Chapter 38 Maneuvering "She thought Ning Xian was very good at disguising herself."...
"This is Miss Ying'er."
Ruan Yang walked behind the screen, handed the fruit platter and wine to the maid beside her, and then bowed to the man sitting in the center, holding her pipa.
Ying'er was the top courtesan at Zuichunlou and had the right to choose her own guests. Sure enough, she chose Ning Xian.
However, this wouldn't easily arouse suspicion. No matter which girl came, she would choose a young and handsome man. But Ruan Yang didn't expect that there was only Ning Xian here. The others had already been sent away.
It would be easier to deal with a large group of people, but it would be easier to expose Ning Xian if she were alone here. After all, if what she thought was true, she didn't know Ying'er, nor did she know their secret code.
Ning Xian poured tea for herself, glancing at her lazily from time to time, before finally saying, "Play a tune for me."
Ruan Yang nodded.
Her veil covered just below her nose, revealing only a pair of bright, clear eyes. The girl sat in the middle, her fingertips expertly plucking the strings of the pipa. In the final instant, the strings burst forth like pearls.
Ning Xian chuckled, then beckoned to her: "Do you know how to serve people?"
Ruan Yang walked to his side: "Please feel free to give any instructions, sir."
"How did your voice get like this?"
Ruan Yang cleared her throat, about to explain, when the madam, who arrived late, brought a lot of things and placed them on the small table. She smiled and said, "It's because Ying'er is greedy. She accidentally ate too much spicy food a couple of days ago, and that's why her voice is ruined. Except for singing ditties, Ying'er can sing everything else."
Ning Xian looked at Ruan Yang: "Is what she said true?"
Ruan Yang lowered her eyes shyly.
The madam laughed and said, "Alright, I won't disturb you any longer. I hope you all have a great time at my Drunken Spring Pavilion. Just tell me what you want."
After the madam left, only Ruan Yang and Ning Xian remained in the room. Ning Xian propped his head up and stared at the girl in front of him for a long while. Perhaps because he had just drunk some wine, the man looked at her with a tender and affectionate gaze.
Ruan Yang felt a little awkward, so she put down her pipa and poured Ning Xian some hangover soup. When she had poured half of the flower tea, Ning Xian suddenly covered her wrist and pulled her into his arms.
Ruan Yang smiled, trying her best to hide her inner panic: "Young Master..."
Ning Xian snatched off her veil, rubbed the girl's nose with the back of his finger, and sighed, "It's been a long time. Why is Ying'er so cold to me?"
Ruan Yang hooked her arms around his neck, thinking to herself that the two of them were as intimate as husband and wife, and it seemed that their secret relationship had been going on for quite some time.
Is Ning Xian really as dissolute and promiscuous as the Empress says? First it was Ying'er, then Ji Changhuan, Jinlian, and then herself, or perhaps many other women she doesn't know about.
He's quite good at pretending. He acts all lovey-dovey in front of her, like a puppy starved for love, but in reality, he's got two women on his arms, and they probably even have kids old enough to run errands.
But Ruan Yang didn't understand. Ning Xian had so many beautiful women around him, so why was he clinging to her so persistently?
She awkwardly kissed Ning Xian's lips: "Not indifferent."
Ning Xian tilted his head back, but still couldn't avoid Ruan Yang's kiss. He frowned and rubbed his lips together, then picked up the wine pot next to him and said, "Ying'er hasn't drunk with me for quite some time. I wonder if her alcohol tolerance has improved?"
Before Ruan Yang could reply, Ning Xian raised the wine jug in his hand and poured it into her mouth.
The fruit wine wasn't strong, but the constant choking caused her to cough uncontrollably, yet Ning Xian seemed determined not to let her off the hook.
After pouring the wine without flinching, he tossed the porcelain bottle into a corner and carefully examined the face smudged with wine. His lipstick had been rubbed off forcefully, and his blush and eyebrows were smudged together, leaving no trace of beauty, only a comical sight.
Ning Xian tentatively pulled down the girl's clothes again, and sneered, "Even after all this, aren't you going to fight back?"
Ruan Yang stopped him, panting, and said, "What...what are you saying? I don't quite understand."
Ning Xian caught a glimpse of her slightly exposed collarbone and changed his tone, saying, "I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've seen you that I was so impatient. It was my fault, I was too rough."
Ruan Yang shook her head and had just straightened her clothes when she heard Ning Xian say with ill intent, "I don't know what's important, so you can take off your clothes yourself."
Ruan Yang frowned.
If she were truly Ying'er, she would not hesitate to take off her clothes and let him play with her; if not, Ning Xian's words were coercion.
This is a blatant humiliation and a test.
Ning Xian guessed that she was a fake, but he didn't expose her on the spot. He was probably unsure of her identity. If she and Ju Zhi were in cahoots, exposing her on the spot would surely cause those guarding outside to break in.
This is like stirring up trouble and alerting the enemy, ultimately leading to failure.
Ning Xian wouldn't do that.
Although she had been honest with Ning Xian many times, she couldn't just take off her clothes now, especially since this guy had tattooed words on her chest!
A shadow was cast outside the window, seemingly eager to hear their movements.
Ruan Yang slowly untied her belt, but was suddenly picked up by Ning Xian, who lifted up the layers of beaded curtains and carried her to the bed at the very back.
This is Ying'er's bedroom, yet Ning Xian finds it so familiar. It seems that Zuichunlou has long been in cahoots with them.
Thinking this, Ning Xian threw her onto the soft bed. Before she could get up, the man wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a mechanism hidden under the bedding.
Ruan Yang felt dizzy and her body suddenly felt weightless. It was pitch black all around her, and she didn't know where she was going to roll with Ning Xian.
Well, things have come to this point, she has no choice but to continue playing along with Ning Xian. If she can't find a chance to escape, she'll just be killed.
...
"Your Highness has finally arrived."
Ji Zhonglin looked at the woman Ning Xian was carrying on his shoulder: "Is this Zheng Ying'er?"
Ning Xian shook his head, knocked Ruan Yang unconscious, and threw him to the guards at the gate. He said coldly, "Take him away and torture him severely."
"yes."
Without saying a word, the guards quickly dragged the unconscious Ruan Yang away.
A dark prison.
"stop."
The guard stopped in his tracks: "Miss Ugly."
The guards, carrying Ruan Yang on their shoulders, bumped into Ah Chou, who had just finished interrogating a prisoner, at the corner.
When Ah Chou saw him carrying a girl, he asked curiously, "What's going on?"
"It was someone Your Highness brought here. Perhaps they are spies sent by the Emperor. That's why Your Highness ordered me to take them away for a proper interrogation."
Ah Chou had worked for Ning Xian for many years. She handled trivial matters very well, and over time she gained Ning Xian's trust. She said, "Leave it to me, you can go and rest."
"yes."
The Ji family had been preparing for this basement for several years. When the Ji family was in power, they had done a lot of things to secretly hoard military equipment for future needs. This place has a complex network of secret routes that can lead to many places. It is located in a hidden place at the border between the Northern Frontier and Daye, and it is backed by the people of the Northern Frontier. Without a general map of the defense, the central government would never be able to conduct a large-scale search.
Ah Chou tied Ruan Yang to the rack and splashed a ladle of icy water on her face.
Ruan Yang was awakened by a cold, stinging sensation. She slowly opened her eyes, smelling the damp, musty odor. What came into view was a dark and cramped room. There were no windows, no light coming in from the outside, and not even a breeze.
Ah Chou shoved the whip into the salt water and flung it at Ruan Yang's side without saying a word: "Speak, who sent you here? If you tell the truth, you'll suffer less."
A burning pain shot through the back of her hand. Ruan Yang recognized the woman in black in front of her as A Chou. She was about to call out when a voice in her mind told her that A Chou was Ning Xian's person.
"I don't understand what you're saying."
Ah Chou scrutinized her for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and said, "Since you're not Zheng Ying'er, then who are you? Ju Zhi or Lu Nong?"
After speaking, without waiting for Ruan Yang's reply, she quietly reached her fingertips to Ruan Yang's chin, and with a "swish," the human skin mask fell off: "...It's you?"
Ah Chou was startled. Realizing that both of them had been exposed, she stopped hiding her true intentions and asked, "How dare you come here alone?"
Ruan Yang endured the burning pain in the back of her hand and said, "So, Ah Chou, you've been lying to me all along. You're not General Lu's man at all, are you?"
Ah Chou had mixed feelings of love and hate towards this younger sister. When she saw her, she was both surprised and delighted. But when it came to deception, she laughed and said, "What is my deception compared to Ning Xian's? I think you are happy to live in the world he wove for you and forget about home. I lied to you because you were too stupid and deserved to be deceived."
Ruan Yang sighed calmly, "I am indeed not smart, otherwise I wouldn't have been bullied by Ning Xian like this."
After Ruan Yang finished speaking, she guessed that A Chou must know what kind of grudges and grievances still existed between her and Ning Xian, so she said, "Then please tell me, besides hiding his identity from me, what else did he lie to me about?"
Ah Chou coldly said, "It's nothing. I'm just very curious. I'm curious how Ning Xian would deal with you if he knew you were impersonating Zheng Ying'er."
Ruan Yang said, "What can you do besides killing me or making me wish I were dead? Do you really think Ning Xian would spare my life just because we are husband and wife?"
"Aren't you afraid?" Ah Chou asked in surprise.
Ruan Yang chuckled: "If you're scared, will Sister A-Chou let me go?"
Ah Chou thought this was a good opportunity. She was worried about how to send out the recorded defense map, and now that Ruan Yang was here, she could entrust the secret to her with peace of mind.
She glanced around warily, then leaned close to Ruan Yang's ear: "I will help you leave here, but you must promise me that you will give the things I gave you to Lu Wenjin."
Ruan Yang was taken aback when Ah Chou had already stuffed the item into her waistband.
Ruan Yang said, "But there are many checkpoints here. How are you going to get me out without Ning Xian knowing?"
"If you trust me, swallow this fake death pill and leave the rest to me."
Ruan Yang was taking a desperate gamble; whether she ate or not, she would die anyway, so it was better than falling into Ning Xian's hands.
"Why are you helping me?" Ruan Yang asked, stunned.
As Ah Chou helped Ruan Yang untie her shackles, he looked up at her and said, "Because we have a common enemy."
Ruan Yang rubbed her sore shoulders and said, "Then what are you going to do?"
Ah Chou looked at the pile of fresh corpses in the next cell and said, "I will protect myself. I am still useful. He will not kill me for the time being. I will just suffer some physical pain. What you need to do is to hide the fact that you have been here and escape from the pile of dead bodies in the crematorium."
.........
After sending Ruan Yang and the pile of corpses to the mass grave, it was already late at night. She returned to the dark cell, drew the dagger from her waist, and slit the throats of the guards who had drunk the wine she had laced with muscle relaxant.
Inside the dark cell, the faint firelight flickered. She bit a piece of cotton cloth and stabbed the sharp weapon into her right shoulder. Instantly, cold sweat beaded on the girl's forehead, and her lips began to turn white.
Exhausted, Ah Chou clutched her wound and stumbled outside, crying, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened..."
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