Chapter 11 This is a death trap, leaving no way out...
Seeing that Fu Yun's expression was not right, Su Mang immediately realized what was wrong and reassured him, "Young master, don't worry, you should be safe for now. The head of the family told them that the eldest young lady was sent to her distant cousin's house to recuperate yesterday and will not be back for a while."
Fu Yun nodded, secretly relieved.
If the Empress found out that he, a grown man, was pretending to be a woman and acting like a loving husband to her, she would kill him on the spot.
Even if they don't kill him, they'll probably feel extremely uncomfortable.
Su Mang stared at Fu Yun for a moment, then asked with certainty rather than doubt, "Young master, does the commander of the Imperial Guards not know that you are a man?"
Fu Yun nodded, looking somewhat troubled: "The situation was complicated at the time, and I couldn't reveal my identity."
Su Mang frowned slightly, her expression turning serious: "This is not a good situation. Deceiving the Imperial Guards is a serious offense, punishable by beheading."
Fu Yun: "..." You really don't need to remind me of this.
Su Mang seemed to have thought of something, and her expression turned somewhat frightened. She suggested, "Young master, why don't you run away tonight?"
Fu Yun was both amused and exasperated: "Why are you running away?"
Su Mang: "Run for your life! You've caused such a huge mess, the patriarch definitely won't let you off easily!"
Fu Jun waved his hand, not caring much: "No need, she has already hidden it anyway, and nothing will happen for the time being. I will make my own plans after I recover from my injuries."
Su Mang became anxious: "The patriarch is willing to keep it a secret for you only because he doesn't want you to implicate the entire Su family, not because he really cares about you."
Fu Yun put down his teacup, slowly walked to the window, gazed at the dark night sky, and fell into deep thought.
After a moment, he said, "It's alright. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. What's coming will come eventually. Running away won't solve anything."
Seeing his calm and composed demeanor, Su Mang didn't say anything more.
"Oh no, there's a fire!" A cry of alarm suddenly came from outside.
Fu Jun frowned slightly, looked around, and could vaguely see a plume of smoke rising from the neighboring courtyard.
Besides the neighboring house, thick smoke was also billowing out from the end of the corridor in his courtyard.
Su Mang followed his gaze and her expression instantly changed: "Oh no, our place and the neighboring yard are both on fire."
She looked at Fu Yun anxiously, somewhat at a loss: "Su Zi is still resting over there!"
She wanted to check on Su Zi's condition immediately, but she was worried that the young master was immobile and that if the fire got bigger, it would be even harder for him to escape.
Fu Yun turned to meet Su Mang's gaze, taking in her panicked expression, and calmly said, "Go check the situation next door first. I can walk without any problems now, so I can go out by myself."
“But…” Su Mang hesitated.
Fu Yun, who was always decisive, interrupted him directly: "Go quickly, or your family will be in danger."
"Alright!" Given the urgency of the situation, Su Mang had no choice but to compromise. As she hurried outside, she reminded him with concern, "Young master, go to the outer courtyard to take shelter for a while. I'll come back to pick you up after I bring Su Zi out."
Fu Yun nodded, went back to the bedside, took the outer robe from the screen, put it on, pressed his chest, and walked out of the room.
【careful! 】
He had just stepped out of the room when he heard Xiao Ba exclaim in surprise.
Fu Yun's heart skipped a beat, and then he saw a flaming arrow whistle toward him...
Fu Yun's eyes narrowed, and he instinctively dodged, narrowly avoiding the arrow. The arrowhead instantly passed him and pierced the door frame.
[Quickly, hide!]
Seeing the door frame quickly burst into flames, Fu Yun's expression turned serious. She immediately retreated back into the room and moved a chair to shield herself.
Sure enough, a second arrow carrying a flaming flame soon flew in, followed by a third, a fourth...
Countless arrows pierced the windows and walls of the side rooms, and the fire spread instantly, with thick smoke billowing in all directions, making it hard for people to breathe.
The entire room burst into flames at a visible speed, and the temperature inside continued to rise, quickly turning it into a giant steamer.
Fu Yun's eyes stung from the thick smoke. He coughed as he groped his way to the table, tore off a piece of cloth from his sleeve, poured in some tea, and quickly covered his nose.
He heard a commotion coming from the neighboring yard, which meant that people were already putting out a fire there.
For some reason, there was no sound coming from outside the courtyard of the wing where he was.
It seems someone is determined to kill him, deliberately creating a diversionary tactic, while all the firefighters have likely been reassigned to the next room.
Fu Yun sneered inwardly: "If you want to take Su Fu Yun's life, you'll have to see if I agree."
Do you really think he's still that helpless weakling?
Fu Yun endured the pain of her wound reopening, quickly bent over, and prepared to use the chair as cover to rush out of the room.
Unexpectedly, with a loud "bang," the wooden door was suddenly pulled shut from the outside, followed by a crisp "click," and the door was instantly locked.
Liquid was seeping in through the crack in the door; it looked like sesame oil.
This is too ruthless! They're leaving you no way out! Mr. Fu, please be very careful!
"Crackling!" Flames shot up several meters high and spread in all directions, turning the room into a sea of fire in an instant.
Fu Yun squinted and quickly scanned the room, looking for a way to escape.
"Take a look and see where it's most vulnerable."
The windows are rather flimsy.
Fu Jun nodded, feeling more confident.
"Young master!" Su Mang's anxious voice could be faintly heard from outside the courtyard.
"Stop shouting, it's too noisy. The side rooms have all burned down. How could a sickly man like him have escaped in such a short time? He's definitely beyond saving."
The unfamiliar woman's voice could be from someone who helped put out the fire, or it could be from the person who locked the wooden door.
The most direct and effective way to clear oneself of suspicion is to stay at the scene and pretend to be one of the firefighters.
"Young man, don't be afraid, I'm coming to save you right away."
"Are you crazy? Go in there and get yourself killed?"
"Get out of my way!"
"Water's coming! Help put out the fire!"
The noise, accompanied by the crashing sound of the wooden barrel hitting the ground, finally brought a commotion to the outside of the courtyard.
Fu Yun knew very well that this was not the time to respond.
He returned to the bedside, pulled off the blanket covering the bed with one hand, went back to the table, poured the rest of the teapot onto the blanket, and only after he was ready did he approach the window.
He used three chairs to smash the window, and enduring the pain of being burned, he climbed out of the room using the last chair.
The entire courtyard was enveloped in thick smoke, and the gate was engulfed in flames. At this moment, many arrows were still flying towards him from outside the courtyard wall, clearly indicating that no one intended to give him a chance to escape the house.
Fu Yun: "..." How much must they want him to die immediately, even at the risk of being discovered, they would still expose him without hesitation.
If it weren't him now, but the original body suffering from tuberculosis, he would have already been rendered unconscious by the fumes, lying in the room, waiting to be burned into a charred corpse.
After a moment's thought, Fu Yun did not choose to go out through the courtyard gate, but instead stepped directly across the smoke-filled corridor and ran towards the wall behind the wing room, facing the raging fire.
"Young master, where are you?" Su Mang's panicked cry came from behind.
Fu Yun paused, not expecting Su Mang to risk her life to come in.
He gritted his teeth and, risking the collapse of the roof beams, ran back again.
Through the flames, one could vaguely see Su Mang frantically pounding on the wooden door of the room, shouting, "Young master, come out quickly, come out quickly!"
She frantically hacked at the bronze lock with her longsword, but it wouldn't budge. She sank into deep despair, sobbing uncontrollably, "I'm sorry...it's all my fault...it's my fault...I shouldn't have left...my young master alone...please...come out..."
[Mr. Fu, why is she suddenly so concerned about you?]
"I guess he wasn't a bad person at heart, but after what happened with Su Zi, he had a change of heart!"
Fu Yun sighed, trying to soothe her throat discomfort as she moved closer to Su Mang.
Only after confirming that the other person could hear him did he reply in a hoarse voice, "I'm here."
Su Mang was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly turned to look.
Seeing Fu Yun standing in the sea of fire, he immediately rushed towards him.
At this moment, she was in a terrible state, her hair was disheveled and messy, her face was blackened by soot, and her clothes were covered with burnt soot.
"Young master, are you injured?" She looked Fu Jun up and down, her eyes filled with lingering fear and worry that seemed to overflow.
As the two drew closer, Fu Yun realized that Su Mang was already in tears.
He patted her shoulder and reassured her, "I'm fine. Where's Su Zi? Did they rescue her?"
As he spoke, he subtly guided Su Mang to run towards the back of the room.
Su Mang's eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions, gratitude and guilt: "She's alright, the fire over there wasn't big, and I arrived just in time."
Fu Yun breathed a sigh of relief: "That's fine then."
Su Mang looked at the young man, who was almost blackened by the flames, with mixed feelings. She half-squatted down and said, "Young man, shall I carry you out?"
Fu Yun was indeed feeling a bit dizzy, but he still waved his hand in refusal, pointed to the back of the courtyard, and said what he was thinking: "Let's leave the Su residence first."
"Huh?" Su Mang looked bewildered, not quite understanding what Fu Jun meant.
“There are still people lying in ambush outside. Once they discover that I have been rescued, they will do whatever it takes to attack again.”
After saying that, he handed half of the quilt to Su Mang: "Hurry up, the roof beams are about to collapse."
Upon hearing this, Su Mang stopped asking questions and quickly ran after Fu Yun.
The two narrowly avoided the falling beams and finally reached the back of the side room just before the house collapsed.
After escaping the danger, the two men hunched over, panting heavily.
Fu Yun threw away the quilt, which was burned beyond recognition, looked around, and intended to find a wall to climb over, but suddenly her vision went black, followed by a wave of soreness and weakness all over her body, accompanied by dizziness and blurred vision...
It was obvious that even though the core was now his, the body was still in a weak and sickly state. He had only managed to hold on until now, and his strength had long been exhausted.
Just before darkness fell, he reminded Su Mang in a hoarse voice, "You must leave the Su residence tonight."
When Fu Yun woke up again, she found herself lying in an unfamiliar room.
After a moment of bewilderment, he guessed his current situation.
It seems this is all thanks to Su Mang; he has already left the Su residence.
It was bright outside, and the morning sunlight refracted through the window, making the whole room bright and warm.
Fu Yun slowly sat up from the bed and looked around. A very simple wooden house came into view. The rough, dark beams, cracked walls, hard wooden bed, and broken wooden table and chairs all showed the poverty of this family.
"Young master, you're awake?"
Just as he was starting to worry, thinking about how he had rushed out of the fire without taking any belongings with him from the Su residence, Su Mang's voice came from the doorway.
Fu Yun looked towards the doorway and saw Su Mang carrying a bowl of steaming black soup as she entered the house. Fu Yun frowned at the dark, unappetizing substance in the bowl, then quickly looked away: "Where is this?"
Seeing Fu Yun's obvious expression of disgust, Su Mang felt a strange urge to laugh: "Young master, this is my home before I was three years old."
Fu Jun was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised: "Aren't you worried that the people from the Su residence will find this place?"
Su Zi chuckled and shook her head, placing the bowl in Fu Jun's hands. She explained, "Don't worry, I was bought by my adoptive mother when I was three years old. My mother also left this place with my older brothers and sisters that same year. My family has been abandoned for more than ten years. No one will recognize us now, so this place will be very safe."
At this point, her feelings became somewhat complicated. When she and Su Zi were born, they already had three older brothers and three older sisters, and the whole family relied solely on the small tea stall run by their mother to make a living.
My father has always been in poor health, and he has been ill ever since he gave birth. My mother has to pay for my father's medical treatment and support the whole family, so she is really unable to manage.
Even after her brothers got married, things didn't improve much. With no other options, they had to sell her and Su Zi to two different families, and then leave the bustling Lingzhou City with their families. They wondered how they were doing now, and whether they were still in good health.
Fu Jun nodded, stopped asking questions, and changed the subject: "What's in this bowl? It smells a bit strange."
Su Zi regained her composure, smiled, and replied, "Young master, this is medicine to replenish your qi and blood and regulate your body. After drinking it, your injuries will heal faster."
Fu Yun's delicate features were almost contorted in reluctance: "I'm fine now. This stuff looks like some kind of culinary disaster, it's awful to look at. You can just leave it here! I don't need any treatment."
Su Mang was taken aback, her face showing confusion: "What is 'dark cuisine'?"
Fu Yun put down the bowl in her hand and patiently explained, "It's food that doesn't go well together; it's the kind of food that tastes terrible when put together."
Su Mang was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this: "Didn't you used to take this kind of medicine all the time? I've never seen you have such a strong reaction before!"
Fu Yun turned her face away and said firmly, "Starting today, I will never drink again."
It's strange, but he really dislikes dark, murky things. He can barely tolerate common drinks like coffee, but bitter medicine is out of the question; he simply can't stand it.
"This..." Su Mang was a little unsure of what to do with him, and said with a forced smile, "Young master, your body can't allow you to be willful!"
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