Chapter 81 The female soldier (1)
Li Youde let someone from the Brocade Armed Guard go on horseback to tell Lang Yu about him being attacked. He also let Lang Yu quickly send people to search for them, saying that he wanted to catch all those people that had attacked him. Li Youde didn’t want to mention Chen Hui’s identity for the time being. However, when he returned to Jianbei and Qi Shengwen saw that Chen Hui was not with him, Qi Shengwen naturally understood that he was trying to rescue Chen Hui.
Li Youde was fast and determined when he left Jianbei. Although he was dissatisfied when he came back, he still had some hesitation in his heart. After all, what he had encountered here made him tremble. However, before Lady Chen is rescued, he couldn’t harden his heart and return to Fanyang. Those Xi barbarians better not touch a finger of Lady Chen, otherwise, he would let them take the consequences.
“This is bad.”
Qi Shengwen told Chu Denggao in private. He didn’t feel much guilt for leading Chen Hui to Fanyang. The facts proved that she did a good job. And as long as Lord Li doesn’t go against them and cause any trouble, although beating the Xi barbarians wouldn’t be so fast, it would be foolproof. However, one’s plan could be derailed by unforeseen events. Who could’ve known that such a thing would happen? Lady Chen actually became the cause of Lord Li causing trouble.
Thinking that Lady Chen might suffer at the hands of the Xi people, Qi Shengwen also felt a trace of guilt at this moment. After all, he made Lady Chen come here. He would feel very apologetic if any harm came to her. In fact, he already feels very guilty right now. Before, he only said how important Lady Chen’s influence was on Lord Li, but he never cared about what kind of existence Lord Li was in Lady Chen’s heart. He didn’t have to care at that time. After all, it had nothing to do with his purpose. But now, she did as he said and did it so well. He suddenly felt some pity for this girl. Any other girl in her situation might’ve collapsed long ago. No one would be able to do a better job than her.
“Shengwen, what are you going to do?”. Chu Denggao asked. Naturally, he didn’t have a deep impression of Lady Chen like Qi Shengwen who had been in contact with her many times. His worries at the moment were almost all because he was afraid of what Li Youde would do and not because he was worried about Lady Chen.
“We can only first send someone to investigate the Xi tribe,” Qi Shengwen said. Sending someone to free the horses as Li Youde had said was impossible, but they may have a chance in sending someone to mingle in.
“Send someone?” Chu Denggao nodded, “Who the candidate will be is also a problem.”
When Li Youde saw Lang Yu, the first thing he proposed was to directly send an army to attack the Xi camp and rescue everyone. It was natural that Lang Yu wouldn’t agree, but he was not the kind of person who would go head-to-head. The reason he gave was also very acceptable to Li Youde…Such a big commotion might make the Xi people kill everyone. So, it was better to send someone to find out more.
What Li Youde wanted was for Chen Hui to be safe and sound. He agreed after a little thought. As for the candidate, he said that he has the final say in that…The one he wanted was Gu Tianhe. Li Youde knew who recognized Chen Hui as soon as he sees her in men’s clothing. Gu Tianhe has seen her before and probably has also seen her after she had come to the frontier. It was more than fitting to let him, someone who has good martial arts, who recognizes Chen Hui and knew about her true identity, to go look for her.
There were only the two of them when Li Youde called Gu Tianhe to give him the order. Li Youde even promised Gu Tianhe a hundred tael of gold if he could successfully rescue Chen Hui. Gu Tianhe was the only one to do the task. He didn’t say anything and left Jianbei after some preparation.
- Tael: unite of weight equal to 50 grams
On the other side, after Chen Hui had experienced jolts while being upside down for more than one hour, she was turned into a sack and lay on a horseback. After more than an hour of tumbling, she arrived at a camp in a mountain col.
When Chen Hui got off to the ground, she couldn’t stand firm and fell on her butt on the ground. She had a headache, a stomach ache and chest pain. She felt like a barbie doll that was about to fall apart.
Seeing that all the other people who were caught were thrown into one place, Chen Hui couldn’t help but look up at the woman who was serving the horse and asked softly, “What are you going to do with us?”
“Interrogate,” The woman replied heedlessly while she petted the horse lovingly.
“Then…can you interrogate me personally and don’t give me to others?” Chen Hui asked. From that man named Borwu, she could see that the status of this brave female warrior was probably not low among the Xi people and she should have the right to make such a decision.
The woman finally turned around, squatted in front of Chen Hui. She looked at Chen Hui’s anxious appearance and said, “Afraid?”
“Yes!” Chen Hui nodded quickly.
The woman said, “My name is Yatai.”
“Master Yatai, hello!” Chen Hui hurriedly smiled fawningly.
Yatai also smiled, “You, this Great Liang’s citizen, look beautiful with a smile.”
She stood up and said, “Come with me.”
She handed the reins of the horse to a man and walked in one direction. Chen Hui immediately stood up and hurriedly followed. Yatai was tall and had big strides. Chen Hui had to trot to keep with her. All the way, almost everyone who saw Yatai would salute her and Yatai would just give them a slight glance as a greeting. Also, the gazes that those people cast Chen Hui were not kind. She had to lower her head all the way to chase Yatai, so as to not fall and be beaten to death by the men with unkind eyes.
The two entered a tent. Yatai casually sat on a short and narrow military bed, raised her chin and said, “Sit there.”
Chen Hui hurriedly and obediently sat on the camp stool.
“Tell me, what is your name and how can you be in the army?” Yatai said.
Chen Hui poured out the words that she had thought about a long time ago, “Master Yatai, my name is Chen Hui and I was…was forced into the army by those masters. I…I am originally the daughter of a merchant. Pity my family for not having power and influence. I could only accept a compromise to let my family members be safe and sound…”
She touched her eyes and burst into tears.
“A daughter of a merchant…,” Yatai repeated Chen Hui’s words and said, “Then, how much do you know about their military situation?”
Chen Hui didn’t hear Yatai’s comfort towards her, this “weak woman”. So, she stopped crying and said with a nasal voice, “Answering master Yatai, I am not allowed to get into contact with those. I…I really don’t know anything!”
“Really don’t know anything?” Yatai said, “If I let someone else come to interrogate you, he wouldn’t be as reasonable as me.”
“It’s the truth, master Yatai. I swear to the heavens. I really don’t know anything!” Chen Hui quickly said.
Yatai stared at Chen Hui for a long time before saying, “Do you know how to do business?”
“…What?” Chen Hui asked with a weird expression on her face. She also didn’t know how the topic came to be here.
“Didn’t you say that you are the daughter of a merchant? Do you know how to do business?”
Chen Hui only hesitated for a moment and then nodded, “I know a bit.” Although she didn’t know why Yatai asked, it was obvious that the other party has a need. Although she wasn’t a businesswoman and has never studied business, she could still say some nonsense about the relationship between supply and demand. If the other party asked deeper questions, she would be able to muddle through by adapting a few modern examples.
Yatai smiled and said, “Do you know why we fought Jianbei City?”
Chen Hui was dumbstruck and suddenly understood something. She remembered that it was recorded many times in history that the people of the grassland went to the south because of a lack of resources, especially fabric and iron that they couldn’t produce themselves. However, many times, the southern empires were unwilling to do business with them. Because they couldn’t get their needs met and couldn’t live on, they could only fight.
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