Chapter 44 - 1#

Ah Xing was sharpening his knife, his long legs stretched out to the side, his arched back like a curved blade. Around him, several men in tight suits were scattered, holding knives and vigilantly scanning everywhere, afraid of encountering another attack.

Along the way, they only rested in the wild and did not enter towns. Only when absolutely necessary would they enter a city to replenish necessities.

It wasn’t until these few days that the pursuing troops rarely caught up, but they dared not relax their guard.

After all, the people chasing them were like mad dogs.

Just like their master, all crazy dog things.

In the corner, someone was crying.

The voice was weak, sobbing from time to time, sounding like they were about to faint.

A few people who went to check the situation around came back and whispered, “There are no traces of pursuit, we should be able to rest today.”

Ah Xing said coldly, “Split into two groups, take turns keeping watch, do not relax.”

“Yes.”

Listening to the crying, that person subconsciously looked towards that corner and added, “That little gentleman…”

“Ignore him.” Ah Xing still had that cold appearance, “He will sleep when he is tired of crying.”

Hearing this, that person had to let it go.

They really didn’t have the energy to care about a child’s mood.

Although called a child, he was actually quite old, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenager.

He was the only male saved in this operation.

Called Huang Fu.

Huang Fu was the youngest child of the direct line of the Huang family in this generation. He had not yet stepped into officialdom, nor even experienced the fickleness of the world. He only took the compliments of people around him for granted. Once demoted, he was ignorant and found it difficult to adapt to this vastly different situation.

During the days of exile, there was crying and making noise, and even emotional breakdowns. But at this time, no one would be tolerant of him anymore; only the fierce whipping of the soldiers awaited him.

Gradually, Huang Fu stopped crying.

On the road of exile, this group of thin-skinned nobles didn’t have the strength to speak at all. Just walking every day took all their physical strength.

Originally thought that such days would continue forever, with no peace.

But just half a month ago, Huang Fu keenly discovered that his grandfather and father seemed to have different moods. Compared to their previous silence, they were more cheered up.

Since stepping on the road of exile, no matter how firm the minds of several elders were, they couldn’t accept the current wretchedness. Especially the tattoo branded on them, a symbol of shame, hammering their hearts day and night.

Huang Fu didn’t know why, but instinctively knew that something had happened.

And a few days later, a sudden change confirmed Huang Fu’s guess.

That night, they were exhausted and really couldn’t walk anymore, so the soldiers let them rest for a while.

Just as they were sitting around together in silence, suddenly someone rushed out and separated the soldiers and the escorted prisoners into two sides.

The soldiers were blocked by these people who suddenly rushed out. For a time, they couldn’t see the whereabouts of the prisoners clearly. The sounds of shouting and killing almost filled Huang Fu’s ears.

Before he could react, he was taken away in the chaos.

Fleeing bumpily all the way, when they settled down at dawn, Huang Fu suddenly discovered that the people who escaped together were only Grandfather Huang Qingtian, Father, Eldest Brother, and him.

Only four people.

The other men, women, old and young were not among them.

At that time, Huang Fu thought that the others were not with them. But one night, while half-asleep, Huang Fu heard his grandfather talking to the person named Ah Xing.

“Your Highness, what do you plan to do?”

“Plan before acting, proceed slowly.”

Huang Qingtian sighed and said no more.

At his age, some things didn’t need to be said too clearly.

After Ah Xing left, Huang Fu heard his father walk over and sit next to Huang Qingtian.

“Father, escaping this time, only Quan’er and Fu’er were brought. Are the others just… left to be exiled like this?”

How bitter the road of exile was. Many people had already fallen ill, but there was no medicine to take, so they could only suffer in pain.

“Foolish child, this rescue was thanks to Prince Rui’s efforts. He is far away in his fief, sending people to rescue is already good enough. What more are you thinking?”

“But the Old Madame…”

Huang Qingtian endured and shook his head, “If I had a way, how could I abandon Mother? They are all burdens. If we take them, we can’t escape at all.”

The conversation between the two elders was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Huang Fu.

He vaguely knew that the person who would come to rescue them could only be His Highness Prince Rui. But Huang Fu never thought that in the hearts of his grandfather and father, the female relatives would be burdens.

Even the highly respected Old Madame was among those they abandoned.

Young Huang Fu only felt that this idea was too insidious.

Shouldn’t family members share weal and woe?

Getting up the next day, Huang Fu had a big quarrel with his father. When they set off again, he hid far away, refusing to walk with them.

Who would have thought that this willfulness would save his life in the end?

Because Huang Fu threw a tantrum, and Ah Xing, who led the team, was not the kind of person who would care about him, he directly left two people to watch him and left him at the back of the team.

Huang Fu simply threw a big tantrum, found a town, and slept soundly. When he woke up, he was startled by Ah Xing who suddenly appeared by his bed.

“You, how did you…”

“Your name is Huang Fu?” Ah Xing asked coldly. On his body, a smell that Huang Fu was not unfamiliar with recently permeated.

That was the smell of blood.

“Yes, yes.”

Ah Xing’s voice was a bit strange, “You really have some good fortune.”

“Where are my grandfather and the others?”

Huang Fu subconsciously answered Ah Xing’s question just now. Immediately after, he felt strange about the bloody smell, his face turned pale abruptly, and he sat up quickly.

Only then did Huang Fu see clearly that Ah Xing’s body was densely covered with wounds.

Many places that had just been bandaged were still bleeding continuously.

“All dead.” Ah Xing said simply, “Encountered an ambush, it was a trap.”

Huang Fu’s ears buzzed, as if he couldn’t hear anything clearly. He could only see Ah Xing’s mouth opening and closing. After a long time, he asked hoarsely.

“Trap?”

Ah Xing: “When hijacking you at the beginning, it should have been deliberately allowed, so that they could get rid of you legitimately.”

“What do you mean?”

Huang Fu felt his head was foggy and didn’t understand the meaning of Ah Xing’s words at all.

Ah Xing simply broke it down and said bluntly, “The Emperor deliberately let us hijack people, and then set an ambush on the only way, killing your grandfather, father, and eldest brother, all of them.”

That group of people’s target was the Huang family. All fatal moves were directed at them. Otherwise, Ah Xing might not have been able to fight his way out with the remaining people.

Ah Xing clutched his bleeding arm and said coldly, “Put on your clothes now and follow us immediately. Otherwise, the next one to die will be you.”

There were only three Huang family members in the team. Soon, they would know that the numbers didn’t match.

With their ferocity, Huang Fu was in imminent danger.

Huang Fu was stunned for a while, muttering to himself, “I have to, I have to go see. I don’t believe it, you are lying to me, I don’t…” At the end of his words, his voice was sharp, almost screaming.

Thud!

Ah Xing knocked Huang Fu out with a punch and carried him on his back.

They fled all the way, trying their best to avoid pursuit. Until these few days, they should have shaken off those people, so they dared to rest for one more night.

It was just that since then, Huang Fu had always looked decadent and often cried in the middle of the night. However, the people around him were all struggling on the line of life and death, and had no leisure to comfort him.

At night, Huang Fu cried himself to sleep again.

After sharpening the knife, Ah Xing sat by the fire silently carving a piece of wood.

When he had nothing to do, he would often carve many small wooden figures. In his room in the Prince Rui’s Mansion in the fief, there were many faceless puppets of all sizes.

The dagger spun in Ah Xing’s fingers, making a rustling sound quickly.

He carved the wood silently. Until the round little head took shape, suddenly, Ah Xing stopped all movements and looked abruptly at a corner.

In less than two breaths, he immediately woke up the others.

“Go.”

He threw down this word indifferently, dragged up the sleeping Huang Fu, and dragged him onto the horse together.

Under the stars and moon, they fled again.

…

These two days, Shangyu Garden was particularly lively.

Foreign envoys had arrived. The officials of the Ministry of Rites in charge were so busy that their feet didn’t touch the ground. Palace servants like Jingzhe who helped in Shangyu Garden also often appeared everywhere.

Jingzhe was able to see those envoys from vassal states. Indeed, every one of them was different from them. Someone’s eyes were actually blue, which was really too rare.

When Shi’en came back, he couldn’t help but say, “How can someone’s eyeballs be this color? Are they really not monsters?”

Liao Jiang said listlessly, “Didn’t you see their shadows? Having shadows means they are human.”

Shi’en argued plausibly, “That’s hard to say. Ghosts don’t have shadows, but monsters should have them, right?”

Liao Jiang: “Whether they are humans or monsters, isn’t it enough to do your job well?”

He choked Shi’en twice in a row.

Shi’en didn’t have a good temper. He immediately said unceremoniously, “You didn’t serve well yourself and lost a good job. Why are you taking it out on me?”

At this time, it was their break time. As soon as Shi’en said this, several people looked over.

Liao Jiang’s face changed slightly. He glared at Shi’en angrily and got up to walk out the door. When Liao Jiang’s figure disappeared, Shi’en became even angrier.

He looked at Jingzhe, “This person looked good-tempered before, but now looking at it, he is also narrow-minded.”

Jingzhe: “You know he lost a good job, so don’t pay attention to him.”

Shi’en: “It was his own mistake that got him punished. Did I harm him? Why should I yield to someone like him?”

He sat down angrily.

Since the foreign envoys arrived and checked into Shangyu Garden one after another, palace servants were naturally assigned everywhere to serve.

Among the vassal states that came, some had been paying tribute for years and had close relations with the imperial court. Naturally, the envoys were gentle and gave many rewards to the serving palace servants.

Some had awkward relationships, very average, treating them as ordinary slaves. Others still retained the custom of slavery, scolding palace servants at every turn.

Liao Jiang was originally assigned to the former.

This was a good thing. Liao Jiang was also very happy, full of enthusiasm every day.

But yesterday, he came back earlier than usual, looking dejected like a banana leaf beaten by rain.

Jingzhe only knew after listening to Shi’en that Liao Jiang committed a taboo when serving, delivering food that the envoys didn’t eat. As a result, the envoys lost their temper. Although they didn’t punish Liao Jiang, they reported the matter to the manager.

Liao Jiang was naturally replaced.

Coincidentally, another place was short of people, so Liao Jiang replaced someone there. But this new envoy from a vassal state had a violent temper. The original palace servant was scared away by his scolding. Now that Liao Jiang had only been there for a day, he was severely attacked by a storm, so his mood naturally couldn’t be good.

If they couldn’t gather together during meals, Jingzhe wouldn’t see the people who originally came from the palace at all.

After all, after being assigned to serve in various places, most palace servants lived nearby to avoid no one being in the palace room when the masters needed service in the middle of the night.

Jingzhe and Shi’en were not assigned anywhere.

Shi’en still worked under Hu Yue as usual, while Jingzhe followed a chief eunuch named Hua Yunfei.

Jingzhe originally thought Shi’en would be unhappy, but unexpectedly, Shi’en was very satisfied.

“Following Manager Hu is the safest.” In private, Shi’en revealed to Jingzhe, “Some of these vassal state envoys can’t even speak the official language and need adults from the Ministry of Rites to help translate. If a conflict arises, even if we are beaten to death, could there be anyone to stand up for us?”

Shi’en saw this clearly.

These envoys came to pay homage, so naturally they wouldn’t kill people casually to avoid offending Emperor Jingyuan. But if they really lost their temper, even if they killed one or two palace servants… that wouldn’t be considered a big deal.

Human life is cheaper than grass.

Shi’en didn’t want to lose his life for a small reward.

Jingzhe nodded, deeply agreeing.

After the envoys arrived, Jingzhe had fewer things to do. Every day was relatively easy, just following Hua Yunfei to check the inventory everywhere and also responsible for dealing with problems between envoys.

His transfer this time was intentional by Hu Yue.

Since Tang Ji went to the Taishi Palace, Hu Yue had been very depressed for a period of time. It just didn’t show on his face, and his style of doing things remained the same.

With Tang Ji sending back news that he had adapted to life in the Taishi Palace, he finally wasn’t so apprehensive.

Tang Ji followed him since young and could be said to be raised by Hu Yue. He only had this one apprentice, so naturally he was more concerned than others.

Since Tang Ji was fine, Hu Yue naturally had the mood to handle other things. The first thing was to arrange Jingzhe in another position, moving around with Hua Yunfei.

Regardless of what Ning Hongru’s warning was for, the fact that Jingzhe could speak in front of Wei Haidong was enough to deter Hu Yue.

Hua Yunfei had a tough personality, with a small fault of being protective. With him in front, it wasn’t too difficult for the people below to do things.

Most importantly, Hua Yunfei was a good place to go. If Jingzhe wanted to stay in the future, this would also be convenient.

Following Hua Yunfei, Jingzhe had fewer things to do than following Hu Yue, but actually, it couldn’t be considered very easy. After all, Hua Yunfei’s duties were very critical.

Jingzhe followed him and learned a lot in just a few days.

Among so many envoys, Hua Yunfei had the biggest headache with the Yueyu people.

The Yueyu people were nomads.

Among many vassal states, they were the most unruly branch. Although they came to pay homage, the attitude of the envoys was quite unfriendly.

Of course, this was only when facing these palace servants. When facing Emperor Jingyuan, Hua Yunfei heard that they were still very decent and polite.

It was just that the palace servants serving them had been changed several times. If this went on, really no one would dare to go over.

No one wanted to serve a master with a bad temper.

Thinking of this, Hua Yunfei had a bit of a headache. Especially knowing that the newly replaced palace servant was beaten and injured, his face was already a bit ugly.

Before, they just scolded people until they couldn’t stand it, now they started to use their hands?

Someone came from the separate palace to invite him, and Hua Yunfei took people and rushed over.

No matter how angry he was in his heart, he still had to control his temper.

This time, Jingzhe also followed. The place where the Yueyu people lived required passing through a horse farm. On the vast plain, he could vaguely see a group of people in the distance. The leader looked a bit familiar.

“Jingzhe.”

Wei Liang in front found Jingzhe falling behind and turned back to call him. Jingzhe hurriedly caught up in two or three steps and didn’t look again.

The separate palace where the Yueyu people lived was decorated with an atmosphere of outside the Great Wall. The Ministry of Rites naturally gave some guidance in it.

Hua Yunfei took people to the outside of the separate palace. After waiting for a moment, someone came to take them in.

Following behind Hua Yunfei, Jingzhe noticed that these Yueyu people were tall and big, and most of them had long braids coiled around their necks. Their clothes exposed their arms, a completely different style from them.

The envoy of the Yueyu people was a middle-aged man in his forties. He only spoke rough official language, speaking with some gibberish. Hua Yunfei identified carefully for a while before realizing that the envoy was saying that the new palace servant stole their things.

Hua Yunfei frowned slightly, “May I ask which palace servant it is?”

The envoy mumbled for a while, and the guard beside him went out. Soon, a limp person was dragged in.

Jingzhe’s face moved slightly. That unconscious face was exactly Liao Jiang.

So Liao Jiang was assigned here to serve?

Jingzhe lowered his head, and while the envoy was talking to the guard, his voice was as small as a mosquito, “This subordinate recognizes him, it’s impossible for him to do such a thing.”

Hua Yunfei seemed to have no reaction, only his tight jaw moved slightly, indicating he heard.

The guard brought water and splashed it on Liao Jiang’s face. The pale-faced Liao Jiang woke up slowly, not knowing where he was, murmuring:

“I didn’t steal anything, I really didn’t steal anything…”

The Yueyu people couldn’t understand what he said, but the guard could guess he was defending himself and kicked him fiercely.

Liao Jiang clutched his stomach and twitched twice, lowering his head as if accepting his fate. From that subconscious reaction, it could be seen that he had been beaten a lot before.

Hua Yunfei spoke to communicate with the envoy, asking what was stolen.

The envoy gestured, saying it was a precious dagger.

Hua Yunfei: “Was it found on him?”

The envoy said no, but things were fine before Liao Jiang came two days ago. As soon as he came, things were lost.

So it must be Liao Jiang who stole it.

Hearing the logic of this envoy, Jingzhe almost couldn’t maintain the calm on his face and inexplicably wanted to curse.

After hearing the cause and effect, Hua Yunfei said calmly, “Since the envoy has no evidence to prove that he stole your dagger, how can you beat him at will?”

Hearing Hua Yunfei’s meaning, the envoy’s face became a bit tough, “You mean, you want to protect your people?”

“Without evidence, he is not a sinner. Beating him like this can only force a confession. If the envoy really wants to investigate thoroughly, why not invite the guards to search the entire separate palace thoroughly? Otherwise, according to the laws of our dynasty, the envoy’s practice will have to go to court.”

The envoy sneered. Want to take the opportunity to search the palace?

He didn’t put Hua Yunfei in his eyes at all. He pulled out the curved knife he carried with him and spoke gibberish.

“Even if I kill him now, so what?”

“Then you have to leave from here.” Hua Yunfei said calmly, “This is Helian territory, not your Yueyu Kingdom. Do you dare to be presumptuous?”

The envoy frowned and glared fiercely at Hua Yunfei.

Hua Yunfei raised his head and smiled at the envoy, actually not shrinking back at all.

The envoy stared coldly at Hua Yunfei. After a long while, he still gave in. Just as this dead eunuch said, he indeed dared not risk offending the Helian Emperor.

He snorted, put the knife back, and walked out cursing. When passing by Liao Jiang, he maliciously kicked his ribs, kicking him to the side, and actually stormed off.

Hua Yunfei: “Jingzhe, Wei Liang, lift him up and follow me.”

Jingzhe and Wei Liang were already angry in their hearts. They hurriedly stepped forward, lifted the unconscious Liao Jiang, and left behind Hua Yunfei.

Those Yueyu people stared covetously, looking somewhat unkind, but in the end, they dared not make a move and let them go out.

After leaving the separate palace, Wei Liang’s teeth creaked.

“Really a group of barbarians!”

Listening to the Yueyu envoy’s words just now, he was almost suffocating with anger. He had to suppress his temper desperately to not mess around.

“Manager, how can someone be so unreasonable?” Wei Liang said, “Without any evidence, beating someone like this!”

While listening to Wei Liang’s words, Jingzhe noticed the wetness on his palm. He suddenly interrupted him, “Liao Jiang’s condition is not quite right.”

He raised his hand, his palm was shockingly bright red blood.

Hua Yunfei frowned, stepped forward a few steps, and opened Liao Jiang’s back. It was crisscrossed with whip marks.

Even the always calm Jingzhe, seeing these marks, breathed a bit heavily and gritted his teeth.

Hua Yunfei: “Take him back quickly.”

Wei Liang simply carried Liao Jiang on his back and hurriedly kept up with the pace. Jingzhe walked behind, occasionally supporting the arm that was about to slide down, lest the unconscious Liao Jiang fall down weakly.

After returning all the way, Hua Yunfei ordered Liao Jiang to be put on the bed, went out again, and soon dragged an old eunuch in.

As soon as Wei Liang saw him, his face looked a bit happier, obviously knowing his identity.