Chapter 11 Disappearance "No matter what happens tomorrow, don't disbelieve me..."
Yuan Mingjin woke up the moment Su Xiaotang kissed her.
She slept soundly, but she was not without guard. After returning to the capital, she hadn't had a few days of peace before she was frequently awakened from her dreams, vaguely thinking that she was still on the battlefield, ready to fight at any moment, with the smell of dust and blood filling her mouth; the iron armor on her body was cold and heavy, extremely uncomfortable to wear to bed, but she could not take it off, because the bugle call to fight the enemy could sound at any time.
The sound of horns fills the autumn sky, and the crimson of the frontier gleams in the night.
Surrounded by his sleeping comrades lying haphazardly, Yuan Mingjin swallowed hard, a rare occurrence for him. He stretched out his hands, which were covered in sand and blood, and began to unwrap the horsehide that resembled a silkworm cocoon.
—Then she saw her lieutenant staring at her with his eyes wide open, his eyes cloudy and his face ashen; he had been dead for some time.
"Red Jade!!"
Yuan Mingjin's eyes were bloodshot with grief.
She sat bolt upright in bed, her whole body drenched in cold sweat as if she had been pulled out of the water.
However, lying beside him was someone wrapped up like a silkworm cocoon.
How similar it is to my dream.
Yuan Mingjin's hands trembled as she desperately pulled back the covers, her mind blank.
Who could this be?
Is it Han Ying, lost in thought before the sand table; Jing Qiao, gazing at him with adoring eyes; Rong Heng, warmly inviting "General, another bowl!"; or Shi Jiang, who shot an enemy general off his horse with a single arrow; Hua Zheng, who would rather take a detour than leave farmland; or Yun Tiao, who tirelessly cared for the wounded...?
Names flashed through her mind, and she tried her best not to imagine what a horrible face might be revealed under the covers. She grabbed the corner of the blanket and yanked it off forcefully—
Inside, Su Xiaotang, her cheeks flushed from sleep, was curled up, breathing lightly, her long, curled eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly about to take flight.
Yuan Mingjin was suddenly stunned.
"...Wife Master?"
Su Xiaotang, still half-asleep, wasn't annoyed at being woken up. She sat up, hugged her, pressed her head into her chest, and gently patted her back, "Oh, don't be scared anymore, the nightmares have all been eaten away..."
Yuan Mingjin had never heard this nursery rhyme before. Slowly coming back to his senses, he couldn't help but ask upon hearing this, "Who ate it?"
"Me?" The upcoming visit to her family tomorrow weighed heavily on her heart. Su Xiaotang had finally managed to fall asleep, and her eyelids were barely open. Yet, she still forced herself to answer, "Doesn't my wife always say I'm greedy? All your nightmares belong to me, and no one else is allowed to take them."
Yuan Mingjin was amused, and the heaviness from before vanished. She gave him a push on the chest, and the two of them fell into the soft bedding together. "Sleep."
“Okay…” Su Xiaotang replied vaguely.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard her suddenly say again: "It's fine in front of me, but when you go to the Su residence tomorrow, don't say these 'you' and 'me' things. You still have to observe the proper etiquette, so as not to give others cause for gossip."
Another family visit! Su Xiaotang shuddered, pulling the quilt over her head. "I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it!"
Now he's going to have trouble sleeping again.
A cool breeze swept through the hall in the late spring night. Yuan Mingjin's face darkened instantly. She reached out to grab him, angrily saying, "You've taken the blanket! What am I supposed to cover myself with? Are you trying to freeze your wife to death?!"
Before the words were finished, darkness suddenly fell in front of her, and something dark and heavy pressed down on her. It felt light and soft when it landed on her, and it carried a warm and fragrant scent that instantly drove away the chill in her body.
"How could I bear to..." Su Xiaotang murmured in a half-dreaming state, as if talking to herself, but her arms tightly encircled her in her embrace. The brocade quilt instantly swallowed the two of them, and they huddled together in the small world under the quilt. "My wife, no matter what happens tomorrow, don't disbelieve me, don't abandon me."
Yuan Mingjin paused for a moment before saying, "Okay."
They didn't even ask him why he said that.
She wanted to sleep a little longer, but unexpectedly, even though there was no one beside her, she couldn't fall asleep. So she got up, put on her clothes, and went to the outer room. She couldn't find Su Xiaotang, so she casually called a servant boy over and asked him where the king was.
The servant replied, "I don't know either. The king only asked me what time it was before he went out alone."
"Alone?" Yuan Mingjin frowned. Years of military experience had given her a keen sense of foreboding. "How did you answer?"
If the Su family were harmonious, she wouldn't need to be so alarmed. But for Su Xiaotang, this place is indeed a den of dragons and tigers.
Seeing her cold expression, the servant dared not be perfunctory and quickly relayed the message verbatim—"I said, 'It's only just past Shenshi! Is Your Majesty hungry?'"
In other words, he left at the beginning of Shen Shi (3-5 PM).
"What time is it now?"
"Your Highness, it's almost dusk."
The hour of You (5-7 PM)?!
What kind of mansion takes an hour to walk to? It's not like it's a grand palace with thousands of rooms.
Yuan Mingjin's eyes sharpened, and he said, "Take me to the kitchen."
It's obvious where Su Xiaotang will go.
If it were anywhere else, he could easily send a servant, after all, he was so resistant to the Su family... the only place he could be bothered was probably the kitchen.
He's incorrigible.
Last time, Su Xiaotang and Xiangye had a falling out because I wasn't watching her closely enough—what caused this latest misunderstanding?
Yuan Mingjin was already thinking about how to spank the man after he was caught.
The servant dared not delay and hurriedly led her to the kitchen.
When a prince travels, even if it's just to the kitchen, he's accompanied by a large group of guards, quite a grand affair. However, since they were brought from Prince Rui's residence, they were all disciplined and well-behaved. They would only follow their master's step by step; unless absolutely necessary, they would remain completely silent, their footsteps as light as ghosts, leaving no sound whatsoever.
As they passed by the lake, the servant was about to lead the group through from the east side when Yuan Mingjin stopped him, saying, "Wait a minute."
"The ground is wet and dirty, why don't you go around to the west side of the lake?"
The servant hadn't noticed at first, but when he looked down, he saw that there were indeed some flower petals and grass leaves on the ground, crushed and sap-covered, with the patterns of shoe prints clearly visible. He then remembered that today was the day to change the seasonal plants in the manor, so he explained to Yuan Mingjin, and added, "The road to the west of the lake is far, so I suppose the Prince Consort wouldn't go that way."
Yuan Mingjin replied, "Not necessarily." He then instructed his servant to pass by the west side of the lake.
Su Xiaotang knew that she had a cleanliness obsession, so why would she walk through the mud? Unless she deliberately wanted to annoy her.
The group then proceeded in a grand procession to the west of the lake.
This place is indeed rarely visited—shady trees and lush vegetation, with only a narrow path barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side, fallen leaves carpeting the ground and grasses lying flat on both sides.
Yuan Mingjin walked and stopped intermittently, his gaze passing through the lush, drooping branches and leaves to the opposite bank, lost in thought.
Before long, the trusted scout returned with a servant and reported to her: "Your Highness, I have found this person ahead acting suspiciously!"
"Your Highness?"
The servant raised his head, but when his gaze fell upon the menacing python on her chest, he dared not look any further. He knelt down and kowtowed several times before saying, "Your Highness, please hurry and save the King's Consort! He—he must have been kidnapped by the Second Young Master!"
Yuan Mingjin stared at him, scrutinizing him from head to toe, her gaze piercing: "Are you from the Wangfu Courtyard?"
The servant hurriedly replied, "That's right, my name is Xiao Lü."
"But I have no recollection of your face."
She possessed a photographic memory from a young age, able to memorize the faces of all her soldiers. Upon entering Su Xiaotang's courtyard at noon, she already had a general impression of his few servants—Xiao Lü claimed to be his servant, but why couldn't she remember him at all…
No, that's not right.
He looks exactly like someone.
Who is it?
Before she could even come up with a solution, Xiao Lü said urgently, "Even if you gave me eight hundred lives, I wouldn't dare lie to you! Before the King's husband got married, I saved his life. Master's wet nurse, Eunuch Li, can testify for me! The situation is urgent—"
"How do you know that Wang Fu's disappearance is related to Su Yiyi?" Yuan Mingjin suddenly asked.
"I... I was just following everyone, following Brother Hongliao's instructions, moving those flowers and plants on the other side of the lake..." Xiao Lü said tremblingly. "But when I took a break, I looked across the lake and saw that the King was arguing with someone. The person's face was hidden under the willow branches, so I couldn't see it clearly."
"And then?" Yuan Mingjin narrowed his eyes.
"Then, then that man struck Wang Fu on the back of the neck with a palm, and Wang Fu fainted. That man then dragged Wang Fu into a doorway."
Yuan Mingjin said, "There are two doors here. Can you tell which one it is?"
Xiao Lü replied, "The one with the purple flowers at the top. These two courtyards are very easy to recognize; the flowers and trees planted inside are all different, so I would never mistake one for the other."
Upon hearing this, Yuan Mingjin ordered his confidant to knock on the back door of Su Yiyi's courtyard—bang bang bang, bang bang bang… The sound was deafening, almost like banging on the door. No one answered, but the knocking didn't stop. The sound was like beating a drum, making people feel inexplicably agitated.
She glanced at Xiao Lü and said, "You have good hearing. You can even hear people arguing on the other side of the lake clearly."
Xiao Lü was taken aback before saying, "I didn't hear what the King said to that person, but the pushing and shoving was too obvious."
"Is that so?" Yuan Mingjin grabbed Xiao Lü by the back of her collar, lifted her up from the ground, and faced her across the lake. His voice was icy cold. "Tell me what you saw. The more details the better."
Little Green, not knowing what she meant, dared not presume. She looked into the distance and hurriedly replied, "Six artificial rocks, the largest one in the middle has five birds perched on it, and there are seven willow trees..."
He suddenly realized something, and gradually fell silent, but the muscles on his face kept twitching, his eyes were bulging painfully, and his heart was pounding, pounding, pounding... each beat louder than the last.
"Heh, what impressive eyesight..." Yuan Mingjin scoffed. "The lake is so vast, even I can't see clearly, yet you can see it perfectly."
She tossed the person in her hand behind her back and said, "Keep a close eye on them." Then she strode forward and kicked open the door with its lush bamboo groves.
Two guards stood on either side of them inside, and having heard the continuous knocking from a few steps away, they were already on edge. Now, caught completely off guard by Yuan Mingjin's kick, they frantically tried to stop him, saying, "You can't come in—"
"I can go wherever I want, get out of my way!" Yuan Mingjin shouted sternly. His well-trained servants immediately rushed forward and quickly tied the two women up like dumplings, gagged them tightly, and refused to let go no matter how much they struggled or screamed.
She strode into the room with lightning speed, kicked the door again, and found no one there. She immediately turned around and headed straight for the inner room. When she saw what was inside, her pupils contracted sharply.
A note from the author:
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"The sound of horns fills the autumn sky, the crimson of the frontier congeals into a deep purple at night"—this line is from Li He's "The Ballad of the Governor of Yanmen" from the Tang Dynasty.
Why were there no comments from readers in the last chapter? I'm so sad! [crying emoji]
The plot gets even more exciting later on. I'm not very talented, but I've managed to save up a few drafts (suddenly adopting a classical style).
This week's update is every other day, meaning the next update will be the day after tomorrow at 9 PM. [Good luck!]
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