Chapter 1: Mutiny It's been a full fifteen years since I traveled through time! ...
Boom!
The heavy vermilion lacquered door with carved patterns was knocked open by a brute force and slammed hard against the wall.
A figure rolled in. It was Shu Yao's personal maid Chuntao.
Her hair was disheveled and her face was pale. She rushed to the bed using her hands and feet.
A pair of cold hands clamped Shu Yao's arms tightly and shook them violently.
The force was so strong that it seemed to pull Shu Yao out of the quilt.
"Girl! Girl! Wake up!" Chun Tao trembled and cried, "Oh no! Oh no! Outside... there's a mutiny outside!"
Shu Yao was shaken awake by the sudden force. She subconsciously raised her hand to rub her sleepy eyes and muttered, "Stop shaking, stop shaking. I've already sent the proposal that Party A wants to the email."
"What nonsense are you talking about, young lady!" Chun Tao was so anxious that tears fell down her face. "The soldiers have mutinied! It's chaos outside! I...I fought for my life to squeeze in to find you!"
Before Chuntao finished speaking, there was a commotion outside.
There was the sound of broken cups and plates, the muffled thud of overturned boxes and crates, the desperate cries of maids, and the chaotic sound of footsteps.
"Mutiny?!"
Those two words, like a red-hot iron, suddenly burned into Shu Yaoyao's ears.
The blood in my body froze instantly, but my heart was beating like a drum.
Not fear, but excitement.
Fifteen years later, the princess of Chengli Kingdom traveled through time and was sent to Jin Kingdom as a hostage, for a full fifteen years!
Finally, the state of Jin was in turmoil...
Seeing Shu Yao finally wake up, Chuntao's tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and she felt as if all the strength had been drained away from her.
His legs could no longer support him, and he slumped down onto the boxwood step like a puppet with its strings broken.
His eyes lost focus, scattered across the texture of the footsteps, and he murmured breathlessly: "Now...now...what should I do..."
Suddenly, I heard the deafening sound of killing outside the window, and the sound of metal clashing filled my ears.
Shu Yao's heart trembled, and she came to Zhi Chuntao.
Her jade wrist suddenly dropped, and her slender fingers, like pliers, pinched Chuntao's chin, and said in a firm tone: "Don't panic, silly girl! Here's your chance to escape!"
Chuntao felt pain in her jaw, and her dilated pupils struggled for a while before barely gathering a faint light.
Shu Yao loosened her grip when she saw the vitality gradually gathering in Chuntao's eyes.
He rushed to the dressing table, pried open the secret compartment with great force, and pulled out an oilcloth package.
The package contained the money she had secretly saved during the fifteen years she was held hostage.
While he was thinking, he heard the roar of killing outside, which seemed to have reached the steps.
"There's no time!" She suddenly leaned over and reached under the couch. After groping for a moment, she pulled out two pieces of gray coarse cloth. Without even looking closely, she thrust one of them into Chuntao's arms, "Hurry and put it on!"
Then she took off her silk and satin clothes and put on a coarse cloth jacket and skirt.
Chuntao also hurriedly undressed, but her elbow slipped and she brought the candlestick on the desk towards the soft curtains filled with light smoke.
The flames leaped up and licked the brocade curtains greedily.
The flickering firelight illuminated Shu Yao's pale face.
In the firelight, it seemed as if she could see that domineering face approaching again, and the intimate breath brushed past her ears: "Sister Jiang is so beautiful, isn't it a pity to be trapped in this deserted hostage house? If she followed me..."
A trace of deep disgust flashed across Shu Yao's eyes, and then turned into resolute indifference.
Burn it! Burn this golden cage, along with the dirty past!
Screw the Princess of Li! Screw the hostage of Jin! I quit!
She wanted to see who would have the time to catch her when it was so chaotic outside!
"Let's go!" Shu Yao struggled to lift the heavy window frame.
He grabbed the still confused Chuntao and pushed her out of the window without saying anything, then he jumped down right after her.
As their toes touched the ground, black smoke poured out from the wide-open window and hit their backs.
The burnt stench mixed with the cold wind poured into all seven orifices, choking people's throats.
The smoke that covered the sky was as thick as ink and as boiling oil as a ladle, causing an uproar in the He Mansion.
The vague roar in the distance was filled with extreme fear:
"Oh my God! There's smoke coming out of the princess's... princess's room!"
"There's a fire! Help! There's a fire!"
"Hurry up! Go to Rubeus' secret passage!"
Shu Yao let out a low roar from the depths of her throat, with an unquestionable cruelty in her voice.
His five fingers were as slender as golden hooks and iron chains, deeply embedded in Chuntao's cold wrist.
Without waiting for Chuntao to come back to her senses, he gathered all his strength, dragged Chuntao and rushed forward.
Chuntao had no choice but to be dragged along and stumble along.
Shu Yao's eyes were as sharp as lightning, quickly sweeping across the outline of the mansion in the dim light.
She had already imagined every blade of grass, every tree, every brick and every tile in her mind a thousand times, and could even describe them with her eyes closed.
There was no need to think about it. Shu Yao lifted Chuntao's soft arm and almost half dragged and half hugged Chuntao.
Following the path deeply engraved in his mind, he plunged into the narrow and filthy passage behind the servants' room!
As soon as I hid in the dark corner, I saw a group of soldiers with blood dripping from the tips of their swords, holding torches and rushing towards me like wolves and tigers.
"An order has been issued from above! Capture the hostage of the Li Kingdom alive! The reward will be doubled!"
capture?
After fifteen years of walking on thin ice, I have tasted all the bitterness of it.
Even if I am torn to pieces today, I will never be a bird in a cage again!
Shu Yao covered Chun Tao's mouth and nose tightly, with an imperceptible tremor at her fingertips.
The two men held their breath and pressed themselves against the narrow gap between the walls, motionless like clay sculptures or wooden carvings.
Until the heart-wrenching footsteps gradually faded away.
Shu Yaocai dragged the frightened Chuntao and rushed into the deserted courtyard covered with knee-high weeds, taking one step deep and one step shallow.
Dead branches and leaves scraped against the hem of her coarse cloth skirt, making a rustling sound.
Suddenly, she felt the hem of her skirt tighten, and Shu Yao looked down.
It turned out that the corner of his clothes was entangled in vines.
Shu Yao sneered.
She worked overtime every day in her previous life and was imprisoned every day after traveling through time, but this did not trap her.
What's this little hindrance?
Gritting his teeth, he exerted his strength and pulled back with all his might. With a crisp sound, the hem of the skirt ripped apart.
Without any hesitation, Shu Yao, relying on the impression she had repeatedly drawn in her mind, rushed towards the shadow in the corner and pulled apart the randomly stacked wooden boards.
Dead branches and leaves fell to the ground, and a dark wellhead was revealed before our eyes.
Outside the courtyard wall, shouts and curses, mixed with the clang of weapons, came through the wall.
Shu Yao knew that she was in danger, so she rushed to the well platform and plunged into the dark and gloomy darkness.
My fingertips brushed against the wall of the well, and I felt the blue bricks were wet and slippery, and the moss seeped into my bones.
Finally, at a depth of about half a person, he felt a cross-shaped indentation.
"Luber's secret passage is right down there!" Shu Yao pulled back her mossy and muddy hand, her voice hoarse and trembling with the slight tremor of having survived a disaster, "Hurry up and step on the stepping stone and go down! You go down first!"
Chun Tao looked at the wellhead that seemed to connect to the underworld, and felt her legs were as weak as lead, unable to move even a step.
Looking back at the courtyard gate, the deadly flames made the door frame as red as blood, and the sound of crackling could be faintly heard.
"If you don't want to die, leave!" Shu Yao shouted, as if lashing out with a whip.
Chuntao shuddered violently, climbed shakily to the edge of the well, shrank clumsily downwards, and disappeared in an instant.
Shu Yao stared at the torch that was getting closer and closer until she heard the muffled sound of something falling to the ground. She took a deep breath and then fell into the deep well.
The sharp sounds of metal clashing and the crackling of flames burning the house were all covered by the thick earth by an invisible giant hand.
It gradually became blurred and ethereal, like the sound from another world.
In an instant, thick darkness poured down on my head.
In the narrow corridor, the only sounds were the two people's heavy breathing and pounding heartbeats.
"Girl... Miss..." Chuntao's voice was fragmented, causing a faint echo in this cramped place, "Will I die... out there... it's so chaotic out there..."
In the darkness, Shu Yao firmly grasped Chun Tao's trembling hand, her voice as calm as water: "Don't be afraid! Chaos is not the abyss, chaos is the ladder. There is so much killing outside, who would care about us? Now is the best opportunity to escape. We have endured fifteen years of living worse than pigs and dogs, and we have been waiting for this day. There is a way to survive with Rubeus. Hurry! Go!"
Shu Yao felt that the hand in her palm was still shaking like a sieve, so she squeezed it back with force, passing the warmth of her palm to her, which was both a comfort and an urging.
After a while, Shu Yao heard the subtle sound of Chuntao trying to regulate her breathing.
The two men stopped talking, turned sideways, stepped on the mud, and moved towards the end of the secret passage inch by inch.
The sounds of fighting gradually faded away.
Instead, there was a sound of iron hooves, coming from far away and getting closer, like thunder shaking the earth, heading straight for the hostage palace.
Sitting on the black horse was Zhao Yan, a brave general of the Liang State.
His eyes were cold as he slowly walked across the messy courtyard.
The charred wood stood alone, the totems of the Jin State were completely burned, corpses were piled up, and none of the Jin Palace guards survived.
The iron hoof of Liang State has always been so unreasonable.
“Report—!”
A soldier stumbled out of the sea of flames in the hostage house and knelt on one knee in the cold snow. "General, seventeen Jin bandits are dead! Over thirty servants are dead in the house!" He panted heavily. "But...but I've searched inside and outside, and there's no trace of the hostage from the Li Kingdom!"
"Waste!" Zhao Yan's face turned pale with rage. "Where could a pampered maiden, raised in the deep palace, hide?!" He swung his sword fiercely, pointing it directly at the heart of the blazing mansion. "Search again! Walls, secret compartments, tunnels! Dig three feet deep! Dig her out for me! Your Majesty, you must see her alive or dead!"
After a long while, a soldier brought over a piece of dirty gray cloth and said, "General! We found this by the abandoned well in the side yard!"
Zhao Yan's eyes narrowed, and he strode quickly to the wellhead in the side courtyard.
Without even turning his head, Zhao Yan stretched out his five fingers and reached back: "Torch!"
The personal guards hurriedly carried pine torches.
Zhao Yan leaned forward holding a torch.
The flames swept across the well platform, reflecting a few new scratches on the moss, and also making half of Zhao Yan's face flicker, giving him a ghostly look.
Zhao Yan shook his wrist, and the torch slipped out of his hand and fell into the deep well. After swaying for a few breaths, a dull thud was heard.
"What a great escape!" Zhao Yan sneered, "Team A! Get the rope and search the well thoroughly."
The three soldiers in Team A turned pale, their Adam's apples twitching as they swallowed hard, "...As you command!"
The rope creaked and groaned, and the three figures sank into the darkness one after another.
A moment later, a jar exploded in the well. A soldier's voice trembled with a hint of unnoticeable fear: "...General! There is...there is a secret passage!"
Zhao Yan's eyes flashed with poison: "Chase!"
Shu Yao and Chun Tao struggled out from the other end of the secret passage.
Suddenly, I heard rustling sounds in the dark passage behind me.
The two of them were slightly breathless, and they could only feel the night dew seeping through their clothes, making them feel cold all over.
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Chaos is not an abyss, chaos is a ladder. A famous line from Littlefinger in Game of Thrones.
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