Chapter 160 – The Unrealized Dreams

Just as Master Xie, who had always been elegant, screamed mournfully, four guards dressed in nocturnal black suddenly jumped off the beam of the house. They were in the air, and their swords, reflecting the light, swept toward the two Japanese.

 

The assailant who wanted to kill Master Xie was immediately cut to the ground, spraying blood all over. Poor Master Xie’s eyes were wide open, so frightened that he could no longer cry out, and his snow-white beard was splashed with blood.

 

The Japanese man who was fighting with the bodyguard blocked a few knives and saw that he was not his opponent. He jumped into the courtyard with a loud bang, breaking through the window. When he stood up, he found that the Japanese and guards in the yard had already engaged in a melee.

 

When the lights in the courtyard lit up, the gate opened wide and many guards rushed in to fight against the Japanese.

 

The captain of the guards glanced at Master Xie, who was covered in blood and lost his voice in fear and asked the two guards to help him aside. The dagger was still inserted on the bedside, but Master Xie couldn’t shout out as he watched the dagger. He only opened his mouth wide.

 

The two guards ignored him and turned around to charge outside, protecting him behind them. The captain of the guard only then opened the door and walked out. Seeing that the guards had already gained the upper hand, he felt relieved and shouted “Catch them alive”, then joined the battle with his sword.

 

In just a short while, four or five Japanese have already been chopped to the ground.

 

The Japanese who rushed out of the window were the leader of this assassination attempt. When he saw that the situation was over, he shouted to retreat, and the remaining Japanese gathered around him and stood in a circle. The Japanese leader took out an object from his arms and threw it onto the ground, puffing up a cloud of smoke. The smoke grew at the sight of the wind and quickly covered the entire courtyard. The guards were blinded by the smoke, making their vision unclear. The Japanese took the opportunity to jump out of the wall and flee for their lives.

 

After a while, the smoke slowly dissipated, and the bodyguard said with hatred, “Leave ten bodyguards to protect Master Xie, to prevent the Japanese from turning back, and the other bodyguards will follow me.”

 

In this way, the guards chased the Japanese to a small mountain by the river and saw them escape into a cave halfway up the mountain.

 

Previously, Miantang instructed that she had killed too cleanly on the Thief Mountain last time, leaving no survivors. It would be best to capture one or two alive this time, just in time to review the details of the pirate island.

 

The captain of the guards chased after them here, fearing that there would be an ambush in the cave. He asked the guards to surround the foot of the mountain and not let the Japanese escape. At the same time, he sent someone to report to the Huaiyang Princess Consort.

 

Miantang stayed up all night in the mansion, hoping that the suspicion she had generated when she discovered the gleam of the binocular was not unnecessary.

 

When the chief bodyguard reported that someone had indeed attacked Master Xie’s residence, Miantang’s heart was also at ease.

 

So she sent someone to report to Prince Huaiyang so that he could deploy people to arrest the remaining sins of the Japanese in the cave.

 

Although according to Miantang’s wishes, these shrimp soldiers and crab generals, she will be able to settle personally if she led the loyal and righteous four brothers. But just a few days ago, she was forced to personally admit that she was a puppy. If she were to take another risk alone this time, she was afraid that her husband would not be able to spare her.

 

So, Miantang asked the bodyguard to run to the military camp to inform Prince Huaiyang about the assassination of Master Xie.

 

But who knows, in less than half an hour, the chief bodyguard who went to communicate returned and said to her with a fixed expression, “The road to the barracks is guarded by the guards brought by two imperial envoys in the capital, and we cannot enter. It is said that someone reported the presence of Japanese spies in the army, and the imperial envoy sent soldiers to investigate overnight. No entry or exit is allowed inside the barracks.”

 

Miantang’s expression froze.

 

The habit of Prince Huaiyang was never to tell her about the troubles in the officialdom, but after careful calculation, Cui Xingzhou had not returned to the mansion for many days, which shows how disgusting those imperial envoys were.

 

If they can catch the Japanese who attacked Master Xie this time and find out who was the betrayer that helped the Japanese, it can exempt the suspects from the soldiers of the State of Zhen.

 

Thinking of this, she decided not to delay any longer. For a moment, she forgot Cui Xingzhou’s advice not to let her go into danger and ordered, “Don’t wait until dawn. The mountain slope is by the river, and the Japanese are familiar with water nature. You must be careful of them escaping by hiding in the water at night. I will take my men with me and catch them tonight.”

 

At the foot of the mountain, the bodyguard and Fan Hu dared not let the princess consort go up the mountain to risk anything, saying that the prince had instructed that if the princess consort went to risk again, they would all have bad luck following suit.

 

Miantang could only reluctantly agree to them and ask them to go up the mountain to capture the Japanese. She will be protected by several guards waiting for news at the foot of the mountain.

 

Miantang stood by the river, looking at the moon in the sky, and breezing the night wind. She estimated that after Master Xie had gone through this, he hated and feared the Japanese people and he should not drag on the drawing anymore. If the progress goes smoothly, the Japanese riots in the North Sea can be completely quelled in a few months.

 

At this moment, Miantang heard Fan Hu running on the mountainside and shouting, “Princess Consort, there is no one in the cave.”

 

Miantang listened to his report, turn, and said, “That’s bad, this is a trick to lure a tiger away from the mountain.”

 

Before she could finish speaking, there was a sudden crash behind her. A figure jumped up from the river, and with a lightning flash, it dragged her into the water. Miantang knew she had encountered a trick, so she clasped her opponent’s arm with her backhand and forcefully pushed her outward. However, it was cleverly resolved by the opponent, and they both fell into the water.

 

She was once injured in her hands and legs and drowned. Every time Miantang played in the water, she felt a panic, as if she had returned to the cold and helpless state of falling from the mountain. It would take some time for her to gradually recover and no longer fear.

 

This time, she was no exception. She was suddenly dragged into the water, and a panic surged in her heart. Her body stiffened, and her hands shook in the water.

 

But in an instant, she overcame her fear, held her breath, and heard the angry cheers of the guards on the shore and the sound of long blades striking each other.

 

She knew in her heart that these Japanese people lived on islands and were familiar with water, so she couldn’t compare them.

 

But as long as there was water, with her skills and the help of guards, these sneaky Japanese will not have much advantage.

 

She was about to head upstream when she felt someone pulling her feet downwards. Miantang pulled out the short knife she had specially brought from her body, lowered her head, and saw a figure beneath her. She bent over and stabbed the person. Unexpectedly, the person was very agile in the water. While forcefully tugging at her feet to deform her movements, he dodged left and right and managed to dodge her attacks.

 

It can be seen that the other party’s skills were not below her.

 

Miantang stabbed several times, but couldn’t get away. Finally, she couldn’t hold her breath and gulped down a large mouthful of water. The person took the opportunity to drag her around in the water, causing Miantang to suddenly experience a headache. She hit a stone on the shore and fainted.

 

Before the darkness invaded, the last thought that flashed through Miantang’s mind was, ‘Oh no, if my husband knew I was disobedient and was ambushed by someone else. How should he be annoyed? Yi’er was still young, and he couldn’t do without me.’

 

Next, the seawater began to pour into her seven orifices, and in the suffocating deep sea, she seemed to sink into an endless quagmire, dreaming one after another, unable to turn back.

 

The scenes were spinning around like lanterns.

 

For a moment, Liu Yu and her were riding horses and galloping on the Mountain of Yang. The wind was whistling in her ears, and Ziyu was smiling gently at her, “Miantang, don’t ride too fast, be careful not to fall off.”

 

In a short while, she was once again in the deep mountains and dense forests, with a few campsites in the distance, which was the den of the thief of Prince Huaiyang in the State of Zhen.

 

She was saying to Lu Yi, “The rainy season is coming soon, it’s time for those sons to rot their feet…” The brothers beside her laughed heartily as she stood on the mountaintop, laughing confidently.

 

In the blink of an eye, she stood in front of Ziyu’s study again. Due to a misunderstanding, she had an argument with Ziyu. Afterward, she calm down and wanted to take the initiative to apologize to Ziyu and resolve the misunderstanding.

 

Unexpectedly, her sworn sister Yunniang came out of Ziyu’s study with her clothes untidy and she saw that she still had tears on her face. She said, “Miantang, don’t misunderstand him. Ziyu just drank too much wine and took me for you. Last night I couldn’t get away from him… Don’t tell him about that and I won’t fight with you… Last night, just treat it as a misunderstanding…”

 

Miantang felt a genuine disgust, which stimulated the blood in her chest to surge up, and a stream of sour water surged up.

 

After spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood and water, she struggled to lift her head, only to see several men with flesh and blood all around her laughing and saying, “Young lady, how dare you compete with the adopted daughter of Prince Sui for a man? I’m afraid you are urging for man, are you? Today, after we brothers broke your tendons, we will take turns to play with you and you will serve obediently.”

 

After finishing speaking, the few men smiled grimly and began to undress.

 

Even if she died, she would not fall into the hands of these people. So, with the last trace of strength, she resisted the sharp pain in her hands and feet, and forcefully collided with the mast that had cracked in a fight, rolling into the surging river…

 

“What should we do? Shall we go into the water to save her?” Said the gangsters on the ship.

 

“Idiot, how could she possibly survive with such injuries? After we returned, we will report to Prince Sui that she drowned and died.”

 

This dream fluctuated, and after some time, Miantang finally slowly opened her eyes. However, she felt a headache and quickly closed them.

 

When she finally adapted and opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on a clean thick wooden bed, with blue sky and white clouds reflected by the window next to her, and occasionally the sound of seabirds could be heard.

 

As she slowly turned around, she realized that a man with a baby face and thick eyebrows and eyes was sitting by the bed, looking down at the chart. He heard her make a subtle sound, so he looked up at her and smiled, saying, “Are you awake?”

 

Miantang let out a sigh and raised her hands to her eyes, only to find a thin scar between her wrists. There was no pain or abnormality when she clenched her hands and turned her wrists as if she had never been injured before.

 

She looked at him carefully and was certain that she had never seen this person before, but the last scene before falling into the water was when she was stabbed by several subordinates of Prince Sui and fell into the water with her tendons broken.

 

Thinking of this, she quickly raised her hands with great effort, but there were only two tiny red lines on her pure white wrist, those were two shallow scars that had already healed.”

 

Miantang felt a momentary daze in her heart, wondering how long she had slept. Why did the injury between her wrists… All healed?

 

She turned her head again to look at the doll’s face and asked in confusion, “Are you the people of Prince Sui?”

 

The young man shook his head and looked at her with a puzzled expression, squinting slightly. “Of course not… You… Do you not recognize me anymore?”

 

Miantang struggled to get up and arch her hand at him, saying, “May I ask your name?”

 

TL/ Notes: Miantang finally regain all her lost memories