CHAPTER 598: CHAPTER 598: SURROUNDED THE GUO FAMILY

"Slow down." The Emperor stroked the Jade Pendant on his waist and spoke slowly, "Hu Miaomiao, Guo Neng and his lackeys are now your responsibility; I want Guo Neng alive."

He wished the man to confess his crimes and receive his punishment in person, else the grudge harbored by his Little Concubine’s family would remain unresolved.

Light gleamed in Hu Miaomiao’s eyes. To her understanding of His Majesty’s words, as long as Guo Neng was alive, the rest of his henchmen and lackeys could be dealt with as seen fit.

"His Majesty is wise!" His face broke into a jubilant smile, barely containing himself, he said, "Does this servant depart now?"

Chen Fa tasted bitterness in his mouth; this task should have belonged to the Internal Guard Bureau, presumably one of the reasons His Majesty had summoned him late at night, but unexpectedly, due to his own words, he had lost the task.

He had brought shame upon their Ancestral Master...

The Emperor did not reply to Hu Miaomiao but instead re-evaluated Chen Fa, causing his heart to sour and cold sweat to bead on his forehead.

After a few glances, the Emperor turned his back to him and said, "Chen Fa, tonight you will cooperate with Hu Miaomiao, lead your troops to surround the Guo residence, and capture all members of the Guo family and imprison them before dawn. If the task is not handled effectively, when your Ancestral Master returns, you will seek his judgment."

Chen Fa rejoiced; this was an opportunity for him. He promptly responded, "Yes, your servant shall not disgrace His Majesty’s mission."

The Emperor waved his hand, "Do not delay, go now."

Hu Miaomiao and Chen Fa responded simultaneously and immediately headed toward the exit of the hall.

In the hall remained only the unnoticeable Shadow Guard brought by Hu Miaomiao.

The Emperor walked back to his throne and sat silently for a moment, then asked with a light, nostalgic tone, "The He family boy, what is his name?"

The Shadow Guard stepped out from the shadows, "He Hao."

The Emperor fiddled with the little Lotus Jade Pendant in his hand, lost in thought.

After a while, he said, "Prepare a room, bring him over, I want to see him."

He always listened to her reminisce about her childhood with a tone both proud and nostalgic, regretting that he had never witnessed the playful mischief of his Little Concubine.

He wanted to see, the man who always thought about bullying his Little Concubine, yet was always suppressed by her, what he actually looked like, where the audacity to even think about bullying his Little Concubine came from, even if it was in the past, it was not acceptable.

Meanwhile, in the Guo family’s dungeon.

Uncle Ma, his body torn and lacerated, his flesh blurred with blood, weakly said, "Son of a bitch without an asshole, none of you will end well..." His eyes rolled back as he passed out from the pain.

A man in the cell said, "Bring half a bucket more of saltwater, splash it on this old goods to wake him up."

"No need." Guo Shun glanced darkly at Uncle Ma, dropped the branding iron in his hand, and walked away.

This old thief was stubbornly resilient, no matter the torture, he would not disclose the whereabouts of the remnants; either holding tight even at death’s door or starting to curse, his resolve was stronger than that of a Dead Soldier.

There was no more time, if they lingered here and the old thief didn’t die, perhaps those men in black would arrive.

Guo Shun strode out of the dungeon, his aura deadly.

A Dead Soldier asked in a low voice behind him, "If we can’t find the young master, what do we do?"

Guo Shun, expressionless, turned and said to the two men, "The three of us will split up and guard the main roads. If you see the young master’s carriage, immediately escort it away, and make no stops."

At this point, they could only rely on such a primitive method. Command the fools sent by the stewards to come back, lest they give away any clues.

They would personally hide at the key intersections, waiting for the young master’s carriage to return, also keeping an eye on the surroundings to be the first to know if anything was amiss.

The two men nodded at the words.

Three people immediately split into three groups, running towards several gates of the Guo residence.

Guo Shun was both tired and hungry, and also had injuries on his body. He didn’t care much at the moment, as he passed a maid, he directly grabbed the food from her tray and stuffed it into his mouth, which made the maid both angry and jumping, yelling that she would complain and that the housekeeper would not let him off.

As for the rest of the Guo family, Guo Shun did not care about them at all. He was trained by the grandfather of Guo Neng, the previous master of the Guo family, to stay by Guo Neng’s side and work for him, obeying only Guo Neng and loyal only to Guo Neng.

As Guo Shun and others left the Guo residence and guarded the main roads leading to the Guo family, in the darkness, a group from the palace moved as fast as the wind, with only the rustling sound of footsteps on the streets.

Hu Miaomiao and Chen Fa had already memorized the map of the area around the Guo residence.

The two set a strategy for Hu Miaomiao to lead the highly skilled Shadow Guards quietly into the Guo residence, heading straight for Guo Neng to prevent anyone from escaping in the chaos.

Personnel from the Internal Guard Bureau were stationed around the perimeter of the Guo residence. After Hu Miaomiao had been inside for the time it takes to brew half a pot of tea, they would send people to charge in and capture every member of the Guo family.

The Guo family estate was not far from the Imperial Palace; it would only take two to three quarters of an hour to reach!

Direction southwest of the Capital.

Lian Wanzhen held an iron rod in his hand and felt an itch all over, eager to find someone to practice with. However, no one here wanted to practice with him, and whoever he looked at avoided him, all hiding from him.

This iron rod was specially made for him by Xiao Bao.

He squatted despondently next to an abandoned stone trough, bored and said, "If only Qian Chen were here."

They were currently in an abandoned residence, with someone on lookout at the entrance.

Lian Bao, looking through the broken door seam, heard this and walked over somewhat helplessly, saying, "Brother, practice with Qian Chen after tomorrow, he has urgent matters to attend to right now."

"Xiao Bao, I know, I was just saying," Lian Wanzhen replied.

He knew that Qian Chen had gone off with that damned lackey to prevent him from playing tricks.

Qian Chen was good at light-footed skills, so it was best for him to go.

However, he had also helped out on this trip.

Thinking of this, Lian Wanzhen was happy and turned to ask Lian Bao, "Xiao Bao, was the move I just made impressive?"

Lian Bao couldn’t help but smile, "Mm, Brother’s martial arts have always been excellent."

This was true, as Lian Wanzhen had little interest in studying from a young age but was most interested in martial arts and fighting, overflowing with energy, hardly fitting the typical Lian family member.

Well... It can’t really be said that way, the youngest sister in the Lian family also had a lot of energy, but she was still far behind Lian Wanzhen.

Lian Wanzhen had so much energy that he never slept in; from the moment he woke up in the morning, he couldn’t sit still for a moment.

He was always stirring up trouble, jumping here and there, and could turn the Lian household upside down even at a young age.

Later, when he attended school, he couldn’t be controlled there either, and Lian Wanzhen simply could not sit still, always driving the school teacher to thunderous rage and since he really wasn’t cut out for studying, he was eventually sent back by the school.

Their mother, Su Ran, really had no solution, seeing that Lian Wanzhen had so much unchannelled energy, which was only forming liabilities. So, she asked him what he wanted to learn.

Lian Wanzhen was straightforward from a young age and frankly stated that he wanted to learn something that could make him better at fighting.

Hearing this, Su Ran was so annoyed she got a headache, but eventually made an agreement with him, setting rules that he should not bully others using his skills and must not harm the innocent, etc., and then she let him learn martial arts.

This suited him well, and he motivatedly got up to practice his skills every day before dawn.