Chapter 230: The Young Mistress Ran Away!

Su Zhao suddenly burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking as she covered her mouth. "I was teasing you. You actually took it seriously?"

Shao Pingbo smiled. "Say what you mean."

"You really want to hear it? I'm afraid you'll get angry if I say it. I've spent my life amid rouge and powder. What sort of man haven't I seen? When a woman tells a man an unpleasant truth and makes him lose face, men tend not to like it."

"Go ahead. I'm all ears."

The laughter gradually faded from Su Zhao's face. She said with a faint smile, "I don't know him, but I know you reasonably well. I'm not as clever as you, but perhaps a bystander sees things more clearly. Judging from what Old Shao told me, you lost from the very first time the two of you met. The man was already right under your nose. You had brought him to Beizhou yourself, yet you still let him escape. Have you never reflected on why?"

Shao Pingbo fell silent.

Su Zhao sighed. "When you first met, you were strangers with no grievance between you. Why did he run? Because the moment he saw you, he read you clearly enough to realize there was danger, and he decisively slipped away before it was too late. And you? He had already seen through you, yet you only realized something was wrong after he escaped. You understand perfectly well that there was a gap between you, but somewhere deep down you refuse to face it. You refuse to admit that you're inferior to him."

"The instant he escaped, he stirred up that children's rhyme to make trouble for you. It looked as though he failed to do anything to you, but that move was anything but simple. It isn't something an ordinary person could devise and execute so easily. He raised a storm out of nothing, and it came so fast and hard that it caught you completely unprepared. Fortunately, Uncle has always been a broad-minded man. Otherwise, ask yourself honestly: could you have passed that ordeal so smoothly? You would probably have exhausted yourself just trying to manage your relationship with him."

"True, you immediately struck back at him in retaliation. But what did it accomplish? Nothing. You got the entire Song family exterminated, handed him manpower from several sects besides, and even gave him the chance to lay a trap for you. And you walked straight into it!"

"You fell into his trap not because you aren't clever, but because he had already read you from the very beginning. He knows what you're thinking. He calculates his moves around your own thoughts. How are you supposed to play against him like that? This time you escaped disaster only by luck. If Madam Ruan and her sons hadn't been stupid enough to create an accident and let the news reach you early, giving you a loophole to exploit, would you and I still have the chance to stand here talking? Was this painful lesson still not enough to wake you up?"

Shao Pingbo's cheeks tightened.

Still wrapped in her cloak, Su Zhao paced to the ventilation window. With her back to him, she looked toward the light outside. "I hear he's very young, only in his early twenties?"

Shao Pingbo answered gloomily, "Yes. About that age. He really is very young."

Su Zhao clicked her tongue and shook her head. "I used to think you were already among the cleverest men beneath Heaven. Who would have expected someone in his early twenties to appear, almost ten years younger than you, yet still able to keep you suppressed? At that age, if you tell me he's clever, I can believe it. But for him to employ methods this seasoned and ruthless as well? If you told me he had never weathered storms before, I truly wouldn't believe you. Yet the facts are right there. I have no choice but to believe it. It seems there really are geniuses in this world!"

She turned and faced him, her tone becoming one of earnest advice. "Judging from what Old Shao told me, you hardly understand him at all. You know only that he's not simple. Yet by now he's already taken your pulse with remarkable accuracy. How are you supposed to keep playing this game? If you continue like this, sooner or later you're going to suffer another major loss."

Shao Pingbo asked, "You mean I should let him go?"

Su Zhao said, "I don't mean let him go. Pingbo, your state of mind is wrong right now. He's already angered you. You need to calm yourself down and stop tangling with him like this. He has your pulse in his hand. The more you do, the more openings you give him to exploit. Step outside the struggle for a while, calm down, and observe him. There's never anything wrong with knowing yourself and knowing your enemy. You can't keep stumbling around in self-satisfaction and confusion. So long as you don't move, I don't believe he has any way to deal with you right now either."

Shao Pingbo said coldly, "You think he'll stop?"

Su Zhao replied, "I refuse to believe he dares force his way into Beizhou Prefectural Capital to kill you! If he turtles up and refuses to come out, I can't do anything to him. If he dares show himself, I'll deal with him for you!"

"You'll deal with him?" Shao Pingbo frowned.

Su Zhao sighed. "Haven't you noticed yet? His methods are sophisticated, and he's very good at this kind of contest. Why insist on meeting his strength head-on? To deal with a man like this, keep it simple. Aim at his weakness. His cultivation isn't high enough, and his martial strength is poor, so use force directly. Don't move until there's an opportunity. The moment one appears, kill him outright. There's no need to weave some elaborate scheme around him. If we keep circling one another like this, sooner or later we'll tie ourselves in knots instead!"

Shao Pingbo hesitated. "You intend to use people from your organization? Is that appropriate? If something goes wrong, you won't be able to answer to them. Don't lose the greater for the lesser."

Su Zhao said, "I know how far I can go. What matters most for you is that once you survive this present crisis, you put your energy back into your own affairs. What you're doing is important. Is it worth jeopardizing all of Beizhou just to play endlessly with him? You command an entire Beizhou while he has a mere two commanderies. Is he really the one losing out here, or are you the fool?"

"Besides, he's a cultivator. He doesn't have to concern himself with the mundane affairs of those two commanderies and has all the energy in the world to play with you. If he creates a disaster, he can abandon the two commanderies and run whenever he wants. If you create a disaster, can you throw away Beizhou and run? Without Beizhou, who would take you seriously? The levels you're operating on aren't equal at all! If you truly keep indulging him, I'm afraid you'll be playing right into his hands... Pingbo, cultivator affairs should be settled by cultivators, in a cultivator's way. Leave this to me. Stay out of it!"

Those words finally woke Shao Pingbo up. Looking back over everything, he realized something truly had gone wrong. Was it worth throwing the entire situation in Beizhou into this state for the sake of one Niu Youdao? If he had not been obsessed with dealing with Niu Youdao, how could Niu Youdao have seized the opportunity to wreak this much havoc here? Beizhou itself had nearly been brought to collapse.

After some thought, Shao Pingbo nodded. "All right. I don't expect anything from Dachan Mountain on this matter. The two sides are far apart and have no conflict of interests, so they won't rashly go to war with Tianyu Sect. I'll leave Niu Youdao to you. But Sister Zhao, don't let this interfere with your own affairs."

"Don't worry. I'm not as impatient as you are. We'll strike when an opportunity appears. You don't think I'm personally going to run all the way to Qingshan Commandery, do you? All right. Since you've thought it through, enough about this. I'll decide how to handle it." Su Zhao waved a hand, ending the subject, then asked, "What about things on your side? I hear you've been tightening belts and cutting expenses, trying to ban extravagant habits. What is it? Short of money? You can use the money I've saved over the years for now."

Shao Pingbo shook his head. "That money can't be touched. Once matters here are straightened out, we'll need enormous funds to purchase warhorses. Dachan Mountain is also expanding the sect's strength and continually recruiting disciples. They've been reaching their hands out toward us all along, while I've been crying poverty to them just as long. That's simply the reality. We can't manage without them. If you suddenly throw a sum of money my way and they see that we have funds, they'll inevitably reach out again. Can I refuse them? Once they take the lion's share, how much would actually remain for Beizhou?"

Su Zhao nodded. "That's true."

With one worry set aside, Shao Pingbo's thoughts finally shifted to other serious matters. "By the way, what happened with that Linghu Qiu you mentioned last time?"

Su Zhao's elegant brows drew together. "I did make contact with him, but he's difficult. Although he's an independent cultivator, he's a famous broker in the cultivation world. He's good at making friends and has an extremely broad network. He has no real faction of his own, but very few people dare offend him casually. He lives freely and has no desire to attach himself to any power. Recruiting him would be very difficult. I tested the waters, and it seems almost impossible."

Shao Pingbo said, "It's precisely his network that interests me. It would be extremely useful."

Su Zhao sighed. "I'll think of another way."

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside. Shao Sansheng rushed into the cell, his face anxious. "Eldest Young Master, something's wrong. There's been trouble."

Seeing him like this again, Shao Pingbo's heart sank with him.

Su Zhao frowned. "What happened that has you this frantic?"

Shao Sansheng said urgently, "Young Mistress Liuer has run away!"

Su Zhao froze, not quite understanding the situation.

Shao Pingbo's voice sank. "With that many people watching her, were they all blind and deaf?"

Shao Sansheng stamped his foot. "Young Mistress tricked them. She called everyone watching her over to eat, then poisoned the food and killed every servant assigned to keep watch on her! The nearby guards noticed that none of the servants had appeared for a long time and thought something was wrong. They went over to check, and only then discovered what had happened."

In truth, what Lu Shengzhong had supplied was not knockout powder at all, but a poison whose symptoms resembled it. He had worried the drug might not be strong enough and that a servant waking too soon would ruin the plan. To gain as much time as possible, he deceived both Tan Yaoxian and Shao Liuer and gave them poison potent enough to kill. Once those servants went down, they would never wake again.

Su Zhao was left speechless. She instinctively looked at Shao Pingbo. The elder brother had only just caused a disaster through poisoning, and now the younger sister had followed with the same move. They truly were siblings: equally decisive, equally ruthless!

Shao Pingbo had thought of the same thing. His cheek twitched sharply. "Where did she get the poison? Are you certain she ran away herself and wasn't taken out under duress?"

Shao Sansheng said, "The matter has already alarmed the Inspector. Once they started questioning people, they learned that an unfamiliar-looking servant really did leave through the side gate carrying an exit token. When the guards there thought back over it after hearing what happened, they realized the servant really did look somewhat like Young Mistress in disguise. The guards have already confirmed that only one person left. No one was holding her under duress! As for the poison, we truly don't know where Young Mistress obtained it."

"What are those guards being fed for?" Shao Pingbo erupted in fury. He immediately clenched a fist and began coughing. His face tightened as he closed his eyes, forced his breathing under control, then slowly let out a long breath. When he opened his eyes again, he gritted his teeth. "There's no one else who could make her do something like this and sneak away. Tan Yaoxian! Send men to his house immediately!"

"All right!" Shao Sansheng turned to leave.

"Wait!" Shao Pingbo called him back.

Shao Sansheng stopped and looked over his shoulder.

Shao Pingbo's expression shifted uncertainly. "No need. Going to the Tan residence would be pointless. They should already be out of the city. That girl may be immature, but she wouldn't run away at a time like this without some reason. Someone must have lured her out, and nine times out of ten the bait was Tan Yaoxian... Tan himself doesn't have the mind for something like this. There's someone behind him. I should have killed that Tan long ago and eliminated the future trouble. One moment of softness gave someone an opening!"

Su Zhao asked gravely, "Who lured her out?"

Shao Pingbo stared at her and gave a succession of cold laughs. "I told you he wouldn't stop so easily."

Su Zhao's expression changed sharply. She blurted, "Niu Youdao?"

"Who else could it..." Shao Pingbo suddenly broke into violent coughing. He doubled over until his body curved like a shrimp, his face flushing deep red.

Su Zhao and Shao Sansheng hurried forward to support him. When Shao Pingbo opened his hand, another vivid smear of red blood stained his palm.

[End of Chapter 230]