Chapter Eight: A Surprising Encounter with an Old Friend – Reflections
The army swept past like a whirlwind, unleashing an undeniable offensive.
The leading general was dressed in white, holding a silver spear. He rode a white horse galloping towards the rising sun, its mane flying like ink splashed in the air. The banners behind him fluttered in the wind, and the character "白" (white) on the banners rippled like a stone at the bottom of a pond.
The man had the appearance of a refined general, with his handsome features exuding a sharp and imposing aura.
Yang Xiao frowned as she stared at the menacing general, a chill running down her spine. Gripping her silver spear tightly, she glared at the newcomer and thrust it behind her, saying, "Be careful, everyone, this battle will be difficult."
The soldiers behind him were already exhausted, but none of them slowed down. Zhang Ping cracked his whip in the air, spurred his horse to Yang Xiao's side, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "General, rest assured, we swear to follow you!"
"We swear to follow the general!" the soldiers behind him shouted, whether to comfort Yang Xiao or to encourage themselves. Overnight, they had followed Yang Xiao from Ye County to Chenliu, burned down the granaries, and stormed into Jiyin. They were completely convinced of Yang Xiao's strength and had long since lost all their previous doubts.
Yang Xiao gripped the reins tightly, took a deep breath, and forced herself to calm down.
"I refuse to believe I can die here today!" She gritted her teeth as she watched the approaching enemy general, then thrust her spear at him.
The general had just reined in his horse, seemingly about to say something, but Yang Xiao's offensive completely suppressed him. He frowned slightly and quickly raised his gun to fight back against Yang Xiao.
With a "bang," Yang Xiao's gun was stopped. She was about to swing the gun to attack his waist and abdomen when a sense of familiarity suddenly surged into her heart as the gun barrel grazed the man's face.
Her gun slacked for two seconds without her noticing, and the general seized the opportunity, sweeping her gun away. The sudden impact made Yang Xiao's hands go numb, but she immediately came to her senses, gritted her teeth, stared at the general, and charged at him with her gun once more.
"Wait a moment, sir!" The general's gaze lingered on Yang Xiao's gun and face, as if he had made up his mind about something. Taking advantage of the moment, he quickly raised his hand to stop Yang Xiao.
However, Yang Xiao, who had been so aggressive just moments before, became more cautious and ignored what the man said, raising her gun again to attack.
The general frowned, but had no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the challenge. However, he was secretly pleased and his mind was not on the battle at all.
He intended to defeat her in one blow, using a feint to subdue Yang Xiao, but unexpectedly, when he raised his gun to strike Yang Xiao's head, she did not raise her gun to defend herself at all. Instead, she turned her head to dodge the attack, and with a swift turn of her gun, swept it straight at his waist and abdomen.
Lai Jiang was startled and quickly raised his gun to parry. He frowned and looked at Yang Xiao, about to say something, when he saw her stand up from the saddle bridge and raise her gun to strike him on the head.
After marching more than sixty li and capturing three prefectures overnight, Yang Xiao was already exhausted and overwhelmed. Looking at the vast disparity in strength between herself and the approaching generals, she knew that continuing the fierce battle would inevitably lead to defeat. Therefore, she resolved to use their strength against them and achieve a surprise victory.
But her repeated attacks were all ineffective, so Yang Xiao had no choice but to fight back desperately. She frowned, gritted her teeth, and hurled all her strength at the enemy general.
"Wait! General, stop!" The general hurriedly raised his spear to defend, but looked at Yang Xiao with worry in his eyes. The two spears clashed violently, and another sharp sound rang out. The spear tips trembled incessantly, reflecting the sunlight.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment, the two of them frozen in place, letting the rising yellow sand settle down under the sunlight.
Only then did she see the general's eyes clearly.
The sharpness and imposing manner he had displayed earlier had vanished without a trace, leaving only a gentle, ocean-like warmth in his clear eyes.
At that moment, those eyes were looking at her with concern.
A sense of familiarity suddenly welled up in Yang Xiao's heart. The face that had been buried deep in her memory suddenly became clear, entered her mind, and merged with the person in front of her.
She recognized him immediately.
Yang Xiao collapsed onto the spear, panting heavily. The two silver spears rested on each other. The enemy general frowned as he looked at Yang Xiao and slowly lowered the spear he had been holding high.
With a "whoosh," Yang Xiao's spear slid straight down, the silver spear crashing down the horse's neck towards the ground, but remained suspended above the yellow sand, held tightly in Yang Xiao's hand.
"Are you alright?" The enemy general frowned as he looked at Yang Xiao, and quickly spurred his horse forward a few steps.
“It’s alright,” Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, picked up his gun, shook his head with a light laugh, then looked up and carefully examined the young man opposite him. “To be honest, General, you look so familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?”
"More than that," the man looked at Yang Xiao, smiled helplessly, his eyes full of tenderness, "Why don't you take a look at the gun in your hand, and then... take a look at me?"
"It really is you!" Yang Xiao was overjoyed, yet it was also expected. Her eyes were filled with a myriad of emotions, and she felt a surge of joy. "The reinforcements sent by our lord are actually you."
With sunlight reflecting in his eyes, Lai Jiang smiled and nodded at Yang Xiao, then raised his spear and cupped his hands, saying, "I am Bai Ming, Bai Zhaoqing, and I greet General Lingyu."
"Bai Ming..." Yang Xiao smiled weakly, slumped on the saddle bridge, looked at Bai Ming, and softly called out, "General, how have you been?"
"Everything is fine," Bai Ming nodded with a smile. "They fought their way from Ye County to Jiyin overnight... After three days apart, they have changed so much that they are more than just people to be looked at."
Yang Xiao smiled and shook her head. "If it's like this for three days, what about five years?" She looked at Bai Ming with deep emotion, her fingertips tracing the warm gun barrel. "If it weren't for this gun, would we have been fighting endlessly?"
“How could that be?” Bai Ming’s eyes were smiling. “Even without this gun, I would still recognize you.”
Yang Xiao nodded and smiled, then looked solemnly at Bai Ming, clasped his hands and said, "I am Yang Xiao, and I thank you again for the general's gift of the gun."
-
Looking at the silver spear in her hand and the smiling Bai Ming in front of her, Yang Xiao's thoughts were suddenly pulled back to five years ago.
At that time, the Northern Qiang rebels caused chaos in Bingzhou. Yang Xiao had only been in Bingzhou for a short time when he was forced to flee south with Lingyue Pavilion.
Having finally gotten closer to Chang'an, Yang Xiao was now forced to flee to Jiangnan, a thousand miles away. She was extremely unwilling.
She didn't want to leave, but Pavilion Master Zhao Ran was very worried about her. In addition, she wanted to accompany and escort the theater staff to repay their kindness in saving her. So she kept her intention to fight against the Northern Qiang and establish herself in Chang'an to herself, packed her small bag, and followed the theater to Yuzhou, and then headed south.
It was early summer, and it was drizzling all the way. The narrow dirt road was soaked by the rain, and the wheels of the cargo truck got stuck in the mud again and again, rolling around in mud.
Chen Mo, the eldest disciple of Lingyue Pavilion, and Yang Xiao were busy transporting luggage and protecting the young girls at the theater, just like the refugees with their families on the road.
After traveling on and off, they finally arrived in Yuzhou. Once inside the city, everyone in the theater was exhausted, and their headdresses and robes were completely soaked.
The rain intensified, but the anxiety that had gripped Zhao Ran, the Pavilion Master, finally subsided. At least they were in the city; the roads would be much easier, and they wouldn't have to worry about bandits robbing them. Moreover, they had enough money to find a decent inn to rest.
Thinking of this, Zhao Ran sent Chen Mo to find an inn. Of the group, only Yang Xiao remained with genuine martial arts skills. The others, while not exactly weak women, were merely impotent and lacked real combat experience. If they encountered any villains, only Yang Xiao could fight them; the rest would be helpless.
Zhao Ran had considered this possibility, but she shook her head, unconcerned. This was the city, with government offices; why would bandits come to rob people? Besides, how could anyone be so brazen in broad daylight?
But she forgot one thing—the world was not peaceful at the moment. The positions of prefect and governor could be bought with money, and there were displaced people everywhere. Although it hadn't reached the point of cannibalism, there were quite a few thugs and ruffians. They dared to rob even wealthy merchants and politicians, let alone a group of frail women pushing a cart?
The road was incredibly wet, and the sound of raindrops pattering echoed incessantly across the endless streets.
A series of crisp "snap" sounds suddenly rang out from behind the yard. Yang Xiao's ears twitched slightly, and she quietly reached into the car, tightly gripping the wet wooden spear.
The wet sounds suddenly became chaotic, and several thieves jumped out from behind the wall like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey, startling everyone in the theater.
"Lingyu, be careful!" Pavilion Master Zhao Ran shouted, drawing his embroidered sword with a clang and shielding his youngest disciple behind him.
Seeing the men's wary expressions, the bandits burst into wild laughter. Their leader, carrying a large knife, tossed his head mockingly, "Come on, aren't you actors? Sing a song for us and we'll let you go!"
"Shameless madman, how dare you utter such nonsense!" Yang Xiao, who was already in a bad mood, became even angrier at this scene. She suddenly swung the flower gun in her hand, and the tarpaulin covering the car was lifted up.
The next second, Yang Xiao moved like the wind, wielding her spear and smashing it down on the heads of those people.
The bandits were so frightened by Yang Xiao's offensive that they retreated repeatedly. When they jumped out of the circle and looked closely, they saw a girl of about ten years old standing in front of them, soaking wet, holding a wet spear in her hand, staring at them with fierce eyes that seemed to be able to shoot sparks.
"Where did this brat come from, daring to ruin my good time!" the bandit cursed through gritted teeth, and swung his knife to fight Yang Xiao.
The once quiet street suddenly descended into chaos as Yang Xiao and the Pavilion Master argued with the group of thugs over their subordinates, prompting the neighbors to open their windows, but no one came to their aid.
They can barely take care of themselves, who has the time or inclination to care about them?
Those actresses had never seen anything like it before. Unable to help, they could only tug at each other's clothes and huddle together under the eaves.
Pavilion Master Zhao Ran gradually lost his strength and was forced to retreat. Seeing this, Yang Xiao knew things were going badly, gritted his teeth, and fought desperately with the others. The seemingly light spear moved nimbly and freely in Yang Xiao's hands, creating a flurry of wind.
But she was just a teenager, and she was inevitably exhausted and powerless in the face of the repeated attacks of a group of big men.
The thugs seemed to have figured this out, and they all increased the force of their blows as they swung at Yang Xiao. Zhao Ran, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it anymore and quickly shouted that she was going to hand the valuables over to the thieves and tell Yang Xiao to come back quickly and stop fighting.
But Yang Xiao seemed not to hear, and regrouped, going forward again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
