AEOGA CH90

At the Manor Master’s command, the mountain folk on the heights, already poised for action, immediately grabbed their weapons and assembled their ranks.

Squads of young, able-bodied men lined up in formation, their faces etched with expressions of grim resolve, ready to face death.

Ever since the prefect had submitted a memorial branding them rebels and spat harsh threats that the court was sending troops to eradicate them, Night Young Villa had appeared fearless on the surface. In truth, a heavy stone weighed on everyone’s heart, leaving their nerves frayed and jumpy at the slightest stir.

The so-called grain convoy at the foot of the mountain was very likely a disguised army sent to wipe them out.

Since ancient times, anyone branded a “rebel” was rooted out completely, leaving not a single survivor.

How laughable that while they guarded Wolong Mountain to prevent Yelang soldiers from advancing a single step, that traitorous dog of an official had struck first, turning black into white to lodge false accusations before the imperial throne.

To not die at the hands of the Yelang invaders, only to perish at the hands of their own country—it was truly the height of irony.

Some among the mountain folk harbored a sliver of hope that the imperial court might investigate the truth without slaughtering them all, ideally uncovering the prefect’s treacherous schemes and severely punishing the dog official.

Regrettably, that was far too idealistic. Dugu Ye refused to let his men indulge in blind optimism. He had long given strict orders for full armed readiness: should the court send forces to suppress them, they would fight to the bitter end in a desperate battle to the death.

Yet he had also instructed that if anyone wished to leave the mountain before then, he would never stop them, allowing them to seek a way out elsewhere.

Not a single person across the entire mountain left.

Those driven onto Wolong Mountain were all commoners forced into a corner by the local government. The authorities had forcibly demolished civilian homes to build lavish official manors, levying crushing taxes and extortionate requisitions that left countless people homeless and unable to survive, forcing them to seek refuge at Night Young Villa.

Although Dugu Ye possessed a pair of heterochromatic eyes and a widely renowned reputation as an ill-omened star, he was capable of leading them in rebellion. On the mountain, as long as they worked hard, they could be self-sufficient without having to use their blood and sweat to line the pockets of corrupt officials. The villa was like one big family; though they had gathered initially just for a chance to live, staying here over time made everyone consider this place their true home, one they would defend with their lives.

The name “Night Young” was derived from the notion that the long night was drawing to a close; beneath the crushing oppression of darkness, this place was the dawn’s first light.

The man named Dugu Ye brought the light that all living beings yearned for.

They would rather die in the light.

“Brothers, our slogan is—”

“The long night ends, the sky turns bright! Defend the villa to the death!”

“The long night ends, the sky turns bright! Defend the villa to the death!”

“The long night ends, the sky turns bright! Defend the villa to the death!”

Thousands of iron-willed men spoke in unison, their chant ringing out loud, orderly, and immensely tragic.

Inside the house, Dugu Ye listened to the sky-shaking slogan outside without a word.

The Second-in-Command said heavily: “The brothers outside are boosting morale. Just like them, I will defend the villa to the death.”

Dugu Ye turned his head: “The one captured a few days ago—is he still locked in the woodshed?”

The Second-in-Command clicked his tongue: “Still there. Hasn’t eaten or drunk for days. We extracted the poison between his teeth, but he still tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide, so we had to dislocate his jaw… The court’s method of training deadsworn guards is truly brutal and inhumane.”

Dugu Ye pondered for a moment: “Go notify the brothers not to act rashly for now.”

The Second-in-Command froze, wanting to say it might be too late for that—they’d probably charge down the mountain right after finishing their chants.

But Dugu Ye had already turned around, striding toward the woodshed.

In the corner of the woodshed sat a young man in black with his hands bound behind his back, his head drooping as if on his last breath.

Dugu Ye frowned, grabbing his chin to tilt his head up before pouring some water down his throat.

Only then did the youth react, slowly opening his eyes and raising his head to reveal a face pale from years of hiding from the light.

Dugu Ye asked in a deep voice: “The court’s grain convoy at the foot of the mountain—is it court troops in disguise sent to eliminate us?”

Youth: “…”

Only then did Dugu Ye remember the man’s jaw was dislocated. He raised his hand and popped it back into place.

The youth immediately tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide again.

Dugu Ye, quick of hand and sharp of eye, thrust two fingers between the man’s lips and tongue, his brow furrowing deeper at the ruthless force clamping down on his fingers.

He truly wanted to die.

“As expected of the court’s running dog, raised to be loyal enough,” Dugu Ye turned the man’s chin, narrowing his eyes. “Seeking death over a simple question—are you feeling guilty and confirming it?”

The Shadow Guard thought to himself, someone like Chief Eunuch Yun was a true court hound; at most, he himself was merely a shadow.

The youth in black was precisely the Shadow Guard dispatched on the mission.

Of the twenty imperial shadow guards, each was one in ten thousand; naturally, they wouldn’t all stay in Yujing as bodyguards, which would be a massive waste of talent.

Most of the time, they were dispatched on various missions, acting as secret agents across nations and territories, doubling as assassins when necessary.

This time, the Shadow Guard had been sent to the Northern Frontier by Xie Chongjin to investigate Wolong City’s situation, as well as intelligence regarding Night Young Villa and Dugu Ye.

The Yelang soldiers crossing the border, the Wolong Prefect’s conduct, the border commoners’ suffering, and Night Young Villa’s righteous deeds had all been truthfully recorded by the Shadow Guard and sent back to Yujing.

It was just that while he successfully deceived the Yelang soldiers and the Wolong government, he stumbled while investigating Night Young Villa, his tracks discovered and captured by Dugu Ye.

He hadn’t expected Dugu Ye’s martial arts to be so high and his senses so sharp. As the Shadow Guard Commander, his strength was not to be underestimated, but days of continuous travel inevitably left him drained. Once captured, he immediately sought death.

Shadow Guard Regulation Article Three: If captured during a mission, commit suicide immediately and reveal no information regarding the Master.

The shadow guards had been brainwashed from childhood, these rules etched into their very bones. Although His Majesty had recently spoken to them about human rights, it had yielded little effect. Encountering such a situation, the Shadow Guard’s first instinct was still heroic self-sacrifice.

At least he had sent the letter back before dying, fulfilling the task assigned by His Majesty, which meant he had not failed his mission.

Dugu Ye had reacted swiftly, directly dislocating his jaw to prevent suicide, intending to interrogate him about his purpose and master.

Naturally, the Shadow Guard would say nothing.

Even though His Majesty’s orders did not harm Night Young Villa’s interests, and even though His Majesty likely wouldn’t move against Night Young Villa after receiving the truth, meaning telling the truth wouldn’t hurt, a shadow guard could mention nothing concerning His Majesty.

Shadow guards were stubborn blockheads who clung to rigid rules, incapable of flexibility.

With him remaining so silent, Dugu Ye grew even more convinced that his master harbored ulterior, unspeakable motives. To train such loyal deadsworn guards, his master was either from a prominent clan or served the imperial court. Combined with what that dog official had said about the court coming to eliminate them, Dugu Ye concluded this was a scout sent in advance by the court to gauge Night Young Villa’s troop strength before the army marched over.

Dugu Ye hadn’t killed him right away, ordering him locked in the woodshed for a few days of torment to pry his mouth open.

Hearing this, the Shadow Guard had prepared himself to endure severe torture. Shadow guards were trained to endure interrogation; no matter how brutal the cruelty, they would keep their lips sealed.

He hadn’t expected Night Young Villa’s form of torment to be bringing him cold steamed buns every day.

Dugu Ye believed that serving only cold buns without meat was a truly cruel form of torture.

The Shadow Guard felt speechlessly exasperated. On missions, shadow guards slept in the open and ate plenty of hard flatbread and cold buns—what kind of torture was this? It was only over the past year, when Her Majesty the Empress improved their meals to flatbread with meat and eggs, that going from luxury to frugality proved difficult, making him somewhat unaccustomed…

Preferring to starve than accept charity, the Shadow Guard hadn’t consumed a bite of food or water over these past few days.

Just as he thought he would die of dehydration, the main force arrived at the foot of the mountain, and Dugu Ye finally remembered he still held a captive, coming back to probe for information.

To know oneself and one’s enemy was to win a hundred battles. Knowing how many people the court had sent was crucial.

“If you still won’t speak, I’ll cut out your tongue so you can never speak again,” Dugu Ye warned. “Speak—are those people down the mountain court troops or not?”

The Shadow Guard finally spoke, saying: “I don’t know.”

He truly didn’t know. He was merely sent to gather intelligence; as for what decision His Majesty would make, how could he possibly know?

Dugu Ye gnashed his teeth: “Truly a good dog. You’ve been locked here for so many days without seeing your master care about your life or death, yet you’d throw away your life for him.”

The Shadow Guard shouldn’t have spoken further, but hearing this, his eyes flickered, and he spoke with a touch of personal emotion: “My Master is worthy of my life’s allegiance.”

Perhaps initially, the existence of the Shadow Guard unit was indeed as deadsworn guards trained by the royal family—machines without thoughts or feelings, only selling their lives.

Throughout history, it had always been so.

Yet ever since Her Majesty the Empress shared watermelon with them in the scorching summer heat, noticed and improved their meals, and specially formulated stomach medicine for them to protect bodies burdened with occupational illnesses from years of travel…

Ever since His Majesty said “take care” every time he assigned a task, abolished the original twelve-double-hour work system to give them free time to live their own lives, and allowed them to pick their own names for daily life rather than possessing mere code names…

They became worthy of their lives.

They had thoughts, and they had feelings.

Even after possessing these, they remained willingly devoted.

If Dugu Ye was the light for the commoners of Wolong City, His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress were a ray of light shining upon them, allowing shadows like them to take human form.

Dugu Ye remained noncommittal.

The initial upbringing a person received had an indelible influence on their entire life. Dugu Ye had spent his childhood in the mountain forests with wild beasts, receiving countless malicious glances as a youth due to his heterochromatic eyes; yet because the Dugu Ye hunter who taught him was an upright and kind person, he raised Dugu Ye into one as well, enabling him to become a light guiding others rather than joining the darkness.

Dugu Ye felt the Shadow Guard was more unfortunate than him, brainwashed from childhood—quite pitiable.

The Shadow Guard didn’t understand why Dugu Ye looked at him with sympathetic eyes; his words had been entirely from the bottom of his heart.

Before the two could exchange another word, the Second-in-Command suddenly ran in hurriedly, shouting: “Villa Master! Villa Master! Hurry to the front hall, guests are waiting for you!”

Dugu Ye said displeasedly: “What time is it now? Still in the mood to entertain guests?”

With a great enemy at the gates, even the Heavenly King had to stand aside.

“Ah, no!” The Second-in-Command was beaming, showing none of his earlier gloom. “It’s the grain convoy at the foot of the mountain. They really are imperial envoys from the court, but they didn’t come to suppress bandits—they came to discuss cooperation with us! Uh, they also asked us for a person, probably him.”

The Second-in-Command pointed at the Shadow Guard.

The Shadow Guard’s dark eyes shifted.

His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress had not forgotten him; they truly cared about the life and death of a single shadow guard.

“Didn’t I tell you guys not to act rashly? How did you end up inviting them up the mountain?” Dugu Ye was infuriated by his unreliable subordinates. “Did I tell you to invite them as guests? Think about it—if this is the court’s strategy of playing hard to get, you’re inviting wolves into the house!”

“Ah…” The Second-in-Command was uneducated and thought simply; hearing this, he also grew hesitant. “But only two of them came up the mountain while the rest are waiting at the foot. We naturally didn’t dare let the main force up. Daring to come up alone to negotiate shows sincerity, right? And what they said made a lot of sense…”

In truth, the situation at the time had gone like this.

A group of mountain folk, holding a resolution to face death, had marched down the mountain and surrounded the convoy, every single one brandishing real weapons.

Facing a crowd with real blades and spears, the soldiers almost wanted to draw their swords and cry out to protect the Emperor, but remembering His Majesty’s prior instructions, they held back.

When the enemy didn’t move, neither did they, leaving both sides staring blankly at each other until the mountain folk felt embarrassed.

Seeing no reaction for a long time, the mountain folk were bewildered, wondering if they had misjudged—was the other party really just a grain convoy, not a army disguised to eradicate them?

Whatever, a grain convoy was to be robbed all the same. If the military grain was sent to Wolong City anyway, that dog official would just hand it over to those Yelang bastards, leaving Changli’s soldiers with nothing to eat; they might as well steal it and send it to Changli’s army camp instead.

Just as the mountain folk put on fierce, menacing expressions to commit robbery once more, the curtain of a carriage heavily guarded by the convoy was suddenly lifted.

The hand lifting the curtain was exceptionally beautiful.

The face revealed beneath that curtain was even more beautiful.

Having little education and unable to read, they didn’t know how to describe such beauty for a moment, only feeling that an immortal descending to the mortal realm would be nothing more than this. Seeing such peerless beauty, each of them stood dumbfounded, their limbs turning soft to the point of almost dropping their weapons and surrendering on the spot.

A honeypot trap—it had to be a honeypot trap.

Barely maintaining his dignity, the Second-in-Command tried his best to look fierce, though his voice unconsciously softened immensely: “R-Robbery! This mountain was opened by me, this tree was planted by me! If you want to pass through, leave your toll!”

They didn’t usually rob passersby, so the lines had been memorized on the spot, making their delivery stilted and clumsy.

And so, the beauty smiled, speaking gently: “We are not passing through. We merely wish to meet your Villa Master to discuss a matter. Might we come up the mountain to request a cup of tea?”

The moment the beauty spoke, the mountain folk were utterly entranced.

Drink! Give him all he wants to drink! The entire tea mountain they grew could be moved up for him to drink!

The Second-in-Command resisted with his last bit of strength: “You… You may come up the mountain, but these people cannot…”

No matter how tempting the beauty was, he couldn’t bring so many troops up the mountain and bring danger to the villa.

The white-robed beauty said softly again: “Just my husband and I will ascend the mountain, while the rest rest at the foot.”

The Second-in-Command said dazedly: “…Alright.” Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and invite him up.

Who could bear to reject a gentle beauty who was so good-looking and spoke so pleasantly?

In any case, he was a mortal man, and he couldn’t bear to.

It was just a pity that the beauty already belonged to someone.

Not until the white-robed beauty stepped out of the carriage alongside another noble, imposing young man in black did they feel it was no longer a pity.

They had always believed no man in the world was better-looking than their Villa Master, yet today they had seen two at once.

And they were a pair.

Thus, Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao had traveled up the mountain completely unimpeded.

For plot consorts who also possessed narrative fortune, they might need to exert effort, relying on capability, intelligence, and personal charm to conquer them.

For these ordinary people, they carried a protagonist halo to some extent, where relying on their faces alone granted direct access.

The Second-in-Command led the two into the front hall, attentively pouring tea while asking: “May I ask what business brings you two to our Villa Master? So I may report to him.”

Xie Chongjin said: “To ask your villa for a person.”

The Second-in-Command immediately recalled the one in the woodshed, playing dumb: “Our villa is full of people everywhere; I wonder which one you two are looking for?”

Lu Xuechao smiled: “We two belong to the imperial court, and we won’t hide it. The Wolong Prefect previously reported that rebels were causing trouble around Wolong Mountain, asking for His Majesty’s instructions. His Majesty naturally would not listen to his one-sided story; sensing something amiss, he sent people to Wolong City to investigate, and indeed found the Wolong Prefect guilty of numerous crimes—even colluding with Yelang, embezzling military grain, and deceiving those above while oppressing those below, whereas Night Young Villa’s actions are truly chivalrous and deserving of reward. His Majesty was furious and dispatched us to handle the prefect, disguising ourselves as a grain convoy out of concern for alerting the enemy.”

“It’s just that upon reaching Wolong City, we failed to make contact with the secret agent sent earlier, so we thought to come ask—perhaps there has been a misunderstanding.”

Cold sweat nearly dripped down the Second-in-Command’s forehead.

Thank goodness they hadn’t killed the man, nor left him missing an arm or a leg.

What a massive misunderstanding.

That was actually a good person who proved their Night Young Villa’s innocence, yet they had captured him as a spy.

However, one thing was still worth celebrating.

His Majesty knew they were falsely accused, the dog official’s evil deeds were already known to His Majesty, and His Majesty had ordered his punishment!

This was truly invigorating news.

Before going up the mountain, they had all been law-abiding citizens; no commoner didn’t love their own country or respect their ruler. If life hadn’t become completely unlivable, they wouldn’t have detested the government, felt disappointed by the turning-a-blind-eye court, or harbored dissatisfaction toward the Emperor.

Now, learning that His Majesty didn’t disbelieve or ignore his people, but was merely deceived by local officials, and that His Majesty was now seeking justice for them without abandoning them, most of that dissatisfaction dissolved.

Ultimately, commoners only wanted to live a peaceful life; they didn’t harbor many thoughts of rebellion.

If not to protect their own lives and those of their families and friends, no one wanted to struggle against the court.

Now that they learned the court had no intention of eliminating them, their fighting spirit naturally vanished.

“A misunderstanding, it’s all a misunderstanding,” the Second-in-Command laughed awkwardly. “Please wait here; I’ll notify the Villa Master.”

“That’s how things went,” the Second-in-Command recounted the entire process to Dugu Ye.

Dugu Ye didn’t hear any suspicious points; the biggest suspicious point was…

He looked at the Shadow Guard: “Since you weren’t here to harm us, why did you try to commit suicide?”

Shadow Guard: “…”

A captured shadow guard was no longer a qualified shadow, possessing no value to stay alive. This was the truth instilled in him since childhood.

Yet for such a worthless life, His Majesty had personally come to retrieve him.

Dugu Ye wasn’t as easily fooled as the Second-in-Command, remaining doubtful of the Second-in-Command’s retelling.

The local government’s actions and the court’s long-term neglect had made him lose trust in the imperial court.

Usually ignoring them, yet suddenly remembering them now?

Dugu Ye prepared a slew of questioning words, yet his aggressive momentum vanished into thin air the moment he stormed into the front hall.

A mountain resident looked at the white-robed beauty elegantly sipping tea and asked warmly: “How do you like our villa’s tea leaves?”

Another resident added considerately: “Are you hungry? I’ll have the kitchen make some pastries.”

Yet another resident slapped his forehead, hurriedly saying: “How can we serve old tea to guests? Quick, go brew a fresh pot!”

Lu Xuechao covered his lips: “No need to trouble yourselves, thank you.”

Xie Chongjin watched silently.

For a figure like Qingshu, anyone who saw him would want to care for and protect him, offering him the very best.

If even strangers felt this way, how much more so for himself?

Dugu Ye remained expressionless, thinking to himself, Well done. In less than half a day, he hadn’t realized the Villa Master on the mountain had been replaced.

When he turned government soldiers, he had to waste breath or use martial force to compel them.

Lu Xuechao did nothing at all—just sitting there, the whole world favored him.