Chapter 65 The Wire-Puller
2025 Words
Gu Yunxi fell into the carriage. The ache in the abdomen made her cough. Drops of blood froth came out of her throat.
Her eyes darkened, but she didn't give up. She untied the silk sash and jumped at the masked man again.
During the fight, she choked the man's neck with the silk sash tightly. The masked man let out a stuffy groan, and his upper body struggled violently.
The carriage went out of control and began to sway here and there. Several times it almost hit onto thick tree trunks.
Gu Yunxi did not want to die in the wild mountains. She wanted to go to Jiangan to see the Master on her mind!
When Leng Qingtang's warm smile came to her mind, Gu Yunxi felt she was full of encouragement.
She opened her mouth and bit hard on the masked man's neck.
The masked man made a piercing scream as if he were a rooster being strangled. His voice was particularly shrill.
This kind of voice.
When Gu Yunxi was stunning, she was knocked down the carriage by a strong force.
She rolled several times on the ground. Fortunately, thick snow prevented her from injury.
A cracking sound came from the front. Gu Yunxi looked up and saw the carriage smashed into a large tree trunk.
Above the wreckage, the thick crown shook due to the violent crash. Snow on the crown was shaken off.
The masked man walked a few steps away. He found the situation against him and took something out of his clothes. He threw it up to the sky, and there was a long, clear whistle as it fell.
Other masked men heard this command and stopped fighting. They quickly drew back and then disappeared in the woods after cheating their opponents with false movements.
Another group of men in black at the scene was the supply robbers, most of which were killed by people from the Eastern Depot and Lieutenant Zhao's soldiers. The robbers suffered heavy casualties. There were far fewer of them than there used to be. So, seeing that the tide had turned, the survivors all fled.
Lieutenant Zhao didn't ask the soldiers to go after the robbers because there wasn't a big loss of coal, food, and other supplies. What they should do was to take a rest and went on their way as fast as they could.
As an old saying went, "Do not press an enemy at bay."
What was more, they were not familiar with the topography of Qianqi Mountain, and there could be an ambush behind, so it was not wise to chase after the enemies.
In the wood, Xiao Xiaoshen and Qinger finally found Gu Yunxi.
"Yunxi, are you alright?"
"Lady!"
Xiao Xiaoshen came up to support her and inspected her carefully from top to bottom. Although it was in deep winter, he was scared to sweat.
Xiao Xiaoshen was scared by the accident just now. How to explain to the Master if Yunxi had been hurt or killed?
Gu Yunxi tapped her head and rubbed her numb neck. She felt light-headed after being jolted in a mad carriage and then rolling on the ground. She couldn't tell which part of her body hurt, but it did hurt all over.
Qinger was wiping away her tears. She saw Gu Yunxi was uncomfortable and came up to support her.
Looking around, she found the carriage's wreckage under a cedar. She murmured with dismay,
"Oh my gosh, how do we handle this? The carriage is broken. How can we get there without it..."
Gu Yunxi closed her eyes, thinking about the masked man she had just fought with.
"Xiaoshen, don't you think the latter group of men was strange?"
"Yes!"
Xiao Xiaoshen looked into Gu Yunxi's eyes and nodded seriously.
"They are skillful in martial arts, and their movements are superior to the average."
"I injured the man who grabbed the carriage. His cry was strange. It sounded like a eunuch's voice!"
Gu Yunxi spoke out her doubt, frowned.
In retrospect, Gu Yunxi found that the masked man's behavior didn't make sense. He wasn't cruel to her even when they were fighting.
It seemed that he aimed at a*******n, and this intention made Gu Yunxi more suspicious.
Xiao Xiaoshen put his broadsword into the sheath at the waist and looked at Gu Yunxi and Qinger.
"We have to meet the Master and tell him what happened as soon as possible. If that group of people was the eunuchs from the Palace, the wire-puller could be that man..."
Gu Yunxi understood. She narrowed her eyes to give Xiao Xiaoshen a tacit look. They nodded to each other.
In the Prefect's Mansion of Fengyuan.
The second captain Lu Rong was reporting the present situation to Leng Qingtang in Leng Qingtang's room.
"According to the statistics from soldiers, the number of victims gathered in Fengyuan city has reached 30 thousand. The current grain reserves may only last for three days."
Leng Qingtang tensed up as he heard this bad news. He paced to the window with a serious look and opened the window. It was snowing outside. A gust of cold wind blew on his jade-white face, stinging him like a sharp knife.
The aid convoy of the government was on the way. If the snow had been still heavy enough to block the wagons, the convoy's arrival would have been postponed again.
"Master, victims from other five counties keep flooding in Fengyuan. I'm afraid if."
The second captain didn't finish his words. He looked quite worried.
Once food supplies ran out and the victims got starved, the Eastern Depot would lose people's trust. Should trouble arise again, it would have certainly been on a larger scale than that at the gate a few days before.
"Wait for them."
Speaking in a deep, fatigued voice, Leng Qingtang closed the window and pressed on his aching temple.
Leng Qingtang spent all the time on the road and couldn't sleep more than four hours a day before. After he arrived in Fengyuan, he quelled the riot without taking a break. He stayed up late every day. Even an iron man couldn't bear this grindingly hard work.
The first captain Ai Qing noticed Leng Qingtang's exhaustion. He went over to knead Leng Qingtang's temples to soothe his nerves. Later he whispered in Leng Qingtang's ears,
"Master, it's nearly dawn. Please have some sleep! Please do whatever you're going to do after a full rest. Keep tensing up won't do any good to you!"
"Fine. Everybody goes back to rest. After daybreak, you come out with me to inspect the situation."
"Yes!"
...
In the Western Depot in the capital.
In the warm room, Ming Lan, in a white robe embroidered with cranes, was standing by a bird frame and teasing a macaw with a handful of dried melon seeds.
The macaw was kept by the Imperial Noble Concubine Wan, but later she got tired of it and moved her affection onto a Persian cat. So the macaw was awarded Ming Lan.
With gorgeous red and green feathers, the macaw was big but smart. It liked to eat melon seeds and fresh fruits normally.
Ming Lan pinched a seed to feed it. The macaw ate the seed, flapped its wings, and stretched out its neck,
"Wish you good health. Wish you good health..."
"Lovable. Good bird."
Satisfied with the macaw's flattery, Ming Lan fed another seed into its bill.
In daylight, his fine, white hands looked like pure mutton-fat jade.
Ming Lan took good care of his hands.
When he had spare time, he used to follow the recipe he learned from the Imperial Noble Concubine Wan to soak his hands in well water mixed with rose juice and milk. After that, he would coat his hands with snowflake-magnolia ointment. What was more, he kept his fingernails a little long, which made his fingers looked long and delicate.
Looking at his hands, Ming Lan smiled with self-complacency.
A eunuch trotted in and bowed to Ming Lan,
"Master, Lord An came back."
"Let him in!"
A cold light flashed through Ming Lan's eyes. He threw the seeds into a jade plate and then sat on a high-back chair.
Before long, two eunuchs came into the warm room, supporting An Hong.
An Hong was apparently injured. With bruises on his face, he limped to Ming Lan.
"Wish you good health, Master..."
"Oh, come on..."
Ming Lan was impatient to see An Hong's half-dead look and to wait for his slowly kneeling. He waved his hand fretfully,
"Stand up. Tell me how is it going?"
"Thank you for your consideration, Master..." An Hong bowed. He was going to continue his flatter, but Ming Lan cut him off,
"Cut the cackle. Get to the point!"
"As your command, I led our people to attack the aid convoy to Jiangan together with the bandits in Qianqi Mountain..."
"Fine, good job. Then you hurt yourself when getting rid of the bandits?"
Ming Lan lifted his eyelids to look at this subordinate and was quite discontent with his bruised appearance.
An Hong was embarrassed. He answered with his swollen face,
"It was smooth to get rid of the bandits. However, we met a squad of the Eastern Depot and fought with them..."
"What? The Eastern Depot?"
Ming Lan's pupils expanded in shock.
He had heard that the aid convoy of the imperial harem had gone on the way, but he didn't expect it to reach Qianqi Mountain to encounter this robbery...
After a pause, Ming Lan leaned forward quickly to enquire An Hong,
"Did they find out who you are?"
"Please don't worry, Master. We were careful enough to hide our identities from the Eastern Depot. Now the aid convoy suffered some losses and has to rest for a day or two before it can continue its journey."
"Great!" Ming Lan smiled maliciously. He clapped with pleasure,
"The convoy has been delayed for several days by this snowy weather, and the bandits made things worse. If Fengyuan County can't receive supplies in time, I'm afraid that Lord Leng can't sleep well."
As he was satirizing Leng Qingtang, Ming Lan looked down at his hands again. Suddenly, he became displeased as he found one of his nails wasn't in good shape. He cast a sharp look at a eunuch waiting on.
Having received his sign, the eunuch immediately bent down and trotted along to get nail clippers for Ming Lan.
"Master, I met a person this time."
An Hong came closer to Ming Lan obsequiously.
"Who was it?" Ming Lan, focusing on his fingernail, asked.
"Yun Guaner." An Hong answered in a low voice. He looked mysterious.
Ming Lan paused. He looked up at An Hong and asked coldly, "Are you sure?"
An Hong was quite sure about it,
"I can't be wrong, Master. After all, I have been coping with her many times. I shut her in the carriage to bring her back to you. But due to the slippery road and her crafty, the carriage crashed into a tree during the fighting. She ran away, and I was injured in that crash. Look at my neck, Master. She bit me!"
An Hong c****d his head to show Ming Lan the bled bite mark under his cheek.
Ming Lan looked at it carefully and then darkened his face. He thought aloud,
"She is growing grumpier now and even learned how to bite before knowing more martial arts! Lord Leng has left for only a few days, and she went after him out of loneliness..."
Ming Lan couldn't sit still when it came to Yun Guaner. He threw the nail clippers and got up.
An Hong didn't know Ming Lan was talking to himself. He thought Ming Lan was asking him, so he replied,
"Yes, she is passionately devoted to Lord Leng and couldn't bear to be separated from him even for a minute..."
Ming Lan's mood turned worse. He turned around angrily and cast An Hong a fierce look. An Hong asked for a snub. He shrunk his neck and dared not to speak anymore...
- Writer
