Chapter 847 - 849: The Witty Muyu’s Doctored Medicine_1
Tu Ying lay beside Bai Ruozhu and Dengdeng, whispering, "Ruozhu, don’t move."
"Mmm," Bai Ruozhu responded.
From outside the carriage, the clashing of swords and the thud of arrows could be heard, followed by the voice of Chen Feng, "Madam, stay inside the carriage, do not come out."
"Alright, who launched the surprise attack?" Bai Ruozhu lay in the carriage, her voice betraying no sign of panic.
"Not sure yet, it seems to be mountain bandits," Chen Feng said.
Bai Ruozhu did not ask further so as not to distract Chen Feng. With Chen Feng and Muyu outside, and so many soldiers, as well as Tu Ying inside the carriage with her, what was there to fear?
Dengdeng, not knowing the danger, found it amusing that his mother was lying down just like him and giggled. His laughter eased the atmosphere in the carriage considerably, even Tu Ying was no longer as tense as before.
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but tap her son’s little nose, whispering, "You little rascal, it’s dangerous outside."
Tu Ying laughed softly, "Our Dengdeng will surely become a great hero in the future. To be so brave at such a young age...if it were my cousin, she’d be in tears by now and might even accidentally attract the enemies."
"Your cousin is a girl, after all, and Dengdeng is surely brave due to ignorance," said Bai Ruozhu with a smile.
"What do you think of the people outside? Easy to handle?" Tu Ying asked, her tone not conveying much concern.
Bai Ruozhu smiled and said, "It should be alright. If the opponent had more people and stronger combatants, they would not still be hiding but would have charged over by now. However, with the enemy exposed and us hidden, blocking this attack, we must be more careful afterward."
"These don’t seem like ordinary mountain bandits, might be someone with a plot. I suspect the closer we get to Xuanlang City, the more dangerous it will become," Tu Ying added.
"Once we’re inside Xuanlang City, everything will start to get better, and we’re almost there," Bai Ruozhu said, holding back Dengdeng, who was trying to crawl around in the carriage, the little fellow truly without a shred of fear.
Outside, Jiang Yichun ordered the soldiers to be vigilant while secretly deploying dark guards to sneak towards the location from where the hidden arrows had come. Before long, the archers had been defeated; some killed, some wounded, and the rest captured by the soldiers.
"Check these men’s identities," Jiang Yichun commanded. "Keep a close watch on the captives, and interrogate them thoroughly once we reach the town."
"Yes," the soldier accepted the order, reorganized the troops, and Jiang Yichun went to Bai Ruozhu’s carriage to check on her and Dengdeng. After comforting his son for a while, he returned to the front of the column and gave the order to move on.
By then, the sky had completely darkened. When they reached the town, most households had already turned off their lights to rest. The majority of the troops encamped outside the town, while Jiang Yichun led the people from the Study Palace to an inn in town for lodgings. However, the innkeeper said that most of the rooms were full, with only three rooms left.
Jiang Yichun frowned. They could not ask other guests to leave, especially since it was late at night, and it wouldn’t sound good if word got out.
After thinking it over, he said to the innkeeper, "We have many people; is there any way you could arrange a few more rooms? I’ll pay double the room rate, and if anyone is willing to vacate their room, we’re prepared to compensate them five times the room fee." After saying this, he handed the innkeeper five pieces of silver as a tip.
The innkeeper, realizing he was dealing with someone affluent, thought for a moment and said, "I can vacate my own room for you and sleep in the common hall with the staff tonight. As for the other guests, I’ll go ask on your behalf."
Soon, the innkeeper secured two more rooms, and Jiang Yichun allocated them. Everyone would just have to make do and squeeze in for the night.
Bai Ruozhu secured the medicine and handed it to Muyu to watch over the brewing in the kitchen, specifically instructing, "Muyu, remember what I said, don’t be reckless, keep the medicine safe, and don’t let anyone tamper with it."
Muyu quickly replied, "Rest assured, Madam, I understand the importance."
As Muyu went to prepare medicine and didn’t seem to get it right for half a day, Bai Ruozhu called Tu Ying to check on the situation. From a distance, they saw Muyu fumbling in the inn’s kitchen, clumsily pouring the medicine soup into a bowl. Then, he muttered something unintelligible and suddenly spit into the medicine.
Bai Ruozhu was about to call out to him when the sight of the spit made her so shocked that the words she was about to say got swallowed back. Following that, Muyu made "hmm-hmm" throat-clearing noises, but it seemed like he had no phlegm. The sound was quite disgusting, and it took a while before he finally cleared his throat and spat into the medicine bowl with a "ptooey".
Muyu didn’t seem quite satisfied, thought for a moment, and then took a pair of chopsticks to stir the medicine soup, mixing in his "additives".
Bai Ruozhu tugged at Tu Ying, and the two turned around and headed back to their room.
All the way, Tu Ying held back her laughter, her face turning red, and once they were back in their room, she let out a low laugh, saying softly, "Your guard is too funny. My stomach hurts from laughing."
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but laugh as well, "I had told him not to mess around."
"He didn’t exactly mess around; at least the medicine won’t harm anyone," Tu Ying said with a laugh.
Bai Ruozhu mimed a vomiting gesture, "It’s too disgusting. I don’t want to think about it anymore."
Tu Ying was laughing so hard she was bending over backward, "I’m going to check on my brother. I’m sure Officer Jiang will come to have a chat with you all."
Since there were limited rooms, Tu Ying shared one with Bai Ruozhu, while Jiang Yichun squeezed into another room with the deputy officer, Wen Shu, and the academy director, which made Tu Ying feel like a third wheel again.
When Jiang Yichun came over, Bai Ruozhu asked anxiously, "How’s the interrogation going? Who are these people?"
Jiang Yichun’s face had a threatening and grim look, "We’ve been careless. There was something wrong with these people from the moment we captured them. They’re alive but have become idiots."
"What? They were poisoned?" Bai Ruozhu was surprised. She had seen the captives earlier and hadn’t noticed any signs of poisoning. Could she have misjudged?
"No, it seems to be some sort of witchcraft, perhaps mind control. These people were raised from a young age with this mind control implanted in them, so once they are captured by the enemy, they become expendable and turn into complete fools with no memory at all," Jiang Yichun explained.
"I’ll go see the captives again, see if there’s any way to help them," Bai Ruozhu said.
Jiang Yichun grabbed her abruptly, pulling her into his embrace, "Let it be for tonight, since we have them, there’s no hurry to see them first thing in the morning."
Upon hearing him, Bai Ruozhu nodded, knowing he had something he wanted to say to her.
He held her tightly, his chin rubbing on top of her head a few times, as he whispered softly, "Ruozhu, the road ahead is going to be very dangerous, but I can’t be by your side all the time. You must take good care of yourself and the child, and if you really encounter a dangerous situation, have Jianqi and the others protect you and find somewhere to hide first."
Bai Ruozhu nodded. She didn’t know what awaited them, feeling as though Jiangnan appeared serene with clear mountains and waters, and as beautiful as a profusion of blossoming flowers, but full of hidden dangers. An Eight Academy Competition that seemed simple on the surface was fraught with intrigue, far beyond her imagination.
"I already regret insisting on bringing you all here," Jiang Yichun murmured.
"Silly, if someone is scheming, even if we stayed in Beiyu City, we’d still become targets of their plots," Bai Ruozhu said, with her arms around his waist.
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Five updates delivered, although a bit late, but still not too cowardly...