58

After Duan Mingyu had lectured Fan Fu in a thorough and blistering manner for quite a while, Fan Fu finally nodded in understanding, gave Duan Mingyu a thumbs-up, and said, "As expected of the Young Master, your methods are truly extraordinary! With such a clever technique, I'll be able to mass-produce these crossbow carriages. By the way, could the Young Master bestow a name upon these bolts? Fan feels that these projectiles have already surpassed the definition of ordinary arrows, and without a proper name, they seem rather incongruous."

Duan Mingyu smiled and said, "How hard can that be? In this Top Scholar's view, since these spear-like bolts are propelled like this, why not call them 'rockets'? How does Master Fan find that?"

"Ah, the Young Master's choice of name is indeed novel. Excellent, excellent."

Duan Mingyu wore a satisfied expression as well, turning his head to look at his beloved crossbow carriage. Good grief, what was Zhaoniang up to, acting all sneaky?

Yang Zhaoniang ran joyfully over to the crossbow carriage, her eyes rolling around mischievously and radiating a fervent glow. That look was just like a cat seeing a fish, a dog seeing meat, or Ultraman seeing a little monster.

Yang Zhaoniang proceeded to perform two actions that made everyone's heart skip a beat. The actions were very minor: she merely struck a match, ignited the fuse, and casually pulled the trigger of the crossbow carriage.

Unsurprisingly, the rocket launched toward the distant mountain forest, and Yang Zhaoniang clapped her hands in excitement. Duan Mingyu decisively rewarded Yang Zhaoniang with a light knock on the head. "Nonsense! What if there are people in the forest?"

Yang Zhaoniang said with a wronged expression, "How could it be such a coincidence?"

Just as her voice trailed off, the rocket that had plunged into the forest erupted with a loud "boom." Not only was there the sound of the explosion, but everyone also heard a sound that ought not to have been there.

Yang Zhaoniang's complexion changed as well; that was a human scream.

Duan Mingyu gave Yang Zhaoniang another knock on the head. "Look at that, you've caused trouble! You've cost a life, let's see how you handle this!"

Yang Zhaoniang twirled her fingers together and muttered, "Maybe it was a wild cat..."

Duan Mingyu raged, "Would a wild cat yell, 'Aiya, I greet your ancestors'?"

"...A refined wild cat that has attained spiritual powers."

"Keep talking back if you dare! If I were you, I'd start praying right now that the person is thoroughly dead. If they've still got a breath left in them and come looking for you, see what you do!"

The matter was quickly resolved. The person who had been unhappily struck by the rocket stumbled out covered in soot and smoke, his crimson official robe scorched into mere threads of cloth. Cough, cough—this person was actually an official, and a high-ranking official of the fourth rank at that. This official had neither eyebrows nor facial hair left, yet he looked full of vitality, as if being hit by artillery fire had felt quite refreshing (he simply had to muster his last breath to find the culprit).

When this official finally walked closer, Duan Mingyu stammered, "It looks like... Inspector Cheng!"

Yang Zhaoniang bit on a piece of dogtail grass and said, "What do you mean it looks like? It's clearly him!"

After Cheng Zhiyuan walked closer, he spat out a thick cloud of black smoke, coughed violently for a while, and cursed, "Which bastard fired that?"

Before Duan Mingyu could react, Yang Zhaoniang said with a face full of admiration, "Elder Brother Mingyu's archery skills are getting more and more refined. Truly hitting the mark from a hundred paces away..."

Wan Yanyan couldn't help letting out a "pfft" and laughed.

Duan Mingyu: "............" Whatever, Zhaoniang is still a child. If she gets dragged away and locked up for a few days leaving her with psychological trauma, that wouldn't be good. I'll just take the blame.

It was impossible to tell whether Cheng Zhiyuan's blackened face held joy or anger, save for a pair of pale eyes glaring at Duan Mingyu. "Good arrow! Truly a good arrow! You brat purposely aimed at me, didn't you?"

To explain is to cover up, and to cover up is to confirm the deed. Having figured out the crux of this matter, Duan Mingyu had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Thanks to Brother Cheng's undeserved praise, this arrow was purely a fortuitous stroke of genius!"

"By the way, Brother Cheng, why are you here?" Seeing that things were going badly, Duan Mingyu immediately changed the subject, attempting to divert Cheng Zhiyuan's attention.

Cheng Zhiyuan had indeed come to discuss a matter of great importance with Duan Mingyu today. The old man had been here for a long time, watching the new weapons one by one. The more he looked, the more astonished he became in his heart, so he had simply been peeping at this group's actions all along without showing himself. Who could have anticipated that the little girl Yang Zhaoniang would act on a sudden impulse and fire an arrow without thinking? Fortunately, the old man had nimbly rolled to one side, otherwise... "Hiss," Cheng Zhiyuan shivered.

Naturally, Cheng Zhiyuan knew that Yang Zhaoniang had fired the shot, but exposing the girl would be tantamount to admitting that he had been peeping from the sidelines. Therefore, Cheng Zhiyuan had no choice but to feign ignorance. "Hmph, you brat! Old me hasn't even settled this score for the arrow yet, and you're turning around to interrogate me instead! If it weren't for my formidable martial arts, these hundred-odd pounds of mine would have been left right here today!"

Duan Mingyu swallowed his grievance in resentment, while the people nearby had already carried the crossbow carriage away.

"Hehe, Uncle Cheng, who knew you were skulking around like a ghost in the forest!" Wan Yanyan said playfully.

As soon as those words were uttered, everyone's gazes toward Cheng Zhiyuan shifted.

Luo Hou stepped forward and said, "Young Master, it looks like this old man is up to no good. Shall we silence him?"

"Luo Hou, how can you be so cruel? That's completely inhumane!" Duan Mingyu reprimanded.

Cheng Zhiyuan nodded approvingly, but Duan Mingyu followed up with: "At most, cut out his tongue and leave him half-paralyzed, that should suffice."

Upon hearing these words, Cheng Zhiyuan was instantly filled with rage, but upon seeing that Duan Mingyu had a large force on his side while he was all alone—and a wounded person at that—he couldn't help gulping. "Old me... Old me came here today to discuss an important matter with my worthy brother."

Duan Mingyu smiled. "I figured you old codger never bring anything good whenever you show up. Spit out whatever you have to say right now, and once you're done, we'll silence you."

"..."

Cheng Zhiyuan said, "Cough, cough, worthy brother, this matter is of the utmost importance..." Cheng Zhiyuan kept blinking and making frantic eye signals to Duan Mingyu.

"Hey, Old Man Cheng, what are you doing? Are your eyes sick?" Yang Zhaoniang's sharp eyes instantly caught Cheng Zhiyuan's subtle movements.

Hmm, something's not right. Duan Mingyu looked into Cheng Zhiyuan's eyes. Such a familiar scene—Cheng Zhiyuan's expression was identical to the look classmates would exchange when covering for each other in the past. It was far too familiar; it almost made him think they were former classmates who had time-traveled together.

"Alright, alright. Everyone go back to the camp first, I have a couple of things to ask him in private," Duan Mingyu instructed.

"Yanyan, be a good girl and go inside first, I'll be right in!"

"Minister Wang, why are you still standing around like a turtle's son!"

"Cough, cough, Zhaoniang, that arrow just now..."

"I understand, I'm going in right now!" Yang Zhaoniang scampered away in a fluster.

It took a great deal of effort for Duan Mingyu to finally herd the group back to the camp.

Before leaving, Luo Hou still threatened Cheng Zhiyuan, "If you dare harbor any ill intentions toward the Young Master, I will surely take this dog official's dog life."

Cheng Zhiyuan felt like crying without tears. Ill intentions toward him? It seemed I'm the wounded party here! Heavens, open your eyes and strike me dead with lightning! How has my career as an inspector devolved to this state?

A muffled rumble of thunder instantly echoed across the sky...