“Leng Changxi, don’t think too highly of yourself,” Baili Ai still wore the mask and looked exactly like Mu Qingyu. In the distance, most soldiers Sima Ray sent to attack Leng Changxi were shot to death, while the rest who surrendered were captured.
“Yuanyang, Leng Shuang, what are you still waiting for?” Qin Yunuan ordered. Then they dripped potions in the pot to Mu Qingyu. At once, the fair skin on her face fell off. The originally wrinkled skin and grey hair appeared.
The originally young girl who stood up straight should become an old bent man in such a short time. Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan had already prepared for this, so they stayed calm when seeing this. But Tuoba Wuyu and other people were amazed and speechless.
Baili Ai who disguised himself as Mu Qingyu was skilled at acting and fooled everyone. He looked over others slowly until he saw Sima Ray’s soldiers were all captured. Then he turned his grey eyes to Qin Yunuan. She should be able to see him through.
“How did you see me through?” Baili Ai asked viciously.
“You were indeed nearly perfect,” Qin Yunuan said with a smile. “To mimic Mu Qingyu, you even carefully observed where she pierced her ears and learned her graceful walk and charming gestures. It’s a pity that you were too focused on learning how to be as graceful as her but ignored what she usually did in the military camp. For example, she always gets off the horse by herself, rather than need other people to support her or hold the rein, like what you did yesterday.”
Baili Ai paused. He didn’t expect he gave himself away just because of this detail. He looked at Leng Changxi again and said, “That’s impossible. I have stayed with you all the time since I came here yesterday. Even if she saw me through, she had no chance to tell you. Because only when you had the fight did you met each other.”
“People can understand each other even without talking,” Qin Yunuan said while exchanging glances with Leng Changxi. Then they understood each other again. “Sometimes, a glance is enough.”
“Ho, nice,” Baili Ai said. He seemed self-mocking and looked at Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan who shared good teamwork. “Leng Changxi, you’re good. Make a fool of me. You argued with each other yesterday as if you really had broken up. All soldiers knew you had a fight, but it turns out to be… Haha, Changxi, you’re really good.” Suddenly, Baili Ai put on a different look and said to Leng Changxi confidently and viciously, “But, can you find where Mu Qingyu is?”
That was a problem. Baili Ai mysteriously appeared in place of Mu Qingyu. So where was Mu Qingyu?
While they were speaking, Maner and Ting Xue pushed to them a tightly tied woman, Huaner, Mu Qingyu’s maid. She must have something to do with Mu Qingyu’s disappearance.
“Don’t doubt our ability,” Leng Changxi said and took a glance at the maid. “Maybe, we can find her faster than you thought.”
“Well, let’s wait and see?” Baili Ai wore a sad smile but with disdain on his face. He already titled his head arrogantly. The clop came in the distance. A soldier in golden armor rushed out on a tall white horse. He wielded the sword to directly and fiercely kill four soldiers who guarded the gate.
Baili Ai suddenly smiled and raised his wrinkled hands. That soldier in golden armor rode the horse fast to them, and he directly carried Baili Ai up to the horse. The white horse they rode was very strong. They quickly were a dozen meters away, so there was no time for others to catch up. Tuoba Wuyu looked at Leng Changxi to ask for help, but the latter just waved his hand to tell them not to take action.
“General, if we don’t chase after and capture them now, they will run away.”
“They may not.” When Leng Changxi finished, a troop of people rode horses down from the hillside. The leading general in white armor was nimble. The general in golden armor didn’t expect this, and then he took off the helmet. It was Sima Ray. It seemed that Baili Ai was important to him.
Sima Ray held the reins and stopped at the hillside. He already arranged people nearby to come to his aid, but unexpectedly, that general in white armor who came out of nowhere ruined his plan.
Standing on the top of the hill, the general in white armor looked down at Leng Changxi and then took a glance at Sima Ray. She should be a long-hair beautiful lady after she took off the helmet. That was Mu Qingyu, which Sima Ray and Baili Ai both didn’t expect. They had bought over Huaner, the maid of Mu Qingyu, and asked her to add knockout drops into Mu Qingyu’s water. The dosage was enough to make Mu Qingyu fall asleep for 7 days. Besides, when she woke up, she would experience an intellectual deterioration.
“Your Royal Highness, it’s been a long time since we met in Qi’s capital last time,” Mu Qingyu said, who looked as valiant as a veteran who had served for years.
Sima Ray looked back at Leng Changxi. He thought he had fooled Leng Changxi, but unexpectedly, it was him being fooled. Apparently, Mu Qingyu must have held up his reinforcements. Or they would show up now.
“Leng Changxi, you’re in luck today,” Sima Ray held the golden helmet in his hand. Seeing Leng Changxi stared at him coldly on a horse before the gate, he continued, “But next time, I will definitely cut you into pieces.”
Leng Changxi lowered his head and sneered, “Your Royal Highness, you have read so many military books, but you only learn to talk big? True, I really can’t compare with you in this aspect. But unlike you, I never rely on luck to win battles. My trump card is this.” Leng Changxi pointed his long index finger at his head. How mocking!
Another troop of soldiers suddenly showed up on the hillside. They were ambushed soldiers Sima Ray arranged. They who all became injured directly rode to Sima Ray and shouted, “Your Royal Highness, we are besieged. I tried so hard to fight my way out, and I’m here to escort you to retreat.”
Retreating at this time meant running away. Sima Ray, who was vainglorious, would never do so. Seeing how relaxing Leng Changxi looked, he was more unwilling to run away at this time.
“Your Royal Highness, if you ‘leave’ now, this will be a ‘splendid’ part of Qi’s history,” Leng Changxi sat on the horse with a smile and commented. He knew Sima Ray well, so he deliberately provoked him.
“Leng Changxi, take this!” Sima Ray was so angry and tended to wield his sword but was stopped by Baili Ai behind him. “Your Royal Highness, he was provoking you. If you fight with him alone now, you will be in trouble. A great man knows when to yield and when not. Your Royal Highness, we don’t have to fight with him now.”
“Shut up,” Sima Ray was angry with Baili Ai and shouted, “It’s all because of you. You’re so useless. Buy over the maid, knock out Mu Qingyu but look what situation we are in now. How do you explain this?”
Baili Ai was depressed and in low spirits. He not only lost his face this time but also let Sima Ray down. However, it was more important for them to run away now, so he made an apology and persuaded Sima Ray, “Your Royal Highness, we still have chances to strike back.”
Before the gate, Leng Changxi saw clearly Sima Ray and Baili Ai were having a discussion. When Sima Ray was ready to hold the reins to ride away, Leng Changxi shouted, “Soldiers, make way for His Royal Highness. He’s running away.”
Then soldiers laughed, but they all moved to make way to allow a four-horse carriage to pass. Sima Ray gritted his teeth and thought: Leng Changxi, I would get even with you for what you did today.
Seeing Sima Ray rode a white horse to leave quickly, Tuoba Wuyu couldn’t help asking Leng Changxi again, “General, why don’t we take the chance to completely defeat him? But just let him run away?”
“Because we can’t,” Leng Changxi looked back at Tuoba Wuyu and said, “Our reinforcements just entered the camp from the western camp. They haven’t been trained to cooperate with our soldiers yet. Sima Ray has 500,000 soldiers. Besides, he abandons the Luguan. So if we all chase after him and his soldiers, only a few will be left to defend the Luguan that will be so hard to take back later when lost. But if I take hold of it now, I only need to send 10,000 soldiers to chase after them, who have to be wary all the time, for about a dozen days. Then they will definitely suffer from low morale.”
Because of this defeat, Sima Ray fled the Luguan, a pass that was easy to defend but hard to attack. Leng Changxi was originally worried that newly arrived 200,000 soldiers of West Xia would have no place to live. But now, the problem was solved. All 400,000 soldiers could directly walk in the Luguan and settle there at dusk.
Yunying Palace was grand and covered with golden tiles. Before Leng Changxi went there, soldiers who arrived earlier had already cleaned the palace and prepared it for Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan. But Leng Changxi just took a glance at it outside and turned around to leave.
“General,” Tuoba Wuyu called him and stopped him. “This is the palace for you. Where are you going?”
Leng Changxi replied coldly, “I have been there before. It’s so empty. It will be creepy to live here. Save it for injured soldiers. Our original wound barracks were damaged last time when the chariots were ruined. This palace is airy, clean and warm, so it’s very suitable for wound soldiers.”
“Um…” Tuoba Wuyu was a bit overwhelmed. This was the first man he knew who refused to live in such a wonderful palace.
“General Tuoba, please arrange soldiers to rebuild this palace into the wound barracks, now that he’s decided,” Qin Yunuan who agreed with Leng Changxi echoed. “Transfer wound soldiers here. It’s fine for us to live in the tent.”
Right at this time, Ting Xue, responsible for taking care of Shangguan Yuen, walked in and reported to Qin Yunuan, “Madam, Miss Shangguan wakes up, and she wants to meet you.”
