Aoyama

Chapter 190 Escape
In the night and heavy snow, Baili was no longer as lively as before. Her hair was disheveled and her white clothes were stained with dust.

The apricot tree, the wildfire, and the man who held her horse are all left in the past. There will be no more surprises tomorrow, and there will be no need for light in her eyes when she looks up again.

Han Tong stood on the mast, looking at Baili from afar for a long time without saying a word. He did not expect that the Secret Service would use Baili to threaten him. Who betrayed him?
Yun Yang held up a torch and used the light to illuminate Bai Li's face so that Han Tong could see more clearly: "Master Han, in the spring of the twenty-fourth year of Jianing, you secretly appeared outside the gate of Prince Jing's Mansion, glanced at the princess and left; on the Lantern Festival of the twenty-fifth year of Jianing, you secretly waited in the City God Temple, glanced at the princess and left; in the twenty-sixth year of Jianing... you saw the princess a total of twelve times, seven of which were on the princess' birthday, and five of which were on the Lantern Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. Why do you think this was?"

Han Tong's pupils contracted. He thought he was very secretive when he went to visit Bai Li, but he didn't expect that he was still seen by others.

This means that someone has betrayed me. Even Ayun doesn't know when I secretly visited Baili, and it is impossible for the guy who plotted against me tonight to know.

Yun Yang looked at Han Tong with a half-smile. The flickering torch illuminated his face, which was half bright and half dark, making him look particularly hideous. "Master Han, my Secret Service monitors the world, and all evil spirits and monsters are exposed. It is only a matter of time before we arrest you. Why don't we make a deal now and save the princess' life?"

Bai Li heard Yun Yang's words and looked up at Han Tong on the tall mast. She told Chen Ji that this man had secretly looked at her four or five times, and that was the number of times she had discovered him.

And in the corners that she had never noticed, the other party had secretly visited her so many times.

Han Tong stood tall on the mast and asked from a distance: "Tell me, how do we save them?"

Yun Yang smiled and said, "Master Han, I will exchange your life for the princess's life."

Han Tong was silent for a long time: "Do you think I'm so stupid? I have nothing to do with her. Did your secret service make a mistake?"

The next moment, Jiaotu pulled out the dagger from his sleeve and cut a gash on Baili's thigh, and the blood immediately soaked his trouser legs.

But the white carp's expression did not change. It just stared blankly at the river, as if it could not feel the pain at all.

Han Tong moved slightly, but then stopped.

Jiaotu turned to look at Han Tong and said, "Come down and change people. You come with us. My Secret Service will allow your people to send her away."

Jin Zhu glanced coldly at the two men's backs. He knew that they were lying again. Even if they were the Twelve Zodiac Signs, they did not have the power to let the princess go, not even the Prime Minister.

He looked at Han Tong, unsure whether Han Tong would surrender. He then looked at the wound on Bai Li's leg.

But Jiaotu swung the knife again to cut Baili's arm, but when the knife was about to fall, his wrist was caught by Golden Pig.

Jin Zhu said with a gloomy face: "It's almost enough. The princess is a royal family member after all. Now that His Majesty has not yet said whether to kill them, don't be too self-willed."

Jiaotu glanced at him: "Are you trying to meddle in other people's affairs?"

The Golden Pig sneered, "I just thought you might make a fool of yourself and lose your zodiac sign and your life, so I'm kindly reminding you."

Jiaotu snorted and slowly put away the knife.

Yun Yang looked at Han Tong again and said loudly: "Master Han, do you really not want to exchange the princess's life?"

However, Han Tong just looked at Bai Li quietly for a long time. When he saw the wound on Bai Li's leg and his stubborn and silent expression, he immediately dug his nails into his palm, and blood oozed out.

But he didn't exchange his life for another's. He just said grimly, "Do you think I'm that stupid? There's no such thing as exchanging lives. We're just dying together. What the Secret Service did today will be rewarded in the future."

After saying that, he looked at the white carp again, turned around, jumped into the icy river and disappeared.

Yunyang and Jiaotu were stunned, while Baili lowered his head slightly.

The Golden Pig said to the Rabbit, "Why don't you help the princess bandage her wounds? Who came up with this stupid idea? What is the relationship between the princess and Han Tong?"

Yun Yang looked back coldly: "If there is no relationship, why would he secretly visit the princess so many times? Do you believe that they have no relationship?"

Jin Zhu retorted: "Who is Han Tong? He is a big shot who has been dominating the underworld for many years. There is no telling how many gang members he has under his command. How could he sacrifice his life because of a momentary emotion?"

Yun Yang sneered, "Someone just broke into the prison and took the prince away. I don't know where he is hiding. You also saw that Han Tong secretly called a speedboat just now. It was obvious that he wanted to send someone away. I think he wanted to send the prince away."

Bai Li turned to look at Yun Yang. Prison break? The prince? Who did it?
An answer popped up in her mind, just like the answer that popped up every time she subconsciously thought of it. However, she was very sure of it before, but now she denied it.

Jin Zhu pretended to be confused and said, "Han Tong just summoned a ship. How can this be related to the prince?"

Yun Yang glanced at him and said, "We'll know after we wait and see."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for Zhang Zhuo, Master Zhang."

……

……

The roads were slippery due to heavy snow. The soldiers from Luocheng Prefecture cursed as they escorted the grain and fodder to the dock. Their ears and hands were red from the cold, and their toes were chilled.

Someone complained in a low voice: "It's snowing so heavily. It would be great if I could go home and have a drink with my wife and children. Why did the prefect insist on transporting grain today?"

"Yeah, it's snowing so heavily, why not wait until the snow stops? Why do you have to take such a long detour?"

"Stop talking, the dock is just ahead, finish your errand quickly and go home to sleep... Keep your voice down, the prefect is here."

Next to the grain team, the prefect was riding on a horse in a red official robe. He had a red fox fur cloak draped over his shoulders and was holding a copper hand warmer in his hands. He was looking worriedly at the brightly lit dock ahead, feeling that something was not right.

Zhang Zhuo thought for a moment and said, "Wait, stop for a while!"

The soldiers looked back in confusion and had no choice but to stop all the ox carts.

Zhang Zhuo waved his hand and said, "We won't transport grain today. Let's transport the grain and grass back to the granary!"

The soldiers were in an uproar, and the lieutenant general shouted, "Sir, we have been walking since dusk until now, and we are about to reach the dock, why don't we transport it?"

Zhang Zhuo looked at him coldly and said, "How about you become the fifth-rank prefect?"

The guard shrank his neck and said, "I am too talkative." Zhang Zhuo waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"

However, at this moment, a laugh came from the roof: "Master Zhang, where are you going?"

Zhang Zhuo suddenly looked up and saw Yunyang and Jiaotu standing on the eaves of a house beside the road, looking down at the long grain transport team.

As they were talking, countless Jiefan Guards appeared from the alleys near the grain team, with their hands on their swords, and surrounded the grain team!

The palace soldiers wanted to draw their swords to confront him, but they heard Yun Yang say nonchalantly: "Not many people dare to draw their swords in front of my Secret Service."

The soldier's expression froze for a moment, and he let go of his hand awkwardly.

Zhang Zhuo said in a deep voice, "Why, you guys want to rob my grain team? Even the Secret Service cannot arbitrarily disrupt the transportation of official grain! Article 7 of Volume 18 of our Daning Law states that anyone who disrupts or steals more than 25 strings of tax grain will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane, tattooed with the words 'stealing official money, grain and other goods', and exiled 3,000 miles away!"

Yun Yang smiled and said, "I know that Lord Zhang can recite our Daning laws by heart, so there is no need to use them casually to scare people. We also received news that there may be suspects hiding in your grain team. Lord Zhang, since you are familiar with the laws, do you know what the crime of harboring treason is?"

Jiaotu sat on the eaves and asked with a smile: "Master Zhang, if you protect the rebels, will your whole family be executed as well?"

Zhang Zhuo stared coldly at Yun Yang: "You said I was harboring treason, what evidence do you have?"

Yun Yang smiled and said, "It's easy. We can find out by searching the grain team. Let's do it!"

"Wait!" Zhang Zhuo glanced at the grain cart nervously, raised his right hand high, and stopped Li Fanwei's steps: "This is the official grain of the imperial court, let's see who dares to move it rashly?"

Yun Yang raised his eyebrows: "Why, Master Zhang won't cry until he sees the coffin?"

After that, he took out the royal flag from his bosom and said, "Master Zhang, do you know what this is? With the royal flag in hand, our Secret Service can patrol on behalf of the emperor and execute first and report later!"

Zhang Zhuo said in a deep voice: "It is true that you hold the king's banner, but you cannot act recklessly. I remember that you two made a big mistake a while ago. If you make a mistake again this time, I wonder if you will lose your position in the zodiac?"

Yunyang and Jiaotu looked at each other, both with hesitation in their eyes.

They were not afraid of being exiled or reported to the civil officials, but the Prime Minister would never give people the opportunity to make a third mistake.

Zhang Zhuo saw a turn for the better and hurriedly added fuel to the fire: "You two hold the royal flag, so you can search the grain carts, but if you can't find anything, I will report you to the emperor. Then you two will lose your fourth-rank official positions!"

Jiaotu covered his mouth and laughed, "Master Zhang, why do you have to threaten us so nervously? The more you threaten us, the more I feel that there are criminals hiding in the grain team. Master Zhang, you have done more harm than good."

Yun Yang waved his hand to Jie Fan Wei: "Search!"

Jie Fanwei commanded the palace soldiers to unload the bags of grain from the carts and pile them in the snow.

As time passed, all the grain trucks were unloaded and no one was seen hiding on the trucks.

Yunyang paced back and forth on the eaves in annoyance. He shouted loudly: "See if there are any Tibetans in the sack!"

Jie Fanwei drew his sword and stabbed the grain sack. When Jiaotu turned around, he suddenly saw a sneer of sarcasm on Zhang Zhu's face. He felt something was wrong: "Wait, stop stabbing. The grain sack is so small that it can't hide anyone!"

But it was too late to give the order now. More than twenty bags of grain had been punctured and the grain was spilling out and scattered all over the ground.

Zhang Zhuo laughed, stroked his beard and said, "Gentlemen, are there any criminals among the food and fodder?"

Yunyang and Jiaotu landed lightly on the ground. Jiaotu shouted, "All the soldiers take off their helmets and check one by one to see if there are any rebels hiding among them!"

Zhang Zhuo stopped pretending and said lazily, "Take off your helmets and show them to the adults. Let them have a good look."

Yunyang and Jiaotu didn't trust others, so they personally identified the palace soldiers one by one, but there was no trace of the prince among them.

Yun Yang whispered, "It's over."

His heart gradually sank to the bottom. He felt that nothing had gone smoothly since he came to Los Angeles. What went wrong?
Jiaotu wondered, "Could it have run off to some other place halfway?"

Yun Yang said in a fierce voice: "Search, even if we have to turn the entire Luo City upside down tonight, we must find the prince!"

The Jie Fanwei retreated like a tide. Zhang Zhuo looked at their backs coldly and said loudly, "Two masters from the Secret Service, we may not be able to be the zodiac this time."

……

……

In front of the gate of Dhula Temple, thirty-two monks were chanting scriptures while carrying a huge Sumeru throne back to the temple.

They rang the bronze bells, lowered their eyes and brows, as if everything that happened in Los Angeles tonight had nothing to do with them.

Once they entered the temple, the monks carried the Sumeru throne and the statue of Avalokitesvara to the main hall.

A young monk closed the eight vermilion doors of the main hall, keeping all the wind and snow out.

At this time, Zhang Xia, dressed in a fiery red outfit, walked out from behind the sutra curtain, raised his hand and directed the little monk, "Let them out."

The young monk looked at the elderly host and waved, "Do as you say."

The little monk put his hands together and said, "Yes."

The novice monk came behind the Free-spirited Guanyin and opened the place where things were usually hidden.

When making a Buddha statue, the monks would first leave a hole behind the statue. When it is consecrated, the abbot would put the seven treasures and eight treasures, sacred flowers and plants, scriptures, jewels, grains and metal livers into the hole. This ritual is called "Zangzang". On weekdays, the Tuoluo Temple uses this method to transport gold, silver and money, which is escorted by 32 official monks and is very safe.

At this time, the Prince, She Dengke, Chunhua, Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er were all hiding inside. There were actually five people hidden in that huge statue of Guanyin.

The old abbot said softly, "Miss Zhang Er, please take your friends out of the city through the secret passage inside the temple. From now on, our Tuoluo Temple will no longer owe any karma to the donor Xu Shu. I hope he will practice well, stop getting involved in worldly affairs, and return to the forty-ninth heaven as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)