As Mian Tang waited, she sensed something was amiss with the timing. She sent someone ahead to scout, but halfway there, they encountered one of Fan Hu’s guards returning on horseback, wounded and in a disheveled state.
Mian Tang’s heart tightened. She concealed herself in the bushes, watching as the guard rode up and dismounted, pacing anxiously around the pavilion.
After carefully checking that no pursuers were in sight, Mian Tang emerged from the bushes near the Wind and Rain Pavilion to meet him.
“What happened? Did Fan Hu fail to reach the Empress Dowager and the others?” she asked.
Wiping sweat from his brow with his sleeve, the guard replied urgently, “We reached them! The Empress Dowager recognized Commander Fan as one of the Prince’s trusted men. When she learned of the approaching bandits, she didn’t need much convincing. However, Lady Lian had just been summoned to the Prince’s mansion and overheard. She insisted on bringing her whole family along with the Empress Dowager, which caused some delay. By the time we left the city, the bandits had already begun their attack. Because of the large group leaving the city, we were spotted by a patrol of bandits who followed us to Yishan in Zhenzhou. Commander Fan feared they would report back and expose the Empress Dowager’s location, so he led the Prince’s guards in an ambush, using the terrain to eliminate the bandits.”
Mian Tang frowned. “Where is the Empress Dowager now?”
The guard swallowed hard before continuing, “Zhenzhou has fallen. The bandits likely stormed the Prince’s mansion and, finding the royal family gone, sent out large search parties. They’ve set up checkpoints on all the roads, big and small. Commander Fan feared our large group would be discovered, so we were hiding in a concealed cave in the mountains. He was worried you might come looking for us recklessly, so he sent me to inform you of the situation.”
Mian Tang sighed inwardly upon hearing this. She should have guessed that Fan Hu wouldn’t dare use sleeping drugs on the Empress Dowager unless necessary. After all, she was the esteemed Empress Dowager, and no proper soldier under Prince Huaiyang would act so rashly.
But Aunt Lian had indeed complicated matters. The Lian family’s marriage ties to the Prince had already been dissolved. During the attack, they could have simply abandoned their home and hidden in a cellar. The bandits wouldn’t have found them, whether searching for valuables or people. But the Lians insisted on coming along, and the guards likely felt unable to refuse.
This greatly increased the difficulty of their escape.
At least they hadn’t been discovered by the bandits yet. Mian Tang ordered horses to be brought from the forest, the carriages to be unhitched, and the group to mount up and head towards Yishan.
Before they even neared Yishan, they could hear the commotion of people and horses on the mountain roads. It seemed the bandits had picked up their trail and decided to seal off the mountain for a thorough search.
Mian Tang dismounted at a distance, instructing the guards to hide the horses. She then untied the water skins and filled them with air.
Days earlier, while attending a ladies’ tea party and outing, she had visited Yishan for leisure. She recalled a river that divided the mountain, flowing directly into its interior. The noblewomen had mentioned it was an excellent spot for swimming in summer. Mian Tang planned to use the inflated water skins to swim into the mountain underwater.
The guards, upon hearing Mian Tang’s plan, thought it too risky and tried to dissuade her from going.
Mian Tang calmly replied, “You have your reservations and sense of hierarchy. No one can handle the Empress Dowager in this crisis. We can’t consider others now; we must prioritize getting the Empress Dowager out safely, even if it means facing criticism. I must go to make the decisions. It’s better than letting the Empress Dowager be captured and used to blackmail the Prince.”
Mian Tang understood Zhou Xingzhou well. He could deal coolly with his half-siblings falling into enemy hands, showing his cold and ruthless side. But if his mother were captured, he would surely be shaken and vulnerable to manipulation.
So Mian Tang was determined to go and bring out only the Empress Dowager. If something went wrong en route, she could adapt to the situation. It was better than anxiously waiting here.
Unable to dissuade Mian Tang, the guards followed the County Princess’s orders and prepared for her to enter the water.
As soon as she entered, Mian Tang felt a piercing pain in her wrists. Although her hand and foot injuries had mostly healed, they still ached in cold weather. The rushing water around her ears triggered unpleasant memories.
She seemed to recall a similar experience of entering icy water, her limbs numb… water rushing into her nose and mouth…
Mian Tang took a deep breath from the leather pouch in her mouth, the fresh air momentarily steadying her nerves. While the air supply lasted, she swam forcefully underwater toward their destination.
By the time she reached the cave where Fan Hu and the others were hiding, the air in the pouch was nearly exhausted. When they emerged from the water, they gave quite a fright to those in the cave.
Lady Lian and Lian Shuilan screamed in terror. Mian Tang swiftly approached them and silenced their cries with two sharp slaps.
The usually delicate beauty now wore tight-fitting black night clothes, her hair tightly bound, dripping wet, and glaring fiercely. She looked truly terrifying.
The Lian mother and daughter were stunned into silence, staring at her in shock.
Mian Tang quickly surveyed the cave’s occupants, noting the various bundles and small boxes of jewelry and valuables they carried. Her anger rose. These people valued their possessions over their lives at such a critical moment! Everyone’s hands were full. Who knew how much time they’d wasted gathering their treasures?
Fan Hu, recognizing Mian Tang and her group, felt relieved and came over to await her instructions. Mian Tang knew that if she announced they could only rescue the Empress Dowager first, the others would cause an uproar and attract the pursuers.
So she said nothing about that, only stating that they couldn’t alert the bandits and that the Empress Dowager should enter the water first to swim out.
But Lady Lian, ever cunning, protested, “Aren’t there many water skins? We could take more people out! I’m worried about my sister. Why don’t those of us from the Lian family who are good swimmers go with her?”
Mian Tang fixed her with a cold stare and said firmly, “Listen to me. You will all be saved if you follow my orders. If you don’t, none of you will escape!”
Lady Lian, still smarting from the earlier slap and annoyed by Mian Tang’s disrespect towards her as the Prince’s aunt, was about to argue further.
But Mian Tang had no patience for the old woman’s chatter. She swiftly drew her dagger, shoved Lady Lian against the rock wall, and threw the blade, embedding it in the stone next to her ear.
The others gasped in shock, thinking the razor-sharp dagger had cut into the rock, missing Lady Lian’s head by inches.
Lady Lian was so frightened she couldn’t make a sound, feeling a burning sensation on her cheek as if blood were trickling down.
Mian Tang spoke with a chilling voice, “If you say another word, I swear I’ll kill you.”
The Huaisang County Princess seemed like a different person entirely. All of Mama Li’s painstaking etiquette lessons had vanished. With her swift actions and murderous gaze, she was every bit a female bandit.
Lian Shuilan was also terrified. She had previously thought of Mian Tang as merely a seductress who used her beauty to bewitch men. But now, this woman who threw daggers at the slightest provocation exuded an aura of power that silenced everyone.
Lian Hanshan, however, assessed the situation shrewdly. Seeing that all the guards obeyed Mian Tang alone, he hurried to support his swaying wife and whispered, “Just be quiet and follow the County Princess’s arrangements…”
Having intimidated Lady Lian, Mian Tang turned to the Empress Dowager and said bluntly, “Take off your hairpins and secure your hair with a net. Then remove your outer robe and prepare to enter the water with the skin.”
The Empress Dowager, also cowed by Mian Tang’s demeanor, which reminded her of her son when angry, no longer dared to put on airs as a future mother-in-law. She obediently complied, with her maid rushing to help her prepare.
Mian Tang walked over, smoothly retrieved her dagger, and put it away. She then quietly instructed Fan Hu, “I’ve arranged for local mountain folk to drive your hidden carriages southwest, making some noise to draw away the surrounding troops. When you see an opportunity, lead the people out of the cave. Split them into smaller groups; it’s dangerous for the Lian family to travel with the royal household. They should go separately. You escort the two concubines, the Fifth Young Master, and the young lady through rural areas. Find a remote village to settle in, inform the local village head, and stop running. This group impersonating bandits won’t dare stay long. Once they can’t find the Empress Dowager, they’ll withdraw.”
Fan Hu, who had been stressed by the demands of the pampered nobles, was relieved to see Mian Tang take charge. He nodded, ready to follow the County Princess’s orders.
With instructions given to Fan Hu and the Empress Dowager prepared, Mian Tang refilled the air pouches and began to swim out.
The return journey was more difficult than the arrival. The Empress Dowager, unfamiliar with swimming, panicked upon entering the water. Mian Tang gripped her tightly under the arms, guiding her forward.
This was precisely why Mian Tang refused to use this method to evacuate everyone. With a mixed group of men, women, young, and old, just one person unfamiliar with water could expose the entire group hiding in the river.
Mian Tang, along with three guards, successfully brought the Empress Dowager out of the river.
The guards waiting at the exit, seeing them return safely, signaled the recruited mountain folk. Dressed in fine clothes, they drove four or five carriages southwest along the main road.
Meanwhile, Mian Tang’s group boarded a shabby donkey cart and headed north, taking advantage of the diversion.
The Empress Dowager, now wearing coarse cloth garments and with her face smeared with mud and ash by Mian Tang, looked every bit like a grubby old village woman.
Looking back towards Zhenzhou, now engulfed in flames, the Empress Dowager felt a wave of fear. Her thoughts turned to her son Zhou Xingzhou’s safety, filling her heart with sorrow.