Chu Changge said, "Where is the poisonous scorpion?"
The young chief did not directly give him the poison scorpion but reminded him, "You have to think clearly. The poisonous scorpion can only cure the poison once. If you use it to save your wife, you won't be able to cure the poison in your body."
Chu Changge said, "I have thought clearly. I'm going to save her."
The young chief asked to be sure, "Are you sure?"
Chu Changge nodded. "I am sure. If she dies, there is no need for me to live. Saving her is the same as saving me."
The young chief asked, "But what about the poison in your body?"
Chu Changge replied, "It doesn't matter. I can't die for a while." But, there was no way to escape from here for the time being.
The young chief said, "Since you have already made up your mind, I won't persuade you anymore." After saying that, he got up, took out a fist-sized round porcelain bottle, and handed it to Chu Changge, saying, "The poisonous scorpion is in here. To cure the poison in your body, you only need to let it suck your blood. To cure the gu in your wife's body, you need to boil it at high temperature and then ask her to drink it after it has completely dissolved in the water."
Chu Changge took the porcelain bottle and uttered, "Thank you." Then he put the vase away. After sitting cross-legged, he said, "Now I have to use my strength to force the poison out. Since it has travelled throughout my body, it will take some time. You help me to protect the place. Don't let anyone come near me."
The young chief said, "Okay. You can at least use your strength to force the poison out. Even if it means risking my life, I won't let anyone come near you. But before that, should you send a signal to your men to warn them? Since Hua Tiansheng knew about our whereabouts tonight, there must have been a traitor among us."
Chu Changge said, "My signal has already been sent out. My last move was the signal. They should have rushed back by now."
Chu Changge was right. When the North and West duo saw the white light suddenly appearing at the top of the city, they knew that Chu Changge had encountered an ambush and immediately rushed back to meet with South and East. Hearing the news from North and West, both South and East were surprised. "We are the only ones who know about tonight's operation. How could Hua Tiansheng set up an ambush in advance?" East Guardian asked in disbelief.
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
"There must be a traitor!" North Guardian grabbed Li Shaoqing's collar and questioned, "Say, is it you?"
Li Shaoqing argued, "If I had any ill-intentioned, I would not have told Chu Changge that there were many mechanisms inside the city!"
East Guardian pulled away the angry North Guardian. "Li Shaoqing is right. If he had been unkind and had not told us about the mechanisms inside the city, the Leader would not have simply encountered an ambush."
North Guardian reluctantly let go of his hand and coldly snorted. "It better not be you! I will scrape you alive if I find out that you are truly the traitor!"
Li Shaoqing also angrily countered, "If I say it's not me, it's not me. It's up to you to believe it or not!"
East Guardian yelled, "Enough. You two should stop arguing. The most important thing is to find the traitor and save the Leader. No infighting."
South Guardian nodded. "Old East is right. The most important thing is to save the Leader. Madam will not wake up until early tomorrow morning. So let's sit back and observe for now, and then we can take our time making a decision once Madam awakes."
The following day. Murong Yunshu woke up and walked out of the tree hollow after dressing up. When she raised her eyes, she saw the quartet waiting for her at the entrance. "What are you four doing standing here? Where is Chu Changge?"
South, East, North, and West pushed one after another for a while until North Guardian had to be the one who spoke in the end. "The Leader encountered an ambush last night and has not returned yet."
Murong Yunshu almost fainted when she heard these words. She held on to the tree trunk to stabilise herself and asked, "How could there be an ambush for no good reason?"
"We suspect there is a traitor." East Guardian continued, "And I think the traitor must be among these ingenious people."
Murong Yunshu instructed, "Immediately check the indigenous officials who participated in the plan yesterday one by one."
"Yes!"
In less than a stick of burning incense, a bearded man was captured by the quartet. "It's him!" North Guardian continued, "He has confessed to everything. He was the one who tipped off Hua Tiansheng last night and leaked the Leader's whereabouts. Madam, do you think he can be killed now? If you let me, I will immediately skin him alive!"
When the bearded man heard he would be skinned alive, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.
Murong Yunshu said, "Lil North, you do not have to skin people alive. That will be too bloody and not a good thing to do."
The corners of the North Guardian's mouth slightly twitched. Madam, you are too calm! This isn't the time to bother about if it's bloody or not.
Murong Yunshu asked the bearded man, "How did you send the news to the city?"
The bearded man answered, "I made an appointment with the people there by waiting at dusk every day at the bottom of the northern slope, and someone will appear to meet me. I didn't mean to harm you; I really didn't. My family is in their hands. They are afraid our clan head will go to the Central Plains to ask for assistance, so they let me report the clan head's whereabouts to them daily, or else they will kill my family."
Murong Yunshu said, "It doesn't matter whether you have thought of harming us. What matters is if you are willing to help us now."
The bearded man nodded hastily. "Yes, I am willing. I will do whatever you want me to do."
Murong Yunshu said, "Take us to the northern slope, where you usually meet with the people from the city."
The bearded man responded, "Okay, okay, I'll take you there."
Under the bearded man's guidance, Murong Yunshu, South, East, North, West and Li Shaoqing soon arrived at the mountain's northern slope that the bearded man had spoken of. "This is the place." The bearded man said.
Murong Yunshu looked around and finally rested her eyes on a grove in front of her. "Let's go over there and have a look." Murong Yunshu headed towards the place she brought up.
The bearded man said, "You should never go there. That side is forbidden."
"Oh?" With a murmur, Murong Yunshu turned around, with a few hints of joy on her eyebrows." Why is it a forbidden place?" She asked.
The bearded man explained, "There are ghosts and monsters in that place, and everyone who went in died horribly, so the Old Clan Head sealed it off."
Murong Yunshu smiled faintly. "Is it haunted, or is someone pretending to be a ghost? Let's just go and see." After saying that, despite the opposition of the bearded man, she headed to the woods. South, East, North, and West were not even afraid of demons. Naturally, they were not scared of ghosts and monsters and also went with her. Li Shaoqing hesitated a few times before saying, "I will meet you outside."
Murong Yunshu looked at him with a smile. "Alright."
The grove was not far from the northern slope; thus, it only took about half a quarter of an hour's walk for Murong Yunshu and the quartet to reach their destination. Unlike the tall shrubs of the indigenous settlement, this place consisted of bulky but not too tall council trees. The branches were thick and intricate, so it was where demons and ghosts would usually haunt. But Murong Yunshu didn't believe in supernatural beings. The more forbidden the area was, the more secrets there were. The reason why the Old Clan Head forbade the clan to hunt in this place must be to hide some kind of secret.
Naturally, Murong Yunshu recalled the young chief's words—his grandfather had handed his father a brocade bag with a secret passage drawn on it.
Thinking about this, Murong Yunshu was even more sure of her guess. The secret exit from the palace to the outside world must be in the middle of this grove.
"You guys should look around, especially on the ground. See if there is any loose soil or hollow ground. I suspect that the exit of the secret passage is here." Murong Yunshu instructed.
South, East, North, and West immediately took action upon receiving the instruction. The South and East duo stooped down to check the ground, while the North and West pair used their feet to stamp from east and west, jumping and hopping around. Suddenly, a banging sound could be heard, an obvious sign that there was an empty space underground empty. North Guardian was overjoyed and hurriedly worked with West Guardian to get rid of the weeds and soil on the ground, which revealed a square wooden board covering a hole that could accommodate one person. The duo hurriedly dug out the wooden board to expose a dark hole. "Lil North and I will go down first to clear the way." West Guardian stated.
Murong Yunshu nodded. "Be careful."
Murong Yunshu, South and East waited for a short time before the North and West duo returned, and they both gleefully reported, "This is indeed a secret passage."
Murong Yunshu said, "Good, let's immediately go in from here to look for Chu Changge."
The entrance to the secret passage from the ground level begins with a narrow flight of steps. After going down the steps, Murong Yunshu and the quartet arrived in a square-shaped stone room. The stone house size was modest and could accommodate about twenty people. A large wooden barrel filled with water was in the middle of the room. A thick layer of dust on its lid gave the impression that it looked old, but the water inside was still clean. Next to the barrel was a delicate brocade box also covered in dust. Murong Yunshu opened the brocade box to take a look, and immediately the whole room was illuminated with the brilliance of the pearls and jewels inside. A noob translator, きつね translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this on another site other than xin-shou.site, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
The Night Pearl or Luminous Pearl
Image Credit | Chocolas at Opensea
Image Credit | Chocolas at Opensea
Murong Yunshu said, "In addition to the night pearl, there are also some gold bars. The Old Clan Head must have left this behind for the clan to live normally after leaving Puhua Island." After saying that, she closed the brocade box and casually threw it to East Guardian, saying, "Keep it. Pass it on to the young chief when you see him."
East Guardian steadily took the brocade box, wiped the dust off it with his sleeve, and asked weakly, "Madam, can I not hand it over to him?"
"You can't." Murong Yunshu flatly refused.
East Guardian was devastated and held the box with great pain. "Can I at least hand it over a bit later?"
Murong Yunshu raised her eyebrows. "You want to spend the night holding the pearl?"
East Guardian nodded heavily.
Murong Yunshu said, "There are plenty of such things at home. If you want them, you can get a few from Chief Steward Qian when we return to Jinling."
East Guardian suddenly felt so humiliated, so humiliated. The things he regarded as treasures, other people had plenty of them at home, and they were even being kept by the chief steward. It might have been thrown somewhere in the account room or some nook of the warehouse. Alas, how could people be so different from each other? In the next life, he must throw himself into a wealthy family and live a life where he could treat money like dirt.
East Guardian responded, "No need. I'll just have a look at it. This kind of thing is not edible and is heavy to put on my body."
South Guardian immediately tore down East Guardian's stage. "Madam, you shouldn't believe his words. He must have been secretly planning to go to Chief Qian's place to inquire about the hidden whereabouts of the night pearls after returning to Jinling and then taking a few of them."
Murong Yunshu smiled. "If you think those things are interesting, I don't have a problem if you want to take them. But be warned, there are many mechanisms in all Murong Mansion's storerooms. So before you lead away a goat while passing by, you should first try to gain Mister Shi Er's friendship."
North Guardian said, "No, no, we have a good friendship with Mister Shi Er."
"Shut up!" West Guardian flicked North Guardian's head with his fingers. "Aren't you just giving yourself away like that?"
North Guardian looked aggrieved. "Even if I don't, Madam will still know about it. Hearing from the tone of her words, it is obvious that she is telling us four off."
Uh. When West Guardian thought about it for a moment, it was undoubtedly true. He didn't argue anymore because he did have the same thoughts as Old East.
Murong Yunshu suddenly said, "Something is not right."
"What's not right?" East Guardian asked.
Murong Yunshu explained, "Hua Tiansheng has gone back and forth through this secret passage countless times, so it is impossible that he did not find this night pearl. Even if he doesn't covet other people's belongings, his men can't let go of something this valuable." Suddenly, a thought flashed in her mind, and Murong Yunshu hurriedly instructed, "Quickly put the brocade box back in its place!"
Only, unfortunately, it was already too late.
The wooden barrel instantly split into pieces, and the water surged like a tidal wave, quickly submerging everyone's ankles. The surface of the water began to bubble, and the water's temperature gradually rose.
Murong Yunshu said, "This is not good. This water is not ordinary. I'm afraid we'll get scalded if we stay in it for a long time."
The East, South, North and West quartet immediately lifted Murong Yunshu up without saying a word. Murong Yunshu asked, "What are you doing? Quickly put me down."
East Guardian answered, "We are adept in martial arts, so we are not afraid of being scalded by hot water. However, Madam is a person with golden branches and jade leaves. We can't let you be hurt even for a bit."
Murong Yunshu argued, "Only a dead pig is not afraid of hot water. You are not dead pigs. How can you not be afraid of being scalding? Put me down quickly. The water isn't that hot yet, and we'll figure the way out together. If worst comes to worst, we can just abort this mission."
East Guardian countered, "If we abort, we can never get through this passage any longer. The Old Clan Head must have designed this trick as a way for the clan to retreat. Once his clan members take the jewellery and leave, the water in the barrel will gush out and warm up when it comes in contact with the ground. Therefore, blocking the enemy pursuers. Now the water temperature is already a little hot. Since Madam's skin is tender, Madam won't be able to stand it. We are thick-skinned. Even if our bodies are not indestructible, we still have old calluses to protect them, and the water can't hurt our flesh for a while. Madam, if you wish to save us, please find a way to leave this hellish place."
Murong Yunshu couldn't refute East Guardian's words, and she knew that she certainly couldn't bear the hot water, so she stopped insisting and started thinking carefully about how to deal with their current situation.
きつね's Musing
I'm currently addicted to watching an ongoing anime called 'The Love Between Fairy and Devil' on iQiyi based on the novel The Parting of the Orchid and Cang. It's hilarious...for now. I heard there's going to be an angst moment in it, but who cares? Might as well plough through since I already started watching it, right? Or maybe I should finish the novel first. Hmm. 🤔
Oh, by the way, the main story for Black Belly Wife will end in two more chapters. After that, the novel will continue with their child's story. No, it's not about Chu Murong. 😤 Why, Mo Feng, why? Why aren't you writing about Chu Murong? 😤
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Black Belly Wife