Chapter 59

The weather today is not very good. The snow has not stopped and there is a layer of thin ice floating on the edge of the river.

Just as Fan Changyu swept away the bandits clinging to the side of the boat with a bamboo pole, the young man behind him suddenly shouted. Fan Changyu turned around and saw a bandit grabbed one of his feet and was trying to drag him into the water.

Another bandit climbed up at the stern and was about to climb up, but Fan Changyu was unable to do anything else. She gritted her teeth, kicked the bandit away, and poked him with a bamboo pole. The bandit who was holding the young man's ankle was pushed into the water before he could even breathe. The icy river water poured into his mouth and nose, and he was choked half to death.

The young man struggled to get up. Half of his foot was dragged into the water. His trousers and socks were soaked. The biting cold made his lips turn pale, but he still remembered to thank Fan Changyu: "Thank you, young lady..."

His eyes suddenly changed and he shouted, "Be careful!"

Fan Changyu subconsciously moved the bamboo pole behind her. The scarred man jumped out from the bottom of the water and chopped at her fiercely with a big knife in his hand. The bamboo pole in Fan Changyu's hand was directly cut into two pieces by him.

Seeing that the blade was about to approach him, it was too late to dodge. Fan Changyu could only lean back to avoid the vital parts as much as possible, and stab out with the sharp end of the broken bamboo pole.

She wanted to save someone even if she died, and the bamboo spear in her hand did pierce the scarred man, but the knife that was about to hit her left shoulder failed to come down.

There was a sharp sound of wind breaking through the air, and the arrowhead carrying a force of a thousand jin almost blew her hair as it flew past. Fan Changyu even felt that the air flow was scratching her cheek and it hurt.

"bite--"

With a teeth-grinding metallic sound, the arrow hit the scarred man's sword. Sparks flew, and the arrowhead shattered under the powerful collision force. The steel knife in the scarred man's hand also broke into pieces like broken ice.

Several arrows that followed also fell on the bandits who were clinging to the side of the boat.

Everyone present was shocked.

The scarred man reacted very quickly. He immediately pulled out the short blade on his body and cut off the sharp bamboo that had pierced his body. He then dived into the water and no longer stayed on the boat as a sitting target.

Fan Changyu looked in the direction where the arrow came from, and saw a team of cavalrymen with longbows rushing towards them. The officers and soldiers on horseback were all wearing the same thick armor. For a moment, he could not tell who shot the arrow that shattered the scarred man's sword.

She just thought that the Fuzhou Prefecture had learned about the tragedy in Qingping County and sent troops to suppress the bandits, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Most of the mountain bandits were a mob who could still fight with swords, but faced with the anti-bandit officers and soldiers who were good at riding and shooting, they could only hide in fear.

Arrowheads fell towards the water like locusts. The bandits crowded together again, and soon wailing sounds were heard everywhere, and the surface of the river was covered with blood.

Seeing that they could not get ashore and the river water was freezing cold, a group of bandits who were good at swimming simply pushed the boat that Fan Changyu was on to the center of the river underwater.

When Fan Changyu realized that the wooden boat under his feet was getting farther and farther away from the ferry, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Once they were out of the range of the arrows, and she was the only one on the boat, it would be even more difficult for her to deal with these desperate bandits.

Moreover, the current in the middle of the river was so fast that the boat was carried downstream at a rapid speed without any need to paddle.

The officers and soldiers on the shore had apparently noticed this and had stopped shooting arrows. Some officers and soldiers who could swim took off their thick armor and dived into the river.

The bandits who had pushed the boat away from the ferry now emerged from the water and tried to seize the boat again. Fan Changyu ignored the young man and grabbed him by the collar, saying, "Excuse me!"

Then he threw it hard towards the officers and soldiers who were entering the water.

The young man was so frightened that he only had time to call out "girl" before he was thrown into the water in a long arc.

It was obvious that he could not swim. It took him a long while to get up. He slapped the freezing water desperately and shouted for help.

The officers and soldiers who swam over had to struggle to avoid his hands, grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him to the shore.

Xie Zheng watched this scene on the shore, his lips tightly pursed, and he drew the bow in his hand again. The bodyguard thought that the boat had drifted too far, which was far beyond the range of the bow and arrow. The next moment, he saw white feather arrows flying out from his bowstring like explosions, and in the distance, on the surface of the river close to the boat, corpses slowly floated up.

The landlubber cavalrymen on the shore were stunned at first, and then burst into cheers.

Xie Zheng's face was still cold.

The boat had reached the center of the river and was being carried downstream by the current. Bows and arrows could no longer reach the bandits hiding under the boat.

The young man who was rescued had a pale face and was soaking wet. He lay on the ground and vomited several times. After he recovered, the first thing he did was to say to the officers and soldiers around him: "Hurry up and save the girl on the boat!"

Xie Zheng glanced at him coldly, pulled the reins, and sped away towards the official road along the river.

The guards realized that he was going to chase the ship by land, so they quickly followed him on horseback.

-

Fan Changyu stood on the boat holding a half-cut bamboo pole. After he pushed down the last bandit who tried to climb up, the river surface became calm for a while, as if the bandits hiding under the wooden boat were all dead.

She did not dare to be careless. She carefully observed the river surface for a while and made sure that there were only ripples on the water. Then she went to the bow to pick up the oar and planned to row to the shore.

She had just rowed twice when suddenly a large splash of water came towards her from underwater, and a bandit emerged immediately. Fan Changyu was startled and took the oar to shoot him.

Unexpectedly, the bandit was actually dead. While she was patting the dead bandit, the scarred man jumped up along the side of the boat and slashed Fan Changyu's neck with a dagger. Fan Changyu dodged to the side, but the dagger still cut a long gash on his arm.

Fan Changyu groaned in pain and turned the oar in his hand, hitting the scarred man with the handle where he had been stabbed by the bamboo pole.

Although the scarred man successfully got on the boat, he staggered back a step due to another injury on his abdomen and fell onto the wooden boat. The vein on his forehead bulged due to the pain.

Fan Changyu pulled out his boning knife and stabbed at him. The scarred man's pupils shrank, and he rolled over to avoid the attack. He then hid at the stern of the boat and discussed with Fan Changyu: "Lady, neither you nor I want to die in this river and be eaten by fish. Instead of fighting and both of us getting hurt, why not just shake hands and make peace for now? We can repay each other later if we have any favors or grudges."

Fan Changyu seemed to really think about it carefully, and finally put away the knife and said, "Okay."

The scarred man seemed to be relieved, but he still stayed at the stern, not daring to let his guard down at all.

After passing that section of rapids, the river level dropped slowly and the boat slowed down. We could already see the team of cavalry chasing us from the shore.

Xie Zheng was running in the front. The official road was on high ground. He took a look at the distance from the riverside to the boats in the middle of the river, and whipped his horse twice. The horse galloped away, leaving his bodyguards behind. After running some distance past the boat on the river, he abandoned the horse, walked almost all the way to the riverside, took off his armor, and jumped into the river bare-chested.

The boat was moving forward along with the current. If he swam across to the center of the river, he had to run forward for some distance before he could catch the boat when he swam across to the center of the river.

On the boat, the scarred man only noticed the cavalrymen chasing him, and his face showed anxiety. Fan Changyu said very considerately: "How about I give you the oar and you row it yourself?"

The scarred man nodded hesitantly.

Fan Changyu picked up the oar from the bow and threw it over. At the same time, she also threw the boning knife over. She then picked up the bamboo pole that had been cut to only two feet long and stabbed the scarred man.

Under the triple attack, the scarred man had no time to dodge. He could only try his best to avoid the boning knife that was pointing straight at his throat, and then reach out to intercept the sharp bamboo that Fan Changyu was stabbing at him. The oar hit him head-on in the face, and the root of his nose was almost broken, and his nose bled.

However, he did not expect that the bamboo pole in Fan Changyu's hand was also a cover.

Fan Changyu endured the excruciating pain and picked up the bamboo pole with her dislocated hand. She had tried to reattach her hand before, but she was not a doctor after all, and this was the first time she had suffered such a serious injury, so Fan Changyu could not find the right position to set the bone.

After pushing the hand bone upwards, although my left arm can now move, it hurts like a broken bone every time I move it, so I naturally can't use any strength.

When the scarred man grabbed the bamboo pole, Fan Changyu grabbed his hair with her right hand and pushed him into the water. Her eyes were fierce at that moment.

The scarred man struggled to get up, but the hand pressing on the back of his head was so strong that he couldn't get up.

The icy-cold river water poured into my mouth and nose, almost choking my lungs.

The scarred man's struggle was so weak that Fan Changyu grabbed his hair and lifted him up. The scarred man coughed and lost his dignity. He begged for mercy, "Lady, please spare my life. I will work like a slave for you from now on..."

Fan Changyu thought of the mourning hall covered with white cloth and the bodies of his parents in the coffin. His eyes turned cold and he pushed the man into the river again. After a while, he pulled him up and said with hatred: "Did you kill a retired escort for the treasure map?"

The scarred man thought she was asking for money, so he quickly explained: "The treasure map is fake. The real treasure map is in the hands of Prince Changxin. However, I have been running Qingfeng Village for many years, and Qingfeng Village is not the only place I stay. I have hidden all my money somewhere else. Lady, please spare my life, and I will give all my treasures to you..."

Fan Changyu said coldly, "You are such a wicked person, how can you live? How many people died in Qingping County last night? Let me ask you, did you kill the escort?"

The scarred man had been in the underworld for many years. He could tell that Fan Changyu was seeking revenge, so he said hurriedly, "I didn't kill him. It was the third brother who did it."

The enemy was right in front of her. Fan Changyu's blood was gushing out. She grabbed the scarred man's hair with such force that her knuckles turned white. "Did the third in command of your cottage kill him?"

The scarred man said hurriedly, "Yes, yes, yes."

Fan Changyu shouted, "You are all the same. I will kill you first, and then I will kill you, the third leader of the village, to avenge my parents!"

The scarred man shouted, "Are you Ma Taiyuan's daughter? Ma Taiyuan is a banished man, how could he have any descendants?"

Fan Changyu was stunned: "Who is Ma Taiyuan?"

The scarred man said, "He is the chief escort of the Sihai Escort Agency. He was the one who was responsible for escorting the treasure map. The lady should know his name after asking around."

He paused, then asked, "Did the heroine seek the wrong enemy?"

The government clearly said that their father was the one who escorted the treasure map, so how did it become Ma Taiyuan?

Fan Changyu was filled with doubts and asked, "Were the couple surnamed Fan who died at Huchakou in Qingping County last November killed by people from your Qingfeng Village?"

The scarred man complained: "The only murder our brothers committed in Qingping County was last night. We have never killed anyone in Qingping County before."

Fan Changyu suspected that he was deceiving him in order to save his life, so he pushed him back into the river: "Tell the truth!"

The scarred man was almost dead from the struggle. When he was picked up again, his face was blue and purple. The cold river water made him unable to open his eyes. He just shouted: "I really told the truth. Last November, the village was competing with the Black Dragon Village. We didn't go out to rob people. If the lady doesn't believe me, you can go and ask on the street."

Fan Changyu was really confused now. So, those black-clad men who attacked his home several times weren't bandits?

Fan Changyu has actually fought with this group of bandits, and thinking back to the skills of those men in black back then, although he was reluctant to admit it, those men in black were all highly skilled in martial arts, and indeed did not seem like ordinary bandits.

What was the cause of death of my parents?

The cold wind and the ups and downs of emotions stimulated Fan Changyu, making her head hurt as if it was exploding.

She loosened her grip on the scarred man's hand a little, and the scarred man took the opportunity to stretch his hands back, grab Fan Changyu's arms and drag her into the river.

Fan Changyu's dislocated left arm was in excruciating pain at the slightest touch, and due to his carelessness for a moment, the scarred man was thrown into the river, causing him to gulp a mouthful of water unexpectedly.

The scarred man was humiliated by Fan Changyu for a long time, but he was not in a hurry to take Fan Changyu's life. Instead, he pressed Fan Changyu's head with a fierce look and let her sink to the bottom of the water. When Fan Changyu was almost unable to struggle, he lifted her up, and repeated this process.

"Bitch! Where's the energy that pushed me into the water just now? Why don't you fight anymore?"

His face was full of the pleasure of revenge.

Fan Changyu was truly out of strength. The extreme lack of oxygen made her try hard to breathe even though she was underwater. A string of bubbles came out of her mouth and nose, and the cold water poured into her chest, causing severe pain.

Her eyes were sore and she knew she might die here.

But what about Changning?

Changning...

A second before he lost consciousness, Fan Changyu seemed to hear a "click" sound of something dislocating its joints, and then the hand that was pulling his hair suddenly loosened, and there was a soft touch on his lips. For a person who was about to die in the cold river, that bit of warmth seemed to be the last comfort in this world.

She finally closed her eyes.

After Xie Zheng gave Fan Changyu a breath of air, he quickly held her and floated to the surface. The body of the scarred man was floating not far away, his head was twisted half a circle, his neck was weirdly twisted, and his eyes were full of fear as he couldn't close until his death.

The guards who arrived saw Xie Zheng actually jumping into the water to save people, and they quickly tread water to help.

Xie Zheng had already brought Fan Changyu to the shallow water area, and walked towards the shore with her in his arms without saying a word. His face was gloomier than ever before, and veins bulged from his arms as water dripped down. The hostility in his body made it difficult to breathe.

The guards holding the clothes wanted to call him, but they kept silent subconsciously. Then they remembered that he always didn't let women get close to him, so they said, "My Lord, let me hold this girl."

However, Xie Zheng simply ignored the hand extended by his personal soldier, and simply pulled his cloak to wrap around the soaking wet Fan Changyu, picked her up and continued walking forward.

The guards and several of his companions were stunned on the spot. Before they could come to their senses, they heard him say coldly, "Take the bandit leader's body back and whip it."

Even the personal soldiers who chopped people like cutting melons on the battlefield felt a chill down their spines when they heard this.

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