Otherwise, if any knowledgeable Northern Di person fell into Xiao Ji's hands and exposed this matter, wouldn't he be implicated and have his entire clan exterminated?
Who knew that before his plan could even materialize, he was drugged and knocked unconscious.
That medicine was personally concocted by the divine physician Zhang. Without an antidote, even if he were chopped to death, he wouldn't react at all.
Thus, after "hiding" in the weeds for three days, people from the Ding Prince's mansion finally came to give him the antidote.
Just as he was groggily waking up, they deliberately spoke loudly in front of him.
This made Shan Yan, who had originally wanted to break out of the weeds, not move rashly.
"You say this Governor is tired of living, daring to collude with the Northern Di people in secret to blow up the bridge! And he accepted one hundred thousand taels of gold from them! Now His Highness has ordered a city-wide search, and it's been three days, yet there's still no news! It's like seeing a ghost!"
"Who says not? But if I were him, I'd run too. Where else would all this money go?"
The two spoke loudly for a while, then whispered, all deliberately to put on a show for Shan Yan.
He covered his mouth, not daring to make a sound, afraid of being caught.
How could someone who had done something wrong dare to cry out their innocence in broad daylight?
Seeing that they had said enough, the two immediately got up to leave. Before leaving, they said:
"I wonder if there's any problem with the backyard. We've searched half the house and haven't found anything. How about we find some brothers to search? Maybe he's hiding somewhere."
Hearing them speak like this, Shan Yan was extremely scared.
His meager skills were enough to deal with one or two people, but if they attacked him en masse, he would surely be caught.
Accepting bribes, colluding with the enemy and betraying the country.
No matter which charge was pinned on him, it meant death!
If these people found him, wouldn't he have no way to survive?
In a moment of crisis, he didn't think about why he was in the grass pile, only wanting to avoid the immediate danger.
So he stood up, bent his back, his eyes darting around, looking for an opportunity to leave!
As luck would have it, a servant carrying a wooden bucket was on his way to water the flowers in the backyard. Before he even reached the garden, Shan Yan struck him down with a hand chop, knocking him unconscious. He stripped off the servant's clothes, put them on, and then threw the servant into the grass pile as a cover.
Carrying the wooden bucket, he headed in the opposite direction, wanting to find a way to leave the Governor's mansion.
But all of this was seen by the secret guards, not a single action missed.
As he headed towards the back door, one of the secret guards said, "Go report to General Su, the person has moved."
"Yes."
The correspondence concerning colluding with the enemy and betraying the country was "accidentally" discovered during the search for Shan Yan's whereabouts. When the Ninth Prince saw it, he was furious.
Not only was he being played for a fool, but what bothered him most was that the one hundred thousand taels of gold were still missing!
They had searched for so long, they even wanted to pry up the bricks in the ground to check, but they found nothing!
The only possibility was that he had taken it with him.
His anger intensified!
"Shan Yan, betraying the country is one thing, but running away with the money! He truly is a scourge to the nation. Your Highness, please rest assured, this subordinate will definitely retrieve those banknotes. They belong to Your Highness! And should be returned!"
The speaker was a soldier accompanying the Ninth Prince. Everyone present was his confidant. After he spoke, the others also agreed.
One by one, they expressed their desire to capture this person and bring him to justice for the Ninth Prince.
"Good, General Fan, your words are deeply in line with my wishes. If that item can be successfully recovered, I promise to promote you three ranks!"
Three ranks! That would be from a sixth-rank military officer to a third-rank! This was an honor beyond imagination.
Therefore, everyone present was eager to find this person!
Little did they know, the banknotes they were so concerned about were currently in General Su's hands!
General Su held the promissory note for one hundred thousand taels of gold and had a severe headache, completely unsure how to handle this hot potato.
In the room, the secret guards from the Ding Prince's mansion reported Shan Yan's awakening to him in full.
The urgent matter was to ensure Shan Yan received his due retribution! After everything was settled, they would deal with the banknotes.
So he stuffed the banknotes into a personal pouch. That pouch was impervious to water and could not be melted by fire, a treasure for protecting important items!
"Send word to the Prince about the banknotes and see how he wishes to deal with them!"
"Yes!"
One hundred thousand taels of gold, this was no small sum. To exaggerate, a small city could probably be built with that amount!
Therefore, General Su dared not make a decision on his own and could only let the Ding Prince decide!
After giving these instructions, they continued to set their trap.
Under the "escort" of the Ding Prince's mansion's secret guards, this former governor successfully slipped out of the governor's mansion.
But at this moment, he had no idea where to go!
Those who were usually close to him were either arrested or had cut ties with him. Going to them now would be like walking into a trap.
After much thought, he thought of a suitable place.
So he stooped and hunched, feigning the appearance of someone who often labored, and managed to deceive a few city guards.
"Where did he go?"
"The Chen family."
"I knew it, this guy is no good. The Chen family has no male heirs now, only Miss Chen is in charge of the entire family. It's inevitable that there will be loopholes. Hiding in the Chen family is a good choice."
General Su analyzed, but unfortunately, they knew nothing about the Chen family of Ganzhou.
Shan Yan's trip was completely like sending a sheep into a tiger's mouth!
The Chen family of Ganzhou, the world only knew that their family was full of learned scholars, but few knew that they were also skilled in mechanisms.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have moved out of Ganzhou in full force, leaving only this child to guard the house.
Therefore, as soon as Shan Yan stepped into the side door of the Chen family, he fell into a trap.
The more he struggled, the tighter he was bound. The rope binding him had sharp thorns that were now embedded in his flesh and could not be removed, causing him to cry out in pain.
The servants of the Chen family discovered this and immediately reported it to the young lady.
Without a word, they sent him and the mechanism to the governor's mansion!
The Ninth Prince was already worried about not finding the person, and now he was tied up and unable to move.
After laughing heartily three times, he walked towards the outer courtyard.
When Shan Yan saw the Ninth Prince, he still cried out that he was wronged!
Unfortunately, the Ninth Prince no longer bought his act. He looked at him with a cold smile and said, "Wronged?"
He gestured to the person beside him to show him the correspondence concerning colluding with the enemy and betraying the country, and said with great anger, "The evidence is conclusive, and you still dare to say you're wronged? You're truly tired of living! Come, bring on the torture! I want to see if your mouth is harder or my methods are harder!"
The generals who followed the Ninth Prince were not very good at fighting, but they were all experts at torturing prisoners!
So whips, steel needles, branding irons, hand and foot nails... everything was used.
Even after he was beaten to a pulp, he still couldn't reveal the whereabouts of the gold.