Chapter 57

The hot wind with a burning smell melted the snow that had not yet fallen in the night.

A child ran out of his burning home barefoot and crying, but he was hacked to the ground by bandits before he had taken two steps in the snow. The spurting blood splashed on the hooves of the horse that Sui Yuanqing was riding.

He was playing with a dagger that shone with cold light in his hand, looking down at County Magistrate Liu: "Didn't you plan to kidnap me to redress the anger of the people? I killed so many people in Qingping County that day, and I will take back a hundredfold and a thousandfold tonight."

He tapped County Magistrate Liu's face with his dagger and sneered, "You don't know the identity of the man with the green ghost mask, and you don't know the maid in your house who kidnapped me?"

The blade suddenly moved downwards, cutting a gash in County Magistrate Liu's body. County Magistrate Liu howled like a slaughtered pig.

Sui Yuanqing said slowly: "Do you know now?"

County Magistrate Liu quelled the riot in Qingping County in order to gain credit. After the riot, he told the outside world that he and his subordinates had conspired to kidnap Yuan Qing and his group. Now he is afraid.

His fat face was trembling, and he cried with snot and tears: "I really don't know where that girl lives. She is not a maid in my house. I only know that her name is Fan Changyu, and she is the daughter of a butcher in Lin'an Town. I want to live..."

Among the bandits, a scarred man rode towards them on horseback. As Yuan Qing's eyes changed, when County Magistrate Liu blurted out the word "Prince", he slashed his neck with a knife and threw the man off his horse.

When the scarred man heard that Sui Yuanqing was looking for a woman, he said unhappily, "Fifth brother, didn't you say you wanted to find the enemy who hurt you when you arrested this soft-boned county magistrate? Why are you asking about his maids?"

Sui Yuanqing raised his lips and smiled: "My enemy is a maid in the mansion of the county magistrate."

The scarred man's expression relaxed when he heard this, but he said threateningly, "Given Shisan Niang's temper, if you have a female confidant outside, she will not let you stay."

Sui Yuanqing smiled but his eyes did not reach his eyes: "Brother, you are joking. I almost died because of that woman. I will avenge her no matter what."

The scarred man looked at the dead county magistrate lying on the ground and said, "Brothers have already robbed the county magistrate's house thoroughly, but we didn't see a maid who knows martial arts. You rode a horse for more than ten miles to catch her, but you didn't find the maid. Can she fly?"

He looked at Sui Yuanqing and said, "We have plundered Qingping County completely. Then the Fuzhou Prefecture will definitely send troops to encircle and suppress us. We must return to Qingfeng Village as soon as possible."

The implication was that she didn't want him to look for that woman again.

Sui Yuanqing pulled the reins to control the restless horse under his seat, and said with a slight smile on the corner of his lips: "Everything is up to you, big brother."

Seeing that he really was no longer looking for the woman who hurt him, the scarred man was somewhat satisfied and shouted, "After you take over this town, go back to Qingfeng Village!"

Sui Yuanqing hung a long gun on his horse's back and pulled the reins to urge the horse to follow as if he was strolling in the garden. Some ragged townspeople came out from the dark alley, and he picked up a handful of blood without blinking.

Seeing this, the scarred man seemed to be completely relieved and immediately went to check somewhere else.

Sui Yuanqing, however, held the spear in one hand, lowered his head slightly on horseback, and asked the man who was half-dead on the ground by him, "Fan Changyu, where do you live?"

The name came out from between his lips, and there was a hint of interest in the corner of his mouth, with a hint of aggression and destruction.

Now that we have found the woman, I think we can also find the man wearing the green ghost mask.

The man on the ground was bleeding from his chest. His instinct for survival made him tremble as he stretched out his hand and pointed in a direction: "City... west of the city..."

Following Yuan Qing's kick on the horse's belly, they headed towards the west of the city amidst the fire and flying snow.

The wound on his waist that had not yet healed completely caused a slight pain due to the bumpy ride on horseback, but it did not reduce the joy in his heart at all.

Lin'an Town was not as prosperous as Qingping County. The bandits who had just plundered Qingping County lost interest in this skinny piece of land after tasting the fat meat. They basically only targeted the wealthy families, and it was particularly troublesome to rob some poor families.

Most of the time, there was no silver to be found, and the people hiding inside had to be forced to dig out the well-hidden silver from the corners by themselves using a knife.

As Yuan Qing rode into the alley where Fan Changyu's house was located, he saw many people lying in the alley, including old people and children. He was holding a person he had just captured on the road.

The prey he thought of might have been taken by someone else first. He narrowed his eyes and asked in a lazy tone, but colder: "Which family is Fan Changyu's?"

The bloody man in his hand trembled and pointed to the second house at the end of the alley.

As Yuan Qing let go of the man, the man thought he had saved his life and tried to run away. As soon as he stood up, a knife pierced his chest and he fell straight down, leaving another corpse on the ground.

Sui Yuanqing glanced at the blood on the knife in his hand, took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands in disgust, and then walked into the gate of Fan's house.

The Fan family's house had obviously been searched; the yard was in a mess and the door to the main house was wide open, so it didn't look like anyone was hiding there.

Sui Yuanqing had no intention of leaving and walked into the room holding a torch.

When I entered the room, I found all the drawers opened, bottles and jars were broken on the floor, and the sheets and quilts were pulled to the ground. It was obvious that someone had done this to find hidden silver.

He wanted to leave, but when he saw that there seemed to be another door behind the kitchen, he hesitated for a moment, but still walked over with the torch in hand.

Opening the door, one would see the Fan family's backyard, which contained a pigpen, a well with a thick stone slab on top, and a stone bench used for killing pigs.

As Yuan Qing swept around and turned his feet, his sight fell on the stone slab above the dry well in the yard, but suddenly stopped.

By the light of the torch, one could clearly see that the stone slab above the dry well was covered with snow about a finger thick, and the ground under the well, shaded by the stone slab, was also covered with a thick layer of snow.

Apparently the stone slab was put up later.

Why use slate?

Naturally, there is something hidden at the bottom of the well.

The stone slab looked like it weighed hundreds of pounds. If it were someone else, they would have thought it was an abandoned dry well and would have turned around and left.

Sui Yuanqing smiled softly, his eyes curved into a beautiful crescent shape, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

Holding a torch, he walked closer to the stone-covered well step by step. The snow under his feet made a clear "crunching" sound, which, along with the wailing in the distance, seemed to be stepping on someone's heartstrings.

As he raised his hand to lift the slab, a murderous intent suddenly attacked him from behind.

As Yuan Qing quickly dodged to the side, a boning knife brushed past his ear and pierced into the courtyard wall not far away.

Before Yuan Qing could raise his eyes to look towards the direction where the boning knife came from, the man hiding on the roof had already leaped down as strong as a leopard, and the bloodletting knife in his hand was once again aimed at his vital point.

Sui Yuanqing dodged instinctively, but the opponent had two knives in his hands, one cutting and the other slashing down, leaving him no room to breathe.

Fan Changyu was really determined to kill them this time. Changning, Aunt Zhao and several nearby neighbors were hiding in the dry well. If she failed, they would surely die.

She struck out with her sword swiftly and fiercely, with a bone-cutting knife in her left hand and a bloodletting knife in her right hand that could be used for both chopping and stabbing. It could hardly be called a technique, as she simply sought to be quick, forcing her opponent to defend and not be able to counterattack at all.

Although Yuan Qing tried to draw his sword several times, he was forced to give up by Fan Changyu's sword force and retreated again and again to avoid her approaching blade.

He simply used the torch in his hand as a weapon, and he waved the torch wildly, with the flames trailing like an orange-yellow ribbon. Fan Changyu continued to attack, forcing him to have no power to fight back.

Sui Yuanqing did not dare to use the torch to directly hit the pig-killing knife in her hand. He could only use the torch to hit the back of the knife or avoid the edge to block it.

As a result, it was extremely difficult for him to block, especially since the opponent seemed tireless. Not only was the sword's movement swift and fierce, but the fight had lasted for such a long time without any reduction in strength. His palms were cracked and the hand holding the torch went numb.

Sui Yuanqing secretly cursed this woman and called her a freak.

In the flickering light and shadow, Fan Changyu's eyes were cold and sharp, like a tiger or leopard biting an invader, with a ruthlessness that was determined to fight to the death, not at all different from the naive and honest appearance when they first met.

When she got angry, her eyes and eyebrows revealed an inexplicable allure that was so alluring.

Sui Yuanqing stared at the beautiful and stern face and was stunned for a moment. At this moment, the torch in his hand was cut off and the bloodletting knife stabbed into his shoulder blade. If the opponent pushed harder, half of his arm might fly off.

The severe pain brought Sui Yuanqing back to his senses instantly. He shouted before Fan Changyu touched his meridians: "If you touch me, you and the people in the well will have no hope of getting out alive."

Fan Changyu's sword movement paused.

Sui Yuanqing immediately found the bargaining chip and said, "If you let me go, I will let you and the people in the well go."

Fan Changyu shouted coldly: "Why should I trust you?"

Just then, a bandit outside the door spotted the horse left outside the alley by Sui Yuanqing, and called out, "Fifth Master, are you in there?"

As the blood gushed out of Yuan Qing's wound and soaked half of his clothes, he raised the corner of his lips leisurely: "Believe it or not."

All decisions were made in a flash. Before the people outside came in, Fan Changyu pulled out the bloodletting knife that was stuck in Sui Yuanqing's shoulder blade and replaced it with a small boning knife to press against the gap between his left ribs.

Where it pierces is the heart.

Fan Changyu whispered, "I told you last time that I would let you see how pigs are bled during the Chinese New Year. If you don't behave, once I thrust my knife in, you will see King Yan before me."

She held the man to his feet with her knife, and kicked open the huge stone slab at the mouth of the well. At that moment, the bandits who were looking for someone in the Fan family yard heard the noise and came over to the backyard.

Several torches illuminated the small space. The group saw Sui Yuanqing pressing a woman against the corner of the wall. A discarded door panel fell to the ground, and it seemed that the movement just now was caused by the door panel falling to the ground.

Little did they know that underneath the door panel was the bloodletting knife that had made a big hole in Sui Yuanqing's shoulder blade.

As Yuan Qing's injuries had not healed, he was wearing a thick cloak on his shoulders. At this moment, the woman's figure was completely hidden in the cloak.

A group of bandits saw this and couldn't help but smile knowingly.

One of them said, "We have ruined the Fifth Master's good deeds."

Sui Yuanqing just laughed and scolded: "You know it but why don't you get out?"

As he grabbed Fan Changyu's lower back, the boning knife in Fan Changyu's hand moved forward a little, and the flesh on his chest was shallowly cut. The coldness of the blade pressed against the flesh. Sui Yuanqing finally retracted his hand, and the hand fell lightly on Fan Changyu's clothes. At first glance, it looked like a hug.

He lowered his voice and smiled, "You want to take me as a hostage. If I don't use this method, how can I get you out and hide the fact that there is someone in the well for you?"

Fan Changyu said nothing, but the blade did not move forward any further.

She seemed to be leaning in his arms shyly, with her face mostly covered by her cloak, but in fact she was holding a knife to his vital point with a cold look in her eyes.

Sui Yuanqing lowered his eyes to look at her white ear, the only thing visible in the firelight. He felt an itchy pain at the roots of his teeth. He wished he could bite her earlobe, preferably until it bleeds, leaving a tooth mark on it.

Just thinking about this, I felt inexplicably happy in my heart.

He fell into the hands of this woman twice, and each time was more painful than the last.

Unexpectedly, he did not feel annoyed. Instead, this feeling was strange and new to him since he was used to seeing women obeying him.

Like taming a wild horse, he likes the feeling of being tamed slowly by himself.

But the scene of her calling the man in the green ghost mask when he pulled her down from the building flashed before his eyes again. The itching at the root of his teeth became even worse. He lowered his head slightly and asked her in her ear: "Why didn't the masked man come out to help you?"

Fan Changyu moved the boning knife in his hand forward without hesitation.

Feeling the coolness in his chest, Sui Yuanqing straightened up with a faint smile on his face.

To outsiders, this scene was seen as him flirting and saying something to the woman in his arms, and a group of thieves kept looking under Yuan Qing's cloak with lustful and evil eyes.

However, Fan Changyu's entire body was covered by the cloak. They only felt that Fan Changyu seemed taller than ordinary women, but they could not see anything else.

Sui Yuanqing said: "Let's go, my brother must be waiting anxiously."

Fan Changyu hid himself under the cloak and walked out with the boning knife against the man, with a plan in mind.

After this incident, few thieves paid attention to the well in the yard.

The dry well was originally used as a cellar, with a rope ladder inside. Once the bandits left, the people in the well could climb up along the rope ladder.

She just had to hold this man hostage, and wait until Aunt Zhao and the others took Changning away, and then have him take her to a secluded place, where she could handle his escape alone.

It’s just that…after the Jizhou government put down the rebellion, they found out that this man was a rebel from Chongzhou. How did he collude with this group of bandits?

The notice posted by the government did not mention Sui Yuanqing's identity, and Fan Changyu only knew that he was a traitor, not that he was the prince of Changxin.

While Fan Changyu was still pondering the reason, a voice suddenly came from outside the alley: "The boss is here!"

Fan Changyu glanced calmly at the leader the bandits were talking about, but saw that the other party had an ugly face and the whip in his hand was swung directly towards him.

Fan Changyu knew that he could not block the whip, so he pulled the boning knife to the side the moment the scarred man swung the whip.

She didn't stab any further, but only made the wound bigger.

Sui Yuanqing felt her silent threat and the smile on her face deepened. When the whip was about to fall on her, she grabbed it with her bare hands.

The whip was bent back to the back of his hand, and a swollen mark instantly appeared on the back of his hand. However, he seemed to feel no pain and looked up at the scarred man on the horse: "Brother, what are you doing?"

The scarred man shouted, "You want to take this woman back to Qingfeng Village?"

Sui Yuanqing said nonchalantly, "It took a lot of effort to finally find someone that suits my taste."

The scarred man threw a knife at Sui Yuanqing's feet and said, "If you still want to marry Shisan Niang, kill this woman."

The author has something to say:

A little spoiler, the Marquis will meet Changyu in the next chapter, but not on the battlefield. I can’t spoil more!