Chapter 39: I owe you a thousand tears (1) Arrange the final arrangements.
Meng Xuanli was unconscious for a long time. He suddenly opened his eyes and saw suffocating darkness.
She was startled and instinctively searched her body. Her men's clothing was still there, as was her bra. But none of her banknotes or valuables were found.
She breathed a sigh of relief. If the kidnapper wasn't after money, then why?
Meng Xuanli tried his best to get out of the sack and vaguely saw a figure curled up on the opposite side.
She held her breath, carefully moved her feet, and lowered her voice: "You were the one who called me just now? Who are you?"
The figure stirred, seemingly having just woken up. With the same sense of surprise and suspicion, he whispered, "My...my name is Wu Ming. When I came in, I saw you were unconscious, so I called out to you a few times."
"Were you also captured by them?"
"Yeah," Meng Xuanli replied softly. Sure enough, she wasn't alone. "Who are these people? Where are they taking us?"
The man was silent for a moment, his tone somewhat hopeless. “I heard them talking sporadically… I’m afraid these people are specializing in dirty business.”
"They often seek out attractive young men near the Eastern Capital, abduct them using various means, and then transport them to Yizhou, specifically for the pleasure of... wealthy families who enjoy homosexuality."
Meng Xuanli's blood was flowing backwards all over his body.
Yizhou? Nanfeng? Pedophilia?
Her stomach churned, her mind reeling. She thought she had escaped Lu Guanque's pursuit, but she hadn't expected that wearing men's clothing would bring such disaster.
This is like getting out of the tiger's lair and into the wolf's den.
If she reveals her identity as a woman, will they let her go?
Meng Xuanli pondered for a moment, then shook her head slightly. Would these unscrupulous human traffickers let her go?
I'm afraid it will only attract more terrifying covetousness, and by then, the end will be more terrible than being sent to Yizhou as a pedophile.
Cannot be exposed.
Absolutely not.
Meng Xuanli suppressed his fear, took a deep breath, and tried to keep his voice steady: "How...how could this happen?"
Following Wu Ming's words, she began to fabricate her story: "My name is Li Xuan, from Xuzhou. I was going to Yanjing to look for my relatives, but I didn't find them. I had just bought some dry food when someone put me in a sack..."
"Brother Wu, how come you...?" She cleared her throat and spoke in the tone of a young man.
Wu Ming sighed and said bitterly, "It's almost the same for me. I came to Dongdu to look for my friends. I ran out of money and was about to return to Qiantang when they put me in a sack."
"That's great! Not only did I not find the person, but I also got myself into trouble."
The two men talked in low voices in the darkness, and their shared fear immediately brought them closer.
Meng Xuanli listened carefully to Wu Ming's voice and felt relieved as it seemed that he was not lying.
"We can't just sit there and wait for death." Meng Xuanli lowered his voice, his tone firm, "We must find a way to escape."
"Escape? How can we escape? They are both tall and strong, and we can't beat them together." Wu Ming's voice was hesitant.
"There's always a chance."
Meng Xuanli's mind raced. "They'll have to stop to rest, eat, and change horses. The next post station, or place of rest, is our only chance."
Wu Ming seemed to be infected by her voice. After a moment of silence, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! Li... Brother Li is right. We're going to die anyway, so we might as well give it a try. We'll act accordingly when the time comes."
"Yes!" Meng Xuanli nodded heavily.
The two men trembled slightly, and at this moment, they seemed to have reached an alliance to escape.
#
Lu Guanque and He Ruheng galloped all the way and finally caught up with Xie Mingtan's caravan at a simple post station beside the official road.
The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, breaking the silence of the post station.
Xie Mingtan had just stepped out of the carriage with the help of a maid and was about to take a rest under the shed when he was frightened by this scene.
She looked at the furious Lu Guanque and the anxious and helpless He Ruheng, and said in astonishment, "Ah Heng? Duke?"
"Aren't you in charge of epidemic affairs in the palace? Why are you here?"
He Ruheng opened his mouth, but before he could stop him, Lu Guanque had already jumped off his horse, his movements slightly staggering due to his anger.
He strode forward, drew the sword from his waist, and pressed it against Xie Mingtan's neck.
The rain slid down the sword, and the chill was biting.
"Where is Meng Xuanli? Hand her over!" Lu Guanque said sternly with veins bulging on his forehead.
Xie Mingtan was so frightened by the sudden sword that his face turned pale, and then he was overwhelmed by a sense of absurdity.
She forced herself to remain calm and sneered, "Lu Guanque, you threatened a court lady with a sword and left the palace without permission. If His Majesty knew, do you know what crime you would have committed?"
Xie Mingtan glanced at He Ruheng and asked, "And you, why didn't you stop him?"
He Ruheng felt anxious and guilty, and sternly urged, "Lu Guanque, put down your sword! Listen carefully to what Mingtan has to say."
"Speak nicely?" Lu Guanque's wrist trembled slightly, and he said harshly, "I'll ask you one last time, where is he?"
Seeing his crazy look, Xie Mingtan knew that there was no way to resolve the situation peacefully.
She took a deep breath and said calmly, "Yes, that's right. I helped Sister Xuan Li leave, but think about it carefully, didn't you force her to leave?"
Xie Mingtan ignored the sword at his neck, slowly took out a letter from his sleeve, and handed it to Lu Guanque: "This is what she left for you. If you want to kill me after reading it, it's up to you."
Lu Guanque stared at the letter with his scarlet eyes, his hands shaking violently as he tried hard to restrain himself.
He jerked back his sword, snatched the letter, and hastily unfolded it.
The rain quickly soaked the letter paper, and the ink was a little blurred, but he could still recognize the beautiful handwriting.
"By the time you see this letter, I'll have already gone far. There's no need to look for me anymore. The grudges between you and me are long since settled. You knew all about Meng Xiuyu's affairs, and I feel guilty about Su He's death. As for how you treated me like a caged bird, imprisoning and humiliating me... I will never forgive you for anything."
"If you still have a trace of conscience, and still feel a bit guilty towards me, then the only thing you can do, and what I most hope you will do, is to completely let me go."
"The sky is high and the sea is vast, the mountains and rivers are numerous, I hope that we will never meet in this life."
Lu Guanque's face turned pale, a fishy and sweet taste surged in his throat, and his tall body shook violently.
Never meet again in this life?
At this moment, all the anger and madness seemed to be drowned by this letter.
The sword in his hand fell to the ground with a clang, splashing mud and water.
Lu Guanque seemed to have been invited into the underworld by the Black and White Impermanence. His eyes were blurred and out of focus, and he could no longer see the scene in front of him clearly.
He clutched the letter, staggered around, and exuding the smell of death, he walked numbly towards the horse step by step.
"Lu Guanque..." He Ruheng called out worriedly and wanted to step forward.
Xie Mingtan grabbed his arm, shook his head at him, his eyes complicated, and whispered, "Leave him alone."
Lu Guanque didn't even mount his horse; he simply held the reins and gradually disappeared at the end of the official road. His back was like the insoluble pine soot ink, dark and sorrowful.
Only after he completely disappeared did He Ruheng retract his gaze and looked at the fine scar on Xie Mingtan's neck with lingering fear: "Does it hurt?"
Xie Mingtan gently stroked his neck and smiled: "The skin is not even broken, so why does it hurt?"
He Ruheng sighed and looked in the direction where Lu Guanque disappeared: "I saw that his face was extremely ugly, as if he had gone crazy."
Xie Mingtan suddenly came back to her senses and instructed: "It is really inappropriate for you to leave your post and come out without permission. The Duke is in this state now, you should go to the palace and give an explanation. Just say... just say..." She couldn't think of any good solution.
"Don't worry, I have my own way." He Ruheng hugged her and told her to be at ease. "Go to Jinling and write me a letter."
"I know." Xie Mingtan sighed deeply, "I hope everything goes smoothly..."
#
In the evening, Lu Guanque didn't know how he returned to the Duke's Mansion. He was soaked all over, and rain kept dripping down the corners of his clothes, forming a winding scar.
His eyes were frighteningly empty, as if his soul had been sucked out and only a shell remained.
Uncle De had been guarding in the front hall and was shocked to see Lu Guanque so distraught.
He hurried forward and said, "Duke, what's wrong? You don't look right. Did you catch a cold?"
As he said this, he turned around and went to find the imperial physician.
"No need." Lu Guanque's voice was almost weak.
He suddenly grabbed Uncle De's arm with incredible strength: "Send people... in all directions, go... go find her..."
Lu Guanque's eyes were bloodshot from the high fever. He stared at Uncle De and repeated, "I want to see her alive or dead. I must...I must find her."
Uncle De was frightened by his appearance and said in a trembling voice, "I have given the order. This old servant has already given the order. All the people have been sent out. They will report back as soon as they have any news."
"My Lord, you need to take care of yourself... No, no, you are clearly ill."
"Get out...you get out..." Lu Guanque seemed to have heard it, but also seemed not to have heard it.
He murmured, slowly loosened his hand, and staggered towards Tangliju step by step.
Uncle De was worried, so he gestured to the little boy to call the imperial physician while he followed him from a distance.
The courtyard still looked the same as before, and even seemed exceptionally clean because of the servants' careful cleaning... so clean that there wasn't a trace of human activity.
Lu Guanque pushed open the door. The room was particularly dark because of the rain. He fumbled and lit the candle on the table.
The dim candlelight lit up, dispelling some of the chill.
On the dressing table, there were all the pearl hairpins and jewelry he had bought for her. In the closet, there were all the dresses he had sewn for her, hanging completely full. Even on the small couch by the window, there were the miscellaneous books she often read...
She took nothing with her.
She abandoned him and everything he had given her.
She left so decisively and thoroughly, as if she wanted to erase all traces of their relationship.
Lu Guanque strained to lift his eyes, remembering the small light he'd see in the inner chamber when he returned late at night from official business. Meng Xuanli, curled up on the couch reading, looked up in surprise at the sound of footsteps. Her clear eyes were breathtakingly beautiful...
The rain was still falling, and the candlelight flickered, stretching Lu Guanque's figure into a long and short shape, distorting it.
He sat in the chair, holding the letter soaked with tears and rain in his hand.
He read word by word by candlelight, as if he wanted to chew up those heartless words, swallow them, and carve them into his bones.
"I won't forgive you..."
"Feeling guilty..."
"In this life, we will never meet again..."
Each word was like a needle and thread soaked in poison, irritating his nerves, piercing his heart, and suffocating him.
Lu Guanque suddenly laughed.
He hated her so much.
He hated her for abandoning him so easily.
I hate her for being so cruel and not having even the slightest bit of attachment.
Hate why she can't... can't try to love him a little bit, even if it's only one ten-thousandth?
But what he hated even more was that she could have continued to pretend, to continue to numb him with that look. At least then, she would still be by his side and he could see her.
But now, she took back even this bit of false comfort and escaped from him completely in the most decisive way.
The sad and stubborn creature was like an ant, chewing on his blood, biting tighter and tighter, almost swallowing him.
She left with hatred.
What meaning does this world have for him?
What’s the point of living?
This thought was like a crow, circling for a long time and not landing.
A wave of dizziness came over him, and the candlelight in front of Lu Guanque's eyes began to overlap. He suddenly started coughing, coughing so hard that his lungs were broken, his whole body was shaking, and he almost fell off the chair.
The letter in his hand suddenly fell and stuck to the ground.
Lu Guanque tried to pick it up, but his body fell forward uncontrollably.
The next moment, his vision went completely black, and his body fell directly from the chair, landing heavily on the ground with a dull thud.
#
Meng Xuanli had her hands and feet tied behind her back, and the cold and fear kept her awake almost all night.
Wu Ming, who was sitting opposite her, seemed worried. In the darkness, the two of them talked quietly to dispel the panic in their hearts.
Meng Xuanli carefully maintained his identity as "Li Xuan," saying little and mostly listening. Wu Ming, however, seemed to have been suppressed for a long time and began to talk about his own affairs in a halting manner.
"I have a friend." He began, his tone heavy. "He should have been on the moon that day, enjoying all the glory and wealth, but due to a series of twists and turns of fate, he became as lowly as mud overnight, and even had to hide his identity and linger on."
Meng Xuanli listened quietly, feeling slightly moved, and thought the story was a little strange.
Wu Ming's voice was filled with unconcealable heartache: "His heart was filled with hatred, and he only wanted revenge. He thought he had planned everything carefully, but who knew that the other party's methods were so powerful that they captured him directly..."
Wu Ming suddenly stopped, his breathing became rapid, and he felt a little weak.
"Then what?" Meng Xuanli felt a little worried and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
In the darkness, Wu Ming was silent for a very long time, so long that Meng Xuanli thought he would never speak again.
Suddenly, he whispered, "And then? There was no then... I don't know whether he is alive or dead now, but I always feel that he is still alive."
Meng Xuanli was inexplicably shocked and felt that the person in front of him seemed to have endured a lot.
"Brother Wu...your friend will surely be blessed by God." She comforted him softly, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
There are so many pitiful people in this world, and everyone has their ups and downs. In comparison, the freedom I pursued so wholeheartedly seemed a bit extravagant.
"Thank you for your good wishes, Brother Li." Wu Ming sighed and his tone softened.
The sky gradually turned white, and a faint light came through the dilapidated window frames, dispelling the darkness in the room.
A few vague conversations and the sound of gradually receding footsteps came from outside. It seemed that the two people had changed shifts...
"Brother Li, let's go." Wu Ming lowered his voice and spoke in a hurried tone.
Meng Xuanli had already rubbed the rope against the rough corner of the wall. She understood what he meant and pulled hard, and the rope loosened.
She quickly untied the restraints on her feet and hurried to help Wu Ming.
After being freed, the two men dared not delay and cautiously moved to the door. Wu Ming listened for a moment, then gave Meng Xuanli a look and flung the door open.
There was indeed only a yawning person outside the door. Wu Ming moved extremely quickly, and with a precise knife strike, he hit the other person's neck. The man groaned and fell to the ground.
Seeing the situation, the two men rushed out of the wing room like arrows and ran towards the stable.
The post station was still quiet in the early morning and most people had not yet gotten up. They successfully led out two horses and mounted them directly.
Meng Xuanli shook the reins, the horse neighed, raised its hooves and rushed out of the back door of the post station, galloping in the opposite direction of the official road.
A cold wind blew in his face, and Meng Xuanli looked back at the gradually shrinking post station, feeling a mixture of emotions.
She escaped from the clutches of the human traffickers and gained a companion who was not sure whether it was a blessing or a curse. The road ahead was still uncertain.
#
Lu Guanque's mind was a blur of fragmented images. Meng Xuanli's resolute departure, and the countless rain and tears...
His body was burning hot, his limbs were weak, and his throat was so dry that he couldn't make a sound. In his coma, he sobbed her name intermittently: "Ali... don't go..."
The next day, Lu Guanque finally opened his eyes slowly in extreme weakness. His vision was blurred and his head was splitting. Uncle De's worried face swayed before his eyes.
"You finally woke up." Uncle De burst into tears.
"What's wrong with me?" Lu Guanque's ears were buzzing and he couldn't hear what he was saying.
"The Duke had been in the palace the entire time, and after being caught in the rain yesterday... he accidentally contracted the epidemic."
Uncle De sighed deeply and cleared his throat. "You had a high fever when you came back last night. The imperial physician came and said it was an emergency. The medicine was being boiled in the backyard, but you were unconscious."
Epidemic?
Lu Guanque suddenly felt that fate was playing tricks on him.
He might be dying.
Thinking of this, he did not feel any fear, but rather a sense of relief.
Now that she was gone, what was the point of him living? Now that she was dying of illness like this, it seemed better.
Lu Guanque rolled his eyes with difficulty, and with all his strength, he began to explain his affairs with a weak breath: "Uncle De..."
"When I die... bury me in Xuzhou."
Uncle De was stunned: "Xuzhou?"
"Hmm..." Lu Guanque closed his eyes, as if filled with regret, and smiled bitterly, "Buried in the back mountain of the Meng family compound in Xuzhou."
Everything started from there, and perhaps, it should end there too.
He took a breath and continued with difficulty, "After I die, if you find her... you must convert all the land, artifacts, calligraphy and antiques in the Duke's Mansion into silver and land deeds, and transfer them all to her name."
"This is the old house of the Lu family..." Uncle De looked at him in shock.
Just then, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door, and a secret guard appeared in front of the bed, looking a little nervous.
Lu Guanque seemed to have a last burst of energy and asked in a hoarse voice, "Is there... any news about her?"
The secret guard knelt on the ground and reported truthfully: "My Lord, there is a horse at the entrance of the alley over by Shunhe Tower. There are two sets of men's clothes and some dry food on it. After checking one by one, we learned that Madam has indeed been there."
"Also, yesterday it rained heavily, and all vehicles and pedestrians leaving the city were recorded. After checking them one by one, we found a pair of caravan carriages heading to Yizhou acting suspiciously. When questioned by the guards, the two men looked panicked, and one of the carriages remained closed, unlike the usual cargo..."
Men's clothing? Yizhou? Caravan?
Lu Guanque's head buzzed, and all the symptoms of weakness seemed to be suppressed by the urgent need. He suddenly threw off the quilt and struggled to get out of bed.
"Duke!" Uncle De and the secret guard exclaimed at the same time.
But he was not listening at all. His mind was full of the situation Meng Xuanli might encounter. However, he had a high fever and was weak. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt dizzy and fell forward heavily.
The two men rushed over to help him.
Imperial Physician Yu rushed in and took his pulse, his face horrified. "My Lord, your old injuries haven't healed yet, and now you've been infected by the epidemic. The evil heat has invaded your heart, and your heart meridians have been damaged."
"If you continue to ignore it and force it, even if Hua Tuo were alive again, he wouldn't be able to save her."
Lu Guanque was supported, his vision was blacking out, but his eyes were frighteningly red, filled with resentment and fear.
He knew that Doctor Yu was telling the truth, and he also knew that he was about to be burned to death and torn to pieces.
But...what about his Ali?
Yizhou is so far away, will she die on the way...
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Post first, catch bugs later
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
