Nine out of ten gamblers lose; I've run into a jerk!

Chapter 201 The Atypical Playboy

"Tao Qilang's body still needs to be properly disposed of first." As the host, Wu Guo broke the deadlock by speaking up and beckoning someone to bring a carriage.

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Young Master Wu." Tao You bowed and thanked him. It seemed that Tao Yang had planned ahead, even sending the servants away. Today they came out on horseback instead of in a carriage, and now that one of their horses had broken, it wouldn't be good to put it back on the horse's back.

Wu Guo waved his hand and sighed softly, thinking that letting Tao Yang leave with some dignity would make their acquaintance worthwhile.

As the onlookers saw that the incident had come to an end and the polo match could no longer continue, they were about to take their leave when they heard the clatter of hooves. The valiant female general from before was riding towards them again.

"Whoa!" Shen Qing pulled on the reins, and the horse's hooves neighed in the air before landing heavily.

"Young Master Wu, what is the meaning of your ordering your servants to forcibly abduct men from the countryside!"

Faced with the sudden questioning, Wu Guo was completely dumbfounded.

Hmm, something's up!

The young men from prominent families, who were about to leave, stopped and lingered to watch, fully embodying the traditional Chinese virtue that gossip never ends.

After the commotion, everyone had already learned from the soldiers that this was Shen Qingxi, the widow of the former young marshal and the newly appointed fourth-rank cavalry general of Pingshan Pass!

"General Shen, what makes you say that?" Wu Guo thought to himself when he saw Shen Qing coming with a menacing air. "Could it be that he's here to cause trouble?"

Thinking this, Wu Guo immediately became fully alert and focused all his attention on dealing with the situation.

Ye Mingzhu, a family member of the victim and a witness, jumped off her horse and stepped forward, glaring at Wu Guo without flinching as she accused him: "Three days ago, my brother and I were fleeing from Cangzhou and passed through Yongzhou Prefecture when we were detained by Wu's servants who said they wanted to offer us to Wu Erlangjun!"

All eyes turned to Wu Guo, and whispers began to circulate among them.

"It's certainly false to say that Brother Wu forcibly abducted a woman, but it's more likely that he was a handsome young man..."

"Look at this young lady, although she's down on her luck, she's still beautiful and has a refined air about her. You can imagine how good-looking her brother is..."

"It seems that this brother and sister are orphans of a large clan that was wiped out in the war..."

"I'm innocent!" Wu Guo ignored the comments of others and retorted, "I have been staying in Yucheng for more than a month, as everyone here can testify. How could I have ordered my servants to abduct someone three days ago?"

"What the superiors like, the subordinates will do even more to. Even if this wasn't instigated by Young Master Wu, it's still the result of your usual indulgence!"

"This..." Wu Guo was speechless for a moment, feeling that Shen Qing was being unreasonable. In this dog-eat-dog world, what's wrong with their family background and status forcibly taking in refugees, or even commoners with good status?

It seems that Manager Wu was not careful enough this time and ran into a brick wall. However, there are some things that are tacitly understood but cannot be brought to the forefront. At this point, he can only stubbornly deny them.

"I swear to God that I never instructed my servants to harm innocent people. There must be some misunderstanding!"

"A misunderstanding?" Shen Qing raised an eyebrow. "Alright, as the saying goes, seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving. The prefectural city isn't far from here; a day's journey by fast horse is enough for a round trip. Why don't we go together and see for ourselves, and also pay a visit to the Prefectural Governor?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Guo felt a thin layer of sweat break out on the back of his neck; he was doomed!

He came to Yucheng to hide from his father. If his father finds out why he caused trouble, he'll surely get a few more vines cut off.

Just as Wu Guo was sweating profusely, another commotion broke out in the woods where the bandits had blocked the road, and the sound of several horses' hooves approached from afar.

"drive!"

"catch him!"

Attracted by the shouts, everyone looked over and could vaguely see that it was a chase.

The person galloping ahead seemed to have eyes in the back of their head, deftly dodging a cold arrow from behind.

"Wow~ Are experts so common now?" The young masters from prominent families watching the spectacle exclaimed with envy.

"Second Brother!" Ye Mingzhu recognized the figure at a glance and immediately ran out to wave and call out.

"Whoa!" Zhen E reined in his horse and stopped abruptly. He was both surprised and delighted to see Ye Mingzhu safe and sound. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shen Qing not far away. He then jumped off his horse nimbly.

"Mingzhu!"

Unlike Zhen E, who had put down his burden, Shen Qing's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, Wu Guo was stunned for a moment before rushing over as well.

"Second Young Master..." When Steward Wu saw Zhen E stop, and was surprised to see his young master running towards them, he quickly dismounted. Before he could even bow, Wu Guo jumped up and kicked him in the calf, causing him to fall to his knees with a thud. He looked up in astonishment, but before he could ask anything, he was met with an iron fist.

"two……"

"Ya da!"

Before he could even say a word, Wu Guo unleashed another series of punches, leaving afterimages in his wake. The guards who had come with Manager Wu were so frightened that they knelt down and dared not breathe, for fear of being hit as well!

Ye Mingzhu stared wide-eyed, bewildered. Zhen E's face twitched slightly, and the rest of the onlookers were dumbfounded.

Seeing that Wu Guo's fists were probably sore, Shen Qing swung his arms and unleashed a set of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, almost making him fly. Shen Qing couldn't help but grit his teeth and inexplicably felt a pain in his cheek.

“Speak…” Wu Guo was panting slightly, pointing at the freshly baked pig’s head, “Who gave you the guts to use your power to forcibly abduct a man? The reputation of the Wu family has been ruined by you scoundrels who deceive your superiors and cover up the truth!”

"This old servant is innocent!" Steward Wu, his face bruised and swollen from being slapped, could barely speak.

"Still trying to argue!" Wu Guo pointed at Ye Mingzhu, who was standing there stunned. "The victim has already come knocking on our door!"

Steward Wu glanced around at the atmosphere and immediately realized what was happening. Gone was the arrogance he had displayed when chasing Zhen E. He wailed pitifully, "This old servant was truly kind-hearted! There are many refugees gathered outside Yongzhou. I saw that these two siblings were all alone and about to starve to death, so I took pity on them and took them into my household. I gave them a place to live and make a living. It's truly a case of kindness being taken for granted. Countless refugees outside the city are desperate to become my servants!"

"Nonsense!" Ye Mingzhu immediately retorted, "My second brother and I didn't even go to line up to be selected!"

“If you disagree, then you two should speak up,” Manager Wu said, turning to Ye Mingzhu. “Let’s go through this from the beginning. Back then, your second brother voluntarily sold himself into servitude, saying he didn’t want a single penny and only asked to be taken into the country. Did he coerce you?”

"With over a dozen burly men surrounding us, eyeing us menacingly, how could we possibly disagree!" Ye Mingzhu said angrily.

“Oh dear~ Is it a fault to be big and fierce-looking? Besides, who can be fiercer than your second brother? We feed him well and take good care of him, but he just beats up the guards and steals their horses and runs away at the slightest disagreement.”

At this point, Steward Wu's confidence surged, and he protested, "Miss Mingzhu was able to reach this place safely, which shows that we kept our promise. But this young man went back on his word and repaid kindness with enmity, killing more than ten of my Wu family's guards. Second Master, you must ask us to take charge!"

The roles were immediately reversed; Wu became the victim instead of the perpetrator, occupying the moral high ground, and Wu Guo straightened his back again.

Shen Qing looked up at the sky speechlessly. Girl, do you have to be so honest? Exaggerating the facts and using artistic embellishment to nail him to the pillar of shame and humiliation of the villain!