TCN: Mei Gongqing

Chapter 176

Chapter 176: She is worth it

It was dark by the time Wang Hong came back to Nan'yang.

He entered his room to the padding of footsteps.

"Did something happen?" he asked in alarm.

There was no answer. The only sounds he heard were of people dropping to their knees.

Wang Hong stopped his movements after he received his towel. He softly let go of it and stepped outside.

Men were kneeling in the courtyard, seemingly ashamed to see Wang Hong and thus unable to rise.

Wang Hong stopped.

At length, he went up the steps and quietly asked, "What happened?"

A guard kowtowed, taking pains to say: "We apologize for our incompetence. Ah Rong of the Chen House is nowhere to be found after she went inside the Chen estate."

"Nowhere to be found?"

Wang Hong's smile hung unsure and ghastly. "How long has she been missing? Was anything out of the ordinary?"

The guards had never heard him speak this way. Their bowed heads dropped even lower. The other replied in embarrassment, "N-n-nothing was out of the ordinary since the monkey hour (3 pm) yesterday, m'lord." After a pause, he added, "I also interrogated the Chen servants and found nothing peculiar."

Nothing out of the ordinary, yet a well and alive person was suddenly gone?

Wang Hong coldly stared at them. Eventually, he closed his eyes and said, "These people are obviously well prepared to be able to infiltrate and carry someone off from within the Chen estate. That they could leave right under your noses, unknown to neither gods nor ghosts, meant these people do not lack the wherewithal."

His eyes turned to the distance as he murmured, "Long term preparations, formidable capability – such a person won't treat a woman this way for personal retaliation; they must be after something bigger... It won't be long before they let me know."

The men who followed him were some of the most elite guards of the Wang House. As soon as his words were uttered, they promptly caught on to his meaning.

Wang Hong looked down at them again.

"You have really let me down," he lightly said.

Faint and soft.

And yet the ten people kneeling on the ground couldn't raise their heads. Sweat beaded on their colorless faces. Only after Wang Hong turned to leave did one of them shakily say: "M'lord, it is unthinkable to have failed you. If we can't save the Grand Chamberlain, we will pay with our lives for this mistake."

He wasn't loud. His words were not intended for Wang Hong who had already left, but for himself and his comrades.

Upon his words, the other guards adopted the same resolve on their faces.

Hamster428 translations

Wang Hong learned of Chen Rong's whereabouts on an afternoon.

On his desk was a missive written in beautiful cursive handwriting: "In admiration of the talented Qilang, Ke has invited your lady so that I may get an appointment with you. I'll only wait for you until the Xinchou day. Should you miss the date, after I am done playing with her, I'll have her put in the red tent as provision to my army. Murong Ke." Red tent... the dwelling place of the army whores.

Five men were standing behind Wang Hong. Almost as soon as he put the letter down, they stepped forward and passed it around.

Their expressions altered after they finished reading it.