Chapter 66, Journal, Twenty-Second Time!
Chapter 66
Ye Xiren had never seen a map before and couldn't tell if it was accurate, but she could see that everything on it was normal, unlike the plum blossom hairpin and dagger which had any traces related to "Awan".
Even after staring at the candle all night, she still couldn't find any clues. As dawn broke and the candle was about to burn out, she turned the parchment scroll over and over to study it.
That shouldn't be the case.
If there were no problems with the map, why would "A-Wan" have told her grandmother to hide it? Judging from the grandmother's reaction, she and "A-Wan" were clearly old acquaintances with a deep bond.
Possessing military maps is a serious crime. What secrets are they hiding?
Rebellion? It's just a military map; it's not enough to rebel. The Ye family doesn't have that kind of ability.
Ye Xiren sat in the room. It was well past dawn, and the maids and servants outside were gradually getting up. The entire Ye household was like a machine slowly starting to function, but not a single person came in to take a look, as if their "young lady" had never been in this room at all...
She felt increasingly cold.
The morning sun streaming in through the window couldn't warm her in the slightest. The candlelight flickered on the table, and the parchment scroll, carrying her last hope of breaking free from the cycle, lay quietly open, offering no clues whatsoever.
Ye Xiren was not giving up and picked up the parchment scroll again.
If she couldn't manage it herself, she would ask Ye Pei and Yan Danqing for help; she didn't believe there weren't any clues here.
She stood up with the map in her hand. She had been sitting there all night, exhausted. When she suddenly stood up, everything went black and she felt dizzy. She managed to stand up by leaning on the table. Suddenly, a burnt smell wafted through the air.
Ye Xiren's expression changed drastically, and she quickly withdrew her hand.
As she leaned on the table, the map rested on a half-burnt candle, and a corner of it was flicked by the flame, instantly curling up!
She grabbed the map and patted it anxiously, then breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she stopped in time; the map was only burned to the corners and there was no other damage, so it was alright.
Just as Ye Xiren was about to roll up the parchment again, her gaze swept over it, her expression hardened, and she took the map to her eyes to examine it carefully. Her slender fingers rubbed the edges, and the black ash fell off, revealing faint creases.
Mezzanine!
This map has a hidden layer!
Ye Xiren sat down again, opened the map, and picked up the sharp dagger beside her. She carefully pried open the parchment scroll that was stuck together, bit by bit, along the edges...
With each movement of my hands, my heart pounded in my throat, my nerves were on edge, I was completely focused, my palms were sweating, but I controlled my fingers to keep steady and slowly open them.
It was filled with densely packed text!
-
The carriage left Nandu overnight, speeding along the way.
The carriage looked drab and extremely unassuming. There were only a few guards following it, each with a blank expression and unwavering gaze, focused solely on carrying out their mission and ensuring the carriage reached its destination as quickly as possible.
There were only two people in the car.
Jiang You sat in the middle, with Zhang Yuanmou, who was bound by iron chains and covered in wounds, on the other side. He could barely move. The two were extremely quiet, with only the swaying of the carriage and the clatter of the horses' hooves.
After a long time, Zhang Yuanmou finally broke the silence.
Despite his disheveled appearance, he sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm: "So, Prime Minister Jiang has finally decided to kill me? Why bring me out here to kill me then?"
Jiang You sat upright in the car, a sharp knife beside him. Zhang Yuanmou knew him well; he was being taken out, but there was no intention of bringing him back...
He wasn't afraid of death, but he couldn't understand this person's purpose. He had clearly been unwilling to let him die, so why did he suddenly change his mind?
Jiang You finally looked at him, his expression calm: "Since you don't believe me, I'll take you to see for yourself." But after seeing it, he wouldn't survive.
"What are you looking at?" Zhang Yuanmou frowned.
Jiang You did not answer, but simply closed his eyes and let the horse gallop to their destination.
It was a village behind the capital city of Nandu, some distance away and surrounded by several mountains. While the outside world was in complete chaos, this place was unusually peaceful.
The sky was already bright, and only a few wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys.
Early in the morning, after the children had eaten breakfast, they started playing in the village while the adults were busy with farming. They ran up the mountain and down the mountain, then ran happily to the riverbank.
"Don't go to the river!" an adult shouted.
"Hahaha!" They laughed loudly as they ran away from the riverbank and rushed into the village. The children's voices were sharp, especially when they were playing. Their voices were exceptionally high-pitched and could be heard clearly from afar.
In this rural area where smoke from chimneys is scarce, this "loud" sound seems both peaceful and lively.
The horse-drawn carriage was parked quietly outside the village.
Zhang Yuanmou frowned even more deeply, truly unable to understand why the person in front of him would still be in the mood to bring him here at this crucial moment.
Jiang You reached out and lifted a corner of the carriage curtain beside him, allowing them to see outside but preventing those outside from seeing inside.
Just then, the children who were playing saw the carriage and ran over excitedly. Some of them were holding paper windmills, some were holding bamboo windmills, and some were holding kites. They all ran over to take a look.
But they mostly remembered their parents' warnings and were afraid of being kidnapped, so they didn't dare to get close to the carriage. They just peeked out from a distance, pushing and shoving each other, very curious.
Zhang Yuanmou's brows were furrowed so deeply they could trap mosquitoes. Just as he was about to speak, his gaze suddenly stopped, settling on a young child in the group of children...
His pupils contracted, and he momentarily doubted whether he had seen correctly.
The next moment, ignoring the chains on his body and his wounds, he suddenly sat up, brought his head close, his face almost touching the gap, and squinted to look closely.
The child was dressed lightly, not because he had no clothes, but because the weather had warmed up and children were running and playing all day, so it was not appropriate for them to wear thick clothes. His cotton clothes were neither new nor old, but they were very clean. He was holding a bamboo windmill in his hand, which was exquisitely and carefully made, and was the most "impressive" one.
Having spent a long time running around in the countryside, he was quite tanned, but his complexion was rosy, and his eyes were bright and lively as he curiously looked around with the other children. His hands were dirty, and his face was covered in mud; he was quite the little rascal.
They were probably accidentally bumped by the child next to them, and the two of them pushed and shoved each other, laughing loudly.
Zhang Yuanmou was so shocked he couldn't speak. His lips trembled, and his body shook. Then, he turned around abruptly, staring intently at Jiang You, his voice hoarse and strained:
"He...is alive? You didn't lie to me?!"
That's Liang Jin!
Jiang You had said that Liang Jin was still alive, but he only thought it was a lie made up to get clues and never believed it. But now, there was a living Liang Jin in front of him.
He knew him so well that even after a year apart, he could still recognize him at a glance.
Jiang You held the blue curtain tightly, preventing him from opening it. He lowered his eyes, concealing all his emotions. "You held him, and I held him. You are a subject, and I am a subject. The young emperor Liang Jin is dead. Now he is just an ordinary country child."
Zhang Yuanmou opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
The veins on his forehead were throbbing, and his nostrils flared wildly from shock. He was breathing rapidly, and his fingers were trembling. Inside the carriage, only his heavy breathing could be heard.
“I originally intended to send him to the southernmost point, but the world was not at peace and the journey was long and difficult. When we passed through this place, he said he liked it here and stayed. I ordered someone to find him a good family and have him adopted into that family as a refugee who could not afford to raise a child.”
Jiang You sighed softly:
“That family is very kind. The couple is loving and the wife loves children. It’s just a pity that the husband is sick and can’t have children, so they adopted him as their own and put him in the family genealogy. The wife takes very good care of him. He used to be always sick, but after he came, he only got sick once when he first arrived. Now he is healthy, taller and fatter.”
The children outside became increasingly curious when they saw the carriage standing there motionless, but despite their shoving and shouting, they didn't get close. The noise of their playful fighting was quite lively.
Zhang Yuanmou pressed himself against the crack, staring intently at the outside.
His bound hands clenched his sleeves uncontrollably, and he stared intently at the child, his eyes bloodshot, wishing he could pounce on him and see him clearly.
However, Jiang You lowered the curtain.
"The war hasn't reached here yet, and the refugees are only gathered outside Nandu City. They haven't spread outwards yet, so there's still some peace here. He's just an ordinary country child now. If Nandu City falls and the Great Liang Kingdom is destroyed, not a single person in the Great Liang Kingdom will escape disaster."
Jiang You looked at him, clenching his teeth:
“Zhang Yuanmou, if I let you see him, I will not let you go back alive. Before you die, do you want this Liang land to be trampled on and the people of Liang to suffer a fate worse than death, or do you want to drive out the Tartars and protect this peace?”
Despite being subjected to severe torture, Zhang Yuanmou maintained that he did not know where the military rations had gone, only admitting that they had been handed over to Chizhan Lance for disposal.
Everyone else had given up trying to get an answer from him, but Jiang You never did. He didn't believe that Zhang Yuanmou, who could find out that he had attacked Liang Jin, would be completely unaware of where Chi Zhanlan Ce had hidden the grain!
This person is single-minded, but he is also meticulous despite his rough exterior.
Now, getting him to talk is the last resort.
Jiang You leaned forward and said, word by word, "Tell me, where exactly did Chi Zhanlan hide the batch of military rations you stole? Why couldn't they find it even after searching the entire Southern Capital?"
Zhang Yuanmou did not answer.
After a long while, he suddenly asked, "What's his name now?"
Jiang You paused for a moment, then answered softly, "Ping An, that family named him 'Ping An'."
Outside, adults had already noticed the carriage. Some people hurried over, their eyes wary, and the children scattered in a flurry amidst shouts of reprimand.
"Ping An!" A woman rushed over, her face full of anxiety. "Didn't I tell you not to come outside the village? It's very chaotic outside now. There will be kidnappers. Once they kidnap you, you'll never be able to eat your mother's sweet cakes again."
"Mother, we didn't go close, we just looked." The childish voice faded into the distance. "That car belongs to an official, not a kidnapper."
"You think you're so smart..."
Their voices gradually faded into the distance.
Zhang Yuanmou rushed forward and lifted the curtain again. This time, he only saw the woman carrying the child away. The child was lying on the woman's back, holding a finely crafted windmill in his hand. The woman suddenly laughed and ran, and the windmill immediately spun around, with Ping An's laughter echoing.
Sunlight streamed through the windmill and fell onto the ground.
Until he could no longer see them, Zhang Yuanmou slowly withdrew his greedy gaze, and when he turned around, his face was already covered in tears.
“I do know where the supplies are…”
-
Water protection river
Yan Danqing looked towards the river, his hands clenched into fists, his dark eyes unfathomable. This familiar waterway looked very calm at the moment, with boats coming and going at the dock.
With constant warfare throughout the land, the capital was moved south, and many people from Daliang flocked to this southern capital.
Beside him, Chi Zhanlan Ce tightened his white fox fur coat and smiled, "You didn't expect that, did you? Your food supplies have always been on the water protection river and have never left."
The grain was in the territory of Nandu, but not in Nandu itself.
The large ships carrying grain were drifting on the river, but they never made it to any dock. No wonder they couldn't find a trace of them no matter how they searched.
The grain was on the water and had not yet landed.
Yan Danqing turned to look at him, his eyes sharp as knives, and asked again, "How did you manage to steal the military rations?"
The grain transport ships were grain transport ships, but the large ships now floating on the Hushui River loaded with grain were civilian ships. How did Zhang Yuanmou and Chizhan Lance manage to exchange the grain right under Jiang You's and the grain transport team's noses?
Since the grain was on the moat, it means that the military rations were swapped before they left the moat.
How did you do that?!
Chi Zhanlan Ce squinted and smiled, "That's a secret. General Yan can guess it later."
He straightened his clothes, his smile growing even gentler, and tilted his head, looking completely innocent.
"So, General Yan, have you decided how to exchange it? Don't even think about robbing it. Since I brought you here, if the transaction doesn't go smoothly, all this grain will sink into the moat in an instant."
The protective river is so large that even a person couldn't survive going down into it, let alone the grain. As soon as the people of Chizhan Lance poured the grain into the river, it would be washed away and never be found again.
That was a chance for many people to survive.
Yan Danqing stroked the knife at his waist.
A spear is suitable for the battlefield. In Nandu, he usually uses a sword. Feeling the coldness of the hilt, he replied calmly, "That depends on what His Highness Chizhan wants to do."
Chi Zhanlan Ce's smile vanished, his voice turning cold. "Give me a large ship. We'll trade on the Hushui River. You give me the grain ships, let our people board the large ship, and let us leave Nandu."
Yan Danqing looked at him.
This confirms that there are still people with them. They only mentioned changing ships, which means someone is meeting him. As long as he can leave Nandu safely by ship, they will have a way to escape.
“Okay,” Yan Danqing agreed.
He then immediately ordered his men to prepare a boat, while behind Chizhanlanze, the only remaining men, Ayou and Mole, sent out a signal to contact the people on the Hushui River.
The deal seemed fair: one side provided food, the other released people. After the transaction was completed on the moat, one went upstream and the other downstream, parting ways to fight again on the battlefield.
After everything was arranged, Yan Danqing led Chi Zhanlan Ce onto the large ship.
-
Ye Mansion
Outside it was bustling, but inside it was quiet. Sunlight streamed in through the window, but it didn't reach Ye Xiren. She stared at the notes hidden inside the parchment scroll, her body tense, trembling as each word came into view.
My name is Yan Wan. I was born in the sixteenth year of the Jingyou era. I am the eldest daughter of Marquis Zhongyong, Yan. I have an elder brother, Yan Shanhe, and a younger brother, Yan Danqing. When I came of age, the Northern Yan was in turmoil, and war was about to break out on the border. My parents sent me back to the capital ahead of schedule and raised me under the care of my grandmother's good friend, Lady Zhao Lanjun.
[In the thirty-fifth year of the Jingyou era, she married Prince Yu, Liang Yue, and in the same year, she helped Liang Yue ascend the throne and made him empress.]
I have been experiencing a cycle of death and reincarnation.
This is the last time I will be in this cycle of death.
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Author's note: See you tomorrow!
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