319 Rescued (1/2)

Chapter 319: Rescued

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

It was not entirely due to random chance or by accident that Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong managed to sneak into the Golden Roc Fort. They were already marked as suspicious characters at the gates of North City and their identities as the personal bodyguards of the Dragon King were confirmed when they were at the foot of the stone bridge.

However, the news of them trying to enter the fort was reported directly to Lady Meng instead of the Supreme King.

Just like this, the two confident youths fell into a trap set up for them. They were captured once they set foot in the Inner Residence and did not even have time to find their bearings around the place.

Lady Meng was disappointed that it was not the Dragon King himself who had been lured into the trap, but two of his subordinates instead - not to mention that they were just teenagers. She understood him and knew that he would not give up the secret manuscript just for Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong, but she still informed Meng Yuzun that the youths were in her hands; this would allow him to use them as bargaining chips in his negotiations with the Dragon King.

The two teenagers did not suffer much during their captivity; in fact, they were rescued before the negotiations even began.

Shangguan Fei was exaggerating when he told the Dragon King that his sister was not speaking to anyone and that she would rather be mute. However, it was true that she had not talked to her mother for three years.

Shangguan Ru was only on partial house arrest and could still move freely within the Inner Residence. Moreover, she still enjoyed the love and loyalty of many within the fort. As such, her sources brought her even more information compared to what her mother and brother knew about.

Very quickly, she got to know about the capture of the two teenagers and understood that they had come to 'rescue' her.

The way things turned out in the end, Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong were the ones who required rescuing instead.

Shangguan Ru knew very well that it would be easy to rescue both of them: Lady Meng did not want the Supreme King to know about the teenagers and therefore had them imprisoned in a stone hut instead of the heavily guarded underground dungeon.

Springing them from the hut would be one thing, but it would be next to impossible to send them safely down the mountain. Security in the Golden Roc Fort had gradually become stronger all these years after the rebellion of Slave Huan and Maid Lotus. Even Shangguan Ru was unable to escape from the castle herself, let alone the two youths who were unfamiliar with the territory.

The only option would be to find a safe place to hide them temporarily - Shangguan Ru thought.

But that would be nearly impossible, she concluded. There were only a few places in the Stone Castle that were out of Lady Meng's reach - basically, the houses frequented by the Supreme King, including the residence of the Eighth Young Mistress, Luo Ningcha.

After managing to survive the assassination attempt, she had her wish fulfilled: she gave birth to a son. Her quarters in the Inner Residence was a grand mansion which was relatively independent of the other houses. She kept a distance away from Lady Meng and was also situated far away from the Supreme King, Her mansion can be considered as somewhat shielded from public eyes , Shangguan Ru thought to herself.

Luo Ningcha did not allow Lady Meng to get involved in anything pertaining to her 'territory' and only she dared to (and gladly) partake in everything that would lead to the displeasure of the matron.

As such, Shangguan Ru sent the two brash youths to her Eighth Sister-in-law's residence.

Luo Ningcha immediately agreed to take them in, as she had a somewhat good impression of Shangguan Ru. Another reason was that she heard that Lady Meng kept their presence in the fort a secret from the Supreme King and intended to use them to threaten Slave Huan.

Shangguan Ru knew the inherent danger of her actions and warned Luo Ningcha against presenting the two youths to the Supreme King: they were the trusted subjects of the Dragon King, and he would come looking for revenge if any harm came to them.

Luo Ningcha was not afraid of the Dragon King's vengeance, but she promised to keep the presence of the two youths a secret. However, she made it very clear that she wanted Slave Huan, instead of Shangguan Ru, to repay the favor in future.

Thus, Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong spent the next 20 over days in the ”residence of the Eighth Young Master”. Luo Ningcha was the one who came up with the sudden and weird idea of forcing Chu Nanping to dress as a girl and making Tie Linglong constantly squint her eyes to conceal those emerald pupils, so as to hide their true identities from the spies of Lady Meng; the girl was also dressed as the opposite gender, albeit without force.

Even though the two youths were a little resistant to the cross-dressing and squinting, they could still bear with it. What was insufferable for them was the constant nagging of Luo Ningcha.

”At least three times every day,” Tie Linglong said.

She was in charge of recounting their adventure to the Dragon King. Her eyebrows wrinkled together as she thought about Luo Ningcha's nagging; just the thought of it was unbearable.

”We had to swear that she was our savior. Luckily, she did not want us to repay the favor. She wanted us to inform you, Dragon King, that she was taking a huge risk and that you are obliged to repay her.”

This was exactly the Luo Ningcha that Gu Shenwei knew. ”Don't worry, I have a way to handle her,” he replied.

Even though there were times when Gu Shenwei had underestimated Luo Ningcha, his impression of her was merely an extremely selfish woman and had never viewed of her as an opponent that should be treated seriously.

”Right, then it's all good, I guess.” Tie Linglong felt relieved. Even though Luo Ningcha could be considered as her savior, she was unable to get herself to like the woman. She then asked curiously, ”Are you familiar with her, Dragon King? She seemed... to know you pretty well.”

”I was working under her and that's how I entered the Golden Roc Fort in the past,” replied Gu Shenwei indifferently with a calm tone. He believed that no matter how foolish Luo Ningcha was, she would not speak irresponsibly about their past.

Tie Linglong and Chu Nanping nodded at the same time as a mystery clouding their thoughts was solved. They were young and knew little about the ways of the world; if a more worldly adult was in their place, surely he or she would be more suspicious after hearing what the Dragon King had said.

As for Lady Meng, she went off her rocker upon discovering that her two captives, who she had spent so much effort to catch, were missing. She suspected that her daughter was involved but could not find any evidence leading directly to her. Furthermore, she could not openly start a search for the two teenagers as well. As such, she issued a gag order, hoping that the Dragon King would still believe that they were in her custody.

Both of them had actually followed Shangguan Ru down the mountain as part of her entourage of slaves during her wedding.