Chapter 564: Screens
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Ru’s abductor finally let out the signal for negotiation. Moreover, the abductor had remained mysterious and gone out of his way to do it. For example, he sent the letter directly to the Land of Fragrance encampment even though he knew that Shangguan Ru would be absent.
“A maid sent the letter. She said that her master is an acquaintance of the coach and was unwilling to say anything more than that.”
The letter was neatly written, like that of an accountant. The content was simple, saying that he would visit in the evening, and he did not antic.i.p.ate a disappointing meeting, etc. There was no signature.
“He wants to see me.” Reading the letter a number of times, Gu Shenwei drew that conclusion.
The three female officials nodded together. “That’s why we presented it to you. Please, you have to save the coach. Our people and treasures are all at your disposal.”
If the abductor only wanted that, things would be easier.
Gu Shenwei decided to meet the visitor.
Currently, there were many flies on the wall around the encampment. After sending away the three officials, Gu Shenwei brought five guards with him to the district of the craftsman. The Tournament of the Royal Court was around the corner; the shops were all packed. Two hours later, five guards returned, followed by a bunch of disheartened spies. They had all lost their target; no one knew exactly how the Dragon King disappeared.
Spies were still watching the Land of Fragrance encampment, but there were a thousand people on this broad land. If they really wanted to cover every corner, they really should send out a small troop.
At sunset, Gu Shenwei easily slid into the encampment through a place that was not being watched. Maid Lotus and Chu Nanping had arrived earlier and had been patrolling in disguise. At night, they would lurk into the dark to protect the Dragon King.
The three officials were a bit nervous. Although the youngest one was already in her 30s, they had lived in a reclusive country since their early times. They were supposed to be servants for their entire lives. When the royals in their country were brought down, they became fl.u.s.tered. And now that their coach was missing, they felt like the world was crumbling.
Moreover, they were a little scared of the Dragon King. They all waited outside the tent and reported every trifle that seemed dangerous to them. They even reported on pa.s.sing horses that ran startled in front of their encampment.
The enemy had finally made his move, so Gu Shenwei was able to calm down. His biggest concern was that the enemy would directly send a human head and such without prior warning.
When night fell, the visitor arrived. It was another woman draped in a long cloak. She did not seem surprised at all in the presence of the Dragon King. “I’m happy to be at your service.”
Gu Shenwei’s guess was proved correct. The visitor did actually want to see him; however, this woman was apparently not the real visitor.
The woman presented another letter with both hands. As soon as Gu Shenwei took the letter, the woman walked away, disregarding the officials who tried to stop her.
There was a simple map on the letter. The writer had circled the words “royal court”, and smeared a thick ink mark on the northwest outside the circle. Apparently, he was inviting the Dragon King there.
The map was so obscure that Gu Shenwei did not think he would find it even if he were to spend days and night searching. Moreover, he remembered clearly that in the north of the royal court, there was a large portion of land that was a forbidden zone.
However, the female officials recognized this place.
“It looks like the Flower Camp.”
“Flower Camp?” Gu Shenwei had a hazy memory of it.
“The second wife of the Khan invited the Western Region Queens and Princesses to her party in Norland. The Khan designated an area in the north to accommodate them. Well, the Land of Fragrance was an exception. The coach brought us there, and it looks just like the place on the map.”
Things got complicated. The northern area was a forbidden zone, and all prestigious women lived in the Flower Camp. If the Dragon King should be discovered there, he would be butchered and no one would blame Norland at all.
The three officials volunteered to gather information. “We’re women, and we’ve made a few friends there. We won’t be suspected.”
Gu Shenwei agreed and taught them some tricks to get rid of possible followers. Then, the three officials went straight to the northern encampment. They met a group of female soldiers on the way and exchanged greetings. After that, all three of them went back; however, one official had been switched out for a soldier.
It was dark and the switch worked.
At midnight, the official who had been switched returned. As soon as she entered the tent, she murmured, “Weird, they seem to have guessed that I was coming. Somebody stopped me on my way and recognized me. Look, another letter.”
The visitor seemed to love playing games.
Gu Shenwei was not sure about his three suspects anymore. The Norland lords and Old Man Mu would not play tricks like this; they would directly declare their conditions and threats, leaving no time for him to think.
The letter had another address on it. This time, the address was back in the district of the craftsman in the southwest. There was also a postscript that read “any time”.
If the abductor wanted to wear down the Dragon King’s patience, he was thinking too little of the latter. Gu Shenwei snuck out of the Land of Fragrance encampment alone and fetched Maid Lotus and Chu Nanping. Then, the three of them went to check out the place that was mentioned in the letter.
It was the most crowded place in this area, thus suitable for an ambush. One could hardly say which tent was definitely safe unless he had a pair of eyes that could see through things.
During the fourth watch, when dawn was about to break over the area, Gu Shenwei was still waiting outside the target tent.
“I’ll check.” Maid Lotus volunteered. “As long as you don’t show up, they won’t kill me even if I get trapped.”
But they would probably hold her hostage as well, so Gu Shenwei disapproved. “No, wait until dawn.”
“I’ll go.” Chu Nanping, who had remained silent the entire time, dashed out so fast that neither of them could stop him.
Gu Shenwei was stunned. Looking at Chu Nanping’s figure, he realized that it was the first time that the young swordsman had acted on his own. Before today, he only dared to occasionally do this with encouragement from Xu Xiaoyi and Tie Linglong.
“He’s worried,” Maid Lotus whispered, looking at the fleeting figure of Chu Nanping.
“He’s worrying about Emotionless Swordsmans.h.i.+p.”
“No, something else.”
Gu Shenwei could see through people’s plots and schemes, but he could not read their worries. Afterlistening to Maid Lotus, he realized that something was different about Chu Nanping, and that change happened long ago. The youth was quieter and colder than before. People said that he was more and more like the Dragon King, and Gu Shenwei believed that this was the result of the killer’s training lessons. But now, he thought Maid Lotus was more accurate.
Gu Shenwei decided to ask the youth in person about his worries later. This youth was different. If Gu Shenwei could only trust one man among the people around him, he would choose Chu Nanping without hesitation.
Chu Nanping would never betray him because he had never served anyone in the first place. The youth had a different mindset and almost no one except Gu Shenwei understood him.
After a quarter hour, Chu Nanping returned and said only one word: “Safe.”
Then, he added, “I’m positive.” He probably thought that the Dragon King and Maid Lotus were looking at him in doubt.
It was near daybreak. Gu Shenwei said, “I’ll go by myself.”
When the Dragon King had left, Maid Lotus asked, “Who?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
The enigmatic visitor really loved puzzling games. “So, it’s someone we all know?”
Chu Nanping hesitated, searching for a way to keep his promise. After a while, he nodded. “It’s safe, I promise.”
The tent was not tall and it looked normal from the outside as well. But when he walked inside, he found that it was actually large. The tent was not lit, and Gu Shenwei spent some time looking at its layout.
A dozen different screens were laid out to separate the tent into various interlinked booths, making the tent a tiny maze. The ground was padded with a few layers of carpet that amounted to about 30 centimeters thick. Standing on the carpet, Gu Shenwei felt himself shaking. He wondered how the screens could remain still.
Soon after, he discovered that the carpets had all been cut out to match the bases of the screens. In this way, it would be hard to move any of the screens.
It seemed that the owner of the tent not only liked games, but was also into screens. As far as Gu Shenwei could remember, there was only one person that could not go without screens, but that one person should not and could not appear in Norland.
“You’re slow. I thought I would see you during the third watch.”
The voice came from the deep part of the tent. Gu Shenwei was astounded because it was really that one person’s voice.
Pa.s.sing by five or six screens, Gu Shenwei saw Luo Ningcha leaning on a padded couch.
“Why don’t you answer me? Do you hate me that much?”
The last time they met each other was in Jade City. At that time, Gu Shenwei did not consider her as a mistress and treated her roughly. And he thought he would never again have anything to do with this woman.
Luo Ningcha rose up, lit up the oil lamp on the side table, and smiled. “Don’t be embarra.s.sed, there are no secrets between us.”
“Why are you here?” Gu Shenwei coldly asked and checked out every nearby screen.
“There is no one else here, it’s just the two of us.” Luo Ningcha’s tone sounded different, less insolent than before, and more like that of a—Gu Shenwei thought maybe Xu Yanwei had wielded too much influence on her.
“You can do whatever you want, just like the last time.” Luo Ningcha lowered her voice and sounded more seductive. At this moment, she was even less like Bighead Kingpin’s daughter.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Well, it’s been more than a year; you’ve really cultivated yourself as a ‘king’. Why am I here? Of course, I was invited. The second wife of the Khan sent invitations to Golden Roc Fort, and I’m the first one to arrive. And, I’m more or less a confidant of hers now.”
Luo Ningcha was obviously flaunting when she spoke the last sentence, and that resembled the old her. At that time, Slave Huan was her plot teacher, and she would flaunt every little victory to him.
“Why did she invite you?” Gu Shenwei found it suspicious. Even if the second wife of the Khan invited Golden Roc Fort, that invitation should be sent to Lady Meng.
“Because I have an army.”
Finally, Luo Ningcha got the reactions she wanted from the Dragon King—surprise, disbelief, appreciation, and praise.
Gu Shenwei was not that expressive. However, he was really shocked. “You have an army?”
“Yes, I established it earlier than the Land of Fragrance!” Luo Ningcha looked even more proud. “The previous subordinates of Bighead Kingpin have not done well in recent years, so they came to me. And I asked them to recruit more people to build an army. Now we have nearly 2,000 people.”
The Supreme King had actually allowed Luo Ningcha to do that, so it seemed that she did hold a prestigious position in the fort.
“Congratulations. But why did you come to me?” Gu Shenwei was not desperate for a 2,000-soldier troop yet.
“It’s not me.” Luo Ningcha really had changed because she actually stayed calm after being cold-shouldered. “It’s a woman who is more prestigious than me that wants you.”
At that moment, Gu Shenwei thought of Lady Meng, but he soon crossed out the possibility because, in Luo Ningcha’s eyes, Lady Meng was not more prestigious at all. “So, it’s the second wife of the Khan?”
“Right. She’s got something you want, and she’d like to trade it for your help.”
Never had Gu Shenwei expected that Shangguan Ru would fall into the hands of the second wife of the Khan in Norland.