Chapter 209: Madam Li’s Contribution

Under the cover of night, the nearby Yongwei City looked like a pitch-black giant beast lying on the ground.

To the north of Yongwei, a series of lights shone densely near the horizon, as if all the stars in the sky were gathered there. That was the main camp of the Jingzhou Army and the Zhaowang Army.

Shen Yuexi whispered to Qiang Lin beside her, "Sister lives in the Xiliang Palace?"

To facilitate her nighttime activities, she wore a short black coat and tied her long hair up with a headscarf. If she also put on a mask, she felt like a qualified night thief.

Qiang Lin didn't answer her, but instead advised, "Master, this journey is too dangerous. Yongwei is now occupied by the Jingzhou Army, and you don't have the ability of a subordinate like me. You should return."

Shen Yuexi shook her head: "I will never go back unless I rescue my sister."

Qiang Lin sighed. "The four gates of Yongwei are tightly closed. If we want to get up, we can only climb along the city wall using hooks and ropes. Master, are you capable?"

"Don't you have me?" Shen Yuexi said, "I'm not heavy, so you can pull me up."

Qiang Lin said, "Once we enter the city and are discovered by the Jingzhou army, there's nowhere to escape. Right now, a bloody battle is raging between the two sides. The entire Yongwei area is under curfew tonight, and the streets are deserted. All the shops are closed, too. There's nowhere to hide."

Shen Yuexi said: "I will be very obedient and very careful."

When she knew that Chen Lan was living like this day and night, she had already made up her mind to rescue her sister no matter what.

Under the protection of several secret guards, the group secretly came to the south of Yongwei City in the dark. The defense of the north of the city was more strict, while the defense of the south was not so strong.

Arriving at the foot of the city wall, Qiang Lin waved his hand and ordered two secret guards who were good at climbing to climb up the wall and lower a rope.

Qiang Lin made two loops of rope and asked Shen Yuexi to put her legs into each loop. Then he asked her to hold the rope tightly and whispered, "Master, don't let go of the rope."

Shen Yuexi hummed and held on with both hands. She felt the rope around her legs tighten, and her feet left the ground.

She slowly ascended the wall, her body constantly bumping against it, spinning around and around. The ground was getting farther and farther away from her, and suddenly, for no apparent reason, she was overcome by a wave of panic.

Oops, I forgot I’m afraid of heights.

The last time I had a fear of heights was when I was flying outside the Great Wall with Xiao Zhuo in a hot air balloon. When I looked down at the ground, I almost fainted. I hadn't expected that this time, despite all my calculations, I'd missed something.

She felt her whole body tremble, her teeth chattering. She quickly closed her eyes to avoid looking at the ground, her hands tightly gripping the rope. Even so, she still felt dizzy.

You can't let go, otherwise you will fall down and be smashed into a meat patty in front of Qiang Lin.

Xiao Zhuo was about to succeed, but it would be a joke if she died at this moment.

After an unknown amount of time, the voice of the secret guard rang in my ears: "Master, it's really all right now, please loosen the rope."

Shen Yuexi finally dared to open her eyes and found herself on the city wall, slumped on the ground, her hands still tightly grasping the rope. Two secret guards held the other end of the rope pitifully, but they didn't dare to snatch it away by force.

"Master, please let go. The others haven't come up yet."

Shen Yuexi blushed and said, "My hands won't obey me. Try to pull the rope down with more force."

After some trouble, the rest of the people finally climbed up the city wall. They slipped down along the city wall trail in the gap between the two groups of Jingzhou army guards and came into the city.

The city was just as Qiang Lin had described. Although it wasn't yet midnight, every household had its doors shut, and the shops on the main street were officially shuttered, making it seem like a deserted city. Only the occasional cry of a child from a home somewhere in the city gave any indication that someone was living there.

The gates of the Xiliang Palace were heavily guarded. Several patrols of the Jingzhou Army marched by, torches in hand. The defenses looked tight. Shen Yuexi was puzzled as to how Qiang Lin and the others had gotten in.

They groped their way to a small alley outside the palace's backyard. Qiang Lin said to Shen Yuexi, "Master, do you remember how Madam Li saved Miss Li Wan?"

"Oh, so you guys too?" Shen Yuexi suddenly understood.

In order to save Li Wan, Mrs. Li dug a tunnel leading to the backyard of the palace.

"Master, it's that tunnel. The King of Xiliang just hastily filled it up back then, but we've dug it through now. The Jingzhou army doesn't even know it exists. We can use it to enter and exit the palace unnoticed."

A secret guard pulled up the barrier on the ground, Qiang Lin took the lead and walked in, followed by Shen Yuexi.

The cave was so narrow that Qiang Lin had to crouch down to advance. Shen Yuexi was fine. She felt that Madam Li had dug this cave specifically for women, with no regard for men's feelings. She hadn't expected that she would actually use it today.

After walking a little further, the terrain gradually rose. Qiang Lin looked outside and saw that no one was around. He turned back and said to Shen Yuexi, "Master, this is the backyard. The Jingzhou soldiers who patrol here won't enter. Let's go up, but don't shout."

"Don't worry, I know everything." Shen Yuexi followed Qiang Lin out of the tunnel and looked at the small building in front of them. Light shone through the window lattice on the second floor.

"My sister is in this small building?"

Qiang Lin said, "That's right. I will go with my master."

"You guys wait downstairs, I can go by myself." Shen Yuexi hurriedly stopped him, "Wait until we come out, then you can catch us."

After all, this was where the women lived. Qiang Lin and the others were men, so how could they enter without permission? There was no other way to let Qiang Lin in before; after all, there were no women among the secret guards. It was just a temporary solution. Now that she was here, she couldn't let these men in. What if my sister was changing clothes or something and they saw her? Wouldn't that damage her reputation?

He asked Qiang Lin to stay and walked up the stairs alone. When he reached the door, he listened carefully to see if there was any sound inside the room, but he didn't hear anything.

Could it be that my sister has already gone to bed? This time is neither too late nor too early.

I knocked on the door gently, but still no one answered.

Shen Yuexi hesitated for a moment, then tried to push the door with both hands. With a creak, the door opened. Shen Yuexi walked in, looked around, and couldn't help but be startled.

The room was in a mess, with tables and chairs placed haphazardly in one corner, and the floor was littered with broken porcelain fragments, like bowls, plates, or vases. What shocked her most was the obvious bloodstains on the floor.

Is this the blood that Xiao Kai shed when he beat his sister?

Shen Yuexi felt a pang of sadness in her heart, wondering what kind of life her sister was leading.

She called softly, "Sister, sister? I'm Shen Yuexi."

Since Xiao Kai was so cruel to Shen Lan, he naturally would not tolerate Shen Lan going out casually, Shen Lan should be in the house. She called out as she walked into the inner room.

She opened the door to the side room and looked inside. It was still empty. She closed the door and looked in each room.

Later she noticed spots of blood on the floor, which seemed to have been dripped by someone walking. Leading to the room at the end of the corridor.

She quickly followed the blood trail to the room at the end, pushed open the door, walked around the screen, and immediately saw the figure lying on the bed. Judging from her clothes, she was a woman. She remembered that it was the same outfit she had worn when she first met Chen Lan at the Longsheng Inn.

"Sister, is it your sister?"

She called out twice, but the person on the bed didn't respond. Perhaps he had fallen asleep. Shen Yuexi hurried to the bedside and reached out to touch the person's shoulder.

When I touched it, it felt like my hand was not touching a person's shoulder, but rather a cotton plug.

She was startled and exerted force with her hand to pull the man over.

It turned out to be not a real person, but just a dummy made of cotton, wearing a woman's dress and placed on the bed.

Fell into a trap.

Just as those three words flashed through her mind, a strange sound came from above her, like wheels spinning rapidly. Then there was a loud bang, as if a giant were stomping on the floorboards. Dust flew in front of her eyes, almost deafening her. She subconsciously covered her ears and squatted down.

After waiting for a long time without any movement, she dared to raise her head and found that a huge iron cage had fallen from the sky and locked her inside.

Damn, this is really a bad start.