Chapter 98 Chapter 98 The divorce papers are with you?
Jingyi had never suffered such humiliation before. She screamed and ordered the palace maids to take Nanxu away.
Nan Xu had been simmering with anger for a long time, and she felt so uncomfortable that she didn't care about being a noble lady. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to start working, but was pulled over by Nan Yicheng and Yin Ruizhu to protect her in the middle.
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, people from the Marquis' Mansion and Duan Wenpei rushed forward to separate the people on both sides. Xiao Jing drank a bowl of porridge in silence, and then slowly called a few secret guards to go over and protect Dian Jingyi.
The guards brought from the princess's mansion had already been detained. The palace maids were no match for the guards and could only guard Jingyi in a sullen manner.
While Jingyi asked Mr. Zhou to help her wipe her hair, she cursed Nanxu with gritted teeth, saying all kinds of nasty words.
Everyone frowned when they heard this. Li Zhan was cleaning up his mess alone, wishing he could go up and cover Jingyi's mouth.
A noble wife brings honor to her husband, but he has already lost all his face.
Nan Xu vented her anger. She couldn't stand Jing Yi's arrogance. She pushed Nan Yicheng aside, walked out slowly, and replied coldly, "Princess, don't feel wronged. Although I'm the daughter of a minister, I'm also the second daughter of the Yong'an Marquisate, who was once held in the arms of the late emperor and praised him as 'worthy of the title of princess.' And in terms of status, I'm a consort bestowed by the imperial court."
"The princess has been in the cold palace for so long, and now, after only a few years out, she's already wielding her power, relying on her status as His Majesty's sister. She even drugged the wives of high-ranking officials and, worse still, murdered innocent people." Nan Xu approached slowly, looking down at Jingyi, who was glaring at her. "I'm afraid the princess won't have enough of her freedom, and the censors' impeachment memorials will snowflake into the palace. Your Highness, do you think that if His Majesty can no longer suppress the rebellion, he will send the princess back to the cold palace to pardon her crime?"
Not to mention the memorial from the censor, the fact that she left the capital and went to Sichuan without permission was enough to get her into trouble.
Jingyi is not stupid, on the contrary, she is very good at judging the situation.
When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Jingyi looked at the faces around her, some of which were disgusted, some of which were indifferent. Her expression kept changing, and finally she lowered her proud head and stopped.
Temporary compromise does not mean giving up. Jingyi didn't even eat, snorted twice, and led her people out of the inn. She did not call Li Zhan before leaving.
Duan Wenpei gave Yu Rong a look, and Yu Rong understood and ordered someone to keep an eye on the princess.
After breakfast, we continued on our journey.
Nan Yicheng came here to save his sister. Now that Nan Xu is safe and sound, he also wants to return to Kyoto. He wants to take Nan Xu and Yin Ruizhu back with him.
Duan Wenpei disagreed.
The carriages and horses have been prepared, and people are packing their things into the carriages. If someone who doesn't know sees them, they would think that these are people doing business away from home bringing enough New Year's goods back to their hometown to celebrate the New Year.
Nan Yicheng ordered his servants to stop, his tone somewhat unhappy. "Ah Xu was born and raised in Kyoto. She can't go to Shu with you. If she goes with you, can you guarantee her safety? It's a joke. I see those two people you left behind, but Ah Xu was kidnapped anyway."
Duan Wenpei followed Nan Xu, who occasionally popped her head out of the car, and patiently explained, "The Zhao family already knows about this trip. The journey back to Beijing will be fraught with danger. Big brother isn't afraid, but Ah Xu may not be able to avoid it."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh! What nonsense!" Nan Yicheng spat several times to get rid of the bad luck.
"That's true, but look at the people along the way," he pointed at the princess's carriage, which had been replaced with a simple one, the gray and unremarkable Li Zhan's carriage, and Xiao Jing, who was looking at them eagerly, "I'm afraid these people will eat Ah Xu before we even reach Shu."
"Brother-in-law, I'm not questioning you, but Ah Xu is a living person. If you're not careful, her life could be in danger. You may not consider her your real wife, but I'm her brother. If the Zhao family dares to come, I'll send Ah Xu back to Kyoto even if it costs me my life."
They're no longer a fake couple. Duan Wenpei touched the tip of his nose with a guilty conscience and coughed uncomfortably twice. "How about this, Big Brother, go ask Ah Xu for her opinion. If she's willing to go back with you, I'll have nothing to say. If she's not willing, Big Brother, please just let it go."
Nan Xu was naturally unwilling to do so. She had not yet seen Jingyi and Li Zhan being punished. How could she return to Beijing now and wait to cause trouble for Jingyi in Kyoto? That would be harder than climbing to the sky.
"I'm not leaving. Take Ruizhu back with you."
Yin Ruizhu held Nan Xu's arm and shook her head like a rattle. "Brother-in-law, I won't leave either. Wherever Ah Xu is, I'll be there."
"Nonsense, do you still want to get married? Do your parents still want to get married? How am I going to explain this to your sister if you ask me to go back?"
It would be fine if he didn't know, but now that he saw it and didn't take it back, Yin Wu would probably blame him when she found out in the future.
"And you, you used to be such an obedient girl, how come you don't listen to Big Brother after you got married? You don't have to be afraid of Duan Wenpei, he can't do anything to you in front of Big Brother."
As the sun gradually climbed up the hillside, everyone set off westward, leaving Nan Yicheng standing alone, watching the caravan go away.
When the convoy was no longer in sight, he sighed slowly, jumped on his horse, and returned to Kyoto.
Both sisters are stubborn and no one listens to their brother.
Just after returning for about ten miles, he suddenly saw a horse galloping in front of him. When he got closer, he found that it was someone from the eldest house. The man was also surprised to meet Nan Yicheng here. He called him "Uncle" and handed him the letter in his arms.
Nan Yicheng took it in surprise, thinking that Yin Wu had something urgent to say, but he never expected that the few words on the letter were actually in his mother's handwriting.
The more Nan Yicheng looked, the more solemn his expression became. After reading the last sentence, Nan Yicheng turned his horse around without any question and chased after Duan Wenpei and his group.
Before leaving, I asked the messenger to take a message back that Nan Xu and Yin Ruizhu were fine and not to worry about their families.
*
The further west you go, the bumpier the road becomes.
Duan Wenpei ordered to catch up with the disaster relief team, so the convoy moved quickly.
The weather was not good. It started to drizzle on the first day they crossed the Shu boundary marker. Duan Wenpei abandoned his horse and got on the carriage. Yin Ruizhu could not stand his affectionate look at Nan Xu, so she consciously changed the carriage.
Nan Xu originally wanted to go with Yin Ruizhu, but Duan Wenpei, who was sitting in the car, grabbed her by the waist and carried her back.
"Let me go, let me go."
"Shh!" Duan Wenpei whispered in her ear, asking her to keep quiet. "It's just a normal ride. If Ah Xu keeps yelling, people will think you and I are doing something else."
She had avoided him for several days since they had sex that day. Suddenly, she was held in his arms, and the warm and familiar breath permeated her, forcing her to recall those blushing and heart-pounding scenes.
Nan Xu gradually calmed down and tried to talk to him in a gentle manner, "Let me go first, and we can talk if you have anything to say."
Duan Wenpei was in a good mood and couldn't help teasing her, "What if I don't agree?"
Nan Xu curled her lips, "Divorce! Divorce! Divorce immediately!"
Duan Wenpei narrowed his eyes dangerously behind her, and turned her over in his arms as if he were holding a baby. Their eyes met, and his slender fingers touched her waist with a hint of aggressiveness, moving slowly down. Nan Xu's body tensed, and she opened her wet eyes and silently warned him not to do anything rash.
"Ah Xu, there are some things you can't say casually. You have to avoid prophecies."
Hugging each other face to face, her body felt light as a weightless cloud. Duan Wenpei's eyes dimmed slightly, and he couldn't help but pinch her chin, closed his eyes and kissed her.
Nan Xu couldn't escape and could only watch the handsome face in front of her getting bigger and bigger. Just as she was thinking about how to take advantage of his unpreparedness and bite him again, the person in front of her suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him fixedly.
"Do you have the divorce papers with you?"
Nan Xu was startled and stuttered, "No, no...it's nothing." Duan Wenpei exerted force on his hands, and they were almost face to face, nose to nose. "Really?"
Nan Xu's face flushed when he looked at her. "Why would I carry that thing with me for no reason?"
"Then why do you keep talking about divorce? Are you trying to scare me? Or is it to manipulate me?"
Her breath tickled her lips, and her chin felt itchy. Nan Xu twisted her body awkwardly, raising her sleeves to block them from each other, revealing only a pair of cunning eyes as she looked at him. "How can this be true? The divorce agreement hasn't been signed or sealed, let alone submitted to the authorities, and you're the only one allowed to write it, but I'm not? If I wanted to, I could write it right here and throw it into Uncle's arms."
"You..." Duan Wenpei laughed out of anger.
Just as he was about to cover her lips, the car body suddenly shook, and the sound of an arrow breaking through the air was heard outside, followed by Yu Rong's voice. It turned out that someone was intercepting them halfway.
Duan Wenpei put away his playful expression, took off his fox fur cloak and draped it over Nan Xu, then placed her in the corner of the carriage. He repeatedly told her not to get off before lifting the curtain and leaving the carriage.
Nan Xu looked at his back and wanted to tell him to be careful, but the words were on the tip of her tongue because she felt awkward and couldn't say them. Until the car curtain blocked her view and she could no longer see the figure.
Some things are like thorns stuck in the heart. Unless the thorn is removed, it is not easy to make peace with it...
Along the way from Wuchang Prefecture to Sichuan, assassinations continued. Just as Duan Wenpei speculated, the Zhao family knew he was coming and brought the ignorant Zhao Huaijue with him, so they would not let him enter Sichuan easily.
Whether it's a test or a real attempt to kill him, he won't have an easy time.
But this wave of assassinations was obviously more ferocious than those before entering Shu.
The sound of weapons clashing was endless. Nan Xu subconsciously wanted to find something to defend herself, but she searched the entire carriage and found nothing.
If she had known earlier, when she found out someone had rummaged through her dowry box, she should have taken the horn crossbow in addition to the paper and the divorce letter.
The sounds of fighting were getting closer and closer. Nan Xu really didn't want to sit there and wait for death, so she just moved the low table in the car in front of her, and if any criminals dared to break in, she would smash them. Just as she was thinking about it, the car curtain was suddenly lifted from the outside. Nan Xu was about to take action when she saw that it was Yin Ruizhu who came up.
"Here are the crossbows I picked up from the assassins who were killed. I picked out two smaller ones just in case."
Nan Xu felt reassured with someone beside her. Regardless of whether it was a used crossbow from a deceased person, she weighed it, loaded it, and huddled back to back in the innermost compartment of the carriage.
After a while, in addition to the sound of fighting, the smell of blood also drifted in with the cold wind. Nan Xu felt uneasy and talked to Yin Ruizhu in a disjointed manner.
When asked about the situation outside when she came in, Yin Ruizhu described it vividly, "You'll never guess whose carriage I got on after I left your place. It was Li Zhan. Liu Hui told me to be patient, and I was still wondering what he meant when I got in. Only then did I realize that Li Zhan's hands and feet were chained inside, and he was eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating in there. The stench was simply unbearable. I couldn't stand it any longer, so I got off shortly after. Although it was cold, I preferred to ride a horse. However, I hadn't been riding for long when this group of assassins appeared out of nowhere..."
Yin Ruizhu was still chattering, but Nan Xu looked ahead quietly, not hearing a word she said.
Li Zhan's carriage had not been changed, and those chains should be the ones that had locked her up before.
It goes without saying that it was Duan Wenpei's idea. Did he not tell her because he felt that she still couldn't let go of Li Zhan, or because he felt that it would pollute her ears?
Nan Xu didn't know, and didn't want to think about it too much. She just thought it was all karma. But then she thought again, she felt that fate was playing tricks on her. Since when did she and Li Zhan end up like this?
Perhaps, this is the fickleness of fate...
"Where's Jingyi? Have you seen her?"
She hasn't seen the princess these days, and she doesn't dare to think about her, for she's afraid that she won't be able to resist taking revenge for Yu Ming.
She is a princess, and seeking revenge is a capital crime, so she has to think carefully about it.
An arrow pierced the carriage, its feathers buzzing with force. Yin Ruizhu was more agile than Nan Xu. She pulled Nan Xu over and swapped places, aiming her crossbow at the curtain. "I didn't see anything. I just heard a few palace maids muttering that we were moving too fast and the carriage the princess was riding in was too simple. She's been so pampered these past two years and indulged in excessive debauchery that she vomited and had diarrhea within two days of walking, and she's lost a lot of weight."
"Buzz buzz buzz—"
The sound of arrows piercing the carriage became more and more frequent, and combined with Yin Ruizhu's leisurely voice, it made people break out in a cold sweat for no reason. Just when their minds were highly concentrated, Yin Ruizhu suddenly fired a crossbow, and three arrows were fired at the same time, hitting the masked assassin who was trying to climb onto the carriage.
Just like a mechanism was triggered, the muscles replaced the brain's thinking. Nan Xu immediately fired a crossbow. Although the assassin was not killed on the spot, he was hit in the arm.
Yin Ruizhu frowned and urged Nan Xu to load the arrow. At this moment, life and death depended on a split second, so they must not be slow.
A few more arrows flew out. Without the cover of the curtain, the situation inside the car was clearly visible. The assassins found that there was a woman sitting there. Although they had crossbows, their accuracy was average. They moved in a serpentine manner to avoid the vital parts and attacked directly.
Yin Ruizhu was relatively calm, but Nan Xu was a little panicked, and her already poor accuracy plummeted.
The last arrow hit the leg of the assassin who was already close to him. The assassin got mad and grabbed Nan Xu's ankle, trying to drag him out.
Nan Xu picked up the crossbow in her hand and hit the assassin's hand. Yin Ruizhu also came forward to pull her, but the two women were no match for the assassin. Seeing that half of Nan Xu's body had been dragged out of the carriage, Yin Ruizhu screamed and used all her strength to grab her. Halfway through, she was stopped by the assassin who came from the other side.
In just two breaths, both of them fell into the hands of the assassin, and the woman screamed.
Duan Wenpei was so furious that he turned around to save the man when he heard the sound, but he was unable to break free. He watched helplessly as Nan Xu was carried on the assassin's shoulder, "Yu Rong! Big brother! Save Ah Xu first!"
He let the sword hit him with his eyes wide open, and took a few steps forward.
Just as everyone was surrounding Nan Xu, a staggering and embarrassed figure quietly went around behind the assassin. In a flash, the figure raised the long iron chain in his hand and wrapped it around the assassin's neck from behind. Nan Xu struggled violently when he found someone trying to save him.
When Nan Xu fell to the ground and looked up, the assassin had turned around and was severely suppressing the man who was about to strangle him with an iron chain.
The green clothes were covered in dirt, but Nan Xu still recognized the owner of the clothes at a glance.
She picked up a stone at her feet, struggled to get up, and smashed it on the assassin's head...
"Stop it! If you don't stop, I'll destroy this bottle of antidote and make sure Zhao Huaijue never sees the Zhao family again in his lifetime!"
Xie Jin finally snatched Zhao Huaijue back from the assassin and threatened the assassin to stop with his life.
Both sides knew what was going on. Someone blew a whistle, and the assassin retreated hastily, before anyone could catch their breath.
Someone came to meet me at the end of the road.
The person who came was the governor of Shu, Sima Xun.
"Oh my, what's going on? I'm late. Please forgive me, Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness, and Your Highness."
"Go, go," he pushed the official beside him, "Why don't you send someone to chase the assassin? I want to see who is so bold as to assassinate the princess and the uncle in my territory."
Everyone sat there exhausted, staring silently at the governor of Shu who had appeared out of nowhere.
Act, and continue acting.
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