Chapter 89: Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" (Are You the One)

 FlamingoBees 

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 Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" / Are You the One

 Chapter 89: 

 

The person’s sharp gaze made Mian Tang wary, so she kept her head down and avoided looking at them.

Fortunately, those people did not obstruct her, so Mian Tang, along with the Old Princess Consort, Bi Cao, Fang Xie, and two guards, managed to leave the thatched hut smoothly, leaving it to the newcomers.

Since there was no shelter available, they decided to head into the mountains and wilderness.

For some reason, Mian Tang adapted well to this kind of rough living in the open, spending nights in the wild. She directed the guards to cut branches and set up a few temporary shelters for the Old Princess Consort to rest at night. Since they couldn’t use fire for fear of being discovered, the situation was even more challenging.

During the day, Mian Tang led Bi Cao to search for branches. To keep the smoke to a minimum, they had to find dry poplar branches.

While Mian Tang was engrossed in her search, she suddenly saw someone climbing up the hillside, calling out to her in a hushed voice: “Chief…”

The person, crouched like a large spider, startled Mian Tang, who immediately reached for the small bow at her waist, intending to shoot.

The person seemed to know Mian Tang’s accuracy well and quickly ducked his head, saying, “Chief, it’s Lu Quan! Don’t shoot, I climbed up here to talk to you…”

Mian Tang, wary, said, “Don’t come up, just stay where you are! Who are you? I don’t recognize you!”

The person named Lu Quan, with tears in his eyes, replied, “Chief, are you blaming me for not protecting you? I was knocked out by them at the time, and when I woke up, I didn’t know where you had gone. Later, I heard from others that you had been thrown into the river, so I kept searching... Then, my brothers and I wanted to avenge you... I never expected to find you here... Wuwuwu…”

The guy, hanging on the cliff, cried like a child weighing over a hundred pounds.

Mian Tang now recognized him as the boy who had been watching her outside the thatched hut. It seemed that since that day, he had been secretly following her—indeed, a skilled tracker, moving without making a sound!

From what he said, it seemed he knew her and was someone from the period when she had lost her memory.

Mian Tang, still cautious, asked, “You say I know you, but what proof do you have?”

Though the question seemed unreasonable, the man answered honestly, “We were all orphans, begging on the streets. You, Chief, took us in and made us your personal servants, teaching us your skills. We all have your personal tattoos, so no one else can impersonate us!”

Mian Tang was somewhat puzzled and instructed him to climb up slowly and, keeping his distance, show her the tattoo.

After the boy who claimed to be Lu Quan climbed up, he knelt on the ground, removed his outer garment, and revealed four crooked, large characters tattooed on his shoulder—“Loyalty and Righteousness”.

The characters were indeed quite unsightly, and Mian Tang was momentarily speechless because those ugly characters were indeed her own handwriting.

Bi Cao, standing nearby, winced at the sight. Although she was also deeply loyal to the Princess, if the Princess wanted to tattoo such ugly characters on her shoulder, she’d rather jump into a well than agree!

The boy, still looking proud and self-satisfied, said, “Only your most trusted people have your personal tattoos, Chief. I’m really not an imposter…” It turned out that the boy thought Mian Tang was doubting his authenticity, which was why he was pretending not to be recognized.

Mian Tang hadn’t expected that she once had a fascination with learning to tattoo characters, and she wasn’t sure how many shoulders she had ruined with her clumsy handwriting. She felt a bit embarrassed but honestly couldn’t remember who this person was. She decided to test him: “How many of you are there, and where are you now? What are you doing here?”

The man answered honestly, “We’re the same people you saw at the thatched hut. At that time, we were afraid of exposing your identity, so we didn’t dare to come forward and acknowledge ourselves… After you went missing in the water, we couldn’t find you, so we decided to avenge you. Initially, you were captured by a group of soldiers, and they must have been under the command of Prince Huaiyang, so we planned to assassinate him. But his martial arts are too strong for us to defeat, so we thought about starting a rebellion in Dongzhou and fighting our way to Zhenzhou…”

Mian Tang was unable to listen further and interrupted, “Rebellion?”

Lu Quan nodded honestly, “The King of Dongzhou is my second brother, Lu Yi. Unfortunately, we don’t have your skills. Our rebellion was too insignificant and was extinguished by Prince Huaiyang…”

Mian Tang was surprised that the turmoil in Dongzhou was so close to her, and she tightened her grip on the small bow in her hand, her voice tense, “Me? What skills do I have?”

Lu Quan looked at her with admiration and said, “Yangshan Lu Wen, renowned for his literary and martial skills, who doesn’t know your great name? Your abilities are extraordinary!”

Mian Tang felt her head buzzing.

The name Lu Wen wasn’t unfamiliar to her. After all, every time Cui Xingzhou mentioned this name, his tone was filled with disdain. Lu Wen was the leader of Yangshan, a fierce opponent of Prince Huaiyang with whom he had clashed multiple times.

“Lu Wen… Isn’t Lu Wen one and the same as Young Master Zi Yu?”

Hearing this, Lu Quan spat and said, “That group of former palace officials relies entirely on you. They would have even built a golden palace on Yangshan if they could. They would never have wanted to resort to banditry. They left all the dirty work to you. As a result, they even managed to drive you away from the mountain… If it weren’t for that, how could you have been captured by the soldiers?”

For a moment, Liu Mian Tang’s mind was in turmoil. She realized that she wasn’t just staying at Yangshan and helping manage the accounts; she was actually the true leader of Yangshan—Lu Wen!

For a moment, a memory from Liu Mian Tang's childhood suddenly came to mind—a conversation with her grandfather: “Grandfather, you are Lu Wu, so I will become Lu Wen. With both literary and martial skills, I’ll conquer the world!”

Her grandfather had laughed heartily at those words. But now, had she really turned those childish words into reality?

For a moment, Liu Mian Tang stood in a daze, taking a long time to process everything. Bi Cao, also confused by the situation, cautiously said, “Princess, we’ve been out for too long. We should go back.”

Lu Quan, however, fixed his intense gaze on Bi Cao and asked, “Chief, can we trust this girl? She’s been listening to our conversation the whole time. If she’s not related, I could just push her off the cliff to keep her from spreading your secrets!”

Bi Cao was enraged and shouted, “Push your big head! I’m the Princess’s most trusted maid; who do you think you are?”

Mian Tang gathered her scattered thoughts and said to Bi Cao, “You must not breathe a word of what he said. Not even Fang Xie can know. If you let anything slip, I will personally deal with you!”

Bi Cao, scared and realizing the gravity of the situation, shrank back. She didn’t even understand everything they had discussed and certainly wouldn’t spread it around.

Mian Tang, wanting to return, urgently asked them why they had come here.

Lu Quan explained, “Our righteous army in Dongzhou has been largely wiped out by Prince Huaiyang. Many of the remaining ones have been pacified by him. My second brother was struck in the chest by a sword while facing him in battle. We used all our strength to save him and then escaped. Originally, we planned to travel south through Zhenzhou with our elder brother. But Zhenzhou was sealed off, and we couldn’t get out, so we had to hide to avoid being captured by the soldiers.”

Liu Mian Tang realized that the four brothers she had saved were named Lu Zhong, Lu Yi, Lu Liang, and Lu Quan, respectively. The second brother, who was resourceful, had stirred up a rebellion among the disaster-stricken people in Dongzhou. As a result of their defeat, they had fled here, only to find that someone had been causing trouble using their name.

They didn’t realize that the people were actually targeting Prince Huaiyang’s family and thought they were being hunted themselves, which led them to flee vigorously. That’s how they ended up encountering her at the overgrown shop.

The boy didn’t seem to be lying, as many of the details matched up too precisely to be mere fabrications.

If what he said was true, at least Prince Huaiyang was not in immediate danger. He had quelled the major unrest in Dongzhou and was just temporarily trapped by others with ulterior motives, unable to provide timely assistance.

Liu Mian Tang instructed Lu Quan to return first and assured him she would go to the overgrown shop at the foot of the mountain to find them when she had the chance.

Upon returning, she had Fang Xie start a fire and cook, while she quietly sat to reflect on the newly discovered truth.

At the same time, a question arose in her mind. She had always believed that her fall into the water was orchestrated by Yangshan’s Yun'niang. But now, after hearing Lu Quan, it seemed that it was actually the soldiers who were pursuing her. However, she knew those soldiers were definitely not dispatched by Cui Xingzhou.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to use her to lure “Lu Wen.”

Thinking about how Prince Huaiyang would grit his teeth and expend time and energy to capture Lu Wen, Mian Tang could imagine his obsessive determination towards him, like a cat hunting a mouse.

She had once admired her husband’s persistence, but now she felt a pang of anxiety—if she truly was Yangshan’s Lu Wen, would Cui Xingzhou be able to accept her?

However, the immediate priority wasn’t to ponder these matters but to figure out how to escape from the fake bandits pursuing them.

Mian Tang leaned against the shade of a large tree, gazing melancholically at the distant mountains, unable to shake thoughts of what Cui Xingzhou might be doing at this very moment.

She wasn’t the only one preoccupied with thoughts of Prince Huaiyang.

At this moment, Prince Sui angrily stood up from the soft couch, shoving the beautiful concubine to the ground, and barked, “What did you say? Say it again!”

The guard, looking extremely nervous, said, “Your Highness, the people sent by Prince Huaiyang have kidnapped the Princess Consort and Young Master, who were on their way to the capital. He left a message for you, demanding that you exchange Old Princess Consort Chu and Princess Huaisang for them…”

It turned out that last night, the Princess Consort and Young Master, who had already set out for the capital, were suddenly abducted by a group of masked men. The kidnappers didn’t leave a letter but sent a message to Prince Sui, which was actually quite harsh.

Prince Sui was warned to treat Old Princess Consort Chu and the Princess well, or else the whole world would know that Prince Sui had a dark cloud over his head and that his son would end up with countless stepfathers!

Hearing this, Prince Sui’s face turned red with anger, and he erupted, “Exchange? I haven’t even caught a single hair of his! What the hell am I supposed to use to make an exchange?”

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