Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

Chapter 358 Dragon Pond and Tiger Den

The mud under their feet was splattered all over the sky, and the rain on their faces had already flowed like a river. Cang Gui tried to fly as low as possible so as not to lose Long Mohan and Ji Anni.

The two men and the eagle ran in the rain for a full quarter of an hour before they finally saw a black cave. The Cang Gui called a few times at the entrance of the cave, as if to tell Ji Anni and the others that Princess Tianning was in the cave.

While Cang Gui's cry conveyed Ji Anni's message, it also alarmed the people who were taking shelter in the cave. The fire in the cave flickered, and a shout of "Who is it?" followed.

Ji Anni didn't dare to answer, and looked at Long Mohan nervously. Long Mohan took her hand and walked towards the cave entrance, saying as he walked, "We are small workers in the wine shop in the neighboring town. We delivered wine to the Imperial City Restaurant tonight. Unexpectedly, it rained heavily, and we are looking for a place to hide. Brother, can you lend us a place to hide from the rain?"

After Long Mohan finished saying these words, he had already brought Ji Annie to the cave entrance.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, you can barely see the scene inside.

There was a bonfire burning in the cave to avoid the cold. Many people in the cave had taken off their coats and were hanging them on the fire to dry. Near the entrance of the cave, there were about seven or eight people sitting, all young men in their twenties or thirties. Deep inside the cave, where the bonfire was not very clear, there seemed to be more than ten people. By this calculation, there were about twenty rebels gathered in this cave. They were all strong and healthy, and it was obvious that they had practiced martial arts.

The man who had just shouted at the entrance of the cave held up a torch and looked Long Mohan and Ji Anni up and down. Seeing that they were dripping with water and looked miserable, and each of them was carrying a large wine jar on his back, he lowered his guard a little. But even though he lowered his guard, he still blocked the entrance of the cave and refused to move. He said in a cold voice: "There is no room here. You should find another place to take shelter from the rain."

Long Mohan begged, "Brother, you see we are all soaked to the skin. Please be kind and just sit at the entrance of the cave for a while. When the rain stops a little, we will leave right away."

Although the man looked fierce, he was not a bad person. Seeing Long Mohan and Ji Anni begging him with pitiful expressions, he could not bear to refuse. He hesitated for a moment, turned around and shouted to the others in the cave: "Hey, what do you say we should do?"

There was a flurry of discussion in the cave. Some said they should stay, while others said they should be driven away. For a moment, no one could make a decision.

Long Mohan continued to beg, "Brother, my sister's leg is injured again and she can't walk far. Can you tell us where to take shelter in the heavy rain?"

The man could not bear Long Mohan's repeated requests, and finally softened his heart, raised his hand and said: "Okay, okay, you can stay for a while, but you can only sit at the entrance of the cave, and you can't walk around."

When Long Mohan heard that he agreed, he nodded and thanked him quickly, "Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. We will rest by the cave and will not move around."

As he spoke, he supported Ji Anni and walked into the cave. He found a place at the edge of the cave that was not wet, took down the jar of wine, and sat down.

Seeing them sit down, the man holding the torch returned to his original position in the cave.

There were about twenty steps between Long Mohan and the rebels, and neither side spoke anymore. The cave was quiet, with only the sound of the rain and the cold wind.

Ji Anni secretly peeked into the cave, and could only see a group of shirtless men, but no sign of Princess Tianning at all.

Is Princess Tianning really in this cave? Ji Anni couldn't help but doubt the Cang Gui. It's a pity that the Cang Gui has disappeared now, and it's impossible to find it and ask it clearly.

Seeing that Ji Anni was very anxious, Long Mohan gently held the back of her hand to comfort her and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, take a rest first."

Anyway, the rain would continue until dawn, so they had plenty of time to extract information from the rebels and there was no need to rush.

At the critical moment, Ji Anni knew that she was usually the kind of person who was more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything, so she trusted Long Mohan very much, and she would do whatever Long Mohan said.

After a while, the weather was getting colder and colder. Ji Anni, who was soaked all over, sneezed. Long Mohan hurriedly hugged her and asked her if she was cold. But both of them were soaked and couldn't keep warm at all.

Long Mohan turned his head and asked in the cave: "My dear brothers, my sister seems to be sick. Can you let her come in and warm herself by the fire?"

No one in the cave answered, and everyone looked at each other. No one dared to agree rashly, but no one wanted to be a cold-blooded villain.

Since no one stopped him, Long Mohan took it as their tacit consent and nodded to Ji Anni, motioning her to follow him. He helped Ji Anni up and slowly walked towards the bonfire.

As they approached, the group of men sitting around the campfire moved slightly. Some stood up, and some walked deeper into the cave, but no one came to stop Long Mohan. It seemed that everyone acquiesced to Long Mohan and Ji Anni's approach.

Seeing this, Ji Annie became bolder. She used to take small steps, but now she took big strides and soon reached the campfire.

With the warmth of the fire, her body became much warmer, and Ji Annie's stiff face slowly regained its color. She nodded to the men sitting around the cave wall in thanks.

This group of people are really not bad. Although they are the mortal enemies of their royal family, the rebel mountain ghost tribe, they are all kind and friendly when facing ordinary people.

Long Mohan sat down next to Ji Anni and casually scanned the cave again. It was clearer here than at the cave entrance, and with the light of the fire, he could see almost every corner of the cave. But strangely, he still didn't see Princess Tianning. This time, even Long Mohan couldn't help but doubt, is Princess Tianning really in this cave?

Since the rebels have tacitly allowed Long Mohan and Ji Anni to approach the campfire in the center of the cave, it means that they no longer regard each other as enemies, but as ordinary people.

Long Mohan pretended to be ignorant and asked, "Brother, what do you do?"

No one in the cave said a word.

Long Mohan continued, "I heard that the princess' wedding procession was hijacked by the Anti-Imperial Society, and even the palace was surrounded by the Anti-Imperial Society. Brother, you guys are not..."

There was still no one speaking in the cave, but the atmosphere became more tense.

Ji Anni quietly pinched Long Mohan to remind him not to talk nonsense. Now they finally entered the center of the cave. What if they suddenly aroused the other party's vigilance and were driven out of the cave?

Long Mohan ignored Ji Anni and continued, "My dear brothers, to be honest, my younger brother has also joined the Anti-Imperial Society. But there has been no news for several years, and my father misses him very much. I wonder if you know him..." Although the Anti-Imperial Society was formed with the descendants of the Mountain Ghost Clan as its core, it also absorbed a lot of ordinary people who took the initiative to join them.

After a brief silence, the man holding the torch asked, "What's your brother's name?"

Long Mohan immediately replied, "My surname is Wang."

At this time, bursts of whispers were heard in the crowd, and everyone was talking to each other. A few voices said, "There are indeed a few people with the surname Wang who are from this area."

The group of people suddenly became interested and asked hastily as if they wanted to establish a relationship with Long Mohan: "What's your little brother's name?"

Long Mohan said, "Call me Wang Agui."

In fact, he just made up this name casually, but from his serious expression, it was impossible to tell that he was lying. Even Ji Anni began to admire his acting ability.

"Wang Agui?" Those people were talking about whether there really was such a person in the Anti-Imperialist Society. After thinking for a long time, no one could figure out who this Wang Agui was.

Seeing their confused faces, Long Mohan asked worriedly, "Brother, don't you know my little brother?"

His tone and expression were just right, as if he was the real member of the Anti-Imperialist Society and the other party was just pretending.

Seeing that he was worried, someone in the group kindly comforted him, "Don't worry, little brother. I will help you find out when I get back. After I find this person, I will ask him to write a letter home."

"Okay, thank you brother." Long Mohan pretended to be happy and pulled Ji Anni to thank them.

At this moment, the previously stagnant atmosphere was broken, and everyone started chatting like old friends. As they talked, the topic suddenly came to the two jars of wine that Long Mohan and Ji Anni had unloaded at the side of the cave. Someone who loved wine asked Long Mohan what kind of wine it was. Seeing that the time had come, Long Mohan brought a jar of wine to the campfire and said, "It's rare to meet you brothers today. It's so cold, let's drink some wine to warm ourselves up."

But this group of people refused to accept the gift, saying that they had no banknotes and could not afford the wine. Although Long Mohan had repeatedly said that the wine was free and that he would pay for it, the other party still kept refusing and refused to drink.

After several rounds of exchanges, someone finally couldn't resist Long Mohan's invitation and drank half a bowl. After drinking half a bowl, he kept praising it for being a good wine.

Those who couldn't resist the temptation gathered around and asked Long Mohan for a taste of the wine. Ji Anni saw it and was happy in her heart, thinking that the plan was about to succeed.

But at this moment, a groan of "Ouch" was heard from the noisy crowd. Everyone turned around and saw that the first person who drank had fallen to the ground holding his stomach.

The man twitched all over, curled up into a small ball, pointed at Long Mohan's wine jar with a green face and said: "That wine...that wine, it's poisonous...poisonous..."

When they heard the word "poison", those who were drinking stood up in shock, and some people even dropped their bowls on the ground in fear.

Those who had treated Long Mohan and Ji Annie as their relatives just a moment ago, suddenly came to their senses after seeing their companions rolling on the ground in a state of neither being able to live nor to die. They rushed forward and pinned Long Mohan and Ji Annie down.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Before Ji Anni could figure out what was happening, she was pinned to the ground by the crowd.

My confused thoughts gradually became clear amid the angry scolding of the crowd. That's right, it must be the medicine, there must be something wrong with the sleeping pills...