Chapter 226 Chu Ge
Shen Yuexi found Doctor Hua preparing medicine in a tent.
Doctor Hua had saved Xiao Zhuo many times and was their benefactor, so Shen Yuexi didn't want to keep him. She just didn't expect that at this critical moment, Doctor Hua would still be slowly preparing medicine.
She asked, "Dr. Hua, we can't win. We have to leave now. Please come with us."
To her surprise, Doctor Hua refused, saying, "I am old and frail. Staying with you would only be a burden. Please let me stay. Although Xiao Kai is rough and brutal, he wouldn't embarrass a doctor who can treat injuries."
"Doctor Hua, what if Xiao Kai..." Shen Yuexi was worried.
"What if Xiao Kai wants to chop off this old man's head?" Doctor Hua said for her, "Then let him do it. I am already old and frail, and I have no regrets even if I die."
Seeing that Doctor Hua was unwilling to leave no matter what, Shen Yuexi could only bow deeply to him and said, "Take care, Doctor."
Just as she was about to turn around and leave, Dr. Hua called her again.
"Princess, I dare to offer a word of advice. You must not scold or urge King Zhao. Upon learning he wasn't Your Majesty's son, King Zhao's expression became utterly drained, his words and actions erratic, a sign of exhaustion. If you continue to pressure him, he might even consider suicide."
Shen Yuexi knew Xiao Zhuo had been dealt a heavy blow, but judging by his words just now, he seemed quite normal. She hadn't expected Dr. Hua, a master of medicine, to see his condition so serious.
She asked, "Then...Does Doctor Hua have any solution?"
Doctor Hua solemnly poured the yellow, white, and black powder from the medicine grinder into a paper bag, sealed it, and handed it to Shen Yuexi, saying, "I have prepared this medicine. Princess, please find an opportunity to add it to the chicken soup for Prince Zhao to take. It has a calming and nourishing effect."
"Chicken soup?" Shen Yuexi took the medicine bag and put it under her nose to smell it.
The tent was already filled with the smell of various medicinal herbs, and since she didn't understand pharmacology, she couldn't figure out what it was, but she just felt it was a little spicy.
Doctor Hua sighed and said, "Actually, I had already prepared this medicine. But when I gave it to King Zhao, he knocked it over. He said he didn't want the medicine, he just wanted chicken soup. I had no choice but to come back and prepare it again."
Shen Yuexi thought: Xiao Zhuo is really confused. Doctor Hua obviously meant well, but he actually spilled the medicine. Only an ignorant child would be so willful.
She had just carefully put the medicine bag into her arms when she heard faint sounds of killing outside the tent.
Qiang Lin rushed into the tent and shouted, "Master, the enemy infantry has begun to attack. If we don't leave now, it will be too late."
Shen Yuexi hurriedly followed Qiang Lin out of the tent and mounted his horse in a hurry.
She and Xiao Zhuo rode in the middle, while Qiang Lin led dozens of secret guards to guard around them and rushed out of the camp.
Just as they left the camp, a group of several hundred Jingzhou cavalrymen charged in from a distance. They had been patrolling near the Zhaowang army camp, and Shen Yuexi and Qiang Lin had slipped in between two groups of cavalrymen. Now that so many of them had left the camp, they were an obvious target. Seeing them, the Jingzhou cavalrymen immediately gave chase.
"It's Prince Zhao," a sharp-eyed Jingzhou cavalryman spotted Xiao Zhuo in the crowd and pointed at him, shouting, "Hurry and chase him. The general has ordered a reward of a thousand gold coins for anyone who captures Prince Zhao."
After hearing this, Xiao Zhuo did not say anything, and continued to ride his horse forward at the same speed as before, as if he did not hear what the other party said.
Just as Shen Yuexi was getting nervous, a group of cavalry rushed out of King Zhao's camp and intercepted the pursuers, engaging in a fierce battle. The general leading the charge was none other than Qi Shengjue. He drew his bow and arrow, shot one of the pursuers down, and turned back to shout, "Hurry up and leave."
"Husband, did you hear that?" Shen Yuexi turned around and said to Xiao Zhuo.
She immediately remembered what Dr. Hua had said before: Xiao Zhuo was now exhausted and his behavior was abnormal. She must not rush him.
Her mind raced as she came up with a solution.
If we can't urge Xiao Zhuo, can we urge the warhorse under him?
She lifted her leg and plucked the whip hanging from the side of the saddle, swung it in the air, and lashed it hard at the warhorse under Xiao Zhuo. The warhorse neighed in pain and broke into a gallop.
Shen Yuexi also whipped his warhorse and caught up with Xiao Zhuo, while Qiang Lin and other secret guards followed behind them.
"Husband, let's go to Leshan now," Shen Yuexi caught up with Xiao Zhuo and leaned over to shout to him, "My sister Shen Lan is still in Leshan, and your aunt and cousin are still there too. Let's go to Leshan to pick them up, and then go back to Xiaogang Village."
Nanping had fallen, and Leshan had apparently been captured by Xiao Beiheng's army. It was unclear whether Chen Lan and Madam Li were safe. But with the help of secret guards like Qiang Lin, rescuing them would be easy. Xiaogang Village had a defensive wall and a garrison. In Shen Yuexi's view, it was the only viable place to stay.
Xiao Zhuo lowered his head and said nothing, letting his horse run freely. Fortunately, although he was in a state of turmoil, he was still able to sit firmly on the horse.
After galloping north for a while, when Yongwei City was out of sight and the sound of the army fighting could no longer be heard, Xiao Zhuo's horse grew tired and slowed down on its own.
Shen Yuexi also reined in his mount, and Qiang Lin and other secret guards also stopped.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, which seemed to be right above people's heads. Lightning flashed faintly in the distant clouds, and the air was very stuffy.
Shen Yuexi turned around and said to Qiang Lin, "Qiang Lin, how do I get to Leshan?"
Qiang Lin did not answer, but pointed to the distance and shouted, "Master, there are several more cavalrymen coming from the front."
Shen Yuexi turned around and saw that there were indeed several plumes of dust rising on the horizon, which seemed to have blocked the entire northern passage.
She couldn't identify the military flag number, but she was sure that it would not help them.
Qiang Lin looked carefully and said to her, "It's Xiao Beiheng's Dingbei Army. We've come to the vicinity of Xiao Beiheng's camp."
Originally, Xiao Beiheng's Dingbei Army was located to the north of Yongwei, completely cutting off Xiao Zhuo's retreat. They ran north for a while and naturally ran into him.
Before Qiang Lin could finish, Shen Yuexi had already turned his horse eastward, reached out and grabbed the reins of Xiao Zhuo's warhorse, forcing his horse to turn around as well, and shouted, "Everyone, run east quickly."
Having experienced being under house arrest by Xiao Beiheng before, she doesn't want to fall into his hands again.
Xiao Beiheng is blocking the road to the north, so let's go east. Can his military camp completely block the road to the north?
The crowd ran eastward for a while, and many people's horses were foaming at the mouth and exhausted.
Shen Yuexi felt that after running for so long, there would be no more pursuers.
She slowed down her mount a little and looked back, only to see smoke and dust rising behind her. The pursuers were still chasing her relentlessly, and she could faintly hear noisy shouting.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has decreed that whoever takes Xiao Zhuo's head will be granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households, a title passed down from generation to generation."
Xiao Beiheng was truly extraordinary. He'd duelled with Xiao Zhuo before, and while he could have killed them both on the spot, he'd gifted them horses and sent them on their way. Later, when she attended his banquet, he and Xiao Zhuo were chatting and laughing. If it weren't for the Lin Kui incident, she'd have thought they'd reconciled.
Now, they suddenly changed their attitude and insisted on killing Xiao Zhuo. They had already run for hundreds of miles, but the pursuers still refused to let them go, with a completely ruthless attitude.
He wanted to keep running, but the horses under him were clearly exhausted. If he stopped, he would surely die.
Seeing that his horses were slowing down and the pursuers were getting closer, Qiang Lin drew his sword from its sheath.
"Master, take Prince Zhao and escape quickly. We will hold off the pursuers."
Shen Yuexi knew that the number of pursuers far outnumbered the secret guards, so she shouted, "No, you will be killed."
"Master, our horses have been running non-stop and are already exhausted," Qiang Lin said. "If we don't make a decision, we will all die here."
He said no more, turned his horse around, and shouted to the secret guards around him:
"The gods are waiting for us to return to his arms. Brothers, kill."
All the secret guards drew their swords and followed Qiang Lin to meet the pursuers. No one hesitated.
Shen Yuexi felt a pang of pain in her heart. Qiang Lin's action was a fatal one.
There was no time to waste; this was the chance of escape that Qiang Lin and the others had risked their lives to secure for her and Xiao Zhuo. She grabbed the reins of Xiao Zhuo's mount, shouted a "go!", and galloped away with Xiao Zhuo towards the far reaches of the desolate plain.
A strong flash of lightning tore through the dark sky, and raindrops as big as soybeans fell down with a crackling sound.
She didn't look back again, she didn't dare to look.
The darkness deepened around her. Without Qiang Lin to guide her, she lost her bearings and had no idea where the road would lead. She could only let her horse carry her. Its hooves sank deep into the mud and water as it trudged along, her stomach throbbing with hunger. The cold rain lashed her face, and she couldn't tell whether it was tears or rain running down her cheeks.
The two war horses stumbled one after another, throwing her and Xiao Zhuo off their horses.
Shen Yuexi rolled twice in the mud, then struggled to get up with her hands in the puddle, calling out, "Husband, husband?"
Xiao Zhuo sat silently not far away and did not respond to her call.
She stumbled to Xiao Zhuo's side, and then another flash of lightning appeared, allowing her to see Xiao Zhuo's expression.
That was when she and he first met. He was sitting there exactly as he was now, his whole body burning with grief, hatred, and unwillingness.
Now, he still sat like that, but the fire in him was extinguished.
Shen Yuexi shuddered, wiped the rain off her face, and reached out to touch the warhorse that fell beside her.
The two horses lay motionless, dead from exhaustion.
She wanted to take the weapons and bow and arrows from the horse, but then she thought that she couldn't carry so many things at the moment.
"Husband, get up quickly," she turned around and grabbed Xiao Zhuo's cold hand, "We can't wait here, we will freeze to death."
The heavy rain poured down on her body. She hadn't felt anything at first, but now she began to shiver. She knew she was starting to suffer from hypothermia. If she continued to be exposed to the rain, she and Xiao Zhuo would both freeze to death.
She didn't want to die, she wanted both of them to live well.
However, Xiao Zhuo's body was extremely heavy, and she couldn't pull him up no matter what. She knelt down, put her head under the bend of Xiao Zhuo's left arm, grabbed Xiao Zhuo's wrist with her left hand, and straightened her legs tremblingly, trying to help Xiao Zhuo up, but still failed.
"Big Bear, please save us." Shen Yuexi cried in her heart, "Hurry up and build a house for... us."
If she gets rained on again, she won't be able to hold on any longer.
Big Bear's cheerful voice rang out: "Dear Master, Big Bear has detected many houses nearby. Master, do you insist on building some?"
"What?" Shen Yuexi wiped her face again and looked up.
Through the heavy rain curtain, she saw the entrance to Longsheng Town.
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