Chapter 73: A Single Cut in Two

Yu An wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, she felt there was nothing to say and remained silent.

He got back on the bus, lifted the curtain to continue waving goodbye to the elderly until the wheels started moving, then lowered the curtain.

The Shen family's property has been completely seized. I wonder how Shen Qiulan will react when this news gets back to the capital.

Yu-An had considered the worst possible outcome, but never imagined the current situation.

In the blink of an eye, the vast Shen family was destroyed.

Baozhu: "Miss, have you noticed that the old man has become less talkative lately? Before, he was so talkative with you, always worried about this and that."

Yu-an: "I've been too busy lately, so I'm probably too tired to talk."

Baozhu chuckled, "But Grandpa is still amazing. He's only been in Jiangling for a few days, and he's already managed to subdue the old folks."

Speaking of this, Yu-an couldn't help but recall the day the fire broke out.

Ji Jinghe, in a moment of foolishness, rushed into the courtyard...

She would never have believed it if Li Baozhong and Chen hadn't told her themselves.

They spoke very little along the way, and it wasn't until just before dark that their feet touched the ground.

Qingque: "Young Madam, there's only one guest room left. We'll arrange for you and Master to stay together right away..."

"No need."

Ji Jinghe spoke up, tied his horse to the post, and walked over, saying, "Give the room to the young mistress alone; I'll stay outside."

They were living there just fine before, why are they unwilling to do so today?

Qingque: "Sir, on your body..."

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he realized he couldn't say them, so he changed his words: "Sir, it's cold today. Spending the night outdoors might freeze someone to death. You are of noble birth, so you should make do for the night."

Seeing that Ji Jinghe didn't seem inclined to agree easily, Yu An interrupted, "Never mind, let's keep going. If we get to the county town before curfew, we'll have extra houses to stay in."

Qingque glanced tentatively at Ji Jinghe, and when he agreed, she couldn't help but feel worried.

With such severe injuries, can you keep traveling?

"Let's go, don't hesitate."

Ji Jinghe said coldly, his tone revealing a hint of impatience.

Yu An glanced at him and got into the carriage.

About an hour later, we arrived at an inn in the county town. The conditions there were much better than before. The inn was brightly lit, and the lobby was full of people. As soon as we entered, the chill on our bodies was instantly dispelled.

Baozhu took off Yu'an's mink cloak so that she could feel more comfortable.

"Young Madam, please sit down and have your meal. Master has gone upstairs to change his clothes," Qingque said, quickly pulling out a chair for Yu'an.

Yu An sat down, and the waiter immediately brought out two small dishes.

When all the food was served, the people upstairs hadn't come down yet. Qingque told them to eat first, saying that Ji Jinghe still had something to attend to.

I had barely picked up my chopsticks when I heard the people at the next table excitedly talking about something.

"Do you know what happened? I just came from Lizhou. Something terrible has happened in Lizhou!"

"What major event has occurred? Has the sky fallen?"

The group burst into laughter.

The man tapped the rim of his bowl, his face serious: "To be honest, even if the sky were to fall, Qian Zhang, the political advisor of Lizhou, and the Shen family were caught smuggling overseas by a high-ranking official in the capital!"

"I heard that this high-ranking official in the capital is actually the Shen family's nephew."

"The Shen family? Are you referring to the Shen Yi family, whose business is extremely large?"

"It's him."

Everyone sighed in dismay, lamenting the cruel twist of fate. The Shen family, at the height of its power, had been brought down by its own nephew.

"This can be considered sacrificing family for the greater good. Would the mother of this high-ranking official have wanted her family treated like this?"

"Even if they don't want to, what can they do? The Emperor already knows about it, can they go back on their word?"

"No wonder the Shen family rose to power so quickly; it turns out they were involved in these despicable schemes. No wonder..."

"Alright, alright, let's just listen to other people's business. Eat and sleep quickly, and set off early tomorrow morning. There are a lot of bandits in this area, so we don't want them to intercept our goods."

"What a foul mouth..."

The loud voices of the rough men reached Yu'an's ears without her having to pay attention.

I never imagined that the news would reach this point.

After eating until they were half full, they went back to sleep. The next day, at daybreak, they set off to continue their journey.

Ji Jinghe's complexion was not good; his face remained pale for several days.

"This time we will be traveling through the night, so bring plenty of food and warm clothes. If you need anything along the way, just let us know."

"good."

After a bumpy ride, Yu'an and Baozhu were both uncomfortable. At first, they could talk to relieve their boredom, but later they couldn't even speak. It wasn't until evening that they were able to get out of bed and get some fresh air.

Ji Jinghe handed over the freshly baked steamed buns; the outer layer was crispy, not burnt, and tasted just right.

Baozhu took out the braised beef from the package and told Yu'an to eat it. Yu'an took a few slices and handed the rest to Ji Jinghe.

"You can use it," he refused.

All around was quiet; not even a cold wind could be heard, only the faint crackling of the flames burning.

While eating steamed buns with braised beef, I could always hear noises coming from the bushes.

Looking around, there was nothing strange about it.

Baozhu leaned close to Yu'an and said, "Miss, look at the old man's face. Isn't it getting worse?"

Yu An glanced over, but couldn't discern anything at a glance.

"Did you hear something? From the bushes."

Baozhu glanced at the bushes and shook her head.

The smell of burning firewood filled her nostrils, and Yu'an suppressed her suspicions and took a sip of water.

She must be still feeling uneasy because of the lingering fear from the last assassination attempt by the Shen family.

"Don't worry, young lady, with me here, nothing will happen."

Yu An could faintly smell gunpowder, but seeing Ji Jinghe quietly munching on his pancake beside her, she couldn't say anything.

He didn't say anything; it was probably just her imagination.

Qingque offered Ji Jinghe a packet of dried cured meat, but he waved it away as usual.

Even Yu An couldn't finish a dry biscuit, but Ji Jinghe managed to eat half of it.

"That pancake had no taste at all, how could the old man eat it?" Baozhu whispered from behind.

Yu An was also surprised, Ji Jing was such a picky eater before...

After resting for about an hour and feeling a bit better, we continued on our way.

Perhaps because of the journey, I couldn't fall asleep even when it was time to go to bed.

Yu'an and Baozhu were playing backgammon in the carriage when the carriage suddenly stopped, and Baozhu was almost thrown out.

"Be on guard! Bandits are in the mountains!"

It was Wei Ji's voice.

Before they could react, more instructions came from outside the car.

"Stay inside and don't come out."

Immediately, the sounds of clashing swords rang out one after another, extremely chaotic, making it impossible to tell which direction the sounds were coming from.

A moment later, a very bright whistle sounded, and the sound of horses' hooves pounded away until it disappeared into the distance.

Yu An lifted the curtain; the ground was a mess, and no one was there anymore.

"The person ran away, everything's fine now."

Yu An patted Bao Zhu and stood in front of the car to check the surroundings. Suddenly, with a "clang," Ji Jinghe's sword fell to the ground.

"Grandpa, are you alright?" Qingque ran forward and hurriedly picked up the sword.

The light was dim, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds, so Yu'an had to jump out of the car and go forward to check.

"You're injured," Qingque said.

Wei Ji blamed himself: "I shouldn't have asked you to take action just now. Your right hand is already injured, so you can't wield a sword."

"You were already injured?" Yu An asked in surprise.

Wei Ji paused for a moment, then awkwardly looked away and stopped talking.

"Since there's nothing else, let's get going and reach the city by tomorrow morning."

Ji Jinghe clutched his arm, and Yu An examined it closely. There was indeed a large gash on his shoulder, and a patch of his clothing was already soaked with blood.

"No matter how important it is to get on the road, let's treat the wound first."

Yu An spoke up on his own: "Qing Que, tell someone to light a fire and bring the medicine you carry with you."

Yu'an turned to the carriage, and Baozhu, seeing this, hurriedly climbed into the carriage and took out a package containing a clean handkerchief.

Wei Ji, who was often on the road, had a good understanding of external injuries. He treated Ji Jinghe's wounds as best he could by the firelight.

Yu An stood to the side, and only then did she get a clear look at his appearance—

Her entire right arm was covered in blisters and was covered in blood. Combined with the previous injury, there wasn't a single good spot on her arm. Not to mention Ji Jinghe had to endure the pain of applying the wound medicine, even just standing by and watching made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Aside from being injured in the bombing that day while arresting people, I had never heard of him being injured before. How could he have become so seriously injured so suddenly?

Yu An opened her mouth, preparing to ask several times, but couldn't bring herself to say it.

After looking for a short while, she turned around and moved to the side.

Baozhu: "Where did the old man get so many injuries? They look like burns to me. When I was applying the medicine, the veins were bulging out."

Yuan:......

Baozhu: "Do you think Grandpa was burned when he rushed into the fire that day? I noticed he looked unwell that day."

Yu An didn't believe it: "Such a big man, if he was burned, why would he hide it from others? Besides, he held the reins well the whole way, didn't he?"

Baozhu pouted and muttered, "Maybe he just got jealous when he saw the young lady and the young master of the Zhang family together and didn't want to talk about it. The young lady even personally wiped his face. If you were the husband, would you want to see your wife wiping another man's face?"

Yu An scoffed, "He's not that kind of person... I've seen him say nice things in my life, but I've never seen him suffer injustice."

Baozhu shook her head repeatedly, "She wouldn't have done that before, but who knows now? Has the young lady forgotten what happened at Tantuo Temple?"

During her time at the temple, Ji Jinghe chased after her for a whole month, but he never uttered a single word of sob story.

Yu An looked toward the firelight and could still hear what Wei Ji was saying.

"The heat toxin can't dissipate from the body, so it's bound to hurt. Please bear with it a little longer, sir. We'll find a doctor tomorrow to prescribe some new medicine. This wound medicine doesn't work for burns."

Even when no birds could be seen flying in the woods, Ji Jinghe was drenched in sweat, which was reflected in the firelight.

He was a noble young master, and he had never been so down on his luck before. Even when he was standing in the rain waiting for her at Tantuo Temple, he had never been like this.

"Sir, your kung fu is excellent. Those bandits with their mediocre skills are no match for you. It's because of these injuries that you can't hold your sword properly. If it weren't for investigating the case, sir..."

"Shut up."

Qingque quickly covered the mouth of the person next to her, and then looked at Yu'an in the distance.

Yuan:......

Standing aside and watching, Ji Jinghe dressed and mounted his horse without saying a word.

She didn't want to ask him, so she settled back into the carriage and continued on her journey.

Ji Jinghe is a straightforward person who can't stand stupid people and doesn't do foolish things; she knows this all too well.

Even the time he claimed to be investigating the case for her recently seemed like a show, putting on a show for others. Even if he didn't say anything, it was only because he felt it was unnecessary or important that he told her.

All of this makes this feeling truly elusive.

She couldn't tell who it was for...

"Tell me, is he working so hard to investigate the case for my sake or for his own?"

Baozhu, who had been dozing off, suddenly became alert. After a moment of reflection, she said, "Isn't it all right? Didn't you say that you asked the Emperor for an imperial decree? If we don't do a good job, how will we explain it to the Emperor?"

"So he was doing it for himself?"

Baozhu: "It's hard to say, maybe both. After all, if such a big thing is done well, His Majesty will reward you, sir."

That makes sense.

Yu An agrees.

After a long journey that lasted all night, Yu'an fell asleep leaning against the side of the car. As the car gradually slowed down, she estimated that they were almost in the city.

After Qingque settled them in the inn, Yu'an and Baozhu immediately lay down to sleep.

After waking up at noon, I thought about going out for some fresh air.

Baozhu was still asleep, so she put on the cloak herself and went to sleep.

There weren't many pedestrians on the street, and not much for sale. Feeling bored, I decided to head back, but then I ran into Ji Jinghe, who was also heading back, at the entrance of the inn.

He had lost weight, and in his new robe, he looked much more imposing.

"I saw what you like to eat when I was passing by, so I bought it for you."

Ji Jinghe handed it to her, adding, "Take this snack and have a taste."

Yu An glanced at the paper package in his hand but did not reach for it.

"I don't like it, sir, you should keep it for yourself."

Ji Jinghe's hand froze in mid-air.

If he remembered correctly, he often saw this kind of pastry on the table in Banmuyuan when they were in the capital. She loved to eat it.

"If you don't like this, you can have something else instead..."

"I don't want any snacks."

"If you want to eat it, you can buy it yourself."

She met those dim eyes. "From now on, I won't need your help with my affairs. After we return to the capital, let's cut all ties."