Chapter 55: Fake Affection Is Close Enough To The Real Thing
Yun Ce raised his knife and gestured twice at Duke Yu’s ankle. Seeing that Zhang Min had no intention of coming to protect Duke Yu, he said to Zhang Min, “I’m really going to chop.”
Zhang Min raised her hand and gestured, “Chop quickly.”
Yun Ce said to Duke Yu, who had closed his eyes preparing to endure the pain of having his foot severed, “She doesn’t care about your life and death.”
Duke Yu opened his eyes and said, “This is the reason I would rather endure the pain of having my foot severed than continue to entangle with you.”
Yun Ce looked again at Zhang Min not far away and said, “What do you mean?”
Duke Yu gritted his teeth and said, “People from Panxing Tower fundamentally have no heart.”
“Panxing Tower? That tall building built with money from selling slaves of the Ling Kingdom?”
“That’s it.”
After hearing Duke Yu’s words, Yun Ce understood Zhang Min’s background. Needless to say, Panxing Tower must be a secret agent organization like the Eastern Depot or Western Depot of the Ming Dynasty.
Even someone like Duke Yu would rather have his foot severed than have any relation with Zhang Min, which showed just how terrifying that organization was.
1 A group of women tremblingly carried over two cloth bags of gold beads, which made Yun Ce very puzzled. Could these seemingly delicate women lift something weighing over a thousand catties? Were they fake?
1 Yun Ce lifted a cloth bag by hand and found the weight appropriate, then said to Duke Yu, “I’ll still cut at the joint, so it’s easier for you to recover later.”
1 Duke Yu let out a long sigh and said, “This pair of feet of mine has never touched the ground. Now, it’s as if this pair of feet never existed.”
1 It had to be said that Duke Yu was somewhat of a character. Yun Ce used a sharp Swiss knife to circumferentially cut off his foot along the ankle. Though sweat soaked his clothes, he didn’t make a sound.
1 Yun Ce put the pair of good-looking feet into a cloth bag. Looking at Duke Yu, who seemed washed by water, he really couldn’t understand who he was pretending to be heroic for at this moment.
1 Zhang Min saluted Duke Yu from the side and said, “Duke Yu’s will is firm as a rock. Zhang Min admires you.”
1 Duke Yu trembling his lips said, “Is the envoy satisfied now?”
1 Zhang Min smiled and said, “This proves that the wasteland rebellion has nothing to do with Duke Yu.”
1 Duke Yu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and looked eagerly at the cloth bag in Yun Ce’s hand, saying, “Young Master, how will you dispose of this old man’s pair of feet?”
1 Yun Ce scratched the back of his head and said, “It seems like by chopping off your feet, I’ve actually helped you. No matter what, that girl died because of you, so your feet naturally have to be buried with her.”
2 Duke Yu gritted his teeth enduring the pain and said, “This is merely the wasteland. Here you can do as you please with your skill. I only hope that when you go to Chuyun Prefecture, to Luoyang, to Chang’an, you can still do as you please.”
2 Yun Ce clamped the two bags of gold beads under his arms, ignored Duke Yu’s wailing like a beaten dog, and said to Zhang Min, “Since you’re a secret agent, the urgent matter now is to exterminate the rebels. You’ve seen it—I’m not with the rebels. As for joining you, we’ll talk when I have free time.”
2 Zhang Min burst out laughing and said to Yun Ce, “Your next heat won’t be for another twenty-one days. I don’t have that much time to wait. Besides, you’re far more important than those rebels. Even if we let those rebels go today, you won’t escape.”
2 With that, she raised her hand and lightly clapped twice, and countless armored soldiers surged toward Yun Ce from all directions like a flood.
2 Yun Ce clamped the cloth bags under his arms, turned, and ran. Zhang Min saw him dive headfirst into that metal pavilion, her expression changing drastically. She shouted lightly and rushed in after him, but was a step too slow. The originally open door of the metal pavilion slammed down a gate, sealing the gate tightly.
2 Zhang Min turned to Duke Yu and said, “How many tunnel exits are there, and where are they?”
2 Duke Yu chuckled while looking at the still-smoking metal pavilion, tremulously raised his palm-leaf fan and fanned a few times, then said to Zhang Min, “The nearest leads to the six pavilions ahead. The farthest leads to the Sheyang River eight li outside Sheyang City. There’s a light boat by the riverbank; flowing downstream, one can reach five hundred li away in a day.”
2 Zhang Min let out a mad howl and roared at the captain who stepped forward, “Prepare the Thunder Smoke Beasts, head straight for the Sheyang River. At the same time, notify the Sheyang River Water Division Captain to intercept all passing ships.”
2 Yun Ce had run off, Zhang Min had gone to chase him, the surging armored soldiers withdrew one after another, leaving Duke Yu surrounded by a dozen beautiful wives and concubines, weeping darkly.
2 “This old man hasn’t died yet. What are you crying for?”
3 Though he said that, Duke Yu’s eyes kept staring at the gate of the metal pavilion. After waiting a long time with no sign of it opening, Duke Yu sighed and said, “Looks like he’s really gone. Once this is over, don’t let the slaves at home go hungry. This old man has only this much meat on his body; it can’t withstand such carving.”
3 No sooner had he spoken than Zhang Min emerged ghostly from the darkness and said to Duke Yu, “In this disaster, Sheyang City is unforgivable. Hand over fifty million cash to rebuild the city defenses. Are you willing?”
3 Duke Yu sighed mournfully again and said to his wives and concubines beside him, “We can’t afford to keep so many slaves at home. Disperse those that should be dispersed, release those that should be released. For those that can’t be dispersed or released, reduce their food by thirty percent.”
3 Zhang Min’s gaze was extremely cold. She glanced once more at the tightly closed pavilion and strode away.
3 As soon as Zhang Min left, Duke Yu’s body went limp and he collapsed onto the sedan chair.
3 The battle in the front courtyard had ended. There, corpses piled like mountains, and Duke Yu’s servants were clearing the bodies. But there were too many corpses, laid out on the streets stretching two li away.
3 Yun Ce laid his head on E Ji’s plump thighs, gazing at the two peaks blocking his view ahead. His tense body finally relaxed under E Ji’s kneading.
3 “Whose young master are you, so bold?”
3 “My surname is Liu, name Liu Chang’an.”
3 “Are you here to find me?”
4 “Yeah, I saw you once that day and can’t forget you.”
4 “Liu Lang, you’re a good person, but this isn’t a place for you to stay long. You’d better leave quickly.”
4 “It’s fine. Duke Yu probably has no time to bother with a beauty like you right now. I want to stay a bit longer.”
4 “Do you really like me?”
4 “No, it’s just hard to forget your appearance.”
4 “I’m too lonely. Every day I wake to the same scenery, same people, eating the same food, wearing the same clothes, even playing the same music…
4 You know, I used to live under a tall mountain. That mountain was very high. In a mountain hollow there was a hedgehog tree. Every time the hedgehog burst, I could pick a full basket, remove the spiny skin, roast it over fire. Sometimes it would explode, sweet pulp splattering all over one’s face and head…”
4 Yun Ce had appeared in this woman’s room by lifting a hanging tapestry. She wasn’t surprised, and naturally neither was Yun Ce. Seeing her sitting by the window, he skillfully rested his head on her thigh. The woman didn’t refuse.
4 The blood moon had risen very high. The woman stroked Yun Ce’s hair while chattering about the past, looking very intimate.
4 The noise from the front courtyard had finally completely ended. Yun Ce heard a horse neigh; probably the red date horse hadn’t been hidden well and was discovered.
5 Yun Ce took a large gold ingot from the dragon pearl and placed it in the woman’s hand, then jumped out the window.
5 “Liu Lang, don’t forget me—” Her voice was like a cuckoo weeping blood.
5 After the intense battle, he enjoyed a moment of ultimate tenderness. Whether true emotion or false, Yun Ce savored the gentle time, and presumably the woman got some relief from her loneliness.
5 At the second gate, Yun Ce ran into Peng Jing. The old guy had been commanding confidently not long ago, but now seeing Yun Ce with the pig face mask, he was more shocked than seeing a ghost.
5 Without subordinates, Peng Jing took Yun Ce’s angry punch and was smashed against the brick wall, unable to be pried off. Looking now at the stratagem Peng Jing had set before, it was pathetically weak and laughable.
5 With a whistle, the red date horse came running with nostrils flaring. A wipe on its body showed it was sweaty; it seemed it had exerted much effort escaping. Fortunately, saddle and all were intact. Yun Ce mounted, holding two meteor hammers the size of human heads, and charged straight out of Duke Yu’s Mansion from the second gate.
5 In less than one night, half of Sheyang City had been destroyed. Smoke rose everywhere, firelight flickered everywhere, corpses lay densely. The streets in front of wealthy homes were paved with bodies—this was the martial glory of the wealthy. Yun Ce saw that Duke Yu’s Mansion had the most.
5 Yun Ce rode the Thunder Smoke Beast at a quick trot on the streets. Neither soldiers nor warriors of wealthy families had any intention of blocking him; after all, the pair of meteor hammers around Yun Ce’s waist were truly shocking.
5 The red date horse, stepping proudly, carried Yun Ce out of Sheyang City.
5 Yun Ce looked back at the city gate tower. There were no heads of Miss Hong and Pei Chuan hanging there. It seemed those two were clever too and had run off when they saw the situation turn bad.
6 That was right. Better to keep people and lose land than lose both; better to keep people even if losing land, preserving both. When rebelling, meeting resistance and failure is normal. As long as the fire seed is preserved and everyone perseveres, one day it will become a spark that ignites the wasteland.
6 Sheyang City was bait to lure all rebels. The rebels arrived as expected and ended up with corpses everywhere—it was inevitable.
6 On the wasteland, the blood moon’s light wasn’t so bright. But the occasional sheep hoof sounds from the wasteland still let Yun Ce know the soldiers were pursuing and killing rebels.
6 It was too dark to see clearly, but with Doggy scouting, Yun Ce still found E Ji in a mountain hollow fifty li from Sheyang City.
6 A fire burned in front of her, illuminating her little face red. She hugged her knees, head buried between her legs, only ears exposed listening to sounds outside.
6 The red date horse’s hoofbeats broke the night’s silence. E Ji suddenly raised her head and shouted into the darkness, “Young Master, is that you back?”
6 Yun Ce smiled and replied, “I’m back.”
6 Even in the darkness, Yun Ce saw E Ji’s tearful face. He jumped down from the red date horse, tossed her the reins, and said, “Our horse has two bags of gold on its back.”
6 E Ji looked up at Yun Ce joyfully and said, “Young Master is so awesome.”
