Chapter 171 Flames Soaring into the Sky

Despite the cold weather, the sound of students reading aloud warmed the entire academy like a blazing fire.

Wan Ziyan, holding a book and wearing a blue robe, led his students through the book's contents again and again, meticulously annotating the text bit by bit.

His long robes swayed with his steps, and the ribbons binding his dark hair fluttered in the wind, like a dragon swirling behind him.

Turning around, he caught a glimpse of a flustered servant standing in the courtyard. He paused, recited a sentence from a book, and asked everyone to read it aloud twice before striding away from the study.

The servants in the house were all kept to serve the father, and they would not come to the academy to see him unless there was something urgent.

Wan Ziyan felt a little flustered, fearing that something had happened to his father.

My father's condition has worsened in the past few days; he has started coughing up blood, and his complexion has deteriorated significantly.

When they asked Doctor Ge to come and see him, they only saw Doctor Ge shaking his head repeatedly and telling him to spend more time with his father.

But the students at the academy were still there, and he couldn't leave!

Seeing his master's pale face, the servant knew what Wan Ziyan was worried about and immediately said, "Master, you're alright!"

Wan Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief, then his expression turned serious.

The servants came here either for their father or for their younger sister, Wan Qiqi!

He hurriedly asked, "Qiqi, what happened?"

"Young master, don't panic, Miss Wan is alright." The servant calmed Wan Ziyan down before carefully recounting all of Wan Qiqi's instructions to him, and added at the end, "I overheard Miss Wan talking about Yuzhou with the people around her, and it seems she is planning to go there."

Wan Ziyan's expression changed!

He knew exactly what was in the cabinet and the significance of the sachet. If Wan Qiqi hadn't encountered so many difficulties, she would never have taken it to Yuzhou to find Bai Lingxuan.

That's why he was worried—what could have made Wan Qiqi skip them and go directly to Bai Lingxuan?

"Go and find out what happened in Lotus Village today."

“Okay.” The servant replied and left immediately.

Wan Ziyan watched his departing figure, his expression filled with even greater worry.

His biggest worry was something else.

It is currently a time of struggle between the government and the mountain bandits, and the area around Yunhe County is in turmoil. If Wan Qiqi encounters the mountain bandits, it will be troublesome!

Tao Ran noticed Wan Ziyan outside and came out of the school. "Ziyan, what's the matter?"

Wan Ziyan lowered his eyes and sighed softly, "She went to Yuzhou!"

Even without Wan Ziyan saying it outright, Tao Ran knew who he was talking about. "That's good. Yuzhou is prosperous. Who knows what opportunities she might have there."

With his hands behind his back, he turned and looked at the dark sky, saying leisurely, "It's going to snow soon! The bandits are impatient; the authorities can start closing in!"

Wan Ziyan stared at Tao Ran for a long time, his eyes still dim. "If they choose to fight to the death, then things will be troublesome!"

Lianshan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it has a fatal flaw: none of the crops planted on the mountain survive. If they cannot gather enough food before the heavy snow closes the mountain, they will starve to death in the mountains.

In previous years, they could always prepare enough food before the heavy snow to last for several months with the government. But in the past two years, there has been a famine, and the people have almost no harvest. Even though the bandits plundered several villages, they still couldn't gather enough food to get through the winter, which is why the government decided to surround and starve the bandits.

Regardless of whether the plan can succeed, more and more villages are being invaded by bandits, and the bandits have even set their sights on the government.

After buying a map and some dry rations in Lotus Town, Wan Qiqi and Wu Gousheng left the town and headed northeast along the main road.

Yunhe County is located in the south-central part of Daxing Kingdom. Half of it has tributaries of major rivers, while the other half is mainly mountainous.

Yuzhou is located in the southeast of Yunhe County. It is a city with a similar character to Kyoto. In modern terms, it is a first-tier city with many merchants coming and going, and it is very prosperous.

Wan Qiqi chatted idly with Wu Gousheng along the way, but didn't learn anything about this world from him. This was because it was also his first time leaving Yunhe County.

After traveling for two or three hours, the sky began to darken.

Wan Qiqi looked at the map several times. It clearly indicated how many miles to the town, but based on their speed, they should have arrived long ago, yet they still hadn't seen the town.

She began to suspect that Wu Gousheng, who was driving, was involved in something wrong.

"Gousheng, do you know the way?"

Wu Gousheng paused for a moment, then scratched his head. "Aren't we in the Northeast?"

Wan Qiqi rubbed her forehead and couldn't help but scold herself: How could I have trusted him to know directions!

Now that winter has arrived, the leaves on the trees along the roadside have almost all fallen, making it impossible to determine direction by the leaves, let alone by cutting down trees and looking at their growth rings.

Wan Qiqi immediately stopped Wu Gousheng and told him to tie the mule to the tree.

The two found some leaves and firewood nearby, started a fire to keep warm, and waited for nightfall to fall so they could look for the North Star to find their way.

However, the weather was not kind, and the two of them fell asleep while waiting, but still no stars came out.

The fire gradually died out in the wind because no more firewood was added, and the two of them were immediately awakened by the cold.

Wan Qiqi opened her eyes to a corner of the dark night filled with red light.

"Sister, what's that?" Wu Gousheng pointed at the bright half of the sky, his eyes showing astonishment.

Wan Qiqi thought that the red light looked exactly like the firelight of a forest fire. Could it be that some villager set the forest on fire?

Just then, the moon, which had been hidden for a long time, secretly peeked out, and the stars seemed to have noticed that the dark clouds had left, so they came out one by one.

Because the firelight was so bright, the moonlight and starlight appeared very faint, but Wan Qiqi still managed to find the location of Polaris.

Once she found the North Star, she knew which way to go.

By the light of the fire, she opened the map, looked at the North Star, and her face instantly turned pale.

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