Kiyomi Tsuki et son renard

Chapitre 60

At this moment, Minglu suddenly shouted in a low voice, "Fu Jin, that's enough."

Fu Jin reluctantly stopped when he heard Ming Lu's low shout.

Nalan had already put away the dagger. After leaving the room, he returned to Minglu and said, "Xi'en has subdued the reinforcements outside."

Minglu nodded and asked, "How many people?"

Nalan replied, "There is only one person."

The main text delves into the tiger's den

Minglu glanced at Zhang Guiyi, who was lying on the ground with a bruised and swollen face, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Nalan, go and call Chen Xi (a soldier who looks exactly like Zhang Guiyi) immediately. Change him into Zhang Guiyi's clothes and go into the mountain stronghold tonight. Tell Xi'en to prepare to attack Daluo Mountain tomorrow morning. Proceed according to plan. Also, bring the other person who was supposed to be there to meet you." Nalan nodded and went out.

Minglu turned back to Xiri and said, "Brother Yu, I'm afraid you'll have to make do tonight."

Minglu meant that Zhang Guiyi had come to kidnap her, and now that Zhang Guiyi had been captured, Chen Xi, who was impersonating Zhang Guiyi, had to take his place and kidnap her back to the mountain stronghold so as not to expose any flaws.

But now, she has already paid too high a price to catch Zhang Guiyi, a woman brazenly competing with a group of actors and male performers for the title of the most handsome man in the land. She was first harassed by Xitian, and then subjected to Zhang Guiyi's groping and caresses…

Xi Ri hesitated; she hesitated, and Ming Lu and Fu Jin noticed it.

At this moment, Fu Jin suddenly said, "Minglu, why don't I go instead? Brother Yu is too weak to even kill a chicken. It's too dangerous for him to go into the bandits' lair. Why don't I go in his place? Put me in a sack or wrap me in a quilt. It's only half a night anyway, so I won't be discovered. I should be fine. Brother Yu has really been frightened today..."

At this moment, Fu Jin's thoughtfulness moved Xi Ri inexplicably. Perhaps she had really suffered too many grievances today. Hearing Fu Jin's words, she suddenly felt a pang of sadness, and her eyes became blurry with tears. She could only hold back her tears by forcing them back. Fortunately, the room was dark at this time, with only one candle lit, so no one noticed her blurry vision.

Minglu looked at Fu Jin and said, "I know you've suffered a lot, but no!" Fu Jin was about to say something, but he stopped him and said, "Now that we've finally caught Zhang Guiyi, we can't afford any more mistakes that would ruin the whole plan. Brother Yu, I'm entrusting this to you today." With that, he bowed to Xiri.

When Xi Ri saw Ming Lu bow down to her, she was shocked.

At this moment, seeing Minglu's neck bending towards her, Xiri was filled with emotion.

She knew that if they failed to capture Zhang Guiyi this time, Minglu and Xi'en had decided to launch a full-scale attack on Mount Daluo three days later, at all costs.

But now, in order to wipe out the mountain bandits and minimize their casualties, Minglu is willing to set aside his identity, status, and even his pride in his nobility, and bow down to her, a commoner.

Perhaps... he wasn't as arrogant and conceited as she thought.

Xi Ri immediately got up and helped Ming Lu up with both hands.

At the same time, Xi Ri said, "Prince Ming, this gift is too heavy for me to accept. Now is the perfect opportunity for me to serve the court, eliminate harm for the people, and make meritorious contributions. Even if you do not ask me, I will go anyway."

Once the words were spoken, there was no going back. And now, looking into Minglu's eyes at the trust in her, Xiri had no regrets about her decision!

***********

At this moment, Nalan and Chen happy brought in another bandit.

When the bandit saw Zhang Guiyi lying motionless on the ground, his face bruised and swollen, he was so frightened that he immediately knelt down, thinking that his second-in-command, Zhang Guiyi, had been beaten to death.

Upon seeing the person enter, Xi Ri was immediately taken aback; it was none other than Bai Yun. She had originally assumed Bai Yun was Zhang Guiyi, but unexpectedly, this thief was the real Bai Yun. How could this be?

As soon as Nalan entered, he briefly told Minglu the results of Xi'en's interrogation.

This bandit, named Wang Lai, was the same person who had impersonated Zhang Guiyi during the day, blending into the crowd at the front desk to mislead people. A human skin mask had already been found on this bandit.

According to his confession, Zhang Guiyi was unable to resist Ye Piaopiao's beauty after meeting her in the competition, so he decided to kidnap Li Yu tonight. However, Zhang Guiyi was always suspicious, so he tested her many times to prevent any trickery and devised the plan to switch her with someone else tonight.

Tonight, Wang Lai first blew sleeping pills into Li Yu's room, but was discovered. He then lured a follower to chase after him, but the follower was captured by Zhang Guiyi, who was waiting in the shadows. Zhang Guiyi then returned disguised as the follower, switching the pills and thinking that everything was done secretly. However, he did not expect that he had fallen right into Ming Lu's trap.

There were two other people in their group, one named Zhang San and the other named Yang Tian. They agreed to meet in the pine forest three miles away at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) and return to the mountain stronghold together.

Upon hearing this, Minglu frowned and pondered as he looked at Wang Lai kneeling on the ground.

He thought to himself: It's almost midnight; if Chen happy doesn't take Li Yu to meet those two soon, things might change. But what about this Wang Lai…

Nalan said, "Minglu, this is exactly what I'm worried about. What should we do with this Wang Lai?"

Bringing them along won't work, abandoning them won't work either. Chen happy's best option is to impersonate Zhang Guiyi, bring Wang Lai and Ye Piaopiao, and meet up with the two of them. That way, it won't arouse suspicion or cause any unexpected complications.

But, this king... cannot be brought along.

At this time, Chen happy had changed into Zhang's clothes and searched Zhang Guiyi's body for all his belongings.

All the people saw was that Zhang Guiyi had two human skin masks in his arms, in addition to the token for entering and leaving the mountain stronghold. One of them was the human skin mask that Zhang Guiyi wore when he was disguised as Baiyun, and it was made by using Wang Lai as a model.

It turns out that when Wang Lai impersonated Zhang Guiyi and mingled with the crowd at the front, Zhang Guiyi also impersonated Wang Lai, changing his name to Baiyun to participate in the competition backstage. The other human skin mask was used to impersonate another of Li Yu's attendants. Obviously, Zhang Guiyi had prepared masks for both of Li Yu's attendants, but only used one, keeping the other in his pocket.

Xi Ri carefully examined the four human skin masks, thinking to herself: Bai Yun's mask and Zhang Guiyi's mask were both extremely detailed and could completely deceive people. It seemed that Zhang Guiyi often used these two masks. In comparison, the mask of Zhang Guiyi's attendant tonight was made rather crudely, probably made in a hurry. That's why she recognized him as a disguise when she first saw him appear by her bedside tonight.

Minglu reached out and picked up the white cloud mask, examining it closely. He then looked at Wang Lai and said in a deep voice, "Stand up."

Bound hand and foot, Wang Lai was so frightened that he collapsed, staring blankly at the motionless Zhang Guiyi.

Seeing that he didn't move, Fu Jin got anxious and suddenly lifted him up from the ground.

Minglu scrutinized Wang Lai repeatedly before asking, "Your name is Wang Lai?"

Wang Lai trembled and couldn't reply. Fu Jin, who was standing to the side, was furious. He grabbed Wang Lai's shoulder with his five fingers and squeezed hard. There was a cracking sound. He shouted, "I'm asking you a question. Answer me now."

Wang Lai immediately came to his senses, and said through gritted teeth and a sobbing voice, "This humble one... this humble one is called... Wang Lai."

Minglu asked again, "What are you doing in the mountain stronghold?"

Wang Lai hurriedly said, "I am the Second Chief's attendant. Because I resemble the Second Chief, I was sent to impersonate him." As Wang Lai said this, his expression flickered.

Ming Lu glanced at Fu Jin with his phoenix eyes. Fu Jin tightened his grip on Wang Lai's finger again, and Wang Lai immediately cried out, "I'll tell you everything, sir, spare my life! I'll tell you everything..."

Fu Jin loosened his grip, and Wang Lai cried out in a pitiful voice, "I'm... no, I'm Zhang Guiyi's male concubine..." Wang Lai knew he was shameful, and his voice grew softer and softer as he spoke. But suddenly, Wang Lai raised his head with teary eyes and continued, "I was captured by Zhang Guiyi and brought to the mountain stronghold half a year ago. It was only because I'm beautiful that I was targeted by that scoundrel... no, Zhang Guiyi. I was forced into it. Please, sir, have mercy! I really didn't want to be a bandit!" After saying this, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately.