Mo Ye also dismounted. He approached "Zheng Quchi", ripped off the brim of her hat, grabbed her jaw, and lifted her face in an extremely humiliating manner.
"Really? You should see for yourself whether she is Zheng Quchi or not! Oh, or rather, you are more familiar with her by another name, Sang Xuanqing."
The torchlight flickered, yet it faithfully illuminated her dark little face. Her hair was tied in a cute bun, and her thick, silkworm-like eyebrows were furrowed in resentment and anger. Her eyes were tightly closed, and her lips were pressed into a straight line.
"You still don't think she is?"
Perhaps feeling that this wasn't stimulating enough, he grabbed her arm and tore her sleeve, revealing her thin, bony arm with the whip marks still clearly visible.
"Mo Ye! How dare you!"
Although Wang Zebang did not truly accept Zheng Quchi, she was the general's acknowledged wife, and therefore an object of their protection and respect.
But now, she was publicly humiliated by Mo Ye, and he was naturally furious. He slammed his hand against the wall and spoke sternly.
Seeing that Wang Zebang seemed to believe her identity, "Zheng Quchi" exclaimed in surprise, "Deputy Officer Wang..."
Her voice rose, sounding somewhat distorted in the rustling night wind.
Mo Ye was tall and imposing, and compared to the frail woman, he looked like a wild beast that might bite her neck and kill her at any moment: "Wang Zebang, who do you think you are to dare to talk back to me? If you don't hurry up and call Yuwen Sheng to identify her, then I'll kill her! At worst, we'll just go our separate ways!"
At this moment, fear filled Zheng Quchi's face, and he cried out in a tight voice, "Lieutenant Wang! Save me!"
"Wait!"
Wang Zebang gave Mo Ye a cold, sharp look, then quickly ordered someone to keep a close watch on what was below before turning and leaving swiftly.
On their way to report, they saw the night wind howling, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Dead leaves swirled, and treetops rustled incessantly. In the pitch-black night, only the torches in the guards' hands illuminated the area.
He was halfway there when he saw the general, his clothes billowing in the wind, striding past him.
"General!"
Wei Yao followed closely behind, and seeing Wang Zebang standing there blankly, he stopped and patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, the general already knows. Did you see that person carefully? Isn't that our general's wife?"
Wang Zebang looked at him: "It's Sang Xuanqing... even the whip marks on her body are exactly the same."
Wei Yao felt inexplicably uneasy. As he pondered, Wang Zebang asked him, "Where's Fu Rong? Why didn't he come with you?"
"He should be here soon. Oh well, with Fu Rong's sharp eyes, no one can fool us with tricks."
"My only concern is that the general will become flustered by concern and be unable to move when someone seizes his weakness."
"Zebang, you underestimate our general. He's not that kind of person. Alright, let's hurry over and check the situation."
——
The north gate was opened. Completely unafraid of the three thousand Julu soldiers before the gate, Yuwen Sheng, clad in lacquered armor like a moon god and wearing a silver mask, was enveloped in the shadow cast by the wind that blew up his robes.
His appearance brought an immense sense of oppression; though he was a single person, he was like a black hole, capable of swallowing up all the light in the surrounding area.
Above, rows of archers were in formation and ready to go. Inside the wide-open city gates, a thick night fog condensed into a large, fully armed army, poised to attack.
Although Yuwen Sheng came alone, fine black threads were actually wrapped around his body, as if the Grim Reaper could control all life and death at will.
Mo Ye's lazy, arrogant demeanor turned serious the moment he saw Yuwen Sheng. A provocative smile curled at the corner of his lips: "The three-day deadline, how about it? I've brought my men ahead of time. Surprised?"
Yuwen Sheng's demeanor has become even more somber and profound these days. He stands there with a smile on his lips, making it impossible for anyone to discern his thoughts at that moment.
"Carpenter's square".
He completely ignored Mo Ye and softly called out to the woman who shrugged and refused to look him in the eye.
Mo Ye turned his eyes and saw that "Zheng Quchi" was hiding himself, whether out of fear of Yuwen Sheng or out of guilt.
He narrowed his eyes, lifted her face with one hand, forcing her to face Yuwen Sheng.
"Zheng Quchi" quickly closed her eyes. Sima had said that her pupil color was different from the real Zheng Quchi. Although the light was dim at night, making it difficult for people to notice, but...
However, that general from Ye was terrifying. She had never seen anyone who, though smiling, seemed to be standing atop a hellish landscape of countless corpses. Could she really be so confident that she could deceive such a person?
"Look at this! Is this your woman? Do you know that I even gave up a sacred medicine to save her life? Now I'm exchanging her for a city. Tell me, is it worth it?"
The face, though not detailed enough in the firelight, was still clearly visible.
After Mo Ye finished speaking, he secretly exerted force on his hand, forcing the fake "Zheng Quchi" to continue acting according to the "script" he had written.
Zheng Quchi slightly opened her eyes, lowered her eyelashes, and said with tears welling up in her eyes, "Yuwen Sheng, you killed me once before. This time, will you choose to save me?"
The moment the woman lowered her voice and began to speak softly, Yuwen Sheng, who had been silent and smiling, froze, his cold, deep eyes filled with a chilling intensity.
"It's my fault, I...didn't recognize you back then."
He murmured a sentence in a hoarse, low voice.
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