Huo Jincheng thought Qiu Ge had discovered Ah Man's tracks, so he ran forward behind Qiu Ge. They followed Qiu Ge across a stream and into the woods. Deep in the woods stood a shabby little cabin. It looked old, like it had been abandoned by a forest ranger.
Brother Qiu glanced at Jian Ning and rushed into the wooden house.
Several people followed him in. When they entered the wooden house, they saw a person lying on the ground. Jian Ning glanced over and immediately called out Huo Jincheng and two other guards who were not infected with smallpox.
"Put these on," she said, holding out three masks for them. "That man died of smallpox. You haven't had it before, so you're very susceptible to infection. Don't go in."
"Madam," Ding Youtian said, emerging from the house, "he's been dead for a few days. I wonder if it was the groom. Look around to see if there's any sign of Man'er. If there is, it's most likely the groom."
Brother Qiu rushed to the door of the wooden house and shook his head at Jian Ning. Jian Ning followed him in and saw the mark carved by Ah Man on the collapsed half of the bed leg.
Huo Jincheng punched the broken wall of the wooden house in frustration, causing dirty wood chips to fall down. This was because a few days ago, he and his guards had waded through the stream and entered this forest, but they just took a look outside and left after thinking that there didn't seem to be any people.
At the time, he felt that it was impossible for them to camp outdoors with Ah Man and that bitch Yun Niang, and their focus was on finding the village. If he had gone deep into the forest a few days earlier, he might have found Ah Man long ago.
Self-blame, guilt, sadness, all kinds of emotions intertwined together, he could no longer control himself and held his head and wailed.
"Don't worry, Man'er will be fine. The smiley face mark must have belonged to Man'er..." Jian Ning froze mid-sentence, then patted Huo Jincheng. "Man'er will be fine. She has the pendant her mother left for her. Her mother is a saint, and the pendant might have the power to make her immune to all poisons. Stop crying and think about where to find her."
"Is everything really going to be alright?" Huo Jincheng raised his eyes and asked her.
"Won't!"
Jian Ning spoke with certainty, which invisibly gave Huo Jincheng confidence. Because the man in the house died of smallpox, Jian Ning put on gloves, dragged him to the yard outside, and set fire to the body.
After they left the forest, Huo Jincheng looked at Ding Youtian and asked, "Brother Ding, where should we chase them?"
He seemed to have become a fanboy of Ding Youtian.
Ding Youtian said, "The smallpox epidemic in the capital has been lifted, but it will take a few days for the news to reach us. My wife and I have been chasing them all the way to many villages. People are guarding the entrances for several miles, and no one is allowed to enter. Right now, they can only hide in the wilds. We will just follow them through the thick bushes outside the city."
There are many plains in the north, and at a glance, there are only plants as tall as a person. It is really difficult to find a few people hiding in them. Fortunately, Brother Qiu is conducting a sweeping search in front, and Jian Ning also quietly released a drone and set the remote control to vibration mode.
They followed Brother Qiu through the grass.
The sky gradually darkened. A carriage was parked quietly in the deep of the endless grass. Weak groans could be heard from the carriage, intermittently and sometimes not.
Outside the carriage, Manager Wang rubbed his forehead anxiously. The groom was dead and Yunniang had collapsed. They couldn't go anywhere because of the smallpox. He had slaughtered and eaten most of the horses, and they were about to be trapped to death on this grassland. He kept cursing his mother in his heart.
As he was cursing, an evil thought suddenly arose in his mind.
Damn it! He turned around and opened the car curtain. Yunniang, who was slumped in the car with her head resting on the cushion, raised her head weakly when she heard the noise. When she met his gloomy gaze, a trace of panic flashed in her eyes, "You, what do you want to do?"
"Don't worry, you won't die. You'll make it through tonight." He looked at Ah Man, who was curled up on the cushion, with a sinister look in his eyes, and lowered his chin towards Yun Niang. "Damn it, she's a burden and a nuisance to me! Don't you want revenge on your uncle? Just kill her. After seeing her corpse, her father will surely stop chasing us like a dog. Let's do it!"
"Auntie!" Ah Man shouted, "Don't listen to him. I'm not a nuisance. I can still take care of Auntie. I'm eight years old and can do a lot of things. When Daddy finds us, I'll tell him how well Auntie treats me. I'll ask Daddy to take Auntie back. Daddy listens to me the most and will definitely take Auntie back!"
"Hehe, I'll give you a chance to take revenge. If you don't do it, I will!" Shopkeeper Wang said as he lifted his sleeves. The groom had martial arts skills. When he was alive, he found out that Huo Jincheng and his men were chasing them.
He killed Ah Man and then killed Yun Niang. Who would know that the deaths of these two people were related to him?
No one can do anything to him without any evidence.
Having made up his mind, he lowered his head and was about to get into the carriage.
"No! I beg you not to kill her, she's still a child!" Yunniang struggled to sit up straight and stretched out her hands to block him, "Please let her go, you can't touch her, I beg you!"
Yunniang had been disheartened ever since she contracted smallpox, and she had also realized that Ah Man's closeness to her was not genuine. But after all, she had watched Ah Man grow up, and only when she was dying did she realize that Huo Jincheng was the only person in the world she missed.
She regretted it.
I regret kidnapping Ah Man and letting her suffer this unexpected disaster.
Tears rolled down like a broken dam!
"You're crying your mother's grave! What bad luck!" Shopkeeper Wang kicked Yunniang to the ground. Suddenly, Ah Man shouted, "Hey, Daddy?"
He froze, then quickly turned his head. In the blink of an eye, Ah Man rushed over like a cannonball, knocking him down headfirst and falling to the ground herself. Ignoring the pain, she scrambled to her feet and ran for her life. Shopkeeper Wang realized he'd been tricked and, cursing, tried to chase her, but Yun Niang, who had fallen off the carriage, grabbed her thigh tightly.
"Miss! Run!"
"Let me go! Otherwise I'll kill you!"
He kicked Yunniang on the head with his other foot. Hearing Yunniang's scream, Ah Man stopped involuntarily and looked back.
“Run—!”
Yunniang roared with all her strength.
Ah Man turned around and ran for her life again. As she ran, she saw many people coming out from the front. They were all riding tall horses and wearing armor. She waved her hands and shouted as she ran: "Help! Help! Save my aunt, save my aunt quickly..."
"Brother Qingmu, look, is there a child in front?" Duan Xinping reined in his horse, raised his hand and looked in the direction where Ah Man was running, and asked the young general beside him.
"Yes, why is there a child here?"
"Gee!" Duan Xinping shook the reins, clamped her legs on the horse's belly, and galloped towards A'man.
"Wuwu... Uncle, save my aunt, she is about to be beaten to death by the bad guys!" After being carried onto the horse by Duan Xinping, Ah Man thought that Duan Xinping, who was dressed as a man, was a man. She cried and pulled her arm, asking her to go and save Yunniang quickly.
When Shopkeeper Wang left to chase Ah Man, he saw a crowd of people in front of him and immediately realized that it was the King of Pingnan leading the army back to the capital. He lowered his body, crouched in the grass, and ran in another direction.
"Aunt! Let me down, let me down!" Ah Man saw Yun Niang lying in front of the carriage with blood all over her head, crying and shouting to get down. Duan Xinping was about to carry her down, but she glanced at Yun Niang, hugged Ah Man and rode her horse backwards.
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