Volume 1: Zhu Xian Town Crisis Chapter 74: Return to Chu State

  "Actually, General Yue, have you ever thought of not being a general of the Song Dynasty? I think it's better for you to resign and return to your hometown, avoid these court struggles, just like my father, doing business as a deputy official is not bad either!" Li Yu Rong suggested with a flirtatious expression, her eyes sparkling.

  Yue Yun sighed and said, "I also want that. I don't seek high power or position, just a peaceful life is enough. But I'm afraid Father won't agree. He's determined to recover the Central Plains and welcome back the two emperors. But Guan Shi and Qin Hui are eager for peace talks. It's likely that his lofty ambitions will come to nothing in the end!"

  Yue Yun shook his head, he knew that Yue Fei's temper was very stubborn and it would be difficult to persuade him on this matter.

  Li Yurou had already vaguely guessed some of the situation after hearing about it, and she also knew that this political struggle was something she couldn't easily get involved in.

  At this time, a determined color flashed in her beautiful eyes, and she said seriously: "Young Master Yue, if things can't be retrieved, you might as well escape. I can send ships to take you and your family away, to Nanyang, Japan or Korea."

  Yue Yun was deeply moved and couldn't help but grab Li Yu Rong's soft hands, saying: "Miss Li, thank you so much!"

  Li Yurou's hands were grasped tightly by him, and her face flushed with a layer of redness. She said shyly: "Young Master Yue, will you come to Lin'an in the future?"

  Yue Yun listened and sighed: "This is unknown, like us who are generals outside, unless we are summoned by the officials or transferred, we cannot return to the capital city without permission."

  "If you have time to come to Lin'an in the future, be sure to visit me!" Li Yurou said with a bowed head and a low voice.

  "Alright! I can promise you that. If I have a chance to go to Lin'an, I will definitely come see you!" Yu Yun nodded reluctantly and agreed.

  However, in his heart, he was secretly worried that if he went to Lin'an, he would probably be caught and that would be a terrible thing.

  That night, Yue Yun and Li Yu Rong chatted on the deck of the fast boat until very late before going to sleep. They both knew that after leaving Chuzhou, it would be unknown when they could meet again.

  Yue Yun actually also saw the affection of Li Yu Rong towards himself, but he only had to suppress this affection in his heart. He knew that he already had a wife named Gong Yue Lian, and if she were to marry him, she would have to be content with being a concubine, which was very unfair to her. Moreover, he didn't know how much further his life could go, perhaps one or two months later, Emperor Gaozong of Song would summon Yue Fei to Lin'an as the Deputy Envoy of the Imperial Secretariat, and then the wheels of history would continue to move forward along its original trajectory, crushing him and Yue Fei into powder once again.

  The next morning, the fast boat docked ashore, and Song Zhong led over a dozen pirates to escort Yue Yun and Li Yu back to Chu State. Originally, Yue Yun and Li Yu wanted Song Zhong and his men to return from there. However, Song Zhong insisted that Yang Yue was worried about their safety and had to protect them well.

  The two of them started to feel a bit strange, but later Li Yurou thought carefully and suddenly understood that she had only verbally agreed to give Yang Yue money and food. Yang Yue must have some doubts about her, and Song Zhong's protection of her safety was probably just a secondary task, while monitoring her fulfillment of the promise was the main task.

  After understanding, Li Yu Rong couldn't help but feel both angry and amused, so she instructed Song Zhong to go to her residence to discuss the arrangements for transporting grain and supplies. And Yue Yun had no choice but to bid a reluctant farewell to Li Yu Rong and head towards the Han Mansion...

  "Marshal! General Yue has returned!" a guard rushed into Han Shizhong's study to report.

  "What? You say that Yue Xiang has returned?" Han Shizhong, who was originally sitting upright, stood up in surprise and excitement, not even noticing the ink splashing onto his hand from the brush he held.

  "Uncle Han, I'm back!" At this time, a handsome young man walked in from outside the door. It was Yue Yun, who had been on Han Shizhong's mind for the past two days, unable to eat or sleep.

  "Yue Xian nephew, where have you been running for the past three days?" Han Shizhong looked at Yue Yun's sunny face and couldn't help but feel delighted.

  Three days ago, after Liu Mingcheng's 50th birthday banquet ended, Niu Tong and Guan Ling immediately found Han Yanzhi and said that Yue Yun was gone.

  Han Yanzhi heard that the two of them had met a young woman and then fainted, and when they woke up, Yue Yun was nowhere to be found.

  At first, he also said that his brother-in-law had an affair and ran away to a certain place to live a happy life, and didn't take it seriously. He comforted the two of them with a few words and let them go back to rest first.

  By the next morning, Yue Yun still hadn't appeared. Han Yanzhi was getting anxious. At this time, Li Yu's attendant also came to the government office to report that Li Yu had lost her trace after attending the banquet.

  This Li Yu Rong is the beloved daughter of Jiangnan's great merchant Li Yuan Shan, extremely rich in business acumen, and many of Li Yuan Shan's decisions were made under her planning. Moreover, the Li family currently supplies 20% of the military rations for the Han family army. Li Yu Rong came to negotiate with Han Shi Zhong about next year's military ration supply. Such an important figure also went missing at the same time, which cannot help but draw attention.

  Han Shizhong and Liu Mingcheng immediately interrogated the servants of the Liu family after learning about this. Finally, a clue was obtained: when the banquet was about to end, a flower dan from the Guo family's troupe took two temporarily hired porters, carrying two large trunks out from the side door. At that time, the flower dan said he was going to get clothes, but never came back after leaving.

  According to the head of Guo's family, he had three temporarily hired servants who left without notice and stole some of his oil paints, costumes and two large trunks. He was about to report it to the authorities.

  Han Shizhong and Liu Mingcheng were both astute men, and by this time, couldn't they see a little clue? They immediately launched a massive search within the city, but still couldn't find the three people. The gate guards and the canal dock guards all said that there were too many people coming and going in the past two days. They didn't notice anyone suspicious at all.

  Han Shizhong was in trouble, Li Yujiao was lost, but she was just a merchant's daughter, the Li family would send someone else to negotiate with him. But losing Yue Yun was a big deal. How could he explain this to his old friend Yue Fei?

  For two days he has been running around for this matter, extremely anxious. The joy of the victory in the Battle of Chuzhou was swept away, and his whole person became thinner by a few points.

  Yue Yun saw the haggard face of Han Shizhong and couldn't help but feel some emotion. Unfortunately, his disappearance involved too many people and things, so he didn't dare to tell Han Shizhong.

  He had to fabricate a story about seeing three men in black knocking Li Yu Rong unconscious and putting her into a box, so he bravely stepped forward, attempting to heroically rescue the beauty, but unexpectedly these three men in black were too formidable and knocked him out as well.

  He continued, when he woke up, he found himself on a small boat, heading downstream along the canal. Then, eavesdropping on the kidnappers' conversation, he learned that they planned to kidnap Li Yu Rong and extort ransom from the Li family. Seeing that he was wearing brocade clothes, they thought he was also a young master of a wealthy family, so they kidnapped him together.

  Then, Yue Yun claimed that he had a small knife tied to his calf. Taking advantage of the bandits' drowsiness at night, he took out the dagger and cut off the ropes binding him and Li Yu Rong. Afraid of not being able to defeat the bandits, and considering Li Yu Rong didn't know martial arts, they didn't go forward to fight them. Instead, both jumped into the canal and swam downstream under the cover of night. After walking for more than a day, they finally returned to Chu Zhou today.

  This lie was also fabricated by him and Li Yurou on the road, so that when the time came, the two would not tell different lies and reveal their flaws.

  Han Shizhong listened and felt deeply moved, repeatedly praising Yue Yun for his good luck.

  Before long, Han Yanzhi, Niu Tong, Guan Ling and others also learned that Yue Yun was back, and they all rushed over immediately. The brothers met each other, naturally with mixed feelings of surprise and joy, almost to the point of embracing and crying bitterly.

  Yue Yun also happened to bring it up at this time, saying that he had a good impression of Li Yu Rong and hoped that Han Shizhong would take care of her when considering the military rations quota for next year. In his opinion, if he could help Li Yu Rong a bit, he would try his best to do so.

  However, he did not think that Han Shizhong would have a very serious expression upon hearing this.

  He sank into thought for a moment, then said to Han Yanzhong, Guan Ling and Niu Tong: "Yanzi, Niuxian, Guanxian, you three go out first. I want to talk to Yue Xian about something private!"