Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 94

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Shangjing is the capital

Chapter 94

The three people following them were assassins Zheng Yuan had hired at a high price.

Unlike the troublemaker Huang Yazi from before, these were hardened criminals with blood on their hands.

Seeing that the two ahead noticed them but didn’t run, instead standing as if waiting, the assassins felt puzzled. But they quickly dismissed the thought—after all, they were being paid to eliminate these two, and tonight, neither would escape alive.

The three drew out one-foot-long knives and charged at Zhao Beichuan and Lu Yao.

Lu Yao was startled, not expecting them to carry such deadly weapons.

“Watch out!”

Zhao Beichuan sidestepped the first attacker’s strike, snatched the knife from his hand, and kicked him with full force, sending him flying.

That kick used almost all of Zhao Beichuan’s strength, and the man lay motionless on the ground.

The other two were shocked, not expecting their opponent to be so strong. For a moment, they panicked but still summoned their courage and attacked Zhao Beichuan.

Although Zhao Beichuan had never formally trained in martial arts, his sheer strength caught the attackers off guard. However, the two assassins were well-trained fighters and quickly noticed Zhao Beichuan’s lack of skill.

They circled Zhao Beichuan and Lu Yao, feinting attacks and retreating to maintain distance, avoiding direct confrontation.

Knowing they couldn’t win a battle of strength, they planned to wear him down and find an opening for a sneak attack.

Lu Yao was so terrified his hands and feet turned cold. He had underestimated the situation, assuming these men were just like Huang Yazi’s group—causing trouble for a fight—but they were here to kill.

As the attackers’ feints became more frequent, Zhao Beichuan grew anxious. He wasn’t afraid of being hurt himself, but he feared Lu Yao would be injured. If this dragged on, they would both be doomed. Gritting his teeth, Zhao Beichuan suddenly lunged at one of the attackers.

This sudden movement left him exposed, and the other assassin seized the chance to slash at his back!

The sharp blade tore through his padded jacket, cutting into his flesh and scraping against the bone with a chilling sound. Blood gushed out instantly.

Lu Yao screamed in terror, “Help! Someone, help us!”

But Changshui Street was deserted, and even if anyone heard, they wouldn’t come to help. Most people would avoid such danger altogether.

—

Meanwhile, Lu Yi and Lu Shiliu were walking toward the distillery. Halfway there, Lu Shiliu suddenly remembered tomorrow was the start of November, and they hadn’t asked for the grocery money for the next ten days.

“Should we go back?”

Lu Yi, unwilling to make another trip, replied, “Go yourself if you want. I’m heading to the distillery.”

Lu Shiliu spat in annoyance. “No grocery money? Fine, everyone can just have porridge tomorrow.”

Reluctantly, Lu Yi followed him back toward the restaurant, only to find the door locked.

“I told you it’d be a wasted trip. We should’ve just waited until tomorrow,” Lu Yi grumbled.

“And what if the master doesn’t come tomorrow?”

“Then we’ll have millet porridge. No one’s going to starve.”

Angrily, Lu Shiliu turned to leave but suddenly stopped at the sound of shouting. Perking up his ears, he asked, “Doesn’t that sound like the master?”

Lu Yi shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything. Let’s just go.”

Feeling uneasy, Lu Shiliu walked a few steps toward the sound and heard another cry for help. This time, he was certain—it was their master! Without hesitation, he sprinted in the direction of the noise.

By then, Zhao Beichuan was locked in a standoff with the last attacker. Both held knives, neither daring to make the first move.

Blood from the wound on Zhao Beichuan’s back had soaked through his clothes, and he was feeling dizzy. Lu Yao continued shouting for help, hoping someone would come.

Desperate, the attacker decided to deal with Lu Yao first before finishing off Zhao Beichuan.

But just as he moved, someone rushed in from behind, smashing a brick against his head.

The attacker clutched his forehead and turned, only for Zhao Beichuan to slash his neck with the knife, leaving a deep gash. Blood sprayed all over Lu Shiliu.

“Ah! Ahhh!” Lu Shiliu collapsed in terror, his legs giving out beneath him.

With one assassin dead and the other two severely injured, Zhao Beichuan collapsed to the side as the danger subsided.

Lu Yao tried to catch him but wasn’t strong enough, ending up pinned under Zhao Beichuan.

“Come help!”

“Yes! Yes!” Lu Shiliu scrambled up and helped Zhao Beichuan to his feet.

“Are you the only one who came?”

“Lu Yi is here too! Lu Yi, get over here!”

Lu Yi, crouching by the restaurant door, hesitated before reluctantly approaching. Seeing the dead body on the ground, he yelped and fell onto his backside.

Frustrated, Lu Yao shouted, “Stop dawdling and help me get my husband to the doctor!”

Shaking, Lu Yi got to his feet and carried Zhao Beichuan on his back, rushing toward the nearby clinic.

Lu Yao pulled a key from his pocket and tossed it to the ground. “Lu Shiliu, tie up the two still alive and drag them into the shop!”

“Yes!” Gritting his teeth, Lu Shiliu grabbed a knife, tore strips of fabric from the dead man’s clothes, and bound the unconscious attackers. Then he dragged them to the shop’s backyard.

Not wanting to leave the corpse behind to cause trouble, he brought it back to the backyard as well, hiding it before anxiously waiting inside.

Meanwhile, Lu Yao and Lu Yi arrived at the clinic with Zhao Beichuan. By then, the clinic was already closed. Desperate, Lu Yao pounded on the door. “Doctor! Open up, quickly!”

After several minutes, footsteps approached from inside. “It’s late! Come back tomorrow!”

“I’ll pay you—just save him!”

The door creaked open, revealing a drowsy doctor. “Who’s injured?”

“My husband was slashed by bandits! He’s bleeding badly!”

“Ah! Bring him in!”

The doctor lit a lamp and directed them inside.

Lu Yi laid Zhao Beichuan on a bamboo couch and slumped against the wall, panting heavily.

Lu Yao wiped away his tears and sweat, holding Zhao Beichuan’s hand as he reassured him—and himself—“It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.”

The wound was on his back, slicing across his shoulder blade and stretching half a foot long.

The doctor cut away the fabric around the wound, revealing flesh turned outward, with bone visible at the deepest point.

“This is bad! Hold on, I’ll fetch needles and thread to stitch him up.”

Without modern anesthesia or antibiotics, such injuries were almost always fatal if they became infected.

Lu Yao suddenly remembered the liquor at their shop—while not as effective as medical-grade alcohol, it could still be used for disinfection.

“Lu Yi, stay here. I’m going back to the shop!”

“Ah… okay…” Lu Yi crouched beside Zhao Beichuan, his legs going numb from squatting but too afraid to stand.

Lu Yao sprinted back to the shop, startling Lu Shiliu when he burst inside.

“M-Master, you’re back!”

“Where are they?”

“Tied up in the backyard.”

“Good. Watch them and don’t let them escape!”

“Yes!”

Lu Yao picked up a jar of wine and hurried back to the clinic. When he arrived, the doctor was stitching up Zhao Beichuan’s wound. Without anesthetics or painkillers, Zhao Beichuan woke up from the pain.

His lips were pale, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his fists trembled slightly from the agony. Lu Yao glanced at him, and tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes.

Hatred sprouted in his heart, burning like a raging fire.

Who could hate him so much to try to kill him?

Several names flashed through his mind. First, he ruled out Jiang Ying. The two were in a mutually beneficial relationship now, so it was impossible for her to send assassins. Besides, if she wanted the recipe for the liquor, she could have simply had the prefect issue an order and detained him, forcing him to hand it over.

That left the All Blessings Tavern and Ya Zhai Ju.

Selling his wine to Golden Jade Pavilion was bound to affect All Blessings Tavern’s business. Cutting off someone’s livelihood was akin to killing their parents; the owner of All Blessings Tavern likely resented him deeply.

Then there was Ya Zhai Ju. Last time, they hired Huang Yazi to cause trouble. It wasn’t far-fetched to think they’d now escalate to murder.

Lu Yao had always believed that as long as he didn’t provoke these people, they wouldn’t harm him. But now he realized that retreating only emboldened them. If you took a step back, they’d take a mile. If you retreated further, they’d trample you underfoot like a soft persimmon.

At this moment, his mindset completely shifted. Instead of constantly retreating, it was better to take the initiative. Against such vicious fools, the best course was to strike them down so they could never recover.

The doctor finished stitching up the wound, and the bleeding gradually stopped.

Lu Yao asked for a clean cloth, soaked it in the wine, and began to clean Zhao Beichuan’s wound. The pain made Zhao Beichuan gasp sharply.

“Bear with it… It’ll be over soon.” Lu Yao’s hands trembled as he cleaned the wound twice, ensuring all the scabs were gone. Then the doctor sprinkled medicine on the wound and wrapped it tightly with linen.

“Make sure the wound stays dry. Change the dressing every three days. I’ll prescribe some herbal medicine to replenish his blood. Let him rest well and see how it goes.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Don’t thank me yet. His wound is deep. Tonight, he’ll definitely develop a fever. If it doesn’t subside… there’s nothing more I can do.”

Lu Yao bit his lip and nodded. “Understood.”

After taking the medicine and paying the silver, Lu Yi carried Zhao Beichuan home. At the house, Xiao Nian and Xiao Chun had been anxiously waiting. Xiao Nian had wanted to go out and search for them several times, but Xiao Chun stopped him.

“It’s so dark outside. What if sister-in-law and big brother are fine, but you two end up getting abducted? That would be even worse.”

The two waited at the gate, and when they heard Lu Yao’s familiar voice, they quickly ran to open it.

“Big brother! Sister-in-law, what happened to big brother?”

“Let’s go inside first.”

After bringing Zhao Beichuan into the house and laying him on the bed, Xiao Nian and Xiao Chun were shocked to see his blood-stained clothes, their faces turning pale.

“Lu Yi, go to the shop and stay there with Lu Shiliu. Keep an eye on those two men in the backyard. If they wake up, find out who sent them. Whoever gets the information will receive fifty taels of silver!”

Lu Yi’s eyes widened. “Yes!”

After he left, Lu Yao explained the situation to Xiao Nian and Xiao Chun. “On the way back, three men armed with knives ambushed us. Your big brother was injured protecting me.”

Xiao Nian wiped his tears. “Big brother… he’ll be okay, right?”

“He’ll be fine. As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to him.”

Seeing the blood on Lu Yao’s hands, Xiao Chun quickly fetched a basin of warm water.

“Sister-in-law, wash your face. Did the doctor prescribe medicine? I’ll prepare it.”

“I’ll help too,” Xiao Nian added.

Lu Yao handed them the medicine. “Go ahead. Boil one packet at a time, simmering it from two bowls of water down to one.”

The two went to the kitchen with the medicine. Lu Yao soaked a cloth in warm water and gently wiped Zhao Beichuan’s face. Due to the excessive blood loss, Zhao Beichuan was dazed. Though he could hear others speaking, he didn’t have the strength to open his eyes.

He sensed Lu Yao sitting beside him and tucking him in before drifting off into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, as expected, he developed a fever. Lu Yao continuously wiped his hands, feet, and underarms with warm water to reduce his temperature. By morning, his fever finally subsided.

Perhaps it was the wine used to disinfect the wound or Zhao Beichuan’s resilience, but the injury didn’t become infected. By noon, he was awake and even managed to drink two bowls of porridge.

Seeing that he was recovering, Lu Yao was relieved. He left Xiao Nian and Xiao Chun at home to take care of him and headed to the shop.

When he arrived, the two captured men had already woken up. Lu Shiliu and Lu Yi had been interrogating them using crude methods like slapping and beating them with sticks.

The two men were severely injured—one had broken ribs from Zhao Beichuan’s kick, and the other had been slashed. Despite their injuries, they were tough and refused to say a word.

Lu Yao walked up to one of them, grabbed his hair, and asked, “Who sent you to kill us?”

“Pah! I’ll never tell. Just give me a quick death.”

Lu Yao sneered coldly. “Quick death? You dared to attack my husband and expect mercy from me? Lu Yi, go boil a pot of water!”

“Yes, sir.”

Lu Yi lit the stove nearby and filled the pot with water. Before long, the water began to boil.

Lu Yao picked up a ladle, scooped out a ladleful of boiling water, and splashed it directly onto the two men. The scalding water instantly burned their skin, leaving blisters and eliciting screams of agony.

Beside him, Lu Yi and Lu Shiliu were stunned into silence. Previously, they had thought their master was mild-mannered and easygoing, but now they realized—this wasn’t a kindhearted man but a terrifying demon!

One ladle wasn’t enough to vent his anger. Lu Yao scooped a second ladle and poured it over them again.

One of the men, seeing Lu Yao readying for a third ladle, was terrified and shouted, “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! It was Qiu Laosan who paid us 200 taels to kill the steward of the Lu family eatery. He promised another 300 taels after the deed was done. Please, spare us! Have mercy!”

“Who is Qiu Laosan?” Lu Yao didn’t recall offending anyone by that name.

“Qiu Laosan is a middleman who takes on jobs for others. He can be found at Tian Family Gambling Hall on the 1st and 15th of every month.”

Lu Yao only partially believed them. The rest he decided to leave to the authorities.

He penned a letter and instructed Lu Shiliu to deliver it to the state governor’s office. The letter detailed the assassination attempt and the capture of the two assassins.

Madam Jiang quickly responded, sending a group of soldiers to the Lu family eatery. They took both the living and the dead assassins into custody.

—

The Lu family eatery remained closed for three consecutive days. While customers weren’t overly concerned, Zheng Yuan was nearly driven mad with anxiety.

There was no news from the three assassins he had sent. He hadn’t seen them alive or received confirmation of their deaths.

That evening, Zheng Yuan arrived at the back door of Quanfu Restaurant in a small sedan chair. After stepping down and confirming no one was around, he snuck inside.

“What are you doing here again?!” Feng Deyou’s face darkened as soon as he saw Zheng Yuan.

“I came to discuss our next steps.”

Feng Deyou felt deeply uneasy and hurriedly instructed his servants to lock the door. “Didn’t I tell you yesterday to stop coming here? If this gets exposed, how can either of us continue doing business?”

“I’m just feeling anxious.” Zheng Yuan paced back and forth. “Logically, sending three men to kill one little ger should have been foolproof. Why has there been no news?”

“How should I know?”

“I sent someone to inquire today. The Lu family eatery has been closed for three days. Even if Lu Yao survived, he’s likely clinging to life by a thread.”

“Then isn’t that a success?”

“But… why hasn’t anyone come to claim the remaining payment…”

Zheng Yuan’s anxiety drove him to seek out Feng Deyou, believing that since they had planned this together, neither could escape if things went wrong.

Feng Deyou, realizing Zheng Yuan wanted to drag him down, grew increasingly ruthless.

“Here’s the plan: you go back and wait. If there’s no news after three more days, we’ll figure out what to do together. As for the silver, don’t worry about it. If Qiu San hasn’t come for it yet, he’s probably been delayed by other matters and will likely show up in a day or two.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for now. If you hear anything, send someone to inform me.”

“Of course.”

As soon as Zheng Yuan left, Feng Deyou called for his trusted confidant. “We can’t let him live. Get rid of him cleanly and make sure no one finds out.”

“Yes, sir.”

—

On the fourth day after the assassination attempt, Qiu San was captured. He confessed that Zheng Yuan had hired him to commit the murder.

The authorities dispatched a team of soldiers to surround Yazhai Residence. However, Zheng Yuan was not at the eatery. The servants said their manager hadn’t shown up that morning.

The soldiers then proceeded to Zheng Yuan’s home, where they found him hanging from a beam, having taken his own life. A suicide note was left behind, detailing his jealousy of the Lu family eatery and how he had hired assassins out of spite. The letter made no mention of Quanfu Restaurant.

With both witness testimony and physical evidence in place, the case was closed.

After hearing the details from Madam Jiang, Lu Yao suppressed his doubts and resentment. He stood up, bowed, and said, “Thank you, Madam, for upholding justice!”

“No need for formalities. Please, have a seat. This ordeal must have been quite a shock.”

“Ah, I never expected something like this to happen. My husband was nearly killed by those thugs while protecting me…” Lu Yao took out a handkerchief and wiped his face, seven parts genuine grief and three parts acting, evoking Madam Jiang’s sympathy.

“Is he alright? Should I send my house physician to take a look?”

“Thank you, Madam. He’s been improving these past few days, though the physician says he’ll need time to fully recover.”

“Then take a couple of ginseng roots back to help with his recovery.”

Lu Yao noticed Madam Jiang refraining from mentioning Quanfu Restaurant and understood that the case would end here. Zheng Yuan’s death meant that, regardless of who the mastermind was, he alone would bear the blame.

Madam Jiang instructed a servant to package the ginseng. Casually, she remarked, “Yazhai Residence is vacant now. Aren’t you interested?”

Lu Yao quickly replied, “Madam, you overestimate me. The rent for that area must be exorbitant. We’re just small-time traders and couldn’t possibly afford it.”

Madam Jiang smiled but said nothing more.

Shortly after, her servant returned with a box. Lu Yao expressed his gratitude once again. “With so much going on at home, I won’t trouble you any longer.”

“Go ahead.”

Upon leaving the governor’s estate, Lu Yao’s expression darkened. Madam Jiang was clearly probing his ambitions.

Lu Yao was indeed interested in Yazhai Residence—it was in a prime location and spacious enough—but now wasn’t the right time.

Outside, Lu Shiliu and Lu Yi followed behind him without a word. After this incident, both men understood that their two masters were not to be trifled with.

Lu Shiliu had witnessed Zhao Beichuan wielding a blade against their attackers, while Lu Yi had seen Lu Yao scald the men with boiling water. Even with all the courage in the world, they wouldn’t dare entertain disloyal thoughts.

When they returned home, they found the “recovering and weakened” Zhao Beichuan feeding the mule in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Lu Yao quickly ran over. “Why are you out here? Does your wound still hurt?”

Zhao Beichuan looked energetic, though his face was still pale. “I’m fine. The wound just itches a bit.”

“You mustn’t scratch it. That’s a sign it’s healing.”

“How did it go?”

Lu Yao pulled him into the house and explained as they walked. “Zheng Yuan hanged himself. He left a note confessing his jealousy over our eatery and his decision to hire assassins.”

“What about Quanfu Restaurant?” In their private discussions, both had agreed it was unlikely that Yazhai Residence had acted alone. After all, their trouble coincided suspiciously with the rise of Lu Yao’s wine.

“Madam Jiang didn’t mention it, and I didn’t ask. With Zheng Yuan dead, there’s no evidence to follow. But Quanfu Restaurant is on my list.”

Seeing Lu Yao’s furrowed brows, Zhao Beichuan couldn’t help but chuckle. He reached out to ruffle Lu Yao’s hair.

“Alright, don’t be mad.”

Lu Yao grabbed his hand. “I’ve been thinking… We can’t just rely on Madam Jiang. If our interests ever conflict, she might turn on us.”

Zhao Beichuan’s smile faded as he considered the truth of Lu Yao’s words. With their current limited influence, were they destined to live in constant fear?

Lu Yao thought of one man—Prince Zhenbei.