Chapter 48 Weird Lord Su
“Lord Xia, what are the things in common of those people?”
“Adviser Li said the sick ones are from the same village.”
Su Muge frowned. “They are from the same place?”
“Yes. Now the flood has receded, would you like to go and have a look, Lord Su?”
Su Muge didn’t answer. The patients’ situations were still unsure, and she would be worried if she just left.
“The Magistrate of Zhou county was flooded away in that village,” Xia Houmo said in a deep voice, as he noticed Su Muge’s silence.
“What!” Su Muge lifted her head in shock.
“Since Lord Su is unwilling to go, just stay there and cooperate with the second prince. Donglin, get the horses ready.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
If there was something related to the disease in the village, it wouldn’t be a waste to go.
“Lord Xia, I would like to go with you.”
Xia Houmo’s lips slightly raised, and he walked out in big strides.
…
On the other hand, Xia Houkun dismissed Adviser Li.
There were only Xia Houkun and one of his trusted followers in the room.
Xia Houkun leaned against the back of a chair. His eyes were cold and dark. “Han Yu, why do I feel this Su Lun is a bit weird?”
“In what way, Second Prince?” As the trusted follower of the second prince who was the most compet.i.tive candidate for the crown, Han Yu hadn’t paid any attention to Su Lun, a negligible local official without making any ranking in the imperial court for years.
Xia Houkun shook his head. Su Lun had been sent away by the imperial court years ago, and how would he look out this kind of person.
Xia Houkun waved his hand and apparently, he didn’t want to continue this topic.
“It took me a lot of efforts to have my father to let me come here. Who would know a lion was in the way!”
Han Yu felt the same. The appearance of the King of Jin had been a hindrance.
“Obviously, it is my father who has sent him here for disaster relief, so why he agreed to let me come as well? Tell me, do you think if my father knew anything?” Xia Houkun straightened his back and sat up while finishing his words.
He had been very concealed about that matter. How did his father find out?
“My Prince, we shall not panic. Taking no action now is the best plan.”
Xia Houkun nodded and said, “You are right. Keep an eye on Xia Houmo. I will not let him ruin anything!”
“Yes, My Prince.”
…
It’s a tough journey after heavy rains. On the horse’s back, Su Muge felt the horse’s hooves almost slipped several times. If it were not for the horsemanship she had learned in her previous life, she would have fallen into the mud already.
Zuoqiu and Zuowei were in front to explore the way. According to people from Zhou county, Daw.a.n.g village was the closest one to the urban area of Zhou county.
Gra.s.ses and trees washed by the flood could be seen everywhere, and they could even notice some corpses starting to rot.
“My Lord, Daw.a.n.g village is ahead.”
Su Muge looked up and saw some broken tiles and bricks from a distance.
“All right.” Xia Houmo got off his horse and walked before Su Muge.
Zuoqiu flicked the horse to go forward and brushed off the yellow mud on a big rock. “Daw.a.n.g Village” on it was exposed clearly.
Except for the houses built with black bricks were still standing, the others were all in pieces.
Su Muge jumped off her horse and started to walk on the ruins.
This village was not big, and it took only fifteen minutes at most from one end to the other. Most of the mud houses were gone, and everything could be seen in one glance.
“My Lord, I have found out that everyday people in the village go to the mountain behind, and they would stay there for the whole day and come down until it’s dark. But no one knows what they were doing there,” Zuowei pointed at the wide mountain pa.s.s behind the village and said.
“We’ll go and check it out.”
They tied the horses and walked to the mountain.
As soon as they were in the mountain, Su Muge felt something different. There was not much sign of flood washing the vegetation on this mountain, which meant that it could not be submerged here.
The more they got into the mountain, the odder Su Muge found it was, but she couldn’t tell where or how.
“It is deep in the mountain now, what do the villagers do here every day?” Su Muge
frowned and said, “Even for hunting, it wouldn’t need so many people to go all together at a time.”
Xia Houmo stood still and looked around. “There are no lives.”
No lives!
Right, that’s why she felt so odd. How could they not even see one bird all the way along? It’s definitely impossible that not even one bird was alive for such a huge mountain which was not even affected by the flood.
“Rustling.”
“Scratching.”
The sound of tree branches shaking came as well. Everyone stopped and looked around with alert.
“Lord, watch out!”
Zuoqiu and Zuowei immediately went into protective positions for Xia Houmo.
Tree shadows were mottling on the ground when suddenly the shadow around Su Muge’s feet got darker, and then a ghostly shadow went for her straight from the top. She was startled but rotated her body to try to avoid the attack. Next second, a hand was around her waist and her whole body was lifted.
“Bang!”
More than a dozen men in black encircled them.
Xia Houmo released Su Muge and had her stand behind.
“Trespa.s.sers should die!”
These men started a fierce fight without wasting another breath.
Several of them were coming towards Su Muge and Xia Houmo.
Xia Houmo’s eyes became darker and deeper, and he threw a heavy punch on one men’s face. Su Muge believed that the man’s brain was crushed!
Su Muge was looking at Xia Houmo, and his strong body was like a tall shield, standing in front and keeping all the killings away from her.
Su Muge held her dagger tight to prevent any attack from the back of the Xia Houmo.
“Let’s go!” Xia Houmo said in a low voice, and then he grabbed her waist and flew to a tree.
Through the branches, Su Muge realized that these men came from their left side.
It was certain that Xia Houmo noticed it as well and had the same thought as Su Muge.
He took her through the trees and flew deeper into the wood.
These men in black chased after them right away. However, their light skills were nowhere near Xia Houmo’s. Less than fifteen minutes, they lost the two.
The bloodthirsty brutality flashed in these men’s eyes.
“Let’s go separately and look for them!”
“Yes!”
On the other side of the mountain, Xia Houmo stopped and looked down. The whole body of Su Muge was clinging to him.
Su Muge had her hands holding around his neck tightly, and her legs entangling around his waist, as well as her head burying in his neck. No masculinity could be seen from her.
“Lord Su, it seems that you were frightened badly.” The deep and hoa.r.s.e voice brought back Su Muge’s mind, so she lifted her head from Xia Houmo’s neck and looked at him in a daze.
Their eyes were locked. Su Muge made a low call and released herself from Xia Houmo in a hurry.
How embarra.s.sing!
She feared nothing in the world, except for the height!
She would never admit how scared she was when Xia Houmo carried her flying among the high trees.
What a terrible and ungraceful man he was to make fun of her like that!
Su Muge voiced a disgruntled sound and grabbed her sleeves tightly without saying anything else.
Looking at her upset but helpless face, Xia Houmo smiled and he almost couldn’t help reaching out his fingers to poke those bulging checks. It should feel nice.
After taking several deep breaths, Su Muge felt much calmer, and she looked around for a distraction.
Surprisingly, she saw a hidden cave while she turned around.
She walked to the cave and pulled off the plants. A half meter high entrance was discovered.
Su Muge squatted down and observed around for a while, and then she stood up and said, “People have been getting in and out of this cave as the plants outside are not naturally grown for years. They are used to cover this cave recently.”
“Correct.” Xia Houmo left a cue for his underlings and then he walked into the cave by himself.
Su Muge glared at him behind and followed tamely.
It was very dark at the beginning and they couldn’t see anything, but when they opened a plain wooden door, it became very bright out of a sudden.
“Why does it look like a tunnel?”
Xia Houmo reached out his hand, took some mud from both sides and sniffed. “This is old mud, so it’s not newly dug.”
Su Muge noticed the messy footsteps on the ground which showed that people were pa.s.sing along quite often.
They kept walking and felt like it’s never going to end. Once in a while, a small s.p.a.ce with wooden boards and straws appeared at the side, like a resting place.
After about half an hour walking, Xia Houmo suddenly stopped.
Su Muge was distracted and almost crash into his back.
“Why stop? What did you find?”
Xia Houmo picked up a piece of dirt from the ground and checked. “The dirt here looks fresher than that near the entrance, but it has also been here for some time.”
Su Muge looked at him with confusion.
Xia Houmo dropped the dirt and rubbed his hands. “It looks like a long way ahead.”
“Don’t you want to know where it leads, Lord Xia?”
“There are things I don’t need to do in person.”
Su Muge was choked by his answer. She turned away and felt her feet kicked something. Then she looked down and saw a red porcelain bottle. She bent down to pick it up and sniffed it subconsciously.
Her nose was very sensitive to medicines, so immediately she smelled something wrong.
“What is it?”
“I found it from the ground and the medicinal odor inside smells strange.”
“Let me see.”
Su Muge looked at the hand before her eyes and felt a bit astonished, but still pa.s.sed the porcelain bottle to him anyway.
Xia Houmo took it over to smell. “Suxin Herb?”
“Suxin Herb…” It was one of the best-selling herbs sold to the Chu from the southern barbarians, which was used to nourish the human lungs.
“Lord Xia, you know herbs?”
Xia Houmo returned the porcelain bottle to her and said carelessly, “A bit. Time to go.”
“Alright.”
They felt the cold air blowing in which proved that the other end of this long tunnel had been broken through.
Su Muge walked behind Xia Houmo and she felt eyes were watching them all the way. However, when she turned around, she couldn’t see anything but the endless tunnel.
“What if those men in black are waiting for us at the exit?”
“If they knew we were here, they would have come in and chased after.”
A shadow came out of the darkness after they walked further away…