Chapter 66 Looting
Yu Wanyin felt a huge surge of emotions, but she didn't show it on her face.
Only the pupils in her eyes trembled, rippling with a clear, moist light that lingered for a long time.
She felt numb all over, and could barely move her feet.
In this spacious courtyard, the air seemed so thin that it was impossible to breathe.
When the person in front of her grabbed her, Yu Wanyin almost lost her balance.
I was having difficulty breathing and experienced chest tightness and slight pain.
Why……
Yu Wanyin couldn't figure it out.
I just couldn't figure out what went wrong.
The man spoke again, "Are you feeling very unwell?"
Yu Wanyin said calmly, "It's okay, I'll rest for a while and take the medicine when they bring it over."
The man glanced at the courtyard where Rong Si was.
The gaze then returned to Yu Wanyin.
Yu Wanyin sat down on a nearby artificial rock, her eyebrows lowered, waiting silently.
Beneath her palm, her heart pounded faster and faster, clashing against her hand.
Behind the woman lay a long, narrow, and secluded courtyard, dark and quiet, like an impenetrable net, silently waiting for its prey to arrive before devouring it completely.
Yu Wanyin could even feel that as she sat there quietly for a moment, more and more eyes were turning to look at her.
The guards on duty did not show her the respect one would show to a young lady from a wealthy family.
Rather, it is about being on guard, vigilant, and watching.
Just as Qin Yuan was about to walk back to the central courtyard to call Rong Si, a cold wind suddenly rose in the courtyard!
She tilted her head slightly, but in an instant, the guards' blades slashed down from behind her!
Qin Yuan quickly turned around, her sword blocking the sharp blade with a deafening screech!
Qin Yuan looked at the man approaching with a somewhat fierce expression and cursed in disbelief.
Then he got into a fight with the guards who had arrived.
The sound of swords clashing pierced the air.
Inside the courtyard, Rong Si stared at the maid who had not yet answered his question, and keenly heard the sounds of a struggle coming from the backyard.
The sound came suddenly, and everyone in the courtyard pricked up their ears.
Rong Si and Su Fang exchanged a glance and then stood up.
A maid stepped forward and stopped Rong Si, saying, "Young master, you are not allowed in the backyard."
Rong Si pushed her away.
The maid stumbled and drew a knife straight from her waist!
That gentle voice instantly turned chilling and menacing, "Guards! Execute them on the spot!"
Immediately afterwards, the guards on all four sides of the courtyard drew their swords and rushed forward!
They headed straight for Rong Si and Su Fang!
In the backyard, Yu Wanyin's palms quickly became covered in a layer of cold sweat.
I don't know why no one has come for such a short distance for so long.
As time went on, a faint smell of blood began to waft through the air.
Yu Wanyin subconsciously looked towards the courtyard.
But being separated by several courtyard gates, they had no idea what was happening over there.
As a wisp of red smoke rose into the sky, Yu Wanyin's eyelashes trembled.
The woman beside her glanced at the wisp of red smoke dissipating into mist in mid-air, her gaze slowly darkening as she stared at Yu Wanyin as she slowly stepped forward.
The sound of footsteps echoed in Yu Wanyin's ears.
This made her breathing even more tense.
The woman grasped Yu Wanyin's wrist and slowly probed, "Has Yaoyao recovered? Her pulse isn't that bad."
Yu Wanyin chatted with her to buy time, "Sister, you can also read pulses?"
And that person mentioned it for the umpteenth time, "Come inside, I'll take another look for you. Staying outside all the time isn't a good solution."
"No rush," Yu Wanyin said softly.
No sooner had she finished speaking than Shan Chenjun bent down and lifted her off the rock.
Yu Wanyin was startled!
The woman was strong and her clothes were as practical as those of a guard, so it was easy and effortless to pick her up.
Her voice was cool and detached, "Yaoyao is a bit disobedient."
Yu Wanyin was carried away by her like that, and a feeling of weightlessness and unease swept over her at the same time, causing her heart to skip a beat.
The woman walked to the door in a few steps and kicked it open with a loud bang.
Yu Wanyin was placed on the table in the room nearby!
"And your husband."
"He doesn't seem very honest either."
Almost simultaneously, Yu Wanyin saw the guards who were standing on both sides of the road walking towards them and surrounding them, locking them inside the house.
The moment the door closed, Yu Wanyin became restless and wanted to get down.
The woman walked towards her, blocking her path, and pressed down on her knee. "Where do you think you're going?"
“I’m warning you, this yard is all ours…”
The woman interrupted her, "So what if you're one of your people? Do you think we didn't think of these things?"
The woman, slightly taller than her, cast a shadow, making her features appear darker. "Young lady, you noticed very quickly."
“It’s a pity,” she said, holding a handkerchief and covering Yu Wanyin’s mouth and nose, “they won’t be coming.”
"Let go..." Yu Wanyin turned her head to dodge, but she was held tightly by the back of her neck. "Let go!"
Yu Wanyin removed the hairpin, and the sharp hairpin left a bloody mark on the woman's cheek and neck.
But that still couldn't stop the drug from seeping into her lungs.
The woman grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, covering Yu Wanyin's mouth and nose tightly, and said coldly, "Even if they come, what can they do?"
As the force pushing her grew weaker and weaker, the person in her arms lost all strength and consciousness, collapsing onto her chest.
The woman lowered her eyes and removed the handkerchief.
Looking at that face as beautiful as a lotus flower in the distance, and that body with its fair and delicate features.
If she succeeds, it will not have been in vain that she obeyed the emperor's orders and spent half a year learning Shan Chenjun's speech, manners, and lifestyle.
Your Majesty's years of planning have not been in vain.
Although it didn't even fool them for half an incense stick's time.
The people Your Majesty desires are truly not easy to deceive.
Just as the woman was about to lift Yu Wanyin down, the inner courtyard gate was suddenly smashed open with a loud "bang"!
Several rough voices, not belonging to their companions, shouted, "Where are they?!"
The inner courtyard guards swarmed forward, blocking Rong Si from entering the gate.
She glanced back coldly, warily watching the light and shadows outside the door!
Blood splattered layer by layer onto the lawn inside the courtyard.
The once comfortable and pleasant spring scenery has been stained with the stench of blood.
Rong Si, covered in blood, slashed open the inner door of the house with a single blow. The door slammed heavily against the door frame and bounced back with a broken sound!
The house was empty; no one was there anymore.
The only thing that filled the air was the somewhat pungent smell of sleeping pills.
Rong Si waved away the smoke and strode into the room.
There were only traces of someone having lived in the house, inside and out, nothing else.
He walked through the house and headed straight for the back door.
Almost simultaneously, the soldiers brought by Rongsi outside the courtyard saw the red smoke and immediately rushed into the courtyard, where they clashed and fought with the guards inside.
They saw Rong Si burst out, deal with the guards in the courtyard, and quickly step forward, saying, "My lord."
Rong Si's sharp gaze swept over the people inside and outside the backyard, but he still couldn't see Yu Wanyin or her so-called elder sister.
"Have you seen the Queen?"
"No, we've been guarding the back door the whole time. We came in as soon as we saw the red smoke. No one else has come in or out."
Su Fang grabbed a guard and demanded, "Tell me! Where did you hide the Queen?"
The man glanced at Su Fang, cursed something, and then blood spilled from his lips.
A soldier nearby shouted, "He's going to commit suicide!"
He stepped forward and blocked the man's lips and tongue, but it was too late.
The man's lips were covered in blood that had turned black; he had died from the poison.
Su Fang stared intently at the guard. "My lord, he's speaking the Northern Chi language!"
They are not from Shanshan at all!
*
Yu Wanyin's thoughts were in a daze. Even though she was pretending to be unconscious, the strong dose of the pungent sleeping pills still made her somewhat disoriented.
He had no strength left in his body and couldn't even make a sound.
I can't lift my arms.
Everything around seemed shrouded in a fog, blurry and indistinct.
She would fall into a deep sleep if she relaxed even slightly, leaving her at the mercy of others.
In a daze, Yu Wanyin heard the rumbling sound of the stone gate starting up one after another, and she was carried through a narrow and deep passageway.
It was cold and damp all around, and every footstep echoed.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but the eerie and cold feeling dissipated from her body, and the sunlight outside fell on her.
Outside the secret passage, a carriage was waiting.
Someone greeted the woman, "Du Wei."
"Let's go and report to the Emperor." As she spoke, she lifted Yu Wanyin into the carriage, closed the curtains, and sat guarded outside the carriage.
"It went smoothly."
"It's not going well," the female guard indicated. "Don't take those two roads ahead; they've already been discovered."
The female guard sneered, "Luckily we have a secret passage. By the time they find us, we'll probably already be at the camp."
Inside the carriage, Yu Wanyin could no longer hear their conversation clearly.
She lay on the soft couch in the carriage, looking at the hairpin in her hand.
Clusters of lily of the valley swayed gently as the carriage moved forward.
Yu Wanyin was limp and weak, her breathing heavy.
She held the hairpin to the side of the brazier, the fishing line with the jade flower attached to it becoming fragile from the sparks.
Until it broke, the hanging lily of the valley blossoms fell one after another onto the velvet carpet.
Yu Wanyin struggled to sit up and picked them up little by little.
But it still couldn't stop me from feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and unsteady.
She took a breath, moved to the car window, and with great effort put her hand on it.
One by one, the lily of the valley flowers fell to the ground as she let go.
Connect them into a line.
The long, quiet street had been silent for a long time.
Just as a carriage passed by, Chu Yu caught a glimpse of the object on the ground and raised his hand.
The carriages and horses came to a stop.
Wu Zhou looked at Chu Yu, who gave him a look. Wu Zhou then stepped forward, picked up the scattered lilies of the valley from the ground, and presented them to Chu Yu.
Chu Yu looked at the pink and blue flowers scattered on the clean handkerchief, and they looked very familiar.
It vaguely resembles the flower hairpin I saw on Rong Si's wife's head this morning.
Wu Zhou asked, "Should I send someone to go and take a look?"
Chu Yu's dark eyes were half-closed.
The act of dismantling a hairpin and scattering it along the way is usually a cry for help.
She was also a rather clever lady.
Chu Yu was displeased.
It seems that anyone Rong Si likes has a special characteristic that overlaps with Yu Wanyin's.
This will make him feel a sense of crisis.
Even if this special feature seems to be something that many people would have.
Chu Yu didn't care at all, "What does his wife have to do with me?"
As he spoke, the curtains fell.
Wu Zhou nodded in understanding.
After a moment of silence, Chu Yu's voice came from inside the curtain.
He gestured to Wu Zhou, "Alright, send someone to follow."
"yes."
Chu Yu watched Wu Zhou leave and lingered in the same spot for a long time.
Then, he slowly instructed Chao Yue to change course, "Let's go, we have nothing to do now, let's go see what's going on in Rongsi."
Chao Yue agreed and changed direction.
Chu Yu slowly pinched the lily of the valley flower with his fingers.
What he was thinking was...
After all, he also had a wife who was often away from home, facing unpredictable dangers.
In the courtyard, Rong Si turned back with his knife, grabbed Qin Yuan, and said, "They are the Northern Chi people, don't you know?"
Qin Yuan had just finished dealing with a group of soldiers when Rong Si grabbed her and said, "I'm just like you, checking the documents and information."
"If none of you recognized me, how could I?"
"If I had known, I would have run away with them right now!"
Rong Si stared intently at Qin Yuan.
Su Fang hurriedly stepped forward, "My lord, finding the Queen is the most important thing."
Rong Si threw Qin Yuan away.
Qin Yuan staggered a few steps, feeling extremely frustrated.
"No one goes in or out through the main entrance, side entrance, or back door. If anyone wants to leave, they have to go through the house." Rong Si returned to the house, looked around, and shouted, "Smash it!"
The surrounding soldiers obeyed the order and turned the house upside down.
Finally, a hidden door was discovered.
The mechanism and hidden door were discovered by someone.
Instead, they pried up the floorboards and smashed open the walls where things might be hidden.
A secret passage has been discovered.
They cleared away all the rubble, one by one, and went down into the ground.
They quickly made their way through the secret passage.
With a loud "boom," Rong Si kicked open the stone door and strode out into the rising dust.
The troops that emerged immediately split into several groups and scattered in all directions to search for Yu Wanyin's whereabouts.
As Rong Si walked into the street, he heard the sound of rolling ruts beside him.
He turned his head and saw Chu Yu's carriage approaching him. "We've been quite destined to meet lately."
Rong Si ignored him and was about to walk past him when Chu Yu suddenly called out to him, "Lord Rong."
Chu Yu gestured to Chao Yue.
Chao Yue handed the lily of the valley flowers they had picked up to Rong Si.
Rong Si's pupils constricted instantly, and he took a few steps forward. "Where did you get this?"
Chu Yu asked unhurriedly, "Is this your wife's item?"
"Tell me where she is!"
Chu Yu said leisurely, "Don't rush."
Rong Si stepped forward, his demeanor fierce. "If you keep spouting this nonsense, I'll rip your tongue out and feed it to the dogs!"
Chao Yue, with a cold face, reached out to stop Rong Si.
Chu Yu closed his eyes, annoyed by the noise. "From what I've heard, she was taken away to the Northern Chi camp outside the city. To find out exactly where we can intercept her, someone has to come back and deliver a message before you can go there."
"In the time it took to make two trips back and forth, she had already entered the Northern Chi camp."
"Although the Northern Chi army is not large, it still numbers 20,000, while you only brought a few hundred men."
"As long as the Northern Chi tribe camps outside the city can meet her, you won't get her out even if you lose your life."
“That won’t be fast enough,” Chu Yu opened his eyes and looked at Rong Si again. “I have an idea for you.”
*
Just past noon, an explosion suddenly broke out outside the Northern Chi camp.
Thick smoke rose from the ground, turning half the sky dark.
The sound of horns immediately rang out from within the Bei Chi camp, and the camp's troops gathered and went out to investigate the source of the disturbance.
Then came a series of explosive explosions.
The carriage had to stop just as it reached the edge of the city.
Yu Wanyin's lily of the valley tassels in her hands also scattered completely, and she couldn't support herself and fell by the window.
Outside the carriage, the female guard vaguely heard the faint sound and squinted at the carriage.
She pushed open the door halfway and saw that the person inside had woken up.
She leaned out and went straight into the carriage. Seeing Yu Wanyin's state, she thought she wanted to open the window to call for help.
"Young lady, you should save your energy for paying respects to His Majesty." The female guard walked up to Yu Wanyin, pulled her to the side of the couch, and gave her a push.
Yu Wanyin was exhausted and was pushed down onto the couch.
The female guards sat to the side. They were only a quarter of an hour's drive from their camp, so there was no need to give Yu Wanyin any more sleeping pills.
She took off Yu Wanyin's cloak and threw it aside.
Looking at that beautiful woman, panting heavily and with her eyes sparkling, stirred one's heart.
There are no girls like that in the Northern Chi tribe.
The female guard tucked her into the bedclothes, saying, "Take a nap whenever you have time."
"So that when you see the Emperor later, you won't have to say that you feel uncomfortable in your heart."
After the female guard finished speaking, she noticed that their carriages had turned around.
She frowned as she left the carriage. "Where are we going?"
The soldiers gestured to the occasional smoke rising from the distant horizon, saying, "It looks like the camp is under attack. If we go there now, we'll run into a siege."
"A message came from over there, saying to postpone entering the camp and go to the camp where the lord is resting on the outskirts of the city first."
The female guards sounded somewhat irritated. "How many troops are needed to attack the camp?"
"I don't know, but the firepower is quite fierce," a soldier muttered. "Could it be that her husband has taken up arms?"
The female guard sneered, "Even if they start a fire, they won't be able to find us."
"They only brought so few men, how could they possibly stop us? If they really get angry, they'll be walking into a trap."
Yu Wanyin became increasingly dizzy from the swaying of the carriage, and no matter what she did, she could not resist the aftereffects of the drug she had inhaled.
It was as if an invisible hand was dragging her, forcefully pulling her into the abyss of quagmire, where she drifted off to sleep.
Yu Wanyin didn't know how long she had slept.
I could only feel that I was sleeping very soundly.
I had a deep, boundless dream.
In her dream, she successfully returned to Shanshan with her elder sister and aunt ten years ago.
From then on, every beautiful scene and every interesting story in her sister's letters vividly appeared before her eyes.
Her older sister taught her to ride horses and shoot arrows, and to tame eagles.
I took her all over the Shanshan Qinghu Grassland and the Gobi Glacier.
They camped and stargazed, and slept among wildflowers in the fields.
After waking up, they discussed what meals their aunt had prepared at home and happily went home.
All the turmoil in this world was no longer relevant to her.
The free mountains and peaceful lakes she longed for will forever stand before her.
But it wasn't until she opened her eyes that things changed.
Her dream was shattered.
The carriage stopped.
The female guards entered and saw her prop herself up as she sat up.
"We have arrived. His Majesty is already inside, waiting for the young lady's arrival."
The female guards stepped forward, ropes in their hands, about to tie her up, when Yu Wanyin spoke up at the opportune moment, "Is this how your lord treats his guests?"
The female guard paused for a moment, hesitated, and then put the rope away.
The Central Plains woman, drugged and easily knocked down, was facing a group of burly barbarians.
There's no need to tie them up.
Yu Wanyin slept lightly for a while, and her strength recovered somewhat.
At least they can walk normally.
She straightened her clothes and was helped off the carriage by the female guards.
All around him were Hu soldiers stationed there, neatly arranged on both sides.
A close attendant emerged from the tent and bowed to Yu Wanyin, saying, "Our sovereign has been waiting for quite some time."
He turned to the side as he spoke, gesturing.
A corner of the tent was pulled open, and through the gap, one could see the pattern of the carpet laid out inside.
It was an unfamiliar and audacious pattern.
Yu Wanyin took a deep breath and walked into the tent.
The tents were filled with decorations and regulations exclusive to those in high positions of power.
Inside the tent, fragrant herbs were burning, and the incense smoke emitted a deep and steady fragrance.
Just like the man sitting in the main seat.
He rested his head on his hand, with several sheets of parchment spread out beside him.
The attendant who brought Yu Wanyin in stepped forward to announce, "Your Majesty, the Yu family has arrived."
The King of the North exuded the aura of a superior, and even without uttering a sound, his attendants understood and withdrew.
The tent curtains were drawn.
They were locked in a room.
The man sitting in the high position has a deep bone structure, sharp eyes and brows, and exudes a mature and steady demeanor that comes with age.
When the King of the North faced her, he did not show the unfamiliarity he had at first sight, but rather the image that had long lingered in his letters.
The beautiful woman, whose words conveyed tranquility, peace, and a gentle, jade-like demeanor, finally appeared before him.
He calmly and steadily observed her reaction. "Is it because I didn't see your elder sister that I'm so disappointed?"
Yu Wanyin didn't know how she got there.
But it wasn't until she stood in front of him that she could see the parchment lying beside him.
And those letters that had already been opened.
Her handwriting was clearly written on it.
It was the letter she had been longing for, day and night, hoping to deliver to her sister and family.
"So it was you who hijacked the letter."
The King of the North didn't care that she discovered these things, or perhaps he deliberately let her know. "Why can't it be that you've been corresponding with me all these years?"
"It has always been me who came to see you, who came to receive you."
A crisp "snap" sounded!
After the fragrance of lily of the valley lingered, a crisp slap landed on the face of the man who held the power of the Northern Chi Kingdom!
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