Chapter 20

The sun had gradually sunken into the west, and enveloped the sky in twilight. The red glow of the sunset and the various lanterns hanging on the street were shining in harmony side by side.

Li Luo protected the petite Liu Ruoyan from the crowd that collided with them by making the crowd disperse to the side. He was wearing a white robe edged in blue embroidered with gold blossoming lotus flowers. On his waist, he was wearing a dark blue half foot wide belt, which made his slender waist seem tough. He looked as if he was an elegant and beautiful gongzi [1] that came down from a painting.

From time to time, Liu Ruoyan stole glances at Li Luo from the corner of her eyes, her cheeks were slightly pink. For her convenience she also changed her clothes into an ordinary green robe. Even so, it still couldn’t dismiss her charming and lovable appearance of a daughter from a noble family. Seeing how Li Luo meticulously took care of her, she couldn’t help but feel excited. She was looking at whatever small toys she liked in the stalls and let Li Luo buy them for her.

Since it was he who agreed to come out with Liu Ruoyan, moreover today was her birthday, so naturally he couldn’t let Liu Ruoyan do the paying. When they came to the largest stalls selling lanterns in the city, Li Luo’s hands were already full of many things.

When Li Luo and Liu Ruoyan arrived at the lantern stalls, they saw a few people crowding the front of a stall that had attracted countless people’s gazes.

A man wearing a short coarse robe was holding a goldfish-style lantern in his hand. He was looking at the bowing peddler that had a polite smile on his face in front of him and angrily said, “Look at all the lanterns you sell, the work on this one is so rough. The patterns of the goldfish’s tail and scales were immediately opened when they were only slightly heated. It not only cost me twenty copper, but it was also not as good as the lotus flower lantern that I bought with fifteen copper at that old stall. ”

The peddler said in a polite manner, “Customer, our stall is having a sale tonight, all the lanterns are selling at the lowest price. If you are really dissatisfied with the lantern, then it can be returned. ”

Liu Ruoyan glanced at the lantern in the angry customer’s hand, her eyes immediately brightened. She quickly walked forward to the customer, “Big brother, where did you buy that lantern?”

The angry customer turned around and looked at Liu Ruoyan, then opened his mouth and said, “This little xiaojie [2], are you asking me where I bought this lotus flower lantern? It looks like you also have good insight. Don’t buy a lantern at this stall, even if it is the largest stall they cheat the customers. I bought this lotus flower lantern at the old stall in the street alley. That stall has more than ten years of history…”

The peddler at the side of this talking customer, couldn’t help but to have a bitter smile on his face. He had finally pulled that costumer into his stall. He had even introduced all of the products he had to that customer, while he welcomed him into his stall.

After Liu Ruoyan got the location of her favorite lantern’s stall, she took Li Luo right away to the place where the customer said to go.

Two people walked through the crowded streets, and turned into a corner of an alley where the customer had said the location of the old lantern stall was, and went inside the alley right away. Although this place from time to time still had people who passed while holding onto an exquisite lantern, but compared to the main street where the people walked shoulder to shoulder, it seemed very deserted.

At this time the sky was dark, the silver moon had exposed it’s figure from the west. Like a layered veil, it casted a hazy light that covered the land below.

The further they walked down the alley, the fewer people there were. When he saw a stall with two lanterns hanging outside from a distance, Li Luo faintly felt that something was wrong. He vigilantly got close to Liu Rouyan who was at his side, and made a protective posture, while he had also placed his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Li Luo leaned his body to one side, tightly grabbed the hilt of the sword in his hand, and quickly drew out the sharp longsword as fast as he could. His flexible waist twisted as he swung the longsword in his hands, and stabbed the dark shadow that quietly approached them from behind.

The dark shadow neatly avoided Li Luo’s sword by turning his waist over and then he jumped. He hooked both of his hands into a claw-like fashion and attacked Li Luo.

At this time, Liu Ruoyan had also found out something was wrong. She tried to place her hands onto her waist wanting to take out the pouch hanging there. Before she was able to, a small stone was shot from somewhere that hit her sleeping acupuncture point, which made her eyes close right away and she collapsed onto the ground.

When Li Luo heard a loud muffled sound from behind, his soul couldn’t help but shake a bit. The sword that he swung at the dark shadow had hit a pair of black gloves on the dark shadow’s hands, which immediately emitted a crisp sound.

The dark shadow took this opportunity to get close to Li Luo, he flipped his hands and swung his sword as he made a beautiful yet deadly arc that headed towards Li Luo. Li Luo dodged the attack and retreated. At this moment, his attention was occupied by the dark shadow in front of him, and he didn’t notice that he was quietly surrounded by two more dark shadows behind him.

By the time Li Luo found out about the two dark shadows behind him, he had already been hit on his sleeping acupuncture point.

After Li Luo collapsed, another two dark shadows had shown up from on top of a roof and came down. The five of them surrounded Li Luo and Liu Ruoyan on the ground. Five pairs of eyes looked at each other for a while, and then one of them squat down and threw Li Luo onto his shoulder then jumped on top of a roof.

The rest of the dark shadows looked at Liu Ruoyan who was lying down on the ground. They quickly moved Liu Ruoyan to the side of a wall and posed her into a drunken posture. Afterwards, the rest of the dark shadows simultaneously jumped onto the roof, and along with the black clothed man that was carrying Li Luo, they disappeared without a trace.

……

Qin Yu was only able to leave the study room when the moon had risen into mid-air. He took steps forward to quickly return to Li Luo and his sleeping quarters. His steps may have seemed slow, but in fact it was faster than twice the speed of the average person. However, tonight was different from usual, he didn’t see any lights on in their sleeping quarters.

Qin Yu’s lips that originally had a trace of shallow smile immediately became restrained. He quickly walked to the front door of the room, single-handedly pushed the door open and swept a glance inside. The inside of the room was dark and the quilt was neatly stacked in the foot of the bed, there is no one inside.

The smile on Qin Yu’s face completely disappeared, with a puzzled expression he frowned.

According to Li Luo’s past habits, at this time he would’ve already been inside the room long ago.

Why has he still not come back yet today?

Qin Yu left the room, he turned toward the location of the guards who were standing outside the residence.

Four soldiers who were standing on both sides of the residence door immediately formed a straight line after they saw Qin Yu had arrived. Qin Yu raised his hand to stop them when they wanted to salute, and then asked, “Did you see Deputy Chief Su?”

One of the soldiers answered, “Deputy Chief Su and Liu xiaojie [2] went out in the evening and haven’t come back yet. ”

He and Liu Ruoyan went out together? And haven’t come back yet?!

After he finished hearing the soldier’s words, Qin Yu’s face immediately darkened. He obviously told Li Luo that he was not allowed to have too much contact with Liu Ruoyan. He didn’t think that it wouldn’t take long before he would forget what he had promised him.