After faking my death, the male lead’s cousin went crazy - Chapter 4

Seeing that the fiery red sunset had not yet completely sunk, dark clouds suddenly spread across the sky and covered the originally brilliant evening glow completely.

The oppressive sky made Madam Wei’s heart panic in waves. There was still no news from Wang Wu, who had escorted the bride away, and she anxiously paced back and forth inside the room.

To be honest, privately marrying Shang Rongyue off had indeed been a risky move. But at worst, she could simply throw the blame onto the Zheng family and say that the Zheng family had seen how beautiful Fourth Miss was and forcibly taken her away.

As for herself, the legitimate mother, she had done everything she could to preserve her daughter’s reputation and fought to secure her the status of legal wife. This way, the General’s Estate’s dignity could at least be preserved.

In the end, Shang Rongyue provoking the Zheng family was not something she could control. She had merely pushed things along with the current.

But if something happened to Shang Rongyue on the road, it would be difficult to explain.

The current situation was chaotic, and there was no shortage of refugees and bandits on the roads. It was hard to guarantee that nothing would go wrong halfway.

However, Madam Wei had also instructed Wang Wu in advance. If they encountered any accident on the road, then he absolutely had to ensure that Shang Rongyue could no longer speak. If she met danger on the way to her wedding, that could only be considered her bitter fate. But if her body was sullied halfway and she did not even have a proper status, when the General returned, how was Madam Wei supposed to explain it?

Suddenly, rumbling thunder sounded above the clouds.

It was about to rain.

By all rights, he should have returned long ago. Madam Wei once again ordered a servant, “Go. Send someone else to inquire where they are!”

Before the servant could leave the courtyard, her eldest son came running in, panting.

“Mother, something terrible has happened!”

“The Zheng family has come to our door, saying Shang Rongyue never arrived in Furong City. They came along the official road the whole way and didn’t see anyone. Now they’re making a scene in the main hall, demanding that we hand her over!”

A flash of lightning cut across the sky, reflecting on Madam Wei’s deathly pale face.

Inside the military camp, when Lanxi knocked on the door, Gu Wan had just changed out of her bloodstained clothes.

“Young General.” Lanxi cupped her fists in salute. “We’ve already investigated the two sedan bearers who fled. They were villagers from nearby and were only temporarily paid to help escort the bride for one trip. Now their entire families have fled. As for the dead body, we inspected it too, but didn’t find anything special. And the dowry in the carriage was all ordinary jewelry, nothing worth much. On the other hand, a few items on that girl’s body looked extraordinary. She probably picked out all the valuable things when she ran away.”

According to Lanxi’s account, this bride indeed did not seem especially strange.

Gu Wan gave a quiet “Mm” and carefully recalled the entire process of meeting Shang Rongyue, afraid of missing even the slightest suspicious clue.

Her parents had died early. Since childhood, she had been raised by her grandfather in the military camp, growing up amid hardship and training. Although she was a woman, she was the only female general in all of Great Zhou’s history. In this camp, her word was law, and no one dared to question her.

By her side were two guards who had grown up with her since childhood, Lanxi and Ziying, as well as the army physician Su Zhaoyun. Everyone else was male.

At present, the situation was chaotic. Large numbers of troops had rushed to the front lines, while the army led by Gu Wan remained hidden around Shengjing. If the fighting ahead went poorly, the enemy army would definitely head straight for Shengjing. Gu Wan’s existence was Great Zhou’s final line of defense.

Because of this, almost no one in court knew of her current presence. She had remained unknown, silently leading her soldiers and guarding Shengjing’s peace.

It was precisely for this reason that Emperor Ninghui had entrusted the task of investigating the spies to her—so she could catch them off guard and defeat the enemy in one strike.

“Has Su Zhaoyun gone over?”

“Yes. According to the General’s instructions, I’ve already passed the message to Doctor Su. Also, the military flags outside have all been taken down. Everyone in the camp has been informed, except for Third Young Master, who is currently away purchasing supplies.”

Gu Wan gave a satisfied “Mm.” Then she straightened her waist sash and looked at herself in the mirror.

“I’ll go meet her.”

In a room at the furthest corner of the camp, Shang Rongyue lay on the bed.

The wedding clothes she had been wearing had already been removed, and the wound on her chest had already been bandaged.

The moment she moved, tearing pain struck again.

“Don’t move.”

A woman in a pale bluish-dai dress appeared before her. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and in the water basin she held, faint streaks of dark red could be seen.

That was probably her blood.

The woman smiled and said, “There was poison on that hidden weapon. We’ve already cleaned the wound for you. Although it’s nothing too serious, you’ll still need to rest and recover for a while.”

Cleaning the wound—wasn’t that done with a needle? No wonder it hurt so badly.

Sigh. Shang Rongyue silently sighed. Today was truly the unluckiest day of her life.

From being married off to getting injured, she had been hovering on the edge of life and death the entire time.

Look at this. She had lost so much blood, and it still hurt!

But when she opened her mouth, Shang Rongyue’s voice was extremely weak. “Thank you for saving me.”

The woman hurriedly waved her hand. “It wasn’t me who treated your wound. The situation was urgent then, so our chief dealt with the poison for you on the way back. I only re-bandaged it for you.”

At this point, the woman remembered that she had not introduced herself yet.

“My surname is Su. Su Zhaoyun. During this period, the chief told me to take care of you. As long as I have time, I’ll come over to keep you company.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the door was pushed open. It was precisely the person Shang Rongyue had taken the attack for earlier.

“Chief.” Su Zhaoyun dipped slightly in greeting, then carried the water basin and left. Before leaving, she did not forget to close the door.

Gu Wan walked to the bedside. Shang Rongyue originally wanted to sit up symbolically, but when she recalled the burst of pain just now, she quickly gave up on that thought.

“You should stay still.” Gu Wan saw through her intention and simply comforted her. “I only came to check on your injury.”

Shang Rongyue nodded slightly. “Miss Su said you helped treat my wound. Thank you.”

Gu Wan recalled the scene at the time. Originally, she had wanted to bring the girl back and let Su Zhaoyun handle it, since Su Zhaoyun was the real military doctor. But seeing the dark red blood gushing from the young girl’s chest, it was obvious that the hidden weapon had been poisoned.

A hidden weapon, poisoned as well—such careful effort to silence someone. There was clearly a major reason behind it.

“I have yet to ask for the young lady’s name.”

“My surname is Li. Li Yueyue.”

What kind of place was this? This was a bandit’s den. Shang Rongyue naturally would not leave her real name. If her cheap elder brother sent people to find her, would all her efforts not be wasted?

As for the surname Li, it was because Shang Rongyue remembered the conversation between the two coachmen when she had just woken up.

Today, aside from the General’s Estate, another family in the capital holding a wedding was the Li family’s cloth shop.

This way, even if this bandit sent someone to investigate, it would match.

“Oh? The Li family’s cloth shop? But I heard Master Li only has one son.” Gu Wan looked at Shang Rongyue with a meaningful gaze. Clearly, the other party’s explanation did not pass her test.

Shang Rongyue pretended to be sorrowful. “Chief, you may not know this, but my mother was a country woman and died early. My father remarried, so he never spoke of my identity to outsiders.”

At this point, Shang Rongyue sighed, looking heartbroken.

“Today was originally my younger brother’s wedding day. He is my legitimate mother’s own flesh and blood. To give him a respectable wedding, and because our family only runs a small business, they came up with this desperate plan: to use the betrothal gifts from my marriage as the bride-price for my younger brother’s wedding.”

Shang Rongyue swore to the heavens that she was not slandering anyone on purpose. These were all things the two coachmen had said at the tea stall. She had merely replaced the subject with herself.

Opposite her, Gu Wan kept frowning. She neither said she believed it nor said she did not. Instead, she changed the subject.

“No matter what, thank you for saving me today. Don’t worry. I will contact your family as soon as possible and have them take you back. I won’t let you be separated from your blood relatives.”

Hearing that she was going to be sent away, Shang Rongyue quickly shook her head. “Chief, please don’t.”

In her panic, the movement of grabbing Gu Wan’s hand happened to tug at her wound, causing another tearing pain.

Shang Rongyue’s face turned pale, and a layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on her forehead. This reaction was clearly not feigned.

Seeing this, Gu Wan slowly placed Shang Rongyue’s outstretched hand back under the quilt and comforted her. “Don’t be anxious. Speak slowly.”

“Please, please don’t contact my family. If they know I ran away from the wedding, I won’t have a good ending.” Shang Rongyue lowered her lashes, looking pitiful. “You heard what the steward said back then, didn’t you? If you send me back now, it’s no different from pushing me onto a dead end.”

“If that’s the case, then I would rather beg Sister to stab me directly through the heart and give me a quick death. I don’t want to be sent back to that old man over fifty.”

“Oh?” These words once again stirred the layer of caution in Gu Wan’s heart.

“Miss Li, do you know what kind of place this is?” A bandit den. Aren’t you afraid?

Of course Shang Rongyue was afraid. If the Shang family was a tiger’s den, then this place was a wolf’s lair.

She did not want to stay in either the wolf’s lair or the tiger’s den. But there was no other way. With her current body, even moving slightly was difficult, let alone anything else.

By comparison, if she could use her injury to gain a bit of goodwill from this female bandit and stay for a few days, then once Old General Shang returned victorious from war, she could go back to being her rich second-generation young lady.

As for the bandit before her… no one would ever know about this past!

Steadying herself, Shang Rongyue carefully said, “I know Sister is only acting this way because life has forced you to. In times of chaos and turmoil, everyone has their own helpless circumstances. Besides, Sister treated my wound, brought me back, and had someone heal me. Sister isn’t a bad person, right?”

Her words were deeply sincere. If one were not extremely guarded in their heart, who could hear them without being moved in the slightest?

But Gu Wan did not think that way.

A young lady who had lived for years in the inner chambers was actually willing to stay in this bandit den?

How could that be possible? She must have some other purpose.

Perhaps there was such a possibility: the first time she saw Gu Wan, she had already sensed that her identity was unusual. The so-called bandit claim was merely an excuse. Her real goal was to stay behind and investigate more valuable information. She had even gone so far as to take a hidden weapon for Gu Wan because of this.

If so, then this act was truly dedicated.

The information inside the military camp was far more than just a map. It seemed this little girl looked weak, but her “ambition” was truly not small.

However, clearly, she was only the bottom layer. Only by finding the mastermind behind her could the information about Great Zhou’s internal traitor be resolved. Otherwise, disposing of her rashly would do nothing but alert the enemy.

It seemed Gu Wan would have to continue playing the role of a bandit.

She let out a breath and shifted her body back a little.

“No matter what, you were injured because of me. Don’t worry. Before your injury heals, you can stay here peacefully and recover.”

Afterward, Gu Wan left her guard Ziying with her.

“From today onward, Ziying will personally take care of you. If you need anything, just tell her directly.”

“Ziying,” Gu Wan turned back and exchanged a meaningful glance with Ziying before giving a pointed instruction, “Miss Li is the person who saved my life. You must take care of her without leaving her side for even a moment. If there is even the slightest oversight, I will hold you responsible.”