Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn - Chapter 127
Exhausted, he managed to push aside a burly man and catch his breath. Just as he was about to continue, dozens of arrows suddenly flew from the forest. Several burly men were hit and fell to the ground. The bearded leader shouted, "The soldiers are here! Retreat!" and disappeared without a trace into the dense forest. It seemed that they could find their way out of this forest with their eyes closed.
Leaning against the tree trunk, he took a few deep breaths, cursing inwardly that the security under the emperor's jurisdiction was not as good as that under Prince Qing's, with bandits running rampant. He wondered how this emperor could be in power, spending all his time scheming to eliminate his political opponents.
Before I had rested enough, I heard a lot of rustling sounds around me. I looked up and saw that some soldiers were searching the mountain. Were they here to suppress bandits, or were they searching for some other people who had fled to escape punishment? I looked down at myself. Would anyone recognize me as someone who had once been a member of the Prince Qing's mansion?
A man who looked like an officer walked up to me, sword in his right hand, and looked at me cautiously: "Who are you?"
He managed to straighten his back, and adhering to the principle that the common people should not fight against the officials, he respectfully replied: "Your Excellency, I was passing through this area when I was robbed of my belongings by a group of bandits. They were about to kill me to silence me when you all appeared like gods and saved my life."
The officer looked me up and down and asked suspiciously, "This place is not far from Zizhou. How do you know you are not a spy sent by Prince Qing to spy on our army's intelligence?"
I gave a wry smile. If I had the skill to be a spy, at least I'd have a skill to speak of. I looked up at the officer and asked, "So, sir, what do you intend to do with me?"
"Tie him up first. After we've searched the mountain, we'll take him back to the city for interrogation." The officer had barely finished speaking when a soldier brought rope and tied my hands behind my back. The soldiers continued searching the mountain, and I was pushed and shoved through the forest, stumbling and suffering terribly. My intuition told me that the government troops and the bandits were truly in cahoots. Why bother arresting me, the victim, when there were so many other bandits to catch? Although my true identity was probably even less of a concern to them.
When I entered Xiangzhou City with these soldiers, my clothes were torn to shreds by the branches and thorns on the mountain, and I looked quite disheveled. The officer who captured me, along with two soldiers, led me to a mansion and pushed me in front of an armored general: "General, we didn't find any suspicious people on the mountain, only this one who was robbed by bandits."
The man called the general looked me up and down and asked, "Where do you come from?"
"I came from the capital to visit my aunt in Tangzhou." Let's say we're going in the opposite direction. If I say I'm going to the capital from somewhere else, and they ask me about the local situation, which I don't know, wouldn't I give myself away?
The general sneered, "Don't you know that Tangzhou has been occupied by the traitor Prince Qing? Tell me honestly, what brings you to Tangzhou at this time?"
"General, I'm telling the truth. If Prince Qing hadn't occupied Tangzhou, my father wouldn't have been in such a hurry to send me there. My aunt in Tangzhou still has a large sum of money belonging to my family. I'm afraid that one day Prince Qing might massacre the city like the Xuan Kingdom in the Northwest in a fit of rage, and then we'd get nothing." I tried my best to sound indignant, but I knew that almost no one would believe my lies. I'd better stick to it; if they believed me, great; if not, there was nothing I could do.
Upon hearing this, the general calmly sat down in his large chair and asked, "Since you say you come from the capital, where do you live and what do you do for a living?"
"Reporting to the General, my home is at No. 93, Eight Lanes West of the Capital. I run a small general store." Luckily, I mentioned that I came from the capital, so I could borrow the family background of Lin Zhao's neighbor.
"With so much chaos and war, your father was willing to let you go to that land of wolves and jackals alone. It seems you must have some skills." The general looked at me sideways.
I hurriedly and humbly said, "I learned martial arts from an uncle who was a bodyguard on the street for a few years, but I can't say I have any real skills. If I really had any skills, I wouldn't have been robbed of everything by those bandits."
The general gave a cold laugh and said to the man who had arrested me, "Hao Yi, this man's words need to be verified. Take him away and keep him under guard. At a time like this, it's better to arrest the wrong person than to let anyone go!"
Hao Yi accepted the order and took me away. I don't know if the general will really send someone to investigate, or how many days it will take.
The city of Xiangzhou has been under martial law for the past few days. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes freely, and the wide streets are deserted except for occasional patrols by soldiers. I was already exhausted on the mountain, and after racking my brains to tell the general a lie for a long time, I was completely worn out. Hao Yi still hadn't stopped, and I didn't know where he was going to lock me up.
"Sir, where are you going to lock me up? How far is it? Could you give me some water first?" I'm dying of thirst.
Hao Yi glared at me: "You're a suspect now, what right do you have to make such demands? Just follow me obediently!"
He sighed inwardly, "Fine, considering you at least saved me from the bandits' blades, I won't hold it against you."
As they turned the corner, a group of people approached. The leader was dressed in bright red. Startled, Hao Yi quickly lowered his head and followed behind him. He and Hao Yi and the others stood to the side of the road and bowed to the people on horseback to let them pass. They kept their heads down and dared not look around.
The horse's hooves stopped beside me, and I could clearly hear my own heartbeat. Why did I have to run into him at this time and place?
"Who are you escorting?" Shen Zexuan's voice rang out calmly, and I held my breath.
Hao Yi bowed again and said, "Your Highness, he was caught today while searching the mountains outside the city. The general feared he was a spy for Prince Qing, so he ordered us to keep him under guard." (It was you who first suspected me of being a spy for Prince Qing, wasn't it?) She secretly glared at Hao Yi, but still didn't dare to move.
"Oh?" Shen Zexuan's voice rose slightly. "So timid and hesitant, could you really be a spy? Raise your head!"
Do you mean I should raise my head? Can I raise my head?
He pretended not to hear and continued to keep his head down.
"Your Highness told you to raise your head, didn't you hear me?" Hao Yi shouted angrily, grabbing my hair and lifting my face up.
When my gaze met Shen Zexuan's and he saw my face, I saw the disbelief, joy, surprise, and even pain that flashed across his face. In my heart, besides a deep sense of helplessness, there was also a faint sense of...despair.
He forced a bitter smile and said softly, "Your Highness, it's been a long time." He wished he hadn't seen her at all.
There was a brief silence. Seeing that Shen Zexuan was just looking at me without saying a word, Hao Yi and the others didn't urge me to leave. After a while, I heard Shen Zexuan say, "Release her. She is an old friend of mine. Please take her to my residence first and have someone take good care of her."
I looked at Shen Zexuan in surprise, only to see him smile faintly: "Go back first, I'll come see you later."
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Hao Yi led me back a short distance, then turned a corner, and we arrived at Shen Zexuan's residence. Along the way, Hao Yi and the others were giving me increasingly ambiguous looks. I wondered to myself, hadn't the rumor that Shen Zexuan was a homosexual still been debunked?
Upon entering the gate, Hao Yi handed me over to a steward inside the room and repeated Shen Zexuan's words. The steward then calmly led me to a relatively clean and comfortable room, had someone bring me clothes to change into, and after arranging everything, the steward left the room.
He grabbed the teapot on the table and gulped down a mouthful of water before washing his face and body, changing into clean clothes, and then sprawling onto the bed. He was just too tired today.
I drifted off to sleep, vaguely feeling someone beside me in my dream. When I opened my eyes, I saw Shen Zexuan sitting by the window. Seeing that I was awake, he smiled and said, "Awake?"
Upon seeing him, she quickly sat up from the bed and gave him a deep bow: "Your Highness."
Shen Zexuan frowned and asked unhappily, "Why is that?"
Looking into Shen Zexuan's eyes, I confessed, "Your Highness, to be honest, the Qing Prince's Mansion has returned my indenture, so I have no further connection with them. I'm only here to find my lost relatives. I beg Your Highness to consider our past relationship and allow me to enter the capital." I didn't know if they already knew that I had returned to Longcheng with Shen Haoyu, so I decided to avoid mentioning Shen Haoyu and first distance myself from the Qing Prince's Mansion.
Shen Haoyu's eyes held an undisguised smile: "Really?" I nodded gently, but what difference did it make if I had no further connection with the Prince Qing's mansion? There was no possibility between us now.
"You should rest here for a few days. After I finish inspecting the military affairs here, we will return to the capital together, how about that?" Shen Zexuan asked, his tone filled with a hint of anticipation.
If I go to the capital with him, there will be far fewer troubles on the way... After a moment's thought, I nodded in agreement. In fact, what difference would it make whether I agreed or not?
I stayed at Shen Zexuan's place for two days. He had a lot to do every day, so he didn't have many opportunities to talk to me. Most of the time, I ate alone. That was fine, as it saved me a lot of trouble and prevented me from wondering how to face him.
However, such days only lasted two days. On the afternoon of the third day, Shen Zexuan rushed into my room: "Huai'en, do you know who arrived at the gates of Xiangzhou today?"
"Who?" I really have no idea.
Shen Zexuan curled his lips into a wicked smile, and a sense of unease welled up in my heart. But then I heard Shen Zexuan say, word by word, "Shen-Hao-Yu! You keep telling us to hand you over, or we'll attack the city immediately."