Chapter 124: The Person In The Portrait
“The Liu Family master and disciple went out, and we always had someone following them.”
“They came to the Lin Jiang Bookstore near the braised meat shop, and at that time Miss Yang and Tao Hua also came.”
“Mister Liu suddenly quarreled with a shop assistant, saying that a sentence was printed wrong.”
“The assistant refused to admit it, saying he was right, Mister Liu was wrong, and hadn’t read books.”
“Mister Liu and Young Master Cheng quarreled with them, and the shop assistant said they had the original authentic version to verify together.”
“Mister Liu and Young Master Cheng followed them in, and when Miss Yang and Tao Hua heard the quarrel, they also came over. Miss Yang worried that Mister Liu would suffer a loss and followed them in.”
“Tao Hua went in with her.”
“The rest of us didn’t go in…”
“After a while, when we went in, Mister Liu, his disciple, Miss Yang, and Tao Hua were all gone.”
Standing in the teahouse on the street of the braised meat shop, Hong Lin recounted the course of events.
A man dressed as a street idler looked guilty: “It was my fault. I should have followed them in too. I thought since Tao Hua went in, there was no need for me…”
“If you had gone in, you would have just disappeared with them.” Mo Zheng said.
Looking at the Lin Jiang Bookstore not far outside the window, although several people had vanished silently inside the bookstore, the bookstore was still operating normally, as if nothing had happened.
She had deployed manpower in the Capital City, but they had only been here a few days.
Those people dealing with her dared to attack and kill her on the street near the Imperial City in the Capital City, showing they had deep roots in the Capital City for many years.
As for those dealing with Yang Luo, not to mention, they dared to slaughter an entire town.
Yang Luo, Tao Hua, Mister Liu and his disciple—were they dead or alive now?
……
…..
No knife or sword fell on her body.
Perhaps because she didn’t die instantly, Yang Luo’s shocked and stiffened thoughts became active again.
How did they discover her? Where did A Sheng expose herself?
“Miss A Sheng.”
A male voice came.
Yang Luo’s body stiffened. Miss A Sheng?
With the human voices, the boards confining the surroundings instantly opened. Yang Luo shivered and saw herself sitting in a narrow indoor space.
Indoors, she could see the exposed earthen walls on all four sides, as well as some discarded bookshelves piled up.
She was underground, still in this bookstore.
She didn’t know how Mister Liu, his disciple, and Tao Hua were doing. Sheng You was outside and would surely notice something unusual. Had A Sheng come over?
She was lost in wild thoughts, watching the old man in a green robe walk out from behind the discarded bookshelf.
The old man looked at her and smiled kindly: “Miss A Sheng, offense taken.”
It was broad daylight now, this place was a bookstore on a bustling street market, and the person in front of her had a smile on his face, with no knife in his hand…
Compared to the attack A Sheng encountered, she was much better off.
A Sheng had never been afraid.
She was someone who had died once and couldn’t afford to be afraid.
“Is this how your bookstore treats guests who raise doubts?” Yang Luo said hoarsely, forcing herself to stand up.
The old man said: “Please forgive us, Miss A Sheng. It’s really not easy to even say a word to you.”
This old man called her Miss A Sheng.
He knew she and Liu Chan had swapped identities, but didn’t know she and A Sheng had also swapped identities?
Something was strange about this.
“Who are you people! What do you want to do?” Yang Luo seemed to recover from the fear of being threatened by the bookstore staff and angrily questioned, looking at the old man as if discovering something. “Are you accomplices in plotting to murder Princess Pingcheng?”
The old man smiled: “No need to beat around the bush. I don’t have time to waste words with you. Let’s get straight to it.”
As he spoke, he took out a painting scroll from his sleeve and shook it open.
“Where is this person now?”
Person?
Yang Luo’s gaze fell on the painting, seeing a youth quietly looking at her.
Yang Luo’s eyes widened in shock.
……
…..
“Young Master—”
“Although Miss Yang knows the young master’s appearance, she is determined to use Miss Liu to replace herself, and she has her own secrets she can’t let people see, so she will be wary of these people and won’t expose the young master.”
Seeing Mo Zheng turn to go downstairs, Hong Lin couldn’t help but stop her and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.
“It was agreed she would replace him.”
“The young master replaced her to bear the danger, so she should also…”
Replace her to bear the danger, replace her, to die.
Mo Zheng looked at him and shook her head: “No, I know the danger I bore in replacing her, but she doesn’t know the danger she has to bear in replacing me.”
With that, she looked at Hong Lin and smiled.
“Uncle Hong, we want to live, but others also want to live. We can’t take away innocent people’s path to survival just because we want to live.”
With that, she put her hand to her mouth and let out a crisp and prolonged birdsong.
As her birdsong fell, birdsong also came from far away on the street. On the winter street market, movement came from all directions.
……
…..
Yang Luo’s gaze was fixed on the painting scroll in front of her.
It felt as if she could see it clearly yet also blurry.
Countless thoughts swirled chaotically in her mind, turning into a mess.
“Looks like you’ve seen him.” The old man didn’t miss Yang Luo’s expression, and the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
Yang Luo’s gaze looked at the portrait and she shook her head: “This painting skill is too poor. Besides seeing it’s a person, I can’t make out anything else.”
The old man’s smile froze, his eyes darkening: “When you were disguised as Miss Liu, was there a youth among the Liu Family servants by your side?”
Yang Luo looked at him and said “oh”: “So that’s what you’re here to ask. A few days ago when you asked me, I wouldn’t say a word extra to you, but now that the emperor has personally pardoned my impersonation of Liu Chan, you can’t threaten me with this. I’m not afraid.”
At this point, she smiled and sized up the old man, her expression carrying a hint of arrogance.
“I advise you not to act rashly. My family’s young lady is a young lady of Duke Ding’an’s Mansion.”
The old man interrupted her: “Shut up, don’t play dumb with me. When you first entered the capital, where is the servant you brought with you!”
Yang Luo seemed startled by him but immediately shouted back loudly: “You’re the fool! Since I’m a fake Liu Chan, of course the servant is fake too, hired, just like the carriage I used—hired!”
The old man scrutinized her face: “Hired, hired from where? Where did he go?”
Yang Luo said irritably: “Hired outside the Capital City. Who knows where he went? I paid his wages and that’s it.”
As her words fell, a secret door was suddenly pushed open on the right wall, and a middle-aged man walked in.
He said darkly to the old man: “Those two won’t talk, they know nothing no matter what we ask. That woman is still unconscious.”
“What have you done to Mister Liu and his disciple?” Yang Luo hurriedly asked, stepping forward. “I tell you, this is under the Son of Heaven. Both I and Miss Liu are students of the National Academy, disciples of the Son of Heaven…”
The old man seemed amused.
“Disciples of the Son of Heaven.” He said, his smile fading as he looked at the middle-aged man. “Kill them, to avoid trouble. We can’t afford the Son of Heaven’s wrath.”
The middle-aged man acknowledged and turned to leave.
“Stop!” Yang Luo shouted. “You actually dare to murder! Do you still have any regard for the law?”
The middle-aged man ignored her voice and continued forward.
The old man looked at Yang Luo and smiled faintly.
“We’re here to express sincerity. Since you’re not the people we’re looking for, there’s no need to waste more effort.” He said. “Unless you can say something we want to hear.”
Yang Luo looked at him, then at the middle-aged man about to reach the wall and push the door open. She clenched her hands and opened her mouth: “I…”
Just as she opened her mouth, it was as if massive waves crashed in from all around. With a boom, in Yang Luo’s shaking vision, the opposite wall collapsed halfway, burying the man who had just walked past under it.
Countless noisy clamors also poured in.
“Stop them—”
Amid the noise, countless figures were entangled together.
Yang Luo only felt dazzled. The next moment, the corner of her eye caught the old man pouncing toward her, knife light flashing in his hand.
She instinctively closed her eyes. There was a clang by her ear, but no pain came. Then she was yanked by someone, and the world spun.
She didn’t fall to the ground but was flung behind someone.
Though it was a back view, Yang Luo recognized him—it was Zhang Sheng You.
The old man’s laughter came from the noise: “Won’t talk even facing death? Fine, just like before, all die in this Capital City! We won’t lose out!”
Amid the noise was a sharp, thin, and loud female voice.
“Hold on—”
At the same time, Yang Luo pushed away the person blocking her front and looked toward the old man gripping the long sword, sneering: “Is this the sincerity you’re expressing to my family’s young master?”
Hearing “young master,” the old man’s face stiffened.
On the other side of the collapsed wall, Mo Zheng, who was slipping through the gap, also paused. The next moment, her figure silently climbed back into the shadows.
