With him around, his life was finally safe.
He immediately shouted at Feng Jinlin, "He is a remnant of the Zhu family, nephew, quickly apprehend him!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the man in black stepped forward and began to fight Feng Jinlin.
Both of their martial arts were not bad, and at a few points, Feng Jinlin even had the upper hand.
Just as Liang Quanbin thought he was about to capture Huo Chong, a neat sound of footsteps suddenly came. He looked closely and saw that it was the參將 (cānjiàng - brigadier general) of the naval camp who had heard the commotion outside and brought his men to support him.
Unfortunately, seeing that the enemy outnumbered them, they threw a few smoke bombs and fled.
Liang Quanbin gritted his teeth. His shoulder was bleeding, and his leg bone was in excruciating pain.
His hatred for the Zhu family and Huo Chong reached its peak, wishing he could capture them and slice them into a thousand pieces. However, he had no strength left.
Seeing that the man had escaped, Feng Jinlin put away his silver spear and asked Liang Quanbin,
"Is Lord Liang alright?"
Liang Quanbin's face was pale. How could he be alright?
His hand covered the wound, which was already a mess of blood. As a civil official, he couldn't take it and fainted.
The naval camp's參將 immediately stepped forward and said,
"There is a doctor in the camp who specializes in treating sword wounds. I will send Your Lord there to get treated."
"Good, then I will lead my men to pursue the criminals!"
"Mm!"
After nodding to each other, they went their separate ways.
Following the traces left by the criminals, Feng Jinlin took many turns and managed to shake off the people behind him.
Once he confirmed no one was following, he changed direction and headed straight for another small courtyard in Jinling City belonging to Prince Ding.
As soon as he entered, he saw Su Cheng, who had just removed his human skin mask, along with a group of brothers from the covert guard camp.
"Next time, don't ask me to save that old scoundrel again. I'm afraid I won't be able to resist stabbing him to death!"
Feng Jinlin was very dissatisfied with Prince Ding's arrangement for him to save Liang Quanbin again.
They were playing good cop and bad cop, which, while it might have made Liang Quanbin trust them implicitly, Feng Jinlin knew many of his unsavory deeds, and thus was very angry.
"Oh, you don't even want to acknowledge the kindness of the Grand Canal Supervisor. Then what do you want to do? Go kill him wearing Huo Chong's human skin mask?"
Su Cheng teased, while at the same time shedding his black attire and transforming back into his usual elegant young master appearance.
He had been frequenting the various brothels and entertainment districts in Jinling City, gathering much gossip.
Today was special. Xu Lin was also going to capture Huo Chong, who was hiding in the shadows, so he could only be called back temporarily to impersonate Huo Chong and escalate the conflict between Liang Quanbin and the Zhu family to its highest point.
This would force him to act desperately, making it easier for the Prince's plan to be implemented.
"What does Xu Lin say?"
"Don't worry. Huo Chong escaping from him once was an accident. If he escapes a second time, I'll take his position as leader. It's better than being a deputy leader every day, with the Prince assigning me all sorts of petty tasks!"
He didn't mind walking the streets or indulging in pleasures, but he was getting sick of being surrounded by women all the time.
Thinking of Su Cheng, Feng Jinlin felt that saving Liang Quanbin against his will was not so bad.
If he had to go to those places to carouse, Mingyue's saber would likely be raised.
So, he patted Su Cheng's shoulder comfortingly and said,
"My good brother has suffered! After this is over, I'll treat you to drinks! How about Lihun?"
Upon hearing the word Lihun, Su Cheng's drooping head perked up, and his eyes lit up as he looked at Feng Jinlin.
"It's a deal!"
Feng Jinlin chuckled. Su Cheng was truly easy to appease. He strongly suspected that he was tempted by Prince Ding's fine wine when he joined Prince Ding's mansion!
Otherwise, why would the son of a prominent general spend his days disguised as such a dissolute young master?
As they were talking, Xu Lin strode in. A rare smile finally appeared on his icy face.
"Did you catch him?"
"Mm."
Su Cheng was also happy. Capturing Huo Chong meant they would soon know who the mastermind behind the Zhu family was!
This matter was as delightful as Liang Quanbin's capture.
"Where is he? Do you want me to interrogate him?"
Su Cheng didn't have much interest in interrogation, but he had been spending his days in the embrace of beauty, and his senses had become dulled. He desperately needed something bloody to invigorate his spirit.
Unfortunately, Xu Lin did not give him this opportunity, stating directly,
"The Prince wants to interrogate him personally."
Upon hearing this news, Su Cheng sighed, "Why is it always me who has to do the wicked deeds!"
Feng Jinlin found his use of idioms to be quite amusing. Just a moment ago, he had said he was doing petty tasks, and now he was talking about wicked deeds.
Truly, a Confucian scholar would shake his head!
Then he said to Feng Jinlin, "You should go back first. Liang Quanbin must trust you the most right now. Find a good opportunity, we still have follow-up plans."
"Understood, I'm leaving now."
Rushing back to the naval camp, Liang Quanbin had not yet awoken from his coma due to excessive blood loss.
Feng Jinlin said to the參將, "Those criminals escaped. How is Lord Liang?"
His face was ashen, with a slight sheen of sweat.
It was clear from his expression that he had been chasing for a long time without success.
The參將 didn't think much of it. Feng Jinlin was, after all, a young master. Even with his high martial arts skills, he couldn't possibly catch up to Huo Chong, who had been training for years, especially since Huo Chong was so familiar with Jinling City. Therefore, not catching him was normal.
"The doctor said it's a貫穿傷 (guànchuān shāng - perforating wound) on his right shoulder, and his left lower leg bone is broken. He will need at least three months to recover."
"Three months? That long?"
He feigned shock, but inwardly, he gave Su Cheng a thumbs-up!
It was a good stab. If it weren't for the Prince's orders, it would have been even better to kill him with one sword strike!
"Alas, a hundred days for broken bones and strained tendons, not to mention Lord's shoulder injury. He might not wake up until the day after tomorrow."
Feng Jinlin nodded. "There are no major issues in Jinling City recently, but with the grain collection starting gradually at the end of July, there will likely be many matters. I hope Lord can recover soon, otherwise, there will be no one to oversee the situation."
The naval camp's參將 also agreed with this statement.
Looking at the pale-faced Liang Quanbin, they each had their own thoughts.
That day, when Feng Jinlin returned to the small courtyard, he was surrounded by Feng Jinyao and Xu Mingyue.
The news that Supervisor Liang had been seriously injured in an assassination attempt on the streets of Jinling City had already spread throughout the city.
Upon hearing the news, Xu Mingyue exclaimed that evil begets evil, but Feng Jinyao did not agree. In her opinion, this seemed more like something Prince Ding, Xiao Tingyi, had deliberately orchestrated, but she couldn't quite guess his motive.
Was it to increase Liang Quanbin's trust in her second brother?
Or was it to make Liang Quanbin completely retire, so that he could arrange his own people to handle the grain collection process?