131 Chapter 131
◎Escape◎
At the hour of You, the area in front of Cheng Mu's residence was still bustling with activity. Someone came out to maintain order and said to everyone in the alley, "Mrs. Cheng has run out of food. Everyone, please return!"
Most people in the crowd didn't hold out much hope, and just kept asking if there would be such an opportunity again in the future.
"Prince Jing has triumphed over the Mongol invaders. Madam Cheng has been invited to Yunzhou City. She will depart early tomorrow morning. Please leave the city walls to see her off. Opportunities like this will always arise in the future!"
After hearing the news, the crowd gradually dispersed.
The two people watching from a distance muttered, "Why is Madam Cheng saying this to the people? Just because she exchanged some seeds, she expects the people to stop the sedan chair and give her umbrellas?"
"This woman is always good at putting on an act. No matter what she thinks. Tomorrow, our mission will be completed. Let's go back to Yunzhou City and have a good drink."
The door of Cheng's house was closed tightly early and did not open again all night.
The next day, a carriage from a horse-drawn carriage company was hired and stopped in front of Cheng's house.
The two brothers who were on guard saw with their own eyes that Madam Cheng got on the carriage and waved to the old and young who were seeing her off.
The carriage started moving, and the two brothers followed the carriage to the mansion where Princess Jing was staying.
Madam Cheng arrived first. Princess Jing's carriage hadn't arrived yet, but it was already ready. Her carriage was parked far back in the procession. After waiting for half an hour, Princess Jing finally emerged. She glanced over from a distance, her eyes passing over the palace guards standing respectfully beside the carriage. Then, with the help of her maidservant, she boarded.
When the princess returned to the city, the palace guards cleared the way and set up another layer of protection.
Many people came to see him off spontaneously, and the crowd kept growing.
Prince Jing drove away the Mongolian bandits and saved Yunzhou from disaster. The people of Puyang City were very supportive of the prince's palace. Looking at the flags fluttering in the wind, their chests were straightened.
Ten miles out of the city, the Puyang County Magistrate did not see him off any further. He said goodbye to Princess Jing and then came to say goodbye to Madam Cheng.
The people who came to see her off could no longer do so, but they all knew where Madam Cheng's carriage was and looked at it eagerly.
The person in the carriage finally got off and knelt in front of the Puyang County Magistrate.
The crowd was shocked, and the Puyang County Magistrate took a step back in fear.
The two palace soldiers guarding the carriage rushed forward and lifted the curtain, revealing that there was nothing else in the carriage.
The guard drew his sword from his waist and placed it on the neck of the man on the ground. "Who are you? Where is Madam Cheng?"
The crowd was in an uproar. The maid in Princess Jing's carriage got out and said to the guards standing by, "Princess, what happened back there?"
When the guard went to the back and reported back, Princess Jing was so angry that she threw the teacup in her hand.
Cheng Jiuniang! He actually escaped right under her nose!
She ran away!
The guards brought "Madam Cheng" in. This "Madam Cheng" was only wearing Cheng Jiuniang's clothes and having her hair styled, and her whole body was shaking like a sieve.
"Princess, please forgive me. I know nothing! In order to get Madam Cheng's child, I agreed to stay at her house for one night. But I wasn't the only one there. Several people were there! Madam Cheng said she was going to Yunzhou City with you, and she left yesterday! She said a carriage would come to take me out of the city this morning, and I could get off ten miles outside the city. I, I really didn't know you mistook me for Madam Cheng..."
Princess Jing was so angry that she had a headache. The nanny beside her shouted for her, "Why are you dressed like her? If it's not to hide from others, what is it?"
"It's unfair! Madam Cheng gave me her clothes, such beautiful clothes!"
Princess Jing waved her hand and asked them to take the person away.
When asked further, no one objected. Cheng Jiuniang had escaped in front of her.
What a brilliant escape! She left yesterday!
With so many people staring at her, how could she vent her anger on this ignorant woman?
Princess Jing instructed her attendants, "Tell her to stop talking nonsense and just say that Madam Cheng had to leave first because of something, and that she got on the wrong car."
"Understood!"
When the carriage started up again, the guard handed a letter to the carriage nanny, who held it in both hands and handed it to Princess Jing.
"It was said that it was presented when the carriage behind turned around."
Princess Jing tore open the wax seal, revealing a piece of light paper inside with only two sentences on it.
The past is like smoke and clouds, so there is no need to doubt it;
I am walking alone through the mountains and rivers, so there is no need to see me off.
Princess Jing stared at the paper, her chest boiling with anger. Cheng Jiuniang had finally figured it out! A hundred ways to kill her flashed through her mind.
Then I re-read it several times, and my anger gradually dissipated.
Cheng Jiuniang has let go of everything that happened in the past. She has indeed been close by and never made any advances in recent years. Otherwise, she would not have found out a few days ago that the famous Madam Cheng was her.
Then Princess Jing laughed softly. Cheng Jiuniang was no longer under her control. Her advantage as a reborn girl was gone. On the contrary, she became Cheng Jiuniang's "evil" because of her excessive calculations.
Although Princess Jing did not know the story of the young dragon slayer becoming a dragon, she was aware of it.
Cheng Jiuniang expressed her attitude, not to pursue the matter or get entangled. She chose another path and plunged into the vast world.
Princess Jing burned this letter without a beginning or an end. It was time for her to let the past be the past.
***
Luoyang City, Tianshui Lane.
During the winter solstice, to send winter clothes to the deceased, Yu and Xu Xiuying starched coarse cloth, cut out a number of clothing patterns, and folded yellow paper ingots, which they knelt in the courtyard to burn.
In the kitchen, Gui'er sliced the meat into thin slices, marinated it, and stacked them up. Huaihua scooped up the soaked potato starch. The mute woman opened the lid of the clay pot and stirred it with a spoon. Seeing Xiaoliu come in, she scooped out a piece of meat bone and motioned for her to taste it until it was soft and tender.
Cheng Mu came in and ordered, "This clay pot is for the escorts in front to make soup base. Bring a basket of snacks and see if they need anything else."
I arrived in Luoyang two months ago and rented a courtyard with three entrances. The bodyguards lived in the front and usually had separate meals. Today was a festival, so I asked the mute woman to help make a pot.
Huaihua said she had made some dumplings when she had time and could give them some.
Cheng Mu took a look and said approvingly, "When do you have time? You're quite nimble."
Huaihua actually blushed.
Xiao Qi drew two pictures of the Nine-Nine Cold-Dispelling Pictures and, together with Huai Hua and Ya Po, delivered one to the escort in front.
The sky was gloomy, and suddenly a cholera-like wind blew up, bringing snowflakes the size of rice grains.
Cheng Mu had already set the table when Yu and Xiuying came in. "It's snowing."
Cheng Mu looked outside, feeling melancholy.
After eating, the sky darkened a lot and the snow fell heavier.
Seeing Cheng Mu frequently looking outside, Xiao Liu pouted and said with a worried look on his face, "It's snowing so hard, how could Dad come to see us?"
Xiao Qi's mood also became depressed, "I miss my little dad."
"Yeah!" Badou nodded and stroked his slingshot. There was no bird to hit.
Xiaoliu started crying, "Will Daddy not be able to find us..."
As soon as she took the lead, seven or eight others followed suit. Cheng Mu scolded them, "Why are you crying just because you say so? You're not allowed to cry while eating!"
Turning around, I saw Yu was also wiping away tears.
"Aunt Yu, what's wrong with you?"
Yu's eyes were filled with tears of joy. She pointed at Jiuniu, who was standing on a stool, and waved to him. Jiuniu grinned, raised his two little arms, and started walking like a drunk!
Gui'er screamed, picked up Jiuniu and threw it into the sky.
When Yu took away Jiuniu, Guier burst into tears, "I thought he was a fool, but he's finally going to leave!"
Liuqiba ended the atmosphere of missing their little dad and chattered excitedly around Jiuniu.
“Walk again!”
"Come, come to my sister!"
"Do you want my slingshot? Come and get it!"
They continued to tease him to walk, and Jiuniu took a few steps towards one, then a few steps towards that.
Everyone had almost finished eating, but Xu Xiuying hadn't put down her chopsticks yet, and she picked up a few more spoonfuls of potato noodles.
Gui'er exclaimed: "How come you've been eating so much lately!"
Xu Xiuying also didn't know: "I have no idea how full my stomach is. I'll be hungry again soon after eating so much."
But suddenly, she found something falling down, and when she wiped her face with her hand, it was all water.
Gui'er was frightened and asked, "Madam Cheng! What happened to Xiuying?"
Xu Xiuying tried to smile and said, "It's okay, I don't want to cry."
Cheng Mu patted Xu Xiuying on the shoulder, said nothing, and walked out.
She called Cao Bai who was in front and asked him to go outside to call a doctor.
Gui'er also slipped out when she saw an opportunity, "Madam Cheng, Xiuying is having a hard time!"
Cheng Mu guessed it was still because of that incident. "My physical injuries have healed, but I'm still feeling uneasy. Let the doctor take a look and prescribe some medicine to help me calm down."
Gui'er did the same thing last year. She left everything behind and left that environment. Her psychological injuries healed quickly along with her physical injuries. Although Xu Xiuying has left that environment now, what makes her worse off than Gui'er is that her loving and affectionate husband is dead.
After the doctor came over, Xu Xiuying still refused to take her pulse and kept saying, "Madam Cheng, I'm really fine."
It had been so long since the incident, and the pain had become old. She didn't want to annoy Madam Cheng because of it. Madam Cheng had been so caring and kind to her, and she had done so much for her.
Gui'er was impatient and her temper flared up. "The doctor is here, and you're sending them on a wasted trip? You still have to pay the consultation fee. What a crime!"
Cheng Mu advised, "Let the doctor take a look. You said you were this kind of person before. After Zhao Shu passed away, you had no one around you. You lived more openly than anyone else, with that kind of boldness. Who could possibly win over you? Now you have so many of us around you. What obstacles can hold you back?"
Xu Xiuying tried hard to hold back her tears and said with a smile, "That's right!"
She tried to act cool and said, "I'll listen to Madam Cheng!"
The doctor took out the pulse pillow and examined the patient quietly for a cup of tea. After the examination, he did not speak again. He had already seen that Cheng Mu was the head of the family and asked her to come and talk for a moment.
"Doctor, how is her health? Is she suffering from liver qi stagnation?"
The doctor listened to their words and after checking the slippery pulse, he didn't know whether to congratulate the woman or not, so he just said to the head of the household, "She is pregnant. Please prescribe a medicine to maintain the pregnancy or an abortion pill."
Cheng Mu was very surprised, "Are you sure she is pregnant? She had a hard time getting pregnant before!"
He might misdiagnose other illnesses, but how could he misdiagnose a slippery pulse? The doctor's face instantly darkened when questioned, "My medical skills are not good enough. Please seek help from someone else!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything else," Cheng Mu stopped him. "I'm just too surprised. How many months has it been since the diagnosis was made?"
The doctor snorted, "If I were to make a mistake for a month or so, it's already been three or four months. How could I have made a mistake with such an obvious slippery pulse?"
Cheng Wei calculated and was confused. "Is it three months or four months?"
"Just ask her when her last period was." The doctor waved his sleeves and left.
To be on the safe side, Cheng Mi invited another doctor over.
"Madam Cheng, what did the doctor say?"
Xu Xiuying sensed something unusual was going on. She wanted to ask Cheng Mu about it alone, but Gui'er was even more anxious than she was and insisted on staying by her side to listen. "Is there anything we can't know?"
Yu also followed.
Cheng Mu had no choice but to tell them what the doctor had said. Gui'er asked anxiously, "Xiuying, when was your last menstrual period?"
Xu Xiuying felt as if a thunder exploded beside her ears. She couldn't believe that she was pregnant!
Yu was worried. She was thinking that if the fox's seed had germinated, she would have been pregnant long ago. This seed was probably just a trick. Xiuying had to get pregnant with those beasts' children. It was really miserable.
If Yu had encountered such a thing, she would have killed herself by banging her head against the wall.
Xu Xiuying was not Yu. The joy of being a mother overwhelmed everything. She didn't care whose child it was. She burst into tears and kowtowed to the sky.
"Madam Cheng, my brine land is also growing crops."
Xu Xiuying held his hand and burst into tears.
Cheng Mu was also moved by such pure and radiant joy.
"That's great, you have your own child."
Yu was a chaste woman, and Guier swore never to have children again. The mother and daughter did not understand Xu Xiuying's excitement, but seeing that she looked more lively than ever in the past few months, they chose to say nothing.
"Mom, will the snowflakes outside snow all night? Can we have a snowball fight tomorrow?"
Before going to bed, Liuqiba was looking forward to the heavy snow tomorrow. Cheng Mu scratched Xiaoliu's nose and asked, "Aren't you worried that Dad will be blocked on the road by the heavy snow?"
"I'm worried. I hope Daddy can play snowballs with us tomorrow. Mom, I'll beg God in my dreams."
Cheng Mu smiled and said, "Well, go and ask Duke Zhou for help."
On a quiet snowy night, Cheng Mu lit two candles and carefully looked at the map drawn by Mu Yun.
It took a month to walk from Yunzhou to Luoyang, and that was in the autumn when the weather was very good. After the spring, it might not take a month to walk from Luoyang to Jiangling. There will be late spring cold snaps, snow, rain, and even hail. The south starts farming early, and if you are not careful, you will miss the spring farming season.
They left Yunzhou under the name of a caravan. Mu Yun had already formed a caravan for the journey south. When the caravan was traveling, it was customary to hire bodyguards to accompany them. Most of the branches he had troubled in Puyang City went with her.
They secretly transported more than a dozen carts of grain seeds, and after entering Henan, they exchanged a lot of them at the temple fair. The name of Mrs. Cheng from Shanxi also worked here.
There is a temple fair here every 8th day of the lunar month. Cheng Mian wants to go to the Baiquan Temple Fair on the 8th day of April. It is the largest medicinal material trading market in the Central Plains, and her space can be used to cultivate medicinal materials.
Cotton cultivation is quite common here, but the yield is too low, only one and a half stones per acre, which is three-quarters less than the yield per acre in the south. Cotton seeds urgently need to be greatly improved.
She had already experimented in the space and improved the varieties, and she was eager to try them here.
China is so vast that every place has its own conditions. Wherever there are people, they need to have enough food and warm clothes. She doesn't have to hurry. Since she has started this journey, it will not be a matter of months.
There was a noise outside the yard and a commotion ahead.
At this time, the children were all asleep, but the adults were still chatting.
Gui'er heard the noise and opened the door, and Cheng Mu also opened the door to see.
In the heavy snow and wind, a man came with a lantern.
This was the first time so many people came into Cheng Mu's small house.
Mu Yun and Jin Xiong left together. After they left the team, the Eighteen Riders added two more riders. This time in the battle of Yunzhou, the Eighteen Riders became twenty Riders.
Jin Xiong enthusiastically recounted the battle that night. The soldiers ahead had used ladders to scale the city walls, while their surprise attack team climbed the walls with ropes. "Thanks to Madam Cheng's brilliant idea, the ropes, with their grips, were able to swing far and hold on tightly, allowing them to easily pry open the Yunzhou city defenses."
Gui'er asked, "When did Madam Cheng become a military advisor?"
Cheng Mu gave Mu Yun a reproachful look. "This was Mu Yun's suggestion. Don't say it came from me."
Mu Yun quickly explained, "Let's just talk about this in private."
Cheng Mu looked at the clock and said, "Okay, it's getting late. We can talk tomorrow if we have anything to say. Let's go back."
Mu Yun: "There is something important I need to tell my sister-in-law." He repeated to the others: "You all go back."
Gui'er looked at him suspiciously, then exchanged glances with Xu Xiuying. Xu Xiuying shook her head and motioned her to leave.
Jin Xiong patted Mu Yun's shoulder heavily, giving him a silent instruction. It seemed that the two of them had something to say, and they could only speak to Madam Cheng.
Yu pulled Gui'er, but Gui'er went out with her unwillingly.
Everyone left and Mu Yun closed the door.
Cheng Mu had heard them talk about so much, including the Mongolian commander, the military advisor, the escaped Khan, the rewards for the victory, and so on, but she hadn't mentioned that one person. She had already guessed what the mysterious Mu Yun was going to say, and hurriedly asked, "How is Lord Huang?"
Mu Yun poured himself a cup of tea, but before he could raise it to his lips, Cheng Mu snatched it away.
"It's cold, heat it up before drinking."
She placed the teapot on the small stove. The cup that Mu Yun poured water into was the one she had drunk from. Her cheeks felt hot, so she took another cup for Mu Yun.
Along the way, I ate cold cakes and drank cold water, and often my stomach was filled with cold air after just one gulp.
Only my sister-in-law would care about such trivial matters.
Mu Yun was in a very good mood, and his anxious heart, which had been troubled for some days, finally calmed down.
"Is Master Huang—"
Cheng Mu didn't dare to speculate. Mu Yun said sternly, "When we found Master Huang, he was being held hostage by Mongolian soldiers. I was looking for a good opportunity, but Master Huang made a move first. I knew he had received other orders from Prince Jing, so he took the initiative and swung out the bronze mirror on his chest, which just blocked Master Huang's firepower and hit Master Huang. The residual force was not small, and he fainted on the spot. It is unknown whether his ribs were broken."
"How come you don't know?"
"Anda Khan took Mr. Huang with him when he escaped."
Huang Nian'an fell into the hands of the Meng Kingdom! Cheng Mu was shocked.
"What about you...you? Did Prince Jing give you any trouble after you did that?"
Mu Yun's heart was surging and his eyes were dim.
"I'm fine. I just got a reprimand."
Cheng Mu didn't believe it. She wondered if she had beaten him half to death before letting him go. It took him so long to catch up, so it only made sense that he was recovering from his injuries.
"You really weren't court-martialed? Then why did you come so late—"
"Prince Jing ordered us to search for and kill An Da Khan along the border. It wasn't until the northern defense line was harassed by Wang Gu's tribe and he sent troops to the capital that we had the opportunity to withdraw."
"Prince Jing is willing to let you go?"
"Prince Jing received the order to go to war, but he left suddenly and didn't have time to think about many things. It's also easy for me to deal with Chief Huang, he can't control me."
He took advantage of the information gap, and Prince Jing thought he was staying here, while Chief Huang thought he was going with Prince Jing.
Cheng Mu's face tightened.
Princess Jing wants to treat her well, and Prince Jing keeps holding on to Mu Yun. This couple is really annoying.
What are they doing, on the run?
Mu Yun wanted to caress her cheek very much. Cheng Mu poured hot water and handed it to him.
"You've been on the border for so long, and you haven't heard from Mr. Huang?"
Mu Yun poured out the cup of tea in one gulp and shook his head.
Lord Huang, Cheng Mu sighed in her heart.
He worked tirelessly for the Yan court, but in the end, the Yan court was the first to abandon him. If he was lucky enough to survive in the Mongolian state, the Mongolian state would force him to supervise military construction, but would he do it or not?
He was afraid that the Qing Dynasty would enter the Pass, but the tide of history pushed him to the other side. Perhaps in the future, it would be because of his existence that the Qing Dynasty would be able to enter the Pass.
Cheng Mu thought angrily that Prince Jing and his wife had better not hunt them down, otherwise the Yan Dynasty would perish in the second generation.
Mu Yun had to say pessimistically, "Prince Jing captured a few prisoners to test, and the prisoners were physically stronger than Lord Huang. Three out of five were killed, and Lord Huang is in great danger."
If Lord Huang survived, it would not be something that could be exposed to the public, as he still had nine clansmen in Jiangning.
Mr. Huang asked her to go to Jiangning...
He probably couldn't see that far back then. Cheng Mu asked worriedly, "Did Prince Jing touch Lord Huang's family?"
Mu Yun didn't know either.
Prince Jing's actions were all done secretly. He asked them to kill Huang Nian'an, and he would do the same if he wanted to touch Huang Nian'an's family.
Mu Yun: "Prince Jing will definitely keep the Huang family in his hands, just in case."
Cheng Mu clenched her fists. In the book, Prince Jing was a sickly person, with so many toxins in his body that not even the five poisons could kill him. Even if there was an element of drama in the old Xuan Dynasty, she had seen his face and knew that he would not live long. Did the author have any common sense at all? How could such a person be so happy!
Mu Yun wrapped her fist, "Don't be angry, sister-in-law."
Cheng Mu's heart trembled violently, and when she pulled back, he pulled her hard and she sat on his legs.
"If I were to be exchanged for Mr. Huang, would Sister-in-law feel better?"
How could that be!
"Mr. Huang and I were good friends, and I respected him. He didn't deserve to die before he could fulfill his ambitions."
Thinking of how he had once tried desperately to light the fire, and how he died in the darkest hour before dawn, Cheng Min was overwhelmed with grief.
I feel sorry for him, it's not worth it.
Mu Yun hugged the sobbing person tightly, and she did not resist.
When she calmed down, Mu Yun poured the hot water from the small stove into the basin, went outside to pluck a handful of snow from the eaves, made it cooler, and threw a handkerchief in.
"I'll do it myself." Cheng Xi washed her face.
After washing, Mu Yun said, "It's getting late, sister-in-law, go to bed."
Cheng Mu's eyes and nose were red, remembering that she had not answered Mu Yun's words just now.
"Mu Yun."
Cheng Mu stopped him and said, "It's not your fault that you didn't save Mr. Huang. Mr. Huang is a good man. You are only better than him."
Huang Nian'an envied him and once commented that he was not someone that Wang Quan could use. Lord Huang saw through her thoughts very deeply, so she gradually drifted away from Lord Huang and stayed with Mu Yun.
The man with his back to her didn't move at all. His neck was numb from those words and his mind went blank.
When he came to his senses, he was already hugging the person and kissing her passionately.
Cheng Mu was aroused by him and felt a strange surge of emotion. Two sounds came out of her throat and she lost the strength to push him away.
Mu Yun put the person on the table and breathed against her forehead.
His eyes were bright and his voice was hoarse as he begged, "Sister-in-law, please say it again."
Cheng Mu's hands were propped up behind her head, pressing on the map that had not been put away, and she retreated step by step in the face of the surging passion. "Don't, don't damage the map."
Mu Yun moved the map away with one hand and asked persistently, "Sister-in-law likes me too, doesn't she?"
Cheng Mu couldn't resist and finally said, "When I said I looked down on you last time, I didn't mean it. There is no one better than you."
His heart was filled with emotion, and just staring at her was not enough. Mu Yun held her blushing face and kissed her devoutly, "Where do you want to go next, sister-in-law?"
Cheng Mu's soul trembled, and she raised her arms to embrace him.
It doesn't matter where they go, what matters is that they will always be together.
------
over.
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