Chapter 7: Choose one of the two, she chooses to let him get hurt

Hearing her say this, Yang Yan suddenly remembered the rainy night when he was lecturing on classics to the young emperor who had not yet ascended the throne in Wenhua Hall.

He remembered how Zhou Jiu had hurried from the Marquis's residence to the palace, kneeling and begging for an audience. Upon meeting him, he simply asked him to save his wife's life. At the time, the Wujiang Rebellion had just been quelled, and the court was in ruins. He had no interest in hearing about these harem disputes. Besides, Madam Chai was Chai Heng's biological mother. No matter how much a mother felt her daughter was failing, she wouldn't resort to ruthless violence.

Furthermore, he secretly felt that she deserved a lesson, so he coldly said to Jiujiu, "Shouldn't she be punished? Tell Chai Heng that she should know whether she deserved it or not."

Later, when he returned to the mansion, he saw the bloodstains in the courtyard that had not yet been cleaned up and blood marks all over her back. She was dying and half dead, and was drowsy with fever, but no one came to treat her injuries. He felt that this punishment was indeed too severe.

"You only remember the times when I treated you badly. Does that mean there were no times when I treated you well?" He lowered his eyes and spoke in a low voice.

Chai Heng stood firm on his back and was trying to push open the window: "Of course there is, that's why I can still talk to you like this."

The walls of this dungeon were too high and too slippery. Chai Heng pushed the window open for a long time, but she found that Yang Yan still needed to stand up. She had to step on his shoulders. Just stepping on his back would not work.

Thinking of this, she first asked him politely: "Can I step on your shoulders?"

There were still a few bruises on his shoulders from the whip. Chai Heng had seen them when she was applying medicine to him. She just stepped on them. Regardless of whether it hurt him or not, she was mainly worried that he might lose his balance and fall on her.

"Can."

"Then you have to hold my feet steady." Chai Heng was still a little worried.

Hearing that she didn't trust him so much, Yang Yan couldn't help but sneer at her: "Did I throw you before?"

Chai Heng: "Not really."

But times have changed, so people always have to be more careful.

Thinking of this, she shifted her footing and placed it firmly on Yang Yan's shoulder. Perhaps the place where she stepped on him wasn't quite right, as she felt the man's back stiffen for a moment when she stepped on him. However, out of respect for her reputation, she didn't groan. She froze for a moment, then shifted again, slightly avoiding his injury.

Feeling that she was deliberately avoiding his wound, Yang Yan lowered his dark pupils and stood up very steadily. Although he was a civil official with a seemingly weak face, he was very strong and had an upright and tall figure, so it was very smooth for him to hold her up.

This time, Chai Heng was finally able to see outside through the window without any effort. After confirming that there was only one guard outside the dungeon, she took the rope out of her sleeve again and handed it to Yang Yan: "Take this end first. The rope is long enough. Once I flip over and kick the guard over, I'll pull you out."

She was agile and deft, and as soon as she finished speaking, Yang Yan felt a lightness on his shoulders, and then he saw Chai Heng had already climbed out of the window.

Not long after, accompanied by the wailing of the guards guarding the dungeon, Yang Yan heard Chai Heng's voice again through the wall:

"I'm going to pull you up, so you can climb along the wall yourself."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yan wrapped one end of the rope around his hand twice. Then, using Chai Heng's strength, he climbed upwards, and like her, he successfully flipped through the window and out of the dungeon. The original guard was still screaming, and when he saw Yang Yan flipping out, Chai Heng quickly freed one hand and stuffed a piece of cloth into the guard's mouth, blocking his mouth tightly.

Outside the dungeon was Tuoba Yuanli's camp. The military tents were separated by a long distance, and the vast grassland was still covered with snow that had not yet melted.

Yang Yan wasn't a military commander, so Chai Heng usually did the wall-climbing. He was the one being stepped on, but he suddenly flipped himself free, rolling on the ground. He was rarely this disheveled. His snow-white clothes, shimmering with gold, were stained with mud, even getting stuck in his hair. But his face remained as strikingly handsome as ever.

What a pale face.

What a pity, he is not well behaved enough to be a gigolo.

Chai Heng seized a whip from the guard, thinking that he could use it next time if his sword broke. At this moment, for some reason, he had some bad thoughts. He swung the whip in the air and took advantage of Yang Yan's lack of time to hit him hard on the buttocks.

A burning pain shot through an indescribable part of his body. Yang Yan's expression froze for a moment, and his ears suddenly turned red and hot. After a long while, he said coldly, "You hit me?"

There were so many emotions in his eyes that Chai Heng couldn't taste and understand them all.

Chai Heng thought that she had been very kind to him and only whipped him symbolically. If it were someone else who was cruel, even whipping him eight hundred times would not satisfy her hatred.

"Okay, stop being so pretentious and get up quickly."

Chai Heng lowered his head and put the captured trophy into his sleeve, letting him get up. At this moment, several blinding torches illuminated their faces.

The dungeon, which was originally empty except for the unlucky guard, was now surrounded by people. Chai Heng raised his head and first saw Tuoba Yuanli's tough face and tall figure, then Xu Jianxian, who was tied up like a dumpling and had escaped being tied up because he was holding a child, but Ji Changqing, who was trembling with fear and red eyes.

“You’re not…”

"Xiao Shisan is crying. The two of us have been found." Ji Zhangqing said tremblingly, his legs shaking.

No one knows what the Tuoba family ate to grow up. The brothers are all very tall, and one fist can be as strong as two men from the Central Plains. Ji Changqing stood beside Tuoba Yuanli, always feeling that he would die under this iron fist at any time.

Perhaps due to years of war, Tuoba Yuanli's temper was more irritable than his brother Tuoba Ying. After staring at them for a while, he first smiled, then clapped his hands and asked his subordinates to bring one person up.

The man was also a Xirong person, which could be seen from his clothes and the wolf totem on the back of his hand. However, his legs seemed to have been broken and hung limply. His bearded face was covered in blood, and his head was lowered. Only the rise and fall of his chest showed that he was a living person.

"Master Yang, thank you for this letter. It allowed me to see the true colors of my good brother and this good subordinate beside me. I told you I would treat you to a good show. Why did you think of running away with your wife like this?"

Tuoba Yuanli's hawk-like eyes flashed with a ferocious light, and he clapped his hands again. This time, two soldiers came up with animal claws. These two soldiers did not face Yang Yan and Chai Heng, but went straight to the traitor in Tuoba Yuanli's camp.

Chai Heng only saw that the dying man shook violently a few times after seeing the two soldiers, and muttered something in his mouth.

A soldier stepped forward first and crushed the man's teeth one by one with pliers.

Next came the phalanges of his ten fingers.

Violent screams and wails echoed throughout the camp, and blood mixed with the man's saliva flowed out of his mouth, which was terrifying.

He may have had enough of this kind of punishment. He wailed for a long time before fainting from the pain and fell silent. Only then did Tuoba Yuanli speak again, like a demon:

"Chop him into a pulp and drag him away to feed the dogs."

A long trail of blood marks was suddenly left on the ground where snow still remained.

For a moment, there was complete silence all around.

"We in Xirong have our own rules. Come, send this baby back and let him live well." Tuoba Yuanli magnanimously glanced at Ji Changqing, who was about to cry, and ordered his subordinates to take him away.

Seeing Ji Zhangqing being taken away, Xu Jianxian, who was tied up like a dumpling, twisted his body.

Tuoba Yuanli signaled him not to be anxious and chuckled: "You will have your part later. Don't be in a hurry to twist now. You will be in trouble then."

Having said that, he turned his gaze to Yang Yan.

"My second brother has been looking for you. I know that. This man pretended to be an idiot for a few days in my camp before escaping. He hoped to steal the military token from my second brother so that he could rescue the porters who were transporting the grain and take the grain away from me. I also know that."

"Yang Yan, you are a smart man, so you should also know that I, Tuoba Yuanli, am a brave warrior who has never been defeated in my life. I disdain to negotiate peace with your Da Qi. The only one who wants to prevent this war from happening, or to want me to lose miserably, is my second brother. I have already sent people to teach him a lesson."

Tuoba Yuanli smiled, his eyes gleaming coldly. "As for you, Lord Yang, I originally wanted to keep you under control so that you wouldn't cause any trouble before I sent troops to Daqi. But it seems you're restless. In that case, while your wife is here, how about we play a game?"

Yang Yan met his gaze fearlessly: "Whatever Your Highness desires, I will accompany you. But there is one thing: I alone am enough for Your Highness' amusement. It would be better to let these irrelevant people go."

Tuoba Yuanli shook his head and stretched his muscles. "How can we let them go? These two people are not far from you, Lord Yang. How can we have fun if we let them go? Especially, the person standing next to you is your wife. They came all the way to see you. They must like you very much."

Yang Yan said, "Your Highness doesn't quite understand. Everyone in the capital knows that our relationship is not good. Not long ago, my wife whipped me because she thought I was getting up too slowly."

Chai Heng: ...

Although she knew that he wanted her and Xu Jianxian to leave this dangerous place first, she still felt it was a bit abnormal to hear him say that out of the blue.

For some reason, after hearing Yang Yan's words, Tuoba Yuanli suddenly became excited: "That's exactly what I want. Since your wife likes to use violence, why not let her use it to her heart's content?"

There was a strange light flashing in Tuoba Yuanli's eyes. Chai Heng looked at him in disbelief. The next moment, a soldier forcibly pulled his arm and dragged him to Tuoba Yuanli's side. At the same time, a Xirong soldier kicked Xu Jianxian on the butt and kicked Xu Jianxian to Yang Yan's side.

Two teams of soldiers stood in two rows around them, holding torches. Subordinates brought two racks and tied Xu Jianxian and Yang Yan directly to them.

Xu Jianxian didn't know what they were going to do, so he gritted his teeth and cursed, "You Xirong soldiers, you bastards! You stole my food and humiliated me like this!"

Xu Jianxian is actually a very good-tempered person on weekdays, but he tends to go crazy when he meets the Xirong people.

Tuoba Yuanli had never seen anything like this before, and he actually laughed again: "If all the people of Qi were so pitiful and lovable, then there would be no need to worry about the demise of the Great Qi."

He waved his hand and ordered his men to cover his mouth.

Yang Yan was very calm and skillfully allowed the group of Western Rong people to tie him up. When his eyes met with Chai Heng, he signaled her not to panic.

The more critical the moment, the more cautious you must be. Chai Heng had probably guessed what Tuoba Yuanli wanted her to do, because while the two were tied up, a bow had been stuffed into her hand.

"You are a woman, I don't need you to shoot blindly today."

"Give you three arrows."

"I'll just state my demands once. First, each of these three arrows must draw blood. Second, you can only shoot one person with these three arrows. Madam Yang, I don't care if you intend to shoot your husband or your companion. But lastly, the person you didn't shoot is the one you wanted to save, and I will let him go back to the cabin. As for the person you shot, I will have him thrown into the wild mountains, where he will die at his own risk. Of course, you can also go find him, and I won't stop you."

"Well, now the life and death of these two people depends on your decision."

Chai Heng's palms were full of cold sweat. She looked up at the two people in the distance. If these three arrows allowed her to avoid these two people perfectly, she could do it, but every arrow would draw blood.

Seeing her hesitation, Tuoba Yuanli became more interested and even had someone beat the drum beside her.

"Madam Yang, I will count to three. If you refuse to shoot an arrow, then I will do it. If I do, your husband and your companions will all die."

abnormal.

Chai Heng cursed him in her heart, with only one thought in her mind: take a gamble. She took a deep breath, drew her bow, and swung the sharp tip towards Yang Yan.

Yang Yan seemed to have known this would be the result. He calmly waited for the arrow to arrive. The sound of the arrow breaking through the wind was in his ears. The first arrow was aimed at his arm. When the arrow was about to pierce through the flesh, he slightly tilted his arm and frowned. The arrow only slightly scratched the skin, and a little blood seeped out.

Chai Heng breathed a sigh of relief.

Many years ago, they were both gamblers, one betting on the other's future, the other betting on the other's adoptive father's military power.

And this gambling nature still exists to this day.

There is a second arrow.

In addition to her palms, Chai Heng's neck was also covered in sweat. At this moment, when she pulled the bow again, she felt her legs a little weak, but this was not the time to be afraid. She closed her eyes, and another arrow shot out into the air.

This arrow was also very clever. It passed by Yang Yan's face and only left a minor blood mark on his jaw.

Tuoba Yuanli had never imagined that a girl's riding and archery skills were so powerful. It was because he was careless before that the game became so boring.

When Chai Heng was about to imitate and shoot the third arrow, Tuoba Yuanli stopped her.

"Wait, let me help you, Madam Yang, with the third arrow."

Tuoba Yuanli walked behind Chai Heng and held her hands with his cold hands. He pretended to point the arrow towards Xu Jianxian:

"Madam Yang, how about we not shoot Lord Yang, but shoot your companion instead?"

Chai Heng despised his fickle behavior. After all, he was like this in his previous life. He had clearly promised Yang Yan that he would let her go if she won the blind shooting competition. But he got so angry after losing that he caused a lot of trouble.

Chai Heng took a deep breath and suppressed his disgust. "My companion is in poor health. He might die if shot by an arrow. Your Highness, please don't make such a joke."

Tuoba Yuanli said as if he had heard a very funny joke: "Your companion is not in good health, but what about your husband? If I hold you down and shoot Lord Yang in the heart with this arrow, do you think he will die?"

Chai Heng was stunned for a moment. She hadn't really thought Yang Yan would die. A millennium-old scourge, he always calculated everything accurately, always had everything firmly in his grasp. In Chai Heng's memory, although Yang Yan treated her just like that, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish. How could such a man die in a foreign land?

Moreover, even if he died, it was not her intention to kill him.

She refused to answer Tuoba Yuanli's unreliable questions.

Tuoba Yuanli was not in a hurry: "Do you mean to aim the next arrow at Lord Yang? I can give you a chance to change your mind. If you want to change someone else, that's fine."

Chai Heng had no intention of changing people. She would not choose Xu Jianxian to die just because Yang Yan was now her nominal husband.

Moreover, even if the arrow pierced his flesh, Yang Yan would not necessarily die.

"No."

Her voice was low, but the shape of her lips still caught the eye of Yang Yan, who was not far away. His eyelashes trembled. Although he knew that under such circumstances, it was natural for Chai Heng to choose him, for some reason, his head still throbbed with pain.

Yang Yan thought, if he was thrown onto the mountain and still had strength, he would definitely question her fiercely, asking if she had aimed her arrow at Xu Jianxian simply because she thought he was weaker and they had no chemistry, or if she had aimed her arrow at him because she thought Xu Jianxian was more important than him.

If it was the former, he could ignore her.

If it's the latter...

Then he wouldn't forgive her easily.

The author has something to say:

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The male protagonist is currently in a state of confusion. He still thinks that the female protagonist is just being angry with him and they will reconcile.

After the big madness later, it was discovered that the heroine's good temper was only because she really had to leave, and her mind became a little more normal.