Chapter 369: 369. High probability that the newcomer is not good

Translator: 549690339

The loss of a paper airplane during the day didn’t bother Zhengzheng. However, when he took a bath at night and, as usual, picked up a toy from the shelf beside his bed to play before sleep, he found something missing.

“Father, Mother, there’s a thief in our house!” Zhengzheng ran to the next room with a serious face, “The Little Fly No.3 Uncle MeiRen gave me is gone!”

He was referring to an airplane model. Gu Ling had given Zhengzheng three different airplane models, which were his favorite toys that could be disassembled and reassembled, named Little Fly No.1, Little Fly No.2, and Little Fly No.3. No.3 was the smallest, delicate and cute.

Lu Yu and Wan Hui went to Zhengzheng’s room and indeed found an empty spot on the shelf. The shelf had been custom-made, and the toys on it were almost all from Gu Ling.

Wan Hui frowned, “I didn’t go out today. If a thief really came in, their skills must be incredible.” Although Zhengzheng’s birth father Li San was dead and the Li family was no more, several well-paid martial artists were hired to guard the Wan family’s mansion in the capital city for safety reasons.

“What kind of thief only steals a small toy?” Lu Yu found the situation strange.

Zhengzheng furrowed his little brows, “During the day, I was at the restaurant with Grandpa Mu, and I also lost a paper-folded little Fly! I have to tell Uncle MeiRen!”

Lu Yu nodded, “Yes, you have to tell him. Tomorrow.”

The next day, when Zhengzheng visited Su Mansion, he told Gu Ling that his Little Fly No.3 had been stolen from his home.

“Are you sure it was lost yesterday?” Gu Ling’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Zhengzheng nodded, “Yes, I saw it the night before last.” He also mentioned the incident of losing a paper airplane yesterday.

When a paper airplane falls on the bustling main street, someone might pick it up, or someone might step on it and turn it into waste paper. But there was definitely something wrong with the things in Zhengzheng’s house being lost.

There were many valuable items in the Wan family, but instead, a wooden model was stolen… Gu Ling thought of the gray-clothed old man he saw a few days ago. If it was really related to the transmigrator, they would be interested in items with Su Liang’s previous life symbols, right? Breaking into Su Mansion would be too risky. Although there were guards in the Wan family, it was relatively less difficult for a master.

“Uncle MeiRen, who could have stolen my Little Fly?” Zhengzheng scratched his head, finding it very strange.

Gu Ling replied with a word, “Ghosts.”

Zhengzheng’s eyes widened suddenly, “Auntie said there are no ghosts in the world!”

“As an analogy. Thieves as elusive as ghosts.” Gu Ling rubbed Zhengzheng’s little head, “Let it go if it’s lost.”

“Can I have another one?” Zhengzheng knew that there were many toys in Gu Ling’s study.

“You can go and choose one.” Gu Ling nodded.

Zhengzheng ran into the study, looked around, and pointed to an exquisite steam train model, “Uncle MeiRen, can I have this?” Although he didn’t understand what it was, he thought it was very cute.

Gu Ling said he could, took it down, and gave it to Zhengzheng.

“What’s its name?” Zhengzheng asked.

Gu Ling casually said, “Little Fire.”

“Where’s the fire?” Zhengzheng was puzzled.

Gu Ling looked calm, “Burned, it can be firewood.”

Zhengzheng hugged his new toy and ran, “Uncle MeiRen, you better not have such wasteful thoughts!”

When Zhengzheng left Yuanming Pavilion with his new toy to find Old Mu, Gu Ling told Su Liang, who was reading a book in the pavilion by the lake, about Zhengzheng’s stolen Little Fly.

Su Liang immediately sensed something wrong, “Is it really one of my fellowtownsman secretly investigating and confirming me as a transmigrator?”

Gu Ling shook his head slightly, “If it was based on the Little Fly, I would be the transmigrator.”

“Yes, yes, you look more like it.” Su Liang said, “I don’t know the thief’s purpose, but he seems to be still in the city. We need to find him first.”

“I planted a bait.” Gu Ling was referring to the train model he had just given to Zhengzheng. If someone was watching Zhengzheng and was interested in the airplane, they would probably pay attention to the train as well.

“It might not work,” Su Liang said. What if the other party already obtained the information they wanted through the small plane and stopped watching Zhengzheng? But it was worth a try.

Gu Ling asked Lao Mu to take Zhengzheng out for a walk in the street, and the boy kept holding onto the train model. That was precisely what Gu Ling intended, to show it off to the unseen observer.

He didn’t regret revealing the strange objects to be seen. Because before Gu Ling regained his strength, someone had already been watching Su Liang, whose beauty and talents had astounded everyone after his weak and powerless departure from the capital city. If the two models caused the hidden people to mistake Gu Ling for a transmigrator, that was precisely what Gu Ling hoped for. No matter what the other party’s intentions were, if he could deceive them, he could gain more initiative.

That night, just before bedtime, Zhengzheng put the train model in the same spot where Little Fly No. 3 used to be, and called out, “Handsome uncle?”

Gu Ling appeared behind Zhengzheng, picked him up and put him in bed, then took out a medicine bottle, pulled out the stopper, and carefully sprinkled some powdery medicine on the train model.

Standing in bed, Zhengzheng curiously watched, “Will this catch the thief?”

Gu Ling nodded, “We’ll try. Go to sleep.”

As Zhengzheng turned over and lay down on the bed with his blankets tucked in, he said, “Are you going to sleep with me, handsome uncle? Let’s pull the bed curtains down and hide together!”

Gu Ling shook his head, “I’ll be here. You sleep first.”

“Thank you, handsome uncle!” Zhengzheng closed his eyes and obediently fell asleep.

About an hour later, the Wan family’s mansion was quiet.

A shadow climbed over the garden wall and entered the mansion, silently heading towards the main courtyard. Zhengzheng was young, and although he had his room, Lu Yu and Wan Hui were in the room next door.

Quietly prying open the window to Zhengzheng’s room, the shadow sneaked in and took out a luminous pearl. With the help of the soft light, they entered the inner room and stopped beside the shelf near the bed.

As the luminous pearl approached the train model, a hand reached out after a moment, picked up the train model, examined it for a moment, nodded slightly, and tucked it into his clothes. Then, they turned around and left the way they came in.

Crossing the garden once again, the shadow suddenly stumbled and scratched its hand, leaving a few bloody trails.

The shadow hesitated for a moment before speeding up their escape. Gu Ling descended from the sky before them, blocking their path.

The shadow knew they had fallen into a trap, and Gu Ling was counting down from five, waiting for the thief to fall.

Unexpectedly, as the shadow stuffed a pill into his mouth, he pulled something out of his bosom and threw it at Gu Ling!

Gu Ling’s expression changed as he caught a whiff of a faint smell of gunpowder in the air, and he immediately dodged to safety.

The explosion startled Zhengzheng, who jumped out of bed barefoot and ran into the adjoining room to find Lu Yu holding an anxious Wan Hui, both having been awakened.

“Was it thunder?” Zhengzheng furrowed his brows and touched Wan Hui’s bulging belly, “Don’t be scared little brother, it’s okay, handsome uncle will protect us.”

About fifteen minutes later, Gu Ling’s voice came from outside the door, “Zhengzheng?”

“Handsome uncle!” Zhengzheng’s eyes lit up, and he immediately ran to open the door.

When Lu Yu and Wan Hui came out after tidying up, they saw Gu Ling’s clothes stained with dust and didn’t know what had happened.

“Did handsome uncle catch the thief?” Zhengzheng asked.

Gu Ling shook his head, “No.” The other party had an antidote, and even if it could not completely neutralize the poison he had administered, it was enough for them to escape. He chased after, only to lose sight of them. What was unexpected was that the other party’s weapon turned out to be explosives.

Both Su Liang and Gu Ling had researched the explosive, but never thought about using it. This world itself had fireworks and firecrackers, and naturally, there were some craftsmen who knew how to make crude ones with relatively weaker power compared to the ones from Su Liang’s previous life.

However, the explosives used by the thief tonight were quite potent and portable. If Gu Ling hadn’t dodged in time, he would have been severely injured or killed.

“It’s alright.” Zhengzheng shook Gu Ling’s hand, “That jerk who stole my treasure won’t have a good ending!”

“What was that loud bang just now?” Lu Yu initially thought it was thunder, but later felt it wasn’t, as if it came from the direction of the garden.

“A thief causing trouble.” Gu Ling said.

Wan Hui’s face tightened, “What on earth is he trying to do?” If even Gu Ling’s carefully planned capture failed, it must have been a very tricky person.

“He stole things I made; he’s after me, not you,” Gu Ling explained.

Wan Hui sighed with relief, and then sighed again, “Then you and Su Liang should be more careful too.”

Gu Ling nodded, “You guys go to sleep. We will figure out a way to deal with it.”

After leaving the Wan family, Gu Ling checked on the situation in the garden. A large pit had been blown out of the ground, and a tree had fallen.

When he returned to the Su Mansion, Gu Ling went to the study to wash and change his clothes before entering the bedroom, careful not to wake Su Liang. But as soon as he got to the bedside, Su Liang woke up.

“I can’t sleep well without you.” Su Liang sat up, “How is it? Did you catch the person?”

Gu Ling shook his head, “He got away.”

Su Liang’s expression darkened, as Gu Ling failed to capture him even after making a move? How high must the Martial Arts skills be?

After listening to Gu Ling’s account, Su Liang felt a bit heavy in his heart, “He carries hand grenades with him?”

Noticing the airplane and train engine models, hand grenades as weapons, there was no doubt that it was a transmigrator.

“What does he want to do by stealing Zhengzheng’s toys? Why doesn’t he come directly to us?” Su Liang felt the matter was strange and couldn’t understand the suspected fellow transmigrator’s intentions.

Gu Ling shook his head, “Maybe he was sent by the transmigrators to investigate us.”

Su Liang pondered, “That’s possible. If he’s investigating, he needs evidence, and the toys you gave Zhengzheng are evidence. Now I suspect that the mysterious force behind Yue Mei might be related to the transmigrators, although there’s no evidence yet. But why didn’t he worry about you getting hurt when he blew you up with a hand grenade last night? If he’s just here to investigate.”

Gu Ling thought for a moment and said, “He’s probably still suspicious whether you or I are the transmigrator. The hand grenade was also a test to see if I recognized it and knew how to avoid it. If I didn’t know what it was, and grabbed it with my hand, it would show that I wasn’t the target he was looking for, and death would be in order.”

Su Liang’s face darkened slightly, “Damn it. It was probably the person who suddenly appeared and gave me a note back then. Now that we’re married, the person who’s watching me is starting to suspect both of us and came to investigate. I don’t know what he intends to do after finding out.”

“Let’s sleep.” Gu Ling shook his head, “The person investigating shouldn’t want to kill us directly; otherwise, there would be no need to investigate. Since he wants to avoid meeting us, he should not be the decision-maker. Let’s discuss it tomorrow.”

The next day, Gu Ling took Su Liang to the Wan Family to check the pit that had been blown out last night, and then Lu Yu ordered people to restore the garden to its original state.

On their way home from the Wan Family, they happened to run into Xing Ji and Qi Jiang, who had rushed back from Xuanbei City day and night.

Qi Jun, who was driving the carriage, saw the people riding horses from afar and was overjoyed, “Master, my father is back!”

Qi Jun stopped the carriage by the side of the road. Gu Ling lifted the curtain and saw Xing Ji riding his horse towards them.

“Ajun! Xiaoliang, Xiaogu!” Xing Ji was delighted to see them.

“Uncle, don’t dismount. You have to go to the palace to report first, right?” Su Liang smiled, “Come to our house for dinner tomorrow.”

Xing Ji nodded repeatedly, “Alright!” Today, he indeed had a lot of things to do. Firstly, he would go to the palace to see Duanmu Chen. He also wanted to visit his daughter, Xing Yuyan, and then hurry back home.

Qi Jun went to talk to his father, and when he turned around, he saw Gu Ling sitting in the coachman’s seat, picking up the reins, “Let’s go back. You accompany your father to the Marquis Mansion.”

Qi Jun knew Gu Ling and Su Liang’s personalities, so he didn’t bother being polite with them.

After Xing Ji and Qi family had left, Gu Ling drove the carriage, taking Su Liang home.

Somewhere hidden, a pair of eyes watched them until the carriage disappeared from sight.

In an alleyway in the capital city, the old man in grey clothes took out the sheepskin book from his pocket, and his bloodstained hand wrote with a charcoal pen, “Gu Ling had no noble air, personally drove the carriage.” The line above read, “Gu Ling recognized the hand grenade and dodged in time.” “Gu Ling had been eccentric since childhood, did not like to deal with people, and had an extremely distant relationship with his relatives.” “Gu Ling’s medical skills were excellent, and he went into the palace to treat Duanmu Yi with acupuncture.” And so on.

Xing Ji first met with Duanmu Chen and reported his duties. Then he apologized for the previous mistakes of Mrs. Miao and Xing Yuyan. After all, they were his wife and daughter, and he was to blame for not managing and teaching them well.

Duanmu Chen had no intention of dwelling on that matter and took the initiative to suggest that Xing Ji visit Xing Yuyan later. In contrast, Duanmu Chen was more concerned about Qiao Jing’s performance after arriving in Xuanbei City.

Although news of the incident in Xuanbei City had been sent earlier, and Situ Xieding now knew that he had been betrayed by Qiao Jing, Xing Ji, as an eyewitness, knew the details better.

Xing Ji elaborated to Duanmu Chen about what happened outside Xuanbei City that day.

After listening, Duanmu Chen showed satisfaction, “Not bad. I think King Yue of Liang Country will be gratified to know that he has raised a sensible grandson.”

This statement dripped with sarcasm.

After thanking Duanmu Chen, Xing Ji left the Imperial Study and went to see Xing Yuyan.

Upon seeing Xing Ji, Xing Yuyan burst into tears.

It took some time for her to settle her emotions. Then she began to complain about how wronged she was, saying that Duanmu Chen had neglected her, and his heart was now set on Situ Yao. Even the newly arrived Yan Imperial Concubine could not win his favor.

Xing Ji knew his daughter’s nature and, given her pregnancy, did not dare speak harshly. He only advised her to relax, taking care of the fetus and not to think too much. Giving birth to the child safely was the most important thing.

“Father, will you not lead troops anymore?” Xing Yuyan asked.

Xing Ji shook his head, “It depends on the situation and the emperor’s arrangement. It’s hard to say now. But for the time being, I don’t have to go. I’m lucky to be able to come back this time.”

“Can father come to see me often?” Xing Yuyan asked with teary eyes.

Xing Ji said it was inconvenient for him to enter the palace often, but he would ask the emperor for permission to let Old Lady Xing visit her more often.

After returning from the Wan family, Su Liang and Gu Ling made a decision. They needed to get some hand grenades too. Those with unknown intentions and acting secretly were treated as default enemies. Since the other party had such weapons, they must at least have something similar, or else they would be at a disadvantage.

Some things can be left unused but cannot be absent. Their existence as a deterrent would be useful when it is time to use them.

Gu Ling wouldn’t let Su Liang get involved. Su Liang had already taught Gu Ling everything he knew about this aspect, but they hadn’t put it into practice before because it was a bit risky.

That day they had prepared the necessary materials and tools, and Gu Ling planned to start making some to test the next day.

Before going to sleep, Su Liang was still thinking about the “fellow townsman” issue. “Great God, the transmigrator who has been targeting us without revealing themselves, could they be uninterested in the power of this world and want to go back?”

Gu Ling thought for a moment and said, “Or they might be hiding very deeply, and we haven’t discovered them.”

“Anyway, it’s now confirmed that in addition to the Liang and Yin countries, there is an even more mysterious and perhaps more powerful enemy targeting us.” Su Liang sighed faintly, then continued with renewed interest, “Assuming the other side really finds a way to travel back, I’d be quite interested, provided the other side is a friend and not an enemy.”

Seeing Gu Ling’s frown, Su Liang hurriedly said, “Of course, this is just a hypothetical possibility. I don’t want to go back without the Great God.”

“I think, most likely, they’re up to no good.” Gu Ling pictured the grey-clothed old man throwing a hand grenade at him. Those behind the scenes were hidden but had made such weapons, acting secretively, and vigilance was the best policy.

Su Liang agreed with Gu Ling’s judgment, “Then I wish the Great God success in his first explosion tomorrow.”