Chapter 170 World 7 (18)
A few glistening drops of water still clung to Baoshan's soft hair. They trickled down her long, black hair, soaking Zhuo'er's clothes. A short blade pressed against Baoshan's slender, white neck. Her beautiful eyes were filled with fear, and upon hearing Zhuo'er's attack, tears welled up in her eyes. She wondered why Zhuo had branded her "seducer."
"I don't……"
Zhuo Er looked at the red mark on her neck left by the precious fan and thought to himself, what a wicked woman.
No wonder he had bewitched his brother, willing him to remain a slave in the Central Plains rather than return to his tribe with him to avenge his past. He had clearly not used any brute force against such delicate skin. But if others saw him, they would have thought Zhuo Er was ruthless, showing off his power over a weak woman. Zhuo Er heard the soft, gentle voice of the treasured fan, and his eyes suddenly froze. He remembered how the treasured fan usually spoke so softly, turning his hawk-like brother into her captive.
Zhuo Er's face was tense, and his tone was fierce: "Don't talk!"
Baoshan was frightened by him and trembled slightly, and timidly closed her soft lips.
The candlelight was dim, and silver starlight flickered on the delicate white neck. Zhuo Er's eyes widened as he picked up the nameplate on the fan's neck, his gaze solemn.
He rubbed the indented marks engraved on the nameplate with his fingertips——
That was the name that his father carved with his own hands when his brother Wu Li was born. It should have been hanging on Wu Li's body.
Now it has fallen into the hands of the woman in front of him, who wears the nameplate that symbolizes courage as an ordinary piece of jewelry.
Zhuo Er used force in his hands to try to pull the nameplate off the neck of the treasure fan.
But beside him came the muffled cry of a woman, like the whimper of a poor little animal, which made people feel pity and distress.
Zhuo Er raised his eyes and looked at Bao Shan, who was pursing her lips and about to cry. Only then did he realize that his brute force just now had hurt Bao Shan.
Looking at the beautiful woman in front of him, Zhuo Er's eyes flashed with confusion, and after a moment he loosened his hand that was holding the nameplate.
——Brother Wu Li… He can’t even return to the tribe, so what’s the point of him being obsessed with a nameplate?
The pain in his neck gradually faded away, and Baoshan timidly dodged backwards, as if he regarded Zhuo Er as a monster.
Zhuo Er's heart sank upon seeing this, but he did not let go of the treasured fan. He waved the short blade that shone brightly, as if threatening: "Where has my brother gone?"
Baoshan shook his head slightly without answering.
Zhuo Er asked sharply, "Why don't you speak?"
Bao Shan said timidly, "You just told me not to speak..."
He still had a ferocious look on his face, but now he suddenly changed his mind, leaving Baoshan at a loss as to what to do.
Zhuo Er's eyes widened when he heard this, a flash of panic flashing across his face, but he quickly forced himself to remain calm: "That was just now! Now I ask you to speak, so just listen and don't talk back!"
Baoshan raised her eyes slightly and glanced at Zhuoer secretly. She saw that Zhuoer looked very different from when he was in the slave garden. She thought that this was Zhuoer's true nature.
As for being docile and well-behaved, it was all a disguise that they had to put on after being trained in the slave garden.
Thinking of the "brother" that Zhuo Er mentioned and thinking about the strange look on Wu Li's face when he saw Zhuo Er in the slave garden, Bao Shan could easily guess the relationship between the two.
But facing Zhuo Er, Bao Shan still looked ignorant and said softly: "I have never seen your brother."
Zhuo Er snorted: "My brother is Wu Li, where did you take him?"
Baoshan's eyes moved slightly, with a look of surprise on his face, as if he had never expected that Wu Li and Zhuo Er were actually brothers.
Bao Shan did not conceal the fact that Wuli was presented to Princess An Ning, but he used the style of the Spring and Autumn Period to reverse the whole process.
According to Baoshan's description, Princess An Ning took a fancy to Wu Li. Dong Yixiao was a horse merchant, so he naturally took advantage of the situation and exchanged Wu Li for silver.
Zhuo Er was in distress. The guards at Princess An Ning's mansion were tight, and entering the mansion to look for Wu Li would certainly face considerable obstacles.
He looked up and saw Bao Shan's delicate face. He complained, "Why didn't you stop Princess An Ning?"
Bao Shan frowned, lowered her head and said softly, "I am of humble status and dare not..."
Zhuo Er was just angry for a moment, and he didn't really want the timid and weak Bao Shan to stop Princess An Ning.
With Baoshan's frail body, he would fall down timidly out of fear before he even reached Princess An Ning.
Zhuoer thought that the most important thing now was to contact the people in the tribe, and then go look for Wu Li after everything was settled.
Otherwise, if he went alone, he would be caught by the slaves again. Then, it would be difficult for him to escape.
Before leaving, Zhuo Er reminded Bao Shan: "Don't tell anyone else that I was here, otherwise—"
He put on a stern expression, trying to make Bao Shan feel afraid.
Bao Shan really agreed quietly: "I won't tell anyone."
After Zhuo Er left, Bao Shan picked up the diamond-shaped mirror on the table and looked at the red marks on her neck, which were tiny and mottled, like red plum blossoms in the snow.
Baoshan picked up the cream with her fingers and was about to apply it on her neck.
Baoshan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she suddenly remembered that the red mark might have other uses, so she stopped applying the cream.
Bao Shan used clean water to wash off the transparent ointment on her white fingertips, and her thoughts turned: Princess An Ning liked Wu Li's appearance, but she was not necessarily in love with Wu Li's temperament.
After all, you are a princess and are used to being superior. You will definitely not like being ignored by slaves.
Even if Princess An Ning did not speak up, the guards and servants surrounding her would try to figure out their master's intentions and look for opportunities to tame Wu Li.
Instead of hiding and trying to avoid fate, it is better to face it proactively and take every possible chance of turning things around into your own hands.
In the slave market, he was the one who took away the slave Bada brought back by Dong Yixiao.
Although his face was covered by a cloak, Baoshan remembered his eyes clearly, as if he were examining a commodity. They were exactly the same as those of the personal guard beside Princess An Ning.
Bao Shan used money to find out that Princess An Ning really did have a slave named Bada, which further confirmed Bao Shan's suspicions.
The fate in the dream, the scene involving her and Dong Yixiao, can be described in just a few words.
Obsessed with gold and silver, Dong Yixiao bullied Wu Li.
But among these, there were people from the Princess's Mansion who deliberately misled Dong Yixiao and intended to make him act beyond the rules.
As a horse merchant, Dong Yixiao usually only deals with horse merchants who travel between the Central Plains and foreign regions. What does he have to do with the Princess's Mansion?
The only person involved was Bada, a slave in Princess An Ning's mansion.
The answer seemed to be about to come out. If it was not really a coincidence, then someone had deliberately planned it to take revenge on Dong Yixiao.
Baoshan begged Dong Yixiao softly, wanting to visit the prosperous city of Suzhou.
"Dad has been working hard for a long time, it's time for him to see the gentle and affectionate scenery of the Jiangnan water village."
Faced with Baoshan's proposal, Dong Yixiao was really interested.
He had a thousand taels of gold in his hands, plus his previous savings, which was enough to keep him from having to work as a horse dealer for a long time.
But Dong Yixiao had no plans to leave his hometown completely, he wanted to go to Suzhou City.
But the family also needs to be taken care of. He thought for a moment and replied, "Then Dad will arrange the family affairs. In just four or five days, we can set off for Suzhou City."
The two mothers-in-law serving the Dong family also learned that Baoshan and Dong Yixiao were leaving home and heading to Suzhou City.
When chatting with neighbors, he told them about this matter.
Princess's Mansion.
Looking at the food on the table, Bada felt irritated and asked in a cold voice, "Why hasn't the lychee drink been served yet?"
Although Bada was a slave, he won the favor of Princess An Ning, so his status was far above that of the slaves.
The Princess's Mansion also assigned two servants to Bada. Upon hearing this, the servants answered truthfully: "The mansion has run out of lychees. The kitchen said to replace it with another soup..."
Lychee drink is sweet and delicious, but the preparation is complex. A single cup requires half a basket of lychees. The crystal-clear lychee flesh is removed from the outer layer and the inner part near the core, leaving only the inner layer. This is then served on a pink porcelain plate with sweet wine and spring water.
It looks delicious and tastes sweet.
But Bada couldn't hear any of this, his mind was full of Wu Li's figure.
Wu Li clearly looked indifferent and did not make any attempt to please Princess An Ning.
But whenever Princess An Ning saw Wu Li, her originally dull eyes would sparkle with tiny glimmers of light.
Seeing the scars on Wu Li's body, Princess An Ning asked someone to call a doctor.
When applying medicine to Wu Li, Princess An Ning even considered taking care of him personally.
However, Wu Li eventually knocked over the porcelain vase, and the idea came to nothing.
Bada knew very well that given Princess An Ning's love of beautiful women, she would definitely look at Wu Li with a wary eye.
If one day, Wu Li comes to his senses and learns to be humble and try hard to please others.
There is no place for me in the princess's mansion.
Bada had experienced a life of wealth and prosperity, being courted and carefully served by a group of people from the Central Plains. He did not want to go back to the days of being neglected in the past.
Bada didn't believe that there were no lychees in the mansion, so he couldn't make the lychee inducement. He just thought that these servants were taking advantage of the situation and wanted to keep enough lychees to please the slaves who were more favored by Princess An Ning.
Another servant who served Bada hurried into the house and leaned over to whisper a few words in Bada's ear.
When Bada learned that Dong Yixiao was leaving for the distant city of Suzhou, he suddenly felt panicked.
Unlike other slaves, Bada was imprisoned in a foreign land because he injured someone. Later, he escaped and was captured as a slave.
Bada had evil in his blood and was vindictive when he was in a foreign land. After coming to the Central Plains and seeing such a prosperous scene, his heart became even more inflated.
Once he gained power, Bada began to think about how to use the power in his hands to take revenge on those who had bullied him.
For example, Dong Yixiao.
Bada had all sorts of bad ideas in mind, but before he could actually put them into practice, he discovered that the power in his hands was about to slip away in an instant.
The people who caused all this, besides the slave Wu Li, were also Dong Yixiao.
The news that Dong Yixiao was about to leave made Bada panic. He had no time to make careful arrangements and plan patiently.
Originally, Bada's idea was to kill two birds with one stone. He used Dong Yixiao's hand to destroy the slave Wu Li's character, making him panic-stricken all day long, and no longer have that arrogant and indifferent look.
As for Dong Yixiao, he had hurt the slave that Princess An Ning had bought and still had some interest in. How could he have any chance of survival?
But there was not enough time for Bada to plan this matter carefully.
Bada stood up and left the table full of untouched food.
Bada persuaded Princess An Ning's personal guard to reveal his plan in full, half by bribery and half by threat.
"If Wu Li catches the princess's eye, there will be no place for you to stay."
Bada meant something.
The guard was silent for a moment and nodded heavily.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
