Xu Wu took twenty men and rushed his way day and night. Since he had to inquire about the caravan news in every place, it somewhat delayed his journey. Half a month later, he finally found Chief Huang and his party on the road.

Luo Shuigui looked at Xu Wu and asked somewhat hesitantly, “Are you the one sent by General Yun?” Without proof, he could not believe it.

Although Yun Qing was not very old, his reputation was resounding. Most people from the martial arts world were very respectful of him. Of course, those who didn’t join the martial arts world also had a lot of admiration for him.

Tang Dynasty Bronze Military Dispatch Tokens

An example of military tokens. These are Old Tang Dynasty bronze Military dispatch tokens.

Image Credit | Catherine Antique via Aliexpress

Xu Wu nodded and showed the Northwest Army’s military token for Luo Shuigui to see.

Luo Shuigui was also a martial arts practitioner, so he knew the token’s authenticity when he saw it. At that moment, he smiled and said, “May I ask your name, brother?” He didn’t expect Yun Qing to be so kind.

Xu Wu introduced himself and asked, “Is Madam inside the carriage?” After saying that, his eyes fell on the largest carriage.

There were other people on the official road, so Luo Shuigui didn’t tell Xu Wu that the one inside the carriage was just a double for safety’s sake. After hearing Xu Wu’s question, he just nodded his head.

After Xu Wu got an accurate answer, he spoke towards the carriage, “Madam, the General is worried about your safety and has sent me to pick you up.”

If Yuxi were here, she would have scolded Xu Wu. None other than the fact that there was no marriage yet between her and his general. How dare he call her Madam! It was a pity that the woman inside the carriage, Yue Hong, wasn’t aware of this. Hearing how Xu Wu’s addressed her, she smiled and said, “My husband is considerate to……” She had to swallow back her following words under Mama Qu’s knife-like eyes.

When Xu Wu heard these words, his face immediately darkened. It wasn’t because Yue Hong called Yun Qing her husband, but her voice was flirtatious to the bone, with a seductive flavour. Although he had not seen the real person, she had made Xu Wu feel disgusted only from hearing her voice.

Luo Shuigui naturally saw Xu Wu’s displeasure and hurriedly said, “Guard Xu, don’t you think it’s time to go on the road?” He was afraid that stopping in the middle of the road with this cadre of people would block other people’s way.

Xu Wu nodded and said, “Alright.” Although Xu Wu was uncomfortable in his heart, he did not think much of it. He merely thought that this woman was born to be like this.

Mama Qu shared a carriage with Yue Hong because she was worried that Yue Hong would do something bad and smear Yuxi’s reputation, so she kept her eyes on Yue Hong. After the caravan continued on its way, Mama Qu coldly said, “Didn’t I tell you not to speak? Are you treating my words like wind past your ear?”

Yue Hong was a bit aggrieved as she argued, “People have come this far to pick up your master. It would be unkind of me if I didn’t even say a word.”

Mama Qu was not angry after hearing her words. What kind of people she had not seen while she worked in the palace before. At that moment, she just coldly warned, “Don’t forget your identity. If you treat what I said as wind past your ear next time, don’t blame me for being rude to you.”

When Yue Hong saw Mama Qu’s reaction, she did not dare speak again.

The twenty men Xu Wu had brought with him were all veterans. Each of them had washed their hands with enemies’ blood, and all of them were looking fierce. Having such a group of impressive killers added to the caravan, where would those horse thieves and bandits dare to approach them.

At lunchtime, the group of people stopped to eat their dry food. On the fourth lunar month, the weather was perfect. Eating dry food with cold water did not feel as uncomfortable as before.

Yue Hong took advantage of this opportunity to get out of the carriage to get some air. Mama Qu initially disagreed, but Yue Hong complained bitterly, “Mama Qu, my legs are numb. Please let me go down for a walk.”

Mama Qu thought for a moment and nodded her head in agreement afterwards, but she didn’t allow Yue Hong to go far. She only allowed her to stay next to the carriage.

Yue Hong took a few steps and felt someone was looking at her. When she turned around, she saw a big, burly man in a military uniform staring at her, and she returned with a bright smile.

When Mama Qu saw this, the veins on her forehead started to stand up. She immediately stopped and instructed, “Hurry back to the carriage.” She wanted to save this woman from making a fool of herself here.

Yue Hong was reluctant, but she was dragged back to the carriage by Mama Qu.

The soldier looking at Yue Hong was called Mading. This guy was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old this year. He had no wife. After the war, he had nowhere to vent his energy, so he liked to go to the brothel. He just felt that the way Yue Hong walked was not right. Plus, she talked so charmingly to the bone before, making him suspicious of Yue Hong’s identity. Then, after looking at the other party throwing a wink at him, there was no need for him to confirm it anymore. This woman was 100% problematic. He also noticed the old woman’s attitude when serving around her, and he finally knew the score. One shouldn’t think that soldiers were mere louts. They had their way to survive peacefully until now.

Thinking of this, Mading went straight at Xu Wu and said, “Xu Daren, there’s something wrong with that woman.”

Xu Wu turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong with her?” Not only Xu Wu but the other soldiers also looked over at him. Since they had been entrusted to pick Yuxi up, they were obviously trustworthy people.

Mading made his guess. “Xu Daren, you also know my preferences. My eyes will not make any mistakes. This woman 100% can not be Madam.” Madam was a young lady of the state residence. Thus, how could she behave in such a loose manner?

At this time, Luo Shuigui came over. Just now, when Mama Qu looked at Mading’s expression, she knew they were suspicious of Yue Hong. In order not to cause misunderstanding, she asked Luo Shuigui to explain to Xu Wu’s people.

Luo Shuigui told Xu Wu the whole story. “Miss insisted on taking the smaller path, so there was nothing we could do about it. It’s safer for Miss to follow Master Yang as this journey has been very dangerous so far.” No one knew that General Yun would send someone to pick them up! If they knew, they would not have let Miss go with Master Yang.

Xu Wu looked at the five carriages behind him and asked, “Are you saying that the bandits took Madam’s dowry?” How dare they even rob their Madam’s dowry! If not for his current priority was to escort Madam, he would have led his men to kill the bandits of Menghu Mountain right away.

Luo Shuigui looked at Xu Wu’s expression. How could he not understand his mind? He hastily said, “Guard Xu, we know that this person is only a double, but the others don’t know. The most important thing now is to send her to Yu City so that Miss’ journey will be safer.”

Xu Wu nodded his head for a moment and said, “Okay. Then let’s go ahead.” Since that woman was not Madam, there was no need to worry too much.

Even though Yuxi’s group currently took the official road, it wasn’t without any twist and turn. As they were making a turn at a corner, a few bandits blocked their way.

Yuxi lifted the curtain and looked up ahead. She saw six people in front of them, each holding a large knife, which looked quite frightening.

Just at this time, one of the bandits said to them, “I opened the mountain and planted these trees. If you want to cross this road, pay me with your monies.”

Yuxi snorted and laughed. This jingle was well made up.

Zijin was not in a good mood these days. When she saw someone dare to block her way, she jumped off the horse and was ready to vent her anger.

In response, Master Yang reminded her, “Don’t kill them.” These people were not real bandits. They just wanted to make a profit! The real bandits wouldn’t talk nonsense with you. They would directly chop you down.

After listening to Master Yang’s words, Zijin did not kill the fake bandits. She just beat them up until they lay on the ground, wailing.

Yuxi urged, “Let’s go!”

The four people stayed at an ordinary inn for the night. They had put the contents of the large chest into two small boxes. Zijin efficiently carried the boxes in each of her hands like she was carrying toys. This view gave the illusion that there were light things inside the boxes or else, where one could lift them effortlessly. For this reason, it saved the group from a lot of trouble.

After putting the things down, Zijin informed Yuxi, “Miss, I’ll go order two dishes and have Xiao Er send them up.” Yuxi was not going to eat downstairs. She wasn’t concerned that women shouldn’t show their faces in public, but rather etiquette had already been planted deep to her bones. Besides, if she had her meals downstairs, she would indeed be seen by someone.

Yuxi nodded her head and said, “You go ahead!”

It didn’t take long for Zijin to come back, with Master Yang and Yu Zhi following behind her. When Yuxi saw them together, she asked, “What’s the matter? Is there something wrong?” The three people looked unusually serious, showing that something had gone wrong.

Master Yang turned to look at Zijin’s darkened face that was dark as charcoal, then sighed and said, “The people below are talking about Yun Qing’s fiancée, whom the northern barbarians have kidnapped.”

Yuxi was shocked. “How did this happen?” If they said that bandits had robbed her, Yuxi wouldn’t feel anything. But to be taken away by the northern barbarians, whose idea was this? How could they know her identity and take her away at the halfway point on her journey? Someone must have unquestionably tipped the barbarians off.

Master Yang said, “Your news has not been disclosed before. I think the problem should lie with the bandits in Menghu Mountain.”

Yuxi reacted very quickly as she said, “Not should, but definitely. That military counsellor, Lu Kai of Menghu Mountain, must have refused to live under the same sky with Yun Qing. Since he couldn’t catch me himself, he wanted to use the hands of the northern captives. Otherwise, without accurate information, they would not have risked sneaking troops into the inner city to kidnap people.” The northern captives hated Yun Qing to the bone but could not do anything about it. When they heard that she was going to Yu City to complete her marriage with Yun Qing, they wanted to capture her to be their hostage. Even if they could not break Yun Qing’s bones, they could at least make him lose his face.

As soon as Zijin heard this, she immediately spoke out, “Miss, you can’t go to Yu City.” Yun Qing had a dangerous life. Whoever got close to him would have bad luck.

Hearing this urge from Zijin, Yuxi turned her head to look at Master Yang and asked, “Master Yang, do you think I should go to Yu City?”

Master Yang gave a bitter smile and answered, “Han girl, you should make your own decision.” This time, Yuxi was fortunate to escape the kidnapping. Who knew if she would still be so lucky next time. To marry Yun Qing was indeed very dangerous. If one were not careful, one would be doomed forever.

Yuxi smiled and said, “Didn’t Master Yang say that I only think about myself and don’t even care about Yun Qing?” How many people in this world would still jump into the fire pit despite knowing that they might lose their life at any time? Maybe there were people like this, but not her.

Master Yang did not know that Yuxi would be this spiteful. She immediately refuted him with his own words. He could only cough a few times before saying, “This is your business. You should make up your mind on it.”

Yu Zhi looked at Yuxi and asked, “Miss Han, are you truly not going to Yu City?”

Yuxi smiled a little and replied, “I’m going. Why should I not? Didn’t you say that if I miss a man like Yun Qing, I will regret it for the rest of my life?”

Yu Zhi was a little surprised to see Yuxi decided to continue going to Yu City with such a crisp and clear look on her face. This action from her was completely different from her previous attitude, which he could not help but ask, “You are not afraid of being implicated by General Yun?”

Yuxi looked up through the window and looked out. After a while, she turned her head and said, “Of course I’m afraid. However, why should I fear death when he is someone worthy for me to die for?”