Chapter 41 Escape "The wedding candles went out, the mandarin duck brocade was torn."...
Ning Xian carefully selected an auspicious date for the wedding, which was to be held in mid-April of this year. In Sichuan and Chongqing, this month would be when the flowers are in full bloom and people would have already shed their light clothing. However, the north is different; the cold wind is biting, and people still need to wear a light coat on the outside.
The red paper scraps from the firecrackers danced in the flames, and bright red "double happiness" characters were pasted on the windows. The betrothal gifts in the room were all determined according to the customs of Sichuan women getting married.
The young woman in her wedding robes got up very early today. She picked up some rouge from her makeup box and put it on her lips.
She and Ning Xian had not met for three days. According to the customs of Bashu, the husband and other unrelated people were not allowed to meet with the bride for the first three days before her marriage.
The auspicious hour has arrived; it's time to go to the front hall for the wedding ceremony. The young woman lifted her skirt, slightly revealing the Shu brocade shoes beneath. She moved nimbly now, no longer as confined to a small space as before.
The chains binding the girl's ankles could only be temporarily removed during the few days of the wedding.
Even so, the person in front of the bronze mirror still had slightly furrowed brows, and the heavy makeup could not hide the sorrow on her face.
Jinlian was terrified that the substitution would be exposed before the wedding night. Ruan Yang had altered her face, replacing it with a human skin mask that looked exactly like hers. After months of training, her voice and posture were also imitated to a high degree.
Even though someone was going to get Ning Xian drunk later, for some reason, she was just afraid...
"Madam, please put on the veil. I will lead you in a moment."
The maids' voices brought Jinlian back to reality. She agreed to Ruan Yang's request not because she believed she could truly rise to prominence, but because she had no choice but to agree.
Otherwise, if Ruan Yang had said anything casually, she would have been dragged away and beaten to death.
Jinlian swallowed hard, covered her head with the veil, and said, "Okay, I'll go right now."
Fireworks lit up the sky, and children with double buns on both sides of the corridor threw flower petals at the girl in a phoenix coronet and wedding robes.
Ning Xian had been waiting in the front hall for a long time. Amidst the clamor of blessings, he watched his bride walk towards him. Although it wasn't his first marriage to Ruan Yang, his heart was inexplicably beating very fast.
If there were no irreconcilable hatred between them, why would he repeatedly fabricate lies to deceive her, why would he be afraid of Ruan Yang leaving and choose to frantically leave his marks on her body?
Even if Ruan Yang loathed him to the extreme, what could she do about it? He didn't care at all.
Ning Xian held the girl's hand, his eyes and nose reddening. His vision blurred, but he smiled, knowing that this time, nothing but life and death could separate them.
The master of ceremonies' voice pulled him back to reality. Ning Xian, holding one end of the handkerchief, continued to complete these tedious rituals.
As the noise faded, Jinlian was helped into the bridal chamber. The door was closed, and finally, there was peace and quiet. She sat on the gold-embroidered wedding quilt, and the matchmaker cheerfully instructed her on the matters of consummating the marriage. Jinlian responded with a few words, but there was no smile on her face.
Time passed slowly, and Jinlian tightened the silk handkerchief around her fingertips. The banquet ended, and the door finally creaked open.
Ning Xian was overjoyed these past few days, and he agreed to whatever Ruan Yang asked for. He unlocked her chains, refused to see her, and even reduced the number of guards around her by half, all so that he could see her smile at him with genuine sincerity tonight.
His head was spinning from the alcohol, and he pushed away Lan Rong, who was helping him, and stumbled step by step toward his bride.
"Vast and magnificent".
The man showered her with tenderness and affection, but Jinlian trembled with fear.
She mustered her courage and stepped forward to hug Ning Xian's waist. After embracing him, she deliberately twisted her ankle, causing him to fall onto the soft couch with her. The man she had been dreaming of was now intimately close to her, so she carefully felt the warmth of his body and tried to greedily take more.
She was born in a poor, remote mountain village, surrounded by rough, elderly men. Her mother wanted her to marry one of these men, and even though she had a thousand grievances in her heart, she dared not utter a word. She could only silently huddle in her blankets and weep. Ning Xian was the first man she had ever met who was different from others.
He was of noble status, and every gesture he made exuded an air of nobility.
Jinlian had seen his tenderness towards the cats and dogs on the roadside, and she had also seen his helplessness when there was no one behind him.
She pitied him and was willing to give him everything to redeem him. Unfortunately, Ning Xian was stubborn and muddle-headed, so muddle-headed that he forgave the woman who had betrayed him repeatedly.
She didn't understand either, she didn't understand why Ruan Yang was so ungrateful?
"Great..."
The veil slowly fell away during this intimate moment. The man pressed his face against her neck, calling out another woman's name. Jinlian's heart ached as if insects were burrowing into it, and greed completely numbed her fear.
Her palm pressed against Ning Xian's firm chest, and her lips kissed her way down his neck. Every inch of her body felt numb and tingling, and the warmth of his body brought tears to her eyes.
"Your Highness..."
Jinlian called out passionately, coiling around him like a snake.
At the critical moment, Ning Xian suddenly stopped. He realized that his Yangyang would never fawn over him like this. He stood up, shook his dizzy head, but Ruan Yang's face was still in front of him.
He pulled his clothes shut, grabbed Jinlian Dao's collar, and coldly asked, "...Who are you?"
Jinlian sobbed, "I...I am your Yangyang."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Xian released Jinlian and pushed her onto the bed. He raised his head slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing dryly, and he murmured in a tearful voice, "Liars...they're all liars!"
The wedding fruits on the table were overturned, the candles went out, and the mandarin duck brocade was torn. At this moment, everything in the room that was supposed to be in pairs seemed to be nakedly mocking his sincere heart.
Blood gushed from between Ning Xian's fingers. The golden-faced woman was too frightened to move an inch. She huddled in the corner, afraid that something hard was about to hit her.
Perhaps consumed by rage, Ning Xian's internal organs began to throb with pain. He clutched his chest, pointed at the face that looked exactly like Ruan Yang's, and weakly uttered a few vicious words: "You bitches, none of you are good people. You ganged up to make fun of me. Is it fun? Hmm?"
With a "whoosh," the sword placed on the shelf flashed silver.
At this moment, the people outside heard the commotion and rushed in. Lan Rong knelt down and hugged Ning Xian's leg tightly: "Your Highness, you must not act rashly!"
Ning Xian tried to pull away, then paused and said, "Lan Rong... drag that fake out and have him torn to pieces!"
Seeing that she was about to die, Jinlian couldn't even cry anymore. She crawled to Ning Xian's feet and shook her head, saying, "Don't kill me, don't kill me! I know where Ruan Yang went!"
......
As dawn broke and the dew began to dissipate, the quiet mountains were occasionally punctuated by the clear calls of birds. Ruan Yang fled along a side path, and after several days of hiding, she finally escaped safely from the forest she had just left.
At the city gate, Ruan Yang loaded the goods onto the donkey cart, secured them with hemp rope, and said to the driver in front, "Brother Li, you can go now!"
"Okay!"
With a shout from the driver, the bells on the donkeys jingled, and the caravan leisurely departed from the north, bathed in the morning light.
Ruan Yang helped pull the donkey cart. Although he was tired, the tension he had been feeling for the past few days could finally be relieved.
Having escaped Ning Xian's sight, Ruan Yang's travel became much easier. After leaving that forest, Ruan Yang was still troubled about her next plan. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but while resting at an inn, she encountered a caravan heading to Bashu. Ruan Yang saw that the leader was poisoned by snake venom, so she went up and sucked out the venomous blood.
The poisoned person's life was saved. The female master intended to give her some silver as a reward, but Ruan Yang knelt down and made the female master accept it.
In the vast sea of people, as long as he leaves Lizhou safely, the chances of Ning Xian finding her will be much smaller. Right now, he must stick close to this caravan and return to Bashu, where the Ruan family's troops are stationed and Lu Wenjin is guarding. Even if Ning Xian belatedly discovers the lie on their wedding night, he will have no way to kidnap her back.
After several days and nights of arduous travel, the large caravan was finally about to arrive in Sichuan. Because the goods they were transporting were very precious, namely Shu brocade, which was very distinctive in the region, they spent a lot of money to train many highly skilled and agile guards for safety during the journey.
When Ruan Yang got tired, she climbed onto the donkey cart to rest for a while. She took out a still warm baked cake from her bosom and swallowed it with spring water.
Following the caravan was not a long-term solution. She needed to find a place to settle down and support herself, or at worst, become a nun and spend the rest of her life in seclusion with only the light of a lamp and the sound of Buddhist scriptures.
The female master sitting next to her leaned closer, glancing around warily, and whispered to Ruan Yang, "Hey, who exactly are you?"
Ruan Yang felt a chilly breath on the back of her ear and said, "An orphan girl whose family was destroyed."
The female master chuckled lightly: "An orphan? What harmless orphan could possibly have any enemies?"
Ruan Yang frowned slightly. In the blink of an eye, an arrow shot from a bow whizzed past their cheeks, and the horses began to neigh uneasily.
Another flurry of swords flashed, but fortunately, the female master pushed her away a few inches, otherwise she would be dead by now.
Ruan Yang lay prone between the cargo boxes, using them as cover as she could. Through the gaps, she could see that the newcomer's tactics were almost identical to those she had used when she sneaked into the secret passage with Ning Xian that day, and her heart began to tighten again.
She had only enjoyed a few good days, was she going to ruin everything again? If Ning Xian really wanted to kill her cleanly this time, then so be it, but Ning Xian was a vengeful person. If he took her back, all that would be left for her was torment worse than death.
As Ruan Yang watched the caravan's guards fall one by one, he knew they wouldn't last much longer.
These past few days, she's been plagued by nightmares. That man is like a vengeful ghost, clinging to her and constantly draining her yang energy. She has no way to protect herself and can only hide in this small space, raising her neck to let him slaughter her.
It seemed that only by picking up the dagger beside her and committing suicide could she end this innocent killing.
Suddenly, the sound of hooves came from not far away. Amidst the billowing dust ahead, a man riding a jet-black horse galloped toward her. The spring breeze lifted his shawl, making the boy's face even clearer.
The horses were incredibly fast, and in large numbers, they knocked over the cargo piles and people in the middle of the road. Ruan Yang rolled onto the ground, and she saw several sharp hooves rushing towards her like a tide.
"Yangyang, give me your hand!"
Ruan Yang looked up and saw a jet-black horse about to step over her. The young man on horseback lowered his body slightly and reached out his hand to her.
How did Lu Wenjin know she was here?
At that moment, Ruan Yang didn't have time to think. She immediately grabbed the boy's wrist. The boy's cloak blocked out the sound of weapons. She looked at Lu Wenjin's once smooth chin, which now had some green stubble, and her eyes couldn't help but sting.
It's over. Everything between her and Ning Xian can finally come to an end.
The group quickly shook off the assassins and headed east towards the city gate...
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