Yuxi was more than a quarter of an hour away from the Master Courtyard. Even if she used the fastest speed this time, it would still take her nearly a quarter of an hour to reach the Master Courtyard.
This time the Main Courtyard had become in disorder just like a pot of porridge. When Qiu Shi saw Yuxi, she was startled. She took Yuxi's hand and asked, "You silly girl, why don't you just stay in your yard and run around? Don't you know it is dangerous now?" Just now, she got a piece of frightening news that a group of bandits were attacking the residence.
When Yuxi noticed Qiu Shi's manner as if she was on her way out, Yuxi asked, "Eldest Aunt, are you planning to go to Grandmother's place?"
Qiu Shi nodded as she explained, "Some people dare to attack this residence. Hence it must have been a mess outside. I have to go and check up on the Old Lady now. Otherwise, I don’t know if there is any trouble there."
Yuxi asked, "Eldest Aunt, what about Dasao?"
Qiu Shi replied, "I've already instructed someone to call your Dasao and have her go to the Main Courtyard. Yuxi, let's go to the Main Courtyard too."
Yuxi, however, stood still and said, ''Eldest Aunt, why don't we wait for Dasao here. Once Dasao is here, let's go to the Main Courtyard together!" She was stalling for time. She didn't want to go to the Main Courtyard. Not for any particular reason, just reluctance.
Qiu Shi was not a foolish person. After she listened to Yuxi's words, she knew what Yuxi meant. There was no time to argue at this point. Therefore she directly asked, "Yuxi, you don't want to go to the main room, do you? You..." She originally wanted to ask whether Yuxi still had any resentment, but she couldn't ask. Back then, the Old Lady had mistreated Yuxi. If Yuxi had said that she didn't hate her Grandmother, even Qiu Shi herself wouldn't believe it.
Yuxi knew what Qiu Shi thought when Yuxi looked at her. Without answering her aunt's question, Yuxi instead said, "Eldest Aunt, it's nearly a quarter of an hour from here to the Main Courtyard. If we go first, what if Dasao meets a bandit on the road. Especially now that she is a pregnant woman?"
This question made Qiu Shi hesitant.
Yuxi continued saying, "Eldest Aunt, if there is no bandit, naturally one will have nothing to be afraid of. But if there are bandits in the inner courtyard, and we meet them on the road? We will only be like lambs ready to be slaughtered. At least there are high walls and a large gate here."
Qiu Shi denied, "Bandits can't come in here."
Yuxi shook her head and said, "No one can say that for sure. It is good if there are no bandits around. But, if there are bandits, what can Eldest Aunt do when Eldest Aunt arrives at the Main Courtyard?" Although Qiu Shi was a daughter of a military family, she never practised martial arts, which made her a weak woman.
Mama Li was a little anxious, "It's not safe for us to stay in the yard!" The best way was to find a safe place to hide. But now, where could they find a safe place?
Yuxi calmly said, "What worries me the most right now is not the bandits in the Main Courtyard, but those who come in, to fish in troubled water. Even if the bandits manage to get through, we can still withstand for a while with the large gate and high walls. As soon as the news reaches the front yard, someone will certainly be sent to help." The Main Courtyard wall was not as high as here, and the gate was not as strong as here. In addition, besides the front door and the back door, the Main Courtyard also had a side entrance through the side door. It was good if there were no thieves, but these things would all be hidden dangers to the Main Courtyard if there were thieves. Of course, the most important thing was that Yuxi was unwilling to take risks for the Old Lady. She had spent a quarter of an hour coming from Rose Courtyard to here. If there were bandits who fished in troubled water, they must have already come in. If Yuxi and the others had gone to the Main Courtyard at this time, they had just followed the rhythm of courting death set by the bandits. [+]
Qiu Shi's heart was in turmoil, and all of a sudden, she had no idea what to do. Seeing that Yuxi was not worried at all, Mama Li calmed down and asked, "Miss, if there are bandits, do we have the ability to hold them back?"
Yuxi nodded and reassured, "They can be stopped. Zijin, Deng Shuang and Deng Xue have martial arts skills. It will definitely not a problem for them to hold on until the guards come to our rescue." The high walls and the large gate of the Main Courtyard were solid. Bandits could not easily enter without using any tools. Even if one or two of them managed to come in, since there were three people here who could do martial arts brought by Zijin, there was nothing for them to be afraid of.
Qiu Shi's mind was in a mess, but she still thought that Yuxi did make a good point. However, she always felt that the bandits would not be able to enter the inner courtyard.
Yuxi let out a long sigh of relief. From the way her aunt acted, she knew her aunt's original plan to go to the Main Courtyard had been delayed. Just then, Deng Shuang pointed to a direction and exclaimed, "Everyone look, there is a fire in the southwest direction."
Yuxi heart jumped. Southwest was the place where her Rose Courtyard was. Only that, this wasn't the time for her to think much about it, "Eldest Aunt, the bandits have entered the inner courtyard. We must stay here and wait for the guards. We shouldn't go to the Main Courtyard right now."
Qiu Shi was so terrified, "How did this happen? I even sent your Dasao to the Main Courtyard. I wonder how she is now?" Under such circumstances, it was impossible to go to the Main Courtyard anymore, as they would be done if they came across the bandits. When Qiu Shi thought of Ye Shi, who was pregnant with her grandson, she became anxious and angry.
In response to the situation, Zijin suggested, "Miss, let me go pick up Da Nainai!"
Yuxi said towards Qiu Shi, "Eldest Aunt, can you send someone to lead the way for Zijin?" Zijin wasn't familiar with the path towards Songxiang Courtyard over there, which was why Yuxi had to ask for someone to lead the way.
Qiu Shi said, "Liuyin, take Zijin to find your Da Nainai."
Liuyin was really scared that she could not help but flinch at this time. But she toughened her scalp as she stood up and said, "Okay."
Deng Shuang said before the two went out, "Zijin, don't come in through the main gate when you come back later." She told Zijin this because she was going to seal the main gate.
Yuxi awkwardly corrected her, "Deng Shuang, this courtyard has no back door for them to use."
Hearing this, Liuyin hurriedly said, "This yard does not have a back door, but it has a side door." The so-called side door was a door to facilitate the delivery of firewood and other things.
The corners of Deng Shuang's mouth suddenly twitched when she found out that this courtyard surprisingly did not have a back door. "A side door will do."
After Zijin and Liu Yin went out, Deng Shuang immediately instructed, "Close the gate and all the windows in the courtyard."
The others were dumbfounded when they heard that a bandit had broken into the inner courtyard, and they didn't dare to move. One of the maids even cried out, "A bandit is coming in, my Lady, let's hurry and run!" One couldn't just sit around and wait for the bandits to come into this yard.
Deng Shuan was a bit speechless when she heard them planning to run away, "What are you afraid of? There are so many house guards outside. Even if the bandits come, it won't take long for the house guards to come to our rescue." Although the two Deng sisters were nervous, they weren't afraid. It was because they knew that there were retainers and guards in the outer courtyard of the State Residence. Also, there were quite a few of them outside.
Yuxi did not want to quarrel with these people. "If you want to escape, get out of here quickly. Otherwise, we will lock the gate."
None of the subordinates dared to move. How dare they run away when their masters hadn't even moved. Two of the strong women servants were brave enough to walk over and close the gate.
After the gate was closed, the Deng sisters sent someone to find something heavy, ''Is there any pillar around? If we rest the pillar against the gate, even if someone were to hit the gate, it wouldn't be easy for them to break it open."
When Deng Shuang heard that there were no pillars, she suggested, "Then take some door planks to hold out against the gate."
Other than using the door planks to hold out against the gate, they brought out other heavy objects to be placed on the lower part of the gate. After they did this, Yuxi instructed the maids and old women servants in the courtyard to close all the windows.
After they had done all this, Yuxi told the people in the courtyard, "There are many sticks in the firewood room. In case a real bandit comes in, one person can't beat him up alone, while four or five people at the same time can always beat him up."
Qiu shi felt that Yuxi was much calmer than she was. Thus she instructed, "From now on, you all listen to Fourth Miss. Whatever she tells you to do, you shall do it." This instruction was the same as handing over all the command to Yuxi.
All the people in the yard did not move. Yuxi then said, ''We don't need to be afraid of these bandits. They can only run wild for a while. As long as we guard this courtyard, not to mention the house guards, I am sure the government troops will be here soon as well." She only said this completely to appease the crowd. If the palace changes today, they would not have to rely on the government troops. It was too late for the government troops to suppress the rebellion, so where would they have the time to care about them, the shrimps? [+]
However, the effect of the words was obvious, as the maids and old women servants of the courtyard took them seriously, with some went into the kitchen and some went into the firewood room. Those who went into the firewood room took sticks, and those who went into the kitchen took knives.
Yuxi's calm demeanour affected the entire courtyard. The crowd stood quietly under the covered corridor with folded sleeves and weapons in their hands, no longer frightened out of their wits.
"Ah..." They could hear a burst of a miserable cry from outside, and the people in the yard expression turned white. The bandits, the bandits, are here.
A few of the timid ones had fallen limply to the ground.
Yuxi was also scared to death in her heart, but she couldn't show her fear at this time. Moreover, she believed that with the Deng sisters present, even if the bandits rushed in, they could not hurt her. With this belief, some of the panics in her heart were able to be removed.
Just at this time, a knock on the door made Yuxi's frightened heart miss a beat. While the fearful Qiu Shi was firmly grasping Mama Li's arm.
Liu Yue hurriedly said, "It should be Zijin and the others who have returned." After she said that, she ran to the side door.
When they could hear Zijin's voice, the old woman on guard finally opened the door.
Ye Shi's face was pale as she was helped in by Old Woman Hua, with Zijin and Liu Yin followed closely behind them. Seeing that there was no one else following behind, the old woman hurriedly closed the door.
In response, Qiu Shi walked over and immediately said, "You get in the room!" Just by looking at Ye Shi's appearance, Qiu Shi knew that she must have suffered a fright.
Ye Shi didn't have much strength to be polite anymore, and upon hearing Qiu Shi's words, she immediately nodded. She went into the room afterwards.
Once Yuxi saw Ye Shi enter the room, she whispered to her aunt, "Eldest Aunt, you should also go into the room! Just leave the matter here to Deng Shuang and me."
Although Qiu Shi was scared to death, she knew that even if she went into the room, she would not be at ease, and it was better for her to stay here. "I'll just stay here and keep watch, so you don't have to be scared either."
When Yuxi noticed Zijin's extremely edgy look, she asked, "Have you encountered any bandits on the road?"
Zijin nodded. "Yes, I met two of them, but I managed to knock them down. Originally, four maids came with Da Nainai, but they couldn't move when they met the bandits. Since I could do nothing about it, I had to leave them and bring Da Nainai back." She was not such a warm-hearted person either. Her task was to bring back Ye Shi, and she wasn't in charge of the others. It would have been better if they could keep up, but she could do nothing if they were unable to. As for Ye Shi's side, only Old Woman Hua alone had gritted her teeth to keep up with her.
Noob Translator's Musing
Yuxi in the next chapter :
Tags:
The Rebirth of Han Yuxi