The two were so sweet and happy that it made the people around highly envious. They suddenly felt it was really great to have a wife who could fight side by side. No matter where they went, there was no need to separate.
The following event, thanks to Lin Zhizhao's "betrayal", Mo Linyuan easily knew that this time, Zhao Country had dispatched no less than five thousand people.
Besides the people who conspired against him two days ago, and also the earlier two groups that were eliminated, there should be three thousand people left.
Their ranks were only five hundred, so eliminating them in a short time would be quite difficult.
Ye Mu said, "I think it's better to act quickly. How about this, we find a squadron to disguise as us two and lead Zhao Country's people away, and the rest will quickly find the treasure, lest a long night fright with dreams*. How about it?"
*a long night fright with dreams – trouble comes after a delay
This indeed was the fastest and the simplest way, so after everyone discussed for a while, they decided as such!
Their troops divided into three roads: one to find the people of Zhao Country, and then lure them to a fixed location; another was in charge of fleeing and leading those people away; and the rest naturally followed Ye Mu to find the City Boundary Map.
Seeing them still discussing, Lin Zhizhao stood up. Facing everyone, he said, "I'll find a place to bury my mother."
Mo Linyuan and the others frowned. After all, Lin Zhizhao's status among them was very awkward, so it was Ye Mu who stood and said, "I'll go with him, all of you continue discussing."
Seeing Ye Mu stood up, everyone became at ease. After all, Ye Mu was His Majesty's quasi-empress. With her around, Lin Zhizhao wouldn't play some wicked trick.
Then, Ye Mu followed Lin Zhizhao out.
"Why bury your mother here? It won't be convenient for you to see her in the future!" Ye Mu said, feeling odd.
Lin Zhizhao smiled. Although he just ate an antidote, his face was still pale, though his vigor was a little better. He said, "No need, I plan to wander around the world in the future, I don't know when I'll be back. The scenery here is enchanting*, it's suitable for my mother to sleep eternally in and be secluded from the rest of the world."
*lit. tl of raw is "this place has green hills and clean waters (idiom))
Ye Mu looked around. It was all primeval forest here with no human trace. It was indeed a good place for a peaceful sleep.
"You plan to leave?" Ye Mu only got along with him for a few days, yet she genuinely was reluctant to part with this friend, just like with Zhao Mingyu. "Why do you want to leave? It's exhausting to wander everywhere. Is it not good to stay in Mo Country?"
Lin Zhizhao then suddenly smiled, revealing his two dimples. He looked at her with sparkling eyes. "You must not be hating to lose me right now, right? Mo Linyuan must not hear these words, or else I won't leave alive."
Seeing him still cheeky at this time, Ye Mu gave a smile, diminishing her sad thoughts. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Look at you, you're already twenty-something and look like someone who can't truss a chicken*. You didn't study feng shui until quintessence, and the only eyes of heaven disappeared, too. You didn't succeed in anything. You won't die from hunger out there, will you?"
*can't truss a chicken – physically very weak
The moment Lin Zhizhao listened, he put up a scared expression. "Then until then, I'll come back. Will you give me food? I don't eat a lot, really!"
He was merely joking, but Ye Mu unexpectedly said in earnest, "Any time you're tired from gallivanting, Mo Country will definitely have food for you."
He was stupefied. He didn't know how to respond for a while, but heard Ye Mu sigh. Looking ahead, she said, "I don't like this era. Between people, communication is so little, the distance is too far, disasters are too many. There is always a farewell, never seeing each other again." Her small face was solemn. She thought of a certain person and felt more melancholic.
"I don't like to bid farewell, but there are so many people whom I think are interesting leaving me in the end."
Lin Zhizhao stared at her, those sweet dimples indescribably catching a little bitterness.
Then, he took out the sole mirror left by his mother and handed it to Ye Mu.
"Can you help me split it into two?"
Right now, Ye Mu had regained some internal energy, but she was puzzled. "Isn't this the only thing left of your mother?"
Lin Zhizhao pressed on, "Hurry, split it into two."
Ye Mu weirdly walked over, and extremely carefully, used force to split the beautiful colored glaze mirror into two.
Lin Zhizhao took half of it, and gave the other half to Ye Mu. "I'm letting you hold onto this!"
Ye Mu smiled. "Are you for real, you damaged the only mirror left by your mother for me to keep as a keepsake?"
Lin Zhizhao mysteriously said, "This is not an ordinary keepsake. If I don't have anything to eat in the future, I'll hold this and find you to request a meal."
Ye Mu listened and looked at him genuinely. The young man in front of her eyes still looked as pale as before, looking very distracted with a smile that formed two dimples. He looked very small.
But there was something filling his eyes that wasn't there before. Ye Mu thought, maybe it was the belief in redeeming hope!
So she simply accepted it, and said with a smile, "Let's go, let's find a suitable burial ground."
In the end, they decided on a small hillside that seemed decent, and buried the remains under the foot of the hill.
While doing all this, Lin Zhizhao's heart was especially calm.
For so many years, he had often come to this place, well aware that his mother had died, well aware that he would not find an answer. But because of his obsession, he repeatedly came.
Today, his mother was found. He first thought at this point, he would lose all his life's hope. Unexpectedly, in the span of a few days, he had gained his hope in Ye Mu.
Life belonged to himself, he didn't want to take revenge on his father anymore. To come and go for a period of time for the two maps, he had wasted more than twenty years of his life. Later, it was time to live for himself.
Ye Mu saw Lin Zhizhao knock his head three times in a loud kowtow. He neither left a tombstone nor left a mark. Even if he wanted to come next time, he would not be able to find his mother. Or maybe, this was his proof of letting go.
After everything was done, they started heading back. Before long, Lin Zhizhao suddenly said, "Uh, I want to relieve myself."
Ye Mu waved her hand. "Go. There might be people from Zhao Country here, be careful by yourself."
Lin Zhizhao listened, deeply staring at her.
"Okay, I'm leaving."
After saying this, he turned his head, and walked away without looking back.
Ye Mu waited in the same place, but after waiting for a long time, she didn't see Lin Zhizhao coming back. Feeling odd, she went over to check, but found a few lines of neat writing on the exposed ground.
"I'm going. I don't know if I'll come back. No need to look for me, I'll be careful, avoid Zhao Country's people, begin my new life travelling the world.
"I also won't look for the treasure anymore. I used to be set on that thing, but now, I think it's alright, so cherish it! May I bid you farewell today, and have a reunion someday."
The name of the sender was the two characters: Qin Zhao.
Qin Zhao—it must be his real name. Ye Mu gazed at it, and lightly smiled. She erased the writings after a good while.
She sincerely hoped they could see each other again, too.
Seeing that only Ye Mu came back, Zi Xu became anxious.
"Ye-xiaojie, did that traitor flee? This subordinate will catch him at once."
Mo Linyuan also looked at Ye Mu with bewilderment in his eyes.
Ye Mu smiled as she walked to Mo Linyuan's side. "He left, I let him go."
Suddenly, everyone stared at Ye Mu with a complicated expression.
"Ye-xiaojie, you're too softhearted. What if that traitor goes and reveals our plan to the enemy?" Zi Xu said, sighing.
Ye Mu shook her head. "He won't."
On one side, Wen Feng also said, "Someone who has lied to us once is unworthy to be trusted, why not let this subordinate bring him back!"
Ye Mu chuckled. "You don't believe me?"
She tugged Mo Linyuan's hand, asked him, "What about you? Do you believe my judgement? I said that, even if Lin Zhizhao is seized by the other party, he won't tell on us, and maybe will help us. Do you trust me?"
Mo Linyuan stared at her helplessly, but firmly held her hand.
"It's only an insignificant person, everyone sit down. If you are worried about a setback, execute the plan earlier."
Since Mo Linyuan said this, the others did not have a choice and resentfully let go of Lin Zhizhao.
Next, five hundred people set off in three different directions. Mo Linyuan did not leave too many people behind, he only brought a hundred to hide, and then saw that the enemies were alarmed. In the end, they assembled together and chased over to the north.
The people who led those troops away were Zi Xu and his squadron. At this moment, he was wearing Mo Linyuan's clothes, charging ahead in the very front. Their speed was extremely fast; they should not be outrun.
Mo Linyuan had changed into very ordinary clothes and was lying prone among the thick grass with Ye Mu. Seeing the people had left, Ye Mu excitedly said, "Let's go! Let's find the treasure!"
Mo Linyuan looked at her excited expression and was moved. Then, he moved closer and lightly pressed a kiss on Ye Mu's ear.
"Okay, let's go."
Ye Mu immediately covered her ear and turned around. When she saw that no one around them noticed, she glared at him.
Clenching her teeth, she said in a low voice, "Can't you hold yourself back?" They were in public!
Mo Linyuan earnestly nodded. "You don't know how slow you grow, much less how long I've been waiting."
He said it without the least bit of hesitation , making Ye Mu's face turn red. She'll just ignore him!
Only when those people were far enough did Ye Mu and the others stand, and then set out toward the place she previously saw.
City Boundary Map, this time, she was finally going to find it!
After that, they walked for one whole day.
Although Ye Mu had seen the City Boundary Map, it was only an illusion of distance and actually took a very long time. These words were not wrong, because when night fell, Ye Mu, who got tired early, wanted to rest, and she and Mo Linyuan shared a tent.
She was probably exhausted, falling asleep soon as she hit the pillow. Seeing this, Mo Linyuan smiled. He covered her with a quilt, walked to the table, and took out the City Boundary Map.
If they couldn't find the location, this City Boundary Map was useless. But they had already walked inside the map area, so finding the location of the treasure was easy.
Based on their pace, there was probably a day left until they arrived at the treasure's location. But until then, should he let Xiao Mu-er go down? Mo Linyuan was rather hesitant.
He just found her after losing her, he actually didn't wish for Ye Mu to take risks with him, but he also felt anxious leaving her alone outside.
"Why are you still not asleep?" Ye Mu who had already slept suddenly squinted her eyes.
Mo Linyuan was startled and quickly stashed away the City Boundary Map.
Ye Mu smiled looking at his action. "Don't worry, I'm okay. When I was underground, Lin Zhizhao admitted that he lied about my dying. I'm someone who can live long!"
Mo Linyuan was doubtful. "Really?"
Ye Mu vigorously nodded. "More real than a pearl*!"
*means more than 99% sure
Seeing Mo Linyuan walking over, she reached out and pulled him onto the bed.
"Let's sleep together!"
After a simple wash, she felt extremely comfortable, hugging him also felt cozy. And unconsciously, she uttered sincere words.
"Without you, I can't sleep peacefully."
This sentence instantly reached Mo Linyuan's heart. At this moment, he, who was wearing a pale yellow shirt, couldn't help showing a delighted smile.
"Alright, let's sleep together."
Anyway, the one sentence that he had not said was, not only was she used to sleeping by his side, he, too, was used to it.
The following journey went without a hitch. The evening after a day and a half, they arrived in front of a mountain.
"If the map is not wrong, then the mountain before us should be the treasure's mountain."
As soon as everyone heard it, they were suddenly full of vigor. Each and every one of them rubbed their hands, wanting to go all out.
Mo Linyuan said with a smile, "Today, the sky is already dark. Some people stay behind to camp, the rest follow me to see if this mountain has an entrance."
"Yes!"
The crew quickly settled the distribution. Ye Mu followed Mo Linyuan, and on the way, she could not resist asking, "Yan Country has interfered in this matter, what do you plan to do after going back?"
Mo Linyuan said, "Yan Country and Zhao Country have had a long-standing discord, now that Yan Country wants to use someone to do the dirty work, why can't I give them a taste of their own medicine? Anyway, inciting both countries to a war is a very simple matter."
He said it as if it were easy, but to others, it was very hard. But who told him to be clever?
Ye Mu looked at him and suddenly snorted with laughter.
"I didn't think you were this kind of person before."
Mo Linyuan led her around the mountain with her hand. "What did you think I was like?"
Ye Mu recalled the time when she read the biography book, and an image appeared in her mind. She genuinely said, "Because you were soon to be an emperor, I thought you'd be decisive, heroic, wise and mighty. I didn't expect—"
"Crafty thinking, scheming and calculating? Also, likes to take petty advantages?"
Mo Linyuan could not help but smile hearing her words.
Ye Mu stuck out her tongue. After the evening sun completely sank down, the sky was very dark.
"But, there is something that I didn't think of wrongly."
"Which is?" Mo Linyuan asked with full curiosity.
Ye Mu said with a smile, "At that time, I thought you're definitely handsome, and I also thought, if there was such a person, I would really want to know what he looks like."
Mo Linyuan abruptly stopped, pulling her into his chest.
The people behind them were tactful to fall a few steps back, and Mo Linyuan fixedly stared at Ye Mu.
"Now you've seen that he really likes you, what do you feel?"
Ye Mu raised her head to look at his eyes. In the faint white light, his eyes were delicate and touching. Among them were glimmering rays of light, like the stars in the sky.
He seemed to be smiling, and in fact very genuinely, which made Ye Mu involuntarily form a smile.
"En, it feels like dreaming!"
361
Dangerous Treasure
Mo Linyuan listened and faintly smiled, then softly kissed her forehead.
“Thinking that we can get married after going back, I suddenly don’t want the treasure anymore, I want to go back right away.”
Hearing Mo Linyuan’s rare unruly and coquettish words, Ye Mu pursed her lips in a smile and tugged his hand as they started walking back.
“Don’t worry! We can’t run away. It’s already so late, let’s not continue looking for it. Let’s go back!”
Mo Linyuan nodded, and then the group walked back.
When they had walked halfway, the sky was already enveloped in black, but at this moment, someone suddenly exclaimed behind Ye Mu, “Everyone look, what’s over there?!”
Seeing a blue flickering flame on the pitch-black mountain, Ye Mu and Mo Linyuan looked at each other, and could not help going toward that direction.
When they were near, Ye Mu smelled something irritating to her nose, and then saw the blue flame emitting for no reason on the ground. Likewise, a foul gas reeked outward, but Ye Mu was instantly delighted!
“I think we found the right place!”
However, she did not approach too near and dragged Mo Linyuan away. “This gas will remain for a long time, but don’t worry about it, it should be fine when we come back tomorrow. It’s a leakage of phosphorus and sulfur, which means there’s a mechanism below. I just don’t know why the mechanism broke, but it’s truly a blessing from Heaven. We don’t need to find the door anymore, tomorrow we dig this place down, we can certainly dig out the treasure!”
Despite not understanding what she said about the flame, Mo Linyuan nodded. “Alright, not finding it. We’ll go down tomorrow.”
But when they reached the campsite, they found that the people who stayed in camp had all passed out!
Ye Mu startled and hurried forward. Only when she found they were still breathing, did she let out a sigh of relief.
“What happened?!” Mo Linyuan’s look immediately turned ugly, the dozens of people behind him hurried forward and checked, and then said, “Reporting to Your Majesty, it seems they’re poisoned!”
“Poisoned?” Mo Linyuan looked around, the surroundings very quiet, there was only the rustling forest.
This forest was in the hinterland, it was deserted, how could they be poisoned?
Ye Mu carefully smelled, and noticed there was a faint, weird smell around them. But it was too faint, she could not distinguish it.
She tugged Mo Linyuan, frowning. “Maybe it’s not because of a person, let’s look around the area, I smell something unusual.”
At this moment, someone yelled behind them, “Your Majesty, we found something here!”
Mo Linyuan hastily went over with Ye Mu, and then saw, under the foot of the mountain, a person collapsed on one side carrying dry firewood, and beside his body was a large hole!
Ye Mu moved closer and sniffed. “Yes, it’s definitely the treasure’s trap. Because it has been too long, a hole appeared. After this ground collapsed, the poisonous gas from inside wafted out, and our camp is situated on the leeward, and then they got infected.”
“So now what?” Mo Linyuan asked.
Ye Mu said, “As of now, move these people to the windward. Didn’t we bring an antidote? Give them some, and then have someone inform the others to come help.”
Mo Linyuan nodded. “It’s the only way. Wen Feng, move quickly, call the others to gather here. The two thousand people that were sent here first, call them over.”
“Yes.” Wen Feng quickly left. This time, many of his friends were in the five hundred people that followed, so he did not wish for a mishap to befall them.
But what happened tonight?
Ye Mu looked at the large hole before her. “It seems the poisonous gas inside has been released, but I can’t be certain. Also, it’s strange, how could this treasure keep having holes? Normally it shouldn’t.”
Mo Linyuan said, “In any case, wait until tomorrow to talk about everything. Tonight, let’s rest a bit further away in case something happens to it.”
Ye Mu nodded.
At this moment, those who fainted had been dragged to a drafty place. The remaining dozen people took turns to guard. Tonight, they did not pitch a tent and instead slept directly on the grass. Ye Mu lay in Mo Linyuan’s embrace. Despite having shut her eyes, she still could not fall asleep.
“I thought the trap on the other side was already very dangerous, I didn’t expect this place to also have so many traps. We haven’t gone down and people are already harmed, it makes me uneasy.”
Mo Linyuan reassured her, “If you’re scared, we won’t go down tomorrow. We’ll wait above and see the outcome.”
Ye Mu shook her head. “Forget it, let’s wait together. Don’t we have people who were sent in advance? Now that Wen Feng has informed them, we’ll wait patiently. The more people, the greater power. Until then, there are many things to take care of. Only, we’re very deep into the hinterland, we don’t know how many days we should wait until they come.”
Mo Linyuan nodded as he hugged her. “In any case, the situation is amiss. We’ll just withdraw and wait for a few days, the army must already be on the way. Anyway, it’s easy to demolish it.”
Only when Ye Mu heard such words from him, did she nod feeling at ease.
The forest at night was very quiet. There was a rustling noise occasionally, but it quickly disappeared.
At this moment, Ye Mu’s internal energy had almost recovered, so her hearing was more acute than other people. She suddenly furrowed her eyebrows, and then abruptly opened her eyes!
“Not good!”
Once she woke up, Mo Linyuan also woke up. The rest of the troops were still clueless, only when Ye Mu cautioned them did they know what had happened.
“Fall back, all of you carefully look under your feet!”
They quickly looked down. The sky was too dark, the ground was all grass. Nothing could actually be seen. Only until those things were in close proximity, someone cried out in alarm, “It’s worms! So many worms!”
A mass of centipedes pressed on toward their direction. Fortunately, Ye Mu warned them early. They kept retreating. At the moment, no one had been bitten.
“These worms are really strange, shouldn’t they be afraid of people and light? How could they keep coming to our direction?!”
Ye Mu also did not understand. It was Mo Linyuan who said, “I’ve read from an ancient book, if these worms are specially trained, they can indulge in the exact opposite of their natural instincts, such as light and warmth.”
Ye Mu pondered. After retreating a few steps back, she threw a luminous pearl. Those worms did not bother about the object at all, and still crawled toward them.
Ye Mu frowned. “They’re not scared of light. Or maybe, not scared of this cold light.”
Then, they retreated as they experimented. Ye Mu threw a fire over. This time, these worms reacted, they unexpectedly liked fire so much, they shrouded the fire in an instant. What was terrifying was, even though the air was filled with the smell of worms being burned, they were not in the least fearful, like moths hurtling into flame*, persistently advancing toward these heat sources.