Chapter 49 Who Was the Man Exactly?
When Xia Houmo and Su Muge just arrived at the cave’s entrance, Zuoqiu and Zuowei came.
“Lord, are you all right?”
Both Zuoqiu and Zuowei were injured. Fortunately, their wounds were not deep, which would not cause much harm.
“How about those people?” Xia Houmo asked.
Zuoqiu frowned. “During the battle, those men in black seemed to get some messages. They left one after another without finishing the battle. We two tried to catch them up but were led to a maze, and we have just escaped.”
“Take a group of people to explore where the cave leads.”
Zuowei looked at the cave behind Xia Houmo and Su Muge doubtfully. Was there anything else in the cave?
“Yes.”
Zuowei sent out a signal, and the secret guards who ambushed in Dawang village would arrive soon.
Xia Houmo looked at the sky and saw the dark clouds hanging low, which meant a rainstorm was coming.
“Lord Su, let’s go downhill.”
“All right.”
Zuoqiu and Zuowei stayed to explore the exit of the cave, while Su Muge and Xia Houmo went down the mountain.
The moment they arrived at Dawang village, the raindrops fell from the sky, big as beans.
They had no choice, but to find a black brick tile-roofed house to shelter from the rain.
“The rain has stopped for several days. Why started again?” It was a bit gloomy and cold in the tile-roofed house. Su Muge found a stool to sit down and rubbed her hands to warm herself up. She had the illness of cold in her body and was afraid of the chill.
All of a sudden, Su Muge only saw darkness in her sight. A robe with a light tea fragrance was put on her from her head.
“Uh!”
Su Muge took off the robe and looked at Xia Houmo unpleasantly.
“Put it on.”
Su Muge had always been a wise person. Although she hated Xia Houmo’s bossy tone, she was really cold now. It was not necessary to be hard on her own body.
“Thank you, Lord Xia.”
Xia Houmo lifted his robe aside to sit down opposite Su Muge. He stared at her with his black eyes.
“Lord Su, your body is delicate and vulnerable, so I should take good care of you.”
Su Muge was stunned at first but then understood his words immediately.
“She now appeared as a man! A man! You were delicate and vulnerable! All your family members were delicate and vulnerable!” roared her in mind.
There was silence for a moment in the room. Xia Houmo had already moved his sight away and kept his eyes closed. Su Muge huddled herself up on the stool and could hardly bear the awkward silence…
“I asked Adviser Li earlier, and was told that based on his understanding of Sun Kuo, the Magistrate of Zhou county, he was surely a man who cherished his life.”
Hearing this, Xia Houmo opened his black eyes and looked askance at her.
Su Muge licked her lips and continued, “After the flood broke the dam, all the villages of Zhou county were submerged. So I think, it was unlikely that Sun Kuo would risk his life to check the disaster at that time.”
It could be learned from Adviser Li’s words that Sun Kuo had never been an upright nor a good official. And he was so afraid of death, let alone to check the situation in a disaster area. It would be nice enough if he hadn’t picked up his things and left immediately.
“Lord Su, do you think there’s something wrong with Sun Kuo’s death?”
Su Muge looked at Xia Houmo and nodded slowly.
In fact, as a doctor, SuMuge didn’t want to participate in any complicate officialdom strife. But now Su Lun was missing, and she had always felt that Sun Kuo’s accidental death had something to do with it.
“I will send someone to look into this matter.”
There was a rumbling of the dull thunder.
Su Muge, who had huddled herself up on the stool, felt her heart leaped with a jerk.
She suddenly had an ominous presentiment…
It had been raining almost all night.
The rain gradually stopped as the golden light penetrated the clouds.
“Lord, where shall we look for live chickens at this moment?”
“Manage to do it, manage to do it! We can’t let the noble second prince eat chaff and potherbs with us!”
Adviser Li kicked the yamen runner beside him. These days, they either ate pickles or steamed buns, and they survived.
But it was different now. The man in the room was the second prince. He hadn’t even touched the food sent by Granny Fang last night, which was no surprise. The second prince was delicate and noble, and how could he get used to these things?
So Adviser Li tried his best to get some meat for Xia Houkun.
“Yes, yes, we will look for it.”
“None of you has solved me any trouble!” Adviser Li wiped his sweat tiredly. Ever since Lord Su of Shunyang prefecture came to Zhou county, he was kept busy as a whipping top.
However, it was hard to tell whether it was his luck or not to meet the high-ranking court official and the second prince. It was something he would have never dreamed of in his life.
As Adviser Li was thinking this to himself, he was scared by a man in black cape and hat standing behind him when he looked back.
“Do you have eyes? How dare you come to this place so carelessly? Go away!”
The man slowly raised his head and pulled down his hat to show his face.
Adviser Li looked at him confusedly at first, but was frozen in place when he saw the man’s appearance!
“You, you, you are…”
In Dawang village.
Su Muge opened her eyes in a daze and found that she had fallen asleep on the table at some time.
She stood up, opened the door, and went out while Xia Houmo was just coming back.
“Lord Xia, the rain has finally stopped. Let’s go back.”
Xia Houmo nodded and looked at the direction behind the mountain before they left.
For a whole night, there had been no news from Zuoqiu.
They went back to the county yamen. Xia Houmo went to the study while Su Muge went to the room in the backyard. Prior to her departure yesterday, she had soaked some worms in the potion. She was going to see what had happened to those worms.
But before she arrived at the backyard, she saw Adviser Li coming toward.
Adviser Li was in a hurry and looked absent-minded.
Su Muge stopped him. “Adviser Li.”
Adviser Li stood still as if he was fixed to the ground. He looked back at Su Muge mechanically with shock.
“Lord, Lord Su? You, you…” Adviser Li checked Su Muge over from head to toe bravely, and then swallowed with difficulty.
Su Muge frowned and thought there was something wrong with Adviser Li.
“What’s wrong?”
Adviser Li suddenly regained his composure. “Lord Su, weren’t, weren’t you just in the room of the Second Prince…”
Hearing that, Su Muge was surprised.
She was in Xia Houkun’s room?!
No, it wasn’t her, because the man mentioned by Adviser Li was “Lord Su”!
Su Muge breathed deeply, tried to calm herself down and looked at Adviser Li as if there was nothing unusual. “I just came out. You may go ahead with your work.”
Adviser Li nodded with his neck stiffened, then turned around and ran away.
It was not until he left the county yamen that Adviser Li slowed down.
The man he had seen outside the gate this morning, and that Lord Su he had just met… Were, were they the same person?! Or, who was the real Lord Su between them?!
Adviser Li wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, wondering if he knew too much!
In the meantime, Su Muge dared not to stop her steps. She went back to her room quickly and closed the door.
She thought over and over again what Adviser Li had said and how shock he had been. Did anyone see through her pretense?
But if so, she would have been caught by now.
What was going on?
Su Muge frowned and lost in thought. If nobody exposed her identity, what made Adviser Li so shocked when he saw her? Could it be…
Her pupils shrank in astonishment!
Did it mean, Su Lun had shown up?!
The more she thought, the greater the possibility she felt. According to what Adviser Li had said, Su Lun was in Xia Houkun’s room now. For God’s sake, he could not let the cat out of the bag. She was also glad that she hadn’t had too much contact with Xia Houkun.
But what about Xia Houmo?
This man was evil in heart and his eyes were sharp with good observation. He certainly would find out about it!
Su Muge felt she was in big trouble!
No, she must find a way to talk to Su Lun. Otherwise, what she did before would be in vain. Moreover, disguising herself as the imperial court’s official might aggravate the guilt.
“Bang bang bang.”
There was a sudden knock on the door. Su Muge was startled. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice.
“Who are you?”
“Open the door.”
Hearing that, Su Muge stepped ahead to open the door, and saw Su Lun standing outside with a gloomy face.
Su Lun was shocked when he saw the face of Su Muge, and soon there was great anger in his eyes.
“Who the hell are you…”
Su Muge pulled him into the room and closed the door before Su Lun could finish his words.
“Father, it’s me!”
Su Muge’s voice was altered by pills, and it sounded lower than her own.
She looked up into the eyes of Su Lun, which was full of doubt, and explained, “Father, I am Muge, and I have been pretending to be you.”
Su Muge turned around and took a pill. She regained her voice in a short moment.
Standing there in shock, Su Lun looked at Su Muge unbelievably.
“You, it’s you…”
It seemed that Su Lun didn’t give himself away in front of Xia Houkun. Su Muge breathed out with relief secretly.
“Yes, it’s me.”
Hearing Su Muge’s voice, Su Lun had to face reality even though he still did not believe it. After collecting himself together, Su Lun was even much angrier. “You, how dare you to pretend an imperial court official! Are you trying to kill the whole Su family?”
Su Muge had no feeling for her father who had never treated her well and was as calm as usual regardless of his harsh questioning.
“If you want more people to know it, you can speak louder.”
“You, you…” His hands and beard were trembling with anger.
Not until this moment did Su Muge notice that Su Lun had lost much of his weight and there was a gloomy atmosphere covered on him.
“Tell me, who asked you to do that!”
Su Muge poured herself a cup of tea. “No one. I’m just trying to save my mother and brother.”
Su Lun sneered, and obviously, he didn’t believe what Su Muge had said.
It indeed sounded ironic that a daughter he had never cared for, could pretend to be him someday, and she pretended it so well.
“Without me, the whole Su family would have been taken to the capital and beheaded by now. Father, you should know better about the crime of running away with guilt than I do.”
Su Lun definitely knew how severe it was!
He thought that he would never come back alive this time!
But unexpectedly, they had released him…
Su Lun looked at Su Muge with scrutiny.
“Bang bang bang.”
Before they could say something more, the door was knocked again.
The father and daughter looked at each other silently.
