Chapter 61: Assassination Attempt

Not only Zheng Yueru, but the people from the other teams were also stunned.

One could see that the two horse carriages were shimmering with fluorescent light at this moment, appearing exceptionally dazzling in this icy, snow-covered land. Various glass bottles were neatly arranged inside; one carriage held wine, and the other held perfume. The glass bottles were extremely exquisite, some made of crystal glass, refracting brilliant and eye-catching light when sunlight shone upon them. Others were glass bottles of various colors, and not only that, they were engraved with many patterns and characters. The patterns looked like simple sketches, yet they perfectly depicted Yinzhou on the edge of the desert. And those characters were even more...

"Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all been lonely; only the drinkers leave behind their names!"

"Singing loudly in the daylight, one must indulge in wine; in the prime of youth, one accompanies one's companions back to their hometown!"

"A cup of wine amidst the peach blossoms and spring breeze; ten years of lamps in the rainy nights of the jianghu."

"Red delicate hands, yellow vine wine; the spring colors fill the city, the willows by the palace walls."

And so on, and so forth.

Zheng Yueru was stunned.

The others were also stunned.

They had long known that this young master of the Liu Family was exceptionally talented in literature and famous throughout Liangzhou. But they never expected that he would actually engrave these poems, which could be called eternal masterpieces, onto these wine bottles.

Shocking!

It could only be described as shocking!

Where had people of this era ever seen such things? Most people had never even seen these fluorescent glass bottles, and when paired with these various literary inscriptions by Liu Zheng, wouldn't this make people unable to put them down?

For a moment, even Zheng Yueru wanted to take one in her hands to play with.

"Zheng, this..."

Liu Dahao was also looking on with envy. Not to mention those who were following to Liangzhou this time; they were almost drooling.

Liu Zheng laughed and waved his hand: "The journey is quite long, everyone take a bottle to quench your thirst!"

The crowd was overjoyed and scrambled to grab them.

After a while, the carriage procession began to set off.

"My son, my son, could this be an object of the immortals?"

Inside the Liu Family's carriage, the interior decoration was quite high-class, with various silk ornaments, allowing one to sit or lie down. In the middle, there was a small stove used for warmth, making the temperature inside the carriage like spring. Hearing this, Liu Zheng chuckled and said: "Old man, you should go to the Shen Gong Workshop more often when you have time! You don't understand our family's industries at all now!"

Liu Dahao was not ashamed but proud to be chided by his son, and he said with a grin: "Having my son is enough. I'll just be a hands-off manager, so as not to be a hindrance to you! But don't worry, Zheng, I'm managing the accounts, and there will absolutely be no mistakes!"

Liu Zheng was slightly taken aback, only then realizing that his father, while appearing muddled, was actually living quite clearly.

Liu Dahao said proudly: "If I, as your father, didn't know my son's abilities, just this carriage item alone would surely throw the Liangzhou market into chaos. That old man Chen Ping, if he wants to make things difficult for us, he'll have to weigh the consequences!"

"But Zheng, that Chen Ruoshi is truly not bad. If you give her a few bottles of this perfume, wouldn't it be easy to win her over? Then, we'll see the look on that old man Chen Ping's face..."

Liu Zheng was speechless upon hearing this and hurriedly begged for mercy.

Perhaps because he was reminded by someone last night, Liu Dahao had been thinking about finding a wife for his son throughout the journey.

Fortunately, at this moment, a servant brought word that Miss Zheng was inviting Liu Zheng over for a detailed discussion.

"That's settled, that's settled, Zheng, Miss Zheng is also quite good!"

Liu Dahao's eyes lit up.

Hearing this, Liu Zheng fled in a panic. A young lady's carriage was naturally incomparable to that of a grown man. As soon as he lifted the curtain and entered, a thick fragrance immediately assailed his nostrils. Liu Zheng was slightly stunned, sniffed a few times, and then smiled bitterly: "Miss Zheng, there's no way you should use perfume like this!"

Zheng Yueru was immediately very embarrassed: "Brother Liu is mocking Yue Ru!"

Seeing her coquettish look, Liu Zheng found her truly more and more charming. He silently recited a few words of "sin" in his heart, chuckled, and sat inside. The perfume Zheng Yueru had just used was their first perfume product, named "Bitter Water Rose." It used the light scent of roses as the top note, a rich rose and woody scent as the middle note, and the base notes were musk, cedar, and sandalwood. This was something Liu Zheng had prepared to open up the market, and it had taken him a lot of effort to formulate.

"Perfume doesn't need to be applied like this, it's truly too wasteful..."

Liu Zheng shook his head, picked up the rose-red bottle of perfume, and gently dripped a few drops onto his hand. There was no help for it; in this era, there were no spray nozzles, so one could only apply it. However, when he dripped it onto his hand, he froze. Before him, Zheng Yueru was looking at Liu Zheng with anticipation. Her autumn-water eyes were as clear as a spring, her entire face was exquisite and remarkable, with bright eyes and white teeth; she was truly a peerless beauty, and Liu Zheng's heart skipped a beat.

His hand, which he had just raised, truly did not know how to proceed.

In this era, it was emphasized that men and women should not touch, and while Liu Zheng hadn't thought much about it at first, he was now in a difficult position.

"Ah! Brother Liu..."

Seeing Liu Zheng's actions, Zheng Yueru also instantly understood what he was about to do, and her pretty face turned red, looking incredibly charming.

Liu Zheng deliberately coughed: "Miss Zheng, please don't call me a lecher. I am only teaching you how to use it; you will have to deal with those women when we reach Liangzhou!"

Zheng Yueru gave a soft "mm," but she didn't dare to raise her head, and her neck had turned pink, as smooth as a swan's.

Liu Zheng gave a bitter smile, then used the perfume on his hand to gently brush over Zheng Yueru's earlobes and neck...

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the carriage became ambiguous.

Zheng Yueru's whole body stiffened, while Liu Zheng was cursing in his heart about why it was so smooth and tender.

This perfume lesson could not continue in any way.

He coughed to cover his embarrassment and said: "Then, just apply the same amount under the armpits."

"Mm..."

Zheng Yueru was blushing, deliberately looking out the window.

The scene remained awkward and ambiguous.

Liu Zheng said: "Miss Zheng, could you tell me what kind of person Empress Zheng is?"

Zheng Yueru's delicate body trembled. Only then did she meet Liu Zheng's gaze. Seeing his calm expression, she felt slightly relieved. Having recovered, the normal Zheng Yueru smiled faintly: "So Brother Liu intends to kill two birds with one stone on this trip to Liangzhou?"

Liu Zheng did not hide it and laughed frankly: "Miss Zheng, you and I are a joint interest group, why distinguish between you and me? If the Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce is shackled in Yangzhou, that would be our misfortune!"

The reality was just like this; he could bypass a Qian Buqun, but he could not bypass all the County Marquises, so whether he could obtain a State Marquis title was quite important!

Liu Zheng said this casually, but he did not know that in Zheng Yueru's ears, it carried a bit more intimacy and ambiguity. The latter immediately feigned anger: "Brother Liu, you and I are only in a cooperative relationship!"

Liu Zheng was stunned, then laughed: "Fine, fine, a cooperative relationship. But in order to earn more silver, we should always help each other, don't you think?"

Only then did Zheng Yueru roll her eyes at him: "Empress Zheng was born into the Liangzhou Zheng Family, the daughter of the Grand Academician Zheng Chen. She is the mother of the nation, benevolent in nature. Because she lost favor due to her age and fading beauty, she has always maintained her position as Empress, and no one has been able to shake it."

Liu Zheng nodded.

This was quite difficult. It was said that the current Emperor had many confidantes, but none had shaken her position as Empress. Not only did she have her own methods, but it seemed this Grand Academician had also played a significant role.

But to say she was benevolent in nature and the mother of the nation... Liu Zheng absolutely did not believe it. How could a benevolent ruler sit firmly as Empress in the treacherous environment of the inner palace?

"Then, what is the reason for her returning to visit her family this time..."

This was what Liu Zheng cared about most.

Logically speaking, the old Emperor was in poor health, and the Empress should remain firmly in the inner palace and not travel far; this was extremely disadvantageous for the Crown Prince's Bitter Remonstrance.

"I don't know about this either!"

Zheng Yueru was merely a merchant; how could she understand such political infighting?

Liu Zheng slowly closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open and asked, "Among the Zheng Family descendants, is there anyone in command of troops in Liangzhou?"

Zheng Yueru was just about to speak when suddenly, cries of alarm and screams came from outside. Both of their expressions changed, and they hurriedly looked out to see the carriage convoy stopped by the roadside, with several black-clad men wielding blades and swords approaching aggressively.

"Assassins!"

"Young Master, be careful!"

Returning to Liangzhou this time, Liu Zheng knew there would be danger, so he had brought Qin Zhangfeng along, yet he had not expected that they would have only just left Yinzhou, before even reaching Yangzhou City, for assassins to appear. Moreover, judging by their appearance, the assassins' skills were quite formidable. In just a few short rounds, they had already killed several Yinzhou Army soldiers. Qin Zhangfeng held his long blade and shouted angrily, "What petty thieves, pay with your lives!"

Those black-clad assassins, numbering seven or eight, saw Liu Zheng and Zheng Yueru lifting the window curtains to look out and seemed to have found their assassination target; one person shouted, "Kill!", and the assassins charged toward the Horse Carriage.

"Protect the Lord and Young Master, protect Miss Zheng!"

Qin Zhangfeng stood his ground like a lone warrior blocking ten thousand, and under the sweep of his long blade, several assassins' heads had already fallen to the ground, but the enemy had after all planned this against the unprepared, and each of them was highly skilled and seemed very well-organized; four men entangled Qin Zhangfeng, while the remaining men attacked from different directions.

"Stop them!"

Liu Zheng's face changed drastically as he watched; there were still a few Yinzhou Army soldiers by his side, guarding the two Horse Carriages tightly and retreating as they fought, but the thieves' momentum was quite strong, and several of the soldiers were soon severely wounded.

"Young Master, do not panic, Zhangfeng is coming!"

Qin Zhangfeng was burning with anxious rage and unleashed all his skills, finally breaking free from the entanglement of those four men, and just as they were about to kill Liu Zheng and Zheng Yueru, he rushed over with his long blade to provide support.

Bang!

Three masked assassins were all knocked over by Qin Zhangfeng.

"Miss Zheng, be careful!"

Who would have thought that just as the fighting was happening here, several more black-clad men rose from the grass, holding short crossbows and aiming this way.

Qin Zhangfeng shouted loudly, but it was already too late.

Liu Zheng also felt terror in his heart; the Crossbow Bolt was as fast as lightning and shot over with precision. Liu Zheng suddenly pushed Zheng Yueru, and she stumbled out of the way, yet at this moment, another Crossbow Bolt shot straight toward Zheng Yueru's face.

"Miss Zheng!"

"Be careful!"

Several people shouted at the same time, and Zheng Yueru was also frightened pale, at a loss for what to do.

However, at this very moment, a man responsible for the convoy shouted, leaped up from where he stood, and actually used his back to block in front of Zheng Yueru; that Crossbow Bolt shot into his back with a bang, and the man let out a pained cry and spat out blood.

Zheng Yueru's eyes turned red, and she hugged the man, crying out, "Jiang Xuan!"

Everyone was shocked; how had this Jiang Xuan managed to mix into this group?