After descending the mountain and walking westward for a short while, Young Master Yi faintly heard a familiar voice coming from the south: "Wait a minute, Young Master, Young Master, wait for us..."
Hearing the sound, I slowly turned around and saw two familiar figures gradually appearing in the distance on a winding path.
He paused for a moment, then quickly quickened his pace and turned to catch up along the small road to the south.
As he approached, he was instantly stunned by the two people in front of him: "Zisu, Baizhi, what are you two doing here?"
Young Master Yi pressed on, asking, "How did you get here? Didn't I tell you to stay in Western Qin and manage Hundred Herbs Valley?"
Zisu, supporting the already panting Baizhi, said with a worried expression, "Third Young Master, a letter has arrived from the palace!"
As he spoke, he took out a secret letter from his sleeve and handed it to Young Master Yi.
"A letter has arrived from the palace?"
Upon hearing this, Young Master Yi paused for a moment, a bad premonition rising in his heart. He reached out and took the secret letter, eagerly opening it and examining it carefully.
He could hardly believe his eyes. After reading the first page of the secret letter, he suddenly stopped, looked at Zisu's face, and said, "Father wants to take advantage of the plague in Longhu City to attack the leaderless Dongning Kingdom?!"
He had considered this possibility beforehand, which was one of the reasons why he insisted on a marriage alliance with Dongning in front of the old king of Dongning – to avoid an inevitable war between Nan'an and Dongning in the future.
In the struggle for power, it has always been the case that the first to strike wins, while the last to strike suffers.
Just as Western Qin has already taken the initiative to attack Northern Lie and thus gained control of Northern Lie's forces, if Southern An Kingdom does not take action against Eastern Ning, how will it be able to contend with the powerful Western Qin in the future?
But he never expected that everything would happen so quickly.
Now, when he sees the letter with his own eyes, he is still shocked.
Zisu nodded seriously to him.
Young Master Yi pondered for a moment, then said, "Although the old king of Dongning has passed away, the current Princess Yongning possesses much of the old king's demeanor and is especially beloved by the people. Although Longhu City is currently under lockdown due to the epidemic, a cure has been developed, and the city will soon be unsealed. Moreover, everything in Dongning remains orderly, just as it was when the old king was alive. If we attack Dongning now, the timing may not be right, and we might not even succeed! If we fail, wouldn't it be a complete waste of effort, and we might even end up losing both our wife and our army..."
However, Zisu prompted, "Third Young Master, please read the rest of the secret letter carefully first."
Upon hearing this, Young Master Yi turned the page and continued reading.
She stared at him with even wider eyes than before and exclaimed in surprise, "What? So, the people who kidnapped the girl from Yanfu Temple in Longhu City... were... the two of you?"
Seeing his astonished anger, the two women immediately knelt down before him with a thud.
Bai Zhi, being the most timid, quickly knelt down and pleaded, "Third Young Master, please forgive us. We were forced into this situation. The King is determined to win this time, and if we hadn't resorted to this tactic, Third Young Master certainly wouldn't have wanted to return to the country. A final battle is about to begin on the Lingkong Continent. Third Young Master, you must think carefully!"
Young Master Yi looked up at the road home, then looked back at the road to Xiqin, hesitating. He never expected such a thing to happen.
All of this happened so fast!
Zisu, who was standing to the side, seemed to be unwilling, but she had to tell him the truth. She said, "The king learned that you, Third Young Master, have always been fond of Princess Yongning, so he agreed to spare her life and ordered us to take her back to the country to be your concubine in the future. At the same time, it can be said that Dongning Kingdom has completely lost its backbone."
"A concubine?" Upon hearing her words, Young Master Yi's lips curled up slightly, revealing an extremely contemptuous smile.
Then, as if he was trying his best to suppress something, he suddenly turned cold and demanded, "Where is the girl? What have you done to her?"
Seeing his expression change, Bai Zhi quickly said, "Don't worry, Third Young Master, we only used a very small amount of rosemary to knock her unconscious before bringing her out of Yanfu Temple..."
Before he could finish speaking, Young Master Yi glared at him with a sharp, cold gaze, his face full of suspicion. "Rosemary? Who gave you permission to use rosemary on her?"
Bai Zhi was so frightened that she lowered her head and dared not speak again.
Zisu was particularly puzzled as to why he was making such a fuss: "It's just a very small amount of rosemary, which won't harm the human body at all. Why are you so angry, Third Young Master?"
Without a second thought, Young Master Yi angrily shouted at him, "A very small amount... Do you know that the girl is already pregnant!"
Upon hearing this, both Zisu and Baizhi paused, staring at his face in astonishment, and exclaimed in unison, "What? She... is pregnant?"
Young Master Yi gritted his teeth, turned his back to them, and suppressed his anger. After taking a deep breath, he said indignantly, "Yes, she's pregnant. It was that damned Prince Qin, Xuan Yuanhan, who did it. I will never forgive him in this lifetime!"
Upon hearing this news, Zisu felt a mix of emotions.
Little did she know that so much had happened during the time she had been separated from Young Master Yi.
Bai Zhi, always a step behind, seemed to be meticulously sorting through the information, muttering to herself, "Princess Yongning of Dongning Kingdom is pregnant with the child of the King of Xiqin. How can our Third Young Master take this concubine in the future? But the King's letter said that Princess Yongning must be brought back to Nan'an, alive or dead..."
Before she could finish speaking, she saw Young Master Yi angrily stride back in the direction they had come from. Bai Zhi quickly snapped out of her daze and asked, "Young Master, where are you going?"
"Take me to see her. If anything happens to her or the child in her womb, I'll take both of your lives!"
Upon hearing this, Bai Zhi suddenly collapsed to the ground, while Zi Su was also stunned with astonishment.
As soon as they realized what was happening, the two quickly helped each other to their feet and chased after him.
At dusk.
Smoke curled from a farmhouse on the outskirts of Longhu City, and Yi Shangyun, still half asleep, gradually opened her eyes and woke up.
For many days, to avoid any unforeseen complications, Zisu had secretly added a very small amount of rosemary to her food, so she spent most of her time sleeping in a daze.
She simply assumed it was because she was feeling sleepy in the early stages of her pregnancy, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
With a creak, it sounded as if someone had gently pushed the door open from the outside.
Yi Shangyun felt weak all over, but upon hearing the sound, she still mustered up a bit of strength and sat up on the bed.
Just then, a simple woman dressed in coarse cloth entered, carrying a tea tray with some simple food on it. She greeted the woman with a smile as she entered: "Young lady, you're awake?"
Yi Shangyun smiled, looked around, and asked with some puzzlement, "Excuse me, sister-in-law, why haven't I seen Miss Zisu and Miss Baizhi for so long today? Do you know where they went? Didn't we agree that they would set off with me back to Western Qin today?"
The woman brought out the food from the tea tray and placed it on the table in the room. She then went to Yi Shangyun's bedside and helped her down, saying, "After breakfast, I only heard Bai Zhi say that she was going to see some important person. After that, I haven't seen either of them since."
"Could it be... that they went back to Yanfu Temple to meet up with Young Master Yi? What are these two doing so mysteriously? Why did they secretly bring me here behind Young Master Yi's back?" Yi Shangyun thought to herself.
After sitting down casually, she had just taken the chopsticks the woman handed her, but before she could even touch them, she was suddenly overcome with morning sickness: "Ugh..."
Yi Shangyun hurriedly put down her chopsticks and covered her mouth tightly with her hand.
Upon seeing this, the woman looked apologetic and exclaimed in surprise, "Miss, you are clearly a daughter of a wealthy family, used to fine clothes and delicacies. Do you not like these dishes? In such a remote and impoverished place, we really have nothing to offer you."
Yi Shangyun hurriedly waved her hands, explaining, "No, no, sister-in-law, please don't overthink it. It's not about the food; it's about me... I..."
Seeing that Yi Shangyun was now stammering and unable to speak, the woman thought for a moment and immediately understood. She then exclaimed with delight, "Miss, you wouldn't... be pregnant, would you?"
Yi Shangyun raised an eyebrow. Clearly, in front of this experienced person, she could no longer hide her true feelings.
So, in the end, she could only silently shut up and gulp down a bowl of rice porridge.
Unexpectedly, while the woman poured him another bowl of rice porridge, she started chattering again: "I wonder which family's young master is so lucky to marry such a beautiful girl? This is the icing on the cake, it's truly enviable!"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Yi Shangyun's face suddenly faded, and seeing that she had fallen silent, the woman realized that she had said something wrong, so she finally quietly shut up.
At this moment, Yi Shangyun changed the subject and asked, "By the way, sister-in-law, how long does it take to get to Xiqin from here?"
The woman seemed to sense something was amiss, so she asked again to confirm, "Are you sure you're going to Western Qin, and not Nan'an?"
Yi Shangyun seemed to have heard a hidden meaning in her words and asked, "Nan'an? What do you mean by that, sister-in-law?"
The woman explained, "Those passing through here are either traveling from Nan'an to Dongning, or from Dongning to Nan'an. If you're going to Western Qin, you've probably taken the wrong route!"
Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun was greatly alarmed: "What did you say? This is the only way to Nan'an Kingdom?"
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