The carriage sped through the pitch-black night, the lanterns hanging from the front of the carriage swaying violently, their dim yellow light mingling with the hazy moonlight to illuminate the road beneath the horses' hooves.

Eight guards on horseback escorted the carriage, the sound of their hooves echoing through the woods on both sides of the road.

Inside the car, Su Yuze, with a joyful expression, repeatedly read Su Wan's handwritten letter under the flickering lights, over and over again.

Five days ago, he left the academy after school. A guard he had never seen before came up to him and handed him a letter written in Su Wan's own hand. He couldn't believe it was real until he confirmed that it was from his sister.

His sister had reclaimed Baohe Hall and the house, and Su Heng and his wife had been driven away. He could finally go home and reunite with his sister.

Unable to contain his joy, he pushed open the carriage window and asked the guard beside him, "Brother, how much longer until we reach Suiyang?"

The guard replied, "Reporting to the young master, at this pace, we should be able to reach Suiyang by noon tomorrow."

Lin Qingfeng had specifically instructed them before sending them off to return as soon as possible after picking up Su Yuze, and not to waste time on the road.

When they set off in the south, the weather was warm, and everyone didn't feel tired. The further north they went, the colder it got, and they didn't want to linger on the road. After traveling for five days, they were almost at Suiyang. They wanted to get back as soon as possible and bring Su Yuze to Su Wan, so they decided not to rest that night.

“But it’s too much for the brothers to travel all night,” Su Yuze said, clinging to the car window. “And the weather is so cold. If there’s an inn ahead, we can stop and rest.”

The guard stood up on his horse, looked into the distance, and said, "Young master, there are village lights ahead. Let's go take a look; there should be an inn there."

Su Yuze leaned out of the car window and saw a large patch of lights in the distance, densely packed like stars, scattered in a pleasing pattern, seemingly a village built against the mountainside. He said, "Let's rest there and continue our journey when it gets light."

He also longed to see his sister soon, but being kind-hearted, he didn't want the eight guards to suffer too much.

He rolled down the car window, tightened his cotton-padded coat, and touched a hard object inside. He reached out and pulled it out, feeling its icy coldness.

He still remembered that this thing was called pepper spray, and it was given to him by his sister on the day of her wedding.

I remember my sister saying that you can use this when you encounter bad people; just spray it into their mouth or eyes.

He was a well-mannered child, and his classmates at the academy were all diligent students. Even if some of the children bullied him, the guards Wei Jingzhuo had arranged for him could easily handle it, so there was no need for this spray.

He always carried this thing with him, not because he thought he could use it, but because it was given to him by his sister.

He touched the metal surface of the pepper spray, imagining the scene of meeting his sister, when suddenly he exclaimed, "Oh dear, I'm so stupid. I didn't even buy my sister any local specialties before I left."

When he received Su Wan's handwritten letter, he was overjoyed and immediately ran to tell the teacher at the academy what had happened. Because he was in a hurry to return to Suiyang, he arrived empty-handed and bought nothing.

Just as I was thinking about what to buy for my sister, a scream suddenly rang out outside the carriage; it was the driver.

Su Yuze, unaware of what had happened, quickly opened the carriage window and looked ahead. He saw the driver's body slowly tilting outwards and falling directly onto the road. The horses pulled the carriage over the driver's body and rushed away from the road towards the woods beside the road.

"What's wrong with the coachman?" he shouted to the guard closest to the coachman.

He thought the driver had suddenly fallen ill.

The guard glanced back and, by the moonlight, saw an arrow shaft protruding from the coachman's body lying in the middle of the road, its shadow flickering in the moonlight.

He was shocked and shouted to those around him, "Be careful, it's the enemy..."

Before he could finish speaking, the guard seemed to have been punched in the face, his body jerking backward and falling off his horse. However, his feet were still caught in the stirrups, and the horse continued to drag him along at full gallop.

Su Yuze finally saw clearly that the guard being dragged by the horse had an arrow stuck in his face and was obviously not going to survive.

He had never encountered this situation before and was at a loss. He quickly rolled down the car window and huddled tightly in the corner.

Outside, the sound of arrows whistling through the air mingled with the terrified shouts of the guards and the neighing of horses. The carriage swayed violently as if drunk, tilting first to the left, then to the right, and finally overturning with a loud crash.

Su Yuze rolled around in the carriage countless times before finally stopping. Fortunately, he instinctively protected his head while rolling, so he wasn't injured.

He struggled to sit up, feeling pain all over his body. It took him a while to realize that he was sitting on the car window, and the car door was now above his head.

It turned out the carriage had overturned.

He stepped onto the armrest of the seat, pushed the car door open, and climbed up by grabbing the door frame with both hands.

A guard, sword in hand, leaped onto the carriage, grabbed his hand, and lifted him out.

The guard, surnamed Zhang, was the one who brought him the letter written by Su Wan herself. He took Su Yuze's hand and said, "Young master, let's go quickly. These are no ordinary robbers."

The carriage had overturned in a grove of trees. The horses pulling it had been hit by several arrows and were lying on the ground, leaving only the wheels spinning. Three of the guards who were escorting the carriage had also been hit by arrows and were lying on the ground groaning.

Robbers are usually after money and wouldn't start by shooting arrows to kill someone. The fact that the other side killed the coachman right away clearly shows they came prepared.

Su Yuze was still a child under nine years old. Seeing everything in front of him, he had no idea what to do and just trembled all over.

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