The square was crowded and noisy, one couldn't even hear their thoughts.
There was laughing talking, music, etc. Zhao Xing found a way to get to a less crowded place. . Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, someone tapped her shoulder, making her heart sink.
"Hey, it's me."
Brother Mo smiled.
"Aiya. You scared me to death." She looked behind him, it turned out that Brother Mo had followed her. "Where's Xiao Qi?"
"She left to attend to some other matters."
'Which other matters? She was clearly dodging being used again.'
Zhao Xing shrugged it off.
"Everything is going according to the plan."
Zhao Xing nodded. "What about the poison master?"
"Our men should have arrived."
Back at the inn.
The inn was relatively empty, this festival had attracted many people, and they would like to have a look even if just for the fun of it.
Old Man Su had let some of the workers go, and so it was just him and his receptionist left in the inn with a few guest.
"Old Su, outside is quite lively, I heard you let Xi Xi go with Sister Qi and the others, now we're the only ones left." The old receptionist sat behind the counter, and decided to engage Old Man Su in a conversation.
Old man Su was just passing by and turned to him, then scoffed. "We're old, isn't it normal that we're the ones left behind."
The receptionist smiled, "You're old, I'm not."
"If you're not you can go then, see if you don't die from a stampede."
The old receptionist laughed.
This town wasn't that big, and when festivals like these came, people would prefer to be in the streets than indoors.
"Aiya, Little Xi Xi has grown up now, that Old Su no longer worries about her going out."
"How can that be? She's still so young. I only let her because of Sister Qi." Old Man Su said.
"Is that so? You really look up to that lady don't you?" Old Man Su laughed when he heard this.
The receptionist continued, "If I hadn't known I would have thought she were your daughter."
The comment made the smile on Old Man Su's face fade a bit. The old man behind the counter knew he had said something wrong, and didn't speak further.
There was a bit of silence in the lobby. All they could hear were the noises from outside.
Something caught Old man Su's eyes. His brows creased. And he turned to look.
"Ahh…" There was a weak cry behind him.
When he turned back, his receptionist had a knife planted on his neck, a masked man in black held him hostage.
Old Man Su's eyes widened.
"Old Man Su, we just want to talk, please follow us." The masked man said.
Just then men clothed in black came rushing in and surrounded them. They were about ten in number.
Old Man Su's eyes narrowed. "It's you again. Why can't you just leave me alone?"
Recently, people had been coming to ask him to help them with poisoning. Before when he had been traveling around, it was because of his carelessness that he had let things slip when he was drunk, he was sure that was when some people found out, but he had already abandoned this for a long time now, and was never planning on returning to his old trade. But these people were persistent. They used all sorts of methods to make him agree. If he wasn't smart he didn't know what would have happened to him. Xi Xi had been with him at the time, but she had ran away and he spend most of his travelling looking for her. But he was thankful that during that period during which Xi Xi had run away, it turned out she had gone back to meet her distant relatives. If not he had no idea if they would go as far as involving his grandchild. He had to secretly bring her back, as not many knew he had a granddaughter. And he was sure they wouldn't easily find where he was, in this little town near the border. Who would have thought they still found his whereabouts.
The masked man didn't respond. The receptionist was scared witless, cold sweat had already wet his forehead. He could only stay put and try his best to avoid the knife from being pressed against his neck.
Old Man Su turned to look around, indeed they were the only ones. What about the guests that were still around.
"Old Man Su doesn't need to worry, people are either outside, or in deep sleep." Said the Man in black, as if reading his mind.
Old Man Su could only guess that the guests have been knocked out by them. He immediately got angry. "Even if you take me with you there is no use, whatever you want, I can't get it for you." He was suddenly very grateful he had sent Xi Xi out to play along with the rest. It would be catastrophic if his granddaughter had to witness such a scene.
"You won't know for sure whether or not you can help us until you come with us."
Old Man Su though annoyed, looked at his friend, then at the group of masked men, then sighed. This time they held someone hostage. Before they really didn't involve other people, and only targeted him. Well, he knew it was only a matter of time for them to do so.
"Fine, let's go."
Some of the men came to take hold of him, and took him away. But as they went he paused and looked back. "You should let go of him, it's not good for him to go through too much shock."
The masked man seemed to have smiled, as his eyes turned crescent. "You go, we'll release him when we're done discussing."
Old Man Su's face turned grim, but he said nothing and followed them in silence.
This time too many people were involved, his worker, the guests. If he made any errors he didn't know how far these people were willing to take things.
They blindfolded him and tied his hands, and so he couldn't tell where they were taking him.
"Where have you taken me?" When they arrived their destination, the only thing he knew was that they had gone by carriage, and they probably entered into a building, as he heard opening of doors, at last they made him sit and released his hands, when he realized his hands were free he quickly removed the blindfold. The room was dimly lit, but was neat, having all furniture in place.
"Old Man Su"
Someone called out his name.