Song Lin settled Shen Xu down and thoughtfully made her some ginger tea. "Don't work so hard copying books these days. Get some rest."
Shen Xu nodded, sat on the bed and drank sweet ginger tea. He felt warm in his heart and stomach, and he felt a lot more comfortable.
"If you feel tired, take a nap." Song Lin got up, covered her with a blanket, and pecked her gently on the forehead.
Chen Xu fell asleep quickly. She had a very long dream. In the dream, Yan and a short man were standing by a rushing river. Opposite them were men in black holding knives.
"A Xu, it seems someone has exposed our whereabouts." Yan was holding a knife. He was already injured, with bloodstains on his shoulders and arms.
"Brother Yan, I will cover you and help you get out to avenge me." The man Yan called Xu was holding a shiny crossbow in his hand. He called him Brother Yan softly and pointed the crossbow vigilantly at the man in black in front of him.
"No one can escape!" The man in black rushed forward with a sword raised, and then there was a fight with swords and blood.
In a blink of an eye, several men in black were lying on the ground, their bodies twisting. Some were shot by arrows, and some were slashed by knives.
Xu was holding onto Yan and staggering along the river bank. Suddenly, they were tripped by a stone and fell heavily to the ground.
The silver crossbow fell to the ground, and the small parts of the crossbow were thrown out and splashed into the cracks of the rubble.
Xu hurriedly went to hold Yan and tried to pull him up from the ground.
"A Xu, I can't hold on any longer. We have been surrounded by them. I will lead them away. You find a chance to go to the southern border and find your elder brother..." Yan's chest was bleeding. He held the short man's hand tightly and pushed him out with all his strength.
"No, Brother Yan, I won't abandon you. I won't go to the southern border. If we die, we die together. I will never abandon you!" With tears in the corners of Xu's eyes, he struggled to help the man up from the ground.
At this moment, the remaining men in black had caught up from behind, and a man in dark clothes and a black half-mask rode a horse and blocked the two of them.
Yan seemed to see hope. He pushed the man named Xu with all his strength and shouted to the man on the horse, "Murong Yao's army is coming. Take Xu away quickly. Their target is me. I can't let your brother get hurt."
"No, Brother Yan, if we're going to leave, let's go together." The two were still pushing each other when they heard a whoosh sound behind them and a crossbow arrow quickly flew towards Yan.
"Be careful!" Xu pushed Yan away, and a cold light penetrated into his chest.
"Ao!"
In a blink of an eye, the three of them arrived at a dilapidated temple. Xu had an arrow stuck in his chest. He leaned weakly in Yan's arms, blood constantly gushing out of his chest.
Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. His voice was very soft and intermittent, "Brother Yan... from childhood to adulthood... only you have cared about me... and protected me... This time, I also want to protect you... just once."
"A Xu, don't talk anymore." Yan covered his wound with trembling hands, but he couldn't stop the blood from flowing out. Blood flowed out from between his fingers, staining Xu's blue-white clothes red.
"Brother Yan... I have a secret... I have always kept it in my heart... I want to tell you..." Xu raised his head with great effort, leaned close to Yan's ear, and whispered something in his ear.
Yan's face suddenly changed, tears kept flowing from his eyes, and he kept repeating "no" in his mouth, as if he couldn't accept that fact.
Xu turned to look at the man in black clothes, reached out to grab his sleeve, and said with a weak voice: "I know you won't... help Brother Yan, please... just... save his life... Big Brother!"
Seeing the masked man nodded, Xu slowly loosened his sleeves. He dropped his hands, stopped breathing, and tears flowed from his dark eyes.
Yan lowered his head, his shoulders trembling. He gritted his teeth and said, "Is this the choice you Southlanders have made?"
He raised his scarlet eyes and roared at the man in black clothes with tears in his eyes. The wounds on his body broke open with his excited roar, and blood flowed all over the ground.
"She is your sister. How could you leave her disguised as a man in the capital? How could you use her as a chess piece or bait? How could you abandon her?"
"What!" The man with half of his face covered in black seemed very shocked. He stepped forward and turned over Xu's hair, only to see a deep scar on the back of his neck.
He muttered how this could happen, and hurriedly turned open Xu's clothes. A sharp arrow was stuck in his slightly bulging chest, and blood was still flowing out from the tightly wrapped bandage.
The soldiers quickly found the ruined temple. The man with half a black face picked up Xu from the ground and put him on his horse, and asked Yan to get on the horse with him.
"Let's go and take Axu home."
He picked up the long-handled double-edged axe on the ground, his hair standing on end with anger and his eyes bloodshot.
The shouts of killing shattered the hills, and the sky seemed stained with blood. The man holding the double-edged axe was like a bloody killer. His mask was stained with blood, and his black robe was soaked, blood dripping down. He roared angrily and leaped into the center of the crowd.
The rocky river beach was crowded with people, and axes with cold gleams danced among the crowd like fireflies. After a while, many corpses were lying on the ground. The blood dyed the entire rocky beach red and flowed into the river. Most of the rushing water was dyed red, pulling out long red ribbons.
The man cut down rows of soldiers like cutting melons and vegetables, and opened a bloody path for the two people on the horse. Suddenly, a sharp arrow with a cold light flew towards the horse.
The man with the obsidian half-face pulled his hand away to block the arrow, which grazed Yan's arm and flew past.
The scene shifted to a magnificent mansion. Yan lay on the bed with his eyes black. He held the hand of the half-faced man, his pale lips opening and closing as he spoke in a weak voice: "I am going with Ah Xu. For Ah Xu and me, please protect this land, the territory of Yanyang Kingdom. Don't let traitors covet this land—"
"Cheer up, Ah Xu asked me to save your life, and I will definitely save you! Just hold on a little longer, I have invited the best doctor in the southern region, and he will definitely be able to..."
"It's useless. The arrowhead is highly poisonous, and my body can't bear it anymore. If there is an afterlife, I hope Ah Xu can be a girl, a real, free girl, away from this treacherous world, without worries."
Yan's voice became smaller and smaller. He suddenly choked and spat out a mouthful of dark blood. The hand of the man in black clothes who was holding his hand tightly also slowly loosened and fell on the brocade quilt.
"Murong Yao! I will tear you into pieces!" The roar of the half-faced man resounded through the dome, and the entire ceiling began to spin, gradually turning the sky and the earth into chaos. The inky blood spread out, and the darkness quickly spread, swallowing everything.
The feeling of suffocation came over him, and Shen Xu felt extremely stuffy in his heart. He wanted to break free from this feeling, but he couldn't move.
A deep, bone-chilling voice came from my ears: "Xiu Xiu, Xiu Xiu!"
She slowly opened her eyes and realized that her pillow was soaked with sweat. In front of her was Song Lin's very handsome face. He looked nervous and his words were full of concern: "What's wrong with you? Are you dreaming?"
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