Chapter 216 Returning Home
Even a majestic horse, carrying two people at full speed, would eventually run out of energy.
The horse that Mep was riding had begun foaming at the mouth and was obviously unable to run any further, while the shouting and screaming behind him was getting closer and closer.
He looked back and saw dust flying behind him. About six or seven imperial guards had tracked them down and were chasing them closely.
Under normal circumstances, these six or seven pursuers would be no problem at all. But now that he had lost his left hand and had to protect his sister, it was impossible for him to stop and fight.
He turned around and saw a fork in the road. To the left led to a town, and to the right was a dense forest.
"Brother, turn right," Mei Dai, who was sitting in front of him, pointed to the dense forest to the right. "The horses can't run any longer. Let's go into the forest and take shelter for a while."
"They have already seen us, how can we hide?" Mep asked as he pulled the reins and let his mount gallop towards the dense forest.
Mei Dai said, "Brother, this group of pursuers can't be the only ones here. Let's lure them into the dense forest and kill them. The other pursuers won't be able to see us, and we can breathe a sigh of relief."
Meipu nodded. The two entered the forest. Meipu reined in his horse and jumped off first. He was about to reach out to help Meidai, but Meidai had already jumped off the horse and said to him:
"Brother goes to fight, sister helps from behind."
Mei Pu didn't know how she could help, and was about to ask when a group of guards behind her rode into the forest, swords drawn, charging at the two of them. Mei Pu had no choice but to draw her sword and rush forward to meet them.
A guard rushed forward and swung his sword at him. Mep ducked, dodging the blow and slashed at the horse's leg with his sword.
The warhorse neighed in pain and fell to the ground, knocking the guard on the horse to the ground. Mep turned around and rushed a few steps to the guard, and without waiting for the guard to get up, he stabbed him with a sword.
The five guards behind saw that one of them had been killed and knew that Mep's swordsmanship was fierce, but there was no time to brake their mounts, so they simply jumped off their horses and joined the battle.
At this point, the two sides were locked in a life-or-death struggle, and any words were unnecessary. The sounds of angry roars, the clash of swords, and screams echoed throughout the forest.
Mep swung his sword and killed four people in a row, and felt shortness of breath, chest tightness, and soreness in his arms.
He was suffering from leprosy, and despite Shen Yuexi's medication, it didn't work immediately. Plus, without his left hand, he could only wield his sword with one, and after fighting for so long, he ran out of energy.
The last remaining guard was a burly figure, and his sword was different from the others: a thick, golden-backed machete. This type of sword was incredibly heavy, requiring only the strongest to wield. Seeing that Mep was panting, he knew he was running out of strength, so he gripped the machete with both hands, raised it high, and chopped it down on Mep's head.
Mep wanted to dodge, but the opponent's sword was so sharp that he had to raise his sword to block.
The swords clashed with a clang. Mep's arm went numb, and he lost his grip on the sword, which fell to the ground. The guard, overjoyed, stepped forward and slashed him across the waist with his sword.
If this knife hit him, he would be cut in two. Mep had no sword in his hand, so he could only roll backwards and barely avoid it.
Before he could get up, the guard caught up with him, pointing the sharp tip of his knife at him lying on the ground, and was about to stab him.
Seeing that he could no longer hide, Meipu felt desperate. There was a whoosh sound above his head, and a feather arrow shot into the guard's eye. The guard staggered twice and fell backwards.
"Brother, are you okay?" Mei Dai's voice came.
Mep turned over, supported himself on one hand and looked up, and saw Mei Dai putting down the longbow not far away.
"Sister, I'm fine," Maep was surprised and happy. "You can actually use a bow and arrow?"
His sister left Xiliang when she was sixteen years old, and as her brother, he didn't even know that she could do these things.
"Grandpa taught me privately," Mei Dai threw away the bow and ran over to help Mei Pu up. "Brother, now is not the time to talk about this. Let's change two horses and leave here quickly."
Mep lowered his head and said nothing.
The more Grandpa taught Mei Dai, the more he proved his disappointment in his son and grandson. This feeling was like an invisible whip lashing his back.
Mei Dai led two horses over and said to Mei Pu, "What are you thinking about, brother?"
Meipu whispered in shame: "Sister, Dad and I have accomplished nothing, and you have shouldered too much."
"Don't say that. It was you, brother, who suffered the most." Mei Dai passed the reins to his right hand and gently stroked his empty left sleeve. "I, on the other hand, did nothing. I just stayed with that man in the palace all day. Now, brother, rescue me. When we return to Xiliang, we will start over again."
"Yes, we still have 30,000 Xiliang troops in Leshan." Mei Pu grabbed the reins. "With my sister's help, we can definitely restore the prestige of the Mei family."
"That's it, brother," Mei Dai climbed onto the horse, "Don't be discouraged, everything will be fine."
Meipu also mounted the horse and grabbed the reins. "Thank you for giving me courage, sister. Ever since I became ill, I've always felt like a useless person who can't do anything."
"Who said brother can't do anything? Didn't you come to save me?" Mei Dai said with a smile, "If it weren't for brother, I would definitely be sentenced to death by Emperor Yongde."
"Sending you to the cold palace is already too much, why do you have to be executed?"
"He was going to kill me, but I thought quickly and said I was pregnant with his child. In the cold palace, he had three imperial doctors come to check my pulse. I knew I was doomed, and just when I was at a loss, my brother came to my rescue."
The two men rode out of the woods, Mei Dai on the left and Mei Pu on the right, and they rode side by side westward.
"If we travel day and night, we can return to Leshan in just two days." Mei Pu turned to Mei Dai and said, "But the journey will be difficult, and you may have to endure some hardships."
Without the pursuers, he spoke more easily. However, Mei Dai did not answer him, but frowned and looked around.
"What's wrong, sister?" asked Maep.
Mei Dai said uneasily, "Something's wrong. It's too quiet."
"It's deserted here, so naturally it's quiet," Mep replied disapprovingly, "Let's go."
Just as he finished speaking, a sharp whistle sounded from the side of the road.
"Brother!" Mei Dai shouted.
She was already alert, and as soon as the whistle sounded, she turned over and jumped off the horse, trying to grab Mep's left hand, but she grabbed nothing and only pulled off a piece of his sleeve, failing to pull Mep off the horse.
The sound of arrows breaking through the air was endless.
Meipu was hit by several arrows before he could dismount. Meidai was caught between two horses, and the arrows hit the horses, but she escaped unharmed. The dead horses fell, crushing her underneath.
Mei Dai's legs were pinned down by the dead horse, unable to break free. She reached out to Mei Pu, who was lying on the ground, and shouted, "Brother, brother!"
Miep lay on the ground, four or five arrows wounding his chest and abdomen, his upper body drenched in blood. He slowly turned his head to look at her, raising his hand to shake hers, but dropped it mid-move. Blood dripped continuously from the edge of the metal mask he wore.
On both sides of the road, guards holding bows and arrows stood up one after another, about thirty or forty of them.
One of the guards walked up to Mei Dai and said, "Empress Xianfei, His Majesty has ordered that you two be brought back to the throne. I apologize for the offense."
Mei Dai ignored him and just tried her best to reach out to Mei Pu.
The guard shook his head, raised his knife, and was about to chop off Mei Dai's neck when a feather arrow flew and hit his throat.
Not far away, the sound of hooves suddenly rang out as a cavalry of more than ten men galloped over. The leader shouted, "Here is the commander of the Western Rong, Qiang Lin. Anyone who dares to fight me will step forward and be killed."
The Western Rong people were good at riding and shooting, and these secret guards were all carefully selected soldiers by Qiang Lin. They could ride their horses and draw their bows, and their arrows never missed their targets.
The guards hadn't anticipated the appearance of Western Rong cavalry outside the capital, and were thrown into disarray, believing the Western Rong army was attacking. Furthermore, the enemy's archery was incredibly accurate, and before they could react, over ten of them were shot down. The rest, knowing they were no match for the enemy, fled in all directions.
Qiang Lin led his secret guards to drive off the pursuers, then rode up to Mei Dai and dismounted. Seeing Mei Pu, who had been shot by several arrows, he knelt and punched the ground, saying, "We're still a step too late."
Several secret guards lifted the dead horse. Mei Dai crawled to Mei Pu's side, hugged him and whispered, "Brother."
"Sister, I'm really...useless." Maep's eyes gradually dimmed behind the mask. "At least...I did accomplish one thing."
"Brother, I just want you to be alive," Mei Dai lay on Mei Pu's body, tears streaming down her face. "You don't have to do anything, as long as you are alive... please don't abandon me."
"Empress Xianfei, he has passed away. Please accept my condolences." Qiang Lin stood aside with a heavy tone.
Upon hearing this, Mei Dai raised her head, stretched out her trembling hands to take off Mep's mask, stared at the face that had become extremely ugly due to illness, and gently closed the lifeless eyes.
"Empress Xianfei, I was sent by Prince Zhao to help Prince Mei rescue you," Qiang Lin said, standing beside her. "We are too late."
Mei Dai seemed not to hear his words and muttered to herself, "My parents are gone, my brother is gone, and in this world... I have nothing left... hehe."
At the end of her speech, she suddenly laughed, startling everyone around her.
Mei Dai jumped up, her hair disheveled as she covered her face with the blood-stained mask and said to a secret guard beside her:
"Your Majesty, do you think I am beautiful like this?"
The secret guard was startled by her question and shook his head repeatedly, saying, "Empress Xianfei, I am not the emperor."
"Then you are the father. Father, you have lost a lot of weight... hehe."
Mei Dai covered her tear-stained, beautiful face with a cold, blood-stained mask, looking incredibly strange.
The secret guard who was questioned by her was at a loss and turned to look at Qiang Lin.
Although Qiang Lin had been through many battles, he had never seen such a situation. He was at his wits' end and could only say, "The Concubine must have been deeply traumatized. Let's escort her and Prince Mei's bodies back and see how the Master handles this matter."
Mei Pu was dead, but Mei Dai was still alive. He felt the best solution was to take them back and see how Shen Yuexi would handle it.
Mei Dai put on her mask and went to lead a horse. She stroked the horse's face and said, "Brother, why did your face become like this? I miss home. Please take me home."
She got on the horse while laughing, and later she even started humming a song.
Qiang Lin and the secret guards looked at each other in bewilderment. They thought that Concubine Xian was really crazy.
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