That morning, a carriage left the city, slowly moving away from the city gates, then suddenly sped up, galloping all the way to the foot of a deserted mountain.
The three women, including the Hengshan mother and daughters, jumped down from the carriage. Inside the carriage, Song Xiyan was pale-faced. She never expected that the Hengshan mother and daughters were actually Japanese. They hadn't appeared for several months, but suddenly sneaked into the Minister's residence in the early hours of this morning, demanding that she fulfill her promise.
"You promised that we could ask you for a favor, so today you'll lead us out of the city gates," Yokoyama Chiyo said calmly.
"What does your leaving the city have to do with me? It's so chaotic outside, with Japanese pirates infiltrating the capital. Who dares to leave the city at will? Don't make things difficult for me, I don't agree." Song Xiyan hadn't quite grasped the situation yet.
Yokoyama didn't come to her for a favor; since he approached her, she had no right to refuse.
"You have to send us out, whether you like it or not. For safety's sake, you must personally escort us out of the city." If things are exposed, she can still use Song Xiyan as a hostage.
The masked man and the others disguised themselves and sneaked out of the city in batches, but the mother and her two daughters had not found a chance to sneak out because their portraits were plastered all over the city.
Yokoyama was so forced to almost just swap faces with herself, her adoptive mother, and her adoptive sister. However, a face swap is a major surgery that can't be done in a day or two, and she didn't have all the necessary tools for plastic surgery, so disguising herself was a faster option.
However, a few days ago, several people from Xianwu Island took turns checking people at the city gate. Even if one disguised himself, he could not escape their eyes. Hengshan did not dare to take the risk, so he has not left.
Today, she finally got her chance. The people from Xianwu Island weren't guarding the city gate, but she still didn't dare to be careless. She went to the Minister's Mansion to capture Song Xiyan to cover her tracks.
Yokoyama's kung fu was so advanced that no one in the Ministry of Rites noticed when Song Xiyan was taken away.
"You're just leaving like this? How am I supposed to get back by myself?" Song Xiyan bit her lower lip hard to keep from bursting into tears.
Yokoyama Chiyo gave her a cold look. "Go back in the carriage. Do you want us to take you back to the city? Sending you to your death would be faster, but you'll have to figure out how to get back to the city yourself."
Seeing the gleaming sword in Yokoyama's hand, Song Xiyan immediately choked up and dared not utter another word.
The figures of Hengshan and the other two quickly disappeared into the mountains. Song Xiyan sat in the carriage for a long time before she came to her senses. She wanted to shout for help, but this was a desolate wilderness. Even if she shouted, she didn't know who she would attract. Not to mention bandits, if she called Hengshan and her two daughters back, she might die on the spot.
Having grown up pampered and spoiled, Song Xiyan needs a maid to help her walk and serve her meals. She is very good at things that a well-bred young lady should do, such as playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, composing poems, or doing needlework. However, she is not good at any rough work.
Now you want her to drive the carriage? She has no idea how to drive it. Isn't that going to kill her?
But a voice in her head told her that she could not stay there any longer and had to leave as soon as possible. A strong will to survive made her climb out of the carriage, sit on the edge of the carriage, pick up the whip with trembling hands, and grit her teeth to start driving the carriage.
At this moment, Zhu Yueran and Zhu Xichen led a group of people out of the city on horseback. Zhu Lin found out that Hengshan was brought into the capital by Song Xiyan. Later, Hengshan and her two daughters worked for Song Xiyan. So he went to the Minister's mansion to question her.
Then they learned that Song Xiyan had been captured by Hengshan. It turned out that a maid in Song Xiyan's courtyard was slacking off in the woodshed. She had taken a nap and was about to go to work when she heard footsteps passing by the door of the woodshed. The maid was afraid that she would be discovered to be slacking off, so she shrank into the woodshed and didn't dare to make a sound.
The people outside walked and talked. Although their voices were not loud, the old woman could still hear them clearly. One of the voices belonged to the young lady who was staying at the mansion. The young lady cursed the people who were holding her, calling them Japanese pirates, Japanese, ungrateful and so on.
After Hengshan and the others left with Song Xiyan, the old woman immediately went to check on the young lady's courtyard. She found that all the servants in the courtyard had their throats slit. Seeing the blood all over the courtyard, the old woman was so frightened that she fainted on the spot.
It took a few quarters of an hour for the old woman to wake up. By the time she got up to report the news, Hengshan had already run far out of the city. At that time, the two senior brothers happened to be at the Chen residence. After receiving the news, they didn't ask any more questions. Zhu Xichen and Zhu Yueran immediately led their men out of the city to chase after him.
In the palace, Xingxing and Zhulin stayed by the emperor's side during the day. When the emperor was awake, he would ask Mingwang how things were going and whether he had led troops to attack the city.
"Not yet. Not only have they not attacked the city, but they've even retreated ten miles with their army, as if they're waiting for something." Xingxing's expression darkened slightly. This was not good news, but since her father insisted on asking, she couldn't lie.
"This unfilial son still refuses to turn back. I really underestimated him. Last time he forced the emperor to abdicate and found a substitute. I thought he had backed down at the last minute and fled for his life in fear. I never expected that he had a backup plan." The emperor half-closed his eyes, looking physically and mentally exhausted.
"Father, rest assured, no matter what schemes the Prince of Ming may have, we will handle them." Zhu Lin didn't say much, but always offered a timely word of comfort.
"Alright, I trust you." That was how the emperor always responded.
Xingxing watched as the emperor closed his eyes and fell asleep again, and her face immediately darkened. She now roughly understood why the Ming King sent a substitute to force her to abdicate on the day of her wedding. There were probably two reasons. The first was that General Yang's army had not yet arrived, and the Ming King dared not risk entering the palace with five thousand men.
The second option is simply to annoy her and make sure she has no peace on her wedding day. Even if the attempt to force her to abdicate fails, disrupting the wedding banquet would be just as good.
King Ming, that fool, wasn't completely brainless; at least he had plenty of underhanded tricks up his sleeve.
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