Chapter 4 Escape or Peril? I am the young master's personal maid. ...
4
He has a fever!
A bucket of cold water was poured down from above, completely chilling Ning Lu's already half-hearted heart.
Crack—
The footsteps stopped behind them, and a long, narrow figure peered through the gaps in the stones, shattering into tiny black spots on the ground.
"Is anyone there? Hey!"
Receiving no response, the person outside impatiently pushed the door open. Small pieces of gravel fell to the ground.
The boulder that Ning Lu had dragged to the cave entrance with all her might was easily moved aside through the gap.
A tall, muscular figure was partially visible outside the cave.
Without time to think too much, Ning Lu bent down, picked up a palm-sized stone, and stepped aside.
The stone at the cave entrance was pushed aside, and the dark figure saw the unconscious Ji Ming. He first exclaimed in surprise, then hesitated for a moment before taking half a step inside.
In the blink of an eye, Ning Lu suddenly jumped out of the shadows.
"Bang!"
"Ouch!"
The man who entered was a young man dressed in a short, coarse linen shirt. He was slow to react but possessed great strength.
He raised his large hand, gripped the stone tightly in Ning Lu's hand, and with a forceful tug, flung her aside. He himself also slumped to the side due to the momentum.
Judging from his attire, he didn't look like a soldier, but rather a farmer from the foot of the mountain.
Ning Lu breathed a sigh of relief, took two steps back to stand next to Ji Ming, and asked, "You...who are you...?"
"Ha! You scared me to death, girl. You came up here and started throwing rocks at people. I should be asking you who you are!"
The man muttered to himself as he rubbed his shoulder, which had been hurt by her bump, and took a half step back before finding a smooth rock to sit on.
When she turned to look at Ning Lu again, a short dagger had appeared in her hand, which she held tremblingly in front of her.
Seeing her disheveled and pitiful appearance, the newcomer relaxed his guard slightly and glanced at Ji Ming, whose face was flushed red from the fever, behind her.
“I’m from Zhujia’ao at the foot of the mountain. Just call me Dacheng. Last night, the howling of wolves was terrifying, so the village sent me up to check if anyone was injured.”
"What are you doing here? Is this young master... ill?"
He glanced at Ji Ming following his gaze; Ji Ming was still immobilized and dazed.
Ning Lu nodded silently.
The footsteps outside grew increasingly chaotic, and her body trembled slightly.
"What are you doing here in this desolate wilderness?"
The man asked again.
"We were on the mountain last night..."
Her clothes tugged, and she subconsciously looked at Ji Ming.
The man turned his head toward her, his eyelashes fluttering slightly, his breathing becoming a little heavy.
Ning Lu immediately understood: "I accompanied my young master up the mountain to collect folk songs... Last night, I fell and got injured and lost my way. I heard wolves howling outside, so I was too scared to go out. I stayed in this cave all night."
"Since you're from the mountain, could you take us down?"
The man saw their subtle movements, looked them over again, rolled his eyes, and didn't immediately agree.
"Where did you come from, and where are you going?"
Ning Lu choked up.
How come everyone in this era is a philosopher?
Everyone who sees her asks where she comes from and where she is going.
She longed to answer them, saying that they came from the Tang Dynasty in the East and were on their way to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
But she knew this wasn't the time to write jokes, so Ning Lu quickly pursed her lips and replied, "We've gotten lost. We've completely lost track of where we came from and where we're going. Could you please take us down the mountain and let us settle down?"
“My young master got caught in the rain and developed a high fever; he’s feeling unwell right now.”
“Taking you down the mountain is no problem.” The young man rubbed his hands together as he heard the search sounds not far from the cave entrance. He then turned his gaze to the cave entrance. “However… as you’ve heard, things haven’t been peaceful lately. With your attire, who would know who you are? I can’t just invite trouble for no reason.”
Yes, yes, yes.
Ning Lu knew that her night clothes were particularly eye-catching, so she could only smile awkwardly.
Looking at Ji Ming, he appeared completely unconscious and was clearly unreliable.
She had no choice but to reach out and search herself from head to toe again, but her pockets were still emptier than her face.
After a moment's hesitation, he resolutely looked up and said, "Brother, let me tell you the truth."
“He…is not only my young master.” Ning Lu bit her lip hard, her eyes filled with tears from the pain, and continued with red eyes, “I am the young master’s personal maid. We spend every day together, and feelings have developed between us, and we have pledged our lives to each other.”
"But... but my master wouldn't allow it. Young master decided to elope with me so that I wouldn't be wronged. Later, my master sent people to chase after us, and young master was injured while protecting me."
She looked at Ji Ming with deep affection, took his hand and pressed it against her face.
His body was burning hot from the high fever, but his hands were cold.
Ning Lu was worried that if this dragged on any longer, the person would really get seriously burned, so she turned around, squeezed out a few tears, and crawled toward the person.
“Brother Dacheng, you can tell from my young master’s clothes that he is no ordinary person. If we can save his life, we will repay your life-saving grace with all our might when he wakes up.”
"I know that in this world, you can't get by without money, but the young master won't wake up..."
Ning Lu gritted her teeth and clung tightly to Da Cheng, who was wearing patched burlap, and burst into tears.
The man was initially hesitant. But when Ning Lu moved away from Ji Ming, he immediately noticed the fashionable pattern on the dark blue outer robe, and was secretly delighted. He quickly made his decision.
"Alright, I'll take you down the mountain."
"The soldiers outside..."
Ning Lu, still forcing a smile of grief, pointed to the cave entrance.
"No one knows this mountain better than me. You can rest assured."
The shouts of the officers and soldiers gradually grew louder.
Da Cheng was also afraid that the duck he had caught would fly away, so he quickly carried Ji Ming on his back and hurried down the inconspicuous path. After walking for a quarter of an hour, he saw a shack made of rags and hemp rope.
A cart piled high with hay was parked behind the shack.
Da Cheng put Ji Ming down and pulled a set of women's clothes from a gap in the cart, stuffing them into Ning Lu's arms.
"Girl, your outfit is too eye-catching. Go inside and change first."
She hesitated, so Da Cheng quickly explained, "These are my wife's clothes. She left them behind when she went to work in the fields last time. It's already so late, so please don't mind them."
"No, no, no, I'm not disgusted."
Ning Lu didn't refuse anymore, and went into the shack with her clothes in her arms.
She wasn't actually disgusted; she simply didn't know how people in ancient times should wear their clothes.
Fortunately, ordinary people's clothes are simple and neat, without much fancy clothing. She struggled in the shack for a while and managed to get dressed.
When she came out, most of the hay on the cart had already been unloaded. Ji Ming was placed on the cart by Da Cheng, surrounded by hay on both sides, making it impossible to distinguish his human form without careful observation.
The road down the mountain was more winding and complicated than she had imagined. Ning Lu had long since lost count of how many turns she had made and how many slopes she had climbed.
On second thought, the original owner had already hidden in such a secluded place, yet Prince Jing and the Crown Prince were still chasing after him...
My back feels cold.
"Ever since the old emperor fell ill, the world has been in turmoil. Take our place, for example. It's a small, poor, and dilapidated area under Changzhou, where the people have always lived peacefully. But in recent years, more and more officials have been coming to investigate, sometimes targeting rebels, sometimes targeting traitors. And just recently, they said a high-ranking official is coming."
"If you ask me, instead of wasting time investigating traitors, we should investigate the purses of those officials."
"Girl, don't you think so?"
Ning Lu snapped out of her daze and quickly agreed. Her eyes darted around, and she seized the opportunity to ask, "So who are these traitors and rebels? What have you found out?"
"If we found them, would we still be able to search all over the mountains and fields? That's why there have been several more groups of soldiers deployed to search for them in the last two days."
Da Cheng stopped, wiped his sweat, pointed to the sentry post ahead, and turned to whisper mysteriously, "It seems something happened last night on the Ghost Festival. I heard that people who went into the mountains encountered ghosts, and several people went missing."
"The Ghost Festival?!"
Ning Lu's eyes widened, and she reached through the hay to grab Ji Ming's clothes.
"Yes. Several soldiers who ran down from the mountain in the middle of the night said they encountered thick fog, like being trapped in a maze, and there were also wolves howling."
"If you ask me, it's because these officials have done too many bad things, offended the mountain god, and are now being punished."
Not hearing Ning Lu respond, Da Cheng thought he had said something inappropriate and quickly tried to cover it up: "Don't misunderstand, I wasn't talking about your young master. I was talking about those people who were fighting and killing indiscriminately..."
"I know." Ning Lu smiled apologetically, her face pale. Her hand, which was holding Ji Ming's, was damp with sweat, and it was hard to tell which of the two of them was sweating.
"By the way, brother, you said the old emperor was in poor health, but that was a long time ago, wasn't it?"
Remembering that Ji Ming said last night that the Crown Prince had been on the throne for two years, Ning Lu changed the subject and asked another question.
"Yes. It's been over two years." Da Cheng sighed. "They say the Crown Prince became emperor. But it has nothing to do with us. We're so far from the capital, it doesn't matter who's emperor."
"I've heard that there's a high-ranking official named Xie by the side of this new emperor. He's particularly ruthless. After the crown prince ascended the throne, he had several ministers who didn't support him assassinated. They didn't even have a proper body left when they died. It's because he's coming to Changzhou that there are so many soldiers on the road this time."
"It's all just superficial glamour; it's us ordinary people who suffer the most."
Looking up, he saw the sentry post right in front of him. Da Cheng turned around and casually strolled into a side road, avoiding the checkpoint.
“That’s true.” Ning Lu echoed, feeling that no matter the era, it was always the same group of people who judged the country and the situation: “What about Prince Jing? How is he?”
“Prince Jing? He used to be in Changzhou quite often in the past, but after the Crown Prince became emperor, we haven’t heard from him for a long time.”
"That……"
She wanted to ask more questions, but then she saw a group of people walking out of the village ahead.
The leading guard was tall and slender, dressed in brocade robes and a jade belt, with a long sword at his waist. The soldiers following behind him were also tall and strong, exuding an air of nobility. Next to the guard stood an old man, his body hunched over, his skin dark and rough, exactly like Da Cheng's complexion.
Compared to this, even someone as oblivious as Ning Lu could tell that this group of guards was no ordinary person.
"Perfection!"
“Village Chief.” Da Cheng gently waved his hand behind his back, signaling Ning Lu to be quiet, and then put down the cart and went over to her.
"I was looking for you. Yu Niang said you went up the mountain and haven't returned yet." The village chief cupped his hands to the guard beside him and introduced, "Sir, this is Zhu Dacheng. He knows this area best."
“The adults want to go into the mountains. You’re familiar with the area, so take them there.”
Zhu Dacheng turned to Ning Lu and said, "Sir, Father, that's Yu Niang's aunt's younger sister. Her family suffered from a drought and came to seek refuge. She just arrived and hasn't settled in yet. I'll take her home and then come back, is that alright?"
The guard's gaze lingered on Ning Lu for a moment, his expression unchanged, and he nodded slightly.
"I'll take you home first."
Zhu Dacheng jogged back and set up the cart.
Ning Lu reached out and grabbed some hay from the cart. After confirming that everything was in order, she lowered her head slightly, letting stray hairs fall in front of her eyes to cover her already inconspicuous facial features.
As he passed the guards, the leader dodged to the side.
As we passed each other, a sudden gust of wind blew, carrying with it a fragrant aroma.
"Please wait, young lady."
A note from the author:
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