CH 66

Chapter 66: Trouble

As soon as Ren Yaoqi saw their appearance, she knew that something must have happened earlier, so she spoke out, “Uncle where did you stay? Is it close to here?”

Li Tianyou looked around, “It shouldn’t be far. I can also see this hill from where I am resting.” He pointed to the rainy and foggy distant mountain road in front of him.

Ren Yaoqi’s eyes followed Li Tianyou’s hand and could only sigh. She wondered whether to remind him that this does not prove the two places are close.

Luckily, Xia Sheng spoke out, “It’s about two-quarters of an hour’s walk away.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at herself and then at the embarrassed Ren Yaohua, and said to Xiang Qin and Sang Shen behind her, “Go back and find clean clothes and shoes for me and my third sister.”

The two maids answered and went away. Ren Yaohua then said to Xia Sheng, “I remember seeing a donkey cart for hire not far ahead. The road is muddy and not easy to walk on.”

Xia Sheng looked at Li Tianyou.

Li Tianyou waved his hand and let Xia Sheng go.

Seeing that only herself, Li Tianyou, Ren Yaohua, and Dong Sheng were left, Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua and Li Tianyou carefully.

She saw that Ren Yaohua’s bright red dress was soaked through from head to toe, turning it into an extremely deep red colour. Especially the pair of lotus green embroidered shoes, which were covered in mud and dried straw, could no longer be seen in their original colour. Her whole body could be described as in a wretched state.

A few locks of her hair fell to her forehead, and her face was a little pale, but her lips were red and dark. It was not clear whether it was from the cold or anger.

This was the first time she had seen Ren Yaohua look like this in front of people.

But it made her a little more vulnerable and approachable if one ignored the cold expression on her face that could freeze people to death.

Dong Sheng’s appearance was not much better than Ren Yaohua’s. The colour of his clothes was so dark that it was impossible to tell whether they were wet or originally dark brown. His half-new rough shoes were covered in mud and dry grass, just like Ren Yaohua’s. His face, in particular, did not look angry like Ren Yaohua’s, but more like one of fear and anxiety.

Ren Yaoqi was a little worried.

When Ren Yaohua had gone out, she had taken a few maids and maids with her. Now all the servants, including Wu Jing, had disappeared. Only the two of them had returned in a mess, who-knew what happened to the others.

But looking at their current appearance, this was not the place to talk.

Ren Yaoqi could only put a straw coat and a hat on Ren Yaohua which had taken off earlier to cover up the mess she was in.

Not long after, Xia Sheng returned with a rented donkey cart. Li Tianyou stroked his chin and looked around the donkey cart for a long time, then asked Ren Yaoqi curiously, “Have you ever ridden in this thing? Can it pull such a big cart? It doesn’t look like it has much strength.” He said and stretched out his palm. He patted the donkey’s head, earning an unpleasant look from the donkey driver.

Although there were more horses in northern Yan than in the south because of the horse farms, the common people still preferred to use donkey carts because the amount of forage needed to feed a donkey was much less than the amount of forage needed to feed a horse.

And donkeys are extremely hardy. They were not as prone to illness as horses and people could still eat their meat when they died of old age. Therefore, most of the common people in the Great Zhou Dynasty who had enough rations at home would raise donkeys.

Especially in Jiangnan, where horses were scarce, donkeys were more common.

But there were no donkey carts for the great families to travel with. The reason was that donkey carriages were not ostentatious enough.

Li Tianyou asked this question because he had never been in a donkey cart. Even as a young boy in the capital city, where horses were scarce, he had only eaten donkey meat.

But all in all, it was a commendable thing that Li Tianyou could tell the difference between a horse and a donkey and not mistaking it for a cow or a dragon or anything else.

Ren Yaoqi told Xia Sheng to wait here for the maids Xiangqin and Sangshen to come and then took them back by hiring a carriage.

She herself got into the donkey cart with Ren Yaohua, and then Li Tianyou also entered. Dong Sheng sat with the coachman on the outside of the donkey cart.

It didn’t take long for the donkey cart to stop in front of a small compound.

The courtyards leased out by the temple all looked very simple, and some of them were made of yellow bricks.

The courtyard where Li Tianyou stayed was of green bricks and black tiles. He found it the second they see it. The courtyard was cleaned up, it was obvious that someone was responsible for repairing and cleaning it during the week.

Like renting fields and employing tenant farmers, house leasing had always been an important source of income for monasteries.

“How long have you been staying at Beilong Temple, Uncle?” Ren Yaoqi followed him into the courtyard as he did so.

“I came yesterday, someone asked me to come over for a chicken fight. The chicken was stolen in the middle of the night. The good thing is that I only came here casually and brought an ordinary one with me, so if I lost it, I lost it. I planned to leave today, but I ran into …… ahem, well, an acquaintance.” Li Tianyou touched his nose and looked to his right and left.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t ask any more questions.

When they entered the house and sat down, Ren Yaoqi looked at Dong Sheng, who had not been looking well, and asked directly, “Where are the servants who serve my Third Sister?”

Ren Yaohua’s eyes pierced Dong Sheng’s face like a sharp blade, but she pursed her lips and did not say a word, obviously, she was too angry.

Dong Sheng glanced at Ren Yao period and lowered his head and whispered, “They were all knocked unconscious by me.”

“……”

“Why don’t you just knock me unconscious too and throw me into the cave?” Ren Yaohua sneered, and gave a fierce glance at Li Tianyou who was sitting on the side watching the fun.

Li Tianyou immediately said with a bitter face, “I didn’t ask him to do that. Besides, Dong Sheng is always good and obedient, so maybe someone close to you has done something too much to make him angry! Isn’t that right, Dong Sheng?” Li Tianyou winked quietly at Dong Sheng.

But Dong Sheng shook his head and said honestly, “It was this subordinate who was reckless.”

Ren Yaohua snorted coldly, “This kind of deadbeat person, what kind of subordinate he could have? The master has no rules, so the subordinates have no rules either!”

Li Tianyou didn’t like to hear these words. He put his hand on Dong Sheng’s shoulder and gave Ren Yaohua a sidelong glance, “He belongs to the master. If this master says he’s a subordinate, he’s a subordinate, if this master says he’s this master’s older brother, he’s this master’s older brother! You’re not surnamed Li, what’s it to you?”

Dong Sheng was startled and said, “Master, this subordinate wouldn’t dare to be ……”

Li Tianyou pushed his head heavily with his palm, “Oh that’s right, this master should say that you are this master’s younger brother. You don’t have enough guts to be this master’s older brother.”

Ren Yaohua looked at the duo of master and servant making a scene there and could not bear it any longer: “Are you going to get my maids back or not? If anything happens to them, you can’t get away with it!”

Only then did Li Tianyou remember, coughed softly, and asked Dong Sheng in a low voice, “Where did you hide them? Why don’t you give them back? Good men don’t fight with women.”

Dong Sheng bowed his head and said, “It’s in a cave, I knocked them out to save time, they should be waking up soon now.”

Ren Yaoqi frowned, “It’s better to send someone to take a look. In case they don’t see Third Sister when they wake up and report to the Eldest Madam, it would be troublesome.”

Dong Sheng nodded and said, “I’ve been negligent, I’ll go and get them now.”

At that moment, someone else came in, and when Ren Yaoqi heard Xiang Qin’s voice, she said to Dong Sheng, “Does Xia Sheng know about the cave? If he does, tell him to take my two maids with him. Lest they see you and get into another argument.”

She actually had a lot of things she wanted to ask Dongsheng.

At that moment Xia Sheng happened to walk in with two maids carrying a bundle.

Ren Yaoqi told Dong Sheng to go and explain to them. She herself took Ren Yaohua with her and went to change her wet clothes and shoes.

They would always have a few clothes on hand when they traveled, just in case.

Generally speaking, for emergencies, these clothes were mostly of similar colours and patterns. This way, if the clothes got dirty, they could be changed without unnecessary embarrassment.

For example, if a girl of 11 or 12 years of age suddenly had her first period. It would also be better to avoid any embarrassment, so as not to become a joke.

The emerald-colored dress Ren Yaoqi had changed into was very similar to the one she was wearing before, and the embroidered shoes on her feet were of the same style and colour, although the flowers were a little different.

Ren Yaohua had also changed into a dress in the colour of maroon.

When the two of them came out, Xia Sheng had already gone to help Ren Yaohua find her people.

Only then did Ren Yaoqi ask Dong Sheng what had happened to him since he came out of Baiyun.

He shook his head and said in a muffled voice, “I was just running all the way, and then I found Third Miss’s people following me. I thought they were the ones who chased after me, so I knocked them out first.”

Ren Yaohua, however, laughed coldly from the sidelines, “Others I can understand, but don’t tell me that you don’t recognize my maid Wu Jing. Who did you learn the rules from, to talk nonsense in front of your master? Or has no one taught you the rules at all!”

Wu Jing had been with Ren Yaohua for some years and had followed her to her grandfather’s house in Yunyang City several times. Dong Sheng should have recognized her.

Even Li Tianyou sneaked a glance at Dong Sheng in disbelief. But he was wise enough not to speak and stir things up, instead staring earnestly at an ordinary white porcelain tea bowl in his hand as if he was looking at an antique. It was clear that he did not want to enter the conversation.

After hearing Ren Yaohua’s rebuttal, Dong Sheng lowered his head and looked as if he had admitted his mistake, but he refused to speak up again to explain what had happened before.

Ren Yaohua became more and more convinced that Li Tianyou was deliberately taking revenge on her, after all, she had mentioned many times that she wanted to throw out the opera troupe from her grandfather’s family.

Ren Yaoqi, however, had other ideas; she knew that Dong Sheng had not finished his words. But there were only the four of them here, no outsiders, so why did he refuse to say anything?

Did he only want to speak to Li Tianyou alone afterward, or was he not going to speak to anyone? If it was the latter, then this matter must be a big deal.

When she thought of her previous life, it was likely that Dong Sheng had disappeared because of this incident, Ren Yaoqi was a little worried.

She thought back carefully on the events she had encountered today, trying to connect the dots. But after thinking about it, something seemed to be missing.

Finally, she could only look at Dong Sheng and said seriously, “I have something to tell you, come with me.” After saying this, Ren Yaoqi stood up and pointed to the room next to her.

Li Tianyou thought that Ren Yaoqi wanted to teach Dong Sheng a lesson, so he struggled for a while, patted him on the shoulder, and comforted him in a low voice: “Fortunately, she is not the very fierce one, just bear with it and it will pass.”

Although it was a whisper, it was obvious that Master Li didn’t have the concept of a so-called whisper. So Ren Yaoqi still heard it, and could only pretend not to.

Over there, however, Ren Yaohua glared fiercely over.

Dong Sheng still dared not go against his master’s wishes and followed Ren Yaoqi to the next room.

Ren Yaoqi walked slowly into the house, not looking for a place to sit down, she went to the window and pushed open a window. A fragrance of grass mixed with moist earth came into the house. The air, which previously had been stale, immediately became fresh and vibrant. It made people’s spirits less tense.

After thinking about it, Ren Yaoqi opened the door and said, “I know you must have encountered something big this time, and it’s not a good thing. I think you don’t want to talk to us because you don’t want to involve us in it. Am I right?”

Dong Sheng looked at Ren Yaoqi with surprise, “Young Miss, are you……”

Ren Yaoqi turned her head and interrupted him in a warm voice, “I understand your loyalty to my uncle. You even have a little more tolerance for us because of that. But have you ever thought that if something bad really happened to you yet you’ve already been in contact with Third Sister, Uncle, and me, would you really not have implicated us? If you had left immediately then, you might have been able to do so without bringing back the trouble. But you sent my sister back. And met us. Your good intentions might have brought bad results ……”

When Dong Sheng smiled, his face looked a little paler, and his bloodless lips trembled along with him.

Ren Yaoqi saw that he had loosened up a bit. Continue to ramble: “Anyway, things have come to this, even if you tell others that we are not involved, others will not believe it. Instead of that, you should tell me the truth. Let’s find a way to settle the matter.”

Unexpectedly, Dongsheng shook his head with a wry smile when he heard the words, with some deep helplessness in his expression, “It’s no use, I’m in big trouble. You are right, Young Miss, I should have left without saying a word.”

Ren Yaoqi listened quietly and shook her head, “Did you knock those servants unconscious because of what they saw? And you sent my Third Sister back because you were afraid that she would run into danger without anyone around her? 

Dong Sheng smiled embarrassedly, “I don’t think they saw it, I was just taking precautions.”

Ren Yaocheng looked at him and did not say anything.

Dong Sheng looked at Ren Yaoqi’s calm face and thought about what she had said before, which was justified. Somehow he managed to take out a letter from his sleeve: “I took a shortcut up the mountain to distract those who were chasing the master. Unexpectedly, there is a person lying on the mountain road. I walked over and saw that the man was dead. There is a letter like this on the ground next to him. I picked it up and looked at it. There was no signature on it and that is how I knew something went wrong.”

After a pause, he continued, “When I was just about to put the letter back, I heard someone coming. After a moment’s hesitation, I put the letter away and went to check on it. It was the Third Miss who had come with some people. I was afraid that they would see the man on the ground, so I secretly led them elsewhere. After finally getting far away from the place, I was about to show myself, but the Third Miss suddenly realized that I had just led them in a circle to cover for the others. So she ordered the maids to go back the way they came. That is why I looked for an opportunity to lure Third Miss away, and then knocked those maids out and hid them.”

“Then I tried to send Third Miss back. I didn’t want Third Miss to be angry, but she thought I hid something from her, so she …… The letter I had placed in my lapel was accidentally pulled out by Third Miss and fell to the ground. I was startled and tried to take the letter back, but Third Miss got ahead of me and tore the seal off the letter.”

Speaking of this, Dong Sheng swallowed and pursed his lips: “I can only say that I wrote that letter to a girl I liked, and Third Miss returned it to me. I saw that the letter had been unsealed, so I opened it and read it once. It is a shock. There was no mark on the envelope, but inside the letter was… can not be seen in the light…”

When the letter was snatched away by Ren Yaohua, he realized why Xia Sheng and the others always said that his martial arts skills were too weak.

He was different from Xia Sheng and the others who come from dead soldiers or guards. He was originally just an ordinary servant, learning martial arts was just a matter of circumstance, just in case, so as not to hold back his masters at critical moments.

It was because of this day. Although his martial arts skills were very average, his running and jumping skills were first class that even Xia Sheng could not outrun him.

“Oh?” Ren Yaoqi frowned and pondered.

If she could, she felt that she should not ask any further, but now this matter might not be that simple anymore. Covering one’s ears was not a good idea, and no matter what, Ren Yaohua had already been implicated.

After a long silence, Dong Sheng suddenly whispered, “That was a secret report written by the imperial court to the governor Zhao Ming.”

Dong Sheng still said it.

He also had no choice. If he hadn’t met Li Tianyou just now, he wouldn’t have said anything.

But he had already involved his master, and couldn’t think of a way to solve it. There is no way to know if anyone was following him secretly.

This was a matter he did not know who to speak to. Of the three masters present, the other two were not suitable.

After all, he was only a servant, there was no way he could do too much.

Ren Yaoqi did not rush to ask what was said in the court’s letter to Governor Zhao. She thought about it, and after a moment of silence, she suddenly looked at Dong Sheng: “Is there something else you haven’t told me? If that was all that had happened. There wouldn’t have been such a long delay.”

Dong Sheng lowered his head at her words, his face a little embarrassed.

Ren Yaoqi smiled faintly, but the gaze she gave him was somewhat indifferent: “If I’m not wrong, the reason you delayed so long before sending my sister back is that you were thinking about killing her to silence her? Lest she drags my mother and grandfather’s family down with her.”

This was what she had thought of when she heard Dong Sheng say that the letter was a secret imperial report.

She would not doubt how loyal this group of people were to the Prince Xian Royal Family.

Dong Sheng’s face was as white as paper. Suddenly his legs went limp and he fell to his knees in front of Ren Yaoqi. He did not argue, and there was nothing to argue.

He had indeed struggled in his heart for a long time. If he killed Ren Yaohua and then left, he would not implicate Prince Xian’s lineage.

So he took Ren Yaohua around in circles for a long time, debating where to kill, but he could not make up his mind. After all, Ren Yaohua was Prince Xian’s granddaughter. She was considered his half-master.

As long as he could remember, he had been taught to be loyal to the Prince Xian Mansion and not hesitate to die for his master. There was no way he could do the deed of regicide.

Eventually, somehow, he led her not far from the temple gate of the Bailong Temple when then they met Li Tianyou and Ren Yaoqi who were looking for Ren Yaohua.

The only thing that went through his mind at the time was that he was going to harm his master with his soft-heartedness. If that was the case he don’t deserve even a hundred deaths.

Even now, if he were given another chance, he would not hesitate to kill Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaoqi looked at his complexion. She sighed softly, “Get up, you are not wrong. You are a subordinate of the Li Family, not the Ren Family, so naturally you have to put the interests of the Li Family member first, and no one can accuse you as far as that is concerned.”

Dong Sheng stood up with an ashen face, but never dared to look up. Although he knew he had done nothing wrong, he had no way of facing Ren Yaoqi’s clear, clear gaze.

“Did you return to the place where you found the letter afterward?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

Dong Sheng nodded.

“And then the person disappeared?”

Dong Sheng looked up in shock and said nervously, “Young Miss, how do you know?”

Ren Yaoqi sighed, “If he were still there, you wouldn’t be so worried and scared.”

The fact that that person was no longer there meant that someone had appeared after Dong Sheng, which meant that perhaps someone had been watching them from the shadows. It also meant that Dong Sheng was in danger of being exposed. Otherwise, it would have been much less trouble for him to go and bury the man and destroy the body.

“I saw earlier that there were no signs of a fight around where he fell, so he must have been wounded elsewhere earlier and was chased to that spot. After I had taken the letter and left, someone found him and took the man away. So my previous movements may have fallen into the eyes of others. I had heard Qiu Sheng and the others mention that the court always did not ask for reasons, only the results. That letter is extremely confidential, and anyone who has come into contact with it… I’m afraid will…”

Ren Yaoqi also felt anxious and couldn’t help but think, did Dong Sheng disappear in the last life because he secretly left of afraid hurting her uncle and the others, or was he silenced and killed?