Chapter 108 I looked up in horror and saw a…
She can't cook, can't do laundry, can't pick vegetables, can't sweep the floor, and is even clumsy at making the bed. She almost hurt her hand while boiling water, and she even knocked the entire clothesline over when she was hanging clothes out to dry.
He's a complete idiot when it comes to life.
Beatrice often looked at me with adoration, while her mother subtly showed disdain, but she hid this emotion very well. Whenever I tried to observe her expression closely, her expression would immediately turn into a smile.
On the tenth day of our seclusion, for the first time during the day, Di Yaruo took us out.
Wearing a drab gray hooded coat, we made our way through the crowded market and arrived at a quiet street.
We were inconspicuous here. This is an island kingdom that frequently engages in maritime trade with neighboring islands, and new faces often appear. We blended in, and being well-dressed, we didn't attract much attention.
Inside the quiet street, a maze of dark alleys stretched out like a spiderweb. After weaving through several alleys, I couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"
“Find a way out,” Di Yaruo replied.
At the deepest part of an alley, Deira pushed open a small door covered with gray-yellow vines, bent down, and went inside. Beatrice and I followed closely behind.
Entering the dimly lit room, I was stunned. It wasn't the stench of decay that hit me, nor the dilapidated gray walls, but the young man half-paralyzed on the straw-covered bed—it was Prince Haya, Princess Yani's ex-husband.
When I saw him, I was stunned for a long time.
He lay on the bed, looking haggard and barely alive. He didn't even lift his eyelids when we entered uninvited.
"Have you thought it through?" Di Yaruo asked coldly. "Sign or not?"
"Sign," he replied listlessly.
"Good, you're very clever." Di Yaruo chuckled. "Is the marriage certificate ready?"
I was taken aback. Marriage? Then I saw the tattered curtain in the inner room being lifted, and a woman dressed in a coarse linen dress with disheveled hair walked in holding a marriage certificate.
Di Yaruo looked at the woman whose face was hidden by messy hair and who was covered in dirt, and said, "You are also very smart."
The woman remained silent and then brought out a candlestick and a pen.
By the dim candlelight, I saw Di Ya Ruo write her name on the marriage certificate. The prince, who was weak all over, also managed to write his name with the woman's help. Finally, the woman wrote her name in the witness column: "Dai Lin".
I was instantly startled and blurted out, "Daylyn Houston?"
The woman looked at me in shock, sizing me up. "You know me?"
We were also surprised—we were using the language of the modern world—English.
——
I never dreamed that I would meet Dalene Houston at a time like this.
She appeared in my story with Mamboya long ago. She was Mamboya's mother's maid and Mamboya's father's lover. She was once on good terms with Mamboya's mother, and later personally dressed her in clothes smeared with poison.
“I once traveled back to the modern world and visited Yale, where I saw your paintings.” Sitting on the dilapidated steps in front of the humble hut, I said to Dalene, “I wanted to find out why I went to the other world, so I investigated you. The landscapes in your paintings are exactly the same as those in the other world. I thought you knew the answer, so I looked at all your paintings, your books, and the words you wrote on the back of your paintings.”
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, you must not have found the reason, because I don't know why I came here either," Daisy said calmly.
The evening sunlight shone on her pale, aged face. Perhaps she was actually young, but her eyes were weary, her skin rough, and there were obvious signs of aging between her brows.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"And why are you here?" she countered.
This fellow townsman didn't burst into tears upon seeing someone from the same hometown; instead, he remained somewhat wary, just like me.
Back in my rented room, I told Di Yaruo about how Dailin and I came from the same place. Di Yaruo listened for a while and then interrupted me, "I'm not interested in her. I just praised her for being smart only because she was able to persuade Prince Haiya to sign the marriage certificate. Although Haiya would have signed it even without her, with this lover's persuasion, Haiya could sign it faster."
"Why did you marry Prince Hyya? And how did you know he was hiding here? Wasn't he exiled because his brother inherited the throne?" I asked.
“I have my own channels,” she simply answered the second question.
The next morning, I went to the market to buy groceries, somewhat absentmindedly. Haiya was supposed to be exiled to a desolate land, so how did she end up on an island? Diya Ruo was imprisoned on the seventh level of the underground prison for over eight years, how did she get so much information as soon as she was released? Who exactly is she?
A commotion broke out in the crowd; some people were running, and others were shouting something, but I didn't pay any attention.
It wasn't until everyone ran in one direction and bumped into me several times that I came to my senses. Just as I was about to stop a little girl to ask her something, a huge gust of cold wind swept over us, and I and some others who hadn't managed to escape were all blown to the ground, rolling around several times, looking utterly disheveled.
"The Elf King is on patrol! Get out of the way!" someone shouted.
We scrambled to our feet, and then another fierce gust of cold wind blew us off the road. I screamed as I was blown to a fruit stall and clung tightly to a supporting log under the stall to avoid being blown any further.
Just then, I looked up in fright and saw a procession of people riding snow-white winged horses fly by. In the middle of the procession was a golden chariot drawn by eight snow-white winged horses, each of which had a golden star on its forehead.
A tremendous, majestic, and extremely sacred sense of oppression came over me, and I instantly felt like kneeling down and clasping my hands in prayer for them.
A stronger, colder wind swept over my head, growing stronger and stronger. I held the log even tighter and almost got blown even further away.
"The Elf King is on patrol! Get out of the way immediately!"
I could faintly hear voices on the wind. Although I haven't been here long, I can understand some of the simple words they are saying.
I realized what was happening, and my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.
How is that possible? On an island like this?
A few minutes later, all the wind had blown far away, and people slowly dispersed. I grabbed a little girl and talked to her for a while, using gestures and words, and it turned out to be the Elf King's procession.
Back in the rented room, I started packing without saying a word. Di Yaruo had just woken up and asked me what had happened, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me this was the Elf King's territory?" My voice trembled slightly.
"What's wrong?" she asked curiously.
I never told her about the Elf King, and since she had been imprisoned for many years, she naturally didn't know either.
I'm not used to lying, and after a moment of hesitation, I said, "One of my younger brothers tried to steal their horse, but they found out and have been chasing us ever since."
She chuckled, "Why is the Elf King so stingy, chasing after a few horses for so long?"
"If you're not leaving, then I am." I continued packing, putting useful items like a water bottle into my bag.
“Wait two more days,” she said, pressing my hand down. “The Elf King won’t be able to catch you for a while.”
"What else do you want? Who exactly are you?" I asked, looking into her eyes. "And why is everything about you so mysterious?"
"Aren't you mysterious too?" she retorted confidently. "Do you dare say you've told me everything about yourself?"
“If you don’t tell me, I won’t tell you.” I stared into her eyes.
She chuckled lightly. "I believe that one day we will all know everything."
The next day, a fierce storm broke out; the weather on the island is always unpredictable. Despite the storm, we braved it, struggling through the dense, spiderweb-like alleyways.
All the alleys were deserted except for the three of us.
Finally arriving at Prince Hya's house, they bent down to enter through the low mud-brick door and saw Hya and Dailin, who were already dressed neatly.
“The slave market rioted tonight,” Diya said in a very low voice. “I have confirmed the news.”
"Shall we set off now?" Dale asked, supporting the weak and powerless Hya. Hya's eyes were slightly closed, and her breathing was faint.
To be honest, ever since the day we met again, Haiya has always kept her eyes closed and has almost never looked at the people around her.
“In a little while,” Di Yaruo replied, “when the rain gets heavier, we’ll use the rain as cover so that the people guarding Prince Haiya won’t easily spot us.”
A torrential downpour began, the raindrops falling in dense, thick lines, darkening the entire sky. Our group sneaked to the beach like thieves stealing chickens.
"How are we going to travel in this heavy rain?" I asked, soaked to the bone in my hooded long coat. "Aren't you afraid the boat will capsize in the waves?"
"Are you reluctant to leave?" Di Yaruo asked me in return, "Are you reluctant to leave the Elf King?"
"What's the meaning?"
“I never said we would be taking a boat,” Di Yaruo said. “Why did you say you were afraid the boat would capsize? Are you reluctant to leave?”
"You're overthinking it," I said coldly.
This is the seaside, what else can we do if not take a boat?
But to my utter surprise, we ended up boarding a secret underground train.
Di Yaruo led us to a secluded reef, muttered a few words to herself, and the reef opened up from both sides, revealing a section of dilapidated wooden ladder.
Following the wooden stairs down to the bottom, you arrive at a narrow underground space that is cold, damp, and reeks of rotting fish carcasses.
A long, rusty railway track stretched out before us, seemingly without end.
A short, dilapidated gray train was parked on the tracks, with mottled walls, rusty wheels, and an engine overgrown with weeds.
Enduring the unpleasant smell, our group climbed onto the train. We could only climb, as there were no stairs.
Di Yaruo skillfully rummaged through the charcoal placed in the corner of the carriage and called to Ding Haiya, the only weak man, to move all the charcoal to the locomotive.
Hya and Dailin worked together to move all the charcoal over, while I, under Di Yaruo's instructions, used a tinderbox and some firewood to start a fire, coughing several times from the fumes.
After the fire was lit, Di Yaruo, like a strong man from the Wu Ding dynasty, held a completely rusty wooden shovel and shoveled all the charcoal into an extremely old boiler. After a while, I saw steam rising from the top of the train engine, becoming more and more abundant and thicker, almost filling the entire underground space. Di Yaruo suddenly pulled a handle, and the train actually started moving on the tracks.
I was stunned.
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Author's Note: Please send me lots of nutrient solutions, free tickets, and comments! Thank you all!
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