What Master Hu had never expected was that before he could make up his mind, Master Duo had already vanished without a trace.
Qian had vanished with him. Of course, the few apothecaries Master Duo had brought along had not left with them.
When Master Hu stormed over to Master Duo's residence, he found the courtyard already empty. He had worked himself up into a fury, but suddenly had nowhere to vent it. The frustration was unbearable, like throwing a punch with all his strength and hitting nothing but air.
Master Hu's face darkened. He nearly roared, "When did they leave?"
There had only been one or two servants in the whole courtyard. Their status was low, and they had no way of getting close to Master Duo's inner circle.
The servant trembled at Master Hu's roar, but couldn't answer his question.
How could servants like them know when Master Duo had left? He was as elusive as a ghost; there was no way he'd simply stroll out of the courtyard in broad daylight.
Master Hu knew he'd lost his composure. Taking his anger out on low-ranking servants was pointless and only made him look pathetic, but the fire burning in his chest needed somewhere to go.
Fortunately, he hadn't completely lost his reason, and Steward Old Zhu and Old Ba were beside him, trying to calm him down.
"Master Hu, Master Duo must have known you wouldn't give in easily. He asked you to gather your men and discuss it, then left ahead of you. I suspect he has some kind of scheme in mind..."
Lie Chi added, "I'm afraid Master Duo's departure spells trouble for us. We need to tighten our defenses, in case they take advantage of our unpreparedness and launch a surprise attack on the city