Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Though Pingsheng Fortress was a crucial frontier town, it was home to military families from all corners of the land. The northern frontier was cold and bleak, with no places for flower viewing or spring outings, so the third day of the third lunar month became a day for gatherings.

The calls of vendors and peddlers rose and fell, the streets and alleys filled with all kinds of goods. Children cheered as they held pastries, chasing each other around.

Lin Shuyun was fascinated by the fresh and novel items at the market stalls.

In the early stages of her pregnancy, she had often vomited and couldn’t keep food down, but now, eight months along, her appetite was really good.

She ate five meals a day. If it weren’t for An Ran controlling her diet and the cook preparing lighter dishes, she would have become a lot heavier.

But today, Lin Shuyun was feeling down and decided to treat herself to a good meal.

Smelling the savory aroma of freshly baked cakes, Lin Shuyun’s eyes instantly lit up, and she pulled Ming Yue toward the stall.

Ming Yue hurriedly called out, “Slow down, take it easy, you must be careful.”

Lin Shuyun turned back with a smile. “It's okay, it's okay. Didn’t An Ran say I should walk more?”

“Ma’am, give me five cakes,” Lin Shuyun called out as she reached the stall selling hu-bing.

Ming Yue had just handed over the money and received the hu-bing when Lin Shuyun pulled her toward a nearby stall selling sour and spicy noodles.

“Ming Yue, come quickly. After we finish, we can walk around to get rid of the smell, so the kids won’t notice.”

Lin Shuyun had already taken a seat at the table, and Ming Yue hurriedly paid and brought over the noodles.

Though this shop wasn’t as tasty as the one in the north of Yun County, it had the advantage of being owned by someone from Jin, whose mature vinegar was rich and aromatic—Lin Shuyun liked it so much she even specifically sent the cook to buy some.

If there was one thing that hadn’t changed over the years, it was Lin Shuyun’s craving for sour and spicy noodles during pregnancy.

Ming Yue still remembered how, back in the capital, Prince Ding had specifically hired a chef from Sichuan and even asked the imperial kitchen for the recipe for sour and spicy noodles.

While she was lost in thought, Lin Shuyun had already wiped the corners of her mouth with a silk handkerchief and said excitedly, “Let’s go. I just remembered the liangfen An Ran once treated me to at Aunt Wang’s stall. Today, I’ll treat you to some noodles.”

Ming Yue frowned hard and quickly reached out to stop Lin Shuyun. “That's enough. You’ve already had a bowl of noodles and a hu-bing.”

“But… I still feel hungry,” Lin Shuyun said, rubbing her belly and looking up at Ming Yue with a pleading look.

“Alright, alright, I’ll skip dinner tonight, how about that?”

Seeing that Ming Yue still didn't budge, Lin Shuyun looked down and said.

Ming Yue sighed softly but firmly said, “Fine, but… you can’t have any more snacks.”

“Okay, I promise I won’t.”

Hearing Lin Shuyun’s promise, Ming Yue had no choice but to follow her toward Aunt Wang’s stall.

Watching the lady and her maid gradually walk away, a scholar holding a book on the street slowly averted his gaze, his red eyes like those of a predator eyeing its prey.

Aunt Wang’s stall was off the main street. When Lin Shuyun arrived, she saw that Aunt Wang was no longer selling liangfen.

Remembering the good customer who had left a piece of silver, Aunt Wang quickly greeted her with a smile the moment she saw Lin Shuyun. “Madam, are you here for the noodles?”

Before Lin Shuyun could answer, a loud, crashing sound, like something being smashed, suddenly filled the alley. Before Lin Shuyun could process what happened, a soft crying sound abruptly arose.

Lin Shuyun turned to look and saw a burly man, as if handling a chick, hurling a thin, frail little girl out of the doorway.

He roared, “You good-for-nothing dare to steal sweet potatoes? What am I supposed to eat…”

The little girl, dressed in thin clothing, her face covered in bloodstains, lay discarded on the ground like a worn-out rag.

Her small, grimy hands rubbed her eyes as she cried, “I… I’m hungry…”

The man paid no attention to the little girl. With a bang, the door slammed shut.

The little girl, red-eyed, her thin body trembling, staggered from the alley to her doorstep, where she sat curled up with her arms wrapped around herself.

As if waiting for the man to soften and let her in.

Lin Shuyun felt a pang of sorrow in her heart and sighed softly. “This child is so pitiful.”

Aunt Wang sighed. “This girl’s mother passed away long ago. Her father mourned for a few days before remarrying. The new wife gave birth to two boys, but when she found out the man was prone to violence, she couldn’t take it and ran away.”

“This man is lazy and gluttonous. His family has no savings left, yet he still has to feed three children. When he gets impatient, he takes it out on the girl.”

Lin Shuyun felt heartbroken and beckoned to Ming Yue.

Moments later, the little girl was brought before her.

The little girl trembled all over, her eyes glistening with tears as she fearfully shrank behind Ming Yue.

Lin Shuyun took a few winter melon candies from the small pouch at her waist and said gently, “Don’t be afraid. I’m not a bad person. What’s your name?”

The little girl timidly replied, “Niu Niu…”

As soon as she spoke, a loud grumble of hunger echoed.

Lin Shuyun sighed softly and gently wiped Niu Niu’s cheeks with a silk handkerchief. “Auntie will treat you to some wontons, okay?”

“…Really?”

Niu Niu looked at Lin Shuyun in disbelief, tears instantly falling as she asked again, “Are they for me?”

“Can I… really eat them?”

When Niu Niu’s thin fingers tightly grasped the wooden spoon, the steaming heat made her eyes well up. She devoured the wontons ravenously.

Lin Shuyun said softly, “Eat slowly, it’s alright. They’re all yours.”

But as soon as she finished speaking, Niu Niu ate even faster. She seemed not to notice the scalding heat of the wontons. After finishing, she turned and ran off without a word, her small figure quickly disappearing into the alley.

Ming Yue opened her mouth, displeased. “This child, how could she run off without saying a word?”

“It’s fine. She’s just a child.”

Lin Shuyun rubbed her sore lower back and slowly stood up. “Let’s go. We should head back.”

As Ming Yue supported Lin Shuyun out of the alley, they turned and heard the heart-wrenching cries of a baby, with no adult in sight to comfort or hold it.

Lin Shuyun glanced in the direction of the sound, which clearly came from within the alley. She frowned slightly. “Why are there lost children everywhere here? Ming Yue, go and take a look.”

Ming Yue nodded.

Lin Shuyun watched as Ming Yue rounded a haystack, walked to the end of the alley, turned the corner, and disappeared from sight.

The baby's cries hadn't ceased, yet Ming Yue hadn't returned.

Lin Shuyun thought to herself: Could she have encountered some troublesome situation, or perhaps the child had a physical deformity that frightened Ming Yue?

Puzzled, she adjusted her pregnant belly and had just rounded the haystack when suddenly, a thick smoke instantly sprayed into her nostrils. Before she could call out to the guards outside, everything went black, and she fell unconscious.

"Heh heh heh, I told you this woman would be easy to handle. Military Advisor Su's ventriloquism is getting more and more impressive."

A burly man put down the smoke pipe in his hand and slowly stepped out.

A scholarly-looking man, holding a dagger, said coldly, "Lang Rui, cut the chatter. Quickly transport her out and deliver her to the Chanyu."

Lang Rui nodded. He vigilantly scanned the surroundings and hurriedly carried the unconscious Lin Shuyun into a nearby house.

Suddenly, a clear, crisp sound echoed through the alley.

Lang Rui instantly became alert and moved toward the haystack where the sound came from. Seeing a slightly protruding shoe, he abruptly stabbed into the haystack.

He stabbed several times blankly but found no one there.

He kicked away the small shoe only to realize it was just a false alarm.

"What's wrong? Is someone there?" the scholar asked.

Lang Rui shook his head: "I must have been seeing things."

The scholar pushed a vegetable cart out slowly: "Let's go. It's time to deliver vegetables outside the city."

Lang Rui hurried over and whispered, "Military Advisor Su, let me handle it."

The vegetable cart rumbled slowly out of the alley.

From a small bamboo basket beside the haystack, Niu Niu's tiny eyes witnessed the entire kidnapping. Trembling, she lifted the basket and fled in panic.

On her way home, Niu Niu's tears fell instantly.

She could no longer remember her mother's face, but she imagined it must have been as fragrant and gentle as the lady's.

At first, the aunties in the alley would give her some food, but their kindness was met with insults from her father, and eventually, no one helped her anymore.

Today, this goddess-like lady had helped her again, so she thought to eat quickly and leave, not letting her father see, lest he bully the lady.

But she wanted to repay the lady. She hurriedly took a small wooden doll from her hidden treasure box under a tree to give to her.

Before she could deliver it, she witnessed this terrifying scene.

She didn't know whom to call or who could save the lady.

Niu Niu suddenly remembered a childhood nursery rhyme—Who's the strongest in Pingsheng Pass? The general takes first place.

Dragging her lame leg, clutching the wooden doll tightly, she stumbled toward the legendary general's mansion.

—

Click-clacking sounds assailed her ears, making Lin Shuyun's head ache faintly.

She slowly opened her eyes and instinctively tried to sit up, but her fingertips touched a dirt-like substance. Her arms and legs were bound with ropes, and a cloth gag was stuffed into her mouth.

In an instant, the memories before her unconsciousness rushed back into her mind.

Lin Shuyun's pupils dilated sharply, her heart pounding uncontrollably in her chest, the sound like drums beating in her ears.

She had been kidnapped.

"Hey! What's in that cart?"

Just then, the voice of a city gate guard reached Lin Shuyun's ears.

"Nothing, just some leftover sweet potatoes and my watchdog," a man's simple and honest voice replied. He chuckled warmly, as if afraid the guard wouldn't believe him, and quickly lifted the lid of the vegetable cart.

Hearing the sounds outside, Lin Shuyun saw that the lid hadn't been lifted at all and realized she was in a hidden compartment beneath the cart.

Trembling, she tried with all her strength to bump against the compartment wall. The sweet potatoes beside her rattled loudly.

"What's that noise?" the soldier coldly asked as he walked over. He saw a wooden box filled with sweet potatoes and a white dog placed inside.

Frowning slightly, as if noticing something suspicious, he was about to speak when Lang Rui's arm, hidden in his sleeve, tensed up, his fingers gripping the dagger tightly.

"My dog is too restless," Lang Rui said, with a simple and honest tone, to the dog. "If you keep moving, I'll slaughter you for meat when we get home."

The little dog trembled violently.

Lin Shuyun's hair stood on end. She shook like a leaf, realizing the words were meant for her.

The soldier said indifferently, "Alright, move along."

Lang Rui grinned and said, "Thank you, sir."

Lin Shuyun watched through a crack in the wooden box as Pingsheng Pass gradually disappeared from view. Her body stiffened, and she clenched her fingers, feeling the pain.

Suddenly, the Buddhist beads on her wrist slipped off. Remembering something, she strained her bound hands with all her might to break the string.

Gasping for breath, gritting her teeth, she gently flicked the beads through a crack in the wooden box.

Trembling, Lin Shuyun threw out the Buddhist beads, having used all her courage. Cold sweat dripped from her forehead, sliding down her temples and into her eyes, but she didn't dare to blink.

Her ears perked up, listening for any sound of the kidnappers' brutality or discovery, but there was none.

She counted, throwing out one Buddhist bead every three hundred counts.

Lin Shuyun didn't know if this would work, but it was the only way to let the general's mansion track her whereabouts.

As time passed, Lin Shuyun had no more Buddhist beads left, but the cart showed no sign of stopping.

She didn't know who these people were, where they came from, or why they had kidnapped her.

The more she thought, the more panicked she became, and the child in her womb stirred restlessly.

She bit her lip hard, forcing herself to stay highly focused.

Suddenly, a click echoed.

Lin Shuyun quickly closed her eyes and lay down among the sweet potatoes, but the wooden board above her head didn't move.

But she heard a voice filled with irritable anger and fury, followed by a clearer voice that seemed to be trying to dissuade him.

As the voices drew closer, Lin Shuyun realized that the kidnappers were not speaking the dialect of Shuobei but the Hu language of the barbarians.

Her back was instantly soaked with sweat, a bone-chilling cold swept through her limbs, her heart thumped anxiously in her chest, and her temples throbbed.

The two kidnappers seemed to have gotten into an argument, and the wooden plank above Lin Shuyun’s head was suddenly yanked open.

Lang Rui looked at the woman pretending to sleep in front of him, picked up a wine jug nearby, and splashed its contents onto her.

He roared furiously in Mandarin, "Your man killed my tribesmen. I will use your life to appease their souls."

Lin Shuyun choked on the strong liquor and burst into a fit of coughing. She slowly opened her eyes; the light stung her eyes, making them ache.

Clenching her teeth, she looked at the burly man before her and said hoarsely, "What are you talking about? I don’t understand."

"Don’t understand? I’ll kill you, then you’ll understand!"

As Lang Rui suddenly raised his hand to stab her in the chest, Lin Shuyun shuddered violently but did not feel the pain of a cold blade piercing her.

Instead, Lang Rui’s arm was tightly grasped by the strategist Su Bibo.

"We can’t kill her yet. We still need her to negotiate with Lu Yu and make his troops withdraw from the grassland."

Lang Rui said angrily, "What if the negotiation fails?"

Su Bibo replied coldly, "Then we’ll kill her before the two armies clash and use her as a sacrificial offering to our war banners."

"Did you... kidnap the wrong person?"

A soft northwestern accent slowly spoke up.

Lang Rui’s eyes narrowed. He pressed the dagger fiercely against Lin Shuyun’s delicate throat and demanded angrily, "What did you say?"

"I am not Lu Yu’s wife."

Lin Shuyun clenched her fists tightly, but her eyes were filled with determination.

Su Bibo lowered his gaze, a flicker of imperceptible confusion flashing in his eyes. When he looked up again, his expression was resolute. "You are Lu Yu’s wife, Princess Ding'an of the Ding Palace."

"I am not."

"How would the heir marry an ugly woman like me? The princess is a noble lady, unlike a coarse northwestern woman like me."

Lin Shuyun, speaking in fluent northwestern dialect, continued anxiously, "I’m just a wet nurse, not a madam."

Rumors said Princess Ding'an was found in Jiangnan and would never speak with a northwestern accent.

Su Bibo’s eyes darkened, and he fell silent.

Lin Shuyun looked panicked, afraid they wouldn’t believe her, and added, "The heir has been married for less than seven months, but I’m almost due to give birth. How could I be his wife?"

"Please, I beg you, let me go."

"I know nothing. I’m just a wet nurse."

Lang Rui, unfamiliar with Central Plains customs, looked anxiously at Su Bibo, only to see his eyes filled with gloom as he said, "We made a mistake. We kidnapped the wrong person. It’s not her. Lu Yu’s wife is from Jiangnan, and Central Plains people wouldn't be intimate before wedlock."

Hearing their conversation, Lin Shuyun lowered her gaze, her back soaked with sweat, her nails digging into her palms until they bled.

She breathed lightly, her eyes full of panic.

Lang Rui kicked the wooden box hard and complained sharply, "Strategist, you told me to kidnap her. Lu Yu has already advanced to our homeland. How could we have gotten the wrong person now?"

Su Bibo said nothing. He raised his dagger and lifted Lin Shuyun’s chin, his narrow, fox-like eyes somber as he said, "I will send someone to verify this. If you dare lie to me, I will make you wish you were dead."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lid above Lin Shuyun’s head was closed again.

Su Bibo said coldly, "Take her to the tent first. Wait for my return."

Lin Shuyun’s forced composure instantly collapsed. Tears of fear and panic fell like broken beads, her lips trembled, and the child in her womb stirred restlessly.

She thought, the general’s residence was tightly guarded like an iron barrel, and the servants would never reveal her appearance. She had rarely left the residence, so it was unlikely the barbarians knew what she looked like.

This idea had suddenly occurred to her. With no other options, she had to gamble.

Fortunately, she had gambled correctly. She and her child could hold on for a few more days.

As the vegetable cart began to rumble again, Lin Shuyun’s vacant eyes fixed on a corner, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

At this point, could she still trust Lu Yu?

As the esteemed Great General Who Guards the North, would he truly abandon his soldiers, the people behind him, and the glory that would immortalize his name in history, all for a wife with whom he had a strained relationship?

Lin Shuyun closed her eyes wearily, unwilling to think further. The cold answer was already in her heart.

Warm tears slid down her cheeks, continuously dampening the clothes over her swollen belly. She lowered her head, her gaze falling on her eight-month-pregnant abdomen.

"Mother is sorry for you," Lin Shuyun sighed silently in her heart. "This time... I’m afraid we will have to walk the path to the underworld together."

——

Inside the tent,

"The old Chanyu has been shot with an arrow and injured. His eldest son’s head has been cut off by you, and his second son died two days ago. Only the weakest third son remains. If we press our advantage, we can achieve a great victory!"

"General, we’ll be able to return home soon."

Deputy General Li laughed heartily, raising his teacup to toast Lu Yu.

Lu Yu’s face was already etched with exhaustion, but the thought of soon returning to see Wanwan brought a faint flicker of joy to his dark eyes.

Just as he was about to speak, a hurried report came from outside the tent.

"General, an urgent message from the general’s residence at Pingsheng Pass!"

Officer Sun didn’t even wait for Lu Yu’s response before striding into the tent and handing him a note.

"General, something has happened at the residence!"

Lu Yu stood up instantly, snatched the letter, and quickly scanned its contents. His blood seemed to freeze, and his mind went blank.

The next moment, he braced his hands on the table, his throat working as he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, splattering the letter like scattered red plum blossoms.

Wanwan was in danger.