Negotiating Alone

"Qingshan, come closer!"

Gu Sheng beckoned Teng Qingshan over. When he was close, he lowered his voice and whispered in his ear, "Like this, you take her... understand?"

"Understood, Cousin, be careful yourself!"

Teng Qingshan nodded, reached for a cloak, wrapped Chu Xin in it, and then, carrying her, jumped onto the roof. After a few turns, he arrived at a small space that could only accommodate two people.

Li Manor's study was very large, with too many places to hide. Where Teng Qingshan and Chu Xin were, there was no trace to be found from below.

Gu Sheng carefully observed for a while, confirming that they would not be discovered, and then returned to the desk. He picked up the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone that Chu Xin had used, and began to write on the letter paper brought from Qin San's study.

Before long, a 'handwritten' letter from Qin San was freshly baked. He held the letter paper close to the candlelight to dry the ink, and then used Inner Force to wrinkle the letter a bit to make it look old. After finding an envelope to seal it, he leisurely returned to the recliner in front of the desk and pretended to doze off.

The Li Manor people outside became anxious. Lord Li paced back and forth anxiously, and countless Li Manor guards and servants continued to gather, completely surrounding the small courtyard.

A quarter of an hour, two quarters of an hour... half an hour, an hour finally passed. Qin Da and the others escorted Lord Li to the door.

"Bang!"

Qin Da took the lead in pushing the door open, and all that met his eyes was that damned thief.

"Qingyu, Qingyu, Qingyu! Where's my daughter!"

Lord Li looked left and right, unable to find his daughter's trace. He roared at Gu Sheng almost hysterically, "I agreed to all your demands, why did you still harm Qingyu?"

"Lord Li, you can't talk nonsense. Miss Li is with us, she's very safe!"

Gu Sheng yawned, patted his mouth, and smiled, "Now, I think we can have a good talk."

"What's there to talk about? You harmed my junior brother, kidnapped Miss Li, and now you dare to stay here, courting death!"

Qin Er behind Qin Da drew his long sword, leaped into the air, and unleashed seven sword flowers like shooting stars in mid-air, covering Gu Sheng.

"Don't be impulsive!"

While Gu Sheng used the Horizon Strider movement technique to dodge, his right hand burst open a small bottle and shot it towards the opponent.

"Poof~"

The small bottle hit a sword flower, and a cloud of green smoke quickly spread within a zhang, and then quickly spread to the surroundings.

"Cough cough!"

Lord Li accidentally inhaled a mouthful of green smoke and immediately felt extremely uncomfortable in his lungs.

"Whoosh!"

Qin Da suddenly grabbed a servant's cloak and waved it, stirring up a gust of wind to disperse the green smoke in the room.

"Stop!"

Gu Sheng suddenly pulled open his clothes, startling Qin Er, who was about to stab with his sword. What came into view were the small bottles that had just released the green mist, densely packed, probably forty or fifty of them. If so many exploded at once, he wouldn't be able to dodge them at all.

"This is the antidote, give it to Lord Li!"

Gu Sheng took out another kind of small bottle from his waist and threw it to Qin Da. Qin Da took out the pills inside and smelled them for a while, and then tentatively inhaled a mouthful of green smoke before taking one. After a few breaths, he nodded and gave the pills in the small bottle to Lord Li to take.

"You, what exactly is your purpose!"

After taking the medicine, Lord Li's lungs felt much relieved, and his gaze towards Gu Sheng softened slightly.

"I said before, I want to talk to Lord Li!"

Gu Sheng sat back at the desk like a golden horse, took out the Jade Chill Blade placed on it, and twirled it. "Lord Li, do you have any impression of this kind of saber?"

"Jade Chill Blade, how do you have it?"

Qin Da's pupils shrank. The Jade Chill Blades customized by Li Manor had their own patterns, which were not exactly the same as the other Jade Chill Blades made by Teng Village. And all 182 of these Jade Chill Blades were in the hands of trusted guards.

"Didn't you notice that one of your own guards is missing?"

Gu Sheng took the saber and slashed a few times in the air, as if he didn't care at all about the four Second-Rate Experts who had blocked his four escape routes.

"Which guard didn't come tonight!"

Lord Li asked sternly. A man dressed as a steward went out to check and returned, saying, "Master, A Lang has not returned. He seems to have been sent out by Qin San to handle some matters."

"Qin San!"

Lord Li's gaze shifted from Qin Da to Gu Sheng. He wanted to know what the other party meant.

"I said before, Qin San stood me up. This guy originally contacted us and said to let us kidnap your daughter, with a deposit of ten thousand taels."

Gu Sheng opened his mouth in a hoarse voice, "But, after we rushed over from Nanxing County and prepared everything, this guy sent A Lang, whom you mentioned, to say that the matter was canceled and he wouldn't pay the deposit.

This guy treated us like monkeys, so I naturally wouldn't swallow this breath. So, I came to find him for bad luck tonight, and by the way, take away your daughter according to the original plan. With one less person to share the silver, we can get even more."

"You're lying!"

Qin Er said sternly, "My junior brother has already died in your hands, and you're actually still throwing dirty water on him."

"Dirty water! Is he worthy!"

Gu Sheng snorted coldly, "If I had no grievances with him, why would I bother to kill him? If you don't believe me, this is his handwritten letter, Lord Li, take a look! See what kind of person your trusted guard leader really is."

As he spoke, Gu Sheng took out the Qin San's handwriting that he had forged and threw it towards Lord Li. Qin Da stood in front of Lord Li and reached out to catch it, frowning slightly. Without avoiding suspicion, he opened it and looked at it.

"It's Qin San's handwriting!"

Qin Da's hands trembled slightly; he hadn't expected his fellow apprentice to do something like this at all. Planning to kidnap Miss Li, extorting money for ransom while also planning to take advantage of her... truly...

"This must be something you forged!"

Qin Er still refused to believe it, but Lord Li was already convinced that this was the truth. "Li Fu, go search Qin San's room."

"Yes!"

Li Fu, who was the steward from earlier, excused himself and left the small courtyard with a pair of guards.

Before long, Li Fu returned with a pile of items in his hands. "Master!"

"This ungrateful wretch!"

Lord Li trembled with anger after seeing the numerous pieces of 'incriminating evidence.' He never imagined that the guards under him would be so corrupt, profiting from both sides and committing all sorts of evil deeds under the Li Manor's name.

"Investigate thoroughly! I want Qin San's entire team to explain themselves clearly!"

Lord Li said sternly, his gaze towards the other personal guards changing. If Qin San was corrupt, then those below him were probably involved to some extent...

"Lord Li, can we talk now?"

Gu Sheng chuckled inwardly, his goal was more than halfway achieved.

"What do you want? Name your price!"

Lord Li walked to the desk and sat across from Gu Sheng. As an experienced veteran of the business world, he was no stranger to negotiations. However, he also knew that he was now at a distinct disadvantage.

Gu Sheng smiled and extended two fingers.