Have each other
Ning Lingyi, Tuoba Hong and his group were walking in the mountains.
After a few days of getting along, the atmosphere unexpectedly became more harmonious. The Beishuo soldiers were taciturn but well-trained, and they kept the camp in good order. Although Tuoba Hong still didn't talk much, the suffocating sense of oppression around him seemed to have subsided a lot.
There were also many subtle details that really touched Ning Lingyi. Even though her father had doted on her, no one had ever done these things, just for her.
He would personally check whether the saddles of his younger brother and sister-in-law's mounts were comfortable; when Lingyao's face turned pale due to the mountain breeze, he silently handed her a thick scarf.
By the campfire, Yan He pestered him to ask how the eagles in the north hunted. He was patient and made simple sketches on the ground with branches, and spoke a few words in a low voice.
Ning Lingyi saw it all, and the resentment in her heart caused by his previous dominance was quietly smoothed out a little by these subtle cares in the intervals of her desperate escape.
She would even take the initiative to talk to him about the route, the weather, and trivial matters about her younger siblings. His responses were always brief, but when his eyes fell on her, they were focused and calm.
Sometimes, it always made her suspicious that this was not an escape.
It was another kind of trip. Walking on the unfamiliar mountain path, not only Yan and Lingyao, but even she felt a bit of wildness. The mountain was lonely, bleak and cold, with no hierarchy, and it seemed that everyone had forgotten everything.
As they walked across the vast expanse of sky and earth, her and his eyes would always cross each other's paths.
Zhaoyang remained silent, not only knowing the etiquette but also observing everything from a distance. The worry in her eyes had not dissipated despite the calmness of the past few days. Her suspicion seemed unwarranted, so she remained silent, watching her sister and future brother-in-law.
One afternoon, the sun rarely penetrated the dense forest.
The team took a short break beside a stream. Ning Lingyi sat on a rock by the stream, watching Yan He and Ling Yao playing carefully on the mountain pebbles, while Zhao Yang was guarding not far away.
The tense heartstrings of the past few days couldn't help but relax for a moment in this moment of peace and warm sunshine.
Tuoba Hong walked up to her and handed her a water bag: "Drink some water."
Ning Lingyi took it, thanked him, and drank a few sips.
The clear spring water moistened her parched throat. She looked at the seemingly endless mountains before her and sighed, "Why does it seem like I can never get out of this mountain?"
After she finished speaking, she subconsciously turned to look at Tuoba Hong, hoping to get some information about the itinerary from him.
But he didn't look at her, his gaze was cast into the deeper forest, and the lines of his profile looked a little cold and hard under the mottled shadows of the trees.
He remained silent and did not immediately respond to her unintentional words.
In this moment of silence, Ning Lingyi's heart skipped a beat.
His silence was too deliberate, his eyes averted too quickly.
wrong.
"You..." Ning Lingyi stood up, trying to see the look in his eyes.
However, a feeling of dizziness came over her, and Tuoba Hong's figure in front of her became blurred. The world was spinning, and she didn't even have time to say another word before her body fell back softly. Before her consciousness completely sank into darkness, the last thing she saw was Tuoba Hong quickly catching her arm, and the complex emotions in his eyes.
Tuoba Hong, you...
After an unknown amount of time, Ning Lingyi opened her eyes amidst a jolt.
With her vision blurred and her head heavy, she found herself lying in a moving carriage, with a thick fur blanket spread beneath her and the familiar mink cloak covering her body.
Carriage? Wasn't she walking in the mountains?
She struggled to stand up and lifted a corner of the car curtain.
Outside was an open wilderness with sparse trees and low-lying mountains in the distance. It was completely different from the layers of mountains in the deep mountains of the south. The wind was even stronger, carrying the dry and cold breath unique to the north.
She leaned forward eagerly to look, but saw only Tuoba Hong and his Beishuo cavalry in front and behind the carriage.
Where are the three familiar figures?
"Zhaoyang?" She called out in a trembling voice, but her voice was blown away by the wind.
"Yan He? Ling Yao?" No response.
As far as the eye can see, there is no one else except the people of Beishuo.
Zhaoyang, Yanhe, Lingyao...
None of them were seen!
Ning Lingyi pushed open the carriage door and shouted, "Stop!"
The carriage stopped immediately.
Tuoba Hong reined in his horse and turned around, coming to the front of the car door. He looked at the expression of shock and anger on her pale face, his eyes calm, without any surprise.
"Where are Zhaoyang and the others? Where are Yan and Lingyao?!" Ning Lingyi's voice trembled with anger and fear. She didn't dare to believe it, but she had to believe it.
Tuoba Hong looked directly at her and said, "I sent people to escort them to the capital of the Southern Dynasty. Although it's not a paradise there, the Prince of Yong has just been established, so he should show some mercy. It's better than following you to Mingzhou and dying."
"As for you," He paused for a few breaths, staring at her as if in judgment.
"Going to Mingzhou is meaningless. The Prince of Yong already holds great power in the thirteen counties and over a hundred states of the Southern Dynasty. You relying on Mingzhou alone is like an ant trying to shake a tree. Come back to Beishu with me, away from this quagmire. I will treat you well, Lingyi."
At this moment, I don’t know where I am or what time it is.
She was alone with Ning Lingyi, and Tuoba Hong and dozens of Beishuo cavalrymen.
Ning Lingyi was speechless and stared at the person in front of her, as if she saw the most terrifying devil she had ever seen in her life. It turned out that she had been traveling with the devil for many days with her closest sisters.
So much so that, they were lost.
Ning Lingyi sat slumped in the carriage, her expression difficult to discern, seeming to be sad, laughing, crying, and grieving.
She seemed to be asking him, but also seemed to be asking herself: "Tuoba Hong, why did you send them back?"
"What will happen to them if they go back? Are you trying to kill them?"
Tuoba Hong frowned, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes: "The princess and the young prince are no threat to the new emperor. Sending them back is the best arrangement for them."
"It's also the best choice for you. Going to Mingzhu will only lead to death."
"The best choice?" Ning Lingyi smiled bitterly.
As expected, her heart felt cold.
Even if there is affection, what does it matter? In the face of true power and will, a man's deep affection will ultimately be reduced to possession and control. The power of the husband has always been the power of force.
No matter how much affection he has for her, how much he cares about her, her wishes, her persistence, are all a joke in front of him, and he can decide whether she stays or leaves at will.
She raised her head, and there was no trace of the previous sorrow on her face. Only a sense of destruction remained. She turned her wrist, and the dagger that had been hidden in her sleeve was unsheathed!
The cold blade was pressed against her slender neck!
"Tuoba Hong, I really have no way to stop you from doing this."
She raised her eyes and met Tuoba Hong's without fear.
"It's just a matter of fate, so it's not a pity."
"Khan, I'm afraid you can only take one body with you today."
The wind in the fields seemed to have stopped.
Tuoba Hong looked at her, and there was an unpretentious determination in her eyes. She was not bluffing, she really would rather perish together with him than go back to Beishuo with him.
He held the power of life and death, but she threw the choice back to him in the most tragic way: take her body away, or let her go.
He never imagined that her resistance would be so tragic.
He thought she was just stubborn, he thought she could understand his good intentions, he thought time would make her think it through, he thought as long as he persisted she would accept his arrangements.
It was not until this moment, when the warm blood beads rolled down her neck, that he truly understood her. She was not any woman he had ever seen.
She will not cling to others or compromise, she has her own pride.
Even if he could provide her with an easier path, she would still embark on the path she really should take. Compared to his gift, she believed more in what she had obtained with her own hands.
The wind in the wilderness whistled past, blowing the clothes of the two people.
How could he bear to watch the glaring red winding down her snow-white neck?
He turned around and ordered the deputy general behind him: "Turn around and catch up with the group that sent the people away!"
Seeing that he had compromised, Ning Lingyi got off the car without saying a word, mounted her horse, and rode straight ahead.
Zhaoyang, Lingyao, Yanhe, don't be afraid, I'm here.
The horse's hooves shattered the silence of the wilderness, raising clouds of dust.
I rushed all the way, feeling extremely anxious.
Finally, as the sun was setting, another team was seen in the distance on the official road ahead. Several Beishuo cavalrymen were escorting a simple horse-drawn carriage.
"Yanhe! Lingyao! Zhaoyang!" Ning Lingyi's voice was filled with tears.
The carriage stopped and the curtain was lifted, revealing Zhaoyang's tear-stained face, followed by Yanhe and Lingyao's two little faces filled with fear. They saw Ning Lingyi galloping towards them.
Finally, it was not a dream, but Lingyi really came to find them.
"elder sister!"
"Pearl!"
Ning Lingyi almost rolled off the horse and threw herself in front of the carriage.
Zhaoyang jumped out of the car, and the two sisters hugged each other tightly, tears pouring out. Yanhe and Lingyao also rushed over, hugged Ning Lingyi's legs tightly, and cried loudly, as if they wanted to cry out all the grievances.
"Sister! I thought you didn't want us anymore!"
"Yaoyao was scared, thinking that her sister didn't want her anymore..." Lingyao's little face turned red from crying, and she clutched Ning Lingyi's clothes tightly, as if she would disappear if she let go.
Ning Lingyi's heart was torn as she hugged the two small bodies tightly, her cheeks pressed against their tear-soaked faces, her voice choked with sobs: "No! Sister will never leave you!"
She raised her head and looked at Zhaoyang with tearful eyes, who was also crying. No words were needed. The sadness and joy of reunion after the disaster were all in the tears in their eyes.
Zhaoyang saw the scar on Ning Lingyi's neck and wanted to touch it but couldn't bear to. Tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn't stop them. They almost lost each other, but fortunately, they found each other.
From then on, nothing could separate them except life and death.
Tuoba Hong reined in his horse and stopped a little distance away, watching the scene in silence.
The setting sun stretched their shadows very long, and the group hugging each other and crying seemed so small, yet so tenacious in the vast wilderness.
He knew he had failed. Phoenix, after all, refused to submit to the ornate cage he had meticulously crafted, even if it was inlaid with the most noble gold-rimmed chalcedony. She had already been tightly entangled with the fragile figures behind her, relying on each other for life and death.
The cold wind blows by, but it cannot blow away the deep and inextricable sorrows and joys.
The road ahead is still long, but at least they have each other.
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