Wenlan couldn’t hide her astonishment at Chu Lian’s sudden order. However, she trusted Third Young Madam from the bottom of her heart. Luckily, they had already been in the middle of packing up their things. She shoved all the necessities into Chu Lian’s arms and told her to hold on tight to them. Next, she wrapped Chu Lian into a fur coat and gave her a small dagger.
Wenlan took up her own backpack and a sword before pulling Chu Lian out of the tent.
However, before the two of them could make it out, three people entered the tent.
The newcomers were dressed in the armour of the northern border troops. A tall collar hid half of his face, so they could only hear a slightly raspy voice say, “Honoured Lady, why don’t you come with us?”
Wenqing and Li Yue quickly arrived in front of Manager Qin’s tent with more than ten guards following behind. However, Manager Qin’s tent was still lit up from within. Two guards were standing outside looking a little tired, but alert.
The two ladies exchanged glances as their hearts thumped in unison.
Li Yue’s brows furrowed together. “Miss Wenqing, take two men and stay here to look after Manager Qin. I’ll bring the rest of the guards back! I’m afraid we’ve fallen for their diversion!”
The female bodyguard gripped her sword in one hand and quickly left. Wenqing turned around to look for the female soldier who had brought them here, but that soldier was already long gone.
She stomped the ground in frustration and quickly walked up to the tent.
At this time, Manager Qin seemed to have heard the commotion outside. He lifted the tent flap with his clothes draped loosely over his body. When he saw Wenqing standing in front of him with fury and regret written all over her face, he asked curiously, “What did you come here for this late at night? Shouldn’t you be guarding Third Young Madam?”
Wenqing explained everything to Manager Qin. The chubby man’s face turned grave and he quickly followed Wenqing back to Chu Lian’s tent without even bothering to put on his clothes properly.
By the time they reached the tent, the sight of a dark tent and four fallen female soldiers met their eyes…
Li Yue bit her lip hard, filled with regrets. “Honoured Lady has been captured…”
Wenlan was unconscious on the ground inside the tent. Although she was still gripping her sword tightly in her hand, there was no sign of a struggle anywhere. Even the snacks that Chu Lian hadn’t finished were still sitting on the table untouched.
Li Yue splashed Wenlan’s face with cold water to wake her up.
Wenlan regained consciousness, only to find herself surrounded by their party’s guards. It took her a dazed moment before she came back to life and shouted, “Hurry! Quick, chase after Third Young Madam! She was taken away by some people… Hurry!!”
Wenqing wrapped Wenlan up in her arms until Wenlan finally calmed down.
“Wenlan, calm down. Think back to just now. What happened exactly? Who took Third Young Madam away?”
Wenlan was now relatively calm. She replied with unshed tears in her eyes, “Those kidnappers covered up their faces, so I couldn’t tell who the were.”
She wiped at her tears before continuing, “They said to let Third Young Madam go with them. One of them unsheathed his sword and was about to fight me- that sword had blood on it still. Third Young Madam told them that she would go with them peacefully if they let me go, but how could I just let them take Third Young Madam away without a fight? I took out my sword and I was going to hold them off so Third Young Madam could escape, but I felt something hit the back of my head the moment I took a step forward. I just fainted immediately…”
Wenqing, Li Yue and Manager Qin understood that it was Chu Lian who had purposely knocked Wenlan out. Although the kidnappers were only targeting Third Young Madam, they were likely looking to kill all witnesses. Wenlan wasn’t a match for three people alone. Chu Lian had knocked her out purely to save Wenlan’s life.
“What should we do now?” Li Yue asked.
Manager Qin thought for a bit before speaking up, “Take some men with you and search around the camp first. They can’t possibly have left without a trace. There should be some hints left behind somewhere, or they might even be hiding in the camp still. I’m going to look for Sir Tang to see if he can help us.”
Most of the border troops had gone off to the frontlines. Even General Qian and Captain Guo weren’t in the camp right now. The only person they could go to for help was Sir Tang.
After getting jolted around, Chu Lian finally woke up painfully from unconsciousness with a subconscious cry.
When she opened her eyes, all she could see was the moving legs of a horse. She tried to move her body, but was immediately held down forcefully by someone. It was only then that she realised she was currently on horseback…
She had been tied down on a horse horizontally like she was a sack of rice. No wonder she was about to puke from all this shaking.
The rider seemed to know that she had woken up. The first time she fired off was a cold threat, “If Honoured Lady would like to avoid suffering, it would be best to cooperate with us.”
Chu Lian frowned. That was a woman’s voice. Furthermore, it was the same woman who had lured Wenqing and Li Yue away.
Back in the tent, these people had called her ‘Honoured Lady’. It was clear that they knew of her identity.
However, along the way to an unknown destination, other than knocking her out, they hadn’t done anything else to her. She could feel that she had been covered with a warm fur coat.
These people weren’t out to kill her.
After determining this, Chu Lian quickly calmed down.
Her thoughts turned crystal clear.
She coughed to get the attention of the rider before asking, “Could you let me sit up straight? I’m really uncomfortable right now.”
