Chapter 262 Hu Erniang presents the treasure map
When Jun Tianyi heard that soldiers were chasing him, his heart tightened.
Poison Lady was very weak at the moment and could not run on her own, so he told Du Zhong, "Carry Dan Lady on your back and run eastward."
The group of four quickly left the ruined temple. The officers and soldiers in the distance didn't seem to notice what was happening on their side, which made Jun Tianyi breathe a sigh of relief.
They thought they could escape the search by luck, but what they didn't expect was that they saw many soldiers not long after they ran away.
"Your Majesty, there are people over there too."
Jun Tianyi could only take the three of them and change direction.
There is no way out from the west and east, but going north you can go into the mountains and perhaps find a place to hide.
But their luck this time was not as good as before, because someone in the distance spotted their shadows with sharp eyes.
"There's a suspicious person over there, chase him!"
Following the leader's order, a group of officers and soldiers chased in the direction of Jun Tianyi and others.
When the four heard the sounds of pursuit behind them, they became extremely nervous and quickened their pace.
Du Zhong was naturally not as relaxed as the other two people as he carried the Poison Lady on his back. While running away, he asked the woman next to him, "Miss Hu Er, do you have any medicine that can temporarily delay those people behind you?"
"We fled the palace in such a hurry that we didn't have time to pack many things. Otherwise, we wouldn't be so poor." Hu Erniang said, "The self-defense medicine I have left is only enough to deal with a few people."
There were dozens of people chasing them at this moment, and there was no other way but to escape.
The three men were as fast as their pursuers, but as they ran for a longer time, Du Zhong's pace slowed down.
Carrying a wounded person in such circumstances is undoubtedly a burden.
"Miss Hu Er, your two sisters are now serving under King Ning, right?"
When he said this, Hu Erniang looked at him warily, "What do you mean by that?"
"The fourth lady surrendered to Prince Ning a long time ago and became his concubine, who was very much loved. Even for the sake of the fourth lady, Prince Ning would not kill you two sisters."
Du Zhong said this and made a suggestion, "The current situation is not favorable to us. The prince and Miss Hu are both injured. If the four of us get together, it will be difficult to get rid of those pursuers. Why don't you take Miss Hu to them and surrender, saying that you want to see Prince Ning. Once they bring you to Prince Ning, you will have a chance to survive..."
"You must be kidding me!"
Hu Erniang scolded, "These people behind me are not from Prince Ning's mansion! Prince Ning's men are all dressed in black with cloud patterns embroidered on their shoulders. Who knows who these pursuers are? There are so many famous generals in the court. How can you be sure that Prince Ning's name will work? Even if these people are in his camp, will they pay attention to me if I mention his name? In their eyes, who am I?"
If she and her elder sister fell into the hands of the pursuers, they would only treat them as "accomplices of the rebellion" and might even take them away for severe torture and force them to reveal any information about Jun Tianyi. No matter how they answered, their fate would not be good.
What would the use of reporting Song Yunchu's name be? Even if the pursuers were willing to tell Song Yunchu, Song Yunchu might not necessarily spare them. They were them, and the fourth sister was the fourth sister. The fourth sister lived a good life because she surrendered early. As for them... in Song Yunchu's eyes, they might be sinners. He could just execute them without telling the fourth sister and announce to the outside world that they died at the hands of the pursuers. The fourth sister would not blame him if she knew.
Du Zhong now proposed that they surrender themselves, which clearly showed that he thought the eldest sister was a burden and wanted to abandon her, but he still had to find a plausible reason!
"But it's no use for us to keep running like this. Miss Hu Er..."
"Shut your mouth! Your master hasn't spoken yet." Hu Erniang interrupted Du Zhong and looked at Jun Tianyi, "Eldest sister used up all her power to save you. Now you think that eldest sister has delayed the journey, so you let Du Zhong act as your mouthpiece and speak out your thoughts?"
"I don't think so." Jun Tianyi retorted, "I know I'm sorry to Dan Niang, so how could I bear to abandon her?"
"Then why don't you rebuke Du Zhong? Didn't you hear what he just said? He clearly wants me and my elder sister to seek our own death!"
"He didn't mean that. It's just that our pace has indeed slowed down and the pursuers are getting closer and closer to us. He said that in a moment of desperation."
"In a moment of urgency?" Hu Erniang sneered. "Okay, he was in a moment of urgency. I won't bother with him as a servant. You are his master. Then tell me, do you want to insist on taking my eldest sister with you? The three of us will take turns carrying her. If he gets tired, I'll take his turn, and if I get tired, you'll take my turn! Once it gets completely dark, it will be easy to shake off the pursuers."
Jun Tianyi opened his mouth and was about to reply, but Du Zhong beside him gritted his teeth and let go of the Poison Lady who was on his back.
If the prince can't make up his mind, let him be the bad guy!
"Sister!" Seeing Poison Lady fall to the ground, Hu Er Niang hurriedly stopped.
Jun Tianyi was also startled and called out, "Dan Niang!"
"Your Highness, at this critical moment of life and death, we can't care about Miss Hu!" Du Zhong grabbed Jun Tianyi's arm and continued to run, "Second Miss's method may not work. Once we over-consume our physical strength, we will all be caught. Without Miss Hu as a burden, we can escape. If they can survive, we can pay them back in the future."
Jun Tianyi gritted his teeth and finally did not look back.
He probably will never be able to repay what he owes Dan Niang in this lifetime.
If there is an afterlife, he will definitely do his best to repay her.
"Second sister, hurry up..." Poison Lady pushed away Hu Erniang beside her and scolded in a weak voice, "Don't worry about me, hurry up and leave!"
The moment Jun Tianyi explained for Du Zhong, she had already guessed her own fate.
She thought that he would at least adopt her second sister's suggestion and take her from Du Zhong's back. This had nothing to do with love between men and women, but was only for the sake of friendship.
She could use up all her strength for him, but he was unwilling to gamble whether they could shake off the pursuers by taking turns carrying her.
It doesn't matter that he doesn't like her, but how can he not stick to his loyalty in times of crisis?
She only knew that he was cold and indifferent before, but now she realized how cowardly he was.
She felt really ridiculous.
But she didn't have time to feel sad or complain at the moment. She just wanted to ask Hu Er Niang to leave quickly.
"I won't leave!" Hu Erniang heard the sound of the pursuers approaching and reached out to hug Du Niangzi tightly. "No matter what happens next, I will stay with you. If they want to kill us, they can kill us. It's just a death, right? Anyway, we don't have to worry about the lives of our third and fourth sisters. Let's just leave it to fate."
"You're crazy!" Poison Lady was extremely anxious, but she had no strength at the moment and couldn't push away the person next to her.
"It's okay, big sister." Hu Erniang wiped the tears from Du Niangzi's face, "I'm not really afraid of death, don't cry..."
"It's all my fault. I'm the one who hurt you." Listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer behind her, Poison Lady realized that it was too late and her tears flowed even harder. "I deserve to die, but you shouldn't have stayed. Why didn't you run away..."
"I'm afraid you'll be lonely on the road to the underworld. You loved me the most in the past, and now I can't snatch you from you anymore."
Hu Erniang buried her head in the crook of Du Niangzi's neck, "Do you still remember the nursery rhyme you sang to me when you took me home? It was so beautiful..."
She murmured and hummed a tune.
Poison Lady's tears flowed on Hu Er Niang's hair.
She was obviously the one who deserved to die, but now her second sister had to die with her.
She would never forgive herself until her death.
Soon, more than a dozen pursuers surrounded the two men and pointed their cold blades at their heads.
The two were preparing to wait for death when they heard a cold voice sounding above their heads.
"Prince Ning has ordered that the traitor has two female followers who will be of great use to him. Take them back alive."
…
In Ruihe Hall, the aroma of rice filled the air.
Song Yunchu originally rushed here after hearing the news that Jiang Rumin was kidnapped. When Jiang Rumin returned safely, it was almost time for dinner, so Jiang Rumin invited her to have dinner with Zhong Nanyue and Hu Siniang.
"It's a pity that I was out buying roast goose at that time, otherwise Nan Yan and I would have joined forces to make sure that bastard would never come back!"
Hu Si Niang bit the goose meat in her mouth angrily.
That damn bastard, why didn't he come earlier or later, but just when she was leaving.
Thinking about it now, she still felt angry.
Why did I have to want to eat roast goose at that time?
"Alright, alright, stop nagging." Zhong Nanyan bit the goose leg and said as she ate, "I still think it's okay to let him run away. He should be twitching in some corner right now. Maybe later we'll get news that he died of the poison."
Seeing that Zhong Nanyue still insisted on her guess, Song Yunchu didn't say much and drank the soup calmly.
Make the worst-case scenario plan for everything, so that you can stay calm when you hear bad news later.
After dinner, everyone chatted for a while. Song Yunchu was about to go back home when he heard a familiar male voice behind him.
"Miss Jiang! Is Miss Jiang okay?"
Chu Yuni heard the news that Jiang Rumin was almost kidnapped a quarter of an hour ago, and came to visit her in a hurry. Unexpectedly, as soon as she came in, she saw everyone gathered in the lobby.
Seeing Jiang Rumin sitting quietly, he felt relieved, and then he said casually, "I just ran into Brother Zhao, and he told me about it. I just happened to be passing by here, so I came in to take a look."
"I'm fine." Jiang Rumin took over the conversation and then said with a smile, "Master Chu and my sworn brother didn't know each other until they fought. Now their friendship is almost like that of brothers. No wonder they care about me so much."
Chu Yuni was stunned for a moment, then agreed, "Miss Jiang is right. We are old acquaintances. You are Brother Zhao's adopted sister, so I treat you as a half-sister."
Zhong Nanyue looked at his dazed expression, snorted coldly, and then walked behind him.
This guy came running over to show concern for Jiang Rumin. Does he have some restless thoughts again?
Jiang Rumin is full of knowledge and behaves like a real lady. She is a good match for Song Yunchu who is dressed in men's clothes. Unfortunately, Song Yunchu is not a man.
Thinking back to when she was in Medicine King Valley and her fellow apprentices picked up Song Yunchu and Jun Liluo, she fell in love with Song Yunchu at first sight. However, after taking his pulse, she found out that he was a girl, and her budding heart died instantly.
Otherwise, she would look down on Chu Yuni.
No, she never liked him, she just thought he was interesting and could make people happy.
Thinking of this, she took out the little snake from her sleeve and patted Chu Yuni's shoulder.
When Chu Yuni turned her head, she was met with a pair of green snake eyes.
"ah!"
The little snake that was almost touching his face made him jump three feet high. He quickly retreated two steps and rushed behind Song Yunchu. Then he put his hands on Song Yunchu's shoulders and slowly stuck his head out.
Zhong Nanyue laughed so hard that she couldn't straighten her back and threw the little snake in her hand onto her shoulder.
Chu Yuni was angry but dared not say anything: "......!"
A woman who plays with snakes is so scary!
Suddenly, I heard hurried footsteps outside, and then someone came to report -
"Your Highness! General Zhao's men spotted Prince Yi and his entourage near Cuifeng Mountain, but unfortunately they were not able to catch up with them."
"What!" Zhong Nanyan's smile froze on her face. "That bastard can still run away? Are you seeing things?"
"He...he ran very fast."
The messenger felt his scalp tingling when he saw Zhong Nanyue's ferocious look and the fact that she had taken the snake off her shoulder and stuffed it into her sleeve.
Song Yunchu had expected this, so when he heard the news that Jun Tianyi was safe, he was not surprised.
"But, Your Highness, the two female subordinates around him have been captured. You ordered that they be kept alive. The two women have been sent to the palace."
Upon hearing this, Hu Si Niang could not hide her excitement.
Song Yunchu immediately took Hu Siniang and Zhong Nanyue back home.
The four sisters of Du Shanzi got together again rarely. Du Shanzi's weak appearance with a head full of white hair made the other three cry bitterly.
Song Yunchu left the house to the four people for the time being and turned to go to the lobby.
"How does Your Highness intend to deal with them?"
Listening to Honglian's question, Song Yunchu responded, "Hu Erniang was ruthless to Jun Tianyi. Now that she sees her sister suffering this kind of punishment, she must hate that bastard in her heart. She is a useful person. With Sanniang and Si Niang around, she will surrender."
"What about the Poison Lady? She is so deeply in love with the rebels that she even sacrificed all her skills for him. It's so stupid!"
As a woman, Honglian was extremely contemptuous, "She is so stupid, she deserves to die of stupidity."
"Hasn't she learned her lesson? She lost her martial arts skills and was abandoned on the run. What hit her the hardest was that Er Niang was willing to stay with her. If the people who caught them today were not General Zhao's men, but other ministers who were not on good terms with me, they would be in big trouble. The guilt that Du Niang felt towards Er Niang must have reached its peak. This guilt will accompany her for the rest of her life and she will never dare to do anything wrong again."
Song Yunchu played with the fan pendant in his hand and said slowly, "I know you are angry that she saved Jun Tianyi, but what's the point of killing her to vent your anger? If she dies, she will be of no use to me. It's better to let her live. The other three will be grateful to me for life. Even if someone gives them great benefits in the future, they will not turn against me."
"Your Highness is right." Bai Zhu agreed, "Once a loyal person is conquered, he will never betray her even if he dies. Find a quiet courtyard to keep Poison Lady. We only provide her with food and shelter and ignore her."
"That's right." Honglian snorted coldly, "That bastard Prince Yi doesn't know how to cherish talent, but our prince does."
Although she looked down on the Poison Lady, the other three were still pretty good.
"Your Highness, Miss Hu II wants to see you." The guard's announcement came from outside the hall.
Song Yunchu said: "Let her in."
Soon, Hu Erniang came to Song Yunchu and knelt down, "Your Highness Prince Ning, have you thought about how to deal with us?"
"This king appreciates people who value loyalty. If you are willing to be loyal, then stay with Sanniang and Siniang. As for your eldest sister... This king will let Honglian choose a courtyard for her to recuperate, and also to imprison her, so that she won't run around."
Upon hearing this, Hu Erniang was deeply grateful.
Prince Ning really values the fourth sister. If it weren't for the fourth sister, she and her elder sister would probably have met their end.
"Your Highness is so kind, I... I am grateful. I am really ashamed for not coming to you earlier. To show my loyalty, I have something to offer you."
As Hu Erniang spoke, she took out a sheepskin drawing from her sleeve pocket and handed it to Song Yunchu.
"This is the fragment of the treasure map that I stole from the remnants of the Rong Kingdom. Jun Tianyi and Tu Helang became friends for this. Although this map is incomplete, with it, there is hope of opening the treasure house. Please accept it."
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