Chapter 89: Danger at Eighteen Slopes
The night on Shenju Mountain was filled with an ethereal mountain mist, as mysterious as gods and ghosts.
Rugged mountains, steep rocks, milky white fog, and sturdy trees. The mountain spring tinkled, desolate and distant on this autumn evening.
Clear, still dew slid down the veins of the withered grass on the ground.
The moon shone through the gaps in the phoenix trees.
The horse carriage jolted, and I carefully protected my abdomen.
Cherry looked at me, her eyes filled with novelty and a longing for new life.
She pointed to my abdomen: “There’s a little child here, isn’t there?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“When will he come out?”
“Counting it… it should be around March next year.”
A big smile bloomed on her round face: “That’s wonderful. Just like me. My mother said that children born in spring will never go hungry.”
“Oh?” I pinched her cheek, eager for her to continue.
“Think about it, in spring, there’s lush green grass everywhere, and cows and horses can eat their fill. All living things are abundant, and so are people, naturally.”
I smiled: “Yes, that makes a lot of sense.”
She quietly lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside, but dared not stick her head out, for fear of being discovered by the One-Eyed Dragon.
I noticed her demeanor and said, “Cherry, you don’t want to leave here, do you?”
Her eyes seemed to be stained with the clear dew from the withered grass.
“I don’t want to leave here, but I don’t want Uncle to be in trouble even more.”
The horse carriage gradually moved further away, and the figure of the One-Eyed Dragon gradually disappeared beyond the carriage curtain.
I held her in my arms: “Cherry, since I promised your uncle I would adopt you, I will treat you as my own child. From now on, you are the eldest daughter of the Qin Family.”
After a moment, she poked her head out from my embrace, her small face wet.
“Yuniang—” she called me.
Unlike the deliberate way she called me “Yuniang” when the One-Eyed Dragon was present, Cherry’s call at this moment came from the bottom of her heart.
She had already begun to open her heart and accept a new life.
Children without parents and with uncertain backgrounds share a common trait: they never leave too much room for their sorrow. In the unpredictable twists of fate, they tightly grasp the floating wood they can cling to.
The time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
The horse carriage reached Eighteen Slopes.
Past this slope, the road down the mountain would be smooth.
Suddenly, I faintly heard a familiar voice.
“Sangyu, Sangyu—”
Qin Mingxu called me repeatedly.
He seemed to have been searching for me for a long time, his voice carrying an indescribable weariness and worry.
When I left, I rushed out from the counter and didn’t have time to inform him.
He must have been waiting for me at home, and when I didn’t return, he became anxious and searched everywhere.
I ordered the coachman to rein in the horses.
I got out of the horse carriage. The clouds in the sky covered most of the moon, making it hazy. Just as I was about to call Qin Mingxu over, suddenly, several people sprang out from the grass and blocked my path.
The person at the head was Zou Cheng.
It was unclear when he had gotten out of the trap.
At this moment, he looked at me coldly.
I calmly said, “Steward Zou, what can I do for you?”
“I’ve been waiting by the roadside down the mountain for a long time. I want to see who is playing tricks behind the scenes,” he said with a sinister smile.
“Tricks? What tricks?”
“Don’t think you can fool me like you fooled Lord Maternal Uncle,” he said arrogantly.
“Steward Zou should say that to Lord Maternal Uncle. Someone like Steward Zou, who knows how to read the times, naturally knows how to speak.” I smiled slightly. He used to work for Minister Zhang, and now he works for the Zheng Family. To put it nicely, he knows how to read the times; to put it bluntly, he’s a sycophant.
He understood my sarcasm and his face turned red.
“A petty woman, what do you know!” he cursed.
“Sooner or later, all of you will know my ambition. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect, nor of the sea to a frog in a well, nor of the Way to an ordinary person!”
“Move aside. I have no interest in hearing about your ambition to get promoted and rich, nor in how you’re trying to climb the social ladder. I want to go home,” I said.
“It’s not too late to let you go after I figure out what I need to figure out.”
He reached out, intending to lift the carriage curtain.
I stood in front of the carriage, blocking him.
He forcefully pushed me aside.
“Zhu Sangyu, why did you go up the mountain tonight for no reason? Can you explain it?”
My hand scraped against a hard clod of earth, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
“I went up the mountain because… because… because…” I tried to fabricate a story.
He pressed on: “Speak.”
“I have some connection with Director Feng. I heard he was on Shenju Mountain, so I came to find him…”
He interrupted me: “Don’t try to scare me with Feng Gao! He’s the person I despise the most! A sarcastic eunuch who only knows how to scheme behind people’s backs! Zhu Sangyu, you went up the mountain tonight, and coincidentally, the One-Eyed Dragon and Feng Gao went to ‘rescue’ Lord Maternal Uncle together. Don’t tell me such a coincidence exists in this world! Once I figure this out, I will report it clearly to Lord Maternal Uncle. You think you can play us all like monkeys? Impossible!”
In the blink of an eye, he had lifted the carriage curtain and saw Cherry sitting inside the carriage.
He stared at Cherry for a moment and then ordered his subordinates: “Take this little girl back and interrogate her thoroughly to find out what happened!”
“Yes!” the men replied.
Zou Cheng looked at me and said, “Zhu Sangyu, tonight, don’t even think about taking a single person, not even a fly, down the mountain.”
My mind was like a broken pipa string, a cacophony of sounds.
I absolutely could not let them take Cherry away.
The One-Eyed Dragon entrusted her to me; how could I let her be tortured by Zou Cheng?
I roared, “Stop! She is my daughter. If you want to take her, you’ll have to go through me!”
I stepped forward, trying to embrace Cherry.
Two people held me down firmly.
Zou Cheng burst into laughter: “Your daughter? Where did you get a daughter?”
He waved his hand.
Those people stepped forward.
Cherry clutched the carriage door tightly with her hands, her fingers bleeding, refusing to get out.
“Yuniang, Yuniang…” she gritted her teeth, her face devoid of fear.
I bit the hand of the person holding me. The man cried out in pain and raised his palm to slap my face.
Familiar footsteps grew closer.
Qin Mingxu had finally found me by following the sound.
He grabbed the man’s hand: “She is my wife, and I will not allow anyone to harm her.”
“Mingxu.” I looked up at his weather-beaten face, and my heart ached.
“Sangyu, I’m here.”
He didn’t ask me why I was on the mountain in the middle of the night. He didn’t ask why I was captured by these people. He didn’t ask who the little girl calling me “Yuniang” was.
He asked nothing.
He simply said, “I’m here.”
No matter what I did, he believed me unconditionally.
Zou Cheng’s face darkened further upon seeing Qin Mingxu: “Boss Qin, why are you here? I advise you not to stir up trouble.”
“I came to find my wife.”
“Heh.” Zou Cheng’s lips curved into a meaningful smile: “You need to know who you are, and be sensible.”
Qin Mingxu looked at him calmly: “I am very sensible. Release them, and I will go with you.”
“Ridiculous,” Zou Cheng shook his head.
Qin Mingxu drew the sword from his waist with his good left hand.
His expression was one of utter determination.
Even though he was outnumbered and destined to lose, he still intended to protect me to the best of his ability.
I watched him fight with those men, get injured, and tears fell silently.
He fought like a cornered beast.
His face was covered in blood.
I suddenly kicked the man behind me in the groin and, seizing the opportunity, ran up the mountain.
Someone was chasing me from behind.
I ran extremely fast, the wind whistling past my ears.
My husband, my daughter, both were in grave danger.
Never had an autumn night filled me with such despair, such terror.
A pair of hands scooped me up.
“Elder Sister.”
It was Feng Gao.
Feng Gao had arrived.
He looked at me.
My wounds, my panic, my fear—all touched his reverse scale, igniting the deep ferocity in his heart.
Holding me, he leaped up and kicked the pursuers hard in the chest.
His eyes were colder than ice.
“Let me see who hurt my Elder Sister.”
Two thin blades flew from his sleeve, slicing open the throats of the two men. Blood gushed out, splashing onto Feng Gao’s face.
He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood.
A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his exquisitely beautiful face.
He didn’t put me down. Holding me, he sprinted back towards the horse carriage.
Zou Cheng and the others were stunned when they saw him.
Feng Gao didn’t even glance at them and walked straight to the horse carriage.
The people pulling Cherry let go.
Feng Gao placed me on the horse carriage.
He touched Cherry’s face: “Don’t be afraid.”
Several of Cherry’s fingernails had broken off, leaving her flesh and blood exposed. She smiled at Feng Gao: “Mm.”
Feng Gao also smiled.
Under the pale moonlight, they both smiled so innocently.
“Take them home.”
Feng Gao said to the coachman.
The coachman was already half-dead with fear, trembling, and got up from the ground, almost unable to hold the whip.
Feng Gao slowly turned around.
His expression changed.
Unfathomable.
Cruel and vicious.
His voice, as enchanting as a fragrant evening breeze, said: “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone on a killing spree. I, Feng, am truly lonely.”
“Feng Gao, don’t do anything rash! I am with Lord Maternal Uncle. Even a dog needs to consider its master!” Zou Cheng said, trying to maintain his composure.
A shallow smile played on his peach-blossom face.
Feng Gao said: “This desolate place is truly a good place to kill. I once said that I love to see blood bloom like flowers the most. Tonight, on Eighteen Slopes, the flowers can bloom to their heart’s content.”
