Chapter 88 I'll wait for you to come back after I die

Early the next morning, Chen Lianxiu and Zhou Linjin got up early.

As Chen Lianxiu escorted him out, he handed him a bamboo basket he had found earlier and said, "Come back soon after you catch some fish."

The sound was faint and only reached the two guards at the door, who could just hear it clearly.

The two soldiers outside had become somewhat familiar with them over the past few days. Seeing this, they laughed and said, "It's not even daybreak yet!"

"It's getting late," Chen Lianxiu said. "If His Highness wants to dine here, I can cook some fresh fish."

After saying that, she and Zhou Linjin looked at each other, and Zhou Linjin lowered his voice and said, "Let's go." Then he left quickly.

Chen Lianxiu watched him leave from outside, then turned back and slowly walked up to the guards. "You two have been so tired after guarding all night. Would you like some hot tea or something to eat?"

Because she was someone close to Shen Wuyu, the guards treated her with some courtesy. They hurriedly said, "How can your Highness's affairs be so difficult? Sister-in-law, there is no need to bother. We will leave as soon as your Highness gets up."

Chen Lianxiu stopped talking after hearing this and went back to her room. An An was still asleep at this moment, so she went over to touch her little hands and feet and breathed a sigh of relief.

Not long after, there was movement in the main house.

As Zhou Linjin had predicted, King Hui got up early in the morning. After all, he had not returned home all night, so he hurried back to the military camp.

Shen Lianxiu deliberately hid in the house and did not go out. King Hui did not notice her. He just spoke a few words to Shen Wuyu briefly and then left in a hurry.

The next few days were almost uneventful and nothing special happened.

In order not to arouse the suspicion of the scouts, Zhou Linjin tried his best to avoid them and went out during the day. Every night, he would come back quietly so as not to be noticed by the two soldiers at the door.

But it was already late at night, and Chen Lianxiu and the others had finished their meal, but Zhou Linjin had not returned yet.

Shen Lianxiu didn't say anything, but just went to wash the dishes silently. When she finished, even Shen Wuyu couldn't help it, and pulled her into the house and asked her: "Why hasn't my brother-in-law come back yet?"

"Maybe something unexpected happened," Shen Lianxiu calmed down and said, "It shouldn't be a problem. If there is something, someone would have come to find us by now."

Seeing that Shen Lianxiu looked fine, Shen Wuyu didn't ask any more questions. After a few more words, the two sisters went their separate ways. The weather was getting colder, and it was not good to let An An and Xiao Shu play outside after nightfall, so they went to bed early these days.

Chen Lianxiu put An An to sleep, then leaned on the bed to coax An An to sleep. However, even after An An fell asleep for a long time, she still sat there like that, in a daze.

It was unknown how long it had been before Chen Lianxiu heard the sound of the door opening. She finally came to her senses and first glanced at the candlestick on the table. She saw that the candle had burned much longer than before, and realized that it was already very late at night.

The room was so small that people could be seen once the door was opened. Chen Lianxiu had just quietly gotten up from the bed when Zhou Linjin came over.

He was stained with the coldness of the mountain forest at night, and there was no need for Chen Lianxiu to remind him. He did not go to the bed himself, for fear that An An would catch a cold.

"Why did you take so long?" Chen Lianxiu couldn't help but asked.

Zhou Linjin took a sip of the cold tea on the table before saying to Shen Lianxiu, "I saw Zhou Linyu."

Hearing this, Shen Lianxiu's expression changed.

"He didn't see you?"

Zhou Linjin shook his head, his expression, already stern since he entered, becoming even more solemn. He whispered to Shen Lianxiu, "I went a little further today and happened to see him leading some men, carrying many dead animals. I quietly followed them all the way, but I saw they weren't heading to the military camp, but towards the capital."

"Dead livestock..." As a doctor, Shen Lianxiu was naturally very perceptive. She immediately thought of something, but still found it unbelievable. She asked hurriedly, "Are they going to use these to harm the people of the capital?"

Zhou Linjin said, "We don't know how those animals died, but if they're dead and thrown into the water, they're very likely to spread the disease. There's a moat outside the capital, connecting to some of the city's tributaries, some even flowing into the Forbidden Gardens. If they secretly dumped these dead animals into the moat, and if they died of disease, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Chen Lianxiu was terrified when he heard this and gritted his teeth and said, "King Hui is really a scoundrel. If the disease spreads, many people will be implicated."

"They're carrying all that stuff and moving slowly, so they haven't reached the capital yet." Zhou Linjin pressed his brows hard, his eyes etched with fatigue. "But King Hui was originally waiting for the Rong army to break through the border before coming to support them. They haven't made any moves, so suddenly they've taken this action. Nine out of ten times, it's because the Rong army is about to be defeated, and he's anxious."

"We must find a way." Chen Lianxiu said.

Zhou Linjin was silent for a long time before saying, "Originally, there was a carrier pigeon that communicated between me and the capital, but these past few days, every time I released the pigeon, it would come back, but it never brought back a single message. My message couldn't be delivered."

"Could it be that King Hui's men intercepted it?"

"It's possible, but unlikely," Zhou Linjin said. "If King Hui discovered it, he could have just killed the carrier pigeon. Why would he have made it fly so many times? Or maybe he could have found me and captured me. Besides, this carrier pigeon is well-trained. If it were intercepted by a stranger, it wouldn't have returned."

Zhou Linjin paused, then continued, "I suspect something happened in the capital."

"So what should we do now?"

"I've already sent a message back, asking them to be careful with the moat. Let's see what happens first. But I'm afraid... it'll be the same as before."

As Zhou Linjin expected, the pigeon flew back the next day. The letter Zhou Linjin handed over was gone, but the pigeon still did not bring back any words.

The situation became more complicated and unclear.

The information Zhou Linjin had passed back before was not important, and it would not be a big deal if he did not reply. However, King Hui's secret plan to throw dead livestock into the moat was an extremely urgent matter, which concerned the safety of the emperor and the people of the entire city. If he did not reply, wouldn't it mean that Zhou Linjin had cut off contact with the capital? This was as serious as King Hui's discovery of them.

What exactly happened in the capital?

If we wait any longer, it will be too late.

Zhou Linjin could only think of one solution, which was to quickly set fire to those things.

But in this case, not to mention whether King Hui would suspect Shen Wuyu, it is very likely that Zhou Linyu would find out during the process, thus wasting all the previous efforts.

But this is the only way to go right now.

In fact, even if news came from the capital asking him to burn the dead livestock, Zhou Linjin would still do it. But in that case, he could send Chen Lianxiu and An An back in advance. But at the moment, he couldn't guarantee whether the city gate would be opened if he sent people back first, or whether the people on the city wall would directly shoot arrows at those who wanted to enter the city.

Zhou Linjin planned to let Chen Lianxiu take An An away from here to hide for a while. There were other farmhouses in the mountains, but because of the war, the people moved away, so many of them were empty. It was not a problem to hide people there.

Shen Lianxiu agreed, and she even wanted to take Shen Wuyu with her. However, no one would care if Shen Lianxiu took An An out, but Shen Wuyu would not be able to get away.

Shen Wuyu herself also refused: "I'm fine, he won't do anything to me."

Zhou Linjin and his family of three left immediately. Chen Lianxiu had baked some pancakes in advance and took them with her, while Zhou Linjin quietly took half a bag of rice and put it in the woods outside, and then took it back when he came out.

He had been looking around for the past few days and was quite familiar with the area. He also kept an eye out for suitable houses in case he needed anything.

Zhou Linjin placed Chen Lianxiu and An An halfway up a mountain. It was a secluded place, close to a water source, and far away from King Hui's camp. He had observed before that King Hui's men had never set foot in this area because of the mountains.

"I will be back tomorrow afternoon at the latest. If I don't come back, don't wait for me. Take An An all the way east. It will take about two hours. There will be a town not far away. When the situation stabilizes, you can go back to Baixi Village." Zhou Linjin gave a few brief instructions.

Chen Lianxiu nodded first, and when she saw Zhou Linjin was about to leave, she quickly took two steps forward and called out to him, "What will happen if you don't come back?"

Zhou Linjin said: "Dead."

The answer should have been clear a long time ago, but when she heard him say it bluntly, Shen Lianxiu felt as if a hammer had fallen on her heart, shaking her internal organs to the point of numbness.

Seeing that she was still silent, Zhou Linjin couldn't help but take a step closer to her and said, "Don't worry too much. I just scared you. It's okay. I promise I will come back."

Shen Lianxiu didn't say anything.

Zhou Linjin asked again: "If I come back, can you forgive me?"

"I'll tell you when you come back."

"Then I'll take it as your agreement." Zhou Linjin smiled, but the smile quickly faded.

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Lianxiu quickly, then quickly turned his eyes away and looked elsewhere before looking at Chen Lianxiu again.

Chen Lianxiu waved to An An, who was playing with her butt sticking out, and asked her to come over.

Because they had spent so little time together, even though An An had forgiven Zhou Linjin for making her angry last time, she was still not very familiar with Zhou Linjin. She came over to just look at Zhou Linjin first, and then threw herself at Shen Lianxiu's legs.

"Zhou Linyu is not difficult to deal with. He won't find you." Chen Lianxiu said reluctantly, as if to comfort herself, then lowered her head and pulled An An's hand, saying to her, "Say goodbye to Dad quickly."

An An raised her head and looked at Zhou Linjin again. She had two small braids on her head that were swaying back and forth. She smacked her lips but didn't say anything.

Zhou Linjin squatted down and looked at her with his eyes that were very similar to An An's. He wanted to speak but his throat choked again. He quickly covered it up and said with a smile: "An An, Daddy will be away for two days. You just be good at home."

An An blinked and suddenly asked, "Are you really my father?"

Zhou Linjin couldn't say anything this time.

He lowered his head, blinked hard, and tried his best to suppress the soreness in his eyes before he dared to look up at An An again.

"Yes." He only said two words.

Then he pulled up An An's little hand, wanting to hold it, but he couldn't bear to do it. Suddenly, An An's chubby fingers gently grabbed his palm a few times.

An An laughed and rushed over to hug his neck: "Come back soon, An An will miss you."

In an instant, Zhou Linjin could no longer hold back his tears.