Cousin, what's wrong with you?
Song Tiaotiao watched the black cloud running by, but her feet kept moving forward. She couldn't help but call out, "Mo Yun!"
Hearing the sound, the galloping black horse leaped in the air and when it landed on the ground again, it stopped quietly in front of Song Tiaotiao.
After a moment, it lowered its head as usual and rubbed her palm docilely.
Song Tiaotiao felt the touch of her palm, and when she looked into the clear eyes, she couldn't help but bury her eyes in the horse's mane, and her eyes became red.
She murmured "Mo Yun" repeatedly, and every time Mo Yun heard her call, he would nod gently as before.
After a while, Song Tiaotiao saw that Mo Yun had started circling around her, trying to make her happy.
She patted the horse's head, laughed in cooperation, turned her head to look at the Zhenbei King who was laughing and shaking his head: "Uncle, from whom did you find Mo Yun?"
Thinking of that man, the King of Zhenbei tutted his tongue in disgust. "He was in the hands of an extremely annoying second-generation rich kid. Who cares? He's just a dead man now. I saw that the good horse was ruined by him like this, and I wanted to spit on him for being blind. Then he asked me for an exorbitant price, which was really annoying, so I couldn't help but get rid of him. I thought I would give him a quick death. If he fell into the hands of Gu Chengjue... Well, don't let such a villain dirty his hands. When you turn back this time, take the horse back with you."
After finishing the last meal of this trip, Song Tiaotiao prepared to set off.
After leaving space for the King of Zhenbei to store various medicines for injuries, as well as herbs and prescriptions for treating malaria, Song Tiaotiao mounted his horse with peace of mind under the King of Zhenbei's watchful eye: "It is said that prevention is better than cure. If I leave more medicine bottles, my uncle's health will be more guaranteed. I can also feel more at ease."
The King of Zhenbei gazed at Song Tiaotiao's heroic figure on horseback, his smiling eyes filled with admiration and, most of all, reluctance to let you go: "You and A-Liu are truly a mother and daughter... If it weren't for the fact that the daughter of the Jin family was about to get married, I would have really not wanted to let you go." At this point, he shook his head, spread his hands, and sighed with a smile: "The world is so chaotic nowadays, I'm worried that the gift I prepared for you will be lost along the way."
Hearing the voice, Song Tiaotiao was stunned.
Then, she followed the direction of the Zhenbei King's gaze, her pupils trembling. Looking at the more than ten carriages coming from behind, she looked back at the Zhenbei King with hesitation.
The King of Zhenbei raised his eyebrows and smiled, looking up at her: "Niece, your uncle will not make things difficult for you. If these gifts follow you, they will definitely attract attention and slow down your pace. You go first, and then these gifts will be delivered to you in full. As for you..." At this point, the King of Zhenbei turned his eyes to Chen Pinglang who was leading the horse to the side, and patted his shoulder heavily: "No, your cousin is just in use. Next...Tiaotiao, have a safe journey."
…
Song Tiaotiao looked at the city walls that gradually became clearer. Based on her memory of the journey, she guessed, "Cousin, that town ahead must be Songning Town, right?"
Hearing this, Chen Pinglang froze. He glanced at Song Tiaotiao briefly, then raised his gaze to the sky again. His voice was slightly muffled, "Yes..." At this point, his eyes grew hollow as he murmured, "Cousin... and you call me cousin... I never thought that our fate would take such a long time to finally become brother and sister..."
Song Tiaotiao was so focused on the place ahead that she didn't hear what Chen Pinglang said next. She turned around and saw that he was in a low mood. She asked in confusion, "Cousin, what's wrong with you?"
Chen Pinglang looked at her deeply, sighed softly, and rode forward: "Just think of it as me being knocked unconscious by you since I was a child..."
Song Tiaotiao tilted her head suspiciously after hearing the incoherent words.
But even though she analyzed it over and over again for a long time, she still couldn't understand its meaning.
Finally, she saw that Chen Pinglang was looking straight ahead and had returned to normal, and she thought that she was overthinking things.
Perhaps, my cousin was still so impressed by this incident after so many years, and he was simply hurt by the hit.
This is such a sad story.
Song Tiaotiao was considering whether to give Chen Pinglang a sincere apology when she saw Chen Pinglang looking ahead intently and said in a deep voice, "There seems to be bandits out front..."
Upon hearing this, Song Tiaotiao followed and saw four or five tall and strong men in front of her holding knives and sticks, pressing forward step by step towards the elderly, weak, women and children who had no power to resist outside the city gate.
In the split second she blinked, a man was crying and turned into blood under the sword.
Seeing this, Song Tiaotiao's almond-shaped eyes trembled. She pounded the reins with both hands, as if she wanted to break them. "Ahead... ahead, isn't it near the gate of Songning Town? In broad daylight, they began to slaughter civilians at the city gate. They are so brazen. Where is the law?"
Although Song Tiao Tiao already knew that the world was in ruins, she was still horrified by the sight of such an absurd scene mixed with blood and tears.
Chen Pinglang turned his head and looked deeply at Song Tiaotiao, then said calmly, "Are you going to save someone?"
Song Tiaotiao looked coldly at the bandit who was about to raise his sword, his brows furrowed. "I want to know the reason..."
Chen Pinglang nodded, handed Song Tiaotiao a short knife, and rode forward: "Let's go and take a look."
Not far from the city gate, a middle-aged bandit was holding a trembling young man in his arms. He pointed at the man in front of him with a dull look and said fiercely, "Boy, this is your token of surrender. Kill him."
The young man hung his head, tears streaming down his face, his voice trembling, "Boss... he's the town's teacher... we've already taken his food, why would we kill him?"
Hearing this, the middle-aged bandit sneered and pressed his blood-stained sword down to his neck. In an instant, another streak of blood appeared on the sword. "You don't want to kill me, right? Then I will kill you today!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp sword light flashed towards the rising sun.
Chen Pinglang raised his sword and swung it down, and the laughter, anger and cursing among the bandits all turned into dead silence in an instant.
His eyes indifferently passed over the people present, and he lifted up the young man who was still in shock and said in a cold voice, "Speak."
The young man looked at Chen Pinglang's cold expression, tears streaming down his face. "Sir, I swear to heaven, I just joined the gang yesterday and have never killed anyone. As long as you don't kill me, I'll tell you... I'll tell you anything."
Chen Pinglang glanced down at the bloody bodies scattered across the ground, swung his sword in a flower pattern, and sheathed the long sword he had wiped the blood from. "Why do they have to kill people?"
The young man glanced at the middle-aged bandit on the ground, wiped a tear, and said bitterly, "They've always been a bully. Seeing that the people inside rarely come out recently, and those outside who can't return are helpless, they're used to taking advantage of us who have been driven out. If you don't hand over the food, you will be killed as a warning to others."
Song Tiaotiao looked at his bleeding wound, thought for a moment, handed him some medicine to stop the bleeding, and said, "Why were you kicked out?"
The young man was moved by Song Tiaotiao's kindness and wanted to speak frankly, but his peripheral vision passed by Chen Pinglang, so he still asked him: "Sir, are you from the rebel army?"
Chen Pinglang glanced at him lightly: "What does it have to do with this matter whether we are or not?"
Song Tiaotiao blinked and said slowly, "If everything you said is true, we will not kill you."
The man who had escaped death from the knife moved his eyes and replied in a low voice: "Everything he said is true."
Hearing this, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Chen Pinglang hadn't drawn his sword, he sounded a little more relaxed. "They all say that the leader of the rebel army is very tall and righteous... He has been appearing around Songning Town more often to suppress bandits recently. That's why I made this guess."
The last time I heard news of the rebel army was when we were at the border between Xirong and Southern Dynasty, helping to resist the Xirong soldiers.
Now, they have moved back to Bobei Township to continue suppressing bandits.
Song Tiaotiao was just lowering his eyes in deep thought when the young man continued, "Actually, these bandits are lingering at the city gate, hoping to make one last profit. Yesterday, the rebels destroyed their hideout in the woods west of the city. I heard the news and rushed over, intending to surrender to the rebels, but I ran into them as they fled. To save my own skin, I ended up here with them today." At this point, he looked at the crisscrossing figures on the ground with compassion in his eyes, "And they, on weekdays, are the most gentle and kind people. As for why they were driven out by the people in town, perhaps it's just like me. Because the court has been investigating closely lately, they were treated as suspected rebels and pushed out as scapegoats to show their loyalty."
The man who had been saved from the sword stared numbly at the blood-soaked ground and said indifferently, "Even if we weren't rebels before, we will be in the future. Since we carry this reputation of suspicion, we have become people with no home to return to and no one to turn to for help. Joining the rebels is our last chance of survival."
In silence, the remaining people looked at each other and reached a consensus.
Before leaving, Song Tiaotiao distributed some copper coins for survival to the people outside the city gate, and finally returned to the young man.
At this time, the young man had compacted the last piece of black soil. Hearing footsteps approaching, he looked at Song Tiaotiao who had returned again and smiled lightly, "Sister, after you applied the medicine on my wound, I really don't feel any pain at all." A moment later, he saw Chen Pinglang leading the horse over, and his smile dimmed slightly, "Sister, are you leaving?"
Seeing Song Tiaotiao nod, he looked at the row of earthen mounds where he had buried his own burials, curved his tear-stained eyes, and said, "Now that they have been settled, I will continue to look for the rebels. I hope that after I find them, I can no longer live this life of being preyed upon by others." At this point, his eyes moved, and he leaned close to Song Tiaotiao's ear and whispered, "Sister, I heard from the bandits that the rebels will advance all the way north, and the reason seems to be related to the army. In short, the road ahead is extremely dangerous, so if you go forward, be careful. I hope we can meet again in the future, and I will have the opportunity to repay you for saving my life."
The chaos on the way to Songbai Village was even more than Song Tiaotiao had imagined.
Some refugees became bandits because they had no skills and nowhere to make a living, while some indigenous people joined the rebels because they could not pay the high taxes and had no other choice.
Bandits killed civilians, rebels killed bandits, and soldiers chased and killed rebels...
The Northern Frontier, as a microcosm of the Southern Dynasty, has become a mess, boiling with blood and flesh, and cooking and killing living beings, making it difficult for people to survive.
Song Tiaotiao never thought that her reunion with Gu Chengjue would be in the midst of blood and rain.
The clear mountain stream flowed continuously, but it was unable to wash away the thick blood.
When the last enemy was killed, Gu Chengjue's eyes were calm and peaceful.
After using his long sword to pick up the enemy's clothes and figuring out who sent the secret guard, he rode his snow-white horse to the stream to wash the blood-stained horse's feet.
The strong smell of blood coming from afar already made Mo Yun excited.
But when it discerned the scent of the person it had been thinking about day and night in the wind, its ears had already curled up, secretly leading Song Tiaotiao off the route.
Hearing the sound of galloping horses in the distance, Gu Chengjue's eyes darkened and his slender fingers grasped the hilt of the sword.
But the moment he raised his eyes, the decisive and murderous God of War was stunned: "Tiao...? Tiaotiao..."
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