Tan Ge tightly clutched her sleeves as she watched the man close in.
Judging from his facial features, particularly his sharp nose, this man doesn’t look like he’s from Beimin.
The man stopped in front of her, coldly questioning, “What’s your relationship with the old woman in the house?”
Tan Ge was taken aback for a moment before she vigorously shook her head. “I don’t know her.”
“Then why were you acting suspiciously?”
Tan Ge wrung her sleeves even more tightly. “I’m an orphan and I didn’t have anything to eat; I will…”
The man cut her off with a voice that could cause one’s blood to freeze. “Kill her.”
Hearing the word ‘kill’, Tan Ge’s body shuddered. I just escaped from the imperial palace, but I already have someone who wants to kill me before I’ve even fled the capital!
Seeing the guard coming closer, Tan Ge’s body grew stiff.
I don’t want to die! I can’t die!
Just as the guard was about to reach her, she lowered her body and slipped under him arm. She then quickly sprinted away with her life on the line, the frosty wind practically roaring in her ears as her nerves grew taut.
Despite her desperate attempts to escape, she soon felt someone seizing her by the collar and ruthlessly flinging her to the ground. When her back hit the cold and hard ground, pain shot through her whole body.
“Don’t kill me.” Tan Ge was nervous as she watched the man’s dark pupils flicker.
As the alley was isolated from the main street, and the only houses around were run-down and abandoned, there was naturally no one else to hear her plea.
Tan Ge’s body tensed up again upon hearing the footsteps closing in, but the pain in her body prevented her from getting up.
Suddenly, the man bent down and pulled at a white string around her neck, revealing a jade pendant.
“Don’t take my jade pendant!” Tan Ge was in a panic.
That jade pendant is the only thing I can depend on right now; it’s my only opportunity to go to the western region and find a way to gain power. Yet, this unfamiliar man has now seen it!
The man earnestly examined the jade pendant. The words carved on this jade pendant are exactly the same as the ones on Empress Mother’s. I can’t be wrong. Could this woman before me be my younger sister? But why does she look completely different from Empress Mother?
“Tell me the truth; is this jade pendant yours?” The man broke the white string and took the jade pendant.
Despite not understanding his intentions, Tan Ge knew that she mustn’t reveal the real owner of the jade pendant. Hence, she repeatedly nodded as she struggled to climb up from the ground, tightly grasping the man’s trousers. “I beg of you, please return the jade pendant to me. This pendant has been accompanying me since the moment I was born.”
The man sized her up. “What’s your name? Where is your house? How have you been surviving on your own until now?”
Tan Ge was caught by surprise with all the sudden questions. I may bring death upon myself if I answer wrongly. Thus, she decided to bite her lips and close her eyes, pretending to pass out.
The guard immediately said, “King, no matter how remote this place is, we are still in Beimin. We’ll be discovered if we stay here any longer.”
The man stroked the jade pendant and stowed it away in his sleeve. “Carry this woman into the horse carriage and bring her back; this Emperor wants to carefully interrogate her.”
I have come to Beimin to search for Younger Sister, so I mustn’t be careless.
Acknowledging his order, the guard instantly lifted Tan Ge onto his shoulders. On the other hand, Tan Ge learned that this man was a nation’s emperor from the way he referred to himself.
Among the emperors of the four nations, there’s no one with such a well-defined and heroic face.
Could he be…the King of the Western Regions[1]? He actually recognised this jade pendant with characters from the Western Regions carved onto it; could it be…?
1. It wasn’t clearly defined in the text previously, so a more general term, ‘western region’ was used. However, now that there’s mention of a king ruling the place, we will be capitalising it and naming it as ‘the Western Regions’ to be more specific from now on.
