The Double

Chapter 186: Abduction

Faintly visible among the crowd were people dressed in coarse linen clothes, blending in with ordinary citizens yet moving swiftly through the masses. However, they carried gleaming long blades in their hands. The common people panicked, running and scrambling in all directions, making the crowd increasingly congested. The cries of children, the curses of those tripped and fallen, and the sounds of killers slicing through skin with their blades echoed incessantly.

"Heavens!" Tong'er's face turned pale. "Someone is killing people!"

"Don't be afraid," Jiang Li said calmly. "The city garrison is nearby. They will come as soon as they hear the commotion." No sooner had she spoken than their own carriage abruptly halted and refused to move further. At the same time, the coachman's scream pierced the air.

Tong'er trembled with fear but still reached out to shield Jiang Li behind her. Bai Xue said, "Miss, we cannot stay in the carriage. The mansion's carriage is too conspicuous. We must take cover..."

Suddenly, the carriage curtain was flung open, and a strange middle-aged man appeared before them. His eyes gleamed with malice, and he held a curved blade. In one swift motion, he leaped onto the carriage. Tong'er screamed and pushed Jiang Li out of the carriage, stepping forward to confront him. The blade swung through the air, and Jiang Li only saw Tong'er's arm block the strike—a streak of blood blurred her vision. Bai Xue, tall and sturdy, blocked the doorway and said, "Miss, run first! Hide somewhere nearby!"

The man's eyes flickered. In the moment Jiang Li locked eyes with the man with the curved blade, she suddenly understood: this person was here for her! She glanced at Bai Xue and Tong'er, who were still in the carriage, and sure enough, the man abandoned them and came straight for her. Gritting her teeth, Jiang Li turned and fled into the crowd.

The crowd was filled with wails and howls, and the ground was littered with trampled blood, resembling a living hell.

The city garrison arrived quickly, but within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the assailants had already discarded their curved blades and made a swift escape. Dressed as ordinary civilians, they were nearly impossible to distinguish. With people everywhere, the city garrison found themselves helpless for the moment, forced to watch as the killers vanished into the crowd. They managed to capture one assailant in the act, but as soon as they subdued him and before they could escort him for interrogation, the man clenched his teeth, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, and slowly collapsed, lifeless.

He was a death warrior who had hidden poison in his teeth. Once captured, he bit into a wax pellet and took his own life, ensuring no one could extract the truth from him.

"What is going on?" the leader of the city garrison roared in fury. "We couldn't capture a single one! If these people are death warriors, why would they harm ordinary civilians for no reason?"

His subordinate asked, "Could it be the Western Rong..."

"Impossible! The Western Rong were driven deep into the desert by the Golden Crow General and are no longer a threat. How could they come to Yanjing City? Besides, the civilians said these people looked like Northern Yan natives. If they were Western Rong, they would be easily recognizable. How could they blend into the crowd so effortlessly?"

"Regardless, sir, calming the people is our priority now," the subordinate replied.Cries echoed from all directions. The commoners had been going about their day peacefully on the streets—vendors at their stalls, idlers sipping tea in teahouses—when suddenly this group of assailants appeared out of nowhere, slashing and killing indiscriminately. In just this short time, countless lives had been lost. Many others were separated from their loved ones in the chaos. A disheveled mother with one missing shoe was weeping and calling her child’s name, too distraught to care about her own state.

Tong’er lay collapsed beside the carriage. The moment the assassin charged into the carriage, she had used her own arm to block a blade aimed at Jiang Li. Her wound was still bleeding, and Bai Xue tore a strip from her own skirt to bandage it. Tong’er had already fainted from the pain. Bai Xue placed her in a relatively safe spot, guarded by city defense soldiers to prevent further mishap. Yet her own heart remained anxious for Jiang Li, uncertain of her whereabouts.

With the city defense troops now stationed there, the uninjured civilians had hurried home, while the wounded were taken to nearby clinics. Only those who had lost family or were still searching for missing relatives remained. The crowd had thinned considerably, at least making it easier to distinguish individuals.

Bai Xue walked slowly, scanning her surroundings. She dared not call out Jiang Li’s name directly, so she raised her voice instead, shouting, “Miss! Miss!”

She wasn’t the only one doing so, and her cries blended into the chorus. But on such a short stretch of street, if Jiang Li had escaped, she couldn’t have gone far and would surely hear Bai Xue’s voice. Moreover, the Jiang family’s carriage remained in place. Though the coachman was dead, Jiang Li would recognize it and follow the sound to find her.

Yet… there was no response from Jiang Li.

Refusing to give up, Bai Xue called out several more times. By now, aside from the families of the deceased, almost no one else lingered. Even those separated from loved ones had been reunited. Bai Xue’s desperate searching caught the attention of the soldiers, and one young guard approached her to ask, “Miss, who are you looking for?”

“My young lady…” Bai Xue replied anxiously, “She… she was in the crowd earlier, and we got separated. Sir, could you help me find her?”

The guard said, “We’ve searched this entire street. All the missing have been accounted for. Are you saying your young lady hasn’t been found? May I ask which family’s young lady she is…”

“Searched the entire street?” Bai Xue’s heart turned to ice, and she stumbled back a step.

…

Early in the morning, Ye Mingyu had the family cooks bustling about.

Since the previous day, the procurement staff had been deliberating over what delicacies to prepare. Whenever Jiang Li visited, Ye Mingyu wanted to offer her the very best they had. Though the Ye household lacked female members, they still employed a cook—after all, culinary pleasures were essential to life. Moreover, since their family had sent him to Yanjing City, he had to ensure his nephew was well-fed and clothed, didn’t he?

And it wasn’t as if they were short on silver—they had plenty to spare.

The table was already laden with a dazzling array of dishes, lavish enough to rival a grand birthday banquet for an elderly matriarch. Ye Shijie had returned to the residence, and Haitang helped Xue Huaiyuan out into the main hall.

Ye Shijie asked, “Has Jiang Li not arrived yet?”A Shun shook his head: "The gatekeeper is still watching, but there's no movement yet."

"Strange," Ye Mingyu said, "A Li is usually the most punctual girl, always worried about keeping us waiting. How could she be delayed so long today? If we wait any longer, the food will get cold."

"Could something have happened to her?" Ye Shijie frowned.

"Bah, bah, bah!" Ye Mingyu rapped him on the head. "How can you say such things about your cousin? Besides, where are we? Yanjing City, right under the Emperor's nose! And your cousin is the eldest daughter of the Jiang family—what could possibly happen to her? In broad daylight, could she have been kidnapped?"

"Yanjing City has bandits too," Haitang couldn't help interjecting.

"What bandits? Our family are the biggest bandits around! Who would dare out-bandit us? That would be like showing off one's skill with an axe in front of Lu Ban! Anyone who dares mess with us is digging their own grave. With one word from me, Ye Mingyu, all the brothers in the martial world would come to our aid..."

"Alright, alright," Ye Shijie interrupted, unable to listen further. "Should we send someone to the Jiang residence to ask if something has delayed Jiang Li and she can't come?"

Hearing this, Ye Mingyu also grew tense. "That's possible. With all the messy affairs in that Jiang household, could it be that A Li is being bullied again? Maybe I should go check—I'm really worried."

Just as he finished speaking, A Shun, who had been waiting by the door, suddenly returned and announced, "Master, someone from the Jiang family has come!"

He said "someone from the Jiang family" rather than "Second Miss Jiang." Everyone at the table froze—this meant Jiang Li truly couldn't come. Had something happened after all?

A Shun brought the Jiang family servant into the room. The servant looked as if he had rushed over in a panic, his clothes covered in dust as if he had stumbled several times on the way, his face drenched in sweat. As soon as he saw everyone, he blurted out: "Third Master Ye, our young lady is in trouble—she can't come!"

"Trouble?" Everyone in the room was startled, and Xue Huaiyuan also furrowed his brows.

"What kind of trouble?" Ye Mingyu asked gruffly. "Did Jiang Yuanbai bully her again?"

After all, Ye Mingyu was a man of the martial world—while he smiled warmly when facing Jiang Li, his bandit-like nature surfaced layer by layer when dealing with others. The scar on his face made people wary.

The servant shook his head repeatedly. "No, no. It's that the Second Miss took a carriage to the Ye residence early this morning and encountered a bandit murder incident on the way. In the chaos, the young lady went missing, and now we can't find her anywhere. The master has gone mad and is mobilizing soldiers to search the entire Yanjing City!"

"What!" Ye Shijie also stood up.

"What bandit murder incident?" Xue Huaiyuan asked.

The servant replied, "I'm not too clear on the details. I only heard that half an hour ago, on a road not far from here, a group of people suddenly appeared. They were dressed in ordinary clothes, mingling with the crowd, shouting and killing. Over a dozen people were killed. They managed to catch one of the killers, but he swallowed poison. I heard people say they were death warriors, but no one knows what they were here for."

Xue Huaiyuan asked further, "How many others went missing like Miss Jiang?"

The servant's face turned extremely grim: "Only our young lady."

At these words, everyone in the room wore different expressions. Ye Mingyu, in a panic, drew the knife from his waist and cursed: "Damn it! Could it be that A Li has been kidnapped?!""That's not right." The speaker was Xue Huaiyuan. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. Xue Huaiyuan said solemnly, "These people are death warriors who must have come with a purpose. But I heard they only injured ordinary civilians. If their goal was to spread panic, they could have worn more terrifying attire, caused more casualties, and then committed suicide. Yet they blended in among ordinary people, which shows they intended to escape easily. This indicates they were focused on achieving their objective. From beginning to end, only Miss Jiang has gone missing, proving she was their target—they came specifically for her. The dozen or so civilians who died were merely decoys sacrificed to abduct Miss Jiang."

Xue Huaiyuan's voice was gentle and unhurried, yet his words sent chills down their spines. Ye Mingyu frowned and said, "Is that possible? A Li is Jiang Yuanbai's daughter. Who in Yanjing City would dare deliberately oppose Jiang Yuanbai?"

But Ye Shijie said, "What Mr. Xue says is correct."

"Is Miss Jiang really in danger? Who could have done this?" Haitang couldn't help asking.

"In Yanjing City, very few dare to move against the Jiang family. It's actually quite simple to guess—nine times out of ten, it's either Consort Liu or Prince Cheng. Of course, the Right Prime Minister might also be involved, but he has no reason to target a young lady like Jiang Li. So Consort Liu and Prince Cheng are the most suspicious," Ye Shijie said.

Xue Huaiyuan nodded. "Exactly."

"Prince Cheng and Consort Liu? What evidence do we have to confront them directly?" Ye Mingyu asked impatiently.

"This is just our speculation, Master Ye," Xue Huaiyuan said. "Right now, the most important thing is to find Miss Jiang's whereabouts, not seek revenge. The Jiang family has extensive influence in Yanjing City. To ensure safety, they will definitely try to smuggle Miss Jiang out of the city. I think we should carefully interrogate all travelers at the city gates."

Ye Mingyu slung his blade over his shoulder. "I'll gather my men!"

"I'll go check outside," Ye Shijie said. "I know some people in the city guard—I'll speak with them. Mr. Xue, please remain at the residence. If any news comes, we'll need you to take charge here." Ye Shijie instructed.

"Alright," Xue Huaiyuan replied. "Please be careful, everyone."

(End of Chapter)