Perfect Match – CH 012

Chapter 12

The shouts of battle grew louder, and the sounds of close combat filled the air.

The villagers were mostly ordinary women and children; even though they had been settled, they could not help but cry in fear.

Deputy Inspector Sun dispatched several more men to escort the women, children, and elderly out of the village and to settle them outside.

“Do not be afraid; the garrison troops are coming to support us. These bandits cannot hold out!”

These words finally reassured everyone.

Deng Ruyun had not expected garrison troops to come to her aid. Although she did not know where they came from, it made her feel even more secure.

As they made their way out, occasionally two bandits would attack, but they were always repelled by the soldiers. The group ran quickly out of the village until they reached the main road, panting heavily, before finally stopping.

They were now some distance from the village, and the shouts of battle had subsided considerably. Several soldiers escorted them to rest in the roadside woods. Deng Ruyun and Madam Zhou, being somewhat prepared, had brought some water to distribute among the group.

With this fight, the village was undoubtedly in chaos. Madam Zhou, who owned a small mansion in the county town next to the county government office, invited Deng Ruyun and the other guests to go with her.

At this point, Deng Ruyun did not stand on ceremony. Whether they were after her or the village’s money and provisions, she needed to protect herself first. However, she had no one to protect her, and following the Zhou family would be ideal.

She thanked them repeatedly.

However, the Zhou family could only bring a carriage to the county town after the fighting was over. Everyone rested by the roadside; some even dozed against trees.

Deng Ruyun had not slept well for two days. Seeing Linglang in her arms and Xiuniang beside her asleep, she could not help but close her eyes as well.

Her eyes were closed, but her mind dared not truly sleep.

In that half-awake, half-asleep state, she heard the sounds of clashing swords gradually fade into the distance, and the whistling wind of the mountain forest rushed in, reality and the past overlapping in the sound of the wind.

… …

The sunlight was blinding.

Xiuniang, pushing aside the waist-high mountain weeds, panted as she chased after her, the mountain wind whipping around her. “Slow down, Miss! I cannot keep up with you!”

But the little girl ran faster and faster.

She wore a light, willow-yellow dress her mother had made for her. The light and nimble top and skirt moved swiftly through the grass and trees, like a wild rabbit draped in willow leaves.

Seeing that Xiuniang could not catch up, she laughed. “Who told you to eat six big steamed buns at noon? I offered you some digestive pills, but you refused. Do you think my pills are bad?”

Xiuniang looked embarrassed. “To be honest, the pills you made are dark, sticky, and have a strange smell. I really do not dare eat them!”

Hearing this, the young girl became angry. “I’ve only just started learning, and you’re already so dismissive! I will not make any tomorrow!”

Xiuniang replied, “It’s fine if you do not make them, Miss. I see other families’ young ladies are all pampered. They walk the dog, play shuttlecock, and their masters support the family. Why should you work so hard?”

Deng Ruyun did not feel it was hard work, but she was not as naturally quick-witted as her older brother when it came to making medicine. She learned slowly, and her hands were clumsy; she could not even make a single pill properly.

Even her parents said there was no rush. “Anyway, your parents and brother are still here. Our Yunniang can learn whenever she wants; she can play for a few years first.”

After hearing this so often, even she herself felt it was a waste to spend so much time cooped up in the courtyard filled with the smell of medicine, since her parents and brother were always behind her.

But the most unpredictable thing in this world was what happened in the next few years.

No one could have imagined that a few years later, her parents and brother would leave her one after another. Without their support, she was left alone to manage the household. She wanted to learn medicine making again, but there was no one left to teach her…

No one could have foreseen what would happen next, but at this moment, the little girl ran out dressed in new clothes.

Xiuniang finally caught up and was about to say something when suddenly the sound of horses’ hooves came from near and far.

“Miss, is it…is it Commander Teng coming?”

The little girl, who had been laughing and joking just moments before, immediately froze. She quickly turned her back and hid behind a large locust tree, concealing herself completely, not daring to show a trace.

She clearly had not seen anything, but upon hearing the familiar clatter of hooves, she spoke.

“It’s him…”

As she spoke, her face flushed slightly.

She hid behind the locust tree, but Xiuniang peeked out. After a few moments, Xiuniang tugged at her sleeve, trying to pull her away.

“He’s riding over! Miss, let’s hurry!”

Deng Ruyun had finally found out he was practicing archery here today and had rushed out before finishing her lunch. Now that he was here, how could she leave?

Xiuniang said anxiously, “Miss, are you crazy? He’s practicing archery in the wild. What if he shoots you?”

“That’s true.”

She paused, then heard the sound of him sitting high on his horse, nocking a long arrow, and drawing his heavy bow behind her.

But she did not move an inch, her hands clenching even tighter.

“Fine, let him shoot. Dying under his arrows is a kind of homecoming!”

She said resolutely.

Xiuniang, seeing this, nearly fainted from anger.

“What’s wrong with you now, young lady! Rather than be shot to death, you’d better go home and have your master and mistress propose marriage to the Teng family!”

Saying this, she dragged her down the rocky slope.

Deng Ruyun was still afraid of death and also afraid that Xiuniang would get hurt along with her.

The two of them hid at the foot of the rocky slope. Although they could not see the person behind the rocks, they could hear his voice talking to someone from time to time, long and short sentences drifting over.

This was the first time Deng Ruyun had heard him speak so much. A blush crept up her cheeks to her ears, as if every word he spoke was directed at her. He spoke a sentence, and she responded softly from below the rocks.

After he had emptied the quiver of arrows, she murmured to herself. “He shot thirty-seven arrows today and said twenty-eight sentences to me.”

Xiuniang rolled her eyes to the heavens. “Heavens above, my girl has gone mad! What should I do?”

Deng Ruyun, however, bent down and secretly picked up an arrow from the grass.

She suddenly said, “What you said just now was very good.”

Xiuniang did not understand. “Which sentence?”

She examined the arrow she had just picked up, her fingertips tracing the name beneath the arrowhead.

That character seemed etched into her heart, stroke by stroke—”Yue.”

The Yue of Teng Yue.

She looked at it again and again quietly before carefully putting the arrow away in her pouch.

She replied to Xiuniang.

“It’s the one you said, about having my parents go to the Teng family to propose marriage.”

Xiuniang froze. “You really want to go, Miss?”

The voice was a little louder, circling around the rocks, and was vaguely heard by the person on horseback.

“Who’s there?” someone suddenly asked.

Deng Ruyun tensed up at the question. Although she had such thoughts, she was completely unprepared to show herself in front of that person.

Her heart pounded, and she hurriedly pulled Xiuniang, almost crouching down into a crevice in the rocks.

The person who had asked the question rode over and glanced over, but could not see anything because of the rocks.

But Deng Ruyun heard another voice: “Most likely just a frightened rabbit in the forest. Never mind.”

It was Teng Yue.

His voice was gentle and calm, bypassing the rocks and reaching her ears. She froze, pursing her lips, afraid to speak, but speaking in her heart.

“The twenty-ninth sentence.”

This was the twenty-ninth sentence he had spoken to her “today.”

He called her a frightened little rabbit in the forest!

A shy smile flickered across the young girl’s face.

But when would she truly be able to speak to him?

If her parents arranged a marriage for her when she was older, if he accepted, and if he became her husband, would she be able to speak to him every day?

The young girl’s hopeful heart pounded wildly.

He finished practicing archery and rode away with his companions.

The familiar clatter of hooves faded into the distance, each step like a gentle patter on her heart… …

But that receding sound suddenly rang out again, abruptly returning to her ears from afar.

In the mountains outside Tongguan County, Deng Ruyun opened her eyes, half-asleep.

The moment her eyelids opened, the figure of a man in brocade robes riding a horse suddenly entered her field of vision. He rode up and stopped by the official road outside the woods where they were resting, his gaze sweeping into the forest.

The shadows of the trees dappled, light and shadow dancing and shifting, and for a moment, it felt as if she were transported back to that day in her memory.

But this time, was he really looking this way?

Deng Ruyun’s heart skipped a beat.

Then, the man withdrew his gaze from his horse and simply called someone forward to ask, “How’s the fighting at the village?”

Deng Ruyun’s initial hesitation subsided.

So he had sent troops to reinforce the patrol unit, and he had come to check on the battle.

Deng Ruyun lowered her eyes slightly and remained seated in the woods by the roadside.

Since he had come to check on the battle, she saw no need to approach him; after all, he probably did not want to see her at all.

The sun was setting, and the last of its rays made the coat of his large, black-brown horse gleam.

Someone had gone to find his deputy, Tong Meng, and the man waited briefly by the roadside.

He wore only silver armor covering his breastplate, which the setting sun gilded. He stood on the hillside roadside, looking down into the distance, the wind whipping his cloak behind him.

He was no longer the young commander who had toiled in the mountains to hone his skills; he was a seasoned general who had led thousands of troops in battle.

Deng Ruyun’s gaze fell on him, then quietly returned.

She remained seated in the woods by the roadside, a rustling sound rising in the trees, mingling with the long and short breaths of the crowd.

Deng Ruyun closed her eyes again, but this time she could not fall asleep. She listened to the sounds around her until Deputy General Tong Meng brought back the second-in-command. The man immediately ordered his personal guards to take him away, tightening the reins.

“To Baifeng Mountain.”

With that, he spurred his horse and rode off.

The sound of hooves faded into the distance, quickly disappearing into the mountains, and even the echo was dissipating in the wind.

Deng Ruyun remained seated.

It turned out he had returned to suppress bandits, but he never told her about his time in the army, and she knew nothing of it.

After a while, the sun was reduced to a fading shadow on the cliff edge.

Deputy General Tong went back in to fight again, but it seemed some bandits remained. He had sustained a leg injury and was helped into the forest to be bandaged.

The women and children, who had settled in the forest, gradually awoke.

The group had not had a meal since noon, and now that the sun was about to set, the adults were doing alright, but the children were getting hungry, especially since they had almost finished drinking the water they brought, and even Madam Zhou was out of water.

She was troubled. “I do not know when we will be able to get to the village. The county town is not far, but we still need to eat and drink before we can continue our journey.”

But the village was out of their reach. The patrol officers left with them were only there to guard everyone, and it was not convenient to send two or three people to the village for food and drink.

After this incident, Madam Zhou was somewhat reliant on Deng Ruyun and asked her what to do. Deng Ruyun thought for a moment and stood up.

Deputy General Tong was cursing, “Thieves dared to attack my groin! Luckily, I dodged quickly; otherwise, I would be childless from today…”

Before he finished speaking, a woman approached.

Tong Meng had not seen this woman before, but her figure seemed vaguely familiar.

She seemed a little embarrassed but still spoke.

“Deputy General Tong, the women and children who were resting in the mountains have stayed here quite a while. I wonder how the fighting is going at the residence? Would it be convenient to send someone to bring some food and water?”

She addressed him by his surname immediately.

Tong Meng was surprised but still could not remember who she was. However, he suddenly remembered what Deputy Inspector Sun had told him.

Deputy Inspector Sun said that they had detected the danger beforehand because a lady from a wealthy family in the residence had noticed it.

A lady… she looks familiar… she knew his surname…

Tong Meng jumped to his feet, almost leaping up, forgetting his leg injury.

“Madam Deng?! You…you are here?!”

His reaction startled Deng Ruyun, who then explained that she had been with the people in the residence.

“Seeing that the general was busy, I did not want to disturb you.”

She spoke very politely, but Tong Meng was even more alarmed.

The lady did not say much to him, perhaps because his rank was low and unimportant, but just now, the general had clearly passed by here, right on the road beside the woods.

That was her husband.

He could not help but look at the general’s wife. She seemed to sense his confusion and softly explained,

“The general seemed to have matters to attend to, so he did not want to delay.”

“Did not want to delay…” Deputy General Tong could not believe what he was hearing, but he dared not interfere in his general’s family affairs. He simply said, “Madam, do not worry; I will have someone fetch food and water right away!”

He immediately dispatched one of his trusted lieutenants.

She thanked him, but Tong Meng did not dare accept the thanks, repeatedly retreating. He thought of offering his rattan chair to the lady, but she had already turned and left.

She returned to the woods by the roadside and, like the villagers, sat on a rock, quietly waiting for the battle to end.

Those who knew understood that the lady did not want to cause trouble for the general; those who did not might have thought she and the general were not even a married couple, but rather complete strangers, or even worse, people they’d avoid…

Tong Meng’s mind was in turmoil, but his men quickly brought food and water.

The messengers also reported that many bandit corpses lay scattered across the village below, and those who had escaped had been captured. This was good news, but whether other bandits were still lurking in the shadows was unknown.

Tong Meng dared not slacken in the bandit suppression. After thinking for a moment, he personally went to the woods to inform the lady, saying he would first go to the village to interrogate the bandits, but leave soldiers to keep watch.

“If Madam needs anything, just give the order.”

Deng Ruyun, having just been attacked by bandits, did not stand on ceremony with Tong Meng. His protection provided a great deal of reassurance, and she thanked him and agreed.

After Tong Meng left, Master Zhou led his men back to the estate to bring out all the serviceable carriages. With fewer people in the woods, the villagers relaxed considerably, chatting in small groups.

The chaos of the battle was finally nearing its end, and darkness was almost falling.

Just then, Deng Ruyun seemed to see Linglang’s figure flash by at the edge of the woods.

“Linglang, do not go that way!” she called, involuntarily taking two steps back.

However, before she could see Linglang, she saw the rabbit lantern she had left at the edge of the woods. The lantern was not lit, just lying there, dusty and lifeless.

Deng Ruyun’s heart skipped a beat, alarm bells ringing in her head!

She turned to call for the guards, but it was too late.

Someone in the woods held a dagger to little Linglang’s neck, the blade gleaming coldly, almost severing the child’s slender neck.

“Aunt…”

The man in the woods looked at her with a smile.

Deng Ruyun’s heart sank.

“I know you’re here for me, but do not hurt the child. I will go with you.”