Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 4 Chapter 8 part2

Shen Luoyan sighed and said, "Do you understand the present situation? First of all, the people of Da Longtou Mansion do not allow you to leave the mansion even for half a step. Secondly, I may do everything in my power to prevent you from leaving Xingyang. Therefore, although presently you appear to be free and easy, the fact is, you are no more than birds inside the cage; you have absolutely no power to be independent.”

"You don't need to worry about that,” Xu Ziling coldly said.

Shen Luoyan lowered her voice and said, "Right now within the Wagang Army, I am the only one who knew that you have the secret to ‘Duke Yang Treasure' in you, but if I reveal it, even Nujia does not know what kind of situation might develop. Just a friendly reminder, Wagang Army has specialists in extracting confession by torture, those experts will not be as polite and fun as I am.”

"If that's the case,” Kou Zhong wondered, "Why do you still need to be this longwinded?”

"Because,” Shen Luoyan replied, "I have a favorable impression toward you! I do not wish to see you being tortured that while still alive, you will be reduced to become crippled people. Furthermore, it will also implicate your Su Jie. Although she could be considered Wang Bodang's woman, under that kind of circumstances, even Wang Bodang himself won't shield her.”

The two boys were greatly shaken; on one hand they knew she had their Achilles hell, on the other hand, now they knew the traitor's name who raped and humiliated their Su Jie.

Looking at the two boys' expression, Shen Luoyan was satisfied. "Therefore,” she said, "It would be best if we can make a fair dealing. My two good Xiao Didi, what do you say?”

Kou Zhong felt that they had fallen into absolute disadvantageous position, that they were being led by the nose by this ‘concealed dagger within a smile' beauty. With a wry smile he said, "If we knew where the treasure is hidden, we would have plundered it early on; why would we want to bicker with you in a hopelessly muddled way like a pair of husband and wife?”

Shen Luoyan shrugged her shoulders and said nonchalantly, "All right! In that case I'll go see Miss immediately, let's see how she is going to handle you, the two little demons.”

Kou Zhong smiled apologetically and said, "Everything is negotiable. If you want the location of the treasure, we can casually give you one to satisfy your curiosity!”

Shen Luoyan angrily said, "Looks like you absolutely don't know the meaning of regret. Very well! Let's not talk about whether you really don't know or just pretend not to know the location of the treasure, tell me quickly why Miss is so protective of you? And don't tell me that it is as simple as because you rescued her little maid.”

The two boys immediately felt their scalp grew numbed. Who could tell whether Shen Luoyan was not Zu Junyan's accomplice?

Shen Luoyan straightened her tender body, her beautiful eyes flashed with cold rays. "Since you arrived here, Miss has deployed a troop division under Da Longtou's direct command from outside the city, their number reaches five hundred men. What actually is going on here?”

By this time the two boys were already fully occupied by bemoaning the craftiness of this lovely b1tch; they hurriedly racked their brains to get out of this situation.

Kou Zhong rolled his eyes; he was about to concoct some stories when Shen Luoyan said with a laugh, "Are you thinking of lying to me?”

Right this moment, when the two boys were completely at a loss of what to say, one of Shen Luoyan's underlings rushed in and reported, "Our troops have attacked and captured Luoxing [sic] Storehouse [it was Xingluo in the previous chapter]; Duke Mi is sending his order to send reinforcement right away, would Miss please make decision.”

Shen Luoyan stood up in great delight; she said to the two boys, "I have no time to chat nonsense with you right now, plus you cannot leave anyway, so I'll find another day to deal with you, two little demons!” Finished speaking she left in a hurry.

Recalling that the Big Boss Zhai Rang would soon return, the two boys could not stop their hearts from thumping wildly. Since Zu Junyan was Li Mi's trusted aide, would they incite conflict between those two?

That evening, Shen Luoyan led the army leaving the city. Almost at the same time, Zhai Jiao also left the city. But Tu Shufang would not reveal her destination; everything seemed to be very mysterious.

Without Zhai Jiao, the Zhai Mansion immediately regained its liveliness, everybody seemed to be breathing a bit easier. Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong and Susu, three people ate their dinner together. Soon afterwards, Tu Shufang came in to join them. He asked about Shen Luoyan. Kou Zhong mentioned the part about neutralizing the poison, but he did not say anything about the hidden treasure.

By speaking half-truth half-lie like this, Tu Shufang did not suspect anything. He only expressed his great amazement that they were able to force the strength-scattering drug out of their body using their internal energy.

But while talking about the capture of Luoxing Storehouse, Tu Shufang actually looked very worried. He sighed and said, "The reason we are able to capture Luokou Storehouse this time lies entirely in Duke Mi's merit in deploying soldiers and dispatching generals. Although nominally Zhai Ye is the head, in reality the power actually lies in Duke Mi's hands.”

Li Jing's analysis remained fresh the three people's mind, naturally they understood the cause of his concern.

Tu Shufang also said, "Luokou fell, the imperial court must be shocked. Right now Yang Guang must be thinking of regaining Luokou at all cost by pulling things around. He must have ordered Liu Changgong and Pei Renji, two people to separately deploy their main forces from Luoyang and Hulao [tiger cage] to attack our troops at Luokou from two directions. If this battle is won, then we can be considered truly obtain Luoxing Storehouse. Otherwise we will have to return everything, both the capital and the interest.”

After Tu Shufang left, Kou Zhong spoke in high spirit, "Shen Poniang went out to war, Su Jie's Big Miss also left and we don't know where she went. If we don't leave now, what are we waiting for?”

Susu mournfully said, "Why don't you two leave by yourselves?”

Xu Ziling was stunned, "That kind of master who regarded you as a gift they could give others at will, why is Su Jie so reluctant to leave?” he asked.

Susu sobbed and said, "Don't say anymore. This is for Miss' sake. How could I abandon her and leave in this kind of situation?”

The two boys were panicked; they busily raised their sleeves to wipe her tears.

Kou Zhong gently said, "My good Jiejie, please don't cry; we'll stay with you. Ay! But even if we stay, we won't do you any good.”

Susu said, "After Laoye comes back, Jiejie will leave with you!”

For lack of better option, the two boys could only nod their agreement.

Early morning the next day, the two boys woke up and practiced their martial art in the big garden at the rear courtyard, but Tu Shufang did not show up.

Due to Tu Shufang's influence, the two boys had full access to any weapon in the armory. This moment the two boys were in high spirit, they simply took out a bunch of different types of weapons: swords and spears, sabers and halberds, long weapons, short arms, they tried it all, testing all kinds of weapon, and were having a lot of fun.

Susu cheered on the side. The three sister and brothers had a happy and warm relationship.

Gradually there were more and more maids and servants coming and going; they did not want to show off too much, plus the boys were scared at the maids' passionate looks and coquettish glances, hence they called it a day. After taking a bath they changed into the new clothes Susu sewed for them. In their excitement, they wanted to seize this opportunity to slip away to the streets.

Somewhat nervous, the three of them sneaked out via the back door. Once they reached the street, they saw dead leaves covering the road; a desolate autumn scenery. Thinking about from the day they first met until today, two years had passed in the blink of an eye, right now Li Jing's whereabouts was unknown; they could not help feeling emotional.

Amidst the whistling autumn breeze, the three people walked side by side, with Susu holding on to the crook of the two boys' arms, strolling along the street.

The city of Xingyang was surprisingly thriving. According to Susu, it was due to Li Mi's deep understanding on how to win the people's hearts; therefore, the people in nearby towns and counties had their hearts attached to them while obtaining Wagang Army's protection.

After walking not even half a block, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling became aware of people on their trail. What they were most afraid of was Shen Luoyan, but since they knew she was out of town, there ought to be no one else who could deal with them. Therefore, they did not take it to heart and simply continued walking while joking, talking and laughing.

In the north, due to heavy influence of non-Han [hu] people, in general men and women were more unrestrained by convention. Therefore, although the three of them were having fun affectionately with each other in public, passers-by did not think it strange.

The three of them found a dumpling restaurant, so they sat down and ate and drank as much as they liked.

Kou Zhong laughed and said, "After this we'll go to cosmetics store, let Su Jie add flowers on brocade [i.e. decorating something that is already perfect], so that she will be more beautiful and alluring, and will pull men's heart even more.”

Xu Ziling excitedly joined in, "And then we'll go to silk and satin store, so that relying on her pair of magical hands, Su Jie can sew herself a gorgeous new clothes to celebrate the New Year.”

Susu nodded slightly, but her countenance remained grim.

Gnashing his teeth, Kou Zhong said, "Su Jie, please be assured that one day we will slaughter this lecherous traitor Wang Bodang so that Jiejie can purge your disgrace and wash away your hatred.”

Susu's flower-like countenance turned pale, "How did you know it was him?” she asked, "You must never mention this matter anymore. Speaking about martial art skill, within Wagang Army, after Laoye and Duke Mi, he ranks next in line.”

And then she turned sad again and said, "This is the fate of a slave servant, Jiejie has to accept the misfortunes as decreed by fate. I forbid you to let your imagination run wild regarding this matter.”

The two boys remained silent in disappointment.

At this point, they suddenly sensed that there was someone coming straight at them from the front door. Kou and Xu turned their gaze toward the approaching person, and were shocked.

Turned out it was a Baling Bang member who they once thought had a strong yiqi toward them, the son of the boss of Cuibi Lou of Pengcheng city, Xiang Yushan.

Chapter end