Princess and the General

Princess DanYang Helps Out (Part Two)
Just after the sun came up, the capital’s four gates were opened.

A carriage arrived in front of the city gates under the early-morning light. The plaque bearing Marquis Gu’s Manor’s name aroused the attention of the city guards.

Two people who looked like members of the city guard quietly discussed the matter, “The orders from above where that Marquis Gu’s Manor has committed a crime. If anyone from their manor wants to leave the city, we are to stop them. But… do you think we should try to stop them?”

The other person tightly furrowed his brow and stared closely at the carriage, “Keep your voice down. Let’s see who is in the carriage before we decide.”

The carriage slowly approached them. The closer the carriage drew, the more nervous the guards became.

Before they could open their mouths to speak, the driver shouted at the two: “Quickly stand aside! Inside the carriage is the Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu from Immortals Valley. She is returning to Immortals Valley!”

The two people who looked like guards let out a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was not someone from Marquis Gu’s Manor trying to leave the city. It was a disciple from Immortals Valley.

One of the two stepped toward the carriage and cupped his hands, “Lord Deity of Medicine once saved the late emperor’s life. Naturally, Immortal Practitioner of Medicine is naturally a valued guest of our Eastern Ling. It’s just that there’s an order from above that this subordinate does not dare refuse. Would Immortal Practitioner of Medicine please lift the carriage curtain and allow me to take a look?”

The curtain was lifted by a slender hand, and Yue Hu’s impatient expression was on full display, “Look quickly and don’t delay my travels!”

The guard looked inside the carriage and saw that the only other person inside the carriage with Yue Hu was a maidservant whose face was covered. There were no people from Marquis Gu’s Manor. Only now did he feel completely at ease.

“Yes, yes, yes, we’ve troubled Immortal Practitioner of Medicine. Come and open…”

“Hold it!”

Yue Hu’s heart chilled and thought to herself that this was bad. This person’s voice sounded very familiar.

The guard stationed at the gate hastily looked back and was given a shock. He then quickly rushed over to salute, “This subordinate greets cabinet leader Yin. Why has cabinet leader Yin come here?”

This was bad. It was Yin Shuo!

Yue Hu furrowed her brow and thought to herself that this was bad. Yin Shuo must have heard some rumors and come to get in their way.

She got out of her carriage, and Yin Shuo also got out of his carriage. He was no longer wearing his high-collared robes but was instead wearing a purple robe. It looked very dignified and noble. It looked as if he was going to attend some sort of grand ceremony.

Yue Hu looked at his neck. The marks on his neck still had not yet disappeared, and they could still be seen if one looked closely.

Back when she had strangled him, it was like a cat toying with a mouse. It was no wonder Yin Shuo wanted to get revenge today!

Yue Hu quietly regretted her actions but put on a strong front and walked toward him, smiling at Yin Shuo, “Cabinet leader Yin, what a coincidence. Are you leaving the city too?”

Yin Shuo looked at her with a shallow smile, “This official will accompany Princess DanYang into the palace to see His Majesty. Today is His Majesty’s birthdya. All members of the imperial family will be gathering in the imperial palace. Who knew that this official would hear along the way that Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu would be leaving the capital, thus I specially came to send you off.”

Yue Hu looked at the carriage behind him. Princess DanYang was surely sitting inside.

“Haha, thank you. Cabinet leader Yin sure is courteous.”

Yue Hu could barely keep up her fake smile. It seemed that Yu Fu was right. Yin Shuo had been keeping an eye on Marquis Gu’s Manor for any sign of movement. He would not allow anyone from Marquis Gu’s Manor to leave the capital.

Yin Shuo continued to smile, but he suddenly changed the topic, “But Immortal Practitioner of Medicine is someone who has been living in Marquis Gu’s Manor. Marquis Gu’s Manor is currently being suspected of having committed treason, so it’s natural that a carriage from Marquis Gu’s Manor would need to be inspected before being allowed to leave the city.”

After saying this, he ignored Yue Hu’s worsening expression and waved his hand, “Come and remove all of the people and items from the carriage. This official wants to personally inspect them!”

“Yes!”

Seeing that the guards were about to carry out Yin Shuo’s orders, Yue Hu decided to personally step in front of the carriage, “I want to see who dares! Master is currently in seclusion, thus I, as the head disciple, am in charge of Immortals Valley. If you dare to investigate my carriage, it would be the same as making an enemy of Immortals Valley!”

When everyone heard this, they all hesitated, not daring to take a step forward. Yue Hu pulled out a token from her pocket, “This is a token given to me personally by your ruler. It allows me to enter and leave Eastern Ling’s imperial palace as I please. What, now that I want to leave the city, you dare to try and stop me?!”

When she brought out the token, the guards became even more afraid to oppose her, repeatedly retreating.

Yue Hu internally breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Yin Shuo said: “Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu is mistaken. Nobody here wants to stop you from leaving the city. You are an immortal practitioner of medicine. Who would dare to offend you? That’s without mentioning the token that His Majesty gave you. This official just wants to inspect your things. If… If there was a traitor hidden the carriage, who could possibly bear the burden of this crime?”

He looked at the guards with a smile, “If anyone from Marquis Gu’s Manor escapes, all of you will be guilty of conspiring to carry out a cover up, and you will all be sentenced to death!”

The guards that had retreated started stepping forward once more, “Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu, we’re begging you. Just let us carry out our inspection! We all of aging parents and young children to take care of. As long as immortal practitioner of medicine’s carriage doesn’t have any criminals hiding inside, why worry about an inspection?”

Yue Hu was troubled by these words and momentarily did not know how to respond.

After a long pause, she finally gritted her teeth and said: “Fine, fine, you can inspect it if you want to inspect it, but allow me to say that I have some belongings that only a girl should see. If any of you dares to touch them, I will kill you with a poison needle!”

She fiercely gritted her teeth and positioned herself to throw the needles. The group quickly agreed and carefully remove items from the carriage.

When Yin Shuo saw Yao Lan step out of the carriage, he immediately frowned, “Isn’t this Princess ZhenJiang’s personal maidservant? Why would she be with Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu?”

Yue Hu had already come up with an answer for this, “Does cabinet leader Yin not know? Yao Lan was originally sent from Immortals Valley to take care of Yu Fu. Seeing that Yu Fu is about to become of age, master wanted to prepare a dowry for Yu Fu, thus I decided to bring Yao Lan with me. She understands Yu Fu the best. Others would not be as considerate as her.”

This was a reason that had no flaws.

Yin Shuo was skeptical. Watching the guards remove items from the carriage, he found that some of the chests contained girls’ clothing and accessories, along with items that could be used on the road like tea and dried food. There was nothing unusual.

Aside from this, there was a large chest and a small chest were placed together. These two chests had golden flowers painted on them, and they looked very delicate. The guards did not dare carelessly open such a valuable object.

Yin Shuo pointed at the two chests, “What’s in those?”

Yue Hu casually glanced back at him, “Oh, one is a medicine chest, and don’t say that I didn’t warn you, but my medicine chest contains priceless items or items that will take your lives. If anything is disturbed, your lives won’t be enough to pay for them.”

When she said this, the guards subconsciously shifted away from the two chests.

Yin Shuo said: “Then what about the large chest?”

“That’s an empty chest. I liked the gold painting on it, so I had Yu Fu give it to me to bring back to Immortals Valley.”

Yin Shuo stood there and paused. In the end, he decided to personally inspect the two chests.

Yue Hu did not think that Yin Shuo would still dare to go and touch the chest after being told that they contained poison. He could not help but feel nervous. Just as he was about to try and stop him, she saw a person come out of Yin Shuo’s carriage.

“Husband, don’t touch it!”

Princess DanYang was dressed in a fine dress, and her thin face was covered in a layer of makeup. She looked much better than when Yue Hu saw her previously.

She urgently walked forward and grabbed Yin Shuo’s hand in front of everyone, “Be careful. There’s poison!”

Yin Shuo remained flawless in front of outsiders, as he did not throw off Princess DanYang’s hand. Instead, he just smiled, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Princess DanYang stood at his side and clearly noticed that his smile never reached his eyes.

She was startled, as Yin Shuo let go of her hands. Just before he touched the box, Princess DanYang grabbed his hand once more.

“Let me do it. I’m also curious as to what an immortal practitioner of medicine has inside their chest.”

Princess DanYang smiled, feigning interest. Sure enough, Yin Shuo released her hand and allowed her to go to the chest.

Yue Hu’s heart filled with anxiety. Was it really possible for such a stupid woman to exist? She had been abused by Yin Shuo to such a degree, yet she was still worried about him?

If it had been her, she would have strangled that man to death with her own two hands!

Princess DanYang finally turned to examine the medicine chest. She would not have known without looking, but just one glance allowed her to feel that it was familiar, “This medicine chest… seems to be Yu Fu’s.”

Yin Shuo raised his eyebrows, “Are you sure?”

Princess DanYang nodded, “When Yu Fu first arrived at Marquis Gu’s Manor, I would often go and play with her, and I saw this chest in her room before. Although it’s been a long time… I am fairly certain.”

Yue Hu thought quickly and immediately said: “This is my medicine chest! All of Immortals Valley’s disciples have one. Even that little Kun WuShang, who came later, has one. They’re all roughly the same!”

Yin Shuo had taken a poison from Kun WuShang’s chest, thus he knew that Kun WuShang also had one that was quite similar. It did not seem that what Yue Hu had said was a lie.

But Yin Shuo still felt that something was off.

One of Yu Fu’s maidservants and a medicine chest that looked like it belonged to Yu Fu… His gaze focused on the large chest. If Yu Fu wanted to follow Yue Hu out of the capital, she would surely have concealed herself in the large chest.

Yin Shuo raised his hand and signaled, “Come and open up the chest below. I want to see whether it’s empty or not!’

The guards carefully moved the medicine chest and then opened the large chest. What was outside of Yin Shuo’s expectations was that the large chest was actually empty.

Yue Hu rolled her eyes at him, “Does cabinet leader Yin also want to inspect the underside of the carriage or the top of the carriage? Only Yao Lao and I are on this carriage. You have already seen for yourself, so can I leave now?”

Yin Shuo gritted his teeth. His frown never disappeared from his brow.

He refused to believe that Yue Hu would leave with Yao Lan at a time like this to prepare Yu Fu’s dowry in Immortals Valley. There had to be something wrong here.

Where exactly was the problem?

Princess DanYang looked at the empty chest, and her nose twitched. She became even more suspicious.

She smelled a unique fragrance that was rather faint but smelled very nice. It was the smell of wild flowers and grass.

She had smelled this fragrance many times before. At first, she learned from her second brother, Ning ChengZhi, that Yu Fu liked soaps that smelled of fresh grass and that he had specially ordered for some to be sent to Yu Fu.

After that, she smelled that same fragrance on Gu ShuBai. Only then did she find out that Gu ShuBai and Yu Fu were already sharing the same type of bath soap.

Thus the fragrance that she was smelling…

She slowly bent down, and the smell of grass grew stronger. It seemed to be coming from inside the large chest.

How could the smell of Yu Fu’s bath soap be coming from an empty chest?

She closely examined the chest and became even more suspicious of a problem with the chest. Yu Fu was surely underneath the chest and was planning to flee the capital.

She tapped the wall of the chest a couple of times. Yue Hu noticed her actions, and her heart skipped a beat.

There!

Princess DanYang finally found the switch and opened it slightly. She foud herself face to face with Yu Fu’s frightened little face, her eyes filled with a pleading look.

She was begging Princess DanYang not to expose the truth.

In an instant, all sorts of thoughts raced through her mind. She recalled Gu HuaiJiang’s unwavering loyalty and recalled news of Gu ShuBai’s death on the border, and then she thought about the collapse of Marquis Gu’s Manor…

At the same time, she also thought about what Yin JiYao had said- that her eldest brother liked Yu Fu so much.

Right, all of the men that she had loved ended up falling in love with Yu Fu. Even her own brother placed more importance on Yu Fu than her.

She was so envious of Yu Fu that she was on the verge of going insane. Why should she help her?!

“DanYang, what are you doing?”

Yin Shuo finally noticed the strangeness of her actions, lowering his head to look at her. Yue Hu also looked down at her, her gaze focused on her fingertips.

If she moved her fingers even a little, the panel would be opened, and Yu Fu would be found by Yin Shuo.

Princess DanYang’s fingers trembled slightly. After a long delay, she returned the panel to its original place and then slowly stood up.

“OH, I was just thinking that something that Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu liked so much as to insist on bringing it back to Immortals Valley would surely be exquisite. When I examined it more closely, sure enough, it really was quite exquisite.”

Yue Hu was so shocked that her eyes nearly fell out of their sockes. She had very clearly heard Yin JiYao say that Princess DanYang and Yu Fu were not on good terms. Who knew that Princess DanYang would actually help them at such a critical moment.

Why did she help them?

A look of contempt flashed through Yin Shuo’s eyes, “With your status, you should have seen plenty of golden trinkets like this. Why bother looking at other people’s things?”

He then turned to Yue Hu, his eyes filled with reluctance, “Since Immortal Practitioner of Medicine Yue Hu is in a rush, this official won’t delay you any further. Farewell.”

After saying this, he ignored Princess DanYang and walked back to his carriage.

The city guards placed the chests and other items back into the carriage. While nobody was looking, Yue Hu cast a grateful look in Princess DanYang’s direction, “Thank you, princess, for your help.”

Princess DanYang laughed bitterly, “Don’t misunderstand. I don’t want to help you, and I want to help Yu Fu even less.”

She looked down at the chest by her feet, “If it was anything else, I would do everything in my power to get in the way of anything that Yu Fu wants to do even if that won’t resolve the resentment in my heart. But if she wants to leave… just let her leave. Maybe once she leaves, Yin Shuo won’t continue to think about her. Without Yu Fu, there might come a day where I will be able to win him over, and he will finally accept me.”

Yue Hu really disliked her attitude toward love but did not dare say anything about it for fear of her acting out in anger and exposing Yu Fu’s presence.

Princess DanYang walked toward her carriage and stopped after a few steps. She suddenly turned around, “Tell Yu Fu that if she leaves, don’t come back. If she dares to come back and make Yin Shuo yearn for her once more, I will never forgive her!”

This Princess DanYang would not happen to be an idiot, right?

Yue Hu internally complained to herself but did not dare say anything that might offend her. She just smiled and nodded, “Alright, I will be sure to let her know.”

Seeing Princess DanYAng and Yin Shuo’s carriage leave, the city guards behind them stepped forward and said: “Immortal practitioner of medicine, please do not blame us. We were just following orders. All of your things have already been put back in the carriage. Can you see if anything seems to be wrong?”

Yue Hu coquettishly rolled her eyes at him, “Hmph, you’ve already been through my things, yet you still come to ask for kindness. I refuse to hear it!”

After saying this, she strutted off and climbed into the carriage. The carriage then left the city and headed north.

When they were already some distance away from the capital, Yao Lan lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked back. There were no people following them, thus she nodded to Yue Hu, and the latter quickly removed the panel from the large chest.

“Yu Fu, are you alright?”

Yu Fu slightly furrowed her brow. She could not exert any strength and had no choice but to have Yue Hu and Yao Lan help her out, “This chest is used to perform some tricks, so it’s exceptionally small. A person can only stay in there for a short time before they need to come out. I hid in there for too long, and my body is aching. I really can’t move.”

Fortunately, there were no major issues. The three let out a collective sigh of relief, as Yue Hu said: “Right, it’s fortunate that Princess DanYang helped us hide you today. She wanted me to tell you…”

“Senior disciple sister, there’s no need to say it. I heard it from inside the chest.”

She was also very surprised that Princess DanYang had helped them, but she undersetood after hearing what she had to say. She was just doing it for Yin Shuo.

Yu Fu folded her hands and moved her body a little before saying to Yue Hu: “I need to send two letters, and one needs to be written by senior disciple sister.”

“Me?”

Yue Hu pointed at herself and did not ask too much, “To whom am I writing? Just let me know.”

Yu Fu received a piece of paper from Yao Lan, “I need to ask senior disciple sister, as the acting leader of Immortals Valley, to write a letter to Ji ChengFa and have him rush to Eastern Ling’s capital. I will write the other one and send it to Northern Li.”