Chapter 76: The Fourteenth Earth Mandrill
In a flash, Meng Caiyun used his forearm to block Tunan's knife.
Tunan looked a little surprised. She had grown up in the East City and was considered an old hand. She was very good at judging people.
When they just met each other, this prince clearly didn't even know how to put on airs, but now his eyes suddenly became sharp, as if he had real skills.
Wang Fengxu pulled Tunan behind him, squatted down with a gleaming look in his eyes, and pointed at himself: "Who am I?"
Meng Caiyun had just blocked the attack out of pure reflex, and now he was completely bewildered. He hissed and touched the neck where Tunan had chopped him, bewilderedly asking, "Old Wang, Wang Lanlan, Wang Fengxu!—Why are you asking me all this nonsense?"
"You finally remembered!" Wang Fengxu sighed, covering half of his face with his hands, unable to laugh or cry. "If you keep saying you're Li Qingyun, I'm going to have PTSD."
Tunan was bewildered: "What do you mean by splitting my brother?"
Wang Fengxu thought of something and stood up, pushing Tunan toward the door. "Tunan, you did a great job tonight. So, I have something to discuss with... Prince Li. You go back first, and I'll have someone notify you if anything else happens."
Tunan was even more puzzled: "But, Princess...!?"
Before she could react, she was locked out by the "princess" who had ungratefully abandoned her, leaving her with a head full of questions.
What does this mean? Could it be that His Highness has really fallen in love with this dude?
Tunan thought, no, I still have to go find the Imperial Master to find out whether His Highness's true love is with this Li.
Wang Feng closed the door guiltily, muttering to himself that these were all fragments of phantoms, in an attempt to shamelessly clear away the guilt in his heart.
He came to Meng Caiyun again, his expression teasing, as if to say, "Although I've been greatly wronged, I'm good-tempered and helped you clean up the mess." "Do you remember anything?"
"I just remember being in the Xuanjin Mountain Dojo. I thought someone was causing trouble, so I ran up to look for them..." Meng Caiyun pondered, "Then everything went black, and I woke up here."
Wang Fengxu seemed to be thinking about something: "It seems that Li Qingyun was knocked unconscious by Tunan, and the former fell into a coma. Only your own soul can regain control." After that, he explained to the other party what happened that day and talked about the speculation about the four ghosts slaughtering the city.
"This is troublesome," Meng Caiyun said, digesting this string of information with a wry smile and a frown. "We have no idea how many people are in the broken pages. We only have two days, and we can't beat up everyone. We can't use our spiritual power either. Tsk, what a headache."
Wang Fengxu murmured, "Master's wife should be making some moves outside... Perhaps Zhu Meng has already sent someone to rescue us, but I disappeared so suddenly that I don't know their plans."
He suddenly remembered something: "Long Zhu was also with me at the time. If it was her, could she..."
Before he could finish his words, a series of footsteps were heard outside the woodshed, followed by someone knocking on the door twice perfunctorily and walking in with a creaky push.
Meng Zhaocai, a servant carrying a food box, started to speak: "The prince asked me to deliver..." As he spoke, he suddenly stared into the house, his expression suddenly changed, and his face turned pale: "You! Prince, you..."
The food box in his hand fell to the ground with a thud, and the big round white steamed bun rolled out and spun around. The scene was actually a little sad.
The two men stood up from the straw pile. Meng Caiyun seemed to have just woken up from a dream. When he realized what had happened, he felt quite ridiculous. He raised his hand and rubbed his forehead speechlessly: "Calm down first. It's not what you see."
The servant Meng Zhao looked at the two of them in disbelief, his eyes suddenly reddened, and his voice trembled as he said, "My Lord, my sister has been with you since she was a child. Although we had no status, she said that you treated her sincerely. What's going on with this woman now? Don't you want my sister anymore?"
Wang Fengxu and Meng Caiyun looked at each other expressionlessly, and sighed in their hearts at the same time: Li Qingyun really deserves to die!
"Don't get me wrong," Wang Fengxu said, pretending to be calm and laughing twice. "We didn't do anything except chatting. I'm a decent woman and I never do anything unethical."
Meng Caiyun took a few steps away from him, looking as if he didn't want to tarnish his reputation. "I... Li also strictly adheres to male ethics and would never bully men or women. If anything were to happen between us, God will punish us!"
Meng Zhao raised his eyes to look at Meng Caiyun, his face full of "Stop pretending": "My Lord, don't I know who you are? This is not the first time you have said such things in public. I am of low status and humble status and dare not interfere in the private affairs of my master. I only hope that my Lord can pity my sister for her many years of companionship and either give her a status or let her go home!" After saying this, he choked with sobs, turned around angrily and trotted away.
Meng Caiyun pinched his brows and said, "No, if we let them continue to make trouble, I'm going to go clean up the mess first. You wait here for me."
After saying that, she chased in the direction Meng Zhao left.
Wang Fengxu lay by the door and watched for a while. He saw that wherever the two men went, stone lanterns lit up one by one, like pairs of eyes hidden in the dark.
The mansion was full of spies, and every little movement was under everyone's watch. If I stayed here, the capital would know about it sooner or later. What if that cheap emperor got wind of it and put me under house arrest? Wouldn't that mean I couldn't escape the Torn Pages illusion? No, I had to get out and make some plans.
He thought for a moment, picked up a stone and left a message for Meng Caiyun on the floor of the woodshed. He then covered it with straw to make it even more obvious, and then turned and left.
In the distance, he seemed to hear the intermittent crying of a woman. He took advantage of the darkness of the night and climbed over the courtyard wall along the familiar route. When he landed, he suddenly heard a pig-slaughtering cry.
"who?!"
When he looked closely, he found that as luck would have it, someone was curled up and taking a nap outside the courtyard wall. He rolled over and fell straight into the other person, and was surprised that he landed so softly.
The unfortunate man wailed twice, rolled on the ground, limped to his feet, his face covered in dust and his eyes narrowed: "It's you?!"
No, this guy is working so hard just to get a recommendation? Wouldn't it be much better to put that energy into studying seriously? If he keeps torturing himself like this, he'll really have to face the Jade Emperor and Yama.
He also didn't want to talk about the doggerel he wrote.
Wang Fengxu was also surprised: "Have you been sleeping outside the Li family all this time?"
"Of course not," Song Wen said, his neck raised proudly, his dignity unwavering. "Sometimes, if they see me, I'll just go to the next alley and spend the night there."
Wang Fengxu was speechless: So he was driven away. Are all the poor scholars in the Great Shu Dynasty so miserable? They would even give up their face in order to climb up the social ladder.
But in a sense, he is also a capable person.
Suddenly he thought of something, smiled sinisterly twice, rubbed his hands and rolled up his sleeves, thinking, since I'm here, why not give this guy a punch to wake him up?
Just as he was about to make a move, Song Wen suddenly stopped him: "You, stand still!" Suspiciously, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his sleeve and studied it for a long time in the dim moonlight. Then he looked up at Wang Fengxu and said, "Hey, it looks like him. It really does."
Wang Fengxu's fist froze in mid-air. He was terrified by the other party's stare. He unconsciously took a step back and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?" He crossed his arms and hugged his chest, "I have nothing to do with the Li family. Don't bother me with anything you want to do."
"What are you talking about!" Song Wen's face flushed. "I'm just an honest scholar. I would never do anything that would disgrace a gentleman! It's just that I'm short of money lately and can't afford to buy food... Today, someone posted a notice under the community tree, saying they were looking for someone and offering a large reward. I saw the person painted on it looked familiar, so I went to try to uncover the notice."
He stretched out the wrinkled paper and flicked it cheerfully. "Look, even though the clothes are weird, the face is exactly yours! Hey, so you and the owner of Fengyalou are old acquaintances?"
There was a picture of a young man with short hair on the paper. He had two small moles on the inner corners of his eyes and was smiling with his eyes slanted. He really looked like the person in front of him.
Wang Fengxu's gaze suddenly fixed, and he hurriedly took a closer look with his eyes wide open.
Huh? The person in this painting... is wearing the Taoist robes of Qingcheng Temple.
-
Outside Beijing, there is a camphor forest.
When the scholar woke up, the morning light was dim in the distance. He was lying on a smooth stone, and the things in the basket were scattered all over the river bank. He fished for a long time, spreading out the soaked papers one by one, trying to dry them before repacking them and continuing on his journey.
He vaguely remembered that when he was about to be stabbed by a group of strange monks, the little girl in the iron cage saved him. Then he was knocked unconscious and thrown out.
The little white-haired dog was also missing, and there was no trace of it anywhere.
The scholar squatted beside the pile of earth, holding his dry food and taking two bites. The cake was cold, solid and rough, and it felt like a mouthful of sand when chewed. It was tasteless, but it was a pity to throw it away.
Alas, I wonder what happened to the girl in the cage.
The scholar felt that he was no match for that group of weird monks, and thought that he should hurry to the city to ask for soldiers. How could the emperor allow these evil people to act so recklessly?
However, after he packed up the boxes, he felt that the journey would take at least half a day, and by the time the soldiers arrived, the girl might have already died... That was a human life!
The scholar's heart was in turmoil, as if it was being fried in a frying pan, and he couldn't feel at peace.
When he came to his senses, he realized that he had gone around in circles and had unknowingly entered the woods, returning to the same route as yesterday!
"Master, what on earth is he thinking? He's already refined the Zeng Yuan Pill...why won't he let us start?"
"Are you going to die? That's a Di Xiao! Not even Master can kill her!"
Two monk disciples came over chattering, and the scholar was startled. He quickly hid behind the hollow bark of a tree, and pricked up his ears to hear what was going on.
"Then what should we do? Didn't Master boast to her face that he could kill her?"
"You're such a fool. Think about it, if Master hadn't said that, would she have agreed to us taking blood to make pills?"
“…”
"Besides, although we have refined the Zeng Yuan Pill, one pill will only last for half a day. If we can trap that Earth Goblin for a long time, then Xuanmen will definitely be our Taiyin's world in the future!"
Although the scholar hiding in the dark didn't quite understand what was said, he got the general meaning.
These weirdos with ulterior motives and evil intentions wanted to suck the marrow out of that girl!!
Fine beads of sweat formed on the scholar's forehead and his heart began to pound.
What to do... In an emergency, he should find the girl immediately, tell her that she has been cheated, and then rescue her.
But he was unarmed and was just a scholar who didn't even know any fancy moves. He could write a few words and read a few poems, but if he had to fight against that group of demons alone, he probably wouldn't have any chance of winning.
He recalled how, before leaving home, his eldest wife's uncle and aunt had looked at him with disdain, saying that someone like him would never make it to the top, and that using "family" money for travel expenses was a futile effort. He had bravely endured this bitter rage and traveled thousands of miles to pursue his studies, hoping that one day he would surpass the eldest wife and make them give up the land they had been accumulating.
If they died on the way, it would really be their wish come true.
The scholar thought for a long time but could not make up his mind. Finally, he heard the two people who had left before walking back, muttering words like "revenge", "Wang Xuanling", and "demonstration".
He was horrified.
These people are actually plotting such a daring disaster. If we don't take action now, won't there be no peace even in the capital?
After making up his mind several times, the scholar no longer wavered. After the two people in front of him walked away, he piled his bag in a hollow tree shell and hid it. He ruffled his hair, took off his coat, covered his face with a cloth, and then tiptoed and carefully followed the direction the two people were going.
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