Speed up
In order to travel more conveniently, Bai Miaoke took money with her, in addition to her clothes. After all, money makes the world go round.
In fact, she didn't need to bring too much money. She could use the token of the young master of the Bai family to withdraw a large amount of cash from the Bai family's banks all over the country, but Bai Miaoke didn't want to reveal her identity.
She walked along the official road all the way, and was able to stay in the towns along the way almost every night. Of course, she stayed in the best local inns without exception, so she lived quite comfortably in the past few days after leaving Lu Yu.
In order to increase speed, they would change to two faster horses every time they arrived at a town, and they reached Changzhou in less than a week.
Just like the previous few days, as soon as they entered the city, they found the largest inn in the city to stay. This magnificent inn happened to be owned by the Bai family.
After the two of them entered the door.
In an unnoticed corner, two masked men in black looked at each other, and then a dove flapped its wings and flew away.
While Bai Miaoke was lying on the carved wooden bed and rolling around, the Prime Minister, eighty miles away, was leaning against a tree and chewing on some dry food.
In recent days, they have been following the route planned by Lu Yu and have been making many detours. Fortunately, they have avoided the assassin's pursuit and are safe along the way, but they still have to sleep in the open air every day.
After a few days, the guards all looked darker and thinner. Perhaps because they had been sitting in the car all the time, only Lu Yu's jade-like complexion did not change, but the always noble and elegant Lord Lu had a layer of stubble on his chin, which added a different temperament.
Fugui came over with a scroll of notes: "Sir, this is the news from the secret guards."
Lu Yu took it with a normal expression, but did not open it immediately.
In recent days, he has received news from several waves of secret guards he sent out. No trace of Bai Miaoke was found in the several towns he had circled. Even the always confident Prime Minister began to doubt his own judgment. After all, she was a girl who did not play by the rules.
After finishing the last bite of dry food, he unfolded the note and stood up the moment he saw what was written on it.
Fugui, who was standing by, asked excitedly, "Does Miss Bai have any news?"
Seeing his master becoming visibly haggard with expectation and disappointment day by day, Fugui was also very anxious.
Lu Yu nodded, took a deep look towards the southwest, exhaled slowly, and ordered: "In Changzhou."
"It's only been a few days, how come Miss Bai has reached Changzhou so quickly!" Fugui was very surprised.
Lu Yu frowned and said, "If we ride faster and the road is flat, we will get there."
"What should we do? We can't catch up in a short time." Fugui sighed.
"I can catch up." Lu Yu's eyes were deep and his tone was firm, which made people inexplicably convinced.
A quarter of an hour later, Prime Minister Lu was sitting on a tall horse with a frown on his face.
Both his father and mother were famous generals, so Lu Yu naturally learned to ride a horse since he was a child, but being able to ride and being willing to ride are two different things.
He turned his head to look at the horseflies gathered at his horse's tail. No matter how he flicked his tail to drive them away, they still buzzed around him, and his brows were deeply furrowed.
Fugui, who had served him for many years, looked at his expression and hesitantly advised, "Sir, why don't you change to a carriage and let Lord Rong and the others stop the people first."
Lu Yu shook his head: "They can't stop her."
Hearing this, the Jinyiwei led by Rong Qing did not say anything, but their faces showed disapproval. After all, the Jinyiwei were all top military experts picked from thousands of miles away, so how could they not be able to stop two skinny scholars.
Having said that, the prime minister was already on his horse, and no one dared to question his decision.
Rong Qing thought for a moment, stepped forward and lowered his voice to Lu Yu and said, "Sir, all horses are like this, just run."
After all, Lu Yu was a powerful official with a very strong psychological quality. He was not embarrassed at all about his thoughts being discovered. He just quietly kicked his horse's belly and rushed out.
The others immediately rode up to follow.
Without the restriction of horse-drawn carriages, the team was indeed much faster. In addition, Lu Yu led everyone to take a flat path. At this speed, they would be able to reach Changzhou before dark tomorrow.
But Lu Yu, who was used to riding in a horse-drawn carriage, suffered a lot.
When it was dark and everyone set up camp again, Prime Minister Lu walked silently to the fire and took out the external injury medicine he had carried with him from his luggage.
Fugui soon noticed his movements and asked with concern, "Sir, are you hurt anywhere?"
Lu Yu shook his head expressionlessly: "It's just a little scratch, it's okay."
Fugui reacted quickly and looked between his legs.
Noticing Fugui's gaze, Lu Yu's calm face darkened a little, and he walked steadily towards the tent that had been set up.
"Let me apply the medicine for you, young master." Fugui's voice came from behind.
Without even turning his head, Lu Yu said, "No, go catch some fish and have fish for dinner."
After sending the people away, Prime Minister Lu forced himself to walk into his own tent, then limped over to the makeshift couch and sat down. He lifted up his clothes and looked at the scars on his legs caused by the friction from riding horses.
He lightly applied a layer of wound medicine. Although his face remained expressionless, the dense beads of sweat on his forehead revealed the pain he was enduring at the moment.
He took out the handkerchief embroidered with gardenias again. The scent of the girl left on it had faded. He stared at the handkerchief for a long time until the pain eased a little.
"Sir, the fish is ready, please come out and have dinner." Fugui's voice came from outside the tent.
Lu Yu got up and went out, ate a few bites, and then wanted to go back to the tent to rest.
He suddenly remembered something, walked to the stream, looked at his reflection in the water, and after a moment he pulled out a dagger from his sleeve.
This action scared Fugui who was standing next to him, and he hurriedly stopped him: "Sir, what are you going to do?"
Lu Yu glanced at him calmly and said, "Wash your face."
Fugui scratched his head awkwardly, and saw his master carefully shaving off his stubble with a sharp dagger.
After a moment, Lu Yu put away the dagger, looked at his reflection in the water and smiled, leaving behind the incomprehensible wealth and went to the tent.
"Tell me as soon as you have any news." He ordered as he walked.
Without going into details, Fugui knew that he must be talking about Bai Miaoke's news. He responded blankly and suddenly understood why the young master, who had always been indifferent, suddenly started to care about his appearance.
Lu Yu was lying in the tent, clearly feeling the fatigue from traveling over mountains and hills, but his mind was very clear. Thinking about seeing her tomorrow, he felt unusually nervous.
Although he felt that he had figured out the reason why she left in recent days and had reasons to convince her to go with him, he was still very unsure. This was the first time he had encountered such an unpredictable thing.
After a restless night, Lu Yu walked out of the tent the next morning wearing a golden crown and jade belt and a moon-white robe. He still remembered the surprise in Bai Miaoke's eyes when she was invited to the party and saw him dressed like this.
Rong Qing and Fugui, who were waiting outside the tent, frowned at the same time.
Fugui's inner thoughts: Sir, you are not dressing like this just for Miss Bai, right?
Rong Qing’s inner thoughts: Mr. Prime Minister, won’t your clothes get dirty quickly from riding a horse?
Lu Yu walked past the two of them as if no one was around, and when he looked up he saw a pigeon flying towards him.
I took off the note on top, which read: It's done, it will be delayed for one day at most.
He curled the corners of his lips and threw the note into the remaining fire.
"Let's go." After saying this, he was about to mount his horse.
"Wait a moment, sir! Let me put a cushion on you." Fugui took out a cushion from somewhere, which was just the right size to fit on the saddle, and looked at Lu Yu eagerly.
Lu Yu glanced at the cushion and nodded.
Fugui hurried forward to fix the cushion, and then heard Lu Yu say thank you in a low voice.
When I wanted to look again, Lu Yu was already riding ahead.
With the cushion, although Lu Yu still felt a slight pain in the wound on his leg during the rest of the journey, it was much better than yesterday.
This time, the group did not even stop to rest at noon and kept on trudging on their way.
Although it was not stated explicitly, the guards had already guessed who the Prime Minister was chasing. Only Rong Qing knew that he was chasing the two scholars from that day.
No one knew the origins of those two men, but to be able to attract so much attention from the Prime Minister, they must be extraordinary people, so everyone was concentrating on getting on with their journey and no one complained.
Finally, they arrived outside Changzhou city at the beginning of the afternoon.
The gates of Changzhou City were tightly closed and heavily guarded.
Rong Qing, who was leading the way, looked at the closed city gate, turned his horse around and reported to Lu Yu: "Sir, the city gate is locked for some reason. I will go and find out what happened."
Lu Yu nodded calmly, not seeming surprised at all to encounter this situation.
Something big did happen in the city. The Nine Dragon Phoenix Marrow Pearl that was prepared to be presented as tribute to the emperor was lost.
The Nine Dragon Phoenix Marrow Bead was a sacrificial tribute presented by Nanhai County more than a month ago. The surface of the bead is made up of nine hollow carvings of real dragons, and the inside is inlaid with pure pigeon blood red as phoenix marrow. The whole bead is inseparable and looks natural. When the emperor learned about it, he was very pleased and authorized someone to escort it to the capital for use in next month's sacrificial ceremony.
Such an important tribute was actually lost in Changzhou, and the Changzhou prefect immediately ordered the city gates to be sealed. Since the theft of the Nine Dragon Phoenix Marrow Pearl was discovered at midnight last night, a search has been carried out overnight, and no one is allowed to enter or leave.
Bai Miaoke, who was staying in the inn, was woken up and searched last night, and was even sealed off in the city today.
She simply slept until noon and asked about the situation while having a meal at the inn: "Boss, why are you closing the city?"
"I heard that an important tribute was lost. The prefect was extremely anxious and announced that no one would be allowed to leave the city until the tribute was found." The innkeeper was well-informed.
Bai Miaoke then asked: "Do you know what was lost?"
"I don't know about that. Only the officials who are searching know about this." replied the shopkeeper.
Bai Miaoke nodded: "Thank you, shopkeeper."
After dinner, she was not idle either. She asked Chun Xing to wait for her news at the inn. Bai Miaoke wandered around the street alone for a long time but couldn't find out what was lost.
But there was an unexpected discovery.
She turned into a small alley again, and once she turned the corner she turned and pressed herself against the wall, waiting with bated breath.
Sure enough, two men in tight clothes followed closely. While they were looking forward, Bai Miaoke quickly hit the leading man with a knife. She did not hold back her strength and the man fell down.
The remaining man reacted quickly when he saw this sudden change, and jumped up using his lightness skills. Bai Miaoke didn't care about the person on the ground, and drew out the long whip from her waist and swung at the man, but was dodged.
This man was quite skilled. Bai Miaoke curled her lips slightly, with a hint of excitement on her face, and jumped up to chase after him.
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