Chapter 49 Chapter 49 The lightning struck a white falcon...

"Sir," the guard handed over a clean towel, "you're all wet. Wipe yourself first."

Su Guanzhang thanked him and started wiping it.

But it didn't help much. He only managed to dry his face, while his hair and body were still dripping with water. Soon, a puddle of water had accumulated in the front room. The guards, who had been prepared, spread a large towel on the ground to absorb the water.

Xuan Jinyu, who heard Su Guanzhang's voice, opened the car door and saw this scene.

She quickly retreated back into the carriage.

The carriage door was not closed, and Su Guanzhang saw her rummaging through the box containing their clothes.

"Jinyu, stop looking. I have to go out later." Looking at Xuan Jinyu's flustered and clumsy appearance, he couldn't help but speak.

Although the carriages brought by Xuan Wensheng had been thoroughly modified and could withstand wind and rain, no one knew how long the rain would last, and they couldn't stay in the carriage forever.

Even if the women and children could fit in the carriage, getting food and water would still be a problem.

What's more, there were more than a hundred people outside, who could only barely take shelter under the rocks, and everyone was soaked.

Then there are the horses. Now that these horses have been pacified, they can still remain quiet in the thunder, but if it continues for a long time, there is no guarantee that they will not be frightened and go crazy.

Therefore, the most important thing is to find a safe place to shelter from the wind and rain.

There was another thunder, which seemed to resound through heaven and earth.

Xuan Jinyu, who was about to speak after hearing Su Guanzhang's words, couldn't help but shudder. Xu Yuniang lovingly held her in her arms, saying, "Jinyu, don't be afraid."

Su Guanzhang subconsciously wanted to step over the carriage door, but as soon as he moved, water on his body began to pour down, and he stopped moving.

Xuan Jinyu looked over through the carriage door, and Su Guanzhang clearly saw the grievance in her eyes.

Yes.

On ordinary days, they were rarely apart. Now that it was a rainy day and in such a difficult environment, she needed his company and comfort even more.

Su Guanzhang took the clean clothes handed to him by Xu Yu Niang and closed the carriage door.

The guard turned around consciously, and Su Guanzhang quickly took off his wet clothes, dried himself, and changed into dry clothes.

He wrapped his wet hair in a towel and dried it using his inner strength.

When he opened the door of the carriage, he felt refreshed again.

"Jinyu, I'm here." Su Guanzhang walked into the carriage, took Xuan Jinyu from her mother's arms, and let her sit on him.

"Are you not scared?" he asked, taking her pulse.

Xuan Jinyu leaned her head on his shoulder, and her tears quickly soaked the dry clothes he had just changed into.

She hugged the man tightly, and indulged herself in vulnerability amid the increasingly heavy rain and roar.

The thunder was very scary, as if it wanted to scare away the uninvited guests who broke into the mountains; lightning wandered in the clouds, the pale purple light against the black clouds, giving a creepy feeling as if it wanted to destroy everything.

"Bang~"

The car window was hit hard by something, the window frame shook a few times, and the crackling sound of raindrops falling returned.

Not long after, Xuan Wensheng got on their carriage holding something white.

"The lightning hit a white falcon." He paused when he saw Xuan Jinyu clinging to her brother-in-law, her body trembling slightly.

However, his voice had already attracted Xuan Jinyu's attention, and she turned her head to look towards the front room.

"Its right leg was burned by lightning and it can't fly." Xuan Wensheng stood at the door and didn't go in. He just handed the gyrfalcon in his hand to Xu Yu Niang.

"I thought it might be a good companion for my sister."

Just like Su Guanzhang just now, Xuan Wensheng was also dripping with water all over his body at this time, and the large square towel on the ground had been replaced by another one by the guards.

"It won't hurt anyone, right?" Xu Yu Niang held the white falcon in both hands. Seeing that it was a bird of prey and now looked wilted, she was still a little worried.

All gyrfalcons are ferocious, and this one has never been tamed, so it must be very wild. Jinyu is now a double, and it would be bad if she got hurt.

"I had a cage made and sent it in soon," Xuan Wensheng said. It was obvious that he had thought about this problem in advance.

Xuan Jinyu turned around from Su Guanzhang's arms and looked at the white falcon in her mother-in-law's hands. She saw the pleading and defiance in its eyes.

A very contradictory look.

"No need for a cage," Xuan Jinyu carefully took the white falcon from her mother-in-law's hands, wrapped it in a dry towel, and motioned for Su Guanzhang to show it. "It's a wild animal and shouldn't be kept in a cage."

The white falcon was quite heavy, probably almost an adult, weighing several kilograms.

"Besides, it won't hurt me." She touched the white falcon's wet head, watched Su Guanzhang examine its right leg, and looked at it for a long time.

Bai Falcon seemed to understand what she said and rubbed his head against her palm.

Xu Yu Niang looked at the intelligent gyrfalcon in surprise and couldn't help but touch its head. However, it didn't take the initiative to rub against her, but turned its head away proudly.

Xu Yu Niang: "..." But she was even happier, "This falcon is really smart."

It is difficult for ordinary people to see the common gyrfalcon, let alone catch it.

Because the Xu and Su families were both military families, they could occasionally hunt one or two, and Xu Yu Niang had also seen them.

But such ferocious birds were unruly and would rather die than surrender, so in the end they had to be released to avoid taking their lives.

She felt regretful for a long time, thinking that she would never have the chance to see a gyrfalcon that was willing to approach humans in this lifetime. She didn't expect that this white falcon would allow humans to approach it without being trained.

Maybe it's because of its injury?

Watching Su Guanzhang skillfully treating Bai Falcon's injuries, Xu Yu Niang seemed to be lost in thought.

Xuan Wensheng felt relieved when he saw the white falcon staying obediently in his sister's hands.

He stuck his head out of the carriage and shouted, "We don't need the cage anymore."

Soon a distant sound was heard, and the rest of the sound was drowned out by the sound of thunder and rain.

The rain is getting heavier.

Xuan Wensheng choked on the water again, coughed a few times, spat out a mouthful of rainwater out of the car, and then quickly retracted his head.

Su Guanzhang had already applied medicine to Bai Falcon and bandaged his wound.

"It's broken. It won't be able to fly for several months," he said.

"Struck by lightning?" Xuan Wensheng asked.

How could the thunder have such great power? He only saw its charred wound.

"No," Su Guanzhang replied, carefully trimming away the burned feathers near the falcon's wound with scissors. "The fracture must have been caused by the impact with the car window."

A few people remembered the heavy bang on the car window just now, and suddenly realized what had happened.

At this time, Xuan Jinyu suddenly spoke up, "Search where it was struck by lightning to see if there is a cave that can shelter it from the rain."

Xuan Wensheng went down to make arrangements without saying a word.

Xu Yu Niang asked in confusion, "Gyrfalcons usually seek shelter in trees or bushes when taking shelter from the rain. Why would they seek a cave in the area where they were struck by lightning?"

Xuan Jinyu smiled shyly and replied to her mother-in-law, "There is no connection between the two."

"It's just intuition," she added softly, "but I have a good intuition." After saying that, she covered her face in embarrassment, obviously knowing that her explanation was not convincing.

Xu Yu Niang smiled and nodded, but she didn't really care about what Xuan Jinyu said intuitively.

It was not until Xuan Wensheng jumped onto the carriage with excitement and ordered the guards to drive that she looked at Xuan Jinyu in shock.

"It's really intuitive, huh?"

Xuan Jinyu was now happy, her eyes sparkling. "I told you I have a good intuition."

Xu Yu Niang touched her face and said, "Very good."

She sighed, "It's a great honor for the Su family's ancestors that Zhang married you."

Xuan Jinyu turned around to look at Su Guanzhang with a proud look in her eyes. That’s it!

Su Guanzhang put Bai Falcon aside on the table with a smile, wiped his freshly washed hands, and pressed her head back into his arms.

The carriage slowly stopped.

"This cave is so big." Everyone got off the carriage, looked around and exclaimed.

The cave was very spacious and could accommodate more than a hundred of them, and could even accommodate five carriages and ten horses.

"How did you find it?" Su Sheng asked. He had just been pushed into the carriage by Su Guanzhang and didn't know who found this cave.

He used his hand to push away the grass at the entrance of the cave, and then looked at the bushes and thorns that had just been cleared away and piled up high on both sides of the cave entrance. He was very surprised.

"This cave is so well camouflaged, yet we can still find it. It really is God's blessing." Old Lady Su said happily.

Most older people are somewhat superstitious. Old Madam Su used to like to go to various Taoist temples to pray to gods and Buddhas before her children and grandchildren went to the battlefield, hoping for their safe return.

Ever since the Su family successfully escaped from the death row of the Ministry of Justice, she has become more and more devoted to gods, Buddhas and Taoism, and likes to say things like "God bless you".

Xuan Wensheng was standing behind the crowd and did not hear Su Sheng's question. Chen Yang, who happened to be standing nearby, explained to him.

However, all Chen Yang knew was the superficial explanation given by Xuan Wensheng.

When Xuan Wensheng got off the carriage and led people to look for the cave, he did not say that it was Xuan Jinyu's intuition.

He only told Chen Yang, Wang Hu and others that he had just led people to search nearby to see if there were any companions of the white falcon so that they could raise them together for Xuan Jinyu to keep as companions, but they accidentally discovered this large natural cave.

After hearing this, Chen Yang and Wang Hu's teams didn't know whether they should feel grateful for their good luck or for the excessive doting on his sister by the Third Master Xuan.

He didn't even take shelter from the rain on such a terrible thunderstorm, but instead went out to look for a gyrfalcon that might or might not exist, just to cheer up his sister.

It's also a deep brother-sister relationship.

"It's actually a jade claw." Su Sheng also saw the white falcon quietly staying on the top of the carriage.

When Xuan Wensheng just brought the white falcon off the carriage, it became a little manic when it saw so many people and almost pecked him.

Xuan Jinyu, still held by Su Guanzhang, reached out to soothe the falcon, then lifted it and placed it on top of the carriage. It was relatively quiet there, with a high visibility, and the falcon slowly calmed down under Xuan Jinyu's caress.

Xuan Jinyu just got down from Su Guanzhang's arms and went to see her father-in-law after hearing the words.

Su Sheng explained to her, "The gyrfalcon is also known as the Saker Falcon. The most precious one is the Jade Claw, which is pure white." He pointed to the white falcon that was looking at him sharply.

"It seems like it's fate." Xu Yu Niang smiled meaningfully.