Who else could you love besides me - Chapter 61
Minglu coldly watched Wang Lai crying and begging for mercy, then suddenly raised his head and said to Nalan, "I will disguise myself as Wang Lai."
Fu Jin was somewhat surprised and said, "You're impersonating the king? You don't resemble him at all."
Nalan also said in surprise, "Minglu, you're not good enough, especially here..."
Minglu raised his hand to stop Nalan from speaking further, saying, "With you and Xi'en here, there won't be any problems."
He turned to look at Li Yu and said, "If I'm not mistaken, one of the two people waiting in the forest right now must be Xi Tian, who is probably Zhang Guiyi's other male favorite, Yang Tian."
Xi Ri was slightly startled upon hearing this. Xi Tian was also there? Was he also Zhang Guiyi's male concubine? She always felt that happy Tian had ill intentions towards her, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Fu Jin was clearly surprised, his face showing the same astonishment. Only Nalan seemed to have guessed as well, showing no surprise whatsoever.
Minglu then said, “I see that this Wang Lai’s figure is similar to mine. I can wear this mask (Baiyun’s mask) and act according to the situation to deceive everyone.”
Minglu picked up the white cloud-patterned human skin mask and put it on his face.
Nalan was about to speak again to stop him, but Minglu said, "Nalan, there's no need to say more. Time is of the essence, so it's settled."
Minglu then changed into Wang Lai's clothes.
At first glance, he looks very much like Wang Lai, except for his eyes.
At this moment, Minglu said, "Brother Yu, I'm sorry to trouble you again."
Xi Ri smiled and said, "If you're going to put me in a sack or wrap me in a quilt, you should first knock me unconscious with acupressure. That way, I can at least suffer less."
Minglu smiled slightly and said, "Alright, the acupoints will release on their own in two hours. I apologize for the inconvenience, Brother Yu."
Xi Ri nodded, and Ming Lu immediately pressed her pressure point to make her faint, causing Xi Ri to collapse onto the bed.
Looking at the unconscious Li Yu, Fu Jin said in a deep voice, "Minglu, you must take good care of Yu's safety."
Upon hearing this, Minglu turned to look at Fu Jin, only to see him staring intently at the unconscious Li Yu, his eyes filled with concern and reluctance. Minglu's heart trembled, and he couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart. He simply replied, "I said that as long as I'm here, I will protect Yu-di and ensure that he returns unharmed."
Fu Jin nodded emphatically, as if he were lending Ming Lu his most treasured possession temporarily, worried that Ming Lu might accidentally damage it.
Minglu and Chenxi, carrying Xiri who had been acupunctured, rode wildly to the pine forest, where they found two people waiting there.
It was not yet the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).
Upon seeing the arrival of the people, the two men revealed their tokens, which glowed dimly in the darkness. Chen Xi immediately took out his own token and waved it at the other side. Upon seeing this, the two men immediately stepped forward to greet the second leader. Meanwhile, Ming Lu, who was disguised as Wang Lai, did not attract the attention of happy Tian and A San.
Tonight, the stars were already dim and the moon was gone, and now a sudden gust of wind has risen, as if it's about to rain, making the sky even more gloomy and dark.
To avoid any unforeseen complications, the group didn't say much and rushed towards the mountain stronghold.
Xi Tian's expression became strange after he saw Li Yu in front of Chen Xi's horse. He kept glancing at Li Yu, wrapped in a blanket, with an odd look on his face, all of which was observed by Ming Lu, who was following at the rear. The other person was A San, who had disguised himself as Bai Yun's attendant that day. He didn't pay much attention to Ming Lu, only following Chen Xi ahead. Occasionally, he would see Xi Tian's shifty eyes darting around Li Yu, but he would only snort coldly.
The group raced up Mount Daluo, through the woods, until they found a narrow path ahead, only wide enough for one person on horseback. Ah San led the way, secretly thinking: this must be a shortcut into the mountains. He brought up the rear and secretly left a mark.
After crossing several small hills, the road ahead became wider and wider.
At this moment, it started to rain, and the wind was strong on the mountain. Although the rain was not heavy, it quickly soaked everyone. The group did not stop and continued to move forward in the rain.
After traveling about two more miles, they came to a three-way intersection. Ah San took the left fork first, and after walking for a while, he saw steep cliffs on both sides, with the gate of the mountain stronghold in the middle.
When they were still a hundred paces from the village gate, the group dismounted and saw Ah San whistle three times. The whistling was very special, with a rhythmic cadence, and the sound carried far on the wind.
Looking around, Minglu could vaguely see figures moving on the city walls and the cliffs on both sides. Clearly, the archers lying in ambush all around had heard the whistle, knew it was their own men, and had retreated.
At this moment, the people on the city wall shouted again: "Raise your head and gaze at the bright moon."
The Indian man immediately replied, "Leave the toll money."
"Is that Third Brother down there?"
"That's right, open the door quickly, both I and the second-in-command are soaked."
"Yes, yes," the man on the city wall replied, while shouting to the gatekeeper to open the mountain stronghold's massive iron gate.
Minglu and Chenxi stood side by side, exchanging glances. If it weren't for Ah San's presence today, they probably wouldn't have been able to get into the mountain stronghold.
Finally, the group of four riders entered the Daluo Mountain stronghold.
Mount Daluo is indeed formidable. Besides the main gate, which is guarded in a strategic location, there are three other checkpoints inside, all of which are also guarded in strategic locations.
After everyone passed the third checkpoint, someone immediately led the horses away, while others carried lanterns and umbrellas to shield Chen happy from the rain and light the way. Chen Xi pretended to be anxious while looking at Li Yu in the quilt, as if he could no longer care about anything else and only had eyes for the beauty.
Taking this opportunity, he sent his attendant Ah San and his male concubine happy Tian back to their rooms to rest.
Minglu noticed that Xitian was glancing at Chen Xise as he hurriedly touched Li Yu, his expression filled with jealousy and resentment.
Ah San, watching him and happy Tian with disdain, clearly looked down on men like Wang Lai and happy Tian who sold their bodies. He flicked his sleeve and left.
Minglu thought to himself: If it weren't for the rain getting heavier and heavier, and Chen happy being carrying Li Yu, with someone holding an umbrella for Chen Xi to light the way, Chen Xi would probably have given himself away, because there were many forks in the road ahead, and he really didn't know which one led to Zhang Guiyi's dormitory.
Minglu, seeing so many forks in the road, really didn't know which one to take. So he followed Chen Xi, but was unexpectedly stopped by Xitian, who had already turned to leave.
happy Tian questioned him, "Wang Lai, the Second Master will be served by beauties tonight, why do you want to go and interfere too?"
Minglu immediately replied, "No."
"Hmph, good that you're not. Don't forget who you are." Xi Tian glanced at Ming Lu with displeasure, but Ming Lu kept his head down. Xi Tian continued, "It's too cold tonight. Come with me. The Second Master won't think of us tonight. We can sleep together." With that, he ignored Ming Lu's struggles and dragged him away.
What? Sleep with him?! He doesn't deserve it! Minglu really wanted to strangle Xitian in front of him, but he could only endure it.
On the one hand, he didn't know the way back to his room, and on the other hand, he didn't want to give himself away and alert the enemy. Now that they were deep in the lion's den, one wrong step would mean certain death, so he had no choice but to endure.