Chapter 135 Lure the snake out of its hole
That afternoon, the news from the Donghai Teahouse reached Luo Tianjin's ears.

But in order to avoid suspicion from outsiders, Luo Tianjin pretended to be calm and entertained guests from all directions until dusk. He found an excuse to leave the banquet and secretly summoned Ling Xiaoxiao, Xie Xuan, Deng Changchuan, Su Tang, and Luo Qi to his study to discuss matters.

In the study, Luo Tianjin looked at the others calmly and said, "I'm sure you've heard about the incident at the Donghai Teahouse. What should we do now? Should we save Liu Xunyi and the others or not?"

Ling Xiaoxiao said softly, "Brother Jin, you have been avoiding the people in the General's Mansion these days, just to avoid Wang Xutong, so that he won't ask about your marriage. What happened in the East Sea Tea House today was clearly a trap set by Wang Xutong to lure you out. If you go to the General's Mansion in person, Wang Xutong will definitely take the opportunity to urge you to get married. How will you answer then? You have been delaying it again and again, you can't make excuses this time, right?"

Luo Tianjin nodded meaningfully and said, "Madam is right. If I go tonight, Wang Xutong will definitely ask about the marriage. If I agree to him, it will ruin Yu'er's life. If I don't agree, I'm afraid Wang Xutong will not let me leave the general's mansion easily."

"Or... I should arrange for the three disciples to go to the vicinity of the general's mansion and wait for orders?" Deng Changchuan asked tentatively, but before he finished his words, Ling Xiaoxiao immediately responded with a complaining look, which made Deng Changchuan stunned.

Ling Xiaoxiao said: "If we really wanted to break up with the General's Mansion, why would Brother Jin hesitate so much? Why did we have to wait until today?"

"I wonder what Madam means..."

Ling Xiaoxiao sighed and said, "I know that we should treat all disciples of Xianwang Mansion equally and try our best to save anyone who is in trouble. But now... it concerns my daughter's lifelong happiness and the stability of Xianwang Mansion, so I have to be cautious again and again. So what I mean is... Brother Jin can't take risks."

"Hiss!" When these words were spoken, everyone took a deep breath, but no one directly refuted.

Luo Qi hesitated and said, "Madam, do you mean... to give up Liu Xunyi and the others? Let them accept their fate?"

"We should always put the overall situation first. What's wrong with that?" Ling Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrows and asked back.

Luo Qi smiled bitterly and said, "It is indeed inappropriate to put the overall situation first. However... Liu Xunyi, Zhang Fu, Wang Shou, Li Kang, and Zhao Ning are working for the Xianwang Mansion. Now they have been captured by the General's Mansion. If we do nothing to save them, I am afraid that if it gets out... it will be disgraceful."

Su Tang nodded and said, "Yes, if the Xianwang Mansion cannot protect them, it will definitely chill the hearts of other disciples."

"I have to ask you about this!" Xie Xuan's face suddenly darkened, and he said angrily, "Why did they appear in the East Sea Teahouse? The mansion master once specifically instructed that all errands in the mansion must not be assigned to Liu Xunyi. How dare you disobey orders? And you sent him out without informing the mansion master. You are such a jerk!"

Upon hearing this, Su Tang and Luo Qi's faces changed at the same time. They quickly knelt on the ground and apologized to Luo Tianjin: "We acted on our own, please punish us, Lord!"

"Get up!" Luo Tianjin waved his hand absentmindedly, with a gloomy look between his brows, and said lightly, "It has already happened, there is no point in saying more. The most urgent task is to find a way to solve it."

"Palace Master." Xie Xuan bowed and said, "I agree with Madam's proposal. Liu Xunyi and the others are certainly working for the palace, but they must not lose sight of the greater good because of the small. According to the palace rules, all disciples of the Xianwang Palace must sacrifice the greater good and sacrifice their lives for justice when their actions go against the overall situation."

"This is only the rule for disciples of the lower three sects..."

"It should also be the rule for all Xianwang Mansion disciples." Before Deng Changchuan could open his mouth to remind him, Xie Xuan had already spoken decisively, "As far as the current situation is concerned, compared with the young lady's lifelong happiness and the safety of Xianwang Mansion, the life and death of Liu Xunyi and others is undoubtedly a trivial matter. Since they are Xianwang Mansion disciples, they should have expected this day to come. They should also have been prepared long ago, ready to give everything for Xianwang Mansion at any time, even... their own lives."

Luo Qi said, "But the teahouse owner said that Liu Xunyi could have fought his way out and escaped, but he was willing to be captured in order to save the four people of 'Fu Shou Kang Ning'. Such a young man with a sense of loyalty and righteousness is extremely rare in today's martial arts world. Does the mansion master really want to give up this promising talent?"

Luo Qi's words made Luo Tianjin's eyes flash with hesitation. He seemed to be talking to himself, and said quietly: "Who wouldn't love the jade from Jingshan?"

"Luo Qi, how can you be sure that he is a promising talent?" Xie Xuan asked in a deep voice, "How much do you know about Liu Xunyi's background? Perhaps he is not only not the jade of Jingshan, but also a thorn in the eyes and flesh of the Xianwang Mansion!"

Luo Qi and Su Tang were both stunned. Luo Qi hurriedly asked, "What do you mean? Isn't Liu Xunyi a disciple of our Xianwang Mansion?"

"He has only been in the Xianwang Mansion for a few months. How do you know if he is truly loyal?" Xie Xuan said in a deep voice. After that, he turned to look at Luo Tianjin and said seriously, "Has the Mansion Master forgotten about the 'Wind and Rain Picture'? He dared to deceive the Mansion Master with a fake, which shows that this boy has bad intentions. Why not take this opportunity to use the Mongols to... get rid of this hidden danger!"

"This..." Su Tang and Luo Qi became more and more confused, but at the same time they guessed that there must be some hidden story that they didn't know, so they didn't insist on pleading for Liu Xunyi.

"Liu Xunyi used a fake picture to deceive me. This really made me very angry." Luo Tianjin nodded, and then he changed the subject and said, "However, the journey to the Western Region is treacherous and changeable. Liu Xunyi is very likely to be kept in the dark. I can't just guess and send him to an irretrievable place. As for his background... we have to wait for Jiang Yiwei to come back from Jiangling to know. Before that, no one can make a conclusion as to whether Liu Xunyi is a human or a ghost."

Ling Xiaoxiao frowned and asked meaningfully, "From what Brother Jin said, it seems that he doesn't want to give up Liu Xunyi?"

"He did a good job in Yingchuan, not to mention that Mr. Pan Ba ​​is..." Luo Tianjin stopped talking halfway. Then, under the curious gazes of everyone, he smiled slightly and evaded the question, "I just value talent."

"Brother Jin only thinks about Liu Xunyi. Don't you have our daughter and the Xianwang Mansion in your heart?" Ling Xiaoxiao complained unhappily, "If you go to the general's mansion to save people, how will you deal with Wang Xutong's forced marriage?"

"This..." Luo Tianjin was speechless after being told so by Ling Xiaoxiao. Deng Changchuan sighed, and suddenly a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he hurriedly asked, "Does Mr. Lin Fang know about this?"

"I don't know yet." Su Tang replied, "He is now outside the city to pick up and drop off guests. He will not be back in three to five days."

Deng Changchuan nodded and said, "It's better not to know. Lin Fangda and Liu Xunyi are sworn brothers, and 'Fu Shou Kang Ning' is his confidant who he cultivated. If he knew about this, I don't know what stupid things this hot-tempered man would do."

"Miss...Miss, you can't go in...The mansion master and his men have important matters to discuss, and have ordered that no one is allowed to disturb...Hey! Miss..."

"Get out of here! If you don't get out of here, I'll be ruthless!"

Suddenly, there was a chaotic and noisy noise outside the study. Then several servants were heard begging with an embarrassed tone, but Luo Ningyu acted willfully without any scruples and rushed straight to the study.

"Miss... little..."

"Oh!"

Before he finished speaking, the door was pushed open. Luo Ningyu, with anxious eyes, rushed into the study first, followed by three or four servants with bitter, frightened and scared faces.

"Dad, Xunyi and 'Fushou Kangning' were captured by the Mongols, and they said they would be executed before dawn tomorrow. Did you know about this?"

As soon as she entered the door, Luo Ningyu went straight to the point without even bothering to say hello.

Luo Tianjin frowned, waved his hand to signal the servants to leave, and then asked with a little displeasure: "Yu'er, what are you doing? Don't you see Dad is here..."

"Xunyi is in danger, Dad, do you know about it?" Before Luo Tianjin could finish his words, Luo Ningyu asked again impatiently.

This was the first time in his life that Luo Tianjin was so rudely contradicted by his own daughter. He was stunned for a moment, then looked at Ling Xiaoxiao in surprise, only to see that Ling Xiaoxiao was also stunned. After a moment of silence, Luo Tianjin murmured to himself with disappointment: "It's true that girls can't be kept when they grow up..."

"Dad, do you know how to find clothes and quilts..."

"Got it!" Luo Tianjin couldn't resist Luo Ningyu's aggressive pressure, and interrupted impatiently, "We are discussing this matter."

Luo Ningyu frowned and asked, "Since you know, what are we discussing? Why doesn't Dad go to the General's Mansion to ask for the person?"

"Xunyi, Xunyi! Do you only have Liu Xunyi in your eyes?" Ling Xiaoxiao finally couldn't hold back her anger and scolded coldly, "As a girl, you don't know the rules! Not only did you barge in, but when you saw so many elders sitting here, you didn't even say hello. You only talked about Liu Xunyi. It's really disrespectful!"

After being scolded by Ling Xiaoxiao, Luo Ningyu suddenly realized that she had lost her composure. But she was worried about Liu Xunyi's safety, so she froze in the room for a while, not knowing whether to go forward or backward, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Yu'er." Luo Tianjin suddenly said, "Do you know why Dad is hesitant?"

"Why?" Luo Ningyu asked subconsciously, but was glared at by Ling Xiaoxiao, so she quickly lowered her head, slowed down her tone, and added respectfully in a low voice, "Please give me your instructions, Dad."

"Because of you." Luo Tianjin said bluntly, "If I go to the general's mansion tonight, Wang Xutong will force me to marry him. If I refuse to agree, I can't guarantee that Wang Xutong will not be angry and embarrassed. I won't even mention whether the Xianwang Mansion will suffer because of this. Even I, your father, don't know if I can get away with it tonight."

As soon as Luo Tianjin said this, the study room fell into silence, and everyone's eyes were focused on Luo Ningyu, whose face was complicated. Her eyes trembled slightly, and her eyes were erratic, as if she was struggling in her heart. She wanted to speak several times but stopped herself, and finally couldn't make a sound.

“Brother Jin, why did you say this to her?” Seeing Luo Ningyu’s uneasy look, Ling Xiaoxiao was angry and distressed, and hurriedly said to comfort her, “Yu’er, don’t worry, your father and I will never force you…”

"Promise them!"

Before Ling Xiaoxiao finished speaking, Luo Ningyu suddenly spoke. Everyone was secretly surprised when she said this, and Xie Xuan asked hesitantly, "Ningyu, what did you just say?"

"I said agree to them!" Luo Ningyu said stubbornly with a serious expression, "Now the only way to successfully rescue Xunyi and the others and protect the Xianwang Mansion from unprovoked disaster is to agree to Wang Xutong's request. In this case, what does my happiness alone matter? Dad, I will go to the general's mansion with you tonight to ask for people. As for Wang Xutong's other requests, you...you can agree to them. Let your daughter handle the rest of the things herself..."

……

(End of this chapter)