Zhao Tianji agreed to let Ye Zhen pick the herbs herself but told Liang Yin to follow her.
The next day, the sky was slightly bright and the mountain breeze cool. Ye Zhen carried a little bamboo basket* on her back up the mountain. Liang Yin expressionlessly followed beside her albeit with some reluctance.
Ye Zhen couldn’t be bothered with his unwillingness. In any case, her main purpose of this trip wasn’t to pick herbs. She just wanted to go up the mountain to take a look. Perhaps she could see the iron mine from the mountain. “The mountain over there is higher. Let’s go over there.”
“There are mountains everywhere. What kind of herbs do you need to go so far away to get?” Liang Yin frowned.
“Didn’t you look here yesterday? Did you find it?” Ye Zhen asked without turning her head. The herbs she wanted were actually very ordinary, but there were too many similar ones. That was why Liang Yin had picked the wrong ones every time.
Liang Yin had nothing to say and could only follow Ye Zhen to the highest mountain.
When she went to the high mountain, the sun had already risen. Ye Zhen stood on the mountain and looked down. Sure enough, she saw a mining crowd not far away.
“Your master is indeed bold. Just one sentence and those people do not dare to cause trouble again.” She pretended to look for herbs, but her eyes kept looking down the mountain. She wanted to find that familiar figure, but the distance was too far. Other than seeing people moving around, she couldn’t tell which one was him.
Liang Yin seemed to be very satisfied when he heard Ye Zhen compliment his master. A smile appeared on his face. “Our island lord is naturally formidable.”
“Why is your master Zhao Tianji and not his eldest brother?” Ye Zhen asked curiously.
“Eldest Young Master had been weak since he was young and had no way to deal with the miscellaneous matters on the island. Moreover, our second young master is the legitimate descendant of the Zhao family, Eldest Young Master… Not really,” Liang Yin said.
Ye Zhen nodded. “The relationship between brothers should be pretty good.”
Liang Yin said, “Of course. Eldest Young Master loves Second Young Master very much.”
“If he really loves your second young master, why did he let Zhao Tianji open a private mine in the Central Plains? Don’t you know that this is very dangerous? He’s been hiding behind his back,” she said with a faint smile.
Why did she feel that Zhao Mingxiao didn’t treat Zhao Tianji very well? She felt that Zhao Tianji was being used.
As the two of them were talking, they suddenly heard a series of screams from the foot of the mountain.
Liang Yin turned around and his face turned ashen. “How come there are officers and soldiers?”
Ye Zhen’s eyes opened wide as she looked at the hundreds of soldiers that had appeared at the foot of the mountain. She looked at the clothes of those people…They didn’t seem like ordinary soldiers. “Those are soldiers from the military camp, not the government.”
“Who brought these people here?”Liang Yin looked fiercely at Ye Zhen.
“Why are you looking at me? I was brought here with my eyes covered. Other than a few days ago, I haven’t even left the villa,” Ye Zhen retorted unhappily.
Liang Yin saw that the soldiers had surrounded the entire iron mine, and their men had been caught and killed. One of them, dressed as a general, was standing with two men dressed in coarse clothing. Judging from the general’s attitude, he seemed to be very respectful.
“I’ll go back and inform Island Lord!” Liang Yin felt that the man standing with his hands behind his back was not that common. Although he couldn’t see his face clearly, he could already feel his imposing aura just by looking at his back.
Ye Zhen stood at the top of the mountain without moving. Now, she could recognize him, but he had his back to her and did not see her standing there.
“Let’s go, come with me!” Liang Yin was afraid that Ye Zhen would run away, so he grabbed her hand to walk back.
“You can’t walk fast enough with me, can I still escape? My master and two servants are still in the villa. Go back and tell Zhao Tianji that if those people find the villa, he will be in danger.” Ye Zhen almost fell as she was pulled down the mountain.
Liang Yin looked back at her deeply and felt that what she said made sense. “Alright, but even if you run away, our island lord can still capture you.”
“Let’s talk about him escaping these pursuing soldiers first,” Ye Zhen said, thinking that Mo Rongzhan was exactly as Huangfu Chen had said. Not only did he find the iron mine, but he even brought the soldiers here. This private mine would probably become an imperial mine after today.
Liang Yin was burning with anxiety. He was really worried about Zhao Tianji’s safety, so he ignored Ye Zhen and used qinggong* to quickly descend the mountain.
[*Qinggong is a training technique for jumping off vertical surfaces from the Chinese martial art Baguazhang]
Ye Zhen heaved a sigh of relief and looked down the mountain.
The man who had just been talking to General Meng had already raised his head and looked over. His gaze should be looking at her. Although Ye Zhen could not see clearly, she could feel that at almost the same time he looked over, he was already flying towards her.
This was the first time she had seen Mo Rongzhan’s martial arts. His qinggong was actually so powerful… In less than the time for half a cup of tea (twinkle of an eye), he had already arrived at the top of the mountain. His aura was not disturbed at all, but his eyes were so hot that it was frightening. Ye Zhen almost did not dare to look him in the eye.
The disguise on Mo Rongzhan’s face had already been washed clean. His peerlessly handsome face did not have a trace of expression. If it weren’t for his pair of deep, pitch-black seething eyes, Ye Zhen would have suspected that he didn’t want to see her at all.
“Your Majesty….” Ye Zhen felt that his appearance was a little scary and could not help but take a few steps back.
“Where’s Huangfu Chen?” Mo Rongzhan stopped, the heat in his eyes gradually subsiding. His voice was low and hoarse as if he was very tired.
Hearing his indifferent tone, Ye Zhen’s heart inexplicably choked. “In the villa over there. There are also two servants.”
“I will take you down the mountain first,” Mo Rongzhan said coldly, a stark contrast to the scoundrel who would always cuddle her.
“OK.” Ye Zhen really wanted to ask him how he had found this place and when those soldiers had come, but seeing his cold and indifferent profile, she couldn’t say a single word.
Mo Rongzhan strode down the mountain. Although he had deliberately slowed down and waited for her, he quickly outpaced her by a large distance. Then he stopped and waited for her without looking back. When she stumbled to his side, he continued to walk forward.
Ye Zhen looked at his upright and magnanimous back and felt a surge of angry grievance spring in her heart from who knows where. What does he mean? Is he angry with her? Or does he want her to ask him for something?
She pursed her lips. It was not like she wanted to be caught here. Why is he angry with her?
“I will have someone send you back to the capital,” he coldly said from the front.
“I’m not going back to the capital. I still have to go to Huaijiang with Master,” she replied in a low voice.
Mo Rongzhan stopped and looked back at her coldly, his chest rising and falling. “Why do you still want to go to Huaijiang?”
“I originally wanted to go to Huaijiang…,” Ye Zhen said. “Anyway, I’m not going back to the capital.”
♚♚♚
