Chapter 563 The True Origin
The clouds have parted to reveal the moon!
As soon as those four words were uttered, the carriage, which was stuck in the distance and unable to move forward, seemed to be shaken by an invisible force, and even the curtains hanging on both sides trembled slightly.
However, not a sound was heard.
Only the maid who was following her frowned when she heard the last word, staring at Shang Ruyi and saying, "Madam, I don't know who you are, but please don't block my way."
"..."
“Our family is small—we are complete strangers to you, and we just want to leave.”
Shang Ruyi smiled faintly, not only refusing to give way, but also walking forward step by step.
As she walked, she said in a low voice, "Really, we don't know each other?"
"..."
"But I remember this carriage very clearly. I saw it during the Dharma assembly at Dayan Temple. It belonged to General Yu of the Left Valiant Guard."
"...!"
The maid's face darkened immediately when she heard her name mentioned.
Shang Ruyi continued walking forward, staring at the carriage she had only seen once, yet which exuded an incredibly familiar, invisible power that seemed to pierce her soul. She took a deep breath, suppressing the tremors caused by her erratic heartbeat, and slowly said, "Although you are very clever, you haven't revealed any trace along the way. In fact—if it weren't for your people dropping that money pouch in that valley, and later, when you were collecting medicinal herbs in Daxing City, I probably still wouldn't be able to confirm that the person who wanted to kill us along the way, the person who collected those medicinal herbs to kill us in Fufeng, and the person who won the Shenjuan Pavilion Poetry Gathering, was the same person."
The maid's face darkened further, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about, madam. Please have some self-respect."
Shang Ruyi didn't even look at her, still staring at the almost airtight carriage, and slowly said, "And you are indeed quite capable to have been able to hide your identity until today."
"..."
"It's probably because of—'foresight'."
"..."
“But it is precisely because of this ‘foresight’ that I was able to lure you out.”
There was still no movement inside the carriage, but a gust of wind, seemingly from nowhere, made the curtains sway wildly, as if the person inside was also wondering—
Why?
Shang Ruyi slowly said, "Although you haven't shown your face along the way, it's still very clear what your purpose is—you're doing this for my husband, the eldest son of the Yuwen family!"
"..."
"Then you can't possibly stand idly by when his third brother is in trouble."
"..."
"Therefore, I'm certain you'll produce the medicine!"
The curtain trembled violently again, but this time, it seemed as if a gust of wind blew out from inside. The maid standing by the window immediately seemed to hear something, listened intently for a moment, and then looked up at Shang Ruyi with a wary expression, saying, "Madam, how could you have known that my master would come in person?"
Shang Ruyi smiled faintly and said, "Because of the Taiyuan plague."
"..."
"If you were a person who could 'predict the future,' you would definitely be very curious as to why this 'plague' would occur, a 'plague' that should not have existed in the first place, or that has never existed before."
"..."
"So, you will definitely come to see it."
"..."
"Let's see if we're playing tricks, or if there really are things in this world that even you don't know!"
"..."
"But I also understand that even if you come, you won't show yourself so easily, so—"
Shang Ruyi smiled faintly, glancing at the front of the restaurant. There, Tu She'er and Wo Xue were already arguing with that girl, and their voices could be heard even through the old building.
But now, the dispute over there is nothing to worry about.
Upon hearing her words, the maid was initially incredulous, but after thinking for a moment, she immediately revealed a horrified expression: "You mean, the plague in Taiyuan is—a hoax?!"
Shang Ruyi said, "That's right."
The maid was both shocked and furious: "You, you actually lied about the epidemic?!"
Shang Ruyi pursed her lips slightly.
This whole affair was indeed a setup from the very beginning—Yuwen Ye deliberately sent people out of the city every day to look for people outside the city who had contracted the plague. When Yuwen Yuan asked him about it, he would tell him that someone was heading east. In this way, when the plague later appeared in Taiyuan, there would be a clue to follow.
Then, when she sent Jiang Kexing to Luoyang to gather information, she also sent someone to Taiyuan to deliver a message.
But the letter was not for Yuwen Cheng, but for Huang Gongyi.
The letter instructed him to send a trusted soldier familiar to Yuwen Yuan to report that a plague had broken out in Taiyuan. Once the matter was over, if Yuwen Yuan blamed them, they would bear all the responsibility. Although Huang Gongyi was worried, he had promised Shang Ruyi after the archery and horsemanship competition that he would grant any request, so he had no choice but to agree.
Therefore, Song Shiyan sent this false news of the plague simply to make Yuwen Yuan worry.
Calculating the timeframe, they realized that the medicinal herbs they had stockpiled would only last until this day. So they deliberately sold the diluted medicine two days in advance, almost causing a civil unrest. At the same time, Pei Xingyuan was injured while trying to buy medicine that night, making Yuwen Yuan believe that they had no more medicine on hand.
Therefore, the only hope for saving Yuwen Cheng is the "Guest of the Moon Palace" who administers medicine at Yanzuofang.
From the fact that this person had intervened several times for Yuwen Qian in recent days, Shang Ruyi understood that unless he remained hidden behind the scenes for the rest of his life—which was almost impossible, because Yuwen Yuan, being so shrewd, would not allow such a person to exist indefinitely—this "Guanghan Guest" had to produce the medicine to save Yuwen Cheng this time, otherwise, he would have to bear the wrath of Yuwen Yuan, as a father, towards someone who would stand by and watch his son die.
In hindsight, they made the right bet.
Although she knew that lying about the epidemic would surely anger Yuwen Yuan, at this moment, just looking at the carriage in front of her and feeling the chilling aura emanating from the person inside, Shang Ruyi still felt that it was all worth it.
She said calmly, "It's just a matter of sending someone back to say a few words. As long as I do what I want to do, this so-called 'plague' will disappear immediately."
"..."
"In order to lure you out, we had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure."
"..."
"It's also because of you—you are a man of few words, yet you can turn the world upside down with a flick of your wrist. If I can't bring you into the limelight, I can't feel at ease."
Hearing her words, the maid's anger intensified.
But he couldn't speak.
Just then, a gust of wind, carrying a faint chill, seemed to penetrate Shang Ruyi's very bones as it blew past her, causing her to shiver involuntarily. A soft, smiling voice also drifted past her ear on the wind.
"Now that you've found me, will you feel at ease?"
Shang Ruyi's body jolted violently!
It was a woman's voice, very young and pleasant; hearing it normally would certainly be a pleasure.
But in that instant, she felt as if every word the other person spoke had transformed into an invisible blade in the wind, piercing through her body and almost pulling her soul away. She subconsciously clenched her fists and gritted her teeth to resist the suffocating, bone-chilling pain.
She said in a deep voice, "You—"
She had barely uttered a single word when her voice went hoarse, as if an invisible hand were gripping her neck.
Shang Ruyi's eyes reddened instantly, but she refused to back down. Especially at this moment, this familiar feeling, as if her soul was being pulled out of her body, had laid out the whole truth before her. She struggled and finally found her voice, saying in a deep voice, "Of course."
"Oh? Why?"
"Because at least now, my counterattack will have a clear target!"
"...!"
The curtain on the carriage trembled slightly again. After a long silence, a burst of contemptuous laughter came from inside the carriage.
After laughing, the voice said, "You two, step back."
These words were naturally meant for the coachman and the maidservant. The coachman didn't say much, immediately put down his whip, got off the carriage, and retreated to a distance. The maidservant hesitated for a moment, glanced into the carriage again, and was about to say something when a slender, jade-like hand reached out to the window and gently waved.
The maid said nothing, but glared at Shang Ruyi again before retreating.
In the alley, only Shang Ruyi and the person in the carriage who still refused to show themselves remained.
At this moment, the distance between the two had gone from thousands of miles away, shrouded in clouds and mist, to just a few steps away. However, Shang Ruyi used all her strength to suppress the throbbing in her body that made her heart pound, and she could not take another step forward.
After a moment of silence, the voice said, "However, even if you knew I came here in person today, how would you know I was here?"
"..."
“You have never seen me before, and I have not revealed my presence here.”
Shang Ruyi sneered and said, "Then it's your own fault for being too confident, too confident, that you actually sat next to our private room."
"...So what?"
"The young lady has a special feminine fragrance."
"..."
"My husband, though not entirely averse to women, certainly rarely gets close to them. The fact that he can smell such a fragrance on you, Miss, suggests that you are quite intimate."
"..."
"And during this period, I can't guess who else could have been so close to him."
The curtain in the carriage swayed slightly again, as if someone inside had raised their hand and made some kind of movement, seemingly sniffing at their own scent. After a long silence, the person sighed softly and chuckled, "It seems I was careless."
"..."
"However, since you can't guess who the others are, why don't you try to guess who I am?"
Shang Ruyi said, "What if I guess correctly?"
The other person laughed and asked, "What do you want?"
"If I'm right,"
Shang Ruyi stared intently at the carriage and said in a deep voice, "Miss Yu, I want you to tell me your origins—your true origins!"
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