CH 144

All Emperor Sheng Yuan’s attention was drawn to the word “Yanghua Mountain”, and he asked in a deep voice, “They want to throw you into the den of bandits?”

“More than that…” Guan Suyi explained everything that happened on the road in detail, then patted the purse hanging on her waist, and said with fear, “If I hadn’t carried these three masks with me, I would never be able to come back this time.” Until now, the lewd laughter of those bandits still reverberates in her mind, sending chills down her spine.

Emperor Sheng Yuan quickly patted her on the shoulder and softly comforted her, “Don’t be afraid, you are safe now. I will take this person out of the carriage and torture him to see if I can find out the culprit behind it.”

Guan Suyi nodded, then hesitated. “Alright, but can you come back soon?” When faced with danger alone, she could move forward bravely and fearlessly. But once she was in a safe place with a warm and solid support, unconsciously she wanted to cling to it. She was afraid of being alone in the carriage, and the weak emotion that she had left in her previous life was surging at this moment.

Emperor Sheng Yuan looked at Madam’s little hand grabbing the hem of his clothes, and his cold and hard heart became a puddle, “Madam, don’t be afraid. I will be back soon. You lie down and sleep for a while, and I will call you after I finish.”

“How long until you come back?” Guan Suyi asked while frowning.

Emperor Sheng Yuan smiled and promised, “I will be back in less than a quarter of an hour.” Madam was extremely stubborn, once she grabbed hold of someone or something, she would never let go. In the eyes of others, even relatives, this could be regarded as a terrible problem, but to Emperor Sheng Yuan, it was precisely her most lovely trait. She now looked like a cat with its little paws open, hanging on the corner of its master’s robe to beg for caress or hugs, but on the surface tried her best to look indifferent.

This kind of her would only make him love her to the core.

Guan Suyi then let go of his robe and pretended to waved her hand casually, “Then you go.”

Emperor Sheng Yuan held back his smile and jumped off the carriage while carrying the man, then after just a few steps away he heard a young man’s voice coming from inside the carriage, “Bring me a set of military uniform.”

“Alright, you go to sleep first.” One moment Emperor Sheng Yuan was still smiling at the carriage, the next moment he turned around and his face became extremely cold. He handed the person over to the lieutenant who was best at extorting confessions by torture, and ordered, “Find out whose dog is this.”

Because they were traveling, the lieutenant couldn’t set up a torture chamber, so he had to tie the person to the back of a horse and wait until they set up camp to ask the questions. Emperor Sheng Yuan found his horse, took out a clean military uniform and a thin blanket from his luggage, then returned to the carriage and ordered the army to move on.

Guan Suyi stared at the curtain of the carriage with wide eyes, and when she saw Hunnar came in, she relaxed and leaned against the wall of the carriage. The feeling of stepping into the coffin frightened her, no, in fact she had already been lying on the coffin. If those two people had not put a wooden pillow under her neck, she could only be trampled on by now, and the only way to end her misery was to bite her tongue and kill herself.

When Emperor Sheng Yuan saw her face turned from white to blue, he immediately realized that she was afraid again, and hurriedly sat down and patted her back, softly comforting, “Don’t think about it, you are sitting here right now, nothing happened. Come on, quickly change your clothes. You put on a man’s face but wears a woman’s clothing, be careful to let other people laugh.”

Guan Suyi glared at him, seemingly a bit angry, but actually she felt much better. She immediately wrapped herself in the robe and tied the belt. Because the sleeves and hem were too long, the two of them worked together to roll it up for a long time but still couldn’t shorten it, then he just simply cutting it off with a dagger, only then did she look a bit like a young soldier.

“Alright, you go to sleep first. Qin Lingyun is a fierce general under my command, and it’s no problem to deal with a bunch of rouges. Maybe you can see Mu Mu again when you wake up.” Emperor Sheng Yuan lumped the rest of the clothes together and signal her to lie down on the makeshift pillow.

“I don’t dare to sleep. I want to save Mu Mu.” Guan Suyi held a corner of his clothes.

“Just sleep for a while. Look at you, the circles under your eyes are so dark.” Emperor Sheng Yuan tried to persuade several times to no avail, so he had to put his hand on her forehead and gently press it down, but she leaned forward with her waist straight, refusing to fall down. Her stubborn appearance was fragile and cute, which made Emperor Sheng Yuan feel pity, and wished to wrap her whole person into his arms and lie down together.

“Are you going to sleep? If you don’t, I’ll have someone send you back to the capital, lest you’re unable to hold on halfway and slow down the marching speed.” He was both angry and funny.

“I’m sitting in the carriage, not walking on the road, so how can I slow you down?” Guan Suyi rubbed her dark eye-sockets, her pupils were a little confused.

“If it weren’t for your carriage, and we have to match the speed of the carriage wheels, with my two thousand elite cavalries, I would have gone thousands of miles away by now.” Emperor Sheng Yuan thought about it for a while, and laughed softly, “Or you will go down and abandon this carriage to ride the horse with me. If you want to sleep, it will be more comfortable in my arms.”

Guan Suyi’s pale cheeks were slowly burned red, but fortunately, she was covered by a mask, so it didn’t show. She leaned back and compromised, “You win, I’m going to sleep now, call me in half an hour.” She hesitated for a moment and then changed her mind, “No, call me in three quarters of an hour.”

“Don’t worry, I will definitely call you.” Emperor Sheng Yuan was a little helpless, he pulled the thin blanket and covered it over her, sighing, “You always win when you shouldn’t win, but you admit defeat when you shouldn’t lose. Madam was born to restrain me.”

Guan Suyi pulled up the thin blanket to cover her cheeks, revealing only half of her red ears. Emperor Sheng Yuan sat beside her and watched for a while, then suddenly laughed softly, his expression full of tenderness and helplessness.

—

Three quarters of an hour later, Emperor Sheng Yuan did not wake up Madam as promised. When she woke up, it was almost midnight, and the army finally blocked the gang of rouges in the mountain pass near Tong Valley. Qin Lingyun and Zhao Luli respectively led two groups of people, and they were at a stalemate with the desperate bandits.

“What the hell is going on?” Emperor Sheng Yuan was very annoyed, because one of the bandits was pressing a dagger against Mu Mu’s neck.

The scout reported in a low voice, “Back to the master, this group of people met Zhao Luli on the way, and he actually recognize the young master. The two sides fought, and happened to be blocked by the marquis at this place. The bandit leader saw that we were numerous and powerful, and learned that the young master is the young son of the Emperor Teacher Mansion. He knew that he was in a big trouble, so he held the young master hostage and threatened us to let them go.”

“We can’t let them go!” Guan Suyi said firmly.

“Indeed we can’t let them go. They have already learned Mu Mu’s identity, and they will definitely kill him to silence him when they arrive in a safe place.” Emperor Sheng Yuan took Madam to observe the periphery of the battle circle, found a highland with a better view, picked up the handle of the huge Bone Spirit Longbow and put two arrows at the same time.

The two stood in the dark, and as long as they didn’t make a sound, no one would notice their existence. On the contrary, the bandits were blocked in the battle circle by soldiers holding torches, and the orange-red flames reflected their hideous faces. Mu Mu was held hostage by the leader, looking very frightened, his face was as pale as paper.

Guan Suyi’s dry eyes instantly became wet, but she forcibly suppressed the urge to run over. She visually measured the distance between the two sides, and said worriedly, “Fifty to sixty zhang*, headwind, the light is dim, wouldn’t it be too difficult to send a sneak attack? If you miss the shot, Mu Mu will be in danger.”

Emperor Sheng Yuan asked in a deep voice, “Madam, can you trust me?”

In the darkness, Guan Suyi couldn’t see his expression clearly, but she could see a hint of determination and steadiness in his deep eyes. Slowly, her flustered heartbeat also calmed down, and she said word by word, “You shoot, I believe you.”

“Thank you, Madam.” Emperor Sheng Yuan smiled slightly, and then raised his bow and arrow and aimed at the bandit leader sixty zhang away. The bowstring was pulled to the limit by him, and a faint crackling could be faintly heard, as if it would burst in the next moment. Guan Suyi’s heartstrings also tightened, and even her temples throbbed.

Finally, his fingertips loosened unconsciously, and the two arrows broke through the air, separated by a few feet in front and back. One shot first went through the bandit’s head, and the other came later and shot at the same place. Hearing only two muffled sounds of “poof”, the bandit leader lost his life before he could even blink his eyes. The arrows that had not lose its steam then pierce the bandits standing behind him and they fell to the ground one after another.

Originally Mu Mu was still clutched in the villain’s hand in horror while tilting his head hard to stay away from the blade, but the next moment, the hand fell down softly, releasing its hold on him. At first, he was still confuse, but then Marquis Zhenxi grabbed him, and Zhao Luli slashed his sword, eliminating the bandits closest to him.

Although they had not cooperated for a long time, the tacit understanding they have cultivated on the battlefield was still there. In an instant they killed a group of people, and then withdrew from the battle circle.

“Mu Mu, Mu Mu, are you alright?” A teenager ran out of the darkness and hugged Mu Mu to check him from head to toe.

Mu Mu often played the game “Do you recognize me” with his sister, and recognized her immediately. But he remembered his sister’s instructions, so he didn’t dare to call her name, just put his arms around her neck. His head arched from side to side, secretly wiped away his tears. He was a man, how could he cry from being scared!

“Little brother-in-law must be frightened, right? Give big brother-in-law a good look.” Another tall figure walked out of the darkness, carrying a giant bow on his back, reaching out to hug the little guy and placing it on his shoulders.

“Are you big brother-in-law? You are so good at archery!” Mu Mu’s eyes lit up, and he didn’t want to let go of the man’s big head. Although the other person had a beard and the color of his eyes was wrong, the voice was the same. It was he who saved himself, and he was safe with him.

Qin Lingyun was very considerate. After snatching the child, he covered his eyes, preventing him from seeing more bloody scenes, so he was able to ease his fear quickly. Several people quickly left the battle circle and walked to the Wupeng carriage to talk.

“Thank you Lord Marquis for your help! Thank you Master Zhao for your help!” Guan Suyi bowed down sincerely.

“It’s no problem.” Zhao Luli fixed his gaze at her, but in the end he didn’t find anything amiss. He just thought that she was Mu Mu’s servant, and he hurriedly came out because he was eager to protect his master. Qin Lingyun understood in his heart and said with a smile, “I’m just following orders, not deserving the ‘thank you’ words. By the way, Mu Mu’s little monkey is still with me, you can come and get it later. Thanks to this little thing sneaking out and gave me directions all the way, only then we were able to block people in the mountain.”

“Is Dalang okay? That’s great! Thank you Lord Marquis! Thank you…” Mu Mu didn’t know what to call Zhao Luli, and thought about it for a long time before he shouted “Master Zhao” like his sister, which made Zhao Luli smile bitterly. He turned around and heard Mu Mu calling Emperor Sheng Yuan “brother-in-law” very affectionately, and his heart felt like it had been stabbed by a knife.

The more Emperor Sheng Yuan looked at his brother-in-law, the more he liked him, so he simply put him on his shoulders and took him to an open place to play, while waiting for the soldiers to clear up the battlefield. Guan Suyi followed step by step, looking at the big and small backs stacked on top of each other, she smiled while supporting her forehead.