The Chen household fell into complete chaos following a sudden, panicked shriek.
“Master, this is bad! The Chen family’s ancestors are gone!”
Chen Dayou, who hadn't slept a wink all night because of his injured son and daughter-in-law, couldn't process the servant's shouting for a moment.
He couldn't understand how his ancestors could possibly go missing.
“Master, your ancestors are gone!”
Seeing Chen Dayou staring blankly, the servant had no choice but to repeat himself.
Bam...
Chen Dayou suddenly leaped to his feet and kicked the servant.
“What nonsense are you spouting? How could our ancestors go missing?!”
Kicked to the ground, the servant didn't dare to protest. Though terrified, he braced himself and spoke in a low voice.
“Master, when I went to sweep the ancestral hall today, I found... I found...”
Chen Dayou’s eyes widened. “Found what?!”
“I found... I found that in the ancestral hall, all of the ancestors' tablets are gone.”
“What did you say?!”
Chen Dayou’s eyes bulged as the veins on his temples throbbed violently. He grabbed the servant by the collar.
“Your ancestors' tablets are gone...”
The moment the servant finished speaking, Chen Dayou felt a loud boom in his head. His vision blurred, and he nearly collapsed.
The servant quickly stepped forward to support him. “Master, are you alright?”
Slap!
Steadying himself, Chen Dayou spun around and delivered a stinging slap to the servant's face.
“Do I look like I'm alright?!”
With bloodshot eyes, Chen Dayou shoved the servant aside and stumbled frantically toward the ancestral hall.
The servant hung his head, his eyes burning with resentment.
Serves you right that your ancestors went missing. You never look at yourself to find the reason. You must have done too many bad deeds and are finally getting your karma...
Pushing open the doors of the ancestral hall, he saw that the altar where the tablets usually stood was completely bare. With a heavy thud, Chen Dayou fell to his knees.
“Ancestors! This unfilial descendant has let you suffer such a calamity...”
Thud...
Overcome with fury and anxiety, Chen Dayou fainted on the spot.
After another round of chaotic commotion, Chen Dayou slowly regained consciousness.
“Which godforsaken beast dared to steal my Chen family's ancestral tablets?! I will skin you alive and rip out your tendons!”
Madam Chen, her eyes red and swollen, tried to comfort him in a raspy voice. “Master, your health is what's important!”
“To hell with my health!”
Chen Dayou shoved Madam Chen away and roared in anger.
“Investigate! Investigate this for me! Go house to house! Do not spare a single household in the entire town!”
“Yes, Master.”
The butler complied and hurriedly rushed outside.
“Master! There's news! There's news of the ancestors!”
A moment later, the butler came trotting back inside, holding a torn piece of cloth.
Confused, Chen Dayou took the cloth from the butler.
The moment he saw the writing on it, he couldn't help but burst into furious cursing.
“You absolute beast!”
Looking at the contents of the letter, Chen Dayou's face turned livid as he trembled with rage.
“Master, what is it?”
Seeing Chen Dayou's extreme agitation, Madam Chen asked in concern.
Chen Dayou handed the torn cloth directly to her.
【Old Man Chen, prepare fifty thousand taels of gold and bring it to Wuzui Mountain outside of town today. Come alone.
Otherwise, I’ll give your ancestors’ tablets a nice bath in the latrine and toss them right at your front door...“
Reading the letter, Madam Chen also trembled with rage.
“This kidnapper is far too wicked...”
“Father, what do we do? Fifty thousand taels! And in gold! That’s more than half of our family fortune!”
At this moment, the eldest son, Chen Yu, who had also read the letter, couldn't help but cry out in shock.
Chen Dayou took a deep breath to calm himself down. With a sinister expression, he snorted coldly.
“Do they really think my money is that easy to take?”
He then looked up at his eldest son.
“After I make the trade, you take our men and capture those thieves immediately. If we don't have enough men, recruit some strong laborers from the town. I refuse to believe we can't handle this...”
“Understood.”
Chen Yu agreed and immediately went out to make the arrangements.
“Master, will everything be alright? That money was what we worked so hard to swindle out of that fool Lu Ming! Maybe we should...”
Before Madam Chen could finish, Chen Dayou cut her off with a freezing glare.
“If I don't ransom our ancestors' tablets back, how can I ever face them? What right will I have to meet them after I die?!”
“If those wicked thieves truly humiliate our ancestors' tablets, how will I, Chen Dayou, ever show my face in Peace Town again?!”
Hearing Chen Dayou's scolding, Madam Chen could only shut her mouth.
Thinking of her younger son and daughter-in-law still lying in bed recovering from their injuries, Madam Chen's tears began to flow uncontrollably.
Why has our household been so plagued with misfortune lately? Could it really be karma?
First, her son and daughter-in-law were caught in the crossfire of the immortals' battle for no reason.
Although their lives were saved for now, they were severely injured.
And now, their ancestors' tablets had been kidnapped.
She glanced at Chen Dayou's grim expression and ultimately chose to remain silent.
Wuzui Mountain was a small hill just outside Peace Town. It was neither high nor large.
This was precisely what gave Chen Dayou the confidence to have his son lead a group to take the ransom back.
As for whether the other party might be some kind of fierce bandits, Chen Dayou analyzed that it was absolutely impossible.
If they were fierce bandits, they would have just raided his home directly. Why would they go through the trouble of kidnapping ancestral tablets to extort money?
Chen Dayou drove the carriage all the way to the foot of Wuzui Mountain, only to find that there wasn't a single soul around.
“Hey! Is anyone there? Anyone?!”
After shouting several times without any response, Chen Dayou frowned. What’s going on?
Right then, his gaze locked onto a piece of torn cloth resting on a boulder.
“Old Man Chen, just leave the money here. Your ancestors are in the small woods outside of town. Go fetch them quickly before someone picks them up as firewood to burn...”
Cough, cough...
Seeing the contents of the letter, Chen Dayou was nearly driven to death by anger.
You damned thieves, just you wait...
Then, with his eyes flashing, Chen Dayou unhitched the horse from the carriage.
He swung himself onto the horse's back and galloped toward the woods outside of town.
He thought to himself, If I ride the horse away, it should buy me more time.
When he reached the intersection, Chen Dayou gave instructions to Chen Yu and the others who were already in ambush.
Once he retrieved the ancestral tablets, they would strike immediately.
After Chen Dayou left, two heads stealthily peeked out from behind a large boulder.
It was Lu Ming and Big Yellow, who had set everything up and arrived ahead of time. The man and dog quickly made their way to the carriage.
Lifting the carriage curtain, they saw several large chests. Opening one, they found it filled to the brim with gleaming gold ingots.
Opening another, they found it packed with sparkling silver ingots.
Lu Ming guessed that Chen Dayou probably didn't have enough gold, so he had made up the difference with silver.
“Big Yellow, we're rich... No, wait, we've simply reclaimed our own property...”
“Woof!”
Big Yellow nodded, its eyes sparkling. It would never have to go hungry again.
Without wasting any time, Lu Ming pulled the storage bag from his pants.
With a wave of his hand, he swept all the chests of gold and silver from the carriage into the bag.
As for whether it actually totaled fifty thousand taels, he couldn't be bothered to count.
After storing the treasure, Lu Ming stuffed the storage bag back into a hidden pocket in his pants.
...
Chen Dayou rode into the small woods and easily located the tablets. Opening the bundle, he found them completely undamaged.
While he couldn't help but sigh in relief, he was also burning with fury.
“Hmph... Anyone who dares to provoke my Chen family in Peace Town will pay with their life!”
He immediately lit a signal fire of wolf smoke.
Rate on N.U.
