Chapter 9: A Secret Sorrow and a Secret Hatred 02
"Brother, Miss Mu, you are here." Su Tijia was looking at Shen Qingyu from afar with a proud look on his face. When he saw Yu Linzhi coming, he smiled happily. He pointed at the flag of the Imperial Guards in the distance and asked Yu Linzhi, "Brother, are you willing to make a bet with me?"
Yu Linzhi looked in the direction his hand pointed and agreed, "If the king wants, I will accompany him to the end."
He didn't know what Sutiga was up to, but he knew that if he didn't agree, it would anger Sutiga, and he and Mu Lingsu, who were now powerless, might die immediately.
"Brother, how much do you love Miss Mu?" Su Tijia did not immediately tell him the bet, but asked him this question, which made Yu Linzhi nervous instantly. Su Tijia soon noticed Yu Linzhi's nervousness and continued to ask, "If I tie Miss Mu to a pillar and bet with you whether your hidden weapon is accurate, will you bet with me?"
Yu Linzhi then realized what Sutijia was up to. He wanted to force Yu Linzhi to choose between him and Mu Lingsu.
"What's the point of this?" Yu Linzhi expressed his thoughts truthfully.
Sutijia was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, as if Yu Linzhi's question was very stupid. He dismounted easily, came to Yu Linzhi, grabbed Mu Lingsu's throat and held her in his arms, then quickly retreated three steps.
He said, "It means so much, Brother. You have been a favored child of heaven that everyone envies since you were a child. Everyone in the sect likes you. You have been smooth sailing all the way, and even the headmaster's daughter Tang Rudai likes you. I have always tried hard to catch up with you, but I always fail. Brother, you are too good, it's really annoying."
"Let her go!" Yu Linzhi stared at Su Tijia's hand that was strangling Mu Lingsu's throat, fearing that he would use too much force and something might happen to Mu Lingsu.
At this moment, it seemed that what Su Tijia was holding in his hand was not Mu Lingsu's throat, but Yu Linzhi's heart.
However, Sutijia ignored Yu Linzhi's roar and remained leisurely: "Brother, let me open my eyes. I won't tie Miss Mu to the pillar, I will hold her in my arms, and see whether you will knock my hand off or punch her throat."
Su Tijia dragged Mu Lingsu back several steps, and said to Yu Linzhi in a voice loud enough for Shen Qingyu behind him to hear: "Or, do you want to let Miss Mu die directly?"
Yu Linzhi shifted his gaze to Su Tijia's face for a moment, and said, "You have sealed my Qi Sea now. If you want to kill Xiao Mu and me so much, why bother with so much trouble? Just do it directly. You are really vulgar for playing this kind of game."
If he could use his power as usual, he would be very sure to hit Sutijia's hand and save Mu Lingsu. But now he was no different from an ordinary person who didn't know martial arts. Blindly agreeing to Sutijia would only lead to death.
"That's right. I can't bully you like this. People will say that I won unfairly." Su Tijia agreed with Yu Linzhi's statement, took out the pebble hidden in his sleeve, and flicked it with his fingertips to release Yu Linzhi's Qi Sea. "Brother, Miss Mu and I are waiting for you. Hurry up."
Yu Linzhi bent down and picked up the stone that Sutijia had just thrown to him to untie his qi sea, and held it tightly in his palm. He looked at Mu Lingsu and Sutijia not far away, and then shifted his gaze to look at Shen Qingyu sitting on the horse in the distance. At this moment, he had no emotion in his heart, as if he was numb.
He was the only one who was alone, but he didn't feel helpless at the moment. Maybe he was too nervous, or maybe he was confident.
"Linzhi, it's okay." Seeing that Yu Linzhi had not taken any action after picking up the stone, Mu Lingsu thought that he was not sure and did not dare to take action, so she comforted him.
When Sutijia heard Mu Lingsu speak, he felt annoyed. He squeezed her throat tighter and shouted, "Shut up!"
Mu Lingsu originally wanted to say something, but after Su Tijia pinched his neck, he could only open his mouth and could not make any sound. His face turned red due to difficulty breathing.
Su Tijia didn't want to wait any longer, and urged Yu Linzhi: "Brother, the victory or defeat has already been decided, don't think that hesitation will help. If you don't take action, Miss Mu will not be able to escape death."
He wanted to force Yu Linzhi to take action as soon as possible, so he repeatedly mentioned Mu Lingsu, hoping to stimulate Yu Linzhi and let him know that hesitation was useless.
He didn't think that Yu Linzhi really had the ability and courage to calmly risk Mu Lingsu's life and really attack his hand.
Even if Yu Linzhi really did it, he would most likely hit Mu Lingsu, and then Yu Linzhi would kill his beloved woman with his own hands, and his life would not be easy no matter what. As long as Yu Linzhi felt uncomfortable, his goal would be achieved.
"Do you think..." Before Yu Linzhi could finish his words, the sound of a musket firing interrupted him. After a scream, Mu Lingsu was released by Su Tijia, and Yu Linzhi quickly ran over and hugged her.
By the time they had enough attention to see who was injured by the musket, everyone was already in chaos, making it impossible for them to see the situation clearly.
Mu Lingsu looked in the direction of Shen Qingyu and found that he was indeed holding a Western musket. She said to Yu Linzhi: "It's His Royal Highness Prince Yi Yang, he has a musket in his hand!"
Yu Linzhi was so focused on guarding against Sutijia's hand that he didn't notice who had made the move. He turned around and noticed the musket in Shen Qingyu's hand when he heard Mu Lingsu's voice. He realized that it was Shen Qingyu who had helped them, and he suddenly understood the meaning of Shen Qingyu's action, and said to Mu Lingsu, "Let's go pick up Shen Hanyan."
The two of them quickly passed through the crowd and headed for Shen Hanyan's carriage. After a burst of horse hooves and voices, Shen Qingyu also led the Royal Guards artillery team to attack Sutijia's men. In an instant, the flying yellow sand of Yumen Pass turned into a smoke-filled Shura field.
Mu Lingsu held Yu Linzhi's hand and ran towards Shen Hanyan's carriage. Just as they were about to board the carriage, they were stopped by Tang Rudai who was waiting on the side. Tang Rudai held a pair of Emei thorns in her hand and looked at the couple in front of her coldly: "Where are you going?"
"Get out of the way first." Mu Lingsu took out the poison needle that she would not use easily and pointed it at Tang Rudai, maintaining her final calm and restraint. "Now don't do this kind of thing."
Tang Rudai was alone, how could she possibly defeat Mu Lingsu and Yu Linzhi? She knew that she was alone and weak and could not stop them at all. But Su Tijia was already injured, and as Su Tijia's concubine, she naturally had the obligation to protect what he wanted.
For example, the woman in the carriage.
Although Tang Rudai hated Shen Hanyan and even wanted to kill her, as long as Su Tijia liked Shen Hanyan, she would protect him. She had been humble all her life, and this was the last thing she could do for Su Tijia.
Tang Rudai raised her hands to her chest, pointed the sharp part of the Emei Spear at Mu Lingsu and Yu Linzhi, and said in full battle readiness: "Is it me who is trying to stop a chariot with my bare hands or are you overestimating your own abilities? How can we know if we don't give it a try?"
"Aren't you tired of doing this?" Mu Lingsu looked at Tang Rudai, who was resisting even though she knew she was no match for her, and it was as if she saw herself kneeling in front of Fengzao Palace. Their situations were so similar, the whole world was against them, but they had to fight back.
Mu Lingsu turned to look at Su Tijia who was wounded and had to direct the response in the crowd, then looked at Tang Rudai, her tone full of pity and sympathy: "Does the person you love really love you? Is he worthy of your protection? Don't you have an answer in your heart? Using the so-called sense of responsibility to kidnap yourself, other than satisfying your own desire to devote everything, will not move him and make him stay with you."
In fact, Mu Lingsu did not want to break through Tang Rudai's psychological defenses, nor did she want to wake her up and stop being stubborn. She just wanted to tell her something from her heart.
This kind of obsessed and stubborn women do not only exist in stories on the streets, they are often more common in reality. A man easily took away their self-esteem and reason, leaving them with only endless obsession.
Mu Lingsu didn't know whether she said this out of compassion or because of a sense of sadness, but she really couldn't bear to see Tang Rudai die in vain for someone who didn't love her.
Without Sutija, she could have changed the way she lived.
"You don't need to interfere in my affairs!" Tang Rudai wanted to think carefully about what Mu Lingsu said, but when she said "change the way of life", Tang Rudai began to resist her words. In her eyes, she relied on Su Tijia to live for ten years, and it was impossible for her to leave him.
Tang Rudai couldn't imagine what life would be like without Sutija.
She was very emotional and waved the Emei Spear in her hand at the two people opposite: "Don't try to deceive me with nonsense. The king has already appointed me as the chief concubine, how could he not love me?" After saying this, she became more and more certain that Mu Lingsu was lying to her, and her hatred for the two of them increased a bit.
If Sutijia really didn't love her, how could he listen to her? It was he who first proposed to appoint a concubine as the Grand Concubine. Now that he kept his word and fulfilled his promise, how could she doubt him?
"If Sutijia really loves you, you should be the queen, not the noble concubine." Yu Linzhi spoke at the right time to point out the biggest doubt in Tang Rudai's heart, and took advantage of the victory to make her trust in Sutijia collapse . He raised his chin slightly, indicating to Tang Rudai that "there is still that person in the carriage", "Little sister, the throne of queen is now someone else's."
As soon as Tang Rudai thought of Shen Hanyan, the strong sense of responsibility in her heart began to waver. Yes, she knew that Su Tijia loved Princess Yongjia the most, so why did she still deceive herself that Su Tijia loved her the most?
She took a step forward, looked at Yu Linzhi and said, "Then what can I do? Find Su Tijia and dig out his heart?" Tang Rudai knew in her heart that she couldn't do it to hurt him.
"Let yourself go and leave him." Yu Linzhi's tone was deliberately understated, but when these words came out, it was like an extremely sharp dagger that pierced Tang Rudai's heart in an instant.
Tang Rudai looked up and searched for Sutijia in the crowd in the distance, wanting to see him again, but after searching hard, she still couldn't see Sutijia. It seemed that the string that had been tense in her heart had broken. For the first time, she felt tired and stopped looking. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to one side.
She stepped aside, let the carriage out, and said to Yu and Mu, "Take Princess Yongjia away."
Yu Linzhi wanted to carry Mu Lingsu to the carriage first, but Mu Lingsu refused and asked him to go see Shen Hanyan first. After Yu Linzhi got on the carriage and entered the compartment, Mu Lingsu took out a small medicine bottle and handed it to Tang Rudai: "Miss Tang San, this is Guixi Powder. After taking it, you will be in a state of suspended animation. If Miss San can't get out, you can try this method."
Tang Rudai's face was ashen. She took the medicine bottle woodenly and put it away. She didn't say thank you, but walked towards the back of the carriage. Mu Lingsu didn't care where she would go next. After seeing her leave, he also got on the carriage.
"Princess..." Mu Lingsu was about to ask Shen Hanyan if she felt any discomfort, but Shen Hanyan stood up and dragged her weak body to her, and asked anxiously, "Is Brother Eleven injured?"
Yu Linzhi sat aside, looking somewhat helpless: "I just told her that His Royal Highness Prince Yi Yang shot Su Tijia with the musket in his hand, but she didn't believe it and had to listen to you."
Mu Lingsu helped Shen Hanyan to her seat while saying, "Princess, please rest assured. His Royal Highness Prince Yi Yang rescued us with a musket and injured Su Tijia. He is safe." After Shen Hanyan sat firmly, she said to Yu Linzhi, "If we take advantage of the chaos and drive the carriage away, will we be safe?"
"It's hard to say. Sutijia hasn't sent anyone to check on the carriage. It's very unusual. We can't rule out the possibility that he has an ambush." Yu Linzhi lifted the curtain to observe the surroundings of the carriage. The closest Sutijia's men were more than ten feet away, and no one came over. Shen Qingyu's imperial guards did not approach the carriage either.
He then shifted his attention to the battle situation between the two sides and discovered that the Royal Guards' artillery team had not gained the upper hand as quickly as he had imagined. Instead, the two sides were stuck in a stalemate, and for a moment, it was difficult to tell who would win.
Shen Hanyan was afraid of being captured by Sutijia again, and didn't want to stay here any longer, but she was concerned about Shen Qingyu's safety, so she was very conflicted. She couldn't make a decision, and urgently asked Yu Linzhi and Mu Lingsu for the answer: "So are we leaving or not?"
Yu Linzhi still felt uneasy, and looked around the carriage for other people's traces again. After a glance, he found that Tang Rudai was missing: "Xiao Mu, have you seen Tang Rudai?"
"She went to the rear of the car. I don't know where she was going." Mu Lingsu answered truthfully. She remembered that she had given Tang Rudai a fake death drug, and suddenly she had a premonition that she had done something bad with good intentions. This strong uneasiness made her uneasy, but she didn't dare to tell Yu Linzhi.
If she let Tang Rudai go because of her momentary weakness and caused a big mistake, she would not be able to forgive herself. But if she told Yu Linzhi at this time, would it disrupt his overall plan? Moreover, Tang Rudai had obviously collapsed mentally just now, and it would be difficult for her to work for Su Tijia again.
In Mu Lingsu's world, there will not be a woman who will be repeatedly trampled on by a man and will continue to help this man.
Yu Linzhi didn't believe that Tang Rudai's loyalty to Su Tijia could be easily shattered by the words he and Mu Lingsu had just spoken. When he heard Mu Lingsu's answer, he immediately felt that something was wrong. The big trouble had not been eliminated, and the hidden dangers had increased. Although Tang Rudai was a stubborn and obsessed woman, she was always decisive and rational when executing Su Tijia's orders.
Now no one knows where Tang Rudai has gone. If he takes Mu Lingsu and Shen Hanyan to Dunhuang first and is ambushed by Tang Rudai and her men on the way, that would be a very bad situation.
He glanced at Mu Lingsu, who was ashamed, and wanted to say something, but when he saw Mu Lingsu's expression, the anger in his heart was extinguished again. After all, Yu Linzhi couldn't scold the person he loved.
After Yu Linzhi pondered for a moment, he made a decision: "Let's go to Dunhuang. We should leave quickly while no one is paying attention to us. We don't have to worry about distracting King Yiyang's attention."
He stood up and was about to go out to drive the carriage. After thinking for a while, he told Mu Lingsu, "Take good care of the princess and hold the poison needle in your hand. Tang Rudai will be back at any time." After speaking, he lifted the curtain and was about to go out when he suddenly found a person standing in front of the carriage door. Before he could even blink, Yu Linzhi dodged to the right and shot another hidden weapon, knocking the person to the ground.
Afterwards, nearly ten people rushed to the door of the carriage one after another, and were all dealt with one by one by Yu Linzhi.
"We can't keep the carriage anymore, let's go!" Yu Linzhi was shocked and shouted behind him.
But the other party did not give the three of them a chance to escape. After Yu Linzhi finished speaking, the carriage "banged" and instantly broke into pieces. Then, Shen Hanyan fell under the carriage first. Before Mu Lingsu could react, Su Tijia's butler pulled Shen Hanyan up and rode away on a horse.
When Mu Lingsu saw that the butler had succeeded, he took out a poison needle tempered with Crane's Crest in his hand and threw it at the butler who was walking away with all his strength. Although he failed to hit the butler, he hit his mount, and the horse quickly fell to the ground, and the butler and Shen Hanyan also fell off the horse.
The butler must have come to look for Shen Hanyan on Sutijia's orders. When he and Shen Hanyan fell off their horses, he subconsciously protected Shen Hanyan. But because Shen Hanyan was already injured, she was still seriously injured after falling to the ground, lying on the ground, spitting blood.
"Miss Shen..." The housekeeper's hands were also stained with the blood from Shen Hanyan's mouth . He looked at the glaring bright red color and was horrified. He helped Shen Hanyan up from the ground. However, just as Shen Hanyan was about to get up, she fell down again because of her whole body being weak.
Yu Linzhi saw this and was about to take action, but he heard the sound of horse hooves and Shen Qingyu rode towards him. It turned out that he had been worried about Shen Hanyan, fearing that her life was in danger. In the end, his worry came true.
Shen Qingyu held a powerful bow in his hand, riding his horse while shooting an arrow. With a "swoosh" sound, the butler was pierced through the chest by an arrow and fell to the ground dead.
Although Shen Hanyan was seriously injured, she was still conscious. She was horrified after witnessing the bloodbath. She suddenly felt terrified when she saw her brother riding his horse towards her from afar. The gentle and kind Eleventh Brother seemed to have gone away. Now, this man who could kill people without changing his expression seemed to be just a stranger in the Eleventh Brother's skin.
"Yan'er, my brother is here!" Shen Qingyu reined in his horse in time, jumped off the horse easily, picked up Shen Hanyan and asked with concern, "Yan'er, are you okay?"
"Brother Eleven..." Shen Hanyan's eyes were dull, as if her soul had been taken away. Her hands were shaking because of the shock, but she still chose to hug Shen Qingyu. She looked at Shen Qingyu, trying hard to find the shadow of the past on his face, but after looking for a while, she could not see anything.
She had always thought that Shen Qingyu was the brother who often took her out to play when she was a child, but today she realized that she was the only one still a child, and her brother Eleven had grown up long ago.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't catch up with him.
Shen Qingyu held Shen Hanyan in his arms and easily jumped onto the horse's back, his heart filled with the joy of victory: "We will be able to return to Dunhuang soon. Be good, you can sleep with your brother, we will be there soon."
After saying that, Shen Qingyu whipped his horse and walked through the melee crowd towards the Imperial Guards camp.
"Xiao Mu, let's go too!" Seeing that Shen Qingyu had successfully received Shen Hanyan and retreated safely, Yu Linzhi was impatient and wanted to take Mu Lingsu away quickly. He fought and retreated all the way to Mu Lingsu, knocked down a Kushan soldier on horseback, took the reins and carried Mu Lingsu to the horse's back, then he also jumped on the horse and headed towards the Imperial Guards camp.
But the two men had not ridden far when they heard Shen Hanyan's scream ahead.
Mu Lingsu was startled by the shrill voice, knowing that someone must be in danger: "Linzhi, let's go to the front and see if it's Shen Qingyu or Shen Hanyan who's injured."
Yu Linzhi also had the same idea, and rode forward without saying a word , but saw a group of Kushan soldiers forming a circle. When the soldiers saw Yu Linzhi and Mu Lingsu coming, they consciously made way, and the two saw that the people in the circle were Shen Qingyu, Shen Hanyan and Su Tijia. Shen Qingyu was seriously injured and fell to the ground covered in blood, already in a semi-comatose state.
"If you want me, you can take me. Why do you want to hurt my brother?" Shen Hanyan hugged Shen Qingyu, her eyes full of despair, as if she was using all her strength to roar at Sutijia. She sat on the ground, next to her was the horse that Shen Qingyu had ridden to save her just now, which had now been chopped off and fell to the side.
I don't know if the hem of Shen Hanyan's skirt was stained red by the horse's blood or Shen Qingyu's blood. The blood color contrasted with her pale face, making her look so sad and beautiful.
"Yan'er, only by killing Shen Qingyu can I completely put an end to your thoughts. Otherwise, even if you become my queen and sleep with me every night, you will still only think about your eleventh brother in your heart." The wound on Sutijia's shoulder was very deep, and a palm-sized blood stain had stained his clothes red, but he seemed not to care.
He knew better than anyone that Shen Hanyan was already in his pocket. As long as he stretched out his hand, she would be in his arms immediately. In his estimation, this price was still very small. He was not forced to give in. He just killed Shen Qingyu. It was just a life. If he had known this, he might as well have captured Shen Hanyan and Shen Qingyu together and killed Shen Qingyu directly.
Su Tijia's mood improved as he looked at Shen Hanyan, whose facial muscles became stiff because her worries were revealed. He was as leisurely as if he was waiting for the dishes to be served at a banquet, and was ready to give Shen Hanyan the final blow and make her give up resistance completely.
At this critical moment of life and death, he stared at Shen Hanyan's face and felt that Shen Hanyan was more and more beautiful.
He stood a few steps away, smiling at Shen Hanyan: " Besides, I am just fighting back. Why should he be allowed to injure me with a musket, but not to use the same method to hit me back?"
Shen Hanyan's reason was overwhelmed by the grief in her heart. She didn't know how to refute Su Tijia, and she was worried that Shen Qingyu would be seriously injured and die.
"If I go back to Kushan with you to be the queen, will you immediately stop the fighting and let everyone go?" Shen Hanyan felt Shen Qingyu's pulse and confirmed again and again that he was still alive. After seeing Sutijia nod, she turned around and said to Mu Lingsu, "Take good care of my brother."
After saying this, Shen Hanyan stood up, walked to Sutijia, and knelt down in front of him: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you ."
Shen Hanyan knelt on the ground, expressionless. Others looking at Shen Hanyan might think that she had been frightened by this huge change. A noble princess actually took the initiative to kneel down to the barbarian leader and called herself "concubine".
But if someone caught her gaze, they would find that her eyes were full of ferocity, like a beast lying dormant facing its prey.
Is she desperate?
No, not at all. She just didn't dare to act rashly because of Shen Qingyu's life and death.