Chapter 317 - Yu City
When Yuxi heard the news that Yun Qing had seriously injured the northern barbarians general, Sukhbaru, she had already arrived at the border of Ganzhou. Now, she was only about ten days away from reaching Yu City.
Zijin was just coming back from outside, asking for information, and her whole body exuded a murderous air. When she saw Yuxi, she informed her, “Miss, the northern barbarians wanted to use your stand-in, Yue Hong, to negotiate with Yun Qing. He agreed on the surface, but behind the scenes, he was using the meeting as a reason to strike a damaging blow to Sukhbaru. Those northern barbarians were so furious that they f*cking beat Yue Hong to death and then delivered her tattered corpse to Yu City.” When she thought of Yun Qing disregarding Miss’ death and using her to scheme the northern barbarians’ general, she was full of anger.
In response, Yuxi tried to explain, “Don’t be angry. If my guess is correct, Yun Qing should have known that the one the barbarians caught was not me, but just a stand-in.”
Zijin did not believe it. “Impossible. How did he know that she was just a substitute and not Miss in person?” Zijin didn’t know what had happened to Miss. She now even knew to speak up for that person.
Yuxi smilingly said, “Yun Qing might not know, but would Er Ge not know it too? Don’t forget, Er Ge is now serving under Yun Qing. Moreover, even if Yun Qing doesn’t care about my life, can my Er Ge do the same?” As they had become siblings for more than ten years, there was still tacit understanding between the two of them.
No matter what Yuxi said, Zijin still felt uncomfortable.
Yuxi, however, was interested in the follow-up and asked, “The corpse was sent to Yun Qing. What did he do with it?”
Zijin grumpily replied, “Didn’t Miss say that he knew it wasn’t you? Since he knows, then he certainly won’t care about it.” Perhaps he even threw it outside for the wild wolves.
Yuxi looked at Zijin and smiled. “You’re wrong. If he knew that she was my double, he would have given her a good burial.” On the surface, it was to appease the person who had passed away, but in reality, it was to stabilise the northern barbarians and those who had enemies with him in Yu City. Otherwise, if the news leaked out and those people knew that she was still alive and well, she would not be as safe as she was now.
Zijin questioned with some annoyance, “Miss, is Yun Qing truly that reliable?” After this incident, she had no single trust for Yun Qing.
Yuxi nodded her head as she said, “He is. Didn’t you hear Fourth Brother Yu say that Yun Qing is a great hero that can support both heaven and earth? How can he not be reliable?” In fact, Yuxi was a bit repulsed by Yun Qing, the great hero. The world worshipped and respected heroes, but no one knew how much trouble the woman behind the heroes had to face.
Zijin spoke discontentedly, “Miss, don’t believe whatever Fourth Brother said. It’s not like he had any contact with Yun Qing before, so how does he know what Yun Qing is truly like?” Thinking about this, Zijin had a lot of complaints about Yu Zhi. It was not right for him to say that Yun Qing was a great hero. How could he be a hero? If it weren’t for that man, her Miss wouldn’t have suffered so much!
In order not to let Zijin continue to dwell on the fact that Yun Qing used her, Yuxi immediately changed the subject and wondered, “I wonder how Zisu and Mama Qu are doing?” According to the information they heard on the way, 40 northern barbarians died that day, and more than 20 were killed on their side. What made Yuxi depressed was that two-thirds of these twenty people were from the State Residence. Only a few people left from the group who followed Yuxi from the State Residence.
Zijin hesitated for a moment before saying, “They should be fine.” Even she couldn’t believe it. The battle was vicious, so how could it not involve Mama Qu, Zisu and the other girls. She just hoped they were lucky and their injuries were light.
The people Yuxi and Zijin were talking about, Mama Qu and Zisu, were currently in a small county less than a hundred miles away from Yuxi. There were quite a few injuries on Guard Luo and Chief Huang’s side, and many of them were seriously wounded. Hence, Xu Wu could not bring them to Yu City, and he had to place the group of people in the nearest county to receive medical treatment. With these many patients, the pharmacy did not have enough medicine. Therefore, the medicinal herbs brought by Yuxi for the border town soldiers had to be used first by their people.
Zisu was also injured. From the very beginning, those barbarians’ goal had been the carriage Yue Hong was riding; thus, they didn’t fiercely attack the two carriages behind it. Besides, Guard Luo and Chief Huang were also trying their best to protect them. The majority of the women were wounded, but their injuries were only slight.
Because of the few earlier attacks, they had trained Zisu to be braver. Although the caravan had to face the northern barbarians’ ambush this time, she did not become scared. But she was anxious for Yuxi, as she asked Mama Qu, “I do not know how Miss is right now? Is she safe?”
When Mama Qu encountered the ambush, and after knowing that they had been stopped on the road by the nefarious northern barbarians, she decisively jumped off the carriage from the back. However, as she did so, one of the barbarians managed to cut her in the arm using his sword. Fortunately, she didn’t suffer any injury to her other body part. Mama Qu endured the pain and stated, “Miss will certainly be fine.” The danger only happened on their side. Besides, the northern barbarians thought they had caught Miss. Therefore, it was the safest for Miss’ whereabouts to be unknown.
Zisu was still very worried. “Mama, do you think Miss will be safe when she arrives in Yu City? I’m afraid it will be not only unsafe but also more dangerous for her.”
Mother Qu looked at Zisu and said, “She will definitely be safe.” Even if it was not safe, so what? Could Yuxi still escape from it? This marriage had been bestowed by the Emperor.
Xu Wu returned to Yu City on the same night that Yun Qing had severely injured Sukhbaru, and when he met with Yun Qing, he told him the whole story.
Yun Qing’s face turned very ugly as he asked, “You don’t know where Miss Han is either?”
Xu Wu nodded his head and said, “General, don’t worry, the three people following Miss Han are all experts, so there is no need to worry about Miss Han’s safety. General, it’s also fortunate that Miss Han used a double this time, or else it was her who would be in danger.” Although more than seventy people were on their side, their overall strength was more than a notch below the other party. If Miss Han was really on the carriage, even if he put all his strength to push the enemy away, he might not be able to keep her safe.
What Yuxi did not know was that she was the reason Xu Wu and the others had only minor casualties. Since the group had already been informed that the one inside the main carriage was an impostor, they could focus their attention on killing the enemies. At the same time, the northern barbarians mainly wanted to capture her alive. In this case, it was natural for the barbarians to lose.
Huo Changqing was more interested in the matter of Yuxi leaving the team. “Do you know who proposed to let Han Shi leave the team?”
Xu Wu nodded and said, “I heard the guards say that it was Miss Han herself. And one thing is bizarre, after crossing the Menghu Mountain, Miss Han became particularly restless that she even asked the caravan to rush through the night.” Speaking of this, Xu Wu retold the story of how Yuxi’s group passed through Menghu Mountain, and after he finished, he said, “If the armed escorts chief and the bodyguards didn’t mislead me, there should be our enemies on Menghu Mountain.” Miss Han was a girl from the capital who had never stepped outside the second gate; thus, she couldn’t make any enemies outside. Combined with the recent attack on their group, this person must be their general’s enemy. T
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Huo Changqing smiled and said, “So it seems that this girl is brave and resourceful.” Facing hundreds of bandits and retreating in one piece was not something that mere guts could do.
Xu Wu nodded and said, “If they didn’t lie to me, it would be like that.” Xu Wu changed the way he addressed Yuxi because Mama Qu had ordered him to. She said that he could not call her Miss Madam before she married Yun Qing.
After Yun Qing asked everyone to withdraw and then became silent, Huo Changqing asked him, “What’s on your mind?” When he heard what Xu Wu had said, he had an excellent impression of Han Shi.
Yun Qing answered, “I was thinking about when Miss Han will arrive in Yu City. Counting the days, she should have arrived in Ganzhou as well.”
Huo Changqing said, “No need to send someone to look for her. Once you do, you will only beat the grass and scare the snake, which is not good for her. You don’t have to worry, this girl has her plan, and she will be fine.” He believed that this maid would have also arrived in Yu City in just a few days. T
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As the two talked, Yu Cong walked in and said, “General, Master, Qin Zhao is here.”
Huo Changqing turned to look at Yun Qing. How could he not know that he was in a bad mood? For Qin Zhao to drop in at this time was the same as a weasel went to pay his respects to the hen. “Let’s go!” Speaking of which, although Qin Zhao didn’t mean much to them, Marshal Qin had never been mean to them. In those years, if not for Marshal Qin’s protection, even if Yun Qing had ten lives, it wouldn’t be enough to stop him from dying. Therefore, there were some things they could still tolerate. If they could not accept it, they could talk about it later.
Ten days later, Yuxi finally arrived at Yu City. Looking at the two big words of ‘Yu City’ on the city tower, which was dull and colourless, Yuxi let out a long breath. “We finally here.” It had been almost three months since they left the capital, and it had not been easy.
When they entered the city, soldiers checked them, and anyone who passed through the city gate would face the same thing. Yuxi didn’t know where and when Master Yang got the household registry and the records, but no one had given them any hard time. Every time they entered a city, they were safe and secure.
After entering Yu City, although Yuxi wanted to lift the curtain to look outside, in the end, she resisted the urge. She would stay in the city soon, so she did not want to bring any more mishaps to her way before that.
After walking for about half a shichen, the carriage finally stopped. Master Yang said towards Yuxi. “Miss, here we are.” By now, there was no need to pretend to be her chauffeur anymore.
Yuxi stepped off the carriage, looked at the house before her and asked, “Is this the house where my Er Ge lives?” The two walls were bare, and the door was a heavy wooden plank door, a very simple house.
How could Master Yang not know what Yuxi was thinking? He said, “This house is sturdy. The most important thing for a house in this place is its sturdiness.”
When Han Yi heard the gatekeeper report that some people from the capital had come, he hurriedly went outside. He was excited after seeing Yuxi in the flesh. “Fourth Miss, you have finally arrived. The Second Master has been worried about you for all this time that he is unable to eat and sleep.” This expression was not an exaggeration. Since knowing that Yuxi had left her caravan to follow his Master, Han Jianye never had any peace of mind, not even for a single day.
Yuxi asked as she walked inside, “Where is Er Ge?” When she walked into the courtyard, she noticed how simple the house’s condition was, as there was no furniture inside. It was completely bare.
Han Yi said, “The Second Master is in the barracks. I’ll send someone to ask him to return right away.” It was good that the Fourth Miss was here, as they wouldn’t have to worry about her unknown well-being anymore.
Han Jianye now lived in a house with two courtyards, which he picked because of Yuxi’s upcoming marriage. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even need a place if he was alone.
When Yuxi walked in, she found several boxes inside. She asked curiously, “What are these things? Did Er Ge buy them?”
Han Yi smiled and explained, “These are the things that Second Master bought for Miss’ daily necessities. There are not many good things here in this city, so the Second Master asked me to go to Ganzhou City to purchase them.” Han Jianye wanted to buy a dowry for Yuxi, but he didn’t have much money in his hands, so he could only let Han Yi go to buy some daily necessities. As for the dowry, they would see what they would do once Yuxi arrived.
Yuxi smiled a little and said, “Er Ge is indeed thoughtful.”