The three of them were stunned when they heard the voice.
The female voice was clearly Xu Ziling's! Shi Mingyue was the most shocked. How could Xu Ziling appear in the bandit's territory?
As the group approached, Xu Ziling appeared outside the cell. She glanced at Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan and said, "They said there was someone with white pupils. I was wondering if it was you. Master Fu, we meet again."
Fu Yueli's pupil fell off during the fight in broad daylight, which surprised the bandits for a while.
"Doctor Xu, you?" Fu Yueli and Shi Mingyue were equally shocked. Five years ago, Xu Ziling had been cleaning up the remaining poison for him when a mysterious disappearance occurred in Taizhou City. After the sudden death of Taizhou Governor Du Ruzhen, the case fell silent, and Xu Ziling soon closed his shop and disappeared.
Xu Ziling understood what they were surprised about and explained calmly, "Things in life are unpredictable, just like us meeting here today."
The bandits beside Xu Ziling saw that Doctor Xu was actually chatting with Fu Yueli, and they were afraid that Xu Ziling would let them go because of their friendship. But Xu Ziling clearly didn't intend to care about that little friendship, and turned to leave, "Send them there tomorrow morning."
This time, the other bandits felt relieved and followed Xu Ziling out of the cell.
"Where are they sending us?" Lu Lingyan asked.
Shi Mingyue didn't know that she had no knowledge of Xu Ziling in her previous life, let alone heard of him. Fu Yueli recalled the time when he went to Xu Ziling's medicine house to treat a disease five years ago. There he saw a kind of green leaves. Xu Ziling dried them and told him that this thing was called cannabis and it was a good thing.
So when he smelled the musty odor in the tea today at the teahouse, he confirmed it was marijuana. He knew, of course, that marijuana wasn't a completely good thing. Besides being an anesthetic, it could also act as a hallucinogen, causing confusion. Just like Xu Ziling wasn't a completely good person, why was she here, hanging out with a group of bandits? This was even more puzzling.
The next day, the bandits came to the cell early, blindfolded the three men, took them out of the cell, and threw them into a carriage.
Everything settled down, and the carriage began to move. The bandages covering Shi Mingyue's eyes were removed, and she realized that besides the three of them, Xu Ziling was also in the carriage.
Xu Ziling untied the bandages from their eyes and warned them, "Although I didn't block your mouths, don't try to make any noises for help. Otherwise, you know the consequences."
Fu Yueli only asked one question: "Where are you taking us?"
Xu Ziling shook his head: "I can't answer it for now. You'll know when the time comes."
None of the three spoke, but as the carriage moved forward, they heard a commotion outside. They had already arrived at the county town.
The carriage continued on its journey throughout the evening, until early morning when they heard a voice from outside: "Where are the people in the carriage? Lift the curtain and let me see."
Upon hearing this voice, Shi Mingyue froze. It was actually Qin Zheng's voice! Had they reached the gate of Xinzhou City?
The bandit outside pretending to be the driver smiled at Qin Zheng ingratiatingly and said, "It's our young lady sitting inside. It's not convenient to lift the curtain."
But Qin Zheng was unmoved: "Which young lady is so precious? Will I lose a piece of meat if I take a look at her? We are investigating the Wutan spies now, what about you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Ziling poked his head out from behind the curtain and asked, "Do you think I'm a spy?"
Qin Zheng shook his head and smiled, "It's not up to me to decide whether it looks like it or not, and the personnel screening wasn't ordered by me alone. No one can disobey the order from the New State Government, no matter who it is."
Xu Ziling asked, "Can we go in then?"
Qin Zheng still smiled and said, "You pulled the curtain so tightly, and I don't know if you are the only one in there. I hope you can cooperate with the inspection."
When he said this, Lu Lingyan and Fu Yueli both felt that this man was really responsible, but they also had no idea what would happen next.
Xu Ziling thought this man was really troublesome. She said, "Of course. As a commoner, I must cooperate with the government. I'm not the only one in the car. My sister is also here, but she has caught a cold and can't be exposed to the wind. Please wait."
After she finished speaking, she lowered the curtain and helped Shi Mingyue untie the ropes around her wrists, while whispering a warning, "You know what to do."
Shi Mingyue thought this was absurd. She was going to meet Qin Zheng from her previous life. Xu Ziling certainly wouldn't let her meet him without preparation. He pulled a headscarf from his bag and handed it to Shi Mingyue, "Wrap your head and cover your face."
Shi Mingyue did as she was told, and fortunately she didn't have to meet Qin Zheng.
Xu Ziling asked Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan to move aside. She and Shi Mingyue sat on the same side. Then she half-opened the curtain and said, "Can you see clearly now?"
Qin Zheng could see clearly that there was indeed a woman inside. Although her head and face were covered with a headscarf, the exposed eyes were clearly those of a woman. But why did those eyes feel so familiar? He actually felt that the woman's eyes resembled Mingyue's. Remembering Mingyue had seen him off that morning, he nodded slightly to the two of them and said, "You may go in." They were just two weak women, so they couldn't be spies sent by Wu Tan.
The carriage passed through the city gate smoothly, and Shi Mingyue also took off her headscarf. Although Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan had seen Qin Zheng's face before, they were not familiar with his voice. This time, they did not see Qin Zheng's face and did not know that the person being questioned outside was Qin Zheng.
When Shi Mingyue saw Qin Zheng from her previous life again, she naturally felt a lot of emotion.
Xu Ziling said, "I won't tie your hands anymore. Just be quiet and be good."
The carriage seemed to have gone straight through the main street of Xinzhou City, entering from the East Gate and exiting from the West Gate. The exit from the city was not as strict as the entrance, and since there were no people like Qin Zheng who were picky, they passed through smoothly.
Then they headed west, and the three of them couldn't help but wonder where Xu Ziling was going to take them.
After about a day, the carriage finally stopped. When they got off, they found that they had reached the edge of the desert.
This desert isn't the Jinsha River, but the Ulan Bu Desert. Located south of the border between Zhao State and Wutan, the Ulan Bu Desert is quite mysterious. No one knows its exact extent. Legend has it that an ancient kingdom once existed within the desert, only to be buried by shifting sands. Within this ancient kingdom lay a vast treasure. For centuries, countless people have sought to explore the desert in search of treasure, only to be buried within the sea of sand, unable to leave.
The most bizarre thing about the Ulan Bu Desert isn't the ancient kingdom itself, but rather the shocking sight nine years ago when residents within a hundred miles witnessed a dazzling white light descend from the sky onto the desert. Calling it a miracle, some sought to investigate, only to discover it had vanished without a trace.
Xu Ziling took them to a felt tent where someone had prepared clothes and food for them.
Looking at all the equipment, Lu Lingyan couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to take us into the desert?"
Xu Ziling nodded: "Not bad."
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