Chapter 1241: Temporary Imperial Residence (3)

The guards and secret guards hiding in the dark couldn’t help but go forward to check when they heard King Rong’s miserable cry. When they saw Queen Consort Rong pressing down on King Rong and shaking his head, the corners of their mouths twitched and they slowly retreated.

Qi Haoran lay on the grass in a daze and saw that Mu Yangling was leaning against him. After a while, he came back to his senses and carefully glanced at his wife. Seeing that she didn’t look too mad, he asked softly, “Ah Ling, are you still angry?”

Mu Yangling snorted and said, “Why don’t you spin a hundred rounds on the spot as a way of apology?”

Qi Haoran immediately felt a headache coming on. He asked, “Who taught you this method of punishing people? It’s too despicable.”

Could Mu Yangling tell him that this was her instructor’s favorite in her previous life?

“Didn’t you say that you were going to accompany the Empress to tour the lake? Why are you here? Where are Little Leopard and Baozhu?”

“They went to play with Little Fu, the Fifth Prince, and the Sixth Prince. There were too many people at the Empress’s place. Seeing that everyone was either beating around the bush or being sarcastic, I might as well leave first.” Mu Yangling turned to look at him and said, “When I came back, I knew that a certain someone was fishing here alone, so I decided to sacrifice my afternoon off to comfort him. Who knew that a certain someone didn’t know what was good for him and actually frightened me!”

Qi Haoran touched his nose and said softly, “I was just bored. Who asked you not to accompany me in the beginning…”

Under Mu Yangling’s gaze, Qi Haoran couldn’t defend himself anymore. He simply pulled her into his arms and said domineeringly, “I don’t care. Anyway, you’re not allowed to leave since you’re here.”

Mu Yangling pinched the flesh on his waist and asked, “Didn’t you say that you wanted to fish? You fish while lying down?”

Qi Haoran shook his head and said, “Not only am I fishing for fish, but I’m also fishing for people. Furthermore, those who are willing will take the bait!”

Looking at his smug expression, Mu Yangling felt that the feeling of loneliness just now was all in her head. To think that her heart ached when she saw it.

When the couple was done fooling around, they lay side by side on the grass and looked at the blue sky and white clouds. Under the shade of the tree, a cool breeze blew, making Qi Haoran a tad sleepy. He held Mu Yangling’s hand tightly and said vaguely, “When Little Leopard and Baozhu are a little older, we’ll hang out like this every day. You’ll be my companion, okay?”

There was this saying that went ‘a man and his wife are lovers when they are young; companions when they are old’. It was only just now that Qi Haoran deeply experienced that feeling.

No matter how many people stood beside him now, be it friends, brothers, and children, they all had their own lives. Ultimately, the only person who would always remain by his side was Ah Ling.

Mu Yangling hummed softly. Just as she was about to close her eyes and sleep, she felt the fishing rod inserted at the side move, causing her to immediately sit up. Qi Haoran was even faster than her. Not only did he jump up, but he also grabbed the fishing rod and swung it skillfully. A big fish that weighed four to five catties drew an arc in the air and fell to the ground with a loud plop.

The couple was overjoyed. “Such a big fish. What a good start!”

The guards and secret guards who were hiding in the forest and feeling extremely touched a moment ago: “…”

The guards and secret guards wiped their faces and silently stared at the extremely blissful couple on the grass.

The temporary imperial residence was filled with endless joy, but Little Treasure and Little Bear, who had yet to enter Shandong, were running to their deaths.

News of their departure was not leaked when they left Weizhou City, and only Li Zhang and the magistrate of Weizhou knew that they had left. Since they had hidden their tracks, they did not encounter any trouble. However, ever since Ogedei returned to Great Yuan, and after news spread of the Great Qi-West Xia alliance and that West Xia had returned their lost territory, assassination attempts had been made on them successively.

They had clearly changed their route twice on the way and even disguised themselves, but the assassins still caught up to them.

The guards following the two of them were more or less injured. Little Treasure and Little Bear’s expressions were a little ugly. Coupled with the storm, everyone’s expressions were even uglier.

The guard who went to scout the way quickly returned and reported, “Young Master, there’s an abandoned earth temple in front. Should we go in and hide from the heavy rain?”

Little Treasure looked at Little Bear, who ordered, “Let’s go and take a look.”

The guards checked the inside and outside of the dilapidated temple. After confirming that there was no danger, they let the two young masters in.

As this earth temple had been in disrepair for a long time, rain was leaking everywhere inside. Still, it beat being drenched in the rain outside.

“Those who are injured, quickly change into dry clothes and apply medicine.” Little Bear turned around and said to the guard captain, “Send four people to stand guard. The rest of you, quickly find dry firewood to start a fire. If nothing unexpected happens, I’m afraid we’ll have to spend the night here.”

The guard captain agreed and quickly went to make the arrangements.

Little Treasure helped the injured guards apply the medicine and was kept busy for more than an hour before it was done. By then, everyone had also settled down. They sat by the fire in twos and threes, but intentionally or unintentionally surrounded Little Treasure and Little Bear in the middle.

Little Treasure turned around and saw Little Bear looking at the map under the fire. He quickly walked over and asked, “How is it? Which road are we taking tomorrow?”

“They clearly don’t want us to go down the official road. They’ve set up a large number of people to intercept us at the various intersections that lead to the official road. Traveling on the byway will slow us down, and it’s also fraught with dangers, allowing the enemy to catch up eventually. Besides, don’t you think they’ve been very accurate in locating us?”

Little Treasure frowned. “There can’t possibly be a traitor among us.”

Those who could be chosen by the Emperor and Qi Haoran to be their personal guards were all loyal warriors. Moreover, with their families’ lives in the hands of the Emperor, the price of betrayal was too high.

Little Bear didn’t believe that there was a traitor among them either. He tapped his fingers and said, “Before Weizhou, they couldn’t determine our route at all. It’s only after Weizhou that they knew our whereabouts. So, something must have happened in Weizhou City to make them keep an eye on us. My mother mentioned that there are scents in the world that only certain animals can detect. Maybe we have something like that on us.”

Little Treasure coughed lightly and said softly, “Fourth Aunt was just telling a story.”

“A story draws inspiration from real-life experiences.” Little Bear insisted.

Little Treasure asked speechlessly, “Then how do you plan to break out of this situation?”

“Since they’re obviously deterring us from taking the official road, we’ll insist on going that way. All they can do is attempt to stop us. It’s impossible for them to stop the trade caravan and ordinary people as well. Otherwise, the garrison and government office would have long treated them as bandits.”

“But we’ve disguised ourselves as trade caravans before and couldn’t get onto the official road either…” They were even surrounded and someone almost died.

Little Treasure and Little Bear simultaneously thought of the goods they had left behind that time, and their eyes turned a little red. That was the silver they were intending to return to their younger brothers, and it was all gone!

Little Bear shook his head and threw away his grief and indignation. Gritting his teeth, he said, “This time, we won’t pretend to be a trade caravan. We’ll pretend to be commoners instead. If we take the official road, we’ll only need two days to reach the Shandong garrison. On the other hand, the byway will take five to six days. The assistant commander of the Shandong garrison, Zhao Yong, used to be a lieutenant under my father. His hometown is in Jiangnan, so there’s no problem with his loyalty. When we have sufficient manpower, I’ll capture them all in one fell swoop!”

Little Treasure looked at the map in a daze and asked, “Did you calculate wrongly? It only takes half a day if we take the official path, and the byway only takes more than two days…”

Little Bear looked at him in disdain. “That’s if we’re taking a horse. We’re pretending to be ordinary people. Have you seen any ordinary people who can afford to ride a horse?”

Little Treasure was speechless. So they were going to abandon their horses, too?