The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Shen Zheng (16:00-16:59) Part 7
Translator: DragonRider
Cui Qi’s face instantly went colorless. He was wearing Lubi-Army uniform, while Zhang Xiaojing was wearing Praetorian-Guard mufti. He knew which one of those soldiers of the Praetorian Guards would help without even thinking about it.

Cui Qi hurriedly turned his head back and tried to explain, but the whole situation was too complicated to be stated clearly in just a few remarks. Those soldiers didn’t care about his explanation at all. Four of them rushed over and brought Cui Qi to the ground. Zhang Xiaojing and the other two people seized this opportunity, walked past them and ran towards the second gate.

Cui Qi didn’t dare resist but kept yelling, trying to tell them that person was an impostor. Finally, a soldier realized that something was wrong. He tried to stop Zhang Xiaojing to ask him some questions. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiaojing waved his hand and scattered some lime powder. A couple of soldiers nearby immediately held their eyes and crouched down in sharp pain.

The lime powder was scraped off from the wall of the warehouse. Zhang Xiaojing packed a bag of it and hid it in his front inside pocket before leaving the warehouse. As expected, it proved useful. Watching this at the side, Yao Runeng felt that Zhang Xiaojing was like a devil who could always find a way out in a hopeless situation by see things from an incredible perspective. He even suspected that this guy would still manage to escape from here eventually even if he and Tanqi hadn’t risked coming here to rescue him.

Taking advantage of this rare interval, the three managed to break through the encirclement and madly ran forward. Tanqi, who was running in front, felt that she had never run so fast before, that her lungs were about to burst. The first gate was within sight, and she could also see the bows and arrows hanging on the lintel.

She was only ten plus steps away from it, and there was no obstacle in her way. She gathered all her strength and became the first one to run out of the first gate. However, the next instant, she abruptly stopped, transfixed with shock. Behind her, Yao Runeng and Zhang Xiaojing barely stopped in time and nearly bumped against her back.

They didn’t ask her why she suddenly stopped, because the answer was right in front of them.

Outside the department, dozens of Leopard Cavalrymen galloped over like a dark cloud. Deep, frequent clatter of horses’ hoofs were heard. The moment the three of them rushed out of the gate, those Leopard Cavalrymen also arrived. These well-trained cavalrymen quickly reined in and formed a semicircle around the first gate. Legs of horses were like trees in a dense forest, and numerous long sabers were held upright. There were also sounds of bowstrings tightening coming from the rear.

The three stood leaning against the gate, having no idea what else they could do. Even if Zhang Xiaojing were a reincarnation of a god, there was nothing he could do in this kind of situation.

Trembling all over, Tanqi could barely keep her footing. She was not afraid of death, but it was beyond her mental endurance to die when she was so close to a successful escape. Zhang Xiaojing stretched out a hand and pressed it on her shoulder. This time Tanqi didn’t dodge. His palm was very hot. The heat went straight into Tanqi’s body, dissolving her fear.

“Back then in the cell, I was presumptuous. I beg your pardon.” Formidable enemies were right in front of them, yet what Zhang Xiaojing was thinking about was such an insignificant matter.

Seeing that he chose to apologize under this circumstance, Tanqi had no idea whether she should forgive him or scold him.

Behind them, Cui Qi and guards rushed over, flustered and exasperated. He was rejoiced that Leopard Cavalrymen had stopped Zhang Xiaojing, whose regaining freedom was what concerned him the most. Now so many Leopard Cavalrymen had come, which indicated that the general himself was also here. By no means could that guy escape. Holding a length of rope, he pondered over how to bring Zhang Xiaojing down to the ground, but on second thought, he wondered whether he would be stealing the general’s thunder if he did that, so he hesitantly put the rope down, planning to wait and make a decision later.

Right at this moment, those cavalrymen in the middle of the semicircle simultaneously moved sideways and with that a tall, square-faced general of dignified bearing slowly rode forward through those cavalrymen. Holding the reins on one hand and a horsewhip on the other, at a gentle pace, he rode straight to the front of the first gate and stopped. Yao Runeng recognized him. He was the General of Praetorian Guards, Gan Shoucheng.

Gan Shoucheng, whose mount was a precious horse from the Western Regions, looked down at the three people who were like cornered prey but didn’t give the order to arrest them immediately, playing around with the end of the horsewhip. His eyes moved from these people’s faces to their feet, and then to the first gate. Suddenly, in his eyes appeared a trace of regret, as if his prey fled at the last moment before he shot the arrow from his bow.

The smoke emanating from the rear of the department was getting thicker and thicker, but Gan Shoucheng was lost in thought on the horse.

There was a brief silence in front of the first gate. Nobody knew how this general, whose department had been burnt, would punish these criminals. Everybody waited. Finally, Gan Shoucheng slowly raised his right hand, his face expressionless. Leopard Cavalrymen knew the general was about to issue an order, their horses snorting restlessly.

Gan Shoucheng didn’t heavily swing his arm downwards but laterally swung it quickly to and fro, which was an explicit order: making way. Those cavalrymen didn’t understand why, but a military order must be rigidly followed. They immediately made way for the three people.

Neither the three people nor Cui Qi understood what the general had been planning. But Gan Shoucheng had no intention of explaining himself. He did that hand gesture again and then looked in the direction of somewhere outside the imperial city, coldly letting out a snort.

Yao Runeng was the first one to realize what the general meant. That was the Jing’an Department’s watchtower closest to the imperial city.

Light suddenly dawned on Zhang Xiaojing who then raised limp Tanqi to her feet and then walked through the passage with Yao Runeng. On their sides, those cavalrymen were eyeing them with hostility. Once the commander gave the order, they would immediately tear these three criminals into pieces. However, when they walked out of their sight, the general still didn’t say anything.

Cui Qi couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He waved his arms, believing that the general had given the wrong order, but no matter how hard he urged them, those soldiers of the Praetorian Guards stayed indifferent. Cui Qi sat onto the ground with a thud, his face ashen. He had been making wrong decisions all along since this morning.

Gan Shoucheng’s eyes rested on this poor person for a while and then he blandly gave an order. Cui Qi was amazed, on his face appearing an expression difficult to tell whether it was delight or shock.

*

Wang Yunxiu felt that this was a terrible day.

First she had a carriage accident, then was abducted and transferred here and there, and there was even a ferocious guy trying to kill her. Currently, hands tied, she was deserted in this dirty woodshed like garbage, and someone had also rudely stuffed an anesthetic pill into her mouth.

Wang Yunxiu had secretly cursed numerous times, “Who are these goddamn criminals exactly? Don’t they know I’m Wang Zhongsi’s daughter?”

Unfortunately, it seemed as if they indeed didn’t know. Nobody had come to the woodshed, and she was unable to yell. All she could do was keep lying on the ground alone like this. The ground was very chilly. Soon Wang Yunxiu started shivering with cold. Her thin, delicate wrists ached rubbing against the rope, and she was also suffering from dizziness due to the impact during the carriage accident. She had never been treated this way before. After struggling for a while, she was exhausted and started shedding tears silently, but soon she ran out of tears and started staring emptily at the house beam with a leaden look on her face, praying that she would soon wake up from this nightmare.

When Wang Yunxiu felt that she was about to die, the door squeaked and with that someone walked into the woodshed.

She feebly raised her head. The stranger in front of her had a white, square face, a broad brow and a short mustache, dressed in a cyan official robe. Wang Yunxiu remembered that she saw people dressed in this kind of clothing at home on a frequent basis, and every one of them was very respectful to her father.

How dare this kind of cheap guy be impertinent to me? Rage simmered inside Wang Yunxiu. Having convinced herself that this guy before her was the initiator of all this, she angrily wanted to open her mouth and revile him, but due to the anesthetic pill in her mouth, all her words turned into meaningless, muffled murmurs.

This person didn’t approach her but peered at Wang Yunxiu for a while and then did something strange – he turned around and closed the door. Wang Yunxiu’s heart lurched, wondering what he was planning to do.

Yuan Zai closed the door, turned around and rested his eyes on the female in front of him again, his mind working very fast.

With an instinct for luxuries, the moment he entered the woodshed, he noticed that the flower-shaped hair ornaments on this woman’s temples were made of filamentary silver. The flower-shaped hair ornaments themselves were not valuable, but the filamentary silver was arranged with craftsmanship so superb that these ornaments possessed the texture of a kingfisher’s feather, and this craftsmanship alone was worth at least dozens of Pi (1. Pi is a unit of length used in feudal China. A Pi is roughly equivalent to 13 meters.) of cloth. And though her phoenix-tail- shaped nanmu hairpin looked plain, the grain of the wood was even and dense like spun good. He could tell it was premium Spun Gold Nanmu at first sight.

Maybe in common people’s eyes, these two things were just “valuable”, but an expert like Yuan Zai could find unnoticeable details and tell that their owner was from a noble family.

A daughter of an incense store owner might have some gold or silver ornaments, but by no means could she possess ornaments like these.

Yuan Zai walked up to her, stretched out his right thumb and right index and said, “Please pardon me.” Then he opened Wang Yunxiu’s mouth and gently took the anesthetic pill out. The next moment, an extremely angry voice issued from her throat:

“Damn bastards! I’ll have my father behead all of you!”

“As expected… ” Yuan Zai said to himself. A girl grew up in a commoner’s family could never have cultivated this kind of air of condescension. He asked in a calm tone, “May I have your father’s name?”

Wang Yunxiu sneered, “You think you deserve to hear the name of General Yun Hui with your cheap ears?”

On hearing the name, Yuan Zai gasped in astonishment. The rank of General Yun Hui was the lower level of the third grade, which was of the highest status apart from that of the four General-in-chiefs. In the whole Chang’an – no, in the whole Tang Dynasty, there were less than twenty people who had this title, and every one of them was either an important official or a dignitary.

Feng Dalun’s subordinates must have caught the wrong person. They had not only taken a wrong person hostage but also taken back a hot potato. Feng Dalun himself probably hadn’t checked the hostage yet, otherwise he should have spotted this fatal mistake long ago.

They kidnapped a family member of General Yun Hui. Even the deaths of all members of ten Fires Gang wouldn’t be enough to atone for this crime!

Yuan Zai couldn’t help hating Feng Dalun, ‘This is a terrible mistake made by him. Why did he drag me into this?! This woman has convinced herself that I’ve been colluding with the Fires Gang. Judging by her temper, she probably won’t believe my explanation. If I release her, her family would probably take brutal retaliation against me. I fucking did nothing! I don’t deserve this!’

Fortunately Yuan Zai had just decisively closed the door the moment he found that her identity was suspicious, which provided him with some room for maneuver.

By all odds, Yuan Zai should tell Feng Dalun right away, have him release the hostage immediately and apologize, but Yuan Zai realized that this move was not favorable for himself. His mind working furiously, he mulled over how he could extricate himself from this perilous situation, and even whether it was possible to profit from it.

Being of humble origins, Yuan Zai firmly believed this motto: ‘Fame can only be achieved through hard work. Wealth can only be obtained amid dangerous situation.’ The more dangerous the situation was, the greater wealth he might get in it. It was all about whether he had the courage to take the risk. It was with his extremely keen nose for opportunities and his sheer persistence that he managed to achieve what he currently had.

These thoughts seemed lengthy when described in words, but in fact, they passed Yuan Zai’s mind in merely an instant. Having made up his mind, with a sullen look on his face, he bent over and growled at Wang Yunxiu in a low voice, “Shut up!”