Chapter 31: Hard Slap
'XiaoJie, YuLi promises that she will bring offerings for your soul every Yulan Festival [1]. XiaoJie, please forgive YuLi. YuLi was only trying her best to survive.'
YuLi went back to bed and forced herself to sleep.
Little did she know, after waking up, the thing she wanted the most, XuanRong would make it happen.
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XuanRong raised the carriage's curtain and stared at the distance. After traveling for six to seven shichen [2], she was able to see the town's gate. She could now see the twin outpost at the edge of the metal gate. Many people were passing through the gate, hurrying to enter and exit the town. Although Lu Shan was located at the suburb areas of Qian Zou, the town's people were still living quite luxurious and safe than the ones who were living at the boarder of Qian Zou. Even though there were local bandits harassing the town's people every now and then, no major disaster or other dangerous events happened in Lu Shan for many decades. It was mainly due to the fact that aside from the Imperial family's Royal Residence located at the base of the mountain, the manor which XuanRong was currently staying was previously owned by Chen family before ChenYi brought it with her as one of her dowries when she entered the Xuan residence.
The Chen family was a family with deep roots in military combat. Great General Chen was the sole pillar of Qian Zou. Together with his deceased wife and the only Female General in the history of Qian Zou, Great General Chen's party was able to topple all of their enemies and slaughter many foes in the battlefield. He single-handedly destroyed the elite troops from Jing with his bloody halberd, thus, acquiring the title, 'The Blood General', for he was seen being soaked with his enemy's blood.
Because of him, Lu Shan was able to progress and the town's people were safe from any attacks coming from the local bandits for many years. So, XuanRong was sure that the midnight mercenary that was hired by her Er Niang [3] was not from Lu Shan.
"Jia!"
"Jiaa!!"
"Jia!"
The voices were getting louder and louder as the time pass by.
XuanRong was pulled back from her dilly dallying when she heard footsteps from the horses behind her entourage. The stomping sound from the horses indicated that the group behind her was currently in a hurry.
Few minutes later, just half an incense stick of time passed, when the group was able to overtake XuanRong and the rest. Since the curtain was currently being raised above her head, she was able to see the group who overtook their lead.
XuanRong could not help but stare at the group of men riding horses.
She was busy analyzing the group as they pass by at her carriage when someone caught her attention--- no, something caught her attention.
It was a pair of eyes that almost made her heart skip, making her feel agitated and excited. Unfortunately, those feelings were only short-lived, for the fact that the very same pair of eyes lacked the sharpness of the person she was looking for.
If the eyes of her benefactor were full of sharpness and aloofness, this pair of eyes were twinkling and was full of innocence. XuanRong was taken aback when the owner of those eyes smiled widely at her when their eyes met. A young man in the age of 16-17 with a face that could launch a thousand ships [4] was smiling widely at her.
Everything happened in a blink of an eye but XuanRong never thought that a certain black-bellied man already had his desire to monopolize her, and was already started scheming behind her back.
She never thought that it was just the beginning of the too many 'coincidences' with him.
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YuYing was currently fanning XuanRong inside the carriage. The weather was currently hot and she could see that her XiaoJie was having a hard time dealing with heat. Thinking of the horrible experience her XiaoJie encountered, YuYing was filled with great remorse, her anger towards herself was directed to the fan she was holding. Using all of her strength, she moved her hand up and down with all her might, releasing her anger.
XuanRong stared at YuYing who was puffing her cheeks as she fanned her crazily. XuanRong inwardly shook her head. YuYing was older than her but she sometimes acts like a child.
"Enough. Do not waste your energy and let the poor fan go. Why are you still angry when I'm already okay?"
"XiaoJie! Please don't tease this servant! This servant is angry towards herself. If this servant did not leave and stubbornly decided to stay with XiaoJie, XiaoJie won't experience such horrible thing! This servant is guilty! If YuLi finds out that this servant was not able to help XiaoJie, YuLi will definitely get angry at this servant!"
XuanRong sighed.
She could no longer tolerate YuLi's betrayal. Although she was deeply saddened by the unchangeable destiny between her and YuLi's relationship as master and servant, she did not want to continue raising a white-eyed wolf [5] inside her manor. Seemed like it was time to tell YuYing everything.
"YuYing, listen to me and listen carefully."
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"Da XiaoJie and the rest are back!"
When YuLi heard the other lower-ranked maidservants outside her own room, her hand that was holding a jade comb shook. Her eyes widened as she stared shockingly at the door.
*clank*
The jade comb fell on the ground and was broken into pieces. It was given to her by XuanRong on her previous birthday. She treasured it the most but unfortunately, it was now broken. No matter what she did, she could no longer finds any remedy to fix the broken pieces and could only stare helplessly on the ground.
'W-what… what did they say?'
YuLi felt her legs go soft.
She stepped backwards and was planning to grab something to support herself when the door opened.
When YuLi saw the person standing at the door, YuLi could only cry out her name.
"X-XiaoJie..."
YuLi forced herself to smile at XuanRong, making it appear forceful and awkward.
"Y-you are back..."
YuLi was inwardly trying to calm herself. She should not act like she was hiding something. No matter what, unless she confessed, XuanRong wouldn't be able tell that she was also part of the scheme.
YuLi scoffed inside her heart. No one knew that she was also involved behind XuanRong's assassination attempt.
'That's right! I should---'
*Pa!!!*
YuLi was caught off-guard. She was busy scheming when she felt the stinging pain on her left cheek.
"You----!"
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[1]. Also known as Hungry Ghost Festival or the Festival of the Dead
[2]. One shichen is approximately two hours, seven shichen is fourteen hours-Modern time
[3]. Second Mother
[4]. A description of a peerless beauty (Helen of Troy)
[5]. Thankless person.
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Edited and Proofread by: Prikkrang and Supremetobs
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