Chapter 63
When Fan Changyu heard the noise, he turned around and his scalp almost exploded.
Unfortunately, her clothes were caught on a branch on the steep slope. She pulled hard and finally tore the cloth into pieces, but her body trembled due to the force, and the deerskin wristband in her arms accidentally fell out, rolling down for some distance before being caught by a cluster of snow-covered tree branches.
When Fan Changyu's wristband fell off, he felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest.
That was the sixteenth birthday present Yan Zheng gave her.
Without a second thought, she ran over to pick up the wristband. Unexpectedly, there was a hole under the snow and needles. When she stepped over, her feet suddenly lost their grip and she fell down.
Fan Changyu's left arm was injured, and her right hand was holding the wrist guard she had just picked up. She was almost unable to climb up. Fortunately, the back of her collar suddenly tightened, and she was grabbed by the collar like a big cat.
The dead branches and rubble at the edge of the cave fell into the ground. There was no echo for a long time. It was pitch black in there and no one knew how deep it was.
Fan Changyu couldn't help but feel a little scared. She turned her head to look at the one-eyed man who was chasing her. He had a tall and straight figure, but there was a hideous scar on his face that ran from his left eye across the bridge of his nose and extended to the right half of his face. It was scary just to look at him.
She pursed her lips and looked at him, like a leopard that tried its best to escape but was still caught, her eyes full of resentment.
The man held her by the back of the collar with one hand without any effort. His aura was cold and gloomy. When he saw that one of her hands was still tightly grasping the deerskin wrist guards, his eyes froze for a moment, and he suddenly said in a mocking tone: "For such a thing, you are willing to give up your life?"
He lowered his voice so low that it sounded terribly hoarse, as if his throat was injured.
Fan Changyu thought to herself that she had no idea there would be a hole under the dead branches and snow, so she just said harshly, "It has nothing to do with you!"
She could only use her right hand, and Fan Changyu didn't care that she was still being held by someone, and tried to tuck the wristband into her collar, hoping to free up her right hand to deal with the situation.
The other party noticed her action, his eyes darkened, and he suddenly asked without any context, "Is this thing important to you?"
Fan Changyu wondered why this person was still gossiping. She had freed her right hand and said, "Of course!"
While she was distracting him with her words, she had already extended her right hand behind her collar and grabbed his hand that was holding her collar. She used the force to turn around and tried to climb up by pushing off the rock wall of the cave.
It is definitely safer to take the initiative yourself than to have your life held in the hands of others.
Unexpectedly, after the other party discovered her intention, he fell backwards, and the force directly took Fan Changyu out.
Fan Changyu fell on him and felt dizzy from the impact of his hard armor. Before he could get up, he was pressed to the ground by the opponent.
This completely suppressive attitude made Fan Changyu's hair stand on end, and he shouted angrily: "Get out!"
The other person held her right wrist with one hand, and with the other hand, he avoided her dislocated left hand and pressed her shoulder. He half-raised his body to look at her, with a distance of less than a foot between them.
Fan Changyu looked at him hatefully, her chest heaving violently due to panting and anger, and the curve of the wrist guard she had just stuffed in was even more pronounced, which at this moment had a more alluring meaning.
But the man who restrained him didn't seem to have any other thoughts. He stared at Fan Changyu. His intact eye was surprisingly beautiful. His pupil was so dark that no one could see the underlying color. He instinctively made people feel that he was in danger. "Who is that pretty boy down the mountain to you?"
Fan Changyu was so angry that he didn't say a word and just struggled. However, he was pressed even tighter. He turned his head and found that there was a circle of fresh teeth marks on the index finger of the hand that was pressing on his wrist.
Earlier at the old woman's house, the conversation between the two fake soldiers outside the door came to her mind. She wondered if the master they were talking about was this person, and not the idiot she had poked with several bloody holes?
So she was saved by this guy?
Fan Changyu's struggle weakened, and he couldn't help but look at the man in front of him. He felt that his dark eyes were strangely familiar, and he couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?"
The man said hoarsely: "Answer my question first."
Fan Changyu calculated the time it would take for the soldiers to arrive. He stalled for time by turning his head to the side, no longer looking at him, and said, "I don't know him."
The man sneered: "If you didn't know him, why did you risk your life to protect him on the river?"
Fan Changyu thought this man was really strange and said, "I was being chased by bandits. I met his carriage on the road and he kindly gave me a ride. Later, the bandits caught up with me, so I took him and fled with me."
The man holding her loosened his grip a little, glanced down at the wristband that was exposed from her collar, and asked casually, "You treasure it so much, who gave it to you?"
Fan Changyu only regretted that he was injured and had not eaten for a long time, so he was almost exhausted from hunger. Otherwise, how could he be controlled by this idiot in front of him? He could only hope that the soldiers would come quickly while dealing with him in a cold voice: "A very important person."
Thinking of Yan Zheng, I felt inexplicably sad.
The other party seemed to be stunned for a moment after hearing this answer, looked at her slightly red eyes, and asked: "How important is it?"
Fan Changyu couldn't help but curse: "What does it have to do with you?"
The snow on the pine trees was shaken and fell down in large flakes. Xie Zheng rolled on the ground protecting the person, pressing one hand on her back tightly, as if taking the opportunity to hug her tightly.
How could Fan Changyu miss this excellent opportunity to escape? He hit his forehead hard on his jaw, and when the other party pulled his hand away to cover his jaw, he got up and kicked him.
Xie Zheng dodged swiftly, but the kick landed fiercely on a pine tree as thick as a bowl, causing the snow on the tree to fall down like a landslide.
Fan Changyu knew that he had lost the chance to attack again, so he did not want to fight any longer. Taking advantage of this moment's cover, he immediately continued to run towards the official road below.
After several exchanges of blows, she had already realized that her opponent was highly skilled in martial arts. Now she was injured and exhausted, so she rushed forward in anger, undoubtedly inviting humiliation.
She had to go back to Changning alive, she couldn't let herself get hurt here because of her impulsiveness!
Xie Zheng sat up from the snow, covering his jaw with one hand where Fan Changyu had hit him hard. The snow that fell from the pine tree hit him all over. His lips and teeth were hit, and a light trace of blood flowed out.
He glanced at the direction where Fan Changyu ran away, listened to the sound of approaching horses' hooves, and ultimately did not go looking for her again.
The battle in Jinzhou was urgent, but he appeared in Jizhou as the commander-in-chief, which made Li Huaian recognize him, which undoubtedly gave Li's party a handle.
Although he had fallen out with Wei Yan, he had done a lot for Wei Yan in the past. The Li Party would not try to subdue him and only wanted to see him and Wei Yan fight to the point of both suffering losses.
And... it was enough to know that she didn't hate him to death.
At least, she still cherishes the things he gave her and says he is a very important person.
The guards, who were worried about Xie Zheng coming alone, rode over to look for him. They found him along the trail that led down the winding mountain road. They saw him sitting alone under a cedar, looking as lonely as a lone wolf. Finally, they spoke: "My Lord, the soldiers from the Fuzhou Prefecture will be here soon. Let's go."
Xie Zhengqian nodded, walked back to the official road, climbed onto the horse's back, took a last glance at the winding mountain official road covered by pine trees not far away, and rode away on the horse's belly.
-
Fan Changyu ran all the way to the official road and finally met the officers and soldiers who were spiraling up along the official road from the foot of the mountain.
Fan Changyu looked at the Lizhou flag flying in the wind and the hundred or so soldiers, and finally breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that they were truly officers and soldiers.
Li Huaian and several officers and soldiers came forward and asked, "Miss, are you okay?"
Fan Changyu panted and nodded, pointing to the steep slope behind him: "There is a group of people dressed as soldiers pretending to be merchants staying in the home of a blind old woman. Their identities are very suspicious. They may be bandits in disguise. Officers, go chase them and don't let them get away."
The commander of the troops was Zheng Wenchang. He immediately ordered a large group of soldiers to chase after them, leaving only a dozen officers and soldiers behind to protect Li Huaian.
Seeing that Fan Changyu was panting heavily, Li Huaian went to the horse's back to get a water bottle and handed it to her: "Girl, have a drink of water."
Perhaps because he was afraid she would mind, he added, "This is a spare water bottle, I haven't drunk from it."
Fan Changyu took it and thanked him, then drank a few sips before he recovered.
The man bowed to her and said, "My name is Li Huai'an. Thank you for saving my life yesterday."
Fan Changyu said: "It is because you are kindhearted that you carried me ahead."
Li Huaian insisted: "How can the convenience of carriages and horses compare to the grace of saving my life? May I ask your name, young lady, so that I can thank you later."
Fan Changyu could only say, "Lin'an, Fan Changyu."
Li Huaian's gentle eyes revealed a hint of surprise: "The entire Qingping County was massacred, and the neighboring Lin'an Town also suffered a terrible fate. Only a few elderly, weak, women and children survived. Was it you who led the bandits away and saved those families that day?"
Fan Changyu was originally worried about Changning and the others, but when he heard him say that the neighbors hiding in the dry well had all escaped, his face suddenly lit up: "It's me, how do you know this?"
Li Huaian said, "I am ashamed. The rebels were rampant. After Lord He Jingyuan of Hezhou went to Lucheng to guard the pass, I was ordered by the court to come to Hezhou to temporarily replace Lord He. Unfortunately, I ran into bandits as soon as I arrived in Hezhou yesterday. Fortunately, the young lady protected me. After I was rescued, I heard about the incident in Qingping County."
Fan Changyu finally reacted. This man was also an official, and a high-ranking official like Lord He of Fuzhou. No wonder he could appear here with the officers and soldiers of Fuzhou Prefecture.
When she spoke again, her tone was clearly distant: "Excuse me, sir, are my sister and the neighbors safe now?"
Li Huaian listened to her next son's distant call, his eyebrows and eyes remained gentle: "They are temporarily placed in the post station in Jizhou Prefecture, and they are safe for now."
After answering her question, he smiled warmly and said, "Miss Fan, there is no need to be so polite. We are not in the court, so there is no need to call Lord Li."
Fan Changyu nodded, but the next time she spoke, she still called her "Sir". Li Huaian laughed and shook his head, but in the end he did not ask her to change her words.
They rested there for a while. Half an hour later, Zheng Wenchang, who had led the troops to search, came back. He found a lot of footprints, but did not even see the shadows of those people. Instead, he found the old woman who was hidden by Fan Changyu at the edge of the pine forest.
When I asked the old woman, I got the same answer as Fan Changyu had given before.
The old woman was afraid that Fan Changyu's reputation would be damaged, so she never mentioned that there was a man among the group who pretended to be Fan Changyu's husband and slept in the same room with her.
The bandits were not found, but at least Fan Changyu was found.
Zheng Wenchang left some troops to continue searching the nearby mountains and escorted Li Huaian back to the main city of Jizhou.
It was on the way back that Fan Changyu learned that when the bandits entered the city, the magistrate of Qingping County and his family had never thought of organizing yamen runners to fight against the bandits, but had hurriedly taken their family to escape. After Song Yan went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, Song's mother also moved in with the magistrate on the pretext that the house was too lonely. That night, when the bandits entered the city, she fled with the magistrate's family.
But unexpectedly, the bandits chased the county magistrate for more than ten miles to kill his family, and Song's mother was eventually killed.
The most miserable were Captain Wang and his wife. Captain Wang summoned his runners and wanted to block the bandits outside the city gate just like he had blocked the mob outside the city that day. However, the bandits took the initiative and broke down the city gate first. In the end, Captain Wang and his wife were outnumbered and died at the city gate.
Fan Changyu felt heavy-hearted as he listened to this.
When she arrived at the main city of Jizhou, she went to the post station to look for Changning, but found out that someone had set fire to the post station and kidnapped Changning in the chaos.
-
In the endless mountains and plains, six or seven people came out on horseback along the rugged mountain road.
The water flowed by the stream, and the group dismounted to rest for a while. The horses, which had been galloping for a long distance, went to the stream to drink water.
A five or six-year-old girl was sobbing softly as she was dragged off a horse by a handsome and evil-looking young man.
Sui Yuanqing really didn't expect that the child could cry so much and didn't stop all the way. Unfortunately, the child's spine was fragile and he didn't dare to knock him out rashly. After all, he didn't control the strength well and broke the child's spine. He had to use all the troops of the palace's last stronghold in Jizhou to rescue the child, but it was a waste of effort.
He looked at the child, who was being held in his arms like a kitten, and threatened him impatiently, "If you cry again, I will throw you into the river."
Chang Ning was frightened, his mouth clenched, and his original sobbing sound turned into uncontrollable howling, and Yuan Qing's face turned ashen in an instant.
Just then, the guard brought a jug of clean water to Sui Yuanqing. He raised his hand and threw the child over, "Whatever you do, make her stop crying."
He was annoyed by the crying, and the wounds on his waist and shoulders also hurt, making him so irritated that he wanted to kill someone. If he hadn't considered that the child was still useful, he would have broken the delicate neck countless times.
The guard held Changning with a bitter look on his face. He was good at killing people, but he really couldn't coax a child.
But after Yuan Qing spoke, he could only force a smile to coax Chang Ning. Chang Ning looked at his forced weird smile and cried even harder, almost unable to breathe.
When the guard noticed Sui Yuanqing's cold eyes, cold sweat broke out on his back and he tried even harder to coax Chang Ning.
But slowly, he found that something was wrong with Changning. She didn't seem to be crying, but she really couldn't breathe. Her mouth was wide open, her face and neck were red, but she was still having difficulty breathing.
The guard was afraid that something might happen to the child, so he hurriedly called Sui Yuanqing: "Sir, this child seems to have wheezing."
Sui Yuanqing glanced at the child who looked like he would suffocate to death in the next moment, and his face became even uglier.
He had spent so much effort to get the child out. If he had just fallen ill and died on the way, it would not have been a good thing except that Xie Zheng would have hated him.
He said, "See if she has any medicine bottles or anything like that."
He had a concubine sister who suffered from wheezing. She coughed every three steps and wheezed every five steps. She dared not even leave her room and always carried medicine with her.
After searching for it, the guard said in a cold sweat, "No...no."
Sui Yuanqing said: "Put the man on the ground."
After the guard laid Chang Ning flat on the ground, it took a while for Chang Ning's breathing to slowly return to normal.
After knowing that Changning had wheezing, Sui Yuanqing stopped trying to scare her. He took the water bottle from the guard and handed it to her, asking, "Are you thirsty?"
Changning was obviously very afraid of him. He nodded and shook his head, his face full of tear marks, and he looked extremely pitiful.
Sui Yuanqing raised his hand and lifted her up, put the water bottle to her mouth, and ordered, "Drink."
Changning was still very scared, but she had just had an attack, so she didn't dare cry anymore. She took a few sips of water, and her throat, which was dry and sore from crying for too long, finally felt better.
Sui Yuanqing put on the water bottle, stood up and walked towards the horse: "Keep on going, just make sure she doesn't die on the road."
Chang Ning's eyes were still blurred with tears when the guards carried her onto the horse's back. She pursed her lips and said nothing. She was small but smart. She had heard along the way that these bad guys seemed to have mistaken her for someone's daughter. If she said she was not, she would definitely be killed by these bad guys, and she would never be able to see her elder sister again.
Thinking of her elder sister, Changning couldn't help but burst into tears. She took out the bamboo whistle hanging around her neck and started to blow it intermittently.
-
Three days later, Lucheng.
Gongsun Yin received a letter from Yanzhou. After checking it, he dropped his fan in shock. He murmured in disbelief, "When did Xie Jiuheng have a daughter?"
But thinking that he had already found a lover without telling her, and might even have a daughter, she took the letter and went to look for Xie Zheng with a strange look on her face, but she didn't see him when she entered the tent.
He knelt down on the mat, and when Xie Zheng came back, he discovered for the first time a small dish of stale candy on the low table.
He secretly wondered when did Xie Zheng's bodyguards become so careless. Xie Zheng hated sweets the most, so putting a plate of candies here was asking for punishment, wasn't it?
He tasted one out of boredom and found it tasted sour and sweet, surprisingly good.
After eating three candies in a row, he was kind enough to put all the candies on the plate into his pocket to prevent Xie Zheng from seeing them and punishing the bodyguard who took the candies.
A moment later, Xie Zheng returned in a suit of military armor, covered in snow and wind. Seeing Gongsun Yin, he simply asked, "Why are you here?"
Gongsun Yin glanced at Xie Zheng several times and said strangely, "Of course there is something wrong."
Xie Zheng ignored his probing gaze, took off his cloak and handed it to the guard behind him. When he sat down, he found that the entire plate of stale candy was empty. His eyes suddenly darkened and he glanced at Gongsun Yin: "What did you eat?"
The author has something to say:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
