Perfect Encounter - Chapter 2.1
PROOFREAD BY AFREANA
Chapter 2.1
The show must go on, otherwise, it will be exposed. An Ruochen did not forget An Ping and the servants were still standing by.
An Ruochen was very determined and released the man’s hand with a shy face. She said in a delicate voice: “Oh, I forgot my manners in a moment of excitement. Please excuse me, General.”
The first step. Become a crazy person and no one will pay attention to her, then she can just smoothly says goodbye.
But then two soldiers arrived, as if they had just come to their senses, blocked An Ruochen, and said, “Who is this? How dare you disturb General Long?”
So, it was General Long!
An Ruochen breathed a sigh of relief and kneeled: “I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have disturbed the General. Please spare my life.”
The second step. If someone stops her, quickly admit to the crime.
Once An Ping and the others saw An Ruochen kneeling, shaking, and begging for mercy, they were also scared and kneeled. “I am An Ping, the steward of the An family in Zhonglan City. She is my eldest young miss. She is reckless and rude. Please forgive her, General.”
Everyone knows the fame of General Long. His arrival here is a major event in the county. These days, the whole city is talking about this matter. The An House has also heard about it. The master, An Zhifu, has prepared and discussed it with various powerful and wealthy merchants in the city many times. They wanted to curry favor and make arrangements for hosting banquets and sending gifts.
But according to the information given by the county government, General Long should arrive tomorrow. How come he is here today?
An Ping got nervous. Now that the young miss has bumped into the general, he hoped it would not cause any trouble. The General is right in front of them. They have a chance to welcome him earlier than other families. An Ping took out his usual tactics of being a good host and said he heard of the general’s reputation. Not only the young miss, but they all admire the General. The master has prepared a gift and set up a banquet in his honor. If the General can take the time to honor them with his presence, the An House will certainly delighted. The General has a difficult journey and will have to work for the safety of the border in the future. The Master is ready to help the General along with the whole family. The meeting today was a coincidence. An Ping hoped the General would be generous and not blame them.
An Ruochen was standing at the side, her head bowed and eyes downcast, acting like a good girl. Following each sentence from An Ping, she would respond with “hmm”, “very much“ and so on.
The third step. Do not stand out, stand aside. Wait and see what happens.
After An Ping spent half a day talking, the Great General Long spoke up. He said to the guards, “Never mind, let them go.”
Very good, very good, An Ruochen bowed her body and hid the joy on her face.
The fourth step. If you can go, you should go, do not stay.
An Ping was busy kowtowing, saying thanks and farewell. An Ruochen restrained her gaze, never looking at her bag, but fortunately for her, no one called her to take it. An Ping did not seem to notice. An Ruochen lowered her head, eyes concentrating on walking.
On the bottom of the hill, General Long beckoned a soldier: “Change into civilian clothes, follow and see where they go.”
The soldier followed the order and left.
General Long looked at their back and pondered.
The land beneath his feet was the land of Pingnan County, and after three to five miles was Zhonglan City.
Pingnan County was a border county of the Xiao Kingdom, adjacent to the South Qin Kingdom, and Zhonglan City was the county town of Pingnan County.
The South Qin Kingdom and the Xiao Kingdom had fought a war over resources for 20 years, after which the two countries negotiated a peace agreement and lived in peace for over ten years. But this year, the South Qin Kingdom side started to cause some trouble.
The South Qin Kingdom bandits have been crossing the border, killing Xiao Kingdom villagers, robbing properties and women. The Pingnan County troops were sent to bring order to the chaos, but the situation was not optimistic. The South Qin Kingdom denied they had anything to do with this matter and did not admit to hosting the bandits. On the contrary, they claimed the bandits were originally from the Xiao Kingdom and had only fled to the territory of the South Qin Kingdom. Having said this, the South Qin Kingdom vowed to investigate thoroughly to exterminate these bandits and expel them back to the Xiao Kingdom.
After some time, the South Qin Kingdom protested to the Xiao Kingdom about the customs fees and the agreement on the exchange of special goods between the two countries, changing their previous amicable attitude and demanding harsh conditions.
In addition, they were making friends with neighboring countries. Their attitude could be describe as ambiguous, especially their sudden alliance with the East Ling Country, another neighboring country of the Xiao Kingdom. During this period, the Xiao Kingdom received reports from spies that South Qin was sending more troops to the border area. The Xiao Kingdom intervened and demanded a statement on this matter. The South Qin Kingdom claimed it was to fight the bandits and warned the Xiao Kingdom not to use bandits as a disguise to infringe on the South Qin Kingdom’s border interests.
All these conditions implied dangerous intentions and raised the alarm bells of the Xiao Emperor and the ministers.
Thus, the great protector general, Long Teng, received the imperial order to led his troops to Pingnan County and guard the Qin-Xiao border.
Long Teng’s grandfather, Long Yi, was the founding general who had fought for the late emperor. His father, Long Sheng, was the mighty General Long and had a distinguished war record. The Long family army was known to all the courts and the world. Unfortunately, Long Yi and Long Sheng had both died in battle. Mrs. Long also died soon after leaving behind the three Long brothers. Long Teng, the eldest son, inherited his father’s work and conquered the north and south. The emperor felt the Long family had the merit of protecting the country and bestowed him with the title of the Great Protector General. He reached a second rank the same as with his father, Long Sheng. This kind of generous treatment and reward provoked political enemies, but Long Teng’s leadership of the Long family army was outstanding. Although the political enemies were not convinced, they could do no harm.
Long Teng was the head of the three brothers of the Long family. When people talked about him, they all referred to him as Master Long and General Long. Even fellow officers called him Big Long. He was rarely called directly by his name.
To lead the army into Pingnan County, Big Long has done a lot of preparation beforehand. According to his experience, these moves of the South Qin were tricky.
The Xiao Kingdom had abundant iron ore resources. Iron was not only necessary for farming and daily use but was also utilized for military purposes. Thus, neighboring countries have been eyeing these resources. To keep the peace, the Xiao Kingdom had agreed to limit the trade, supplying only farming tools to the neighboring countries to help their agricultural growth and restricting the expansion of their military equipment. Over the years, no matter what these countries had in their stomachs, they have all acted by the agreement, and no major disputes have arisen. Now, the South Qin Kingdom suddenly protested against the iron ore trade limit and allied with the East Ling Kingdom. This intention is, of course, intriguing.
Big Long has sent his subordinates to infiltrate the South Qin in disguise and contact the spies that the Xiao Kingdom had previously placed in the South Qin Kingdom in order to find out its military situation. He has also sent people to Pingnan County to watch the movements within the county before the Long family army would enter the city and to look for any South Qin Kingdom spies. The South Qin Kingdom was acting aggressively, and if they intended to engage in war, they naturally had to prepared.
Big Long led the generals and soldiers to ride day and night, and when they approached the city barracks, he let the troops take a break. He stood under a hill, thinking about the arrangement of military affairs. Two days ago, he received an anonymous report at a post station. The messenger left a letter written ‘for General Long Teng himself’. The postmaster was surprised that a letter has appeared out of nowhere but did not dare to open it. He waited for General Long Teng to arrive and handed the letter to him.
The letter contained seven words – there were spies in Zhonglan City.
Without any name, very mysterious. Big Long read the letter carefully, thinking that this is interesting. It says there is a spy, but not who it is. What does this mean? The key to infiltration is to be quiet and not attract attention.
He took another look at the handwriting of the letter, which was written using powerful strokes, but not without some beauty. Like a woman’s handwriting or deliberately disguised so.
Big Long waited for half a day at the post station but did not see any unusual movements. He asked several soldiers to pay attention, but nobody left a letter or tried to approach him at Zhonglan City.
Until just now, when a girl rolled down the slope.
Her breathing was heavy. She couldn’t do martial arts and was full of nonsense and bullshit. He was pretty sure she didn’t know him at all. She fluently praised his battle deeds, all of which were insignificant, while her eyes stayed cautious and not even a half-hearted admiration could be found in them. The lie is so obvious. Couldn’t her family’s steward hear it?
Big Long looked down at the bag the girl deliberately left behind. He ordered the guards to pick it up and put it away. He would look at it properly later.
That girl only lacked the word “suspicious” engraved on her forehead.
An Ruochen, who sneaked out of the residence and bumped into the nobleman, was punished after returning to the residence.
Her father, An Zhifu, ordered her to kneel, then asked her about the incident, pointing at her nose and scolding her: “You are a girl. You have no face, no skin, no shame. How dare you sneak out of the city and bump into the general? Where are your manners and shame? You have disgraced our An family!”
An Ruochen covered her face regretfully and cried: “Daughter was wrong, daughter was confused for a moment.”
So, the An family still has this thing called etiquette and shame? Hehe.
An Ruochen cried sincerely and raised her head with tears in her eyes: “ Daughter wouldn’t dare to do this again. Please, father, punish me.”
When you have green hills, you are not afraid of lacking firewood to burn. She can endure.
Before An Zhifu could say anything, An Ruochen cut in again and said: “But today I caught up with him by chance, I remembered the wrong date, but coincidentally I met him. Uncle Ping had the opportunity to talk with the general for a while. The general had a big heart and did not blame me, but remembered that our An family was sincere to him. Although I am guilty, I have not spoiled Father’s big event.”
An Zhifu choked. This is true. Although he and his friends of several noble merchants discussed how to please General Long, they all understood in their hearts that the General is carrying the imperial order and is stationed in the military camp area beyond their access. Pingnan County business relations have always been good and mutually supportive. Others are looking for ways to curry favor. It would be bad if he fell behind and the benefits got grabbed by others. These days, An Zhifu was worrying about how to meet General Long after he enters the city, but unexpectedly his daughter has already done it by mistake.
An Zhifu was silent for a while. He waved his hand and was about to let his daughter go back to her room to reflect on her mistake. He was annoyed to see her. At this time, the second wife, Mrs. Tan, spoke: “ Whether the result is bad or not is still unknown. Although General Long didn’t blame us but we also don’t know what he thought of our family. If he thinks our family is as rude and shameless as the eldest girl, and he despises us for it or thinks the eldest girl has deliberately rushed at him because of the master’s support and gets angry, what can we do? The master has arranged everything properly. If it is ruined, that would be very unfair. This is only the matter of General Long, then how about Master Qian? If the eldest girl offended the General, Master Qian would also be dragged in. Even if the General does not blame us, when Master Qian learns that the eldest girl did such a shameless thing, becomes angry and breaks the marriage, not wanting her anymore, then how can the jade store still be opened? It is more than a single thing. The girl is shameless, but has she ever thought for the master? Running away from home to see a man and offending the general. What will happen if the word of it gets out? Who would still want to befriend the master? The master would lose both face and money. Can she afford the consequences?”
The more An Zhifu listened, the angrier he became and shouted, “Bring the family punishment board!”
An Ruochen cried, “Second Mother is right, I was too stupid, I was wrong.”
She admitted her mistake quickly. Mrs. Tan was resentful, but she could not say anything else. An Zhifu’s anger has been stirred up and the family punishment board has been brought. Mrs. Tan watched, pursed her lips, and smiled.
An Zhifu took the family’s punishment board. An Ruochen quietly crouched on the ground, sobbing and waiting to be hit. An Zhifu’s anger was no longer strong. He waved his hand and dropped the board. An Ruochen’s body jerked with a pained face and she screamed. An Zhifu felt a lot of his anger dissipating. After four strikes, he thought it was enough.
“If you do it again, you’ll have a good time!” He scolded, glaring at An Ruochen, “Go back to your room. Without my permission, do not set foot outside the residence again.”
An Ruochen promised to obey, stood up with difficulty with the maid’s help and moved back to her room one step at a time. She had to pretend to be in pain. She walked slowly. When she left the hall, she heard An Zhifu shouting to everyone: “No one is allowed to say anything about what happened today.”An Ruochen was relieved. She knew her father and An Ping had been suspicious about her escape, but she was empty-handed, not like she was prepared beforehand, and the excuse of giving away her cloak also made sense. She had really gone to the temple to ask for blessings, and the witnesses she could pull out were no fewer than ten. Towards her marriage with Master Qian, she has shown good attitude, so she felt she has concealed it quite well.
In short, she was only guilty of losing her mind and wanting to see a hero for barely reasonable reasons. But she couldn’t take it lightly. She still had to do something more to dispel her father’s and An Ping’s doubts. She was always a useless thing in their eyes anyway, and she could cope with it.
She still has a chance. She still has to escape.