Chapter 24
Lu Ling and Shen Wangyou were in disguise and looked very different from before.
His hair was tied up high, his eyebrows were made as thick as chopsticks, his lips were colorless, and a fake beard was stuck on the corner of his mouth, making him look like a real young master.
He is also a young man from a noble family.
Although Lu Ling was exiled to Shuzhou and then moved to Leping Village, she had been doing rough work, which only made her hands no longer delicate and white, but it could not dispel her noble temperament.
When Aunt Zhao saw the two of them, she repeatedly praised Shen Wangyou's disguise skills, "Wangyou, your disguise skills are getting better and better."
After hearing this, Lu Ling was a little confused and asked Shen Wangyou, "Have you been in disguise before?"
Shen Wangyou looked calm and replied, "I also went to see you in disguise before, but then I encountered an accident and lost all my disguises."
Seeing Chen Wangyou's sincere look, Lu Ling did not suspect anything.
"You two must be careful." Aunt Zhao handed the dry food in her hand to Shen Wangyou, "If you get hungry on the road, you can fill your stomach with it."
Lu Ling originally didn't want Shen Wangyou to take the dry food. Although it would take several hours to get to the city, there was no need to carry dry food on the road. But Aunt Zhao was so kind, Lu Ling couldn't refuse her kindness.
"Thank you, Auntie. We will be back in a few days. We shouldn't stay long." Shen Wangyou said.
Lu Ling remained silent. If no one outside had arrested her, she probably would not have come back. With a family feud on her side, she really couldn't live in peace.
Although she should repay Aunt Zhao, none of her methods of repaying her now worked. It would not be too late to repay her after she had taken revenge.
The two said goodbye to Aunt Zhao and left Leping Village.
Just in case, Lu Ling wore a bamboo hat on his head, with two pieces of curtain blocking his eyes. Lu Ling could vaguely see Shen Wangyou's back.
"I don't know what's going on outside." Lu Ling said worriedly.
Shen Wangyou stopped, took Lu Ling's hand, patted it, looked at Lu Ling and said: "No matter what happens outside, don't let go of my hand, follow me."
Shen Wangyou's eyes were extremely firm, which made Lu Ling feel uneasy.
"But I can't hold your hand forever." I still want to eat.
Shen Wangyou sighed and said, "It's okay if you don't hold my hand all the time, but don't be too far away from me, okay?"
Lu Ling nodded slowly and said, "Okay."
After walking for a long time, Lu Ling realized something was wrong.
Shen Wangyou asked him to follow him, but if it comes to protection, it should be him who protects him. Shen Wangyou looks frail and doesn't know any martial arts, so in the end, he still has to rely on himself.
Lu Ling shook his head, regretting bringing Shen Wangyou out with him. If he stayed in Leping Village, perhaps he wouldn't be a burden to him.
Shen Wangyou didn't know what was going on in Lu Ling's mind. He just kept walking forward. Feeling a little hungry, he took out the dry food given by Aunt Zhao and handed it to Lu Ling.
"A Ling, here." Shen Wangyou smiled and handed the cake to Lu Ling.
Lu Ling looked at the pancake and didn't feel hungry, so he shook his head and refused.
"Then I eat it?" Shen Wangyou asked with a hint of doubt.
"Eat, I'm not hungry."
Seeing that Lu Ling didn't eat, Shen Wangyou started eating by himself.
"How long does it take to get to the city?" Lu Ling asked.
Shen Wangyou bit the cake, looked around, and then said: "We will be there in another hour."
The place they were going to was Ningzhou, which bordered Shuzhou. Leping Village was between Ningzhou and Shuzhou, but closer to Ningzhou.
The two men were walking on mountain roads that were deserted and they hardly met any people, let alone soldiers.
Lu Ling just felt that the two of them were lucky.
*
Leping Village, in the wasteland.
A group of people were digging in the wasteland with hoes, sweating profusely, but no one dared to relax.
"Aunt Zhao, why are you in such a hurry? Aren't the things safe here?" someone ran over and asked Aunt Zhao.
"You weren't in the village a few days ago, so you didn't know. Two people came to our village. They were very enthusiastic and wanted to give us more food and cultivate the land."
"Well...well, can't we just tell them that they can't cultivate the land?" said the man.
Aunt Zhao waved her hand and said, "This is not for us to decide. Stop asking questions and get to work quickly. Try to get those things to the back mountain before they come back."
"The back mountain? How much manpower would it take to dig such a large area there?" The man seemed to think it was impossible.
Aunt Zhao patted his shoulder, her eyebrows drawn inward, and said in a serious tone, "Since you know it will take a lot of manpower, why don't you get to work!"
The man nodded sullenly and hurried to the crowd to start working.
*
Ningzhou City, outside an inn.
"It's getting late today, let's stay here for one night and go investigate tomorrow." Shen Wangyou said to Lu Ling.
Lu Ling didn't think it was bad, but looking at the magnificent inn, it was obvious that it cost a lot of money.
"I'm afraid we don't have enough money to stay here." Lu Ling looked at the door of the inn in front of him with a worried look on his face.
Shen Wangyou curled the corners of his lips, his eyes full of confidence, “It’s okay to go in and take a look first.”
Lu Ling didn't know what medicine Shen Wangyou was selling in his gourd, so he followed Shen Wangyou into the inn.
"Boss, I want a room upstairs." Chen Wangyou was generous from the moment he made a move, not caring at all about the two people's current predicament.
The shopkeeper ran up to the two of them, bowed and nodded, "Okay, according to our shop's rules, you pay first and stay later. Gentlemen, please come here to register and pay."
The shopkeeper pointed to the table on the right and said.
Lu Ling frowned, feeling uneasy, and asked hesitantly, "How much does a room in the upper room cost?"
The shopkeeper waved his hand and said, "Sir, you think too highly of us. A room in the upper room is thirty cents."
After listening to this, Lu Ling felt it was ridiculous, and quickly pulled Shen Wangyou aside, whispering: “Why do I feel that this store is not very credible, it looks like a scam.”
Chen Wangyou looked nonchalant and said with a smile: "A Ling, you think too much, this is the price of this inn. When I resigned from my official position and came to see you, I stayed at this inn. There is nothing wrong with it."
"If that's the case, then that's good." Lu Ling nodded slowly, with no emotion on his face.
Shen Wangyou paid the money and the two went upstairs.
The next day, the two left the inn early.
In the dim morning light, there were a few figures on the road. Two of them walked hurriedly to the bottom of the notice.
"This painting doesn't look like you at all." Shen Wangyou pointed to the portrait of the wanted criminal on the notice.
Lu Ling also noticed that this person's eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth were not what he had imagined. Looking closely, this person looked more like...
"Indigo!"
Shen Wangyou suddenly shouted.
It was Qingdai. This person looked more like the Qingdai that Lu Ling thought had returned to the military camp, rather than the fugitive Lu Ling.
Lu Ling looked at the words on the right, and it was indeed Qingdai's name, not Lu Ling.
"Why is Qingdai being hunted? Didn't she return to the military camp?" Lu Ling felt uneasy, and bad thoughts popped up in his head.
More and more people gathered under the sign, and Lu Ling heard conversations among the crowd.
"How come this nice girl is a fugitive at such a young age?"
"I heard she was a maid. She had originally run away with her mistress, but the mistress was killed by a bear on the way, leaving her alone to escape."
"How do you know this?"
"My wife heard it when she went to deliver something to the governor a few days ago."
"I don't know whether it's true or not, so it's better for us not to discuss it."
When Lu Ling heard the conversation between the two, his whole body went limp and his legs felt like they were filled with lead, unable to move.
"Aling! Aling!"
Shen Wangyou called out to Lu Ling and held Lu Ling with both hands. Lu Ling's face was pale and sweat appeared on his forehead.
Lu Ling was brought back to the inn by Shen Wangyou and lay on the bed.
Lu Ling stared blankly upwards, his eyes empty, not even blinking.
Shen Wangyou came up with a basin of water and saw Lu Ling in this state.
He wrung out the towel and gently wiped the sweat off her face.
Suddenly, Shen Wangyou's hand was grabbed by Lu Ling, and a pair of eyes stared at him.
Chen Wang worriedly said: It’s over!
"Did you know that Qingdai was gone a long time ago?" As he said this, a tear flowed from the corner of Lu Ling's eye.
Salty and bitter.
Lu Ling stood up and looked at Shen Wangyou, “When I asked you that day, your expression was not right, but I didn’t think much about it. It’s all my fault.”
After Lu Ling finished speaking, he let go of Shen Wangyou and kept slapping himself.
"A Ling! A Ling!" Shen Wangyou grabbed Lu Ling's hands and hugged her tightly.
"I did know it a long time ago, but I didn't mean to hide it from you. You had just recovered, and I didn't want to make you feel bad."
Seeing Lu Ling calm down, Shen Wangyou took out the things in his clothes.
This thing not only proved that he had seen Qingdai, but it was also the only token between him and Lu Ling. When he first picked it up from the ground, he actually felt a little resentful towards Lu Ling. Such an important thing, Lu Ling actually gave it to Qingdai like this.
But he also hated himself. He thought he must have hurt Lu Ling's heart, so she gave such an important thing to Qingdai.
Shen Wangyou put the peace locket into Lu Ling's hand and said in a hoarse voice, "I found this on the way to find you that day."
Lu Ling's heart sank. If there was a one in ten thousand chance just now, then this time there was no hope at all.
She still remembered the scene when she gave the peace locket to Qingdai, Qingdai's frightened look, and how she carefully put away the peace locket.
Lu Ling felt sad. He took the peace locket and stroked it silently. Then he threw the peace locket to the ground.
“A Ling, what are you doing…” Shen Wangyou hesitated to speak.
Lu Ling lay back down and said slowly, "Since it can't guarantee safety, there's no point in keeping this thing. Let's throw it away."
"A Ling, are you really going to throw it away?" Shen Wangyou squatted down, and his fingers just touched the peace locket. When he heard Lu Ling's words, he stopped and looked at Lu Ling.
Lu Ling didn’t want to say anything more, so he lay on the bed, turned over, and turned his back to Shen Wangyou.
Qingdai's previous appearance appeared in front of her eyes bit by bit. As soon as she closed her eyes, Qingdai's smile would appear.
Lu Ling hadn't cried for a long time, but today her tears kept flowing as if they were about to run dry.
She was regretting that if she had let Shannai and Qingdai leave the Lu Mansion, they would be living a good life now, and maybe even marry into a good family.
If I had gone to the northwest at the beginning, would Qingdai be together happily with Zhang Xunwen now?
if……
if……
Lu Ling didn't dare to think about it anymore, maybe...
She should just leave with her mother.
No, she can't die until her revenge is taken.
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