and took the mountain path to chase after the carriage ahead.
He rode along the high mountain trails, keeping his eyes fixed on the group of people down on the official road.
Xiong San had scouted this route before; there were no cliffs ahead, so even if the Seventh Miss’s horse went wild, it wouldn’t lead to any fatal danger.
Spotting his chance, Xiong San drew his bow and released an arrow.
With a “swish,” the arrow struck the rear end of the horse pulling the carriage below.
The horse screamed in pain and bolted forward like mad. The coachman was caught off guard and thrown off instantly…
Everything happened so fast that the servants of the Sheng family didn’t have time to react.
By the time they realized what was happening, the carriage had already sped quite a distance away.
They chased after it, but two legs couldn’t outrun four…
Soon, they lost sight of the Seventh Miss.
“I’ll go alone this time. You can go back and report the good news to your master.”
A wild, gleeful look on his face, Liang Mingcheng set off after the carriage.
Xiong San, of course, didn’t leave. But he couldn’t get too close, either, so he kept a distance behind Liang Mingcheng.
After the Seventh Miss’s carriage had run for a while, by the time Xiong San caught up, he saw that the carriage had been shattered into pieces.
The Seventh Miss and her maid lay on the ground, unconscious.
Liang Mingcheng took out the hemp rope he had prepared, bound the Seventh Miss’s hands, and dragged her unconscious body toward a thick patch of grass.
Xiong San was both shocked and furious, his anxiety skyrocketing.
The Madam had said the Seventh Miss wasn’t someone easy to bully and that she would probably be able to handle Liang Mingcheng herself, likely without needing his help. Only if she couldn’t handle him at the very end was he supposed to step in.
Xiong San had always trusted the Madam’s judgment, but this time, he felt she had overestimated the Seventh Miss.
After all, the Seventh Miss was just a young lady from a noble household, still quite young. How could she possibly get out of a situation like this on her own?
Xiong San hid in the shadows, drew his bow fully, and aimed the arrow at Liang Mingcheng.
At that moment, Liang Mingcheng was feeling incredibly smug. He dragged the girl into a shrubbery, and after checking that the area was relatively hidden, he finally stopped.
He looked down at the young girl on the ground.
Her skin was delicate, her features bright and elegant. Apart from being a bit young, she was practically flawless.
Liang Mingcheng had always thought highly of himself, believing he had good looks and scholarly talent.
His only shortcoming was his family background. That was why he schemed so relentlessly, hoping to marry into a wealthy and influential official’s family. With the support of his future in-laws, he was sure he could rise meteorically.
Earlier, Liang Mingcheng had gone to great lengths and managed to fool the daughter of the Mu family. The Mu family was a humble seventh-rank official household. But soon after, the eldest young master of the Sheng family approached him, offering him the chance to become the Sheng family’s son-in-law and even got him an invitation to the Third Princess’s birthday banquet.
Liang Mingcheng then kept the Mu family girl hanging, and at that birthday banquet, he tried every possible way to “seduce” the Sheng family’s Seventh Miss.
But he hadn’t expected so many things to go wrong that day, hindering his plans.
A few days after the banquet, he was ambushed and beaten up while out.
It seemed like the thugs wanted to cripple him, even kill him!
Luckily for him, someone entered the alley, saw them, and screamed in terror, which made the group run off.
As if that wasn’t enough misfortune, his house caught fire that very night.
No one died, but the damage was severe. His study was burned down, along with all the letters the Mu family’s young lady had written to him…
Now, the Liang family was just a hollow shell.
Their days were miserable. Liang Mingcheng suspected someone was out to ruin him.
He deliberately waited at the Mu family’s gate, and after a long time, he finally caught sight of Miss Mu’s personal maid.
But when the maid saw him, her expression instantly turned fierce, as if she wanted to bite him to death.
What else did Liang Mingcheng need to understand?
He hadn’t managed to hook the Sheng family’s Seventh Miss, and instead, he had offended the Mu family.
The recent events were most likely the Mu family’s revenge…
Liang Mingcheng was so furious he felt like he was about to cough up blood.
After suffering such a great loss, Liang Mingcheng started clinging to Sheng Mingjian day after day.
He was even prepared to go down with the ship if necessary.
To his surprise, Sheng Mingjian turned out to be even colder and more ruthless than he was. He had concocted this scheme to “sell” his own sister to him.
He’d heard that the Sheng family’s Seventh Miss had a very generous dowry. If he could marry her, it would be a shortcut to an easier life.
Today, he was going to claim this “swan” of the Sheng family for himself!
He was confident—with his good looks and the fact he’d taken advantage of her, who else could she possibly marry but him?
Liang Mingcheng was just about to undo the young girl’s belt when he saw her eyelids flutter, and then she slowly opened her eyes.
“You… who are you…”
“Where is this?”
“Where am I?”
Huang Yaning had “just woken up.”
In truth, she had already regained consciousness while Liang Mingcheng was dragging her.
After the horse had bolted, she had guessed that the person at the tea stall ahead was after her.
In that instant, faces flashed through Huang Yaning’s mind—Sheng Mingzhu, Lin Zhijing, Murong Yan, and Sheng Mingjian.
But she had no time to dwell on it. She was just about to jump out of the carriage with Qingtian when, before she could, the carriage was smashed apart. Her head slammed hard against the wooden frame, and she blacked out.
When she woke up, it was too late—her hands were already tied by Liang Mingcheng.
Knowing the kind of man Liang Mingcheng was in both her past and present lives, and seeing that her hands were bound, Huang Yaning guessed what he intended to do to her.
It felt as though her body had already plunged into hell, trembling uncontrollably.
She fought with all her might to suppress the reaction, not letting her fear show, her mind racing for a way out.
Just as Liang Mingcheng was about to lay his hands on her, she opened her eyes.
“I remember now—I know who you are…”
“You’re the gentleman at the Third Princess’s birthday banquet who complimented my calligraphy.”
“Sir, was it you who saved me?”
“If you are my savior, the Sheng family will surely repay you!”
Huang Yaning tried her best to appear innocent, harmless, and utterly sincere, but her heart was pounding wildly, her nerves stretched to the breaking point.
When she saw Liang Mingcheng’s gaze flicker and he finally pulled his hand back, a glimmer of hope rose within her.
“Seventh Miss Sheng, just now I saw a man in black who seemed about to harm you, so I found a way to lure him away and save you…”
Huang Yaning put on an expression of immense gratitude.
“I see… Thank you so much for saving my life, sir… Could you please untie these ropes for me and escort me home…”
“As long as I get home safely, whether it’s ten thousand taels of gold or anything else—if my parents can afford it, they’ll be willing to pay it…”
As she spoke, Huang Yaning saw a flicker of hesitation on Liang Mingcheng’s face.
He seemed to be considering whether getting ten thousand taels of gold or a massive favor without committing a crime might actually be an excellent choice.
Huang Yaning felt a surge of joy and quickly added,
“Oh, right! There’s a noble lady’s manor nearby. My servants must have gone to find her.”
“She’s my closest friend. When she gets here, she’ll thank you too—”
At the mention of the noble lady, Liang Mingcheng’s breathing seemed to quicken, a fire igniting in his eyes, burning with desire and ambition.
Then, Huang Yaning saw him reach out toward her.
In that moment, she felt as if every hair on her body stood on end.
Time seemed to slow down, stretching her agony.
Fortunately, Liang Mingcheng’s hand reached for the hemp rope around her wrists.
A wave of relief washed over Huang Yaning, like she had narrowly escaped death.
But then, the next second, she heard his sinister laugh.
“Seventh Miss Sheng, you didn’t really think I was going to untie you, did you?”
