Chapter 88: Young Master And Young Lady
The mountain forest after the heavy snow was shinier than usual, but also more chilling.
A man wrapped in animal fur was climbing the cliff. The accumulated snow did not affect his speed, and he soon climbed to a crevice in the rocks, sidled inside, where there was a spacious cave.
Inside the cave, three men were talking, with a bonfire burning and meat roasting, steam rising and fragrance filling the air.
“Master Hong.” The newcomer said, “Ji Ying is locked in the back mountain. Because he kept making noise, we stuffed his mouth.”
“Saving his life is already pretty good. Does he still expect us to treat him with courtesy?” Hong Lin said, his expression somewhat sighing. “The Young Master truly had foresight to have us watch Ji Ying, saying he would be silenced.”
“The matter with that Miss Yang in White Horse Town is not simple.” One man said in a deep voice. “Not only did almost everyone in the entire town perish, but the imperial court officials involved are all to be assassinated.”
“The surviving soldiers said Ji Ying suddenly wanted to return to the capital after receiving a family letter.” The newcomer continued. “But we just searched Ji Ying inside and out and didn’t see any family letter. It must have been destroyed. When we asked Ji Ying, he said nothing.”
“If it was destroyed, it definitely wasn’t a family letter.” Another man said. “Those dead soldiers could ambush on the road, which clearly means they knew Ji Ying would travel at night. That letter might have been deliberately used to lure him out…”
“He still won’t say? He actually wants to protect the person who might want his life?” Someone else sneered.
Hong Lin waved his hand: “Don’t jump to conclusions yet.” Then he walked to the desk nearby. “I’ll tell the Young Master about Ji Ying and wait for her instructions on what to do next.”
The three men stopped talking about it and gathered around the desk to watch Hong Lin write the letter, but their chatter didn’t stop.
“The Young Master is truly in too much danger in the capital city.”
“Those people sent another letter, saying they want to talk with the Young Master.”
“Is this called talking? They try to kill her every time.”
“They just want to force the Young Master into a corner and use her as a flag!”
“Unfortunately, we still can’t find out who they are! It shows they have even more methods than those before. Sigh.”
“The Young Master is no longer just the Young Master; she also has to face the assassinations brought by Miss Yang.”
“Attacked from both front and back—no, now it’s from three sides.”
“The Young Master should come back. It’s safer to hide in the mountain forest with everyone.”
Hearing this, Hong Lin’s pen tip grew heavy as he wrote, his face worried, but he looked at everyone and shook his head: “You all know we were already attacked from both front and back. How long can we hide in the mountain forest? Sooner or later, we’ll either be forced to become puppets or be executed by the government. In the end, it will be a fight to the death.”
With the Young Master’s identity, she is destined to not escape it. They concealed their tracks just to delay that day a little longer.
“Isn’t it just death.” One person laughed heartily. “We remnants of the previous dynasty should have died long ago. Living one more day is earning one more day.”
The others also voiced their agreement.
“We naturally aren’t afraid of death, but if we can avoid dying, we shouldn’t die.” Hong Lin nodded and said, looking down at the letter paper on the desk. “The Young Master previously said being attacked from both front and back means death, but being attacked from three sides might instead allow us to survive.”
With that, he smiled at the others.
“This time isn’t it a verification? Those people not only failed to coerce the Young Master, but were counter-killed by her, even right in front of the government.”
At this point in the conversation, Hong Lin’s laughter grew louder.
“How many years has it been? The Young Master has been living in hiding, swallowing her anger. Revenge could only be done secretly. This is the first time for such an unrestrained counterattack!”
“Refreshing! Refreshing!”
The others also laughed along, looking toward the direction of the capital city with expectant expressions.
They didn’t know what big thing the Young Master was doing refreshingly right now.
Although the incident of remnants of treason committing crimes in the capital city made the civilians nervous, a few days later, daily life resumed.
The Princess and the companion reader ladies also resumed going to school.
As the instructor announced the end of class, the young ladies who had been sitting all morning began to stretch their tense bodies.
Yang Hui’s eyes darted around. She pressed her hand on the desk and, using the motion of standing up, fiercely pushed at the “cousin” beside her.
“Prin”
She called out from her mouth, but the two words “Princess” hadn’t come out before it turned into an “ah.”
The desk didn’t move, and her half-risen body pitched forward.
A gust of wind seemed to pass behind her, as someone walked by.
The person didn’t touch her body, but the stool that had been pushed away collided with her calf, making her fall face-down onto the desk.
“Oops.” Mo Zheng walked past her, chuckling softly. “You didn’t hit me. Cousin, work harder next time.”
Yang Hui gritted her teeth. This wretched maid! She looked frail, but actually had some strength!
“Miss Liu.”
A voice came from nearby.
Hearing this address, Yang Luo lifted her head. Liu Chan, sitting on the other side, showed no reaction at all, focused on the book in front of her.
Although “Liu Chan” had previously been shunned by the companion reader ladies for her behavior, they were still in the same school, so interactions were inevitable.
Yang Luo recognized her as Miss Shen, who had helped Qin Ying deliver the invitation last time, and there were two other young ladies with her.
“Qin Ying wanted to invite you for tea while she was on leave.” Miss Shen said, handing over an invitation.
Yang Luo laughed in disbelief: “She still dares to invite me?”
As she spoke, she looked ahead and saw that Jiang Rui hadn’t gone to Princess Pingcheng’s side, nor was she chatting with the other young ladies, but was sitting quietly reading a book.
Hearing this, and thinking of the previous incident, Miss Shen and the others looked somewhat unnatural.
“No, this time it’s not inviting everyone.” The young lady beside her hurriedly said. “Qin Ying is worried about you and wants to invite you alone to ask.”
With that, she glanced at the Miss A Luo, the companion reader of Princess Wuyang from the Yang Family, who was smiling brightly at them from the side.
The young lady from Duke Ding’an’s Mansion was attacked because she went to visit Liu Chan, who was also at the National Academy.
“Then just ask me.” Mo Zheng said proactively. “After all, I was the one personally attacked.”
Actually, everyone had come over to ask her.
It was just that these two lady-in-waitings, although they hadn’t declared like “Liu Chan” that they wouldn’t befriend everyone, ever since coming to the school, they either served Princess Wuyang and Princess Nangong or sat in their seats bickering with Yang Hui…
With their lowly backgrounds and such behavior, the other companion reader ladies had no interest in befriending them.
However, since she spoke up, the two young ladies hurriedly asked.
“Did you see the villain at the time?”
“I heard many people died. Did you see it with your own eyes?”
More young ladies gathered around. After all, they were at the age of youth when curiosity was strongest.
“We were sitting inside the carriage, but we saw it with our own eyes.”
“Indeed many people died. We could even see severed arms and limbs from inside the carriage…”
Accompanied by the young ladies’ voices rising and falling in narration, the young ladies let out cries of surprise, sighs, and even livelier questions.
Yang Hui, standing beside Princess Pingcheng, clenched her fingers, her expression annoyed. She really hated it—why did everyone have to talk to these three!
“Princess, they’re talking about that night when the capital city crime happened.” She whispered to Princess Pingcheng. “That case involves remnants of treason. Isn’t it inappropriate to discuss it openly?”
Princess Pingcheng glanced at her.
This lady-in-waiting was truly spoiled by Duke Ding’an and his wife. She dared to say anything. Was she, a princess, someone to be used as a gun?
She smiled and asked: “You were frightened, weren’t you?”
A companion reader young lady nearby read the room and immediately said: “Yang Hui, you weren’t even there. What are you afraid of?”
Another companion reader young lady smiled ambiguously: “Yang Hui, you’re not as good as your sisters from the countryside.”
Yang Hui’s face flushed red. She stamped her foot and walked over in a few steps: “Yang Luo, stop talking about these shameful things…”
She had only said half when Mo Zheng’s voice from this side also said, “…at this point, Wei Jiao appeared.”
Both sides’ voices collided, and they both stopped.
Mo Zheng looked at the approaching Yang Hui, her expression somewhat uneasy: “Younger Sister is right. I shouldn’t mention Wei Jiao.”
There was actually Wei Jiao too!
Even if the Embroidered Uniform Guard had a notorious reputation, when Wei Jiao was mentioned, which young girl could ignore it? The young ladies around Mo Zheng all started asking, “Wei Jiao was there too?” “Did he kill the villains?”
Mo Zheng’s voice carried hesitation: “My cousin says…”
“Who cares about her! She just makes a fuss over nothing!”
“What does she know? Who said we can’t discuss it? The more everyone knows about those villains intending to create chaos in the capital city, the better we can assist the government.”
“Wei Jiao killing the villains—how is that shameful!”
The quick-tempered young ladies no longer held back and refuted Yang Hui one after another.
Yang Hui’s face turned even redder. She didn’t know Wei Jiao had been there.
Father hadn’t told her the details of that day, and she was too lazy to ask. After all, she wasn’t the one who was frightened.
Wei Jiao had been there at the time?
The voices here were loud, and Princess Pingcheng heard it too, slightly surprised inside.
From what the Yang Family young lady said, it seemed he had killed the villains.
Wei Jiao hadn’t mentioned it to her.
“Then Miss Yang, doesn’t that make Wei Jiao your benefactor?”
One young lady said excitedly.
Mo Zheng nodded shyly: “Yes, Captain Wei is my benefactor.”
