Song Jue and Ye Jingchuan hadn’t brought many people with them. At a time like this, having more people wouldn’t help anyway. Each of them had only brought along one capable servant. At this moment, both servants were assigned to Lu Chonghua, working hard to carve out some space around Lu Chonghua so she wouldn’t be jostled by the crowd. Fortunately, people from the Five City Military Commissioner’s Office and Shuntian Prefecture were gradually arriving and beginning to maintain order. Song Jue and Ye Jingchuan finally breathed sighs of relief.
Changsheng, who was beside Ye Jingchuan, had sharp eyes and spotted his own master. He couldn’t help but excitedly shout to Ye Jingchuan: “Young Master! The Prince Consort is there, look, look!”
Ye Jingchuan looked in the direction his finger pointed and indeed caught sight of his older brother standing together with the Deputy Commander of the Five City Military Commissioner’s Office amidst the chaotic clamor. Only then did he relax. With so many people, they couldn’t use lightness skills. Squeezing and pushing, he struggled to make his way to his brother’s side and pointed toward Lu Chonghua.
Ye Jingkuan’s expression looked very displeased. In fact, with such an incident occurring during what should have been a perfectly fine Mid-Autumn Festival, no one could be happy. Upon seeing Ye Jingchuan, his brow finally relaxed. He dispatched people to squeeze into the crowd to escort Lu Chonghua out, then pointed at his younger brother: “You escort Miss Lu back. Tonight is probably going to be chaotic all night long. With so many people, there will be trouble. Don’t let Miss Lu suffer any offense.”
But Ye Jingchuan was extremely anxious. He grabbed his brother’s arm: “Sixth Miss Song is still at Chongyin Hall. Everyone is surging toward that area, and the fire is burning fiercely there too. I need to go check on that side!”
Ye Jingkuan was truly exasperated by his younger brother. At a time like this, all he could think about was still Song Sixth’s safety. He couldn’t help but look at him sternly: “When you went to fight the Japanese pirates, what did you tell Father? You said you couldn’t bear to see the common people suffer from war and chaos. Right now, so many common people are waiting to be saved. Don’t you see them? At this moment you’re still thinking about your Miss Song Sixth. I think you—never mind not helping, at a time like this you’re even bringing along a delicate young lady to add to my troubles? How could you even think of such a thing! Just honestly escort her home first. If it gets any later, it won’t be good for the young lady’s reputation.”
In the end, it was Ye Jingkuan who thought things through thoroughly. He had Lu Chonghua get into his own carriage and had the coachman drive the carriage to the side, where soldiers guarded against anyone trying to fish in troubled waters, yet it was also some distance from the burning shops.
Manyue’s entire back was soaked with cold sweat. Just moments ago during that scene, she had thought death was certain. At this moment, her hand pulling on Lu Chonghua’s arm was still trembling, and her voice carried a hint of tears: “Thank goodness you’re alright, Miss. I’ll go down and tell the Prince Consort to send us home first, shall I? With all this chaos, if something happened, what would we do?”
They had been jostled dizzy in the carriage, and someone had even taken advantage of the chaos to reach their hand into the carriage. If she hadn’t moved quickly and cracked her whip on the horse’s rear, accidentally stumbling into that dead-end alley, who knows what would have happened. After this ordeal, Manyue felt weak in the legs. Looking at the fire now, it probably couldn’t be extinguished in a short time. Although they had people guarding them now, chaos easily arose when there were many people. Who knew what the situation would be like later? It would be better to go back now and avoid any further incidents.
Lu Chonghua herself was also frightened pale. Just as she was about to nod in agreement, she heard Ye Jingchuan’s voice timely ring out from outside: “Miss Lu, I still need to go to the Chongyin Hall area first. I don’t know how Sixth Miss is doing yet. How about I escort you back a bit later?”
This Second Young Master Ye, though he didn’t look like what she had imagined, was indeed just as Zhou Weizhao had described—an extremely honest person. If he weren’t honest, he wouldn’t so blatantly show that she was a burden who was delaying him from going to rescue Song Chuyi.
Lu Chonghua couldn’t help but be amused. She had previously heard Empress Lu complain, asking what merits Song Chuyi had that even Princess Rongcheng thought about her. When she asked more, she learned it wasn’t Princess Rongcheng herself who thought about her, but rather on behalf of the Prince Consort’s younger brother, Ye Jingchuan. Now she discovered this somewhat dull fool really did have such intentions. She didn’t feel slighted or angry; instead, she recalled those opera lyrics and responded with considerable interest: “Alright, I’ll go search with you. If we find her, you can just escort me back along the way.”
Ye Jingchuan had originally intended to have Song Jue take Lu Chonghua back, but unfortunately, while he had squeezed his way over here to find Ye Jingkuan, Song Jue had disappeared to who knows where. Since his brother wouldn’t help him and he couldn’t find Song Jue, he could only come over first to discuss with Lu Chonghua. He had assumed Lu Chonghua would feel slighted and angry, but unexpectedly she didn’t play by conventional rules at all. He scratched his head, suspecting he had heard wrong, but Lu Chonghua had already lightly stepped down from the carriage without the slightest hint of displeasure, urging him: “Hurry up!”
Aside from Song Chuyi, Ye Jingchuan had never seen another girl who could be so naturally at ease and frank when facing men, to the point where one couldn’t generate any improper thoughts. For a moment he couldn’t react, and only after a long while did he say “oh.”
He knew Lu Chonghua was a burden, and when going to find someone, he definitely shouldn’t bring her along. But first, he was truly worried about Song Chuyi’s safety, and second, he couldn’t just abandon Lu Chonghua. Gritting his teeth, he could only truly lead Lu Chonghua along to search for people.
On the other side, Song Chuyi had truly been solidly buffeted by the tide of people. If not for Qing Luo and Han Yan’s good martial arts skills, she had nearly been tripped and fallen to the ground several times. In a situation with so many people, once one fell down, getting back up would be difficult.
Fortunately, Qing Luo and Han Yan protected her on the left and right, so she was more than capable of self-preservation. However, a child beside her inadvertently stumbled forward and fell to the ground.
He was only a three or four-year-old child who couldn’t even walk very steadily. His mother had originally been holding him in her arms, but later truly couldn’t carry him anymore and had to set him on the ground and lead him by hand. But the difference in height between adult and child was too great. His mother had been stooping over the whole time holding on, and when she got too tired and straightened her back, her grip on the child’s hand loosened.
Once it loosened, the child staggered forward a few steps and immediately fell flat on his back, his mouth eating a mouthful of dust and ash. He burst into wailing tears.
Song Chuyi was squeezed forward several steps, and the child happened to fall right in front of her. Almost instinctively, she crouched down to pull the child up—if she didn’t crouch down, this child’s fate was easy to guess without even thinking.
But as soon as she crouched down, she felt someone’s leg forcefully strike her back, hitting her so that she pitched forward herself. Fortunately, her reflexes were quick and she extended her hands to support herself on the ground, avoiding crushing down on the child.