Chapter 84: Buried in the Snow
"Help Grandma down!"
Qin Xiangnuan watched the snowballs approach, her throat hoarse with anxiety. Qin Feng and Qin Wen hurriedly helped the old lady off the cart, but Ading's wounds hadn't healed yet, and even if he wanted to, he didn't have the strength to get up. Anliu and the others rushed over to help, but in their panic, they pulled Ading's arms, causing him to sweat profusely. "Master Liu, Third Miss, please let me stay here!"
"Shut up, what nonsense are you talking about! How could I possibly leave you behind?"
Anliu gritted his teeth and wanted to unload the cart.
The snowball had already reached a point over twenty meters in front of the cave. At this rate, if they didn't run, they'd be buried. Qin Xiangnuan narrowed her eyes, unsheathed the whip from her waist, and leaned against the cave entrance, turning back to lash out at the cart's wooden wheel. With a resounding crack, the wheel shattered, sending Ading tumbling down the slope. Anliu quickly caught him.
Boom—the moment the snowball blocked the cave entrance, everyone hid safely.
Inside the pitch-black cavern, the gasps of survivors could be heard everywhere, and the women sobbed faintly, trembling with fear. Anliu pulled out a tinder from his pocket, polished it, and handed it to Ading, his eyes filled with worry as he tried to lift his clothes to check. "Are you okay?" Ading grimaced in pain. His arm had banged against the sharp rocks next to the cavern, leaving two scratches, but fortunately, nothing serious.
The skinny monkey fell to the ground, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, and gasped, "Finally, I'm alive."
"Thanks to Miss Third's cleverness for finding such a place," Skinny Monkey said with admiration. "Miss Third is quite skilled. Could you teach us how to scale walls and climb rooftops?" As soon as he finished speaking, many voices echoed among the officers and secret guards, but they waited for no response. A deathly silence descended upon the cave, and Anliu's expression darkened. "Everyone, light your tinderboxes!"
Qin Xiangnuan hasn't spoken in a long time! This is not right.
"Did you see my little sister hide in here?" Qin Feng anxiously ran over to the broken cart, grabbing Anliu by the collar and asking. "She helped you, but what about me?" The cave lit up, and everyone frantically searched for Qin Xiangnuan, but she was nowhere to be found. Almost simultaneously, they ran to the cave entrance, completely blocked by snow, and tried to push away the obstruction with their hands.
My palms touched the cold, solid snow, and even if I used all my strength, I couldn't dig a hole in it.
After rolling in the mountain stream for so long, the once soft snow had become as solid as stone. "Didn't you come here to protect me? Why, in the end, I have to save you! Where are they? Tell me, where are they?" Qin Feng said, eyes red as he grabbed Anliu. Anliu stood frozen in place, unsure how to respond. A nearby secret guard whispered, "I... I think I saw the Third Miss run in, trapped outside by the snow. Right there..." He raised his hand, pointing somewhere at the cave entrance.
"Impossible! You're talking nonsense!"
When Qin Feng was waving his fist and about to throw a fierce punch, Qin Yi suddenly grabbed him and stopped his impulsive behavior, "The most important thing now is to find Nuannuan! The temperature in the snow is extremely low, and we can't breathe. If we stay a little longer, Nuannuan will be in danger." After that, the men and officials of the general's mansion ran to the cave entrance and started digging in a hurry.
They didn't have many tools and mostly used their hands to pick out the snow.
The icy snow froze their lips until they turned purple, but no one stopped. The flame of the candle lit in the corner flickered, and streaks of blood began to appear on the white snow. Qin Feng's fingernails had already broken, several of them bloody and mangled, but he refused to stop, like a madman. Wang Qiang gritted his teeth and continued to clear the snow. No other sound could be heard in the cave, only the rustling of snow.
Everyone had only one thought, to find Qin Xiangnuan.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. Nuannuan is blessed with good fortune. She'll be fine." Zou held Liu's cold hand, wanting to comfort her, but the words didn't seem right when they reached her lips. Liu stared blankly into the distance, as if her soul had been taken away. She kept muttering, "Nuannuan is still alive. I can feel it. She's waiting for me! I need to go help her."
Liu took two steps forward, her legs went weak, and she almost fell to the ground.
Zou supported her with tears in her eyes, "Sister-in-law! You can't fall down. Our family is counting on you to hold on. The second and third brothers are all looking for Nuannuan. With them here, they will definitely find her!" Time passed by every second, and the originally short time became extremely long at this moment. Everyone began to lose heart, only the Qin family was still digging.
The snowballs blocking the cave entrance showed no sign of decreasing.
The possibility of surviving in this situation is extremely slim.
"Nuannuan..." Old Madam Qin called Qin Xiangnuan's name sadly. Suddenly, a light cough was heard in the quiet cave. Qin Feng was stunned in place and rushed to the place where the sound came from. He pushed away the secret guard in front of him, knelt on the ground and kept digging the snow, "Dad! My little sister is here, this is my little sister's clothes!" He saw a piece of cloth emerging from the white snow pile and shouted ecstatically.
Finally seeing hope, everyone rushed forward and busily cleared the scattered snow around them.
"Be careful, don't hurt anyone," Qin Yi instructed. A few seconds later, Qin Xiangnuan's purple face, frozen to a crisp, purple color, emerged from the snowdrifts. Her ears and nose were blocked by the snow, and she could only breathe faintly. "Carry Nuannuan out! Slowly."
Qin Feng dragged Qin Xiangnuan's waist, and the person below reached out steadily to catch her body, successfully rescued her, and put her on the ground.
The temperature in the cave was not high, but Qin Xiangnuan's body was frozen stiff, her limbs could not bend, and her fingertips turned purple and black.
"Nuannuan, can you hear mother talking?"
"Didn't you tell me to hold on and everything would be fine when we got to the border? I promised you, but you can't leave me!" Liu rushed to Qin Xiangnuan's side, hugged her tightly, and tried to warm her with her body temperature. "Wake up and answer me!"
Her cry made everyone in the cave unable to hide their sorrow. "Qin Guang!" Liu looked up, calling out the name of the general with resentment. Qin Xiangnuan gently opened his eyes in her arms, blinking his eyelashes twice, and said in a weak voice, "I'm fine."
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