Chapter 125 : Palace Rebellion (3)

Yuxi was more than a quarter of an hour away from the main courtyard. Even if she used the fastest speed this time, it would still take her nearly a quarter of an hour to reach the main courtyard.

This time the main courtyard had become in disorder just like a pot of porridge¹complete mess. When Qiu Shi saw Yuxi, she was startled. She took Yuxi’s hand and asked, “You silly girl, why don’t you just stay in your own yard and run around? Don’t you know it is dangerous now?” Just now she got a frightening news that a group of bandits were attacking the residence.

When Yuxi noticed Qiu Shi’s manner as if she was on her way out, Yuxi asked, “Eldest Aunt, are you planning to go to Grandmother’s place?”

Qiu Shi nodded as she explained, “Some people have the audacity to attack this residence, hence it must have been a mess outside. I have to go and check up on the Old Lady now, otherwise I won’t know if there is any trouble there.”

Yuxi asked, “Eldest Aunt, what about Dasao²eldest sister-in-law?”

Qiu Shi replied, “I’ve already instructed someone to call your Dasao²eldest sister-in-law and have her go to the main house. Yuxi, let’s go to the main house too.”

Yuxi, however, stood still and said, ”Eldest Aunt, why don’t we wait for Dasao²eldest sister-in-law here. Once Dasao²eldest sister-in-law is here, let’s go to the main house together!” She was stalling for time. She didn’t want to go to the main house. Not for any particular reason, just reluctance.

Qiu Shi was not a foolish person. After she listened to Yuxi’s words, she knew what Yuxi really meant. There was no time to argue at this point, therefore she directly asked, “Yuxi, you don’t want to go to the main room, do you? You…” She originally wanted to ask whether Yuxi still had any resentment, but she couldn’t ask. Back then, the Old Lady had treated Yuxi really badly. If Yuxi had said that she didn’t hate her Grandmother, even Qiu Shi herself wouldn’t believe it.

Yuxi knew what Qiu Shi was thinking when Yuxi looked at her. Without answering her aunt’s question, Yuxi instead said, “Eldest Aunt, it’s nearly a quarter of an hour from here to the main house. If we go first, what if Dasao²eldest sister-in-law meets a bandit on the road, especially now that she is a pregnant woman?”

This question made Qiu Shi become hesitant.

Yuxi continued saying, “Eldest Aunt, if there is no bandit, naturally one will have nothing to be afraid of. But if there are bandits in the inner courtyard, and we meet them on the road? We will only be like lambs ready to be slaughtered. At least there are high walls and a large gate here.”

Qiu Shi denied, “It is impossible for bandits to come in here.”

Yuxi shook her head and said, “No one can say that for sure. It is good if there are no bandits around. But, if there are bandits, what can Eldest Aunt do when Eldest Aunt arrives at the main house?” Although Qiu Shi was a daughter of a military family, she never practiced martial arts, which made her a weak woman too.

Mama Li was a little anxious, “It’s not safe for us to stay in the yard!” The best way was to find a safe place to hide. But now, where could they find a safe place?

Yuxi calmly said, “What worries me the most right now is not the bandits in the main courtyard, but those who come in to fish in troubled water³Chinese idiom : take advantage of a crisis for personal gain. Even if the bandits manage to get through, we can still withstand for a period of time with the large gate and high walls. As soon as the news reaches the front yard, someone will certainly be sent to help.” The wall of the main house was not as high as here, and the gate was not as strong as here. In addition, besides the front door and the back door, the main house also had a side entrance through the side door. It was good if there were no thieves, but if there were thieves, these things would all be hidden dangers to the main house. Of course, the most important thing was that Yuxi was really unwilling to take risks for the Old Lady. She had spent a quarter of an hour coming from Rose Courtyard to here. If there were bandits who fished in troubled water³Chinese idiom : take advantage of a crisis for personal gain, they must have already come in. If Yuxi and the others had gone to the main house at this time, they had just followed the rhythm of courting death set by the bandits. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

Qiu Shi’s heart was in turmoil and all of a sudden, she had no idea what to do. Seeing that Yuxi was not worried at all, Mama Li calmed down and asked, “Miss, if there are bandits, do we have the ability to hold them back?”

Yuxi nodded and reassured, “They can be stopped. Zijin, Deng Shuang and Deng Xue have martial arts skills. It will definitely won’t be a problem for them to hold on until the guards come to our rescue.” The high walls and the large gate of the main courtyard were very strong. Bandits could not easily enter without using any tools. Even if one or two of them managed to come in, since there were three people here who could do martial arts brought by Zijin, there was nothing for them to be afraid of.

Qiu Shi’s mind was in a mess, but she still thought that Yuxi did make a good point. However, she always felt that the bandits would not be able to enter the inner courtyard.

Yuxi let out a long sigh of relief. With her aunt acting like this, her aunt’s plan to go to the main house had been delayed. Just then, Deng Shuang pointed to a direction and exclaimed, “Everyone look, there is a fire in the southwest direction.”

Yuxi heart jumped. Southwest, was not the place where her Rose Courtyard was. Only that, this wasn’t the time for her to think much about it, “Eldest Aunt, the bandits have entered the inner courtyard. We must stay here and wait for the guards. We shouldn’t go to the main house right now.”

Qiu Shi was so terrified, “How did this happen? I even sent your Dasao²eldest sister-in-law to the main house. I wonder how she is now?” Under such circumstances, it was definitely impossible to go to the main house any more, as they would be done for if they came across the bandits. When Qiu Shi thought of Ye Shi who was pregnant with her grandson, she became anxious and angry.

In response to the situation, Zijin suggested, “Miss, let me go pick up Da Nainai⁴da=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house!”

Yuxi said towards Qiu Shi, “Eldest Aunt, can you send someone to lead the way for Zijin?” Zijin wasn’t familiar with the path towards Roxin Courtyard over there, which was why Yuxi had to ask for someone to lead the way.

Qiu Shi said, “Liuyin, take Zijin to find your Da Nainai⁴da=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house.”

Liuyin was really scared that she could not help but flinch at this time. But she toughened her scalp⁵brace oneself as she stood up and said, “Okay.”

Deng Shuang said before the two went out, “Zijin, don’t come in through the main gate when you come back later.” She told Zijin this because she was going to seal the main gate.

Yuxi awkwardly corrected her, “Deng Shuang, this courtyard has no back door for them to use.”

Hearing this, Liuyin hurriedly said, “This yard does not have a back door, but it has a side door.” The so-called side door was a door to facilitate the delivery of firewood and other things.

The corners of Deng Shuang’s mouth suddenly twitched, when she found out that this courtyard surprisingly did not have a back door. “A side door will do.”

After Zijin and Liuyin went out, Deng Shuang immediately instructed, “Close the gate and all the windows in the courtyard.”

The others were dumbfounded when they heard that a bandit had really broken into the inner courtyard, and they didn’t dare to move. In fact, one of the maids even cried out, “A bandit is coming in, my Lady, let’s hurry and run!” One couldn’t just sit around and wait for the bandits to actually come in this yard.

Deng Shuan was a bit speechless when she heard them planning to run away, “What are you afraid of? There are so many house guards outside, even if the bandits come, it won’t take long for the house guards to come to our rescue.” Although the two Deng sisters were nervous, they weren’t afraid. Mainly because they knew that there were retainers and guards in the outer courtyard of the State Residence. Also, there were quite a few of them outside.

Yuxi did not want to quarrel with these people. “If you want to escape, get out of here quickly, otherwise, we will lock the gate.”

None of the subordinates dared to move. How dare they run away when their masters hadn’t even moved. Two of the strong women servants were brave enough to walk over and close the gate.

After the gate was closed, the Deng sisters sent someone to find something particularly heavy, ”Is there any pillar? If we rest the pillar against the gate, even if someone were to hit the gate, it wouldn’t be easy for them to break it open.”

When Deng Shuang heard that there were no pillars, she suggested, “Then take some door planks to hold out against the gate.”

Not only the door planks were used to hold out against the gate, but other heavy objects were brought over and placed on the lower part of the gate. After this was done, Yuxi instructed the maids and old women servants in the courtyard to close all the windows.

After they had done all this, Yuxi told the people in the courtyard, “There are many sticks in the firewood room. In case a real bandit comes in, one person can’t really beat him up, while four or five people at the same time can always beat him up.”

Qiu shi felt that Yuxi was much calmer than she was, thus she instructed, “From now on, you all listen to Fourth Miss. Whatever she tells you to do, you shall do it.” This was the same as handing over all the command to Yuxi.

All the people in the yard did not move. Yuxi then said, ”We don’t need to be afraid of these bandits. They can only run wild for a while. As long as we guard this courtyard, not to mention the house guards, I am sure the government troops will be here soon as well.” She only said this completely to appease the crowd. If the palace changes today, they would not have to rely on the government troops. It was too late for the government troops to suppress the rebellion, so where would they have the time to care about them, the shrimps⁶fig. small fries? This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

However the effect of the words was obvious, as the maids and old women servants of the courtyard took them seriously, with some went into the kitchen and some went into the firewood room. Those who went into the firewood room took sticks, and those who went into the kitchen took knives.

Yuxi’s calm demeanor affected the entire courtyard. The crowd stood quietly under the covered corridor with folded sleeves and weapons in their hands, no longer frightened out of their wits⁷Chinese idiom : panic-stricken.

“Ah…” A burst of miserable cry could be heard from outside, and the people in the yard expression turned white. The bandits, the bandits are here.

A few of the timid ones had fallen limply to the ground.

Yuxi was also scared to death in her heart, but she couldn’t show her fear at this time. Moreover, she believed that with the Deng sisters present, even if the bandits rushed in, they would not be able to hurt her. With this belief, some of the panic in her heart were able to be removed.

Just at this time, a knock on the door made Yuxi’s frightened heart miss a beat. While the fearful Qiu Shi was firmly grasping Mama Li’s arm.

Liuyue hurriedly said, “It should be Zijin and the others who have returned.” After she said that, she ran to the side door.

When they could hear Zijin’s voice, the old woman on guard finally opened the door.

Ye Shi’s face was pale as she was helped in by old woman Hua, with Zijin and Liuyin followed closely behind them. Seeing that there was no one else following behind, the old woman hurriedly closed the door.

In response, Qiu Shi walked over and immediately said, “You get in the room!” Just by looking at Ye Shi’s appearance, Qiu Shi knew that she must have suffered a fright.

Ye Shi didn’t have much strength to be polite anymore, and upon hearing Qiu Shi’s words, she immediately nodded. She went into the room afterwards.

Once Yuxi saw Ye Shi enter the room, she whispered to her aunt, “Eldest Aunt, you should also go into the room! Just leave the matter here to me and Deng Shuang.”

Although Qiu Shi was scared to death, she knew that even if she went into the room, she would not be at ease, and it was better for her to just stay here. “I’ll just stay here and keep watch, so you don’t have to be scared either.”

When Yuxi noticed Zijin’s extremely nervous look, she asked, “Have you encountered any bandits on the road?”

Zijin nodded. “Yes, I met two of them, but I managed to knock them down. Originally, there were four maids who came with Da Nainai⁴da=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house, but when they met the bandits, they couldn’t move. Since I could do nothing about it, I had to leave them and bring Da Nainai⁴da=eldest, nainai=young mistress of the house back.” She was not such a warm-hearted person either. Her task was to bring back Ye Shi, and she wasn’t in charge of the others. It would have been better if they could keep up, but she could do nothing if they were unable to. As for Ye Shi’s side, only old woman Hua alone had gritted her teeth to keep up with her.