Chapter 164: Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" / Are You the One

 FlamingoBees 

Translating Chinese Historical Dramas for your enjoyment... and mine! :)

Home    :    Novels

 Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" / Are You the One

 

 Chapter 164: 

 

The two of them had just engaged in a fluid and captivating fight, leaving the three brothers stunned.

They knew that in terms of martial skills, Prince Huaiyang was far above their leader. Yet somehow, when Mian Tang merely smiled at him, the Prince seemed to turn into a wooden puppet, collapsing to the ground with a thud after she struck his pressure point.

Now, with the Prince being teased by Mian Tang and yelling for his men in a fit of anger, the three brothers exchanged bewildered glances, unsure of what to say.

However, Mian Tang was curious about how this handsome military man knew Lu Zhong and the other brothers. She turned to Lu Zhong and asked, "Who is this military man?"

Lu Zhong struggled to respond, "Leader, he is Prince Huaiyang..."

At that moment, it felt like a death sentence for the Prince.

Mian Tang was taken aback, causing the tip of her blade to press slightly forward and scratch the Prince's neck, drawing a few drops of blood.

Seeing the sword's tip poised to plunge into him, Lu Zhong hurriedly shouted, "Boss, the person you married... is him."

Upon hearing this strange exchange, Cui Xingzhou finally understood: Mian Tang had regained her memories of Yangshan but had forgotten the three years they spent together.

To be honest, when he heard Lu Zhong’s shout, Mian Tang was so shocked that she almost drove the blade straight through Cui Xingzhou, intending to take his life. Once she realized Lu Zhong wasn't joking, she had him bind the Prince with ropes and then led him to a nearby cave.

Mian Tang found it hard to believe that she had actually married her arch-enemy, Prince Huaiyang. The first thought that crossed her mind was that the Prince must have used some deceit.

Since waking up on Ko Island, Mian Tang had felt as if she was living in another world, but she never imagined that even more absurd things awaited her.

She had actually married Cui Xingzhou! The revelation of this unexpected husband left her in disbelief.

At this moment, Cui Xingzhou was equally shocked and angry. He was astonished that Mian Tang had suffered a head injury when she fell into the water, leading to such a drastic change; she had completely forgotten their three years of beautiful moments together. He was infuriated that Lu Zhong and the others were diligently following Mian Tang's orders, tying him up securely with a rope soaked in oil. Especially Lu Yi, who had tightened the rope around his own wrists with extra force.

Inside the cave, Cui Xingzhou sat on the ground while Mian Tang squatted in front of him, holding her sword and continuously observing him.

If he could, Cui Xingzhou would have liked to take a good nap. He hadn’t slept for days, and after finally finding her, he was faced with the “unmarried” leader, Lu Mian Tang.

For a moment, he really wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep, hoping that when he woke up, this nightmare would come to an end.

It had to be said that this "Cui traitor" was truly handsome. Whether glaring in anger or slightly closing his eyes to feign sleep, he exuded a calm demeanor, especially with those long eyelashes...

"Have you finished looking? I’m not going anywhere, so untie me first!" Mian Tang had been entranced by his appearance when the seemingly ethereal figure suddenly spoke. His deep eyes seemed to peer into her heart, causing a fluttering sensation inside her.

Only then did Mian Tang remember to act a bit more composed. She stood up and sternly asked Lu Zhong, “I want to know how I ended up marrying Prince Huaiyang... Did he force me? Or was I caught in some trap?”

Lu Zhong was relatively honest. Although he thought Prince Huaiyang was unworthy of the leader, he didn’t embellish the story. “Ever since we lost track of you after Yangshan, we searched everywhere for you. By the time we found you again, you were already the Prince’s wife. According to what you said before, the Prince didn’t force you, and you weren’t caught in any trap; you willingly married him. Back then, we were all against that kid, and... you even punished us for it…”

Mian Tang furrowed her beautifully shaped brows upon hearing this. She considered herself not the type to forget loyalty for the sake of beauty. How could she have punished her own brothers for the sake of her former enemy? Looking at Cui Xingzhou with disbelief, she asked, “You tell me... How did we first meet, and how did we become husband and wife?”

Asking anything else would have been fine, but when it came to their first encounter, Cui Xingzhou found himself at a rare loss for words, feeling somewhat tongue-tied.

He obviously couldn't reveal that Mian Tang had also lost her memory and that he had used her as bait to draw out Lu Wen, deceiving her into becoming his wife.

If he did, with that little pup’s current attitude of not recognizing anyone, he feared that before he could finish, she would stab him straight through the heart.

So, he could only respond vaguely, “At that time, you were gravely injured, your limbs severely injured. I saved you, and after we spent a year together, you married me…”

He paused for a moment and softened his tone. “Mian Tang, can we talk about this later? Our son has been crying for you these past few days, his voice is hoarse from all the shouting…”

Upon hearing this, Liu Mian Tang felt a moment of disorientation. For some reason, as soon as “son” was mentioned, she thought she actually heard the sound of a baby crying in her ears, as if it were the nightmare that had kept her awake these past few days...

She bit her lip slightly, feeling conflicted. How could it be that she really married Cui Xingzhou and even had a son with him?

Cui Xingzhou also felt a sense of urgency. He had rushed after Mian Tang, bringing only two sailors ashore. Logically, their large crew should have come ashore by now, yet they had not appeared. The loyal brothers were unreliable, allowing that little pup to act recklessly…

Just then, a rumbling sound of cannon fire suddenly echoed across the sea. Mian Tang, Lu Zhong, and the other brothers quickly walked to the cave entrance to look outside.

In the distance, several large ships formed a semicircle, slowly closing in on the small warship of the Zhenzhou army. The warship showed no signs of backing down, firing its cannons in retaliation. As the large ships approached, they began to bombard, sending plumes of water shooting up around the small warship.

Lu Zhong glanced over and said, “Boss, those are the enemy's warships! They’re closing in on us!”

Meanwhile, on the enemy's warship, Eikushi-ji was observing the Zhenzhou small gunboat through a spyglass.

It turned out that after losing track of Liu Mian Tang, Eikushi-ji had encountered the Great Yan warships and realized he had no chance of victory. He immediately launched several small boats to return to Kou Island, gathering men and rearming a few warships to continue the search.

After all, capturing Liu Mian Tang would mean grasping the lifeline of Prince Huaiyang, and Eikushi-jididn’t want to waste his efforts by letting her return to Prince Huaiyang so easily.

Cui Xingzhou's two warships were acting separately, and one of them happened to run into Eikushi-ji here, which led to the encirclement.

Although Cui Xingzhou was still in the cave, he guessed what was happening from the sound of the cannon fire and said, “Mian Tang, quickly let me go. You and Lu Zhong should stay here; I’ll rush over and drive the enemy away before coming back to find you.”

The enemy came on strong, outnumbering them by a wide margin and familiar with the terrain. From any perspective, the Zhenzhou warship in the North Sea was bound to lose.

They had been safe in the cave, and now to actively return to danger alongside their comrades to fight the enemy was truly admirable. Mian Tang had also been a commander and understood the bond between a leader and their troops—loving them as if they were one's own children and sharing in their grievances. It sounded simple, but throughout history, countless leaders had failed to achieve it. At least among the subordinates she had dealt with in Yangshan and the generals of Great Yan, only Prince Huaiyang had been able to do so.

Regardless, Cui Xingzhou was a steadfast man. After fighting against him for so long and losing to him a few times, Mian Tang found herself genuinely respecting him.

Seeing that she still had no intention of letting him go, Cui Xingzhou, unwilling to let her continue her reckless behavior, discreetly pulled out a small but extremely sharp dagger hidden in his wrist guard. With a quick flick of his hand, he cut through the rope and stood up.

Mian Tang hadn’t expected him to free himself. Just as she was about to block him, he unexpectedly grabbed her in surprise and pulled her into his arms. With one hand gently cradling the back of her head, he kissed her deeply.

He simply couldn't wait to take Mian Tang home. It didn't matter that she had forgotten him; he had plenty of time to help her gradually remember their passionate past.

After the heated kiss ended, he said, “Wait here for me; I’ll be right back.” With that, he turned and left.

Mian Tang hadn’t anticipated that he had a backup plan. Before she could react, she was pulled into his embrace. Just as her hands were about to move, one of his hands restrained them, forcing her to passively accept the kiss.

When they connected, the familiar masculine scent and heated response were unmistakably reminiscent, even without any memories, as if she had dreamt of it countless times before.

By the time she regained her senses, Cui Xingzhou had already left the cave, swiftly making his way toward the small boat.

On the small boat, several soldiers and commanders had chased after Prince Huaiyang to the shore and hurriedly approached him. The leading officer said, “Your Highness, when the enemy ships appeared, we fired a signal cannon to notify the other ship to rendezvous.”

Prince Huaiyang nodded and said, “The enemy ships are numerous and more familiar with naval combat. There's no need for us to confront them directly on the sea. Send someone to signal the ship to abandon it and come ashore. Let them arrange the warships as a trap to lure the Japanese onto the ships. Once they board, we’ll blow them up. At sea, they have the advantage in numbers, but on land, they are just a disorganized rabble.”

Following the instructions, the warships gathered the remaining cannonballs and piled them together, placing several barrels filled with oil nearby to create the illusion of a shortage of ammunition. Eagle Temple intended to strike hard and sink the Zhenzhou warships in one go, but seeing that the warships were unable to counterattack and were merely fleeing, greed stirred in his heart. He ordered his men to stop firing and approach to capture the enemy ship.

The operation went smoothly as two of their ships docked alongside the Zhenzhou warships. The Japanese soldiers hurriedly jumped onto the enemy ship, only to find the deck completely empty, with only small boats visible in the distance carrying people who were about to land.

While the Japanese were still checking the warship, a loud explosion erupted, and flames shot up from the deck. The warship snapped in half and quickly sank to the bottom of the sea. Some of the Japanese on board were engulfed by the flames, while those who jumped into the water were caught in the whirlpool created as the ship sank. One of the Japanese ships that had just docked nearby was also caught in the blast, with the bow blown apart and rapidly sinking into the ocean.

© translations belonging to  flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com. If you read this somewhere else instead of flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com then the translations has been posted WITHOUT permission of translator.

•••

Prev  :  TOC :  Next

https://ko-fi.com/flamingobeestranslations

https://twitter.com/FlamingoBee2009

Thank You For Reading <3