"Brother Er Gou! Brother Er Gou!! How can I live without you?"
The horse walked ahead, while Wangcai, tears streaming down his face like wide noodles, frantically chased after it with outstretched hands.
Anyone who didn't know better would think that Shen Suqing had taken away all of his family's wealth.
Shen Suqing's face darkened, and Wangcai reached out his hand towards Zhan Xinjia again.
Tears streamed down my face.
"Brother Er Gou! If you're leaving, at least leave little sister Azhi behind! I haven't taken her out to play yet! I even boasted to Tie Zhu from the next village that I would take him to see the cutest little sister in the world! What am I going to do if you take her away!"
Shen Suqing's expression darkened further.
Zhan Xinjia, whose name was called, pulled on the reins in confusion, wanting to turn around and say something to Wangcai. Unexpectedly, when Lord Shen rode past her, he whipped her horse!
Before Zhan Xinjia could react, the horse beneath him bolted forward.
When she turned around again, not only was Wangcai gone, but she couldn't even see the shadow of the village anymore.
From afar, she could almost hear Wangcai's excited shouts.
"Brother Er Gou! Little Sister A Zhi! Wait for me to come find you—!!"
ha?
Zhan Xinjia tilted his head.
Before long, Lord Shen and Fu Shou'an's horses caught up. The three fugitives didn't know where to go for the time being, so Fu Shou'an suggested that they first sneak into Qin County, which was the closest county to Yaozhou City, to check the situation.
After all, the "miracle doctor" and Zhao Jiu were there.
However, to their surprise, instead of seeing the "miracle doctor" and Zhao Jiu, they ran into them on their way...
"Damn it, why are those bastards still chasing me?!... I can't take it anymore, ugh, my butt is about to be shaken to pieces, ugh~ I'm really dizzy, never mind, I might as well just kill them all."
After being chased by pursuers for a day and a night, Zhan Xinjia's vision blurred and her head throbbed. She almost vomited up the food she had eaten the day before yesterday while riding the horse, and her buttocks were so numb that she had long since lost all feeling.
It was a real chase and escape; even the horses were exhausted and foaming at the mouth.
Even she couldn't stand such an intense chase, let alone the weakling Lord Shen.
She turned to the side and almost flew away in fright.
Lord Shen looked as pale as if he had been dead for seven or eight days. He was swaying and weakly holding the reins, his face looking haggard and frail as if he were about to pass away, as if he was only hanging on by a thread.
Zhan Xinjia felt both heartache and fear. If this cycle of "you chase me, I run away, and I can't escape" continued, she would only be able to visit Lord Shen's grave next year.
She turned to look at Fu Shou'an on the other side. This sunny and cheerful young man had already become delirious, with his mouth and eyes crooked, looking like a desperate widow who had been repeatedly ravaged by life.
Fu Shouan shook his head vigorously, trying to clear his mind.
"No, really not running away?... What if the transformation program turns into a torture program?"
Zhan Xinjia gasped for breath, waving her hands repeatedly, "...I'd rather go to jail than have eight pieces of my buttocks."
The three men, dazed and confused like corpses, shakily dismounted. They had barely caught their breath when they were immediately surrounded by the men that Prefect Wang had brought from the prefectural governor's office, as well as assassins from Lanjiang.
Magistrate Wang, whose dark circles looked as if he had been beaten, sneered a few times.
"Ugh, you guys... you can really run... Ugh, I can't take it anymore, someone help me up? I'm dizzy..."
While bending over and panting heavily with his knees on his hands, he didn't forget to deliver some harsh words with the professional ethics of a villain.
"Your friends are still in my hands. Ugh, you think you can escape? Do you think they can? Heh heh!"
Zhan Xinjia subconsciously reached for her sleeve, wondering, "Where's my knife?"
She couldn't find the dagger for a long time, and then she belatedly realized that the small, broken dagger had long since fallen off the cliff edge.
She hesitated for a moment, then simply drew her sword from the scabbard at Fu Shou'an's waist—
Before the group of exhausted guards behind Magistrate Wang, who looked like hopeless donkeys from a production team who had been pulling a millstone for five days but had only eaten half a corncob, could react, Fu Shou'an slid over and precisely caught the blade with her bare hands.
"A tonic! You really can't just execute officials appointed by the imperial court like that; if you could, you would have done it already!!!"
No matter how hard Zhan Xinjia pulled, she couldn't get the blade out. She was so angry that her hands were trembling, and she scolded him with a trembling mouth, feeling disappointed in him.
"Fu Shou'an! How can you be so cowardly?! Get out of here!! At worst, I'll be sent to Ningguta to dig stones. I don't care if I cut him down or not, the main thing is that I like digging stones."
The two were arguing back and forth, while Shen Suqing, who had recovered slightly, looked up at Prefect Wang.
"You can't possibly not know whose orders I and Lord Fu were on to come to Yaozhou City. Aren't you afraid of being held accountable by your superiors?"
Upon hearing this, Prefect Wang stroked his beard and smiled arrogantly.
"The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. I'm the one who calls the shots in Yaozhou City now. Besides, you have neither official documents nor seals nor tokens on you. Who can prove your identities? What if I kill you all as assassins?!"
"Well said."
The abrupt voice did not belong to anyone present.
Zhan Xinjia felt a blur before her eyes, a gust of wind swept by, and a young man with a cold smile walked out from behind her unhurriedly.
In his hand, he also held a piece of black jade carved with dragon patterns.
"What, if I hadn't brought the token with me today, would Prefect Wang have arrested me as well?"
Everyone was taken aback.
The young man was about twenty years old, with his jet-black hair tied up with a silver crown. He wore a crimson robe embroidered with a four-clawed python in silver and gold thread, and long boots with thin soles. He exuded an air of nobility.
His eyes were cold and sharp, and when he wasn't smiling, he carried a hint of anger. When he smiled, he seemed even more unpredictable, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
At this moment, the boy approached Magistrate Wang step by step, who was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably, as if he had seen a ghost, until he pressed the jade pendant firmly against the other man's face.
"Has Your Excellency seen it clearly?"
As he moved, hundreds of elite soldiers from the Eastern Palace, who had been lying in ambush nearby, surrounded the guards of the Prefectural Governor's Mansion and the men sent by Lan Jiang.
Zhan Xinjia was completely bewildered, her head buzzing.
When the geese return?!
How did he end up here?
To be fair, when he's not doing abstract art, Kuai Zai Ge actually looks quite respectable...
Seeing Yan Huishi walk towards her after putting away the jade pendant, Zhan Xinjia's heart skipped a beat, fearing that her relationship and identity would be exposed. She quickly shrank back to Lord Shen's side, closed her eyes, and pretended to faint on the spot.
"Ah Zhi?"
The voice of Master Shen came from beside my ear.
Immediately afterwards, she felt herself being pulled into a familiar embrace.
She had only intended to feign fainting to avoid it, but unexpectedly, after finding a comfortable angle in Little Shen's arms, her tense mind relaxed and she actually started to feel sleepy.
She didn't know why, but whenever she was around Lord Shen, she would unconsciously relax and yawn incessantly.
It was a sense of security that made her believe she would be well protected, even if the sky were to fall and the earth were to crack.
Looking at the exhausted and drowsy girl in the young man's arms, Yan Huishi subconsciously reached out to touch her face, but before he could touch her, he was brushed away by the alert Shen Suqing with a frown and a wave of his sleeve.
"Your Highness?!"
He sternly interrupted Yan Huishi's thoughts.
Under the skeptical gaze of Shen Suqing, Yan Huishi dejectedly withdrew his hand.
He lowered his eyes to conceal the dark and unfathomable thoughts within them, and secretly clenched his fist under his sleeve, respectfully addressing the teacher.
"Teacher, you are still injured, let me carry you instead."
"No need."
Shen Suqing responded calmly with a somber face.
Half-asleep, Zhan Xinjia felt herself being lifted up by the knees, and could smell the comforting scent of ink mixed with the smell of blood. The person holding her seemed to be taking each step with great difficulty.
Even though it was difficult, he had no intention of letting go of her, and he was even less willing to let anyone else touch her.
Shen Suqing hugged the little girl in his arms even tighter, gritted his teeth, kept his eyes straight ahead, and forced himself to keep a straight face as he moved forward step by step.
Even though he hadn't yet uttered his words, even though he hadn't received her answer, he had never before felt such a clear and obsessive understanding within himself—
This is mine.
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