Chapter 111

 

Before the changes in Daming Palace, Yuan Yu had brought his troops to the Lu Mansion early to escort the whole family to evacuate.

Yuan Ci Xian secretly wanted to advance and retreat with Lu Shi Qing, but she was not alone now, her son and daughter were still young, Xuan shi and Lu Shuang Yu were also confused and flustered. She had to become their backbone.

After calming the two of them with a few words, she carried the children in her arms, took the luggage that Lu Shi Qing had packed for them earlier, gritted her teeth and followed Yuan Yu away, in order to be fast, she never stopped along the way. But even so, it was also extremely thrilling. As soon as the group handed over the sign and left the Golden Light Gate, the guard behind them got an urgent order from Daming Palace and shouted: “No, it’s the family of the traitor, stop it!”

Immediately afterwards, soldiers and horses in the city swarmed out.

Fortunately, Lu Shi Qing and Yuan Yi Zhi had already made arrangements outside the Golden Light Gate, and the first wave of cavalry lurking on all sides leaped out and quickly confronted them.

These people were the private army raised by Yuan Yi Zhi in Diannan. Although there were not many in number, they were all well-trained tigers and wolves. When they swept their spears, it was with great power but also not too excessive, they could not be compared with soldier who used to have an easy life in Chang’an.

Soon, the cavalry retreated smoothly, followed the Yuan brother and sister to the west like the wind, and the remaining hundred people stay to meet Lu Shi Qing.

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t take the carriage. Yuan Yu opened the way in front, while she, Jian Zhi and Shi Cui were following in the back, riding horses to guard the women, the children, and the old in front, and pay attention to the movement behind. Therefore, when the cavalry team followed, she noticed it immediately.

She didn’t dare to stop, and continued to raise the whip, and when the first lieutenant caught up with her, she was able to ask: “Has everyone left the city?”

“County Princess must not worry. More than a hundred brothers are waiting to receive Assistant Minister Lu, and if His Sixth Highness deliberately releases the waterit means to intentionally reserve strength or violate the rule to allow opponent obtain better results, it will be safe!”

She nodded, knowing that this was not the time to be immersed in love, she was fully focused on the road ahead, and continued to ask: “Where are we going?”

Yuan Ci Xian knew that Lu Shi Qing’s hometown was Luoyang, but the Lu Bridge outside the Yanxing Gate was the only way to go to the Eastern Capital, and this Golden Light Gate was facing west, which was the opposite. And it was obvious that the current Great Zhou couldn’t accommodate them. Because Lu Shi Qing was unable to kill Emperor Huining directly for the time being: First, he had to rely on taking the old emperor hostage to retreat. Second, he couldn’t strike him down while Zheng Zhuo led troops to pursue, as it would not only render his efforts in winning over people’s hearts in vain, but more importantly it would also make people suspicious, suspecting that this palace coup was a conspiracy between the two of them.

Under the vast sky, there is no land that is not the monarch’s. she thought, Lu Shi Qing chose to evacuate to the west in order to temporarily leave this monarch’s land.

Hearing the words, the deputy general hurriedly replied: “Assistant Minister Lu explained that he has arranged the way ahead, and asked County Princess to go west to Tubo, and then turn north to Huihu.”

Yuan Ci Xian was not surprised, quickly ordered: “Alright. You take a few people to the front to take care of my brother, and then call two group of brothers, one on the left and one on the right to protect the two carriages in front, and the rest of the soldiers and I will be in the rear.”

“Yes!”

From the time they drove out of the Golden Light Gate at noon until the day changed into the night, Yuan Ci Xian never stopped even for a while.

Xuan shi, Lu Shuang Yu and a wetnurse who accompany the two children were in the carriage, they felt a little more comfortable, and when they got hungry or sleepy, they settled it there. She had followed her father in the army in the early years, so she was not be exhausted by the rush, but the subordinates around her persuaded her to rest. Seeing that it was getting late and there was no enemy around, she obediently went to the carriage to preserve her energy.

Don’t be a hero at this time. She still wanted to see Lu Shi Qing alive.

After moving and resting like this for seven consecutive days, the group successfully approached the border of Huihu. And during these seven days, they never encountered a single pursuer, nor did they get any news about Lu Shi Qing.

Xuan shi was well protected, and her body didn’t suffer much, but she felt uneasy and asked about her son’s situation several times a day.

Yuan Ci Xian also didn’t know exactly what happened to Lu Shi Qing. There were two carriages on her side, so they moved rather slowly. If he wanted to chase, he should be able to catch up within an hour. But since seven days had passed, it meant that he made a detour after leaving the city, intending to divert the soldiers of the imperial court for them. After all, according to the old emperor’s character, it was impossible to just send Zheng Zhuo out of the city. With the arrest warrant issued, all the prefectures and counties in Great Zhou would be dispatched, and Lu Shi Qing’s surroundings were full of killing moves.

However, she consoled herself with the thought that her father and mother should join him, and Zheng Zhuo, who was pretending to be chasing the enemy, would inevitably step in at a critical moment to help them escape smoothly, Yuan Ci Xian was not worried.

Three days later, on the night before entering Huihu, while she was resting in the carriage, she received the first letter from the imperial court. She thought earlier that no news was the best news, but now she was a little nervous when she gets the letter. She opened it and it said that last night Zheng Zhuo led troops to wipe out a cavalry of a hundred men, but did not capture the criminals.

Yuan Ci Xian pondered the letter carefully and smiled slightly.

This cavalry team was not from Great Zhou.

Although Zheng Zhuo and Lu Shi Qing staged a palace rebellion, they always tried their best to minimize the damage. Even the seemingly sinister and brutal confrontation in front of Zichen Palace that day was also ended at an extremely fast speed, and most people just injured a little.

She was sure that even if Zheng Zhuo tried to be more realistic, he would not wipe out a team in one go.

The only possibility was that a third party joined in the pursuit of Lu Shi Qing, and Zheng Zhuo simply took these people as Diannan’s private army in and killed them all. In this way, it was not only fulfilled the errands for the imperial court, but also to solve the disaster for Lu Shi Qing.

As for who was this third party? She thought, Xi Ju finally couldn’t sit still.

But Yuan Ci Xian was not worried about Nanzhao’s straightforward killing move. What she was worried about was that Xi Ju knew about the relationship between Lu Shi Qing and Zheng Zhuo, so he might try to find evidence, or spread rumors in Great Zhou to guide the deceived courtiers.

The weather in the north was very cold, and the nights in the late Fifth month in midsummer were as cold as autumn. A gust of wind blew into the carriage curtain, blowing the secret letter in her hand, and with the rustling of the paper, Xuan shi, who was resting on the couch beside her, opened her eyes.

Yuan Ci Xian hurriedly put away the secret letter, and apologized: “Mother, I woke you up.”

Xuan shi’s eyes were sharp, she got up and asked, “Is there any news from Shi Qing?”

She shook her head: “It’s news from the imperial court. Don’t worry, we will be able to enter Huihu tomorrow, and when we are safe, he will be able to join us.”

Xuan shi put down her heart and nodded, and was just about to tell her to sleep, but then saw Yuan Ci Xian frowning and her expression tightened.

Yuan Ci Xian raised the corner of the curtain of the carriage, poked half her head out, turned her ears to listen for a while, then turned around and said quickly: “Mother, stay in the carriage and don’t come out.” After speaking, she jumped out of the carriage.

Yuan Yu obviously also heard the neat sound of horseshoes, and quickly called the soldiers: “Gather to listen to the order!”

Originally some soldiers were on the night watch and some were resting. But when they heard the sound, as if they had not sleep at all, they got up and got on the horse with their weapons.

Now everyone heard it. The sky-shaking noise was getting closer and closer, and there were probably no fewer than a thousand people.

As soon as Yuan Ci Xian stepped on the horse, she shouted: “One to three team on the left, four to six on the right, seven charge forward, eight in the rear, form an array to meet the enemy!”

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Yuan Yu and said in a low voice: “If the situation is not right, you take mother and the others to retreat first, knock on the Huihu’s gate overnight…”

After saying this, she suddenly heard a soldier shout in surprise: “County Princess, look at the torch ahead!”

Yuan Ci Xian immediately raised her head, and saw a torch blazing in the night. It swung to the left once, swung to the right three times, then repeated again.

Her heart was pounding, not nervous but happy.

Left one right three, left one right three, this was the secret code that her father taught her. In the past, Zheng Zhuo arranged for assassins to assassinate Yuan Yi Zhi in order to solve Ping Prince’s conspiracy, and in order to avoid more injuries when they fought each other, he also used this secret signal.

The brother and sister had a faint expectation in their hearts, but they remained vigilant, and did not act rashly before it was completely confirmed. It was not until the opposite soldiers and horses galloped closer that the person in black robes and wooden hairpins came into sight. Yuan Ci Xian’s heart trembled, she got off the horse immediately and flew over.

The other person saw her rushing over like an arrow, completely not afraid of being trampled by iron hooves, so he quickly stopped the horse, waved his hand to stop the soldiers behind him, and was about to walk towards her quickly, but saw that she was already in front of him, and plunged her head into his arms.

Amidst the encampment’s blazing fires, there were thousands of people on both sides, their gazes intense and alert, exuding an utmost vigilance. Under the scrutiny of all eyes, she just hugged Lu Shi Qing like this.

Lu Shi Qing was exhausted for days, and was almost knocked over by her. But when he thought of the thousands of soldiers behind him, as well as his father-in-law and mother-in-law, who immediately looked at them, he stabilized himself very firmly, then hugged her back, and said: “I wasn’t hurt by the chasing soldiers, but I almost knocked over by you.”

Yuan Ci Xian took back the hot tears in her eyes, buried herself in his chest and took a few breaths, originally wanting to smell the soap pod on his body that was not like a soap pod, which was very light but reassuring for her, but she suddenly smelled an unpleasant dirt smell.

But she still refused to let him go, and just buried her head and said: “You stink…”

Lu Shi Qing choked, and coughed in embarrassment: “So many people are watching.”

“It’s not apricot tree leaning over the garden wall, what’s wrong with hugging my own husband?”

He sighed secretly, glanced back, and reminded: “Father’s face is not so good.”

Only then she raised her head with a “swish”, let go of him, and looked behind him.

That’s right, she had speculated that Father and Mother were together with Lu Shi Qing, but when she saw him, she forgot everything.

Yuan Ci Xian looked up and saw her father and mother were on the same horse. Her mother smiled calmly and seemed relieved, but her father’s face was swollen and frosty.

In fact, it was understandable for him to be like this. He had not seen her for more than a year, and when they meet again, his daughter was already married and has children. She was so happy to see her husband that she didn’t even remember to greet her father.

This is called things remained but people changed.

Yuan Ci Xian turned over with a shy face, raised her head and said, “Father, mother, come down and hug together?”

Yuan Yi Zhi snorted at her and glanced away.

Feng shi pointed at her: “You!”

The two families had an extraordinary “family meeting” in the wilderness. No one had expected that their first encounter as in-laws would be under such desperate circumstances, far away from civilization.

But the family reunion, witnessed by thousands of soldiers, was actually not so bad.

The people from both sides greeted each other like long-lost friends and exchanged a few words. But Lu Shi Qing and Yuan Yi Zhi called for a stop, saying that although Ping Prince was dead, the Turks still survived. In order to prevent the Turks from attacking the Huihu again and causing chaos on the border, it was best to go on the road overnight before then.

The rest of the people had no objection, only Yuan Ci Xian suggested that she wanted to share a horse with Lu Shi Qing, just like her father and mother.

When all the soldiers saw that Lancang County Princess, who was commanding calmly when they thought the enemy was approaching just now, had shrunk into Assistant Minister Lu’s arms like a helpless little bird and asked him to carry her on the horse, their jaws almost dropped to the ground.

Lu Shi Qing thought just give her some face. He hugged her up, circled her from behind, lowered his head and whispered in her ear: “Sleep, we will arrive when you wake up.”

Yuan Ci Xian shook her head, and said soberly: “I don’t want to sleep, I want to talk to you.”

Lu Shi Qing couldn’t refuse her, so he shook the rein and drove on the road, and was pestered by her all the way to ask about the situation in the past few days.

He said it wasn’t anything thrilling. There was one time when he almost had a direct confrontation with a group of local soldiers, but that crafty Zheng Zhuo played a trick and led them astray with a smokescreen.

Yuan Ci Xian listened with a smile, and sighed with emotion: “I know now why in the dream he took the initiative to arrest my father and brother.”

Lu Shi Qing also smiled faintly.

In fact, this life was the same as the previous life. After Yuan family “rebelled”, Zheng Zhuo also turned against them, but this so-called “turning against” was just a show. From this point of view, in the previous life, he also volunteered to catch them in order to protect the Yuan family, intending to fake death for Yuan Yi Zhi and Yuan Yu. It was just for some unknown reason the plan was exposed.

Two whole years, Yuan Ci Xian misunderstood Zheng Zhuo for two whole years.

But if it wasn’t for this misunderstanding, she and Lu Shi Qing would still miss each other like in the previous life.

She leaned on him and said longingly: “When he ascends the throne, we no longer have to travel far away, and we can go back to Great Zhou. Then I will treat him to a drink.”

Lu Shi Qing replied with a word “fine” and was about to speak when he suddenly saw a soldier dressed as a Huihu galloping towards them. He got off the horse before the crowd, bowed and cupped his hands: “The Turks are coming, and the border is closed. Princess Jia Hu is specially here to welcome everyone to enter the pass. Still ask everyone to please follow!”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone rode again from a distance. It was a delicate figure, and when she spotted Yuan Yu in the team, she waved: “General Yuan, I’m here to pick up Da Bai, you take her with you when you fled, right?”

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