Chapter 103 Unpredictable and Unavoidable

Yun Zhao was not familiar with Wei Jingchen from his previous life.

She only vaguely remembered that she had met Wei Jingchen once.

When she was four years old, she attended a palace banquet for the first time.

The Marquis of Dingyuan held the title in name only; she and her mother were assigned to the most remote part of the main hall.

Bored at the palace banquet, she sneaked out to relax.

A young palace maid offended the head eunuch, and it was Wei Jingchen who led her to escape.

However, the head eunuch was chasing her too closely, so she helped the little palace maid escape.

He lied and said he was lost, so the head eunuch took him back.

That was the only time.

After returning home, she fell seriously ill.

Her family sent her to her maternal grandparents' home to recuperate. When she returned to the capital, she learned that she was the daughter of the Prince of Jin.

Then came the exile of the Prince of Jin's mansion and the entire Wei family.

She met the owner of Tingyu Pavilion in the twentieth year of the Yuan Qi dynasty.

That year, Yun Zhao was fifteen years old. Her family was choosing a husband for her, and they selected a set of jewelry from the Baoyu Building of Tingyu Pavilion.

Yun Zhao went to retrieve it, but encountered Ling Xuerou who also said she had her eye on that set of jewelry.

He appeared wearing a mask and stated bluntly that Ling Xuerou was not suited to that set of jewelry.

She was a lady from a prominent family, while he was a businessman.

For some reason, the two hit it off immediately and almost addressed each other as brother and sister.

Yun Zhao did not know what he looked like, nor did he know his name.

Outsiders all called him Young Master Jun.

After Yun Zhao obeyed the Ling family's arrangement and married the Prince of Huainan, they had less contact.

Later, a plague struck Huainan, and Princess Yun Zhao announced her death. She never heard from Prince Jun again.

By calculation, Wei Jingchen and Young Master Jun are about the same age.

She estimated that the young master was around twenty-five years old.

Now, the people around him are actually the same as the core figures of Tingyu Pavilion.

If that's the case, she needs to be even more determined to stay afloat on the Wei family's big ship!

Once they were all far away, Yun Zhao climbed back onto the tiger's back and urged it to head towards Yang Jingyan's direction.

Yang Jingyan and his men hurried on their way, not daring to delay for even a moment.

After walking for about half an hour, Yang Jingyan began to count the heads.

Unexpectedly, when they turned around, they found that Yun Zhao and Tiger were not in the group!

"Where is the young princess? Has anyone seen her?"

The group looked at each other, preoccupied with their escape. Who could remember when Yun Zhao had disappeared?

Yang Jingyan slapped his forehead, wishing he could scold himself.

"You two take the medicinal herbs back to Yangguan County. You two will come with me to find the princess!"

The officers immediately stopped him.

"My lord, please wait! The young princess is accompanied by a tiger; we didn't hear its roar just now."

This means the young princess left voluntarily; we shouldn't be looking for her now!

"You're not expecting such a young child like her to distract the thieves so you can escape safely, are you?"

Yang Jingyan knew perfectly well that Yun Zhao had voluntarily left the group to lure away Yang Lingzhou's pursuers.

But how could he let a five-year-old child face vicious criminals alone?

His words made the officials feel ashamed and they lowered their heads.

"You're right, sir. We will follow your orders!"

Yang Jingyan thought for a moment, then took out three ledgers from his pocket and stuffed them into the hands of his most trusted subordinate.

"This must be taken back to Lord Wei Mingde. If he doesn't discover we've caught up within half a day of returning to the city..."

Then send others to lead a team to find us! As for the rest, follow Lord Wei's orders!

He handed half of the ledger to his subordinates, which was a sign that he might never get it back.

"grown ups!"

"Alright, let's split into two groups. Don't delay any longer, head straight back to the city, let's go!"

Yang Jingyan interrupted his subordinate and led the two men back.

Watching his departing figure, the official steeled his resolve and led his men on their way.

"We can't let our elders down! Let's go!"

Fortunately, Yun Zhao had been having the tiger follow Yang Jingyan's scent, and the two of them encountered each other on the road without missing each other.

"Zhaozhao!"

Yang Jingyan shouted excitedly as he saw the tiger's yellow coat in the distance.

"Uncle Yang? Why did you turn back? Did something happen up ahead?"

Yun Zhao thought to himself, "Could they be that unlucky?"

"No, I just realized you were missing and brought people back to look for you."

Yang Jingyan looked her up and down, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that she was not injured.

Hearing that he had come back specifically to find her, Yun Zhao felt grateful.

"Uncle Yang, Zhaozhao is alright!"

Yang Jingyan knew that she wasn't acting recklessly, so he couldn't bring himself to say anything to blame her.

He led Yun Zhao to continue catching up with the group, but still couldn't help nagging.

"You silly girl, Uncle Yang is incompetent and can't help you, but next time you should at least leave Uncle Yang a message!"

"Uncle Yang, actually with Huahua around, Zhaozhao is very safe!"

"I know how powerful tigers are, but people's hearts are unpredictable. That prefect of Yangling Prefecture even dared to kill an official appointed by the imperial court."

Uncle Yang is genuinely worried about such a ruthless and depraved person; there's no way he can guard against them.

Yang Jingyan had seen many ruthless people; even the strongest warrior might not be able to escape their underhanded tricks.

"Zhao Zhao understands, Zhao Zhao will definitely be careful~"

Yang Jingyan looked at her helplessly, his guilt towards her growing stronger day by day.

He's only five years old, yet he carries such a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Perhaps Yun Zhao's strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain was effective, because Yang Jingyan did not encounter Yang Lingzhou's pursuers until he caught up with his own people.

As they approached Yangguan County, Yang Jingyan ordered everyone to stop.

"The pursuers from Yangling Prefecture will likely ambush us on the only route. We can't go down the mountain directly; it's too dangerous."

After thinking for a moment, Yang Jingyan had them move the medicinal herbs down.

He approached Yun Zhao with a solemn expression and earnestly made a request to her.

"Zhaozhao, Uncle Yang wants to ask you to stay with Tiger and guard these medicinal herbs until your eldest uncle comes to pick you up."

But it might take a while. Until he arrives, is it possible for just you and this uncle to guard the medicinal herbs?

Yun Zhao immediately understood.

He was planning to feint, leading his officials into a trap while sending someone else into the city to fetch reinforcements.

Although there weren't many government officials in the city, there were many refugees.

When her uncle brings the refugees to collect the medicinal herbs, which are life-saving medicine, the refugees will fight to the death for them.

The imperial court is sending people to provide disaster relief. The people of Yangling Prefecture can hunt down imperial officials, pretending they have encountered bandits.

Even if a minor official dies, the Fifth Prince can still cover it up.

But they couldn't possibly kill all the refugees outside the city gates and the people inside the city who were waiting for medicine.

"Uncle Yang..."

Yun Zhao was about to speak when Yang Jingyan stopped him.

"Zhaozhao, Uncle Yang is the magistrate of Yangguan County. It is his duty to risk his life for the people."

It's already inappropriate for Uncle Yang to ask you to do this; as for the rest, let Uncle Yang handle it."

Seeing his resolute expression, Yun Zhao understood that she couldn't persuade Yang Jingyan.

"Uncle Yang, don't worry, Zhaozhao and Huahua will definitely protect these medicinal herbs!"

"Thank you!"

Yang Jingyan bowed respectfully to her, then led his officials and pushed a disguised wooden cart toward the only road into the city.