Chapter 42: No matter how high your martial arts skills are, you still fear a kitchen knife.

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  Qiuqiu liked women, but not those who were promiscuous. He had money, but could only buy himself women of ill repute. So one day, he plucked up the courage to abduct a respectable woman and bring her back to his mansion to ravish her. After some time passed without incident, his desires began to swell. Having tasted the sweetness, he was unable to stop himself.

  Over the years, many women have been ruined by his hands, but Qiu Chou is very careful in doing things. He only chooses those who have lost their way and cannot afford to file a lawsuit or stir up trouble. Like this time, he kidnapped Tang's young daughter after careful consideration, thinking that a newly arrived outsider with no roots would not cause any waves. If he had known earlier that Tang Yao had another identity, he would not have committed the crime of kidnapping.

  Now this little beauty named Chun Cun'er is even more ideal as a target for abduction. She has a poor and lonely life, her hometown is in Xuzhou Prefecture, even if she gets lost, no one will come forward to file a lawsuit on her behalf. It's simply meat delivered to his doorstep, how can he let it go? Now that the beauty has entered his harem, he can enjoy her at will. Qiū Autumn's desire is burning in his heart, immediately throwing away the unpleasantness of being forced into the night, and rushing excitedly towards his underground sex den.

  Peng Ziqi didn't suffer much, and Hua Xiaoyu also knew that with this girl's beauty, she would soon become the old master's favorite concubine. Although she had to stay underground forever, without seeing daylight again, whispering sweet nothings was unrelated to being above or below ground, it could be done in bed, so the ropes binding her hands and feet were all soft cloth strips, fearing that they might hurt her delicate skin and affect the old master's mood for picking flowers, not to mention offending her even more.

  Qiuqiu's "Beauty Nest" was built underground, with the entrance hidden in the study. Pushing aside the bookshelf filled with books revealed a secret passageway. After being tied up, Peng Ziqi tested the ropes binding her hands and feet, feeling confident that she could break free with some effort, so she calmly let them do as they pleased.

  In the plan, she was not required to go deep into the tiger's lair. Many things could not be judged in advance and could only be dealt with as they arose. If she felt it was inappropriate, she could have risen up and taken action when confirming the identity of the evil person who kidnapped the good family girl. However, that would still have had the risk of startling the snake from the grass. Peng Ziqi found that the rope could not bind her, and thinking that a martial artist guarding a wealthy family was just a trivial matter, she endured it all along. The big households always had some secret places, and she wanted to go deep into the tiger's lair to investigate thoroughly.

  From the entrance of the cave on the bookshelf, a long and narrow corridor stretches out, with more than ten rooms on both sides. Each room has a door curtain hanging from it, some of which are lifted up. Peng Ziqi, who is tied up with his hands behind his back, discovers that most of the rooms have a young and beautiful woman inside, wearing thin and provocative silk robes, her body half-hidden and half-revealed, yet making no attempt to conceal herself, but instead staring blankly as she walks by.

  Peng Ziqi was pushed into a room, the gag was removed, but his hands were still tied behind him. Suddenly, Qiuyuan burst in excitedly: "Where's my little beauty, where's my little beauty?"

  "Hahaha......" As soon as he saw Peng Ziqi, Qiu Yuanwai's face lit up with a smile and he said: "Little beauty, we meet again." He then hastily reached out to grab her chest.

  Peng Ziqi originally wanted to drag out some time, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, but unexpectedly, Qiu Yuanwai stretched out his claws as soon as he entered the room. Peng Ziqi was a pure and noble lady, how could she let him touch her body? In a hurry, she used a "rabbit kicks eagle" move, kicking both feet fiercely at Qiu Yuanwai's chest, sending his large body tumbling backward. With a sudden movement of her arms, the sound of tearing fabric filled the air as the cloth strips binding her hands and feet snapped inch by inch.

  Qiu Yuanwai's chest heaved violently, and with a loud "whoosh", he spat out a mouthful of blood, falling into the arms of two family servants. The two burly men standing beside him, who looked identical and had gloomy expressions, immediately parted to let Qiu Yuanwai through, and pounced on Peng Ziqing instead.

  These two men were named Ye Wuyou and Ye Wulü, a pair of twin brothers. People from Shandong Province valued martial arts, and most people knew some kung fu skills. To be hired by Qiu Qi as instructors, their martial arts skills must have been even more exceptional. In fact, although their kung fu was high, compared to Peng Ziqing, a descendant of a martial arts family, they were still somewhat inferior. However, this pair of twin brothers had a deep understanding of each other and were skilled at coordinating their attacks, which made up for their shortcomings in terms of technique.

  But Peng Ziqi's most powerful martial art was knife technique. A big girl, with a delicate fist and embroidered legs, was at a disadvantage when competing with men in terms of strength. In such a narrow space, her agile and nimble light body skills were not very useful, so after exchanging blows with the two men, she actually fell slightly behind.

  Fists and feet clashed, after more than a dozen moves, Peng Ziqi felt his arms go numb, and he couldn't help but secretly worry. Qiuqiu was escorted away by someone to escape into another room, roaring: "Catch her, catch her for me!"

  "It's no good, if we keep fighting for a long time I'll be at a disadvantage. Since we've already figured out where they are, let's just retreat and avoid them."

  At this point, Peng Ziqi suddenly retreated, thanks to the repeated teachings of Peng Yingyu to her great-granddaughter. As the saying goes, "the older you get in Jianghu, the smaller your courage becomes". In fact, this cowardice is not really fear, but a kind of caution that has been cultivated after experiencing too many dangers. An old Jianghu would never impulsively fight with someone without considering the pros and cons. Peng Ziqi had no experience walking in Jianghu, all these experiences were told by her husband's mother, now she remembered her husband's words, Peng Ziqi used a series of connected kicks to force open Ye brothers, then escaped outside.

  There is an alarm bell in the beautiful woman's room connected to the outside, and when the bell rings, there are already people from the Ye family rushing in. However, their martial arts skills are far inferior to those of the Ye brothers, not only failing to block Peng Ziqi's escape from the study but also allowing her to snatch a single knife. Although this knife is not her usual weapon, with one knife in hand, Miss Peng is still unstoppable, and except for the Ye brothers chasing after her, no one can match her skills.

  As the number of people surrounding and chasing him grew, Peng Ziqi thought to himself: "Since we can't capture the thief or the king for now, let's escape first and meet up with Yang Xu and the others. With my guidance, we can directly attack the den of evil, seize the evidence, and even if that corrupt official has colluded with him, he won't be able to cover it up."

  As she thought of this, Peng Ziqi rushed out step by step. When she charged into a narrow alley formed by two tall buildings, she suddenly heard the sound of a gong, and then the avenging servants of the Ye family retreated outside. The Ye brothers held a dark iron rod in their hands, but they only stared at the entrance of the alley without advancing to fight. Peng Ziqi's heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly felt an ominous feeling.

  She immediately held her sword across her chest, being cautious and vigilant. Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the air, and Peng Nang's subconscious mind lifted her head to look around. She saw that the white mist in the air had quickly spread throughout the entire alley, filling every corner. As soon as the mist entered her nose, eyes, and mouth, she felt a burning sensation and began to cough violently.

  "Not good, it's quicklime."

  Miss Peng was startled, immediately held her breath, narrowed her eyes, and with a "Night Battle Eight Directions" knife dance in her hand, she protected herself from head to toe and charged forward fiercely. Fortunately, she seized the opportunity early and snatched the momentary advantage, and with a swift knife dance, she managed to kill her way out. This descendant of the Peng family's Five Tigers Broken Gate Knife had never encountered anyone who could match her in knife skills, yet she was helpless against this ubiquitous lime powder that seeped into every pore, leaving even the most skilled fighter covered in dust.

  Peng Ziqi had never been so desperate, she closed her eyes and danced with a single sword, her eyes streaming with tears as she caught a glimpse of the direction, rushing forward quickly. When she broke out of the encirclement and jumped over the high wall of the Qiufu mansion, because she had been using this extremely physically demanding move "Night Battle Eight Directions" all along the way, she was already disheveled and sweaty.

  As soon as her feet touched the ground, she took off in a mad dash, bursting out of the alleyway. Suddenly, the sound of synchronized footsteps echoed through the air. With tears welling up in her eyes, she saw dozens of shadowy figures emerging from the darkness. Peng Zhiqi was shocked to the core. She had already exhausted herself and could barely hold onto the knife in her hand. How could she possibly take on these dozens of burly men again? Her feet hesitated for a moment, and those people also spotted her. Immediately, someone bellowed: "Prepare for battle!"

  Seven or eight big men suddenly stopped in their tracks, then simultaneously turned to the side and opened up a pincer movement. Although they were agile and nimble, none of them could be considered skilled fighters, but seven or eight people moving in perfect sync was like one person with superhuman abilities. This sudden movement had already sealed off all possible escape routes for Peng Zhiqi, and if they simultaneously attacked with their blades, it would be as if one person was attacking from seven or eight different angles at the same time. Even someone who had practiced martial arts their whole life wouldn't have such incredible agility. This is what made well-trained soldiers so formidable.

  "Halt! Young Master Peng!" someone shouted. Peng Zhiqi heard and happily said, "Young Master Yang." Immediately after, he felt his arm being held by someone, Peng Zhiqi's hand loosened, the single-edged sword fell to the ground with a clang, and he collapsed into his arms...

  "Not right, not right!" Qiuqiu patted her chest and sat down on the bed, pondering: "This woman's martial arts skills are so impressive, why did she willingly let herself be tied up, only to make a difficult escape at this moment?"

  After a moment's thought, the furious expression on Ou Yang's face disappeared. His eyes twitched involuntarily several times, and suddenly revealed a look of horror: "This is a trap...... damn it!"

  "Master, what trap are you talking about?" asked Xiaoyu hastily as he stepped forward.

  Qiu Qiu slapped him with a loud slap and shouted: "You blind fool, you've brought disaster to our family!"

  "Huh? Huh......"

  "What's wrong with you?!" Qiū jumped up and shouted: "Quick, prepare the carriage immediately, send away all those who shouldn't be staying in the mansion."

  "Send him away? Master, at this hour the city gate has already been closed, where can I send him to?"

  "Where is it being sent?"

  Chou Qiu's face changed color, and he suddenly let out a sinister laugh: "Send them to the county government's back door, and tell Shan Shenglong to take care of me! He eats my food, drinks my wine, when disaster strikes, how can he not pull me up? Hurry up and handle it, send away all the women here, including the person in the water dungeon, get rid of them all, clean this place up, can't leave behind anything that can be used as evidence!"

  His face wore a sinister grin as he said viciously, "Whoever wants to harm me, come on and try, who will die in whose hands is still unknown!"

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  PS: Regarding the recent rescue event, a book friend thinks it's an unnecessary branch, deviating from the main line, and lacks a theme. Here's an explanation: if you say so, then what is the main line of this book? What is the theme? Can you tell me? Or should I reveal the future development route of the protagonist, my intended meaning, to let you know that it hasn't deviated from the theme?

  The entire story is about the protagonist's life and experiences. In this life, there are major events and minor events, with countless minor events making up the major ones. In Qingzhou, what does the protagonist need to do? Protect his identity and eliminate threats. This is the theme of this short period in the protagonist's life, where each small theme serves a larger one. Is what's being told in Putai County just about rescuing Tang's daughter?

  How many people have been brought in through this line? These people, these forces, are going to play a role when revealing the major theme of the Jingnan War at this stage! It is more natural for people to drive the progress of the story and for plots to drive the development of the story. A warp thread and a weft thread intersect at a node, countless nodes spread out, forming a vast network.

  This is not like Journey to the West, where one chapter kills a monster and ends a story, then encounters another monster and ends another story, with no connection between each story. Non-serialized storytelling is only used when the plot is too complicated to handle, I think it's better to develop the storyline in one place until halfway, then extend outward to introduce new plotlines, weaving old and new plotlines together, after the old plotline ends, naturally transitioning into the new plotline, forming a web of interconnected rings. This is more complex and exciting than just passing through levels, changing maps and opponents, and repeating the process again.