chapter 74.1

The next day, the news that King Liang Jr. was about to marry Murong Yunshu spread all over Shu Province. Soon, the news transmitted outside of Shu Province, and reached the ears of the Imperial Palace and various vassals kings. The Daye Dynasty was divided into nine provinces, and Jingzhou was the Imperial Capital. The other eight vassals were seated by eight vassal kings. However, the marriage of King Liang Jr. and Murong Yunshu undoubtedly had broken this balance. The Emperor was flustered, while the eight kings’ minds were perturbed.

Within the Imperial City, in the Forbidden Palace, inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Emperor was furious, as he banged the table and shouted loudly, “Murong Yunshu really has a lot of nerve to even dare to be like fog and vapor in one air[+]Chinese metaphor : in cahoots with King Liang! No wonder she refused my offer to sanction her marriage in the first place!”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger.” The ministers cried out in unison.

The Emperor gave a loud ‘humph’ as he left with a flick of his sleeve[+]Chinese idiom : storm off in a huff.

After withdrawing from the Imperial Court session, Hua Lingtian immediately went to the Imperial Study. “Fu Huang[+]fu=father, huang=emperor, please calm down. As far as I know, Murong Yunshu has long been betrothed to Chu Changge, the master of the Mojiao Sect, and she will never marry another person. There is something fishy with this matter.” He then asked for permission, “Requesting Fu Huang[+]fu=father, huang=emperor to allow Erchen[+]lit. child and subject, [archaic] a first person pronoun employed by a male sovereign when speaking to an empress mother, queen mother, empress dowager, queen dowager, or the like to go to Shu Province to find out the truth.”

“That’s out of question!” The Emperor firmly refused, “King Liang, father and son, are like wolf cubs with savage hearts[+]Chinese metaphor : full of wild and evil ambitions. For you to go to Shu Province is the same as a lamb in a tiger’s den[+]Chinese idiom : tread dangerous ground. It is too dangerous. You stay in the palace and concentrate on learning how to run the country. Regarding Shu Province matter, Zhen[+]I, the sovereign; we [used by royalty] will give it to the other ministers to handle.”

“But…”

“Zhen[+]I, the sovereign; we [used by royalty] has already decided. You may withdraw.”

“Yes, Fu Huang[+]fu=father, huang=emperor.”

As soon as Hua Lingtian left, the Emperor called out a secret emissary and instructed, “Pass on my word. Tell Nie Qing, assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to immediately depart to Shu Province and stop the marriage between Murong Yunshu and King Liang Jr.”

*

Meanwhile, the vassal Kings from all parts of the country had sent their envoys to the Liang Wang[+]King Residence in Shu Province. On the surface, they came to congratulate them, but in fact they were going there to find out the real situation. If Murong Yunshu really teamed up with Hua Yeli, it would not be a bad idea for them to see the wind and set the helm[+]Chinese idiom : act as the situation dictates.

It was a pity that the other provinces were one hundred and eight thousand li[+]three hundred [or three hundred sixty] paces apart and the roads were remotely distant. So, before the envoys could arrive, the Liang Wang[+]King Residence was wildly beating gongs and drums[+]Chinese idiom : aggressively in preparing for the wedding.

There would not be ten miles of red dowry, nor would there be a palanquin with eight carriers. Murong Yunshu was directly put in the guest courtyard inside Liang Wang[+]King Residence. She had already put on her phoenix crown and robe of rank. She was only waiting for the auspicious time to arrive, before she married and moved to the Master Courtyard.

From the front door to the back door, up and down of Liang Wang[+]King Residence, were pasted with the word ‘囍 xi[+]double happiness’, which made the place look very cheerful.

Inside the bridal chamber, Murong Yunshu had finished dressing, and she was currently sitting in front of the dressing table, while looking at herself in the mirror in a daze. No one knew what she was thinking. Behind her, stood two well-behaved maids, with the xiniang[+]woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day / matron of honour harping about various rules and regulations beside her.

“Miss.” Lu-er, who had just entered with a mysterious expression on her face, called out loud to attract Murong Yunshu’s attention.

“What is it?” Murong Yunshu looked at her through the mirror.

Lu-er glanced at the two maids and the xiniang[+]woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day / matron of honour as she said, “Can you take a step aside for a second?”

Once Lu-er finished speaking, she headed outside to the corner by the window, and Murong Yunshu followed suit but stopped after a step.

“Miss.” Lu-er turned back and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve already given you a step.” Murong Yunshu said with unparalleled frankness.

Lu-er stamped her foot after hearing her words. Then, she pushed Murong Yunshu into a corner in anger. She glanced at the maids and xiniang[+]woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day / matron of honour warily before whispering, “Miss, I’ve been thinking about it today and finally came up with a good way to save you from marrying that scoundrel, King Liang Jr!”

“Oh?” Murong Yunshu raised her beautiful eyebrows and asked, “What do you have in mind?”

“Get someone else to marry for you.” Lu-er answered smugly.

Murong Yunshu pretended to be interested and nodded, “Who will it be?”

“Let’s find…whoever you want,” replied Lu-er.

“Where to find this person?”

“Let’s go…go…I haven’t thought of that yet.” Lu-er responded bitterly. “Otherwise, would you let me think about it again?”

“There’s no time for that.”

“But…” Lu-er was anxious, “Miss, you can’t marry that scoundrel, King Liang Jr. If you married him, what about Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family]?”

From the moment Lu-er entered the door, it was this sentence that had moved Murong Yunshu’s heart. It also caused Murong Yunshu’s originally unhappy pair of clear eyes to arouse with ripples. “I don’t need to worry about him anymore.” She coldly said.

Lu-er blinked, “Huh? Miss, did you have a fight with Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family]?” That wasn’t right, they didn’t even know where he was, so how could Miss have a quarrel with him? However, from the tone of Miss’ voice, it was clear that she was having a fight with Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family].

Murong Yunshu did not admit or deny it, but she only said, “You go and plant another grass in the yard.”

Lu-er was dumbfounded. Had she heard it right? How could Miss still remember to tell her to plant grass when the fire had burned their eyebrows[+]Chinese idiom : at a crucial point?

Afterwards, Murong Yunshu told the xiniang[+]woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day / matron of honour and the two maids, “You all can go out. When the auspicious time comes, come in and call me. I want to rest for a while.”

“Yes.” The xiniang[+]woman employed to wait on the bride on her wedding day / matron of honour together with the maids withdrew in single file.

Lu-er also muttered with a puzzled look on her face as she headed out. In the process, she didn’t forget to shut the door for her Master.

After the crowd left, Murong Yunshu pulled off the phoenix crown that was weighing her neck down. She remembered last night’s incident, with a look of worry crept onto her brows as she rested her cheek on one hand in a daze.

……

After waiting anxiously for two days, the almighty Mojiao Sect finally managed to ‘borrow’ the Qixing[+]seven-star Sword that could cut through iron like mud from Marquis of Jingbian. So when there was no one outside in the dead of night, Murong Yunshu asked the four people South, East, North and West to accompany her to save Chu Changge.

On the way to see Chu Changge that day, although Murong Yunshu’s eyes were blindfolded, her ears were not blocked. She was born with an unforgettable ear. At that time, she deliberately noted down the sound of the wheels rolling and the direction of the carriage, so that, when she closed her eyes once more, the route was presented in a special form in her mind.

Murong Yunshu sat in the carriage, with her eyes closed her eyes, while muttering, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…turn left…one, two…”

Just after counting to ‘two’, Murong Yunshu abruptly opened her eyes and said, “That’s not right.”

East Guardian asked, “What’s not right?”

Murong Yunshu said, “After turning left, the carriage should drive onto a gravel road. The wheels will roll on the ground and make a low, faint creaking sound, but now the sound is as smooth as running water. This road must be an even road, not a gravel road.”

East Guardian was surprised, “Madam is right. This road is indeed an even road.”

“Could it be that Madam remembered the wrong direction and we should actually turn to the right?” South Guardian asked.

“No.” Murong Yunshu thought for a while and said, “It may be because the wheels of this carriage are different in size from the wheels that were used on that day.”

West Guardian slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “That must be the reason! That day after Madam got into the carriage, I followed from behind. Although I lost the carriage after it went around in circles, I clearly remembered the wheels of that carriage, which were much bigger than the normal wheels. At that time, I wondered, why would this King Liang Jr use such a strange carriage? Now, I think that he must have been afraid that Madam would remember the way to go there, so he deliberately used a carriage with big wheels, which is not common in the market.”

The other three nodded and said in unison, “I also have that impression.”

When they thought of that day, all four of them were extremely upset. If it wasn’t for their being bad with their qinggong[+]”the art of lightness”. The body is trained to be “light as feather”, so that a person can run at great speed, leap high and drop down softly on the tip of the toe, they would not have been thrown off by King Liang Jr’s carriage, and they would have been able to rescue Leader long time ago. Fortunately, Madam had the foresight to concentrate on her surroundings.

Murong Yunshu said, “Since the wheels are bigger than the current one, the gravel road must be up ahead. Keep driving and pay attention to the fork on the left. When you see the gravel road, turn.”

“Okay.”

The four men drove the carriage slowly.

Shortly afterwards, a gravel path did appear on their left side.

Murong Yunshu said, “Alright. We should have walked eighteen turns of the wheels, but we used thirty-six turns. It seems that the wheels of King Liang Jr’s carriage were twice as big as ours. Next, I will double the number of the wheel turns and keep the direction of the corner unchanged, so we can find the cave.”

“Madam is really wise!” North Guardian clapped his hands in praise.

“A little smarter than you, indeed.” Murong Yunshu said indifferently.

North Guardian’s two hands that had just closed stiffened. Although it was true…she didn’t have to be this direct…

South, East and West laughed, and the dull night became much livelier.

When Murong Yunshu gave the order to stop, the three of them were unable to laugh anymore.

“Madam, this…” East Guardian spoke hesitantly. He doubted that he was hallucinating.

Murong Yunshu also froze when she got off the carriage and took a look. After driving around for most of the day, they had actually arrived at the side wall of the Liang Wang[+]King Residence.