Chapter 38. The expression on Amei's face was vivid...
Amei's expression became lively, and a hint of smugness flashed in his eyes:
"You've really decided to follow me!" His smugness was hard to hide. "That's right. No matter how powerful your family is in the mortal world, they're just a bunch of ordinary people. How can they compare to me?"
Xie Baoqiong remained silent for a moment, offering no comment on Amei's words.
Amei continued rambling on, his words laced with pride: "Now I know what your name is." He had learned about Xie Baoqiong's background from Cai Shun and the other man while Xie Baoqiong was still asleep.
As she spoke, the tight rope binding Xie Baoqiong loosened and draped over the ground.
Xie Baoqiong lowered her eyes, her gaze sweeping back and forth over the loosened rope lying on the ground. She took a deep breath, realizing that she seemed a little too easily fooled.
"You stay in the carriage and don't run away," Amei threatened, baring her teeth as she shoved the flatbread into his hand before crawling out of the carriage.
After Amei left the carriage, Xie Baoqiong stretched her arms, which had been tied up for a long time, turned around, broke off half of the pancake in her hand, and handed it to Qi Gui's mouth.
Although it is unknown what method Amei used to ensure that the other comatose children could have rosy complexions without needing to eat, Qi Gui's lips were somewhat pale when he woke up, which suggests that the magic had lost its effect after he woke up.
Although Xie Baoqiong blocked his view, Qi Gui, who had overheard the entire interaction between the two, saw that the restraints on the latter's body had been removed. He didn't even bother to hand her the pancake and hurriedly said, "Ah Qiong, take advantage of this moment..." and run.
Xie Baoqiong, mimicking Amei's earlier actions, stuffed the pancake into Qi Gui's mouth to block the rest of his words. She then leaned closer to Qi Gui, bending down to whisper in his ear:
“We can hear the noise inside the carriage from outside, and there are two more big men guarding us than just the one from before.”
Xie Baoqiong's voice was extremely low; if the two hadn't been so close, even Qi Gui probably wouldn't have been able to hear it.
Qi Gui nodded as he looked at Xie Baoqiong, who was only three inches away from his eyes.
Xie Baoqiong straightened up and pulled Qi Gui up as well, letting him lean against the side wall:
"Eat something first, and I'll help you untie the rope."
Qi Gui glanced at Xie Baoqiong, who had lifted him up with one hand, and looked at her with some curiosity, but didn't take it seriously, and continued to eat the biscuit in his mouth.
With her hands free, Xie Baoqiong searched for the knots binding Qi Gui.
The moment his hand touched the knot, someone burst into the carriage.
"What are you doing?" A sullen, childish voice, accompanied by the sound of things crashing to the ground, reached the two people's ears.
Amei's short figure slipped under Xie Baoqiong's armpit, blocking her path between the latter and Qi Gui.
Xie Baoqiong had no choice but to withdraw her hand and calmly said, "He needs to eat too. I can't be the one to feed him."
Upon hearing this, Amei turned her head and glanced at Qi Gui. Qi Gui still had a quarter of a dry biscuit in his mouth and was no longer fooled.
"He can eat like that."
As he spoke, he pushed Xie Baoqiong aside, saying, "You are not allowed to untie his rope. What if he runs away? Master will not like you if he finds out."
Xie Baoqiong took half a step back, following Amei's movement: "But aren't you still here?"
Upon hearing this, Amei's face began to change color from the neck exposed by her collar, a blush rising on her fair skin: "Hmph, but you're not allowed to let him go."
Seeing Amei's flushed face, Xie Baoqiong turned to look at the car window, which was only letting in a few rays of light through the bamboo curtain, and asked in surprise, "Why is your face so red from the sun?"
Amei gave another soft hum, lowered her hand from Xie Baoqiong's shoulder, walked towards the carriage door, picked up the scattered fruit, and held it in her arms.
"It was probably dried while picking fruit earlier."
Qi Gui, chewing on his biscuit with his cheeks puffed out, overheard the seemingly normal but actually bizarre conversation between the two, making the already dry biscuit seem even more choking.
His throat was sticky with crumbs of biscuit, so he coughed twice, which caught Amei's attention.
Amei piled the fruit in her arms in front of Xie Baoqiong, keeping one in her hand. She walked up to Qi Gui, watched him cough until he finished, and then stuffed the fruit in her hand into Qi Gui's mouth.
"It'll be another two or three days before we arrive, so don't die." As she spoke, Amei pulled on the rope binding Qi Gui and dragged him away from the other unconscious children.
However, the total space in the carriage was not large, and Qi Gui's position was only moved by one foot.
With Xie Baoqiong lifting him up with one hand, it seemed perfectly normal to Qi Gui that a child who looked about seven or eight years old was pulling him. He simply assumed that he was weak and did not suspect that the other two people awake in the carriage were not human.
The three of them ate the fruit that Amei had picked in the carriage in a peaceful manner for the time being.
—
West side road on the outskirts of the city.
Xie Zhuo gently pulled on the reins, bringing his horse to a stop by the roadside, and dismounted.
Rong Feng, who arrived at the scene quickly, stepped out from among his subordinates gathered there, raising his eyebrows slightly: "Lord Xie, what's this?"
"I will set off with you to search for the person," Xie Zhuo said.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the trees, falling on Xie Zhuo. Rong Feng frowned slightly as he looked Xie Zhuo up and down. Xie Zhuo was wearing an indigo-colored narrow-sleeved long robe with leather wristbands. Just now at the Marquis's residence, his hair was simply tied up with a hairband in his hair ornament. It was a simple and easy outfit.
But he was, after all, just a pampered mortal. Traveling with them might slow down their progress, so his first words carried a hint of dismissal:
"Lord Xie's information network is indeed very efficient. With so many paths in the western suburbs, he found this place so quickly."
Rong Feng paused for a moment, then continued:
"It's just unfortunate that my men are still collecting information about the person's aura, so we'll have to wait another half an incense stick's time to find out where they left off."
"Of course, one must be attentive to matters concerning one's child. This is the only place along the western outskirts path where fresh hoofprints remain; I, Xie, will naturally be able to find it." Xie Zhuo glanced at the sun, a hint of worry in his heart, and said:
"I obtained a damaged artifact from a certain sorcerer. It has the ability to track down people with blood ties. Although it is damaged now, I can still determine its approximate location."
"Young Master Rong, why don't you leave some people here to collect the aura? The rest of you can come with me and set off first."
Xie Zhuo didn't just impulsively decide to go out aimlessly to search for someone.
Half a month ago, when he received Qiu Shuang's message, he and the eldest princess began to plan their trip to explore the Four Waters Mountain.
The mountains of Sishui are teeming with spirits and monsters, so the two secretly sought out some sorcerers to vouch for their journey.
Unexpectedly, Xie Baoqiong ran into trouble before the trip to Sishui Mountain was even fully prepared.
A drop of blood from a close relative is placed in the spoon at the very center of the compass, and the compass will then guide the user to find the person whose blood is connected to the blood owner.
However, the compass was damaged and can now only indicate a general direction.
When Xie Zhuochu received the compass, he hesitated quite a bit, and even as the blood dripped, he was still filled with fear.
The blood droplets emerging from his fingertips reflected his stunned face. He twisted his wrist, and the blood dripped down, disappearing into the compass and being absorbed by it in an instant.
A pale crimson light flashed above the compass, and several intertwined, translucent red threads spilled out from the center of the compass.
The intertwined red lines gradually unravel after leaving the compass, with the three red lines pointing north.
Xie Zhuo looked up and saw the direction of the Xie family's ancestral graves.
Looking at the three red lines floating in the air, Xie Zhuo's heart sank to the bottom. His eyes, which reflected the red lines, gradually dimmed, and his face turned pale. His hands, which had been clenched in tension, relaxed as if deflated.
His throat tightened, and he opened his dry mouth, wanting to call for someone to return the compass to the princess, but he was momentarily speechless.
The compass stood quietly on the table. Xie Zhuo caught a glimpse of his slightly disheveled reflection in the bronze mirror, chuckled self-deprecatingly, and reached for the longsword beside the compass.
Regardless of whether Xie Baoqiong is his child or not, her purpose in getting close to him is...
Xie Zhuo paused for a moment, then lowered his eyes, vaguely remembering that the story had started with nothing more than his wishful thinking.
But no matter what, he still had to take responsibility for that child.
He pulled the longsword away, and the tassel accidentally brushed against the compass, causing the compass, which was already on the edge of the table, to fall down.
He quickly stepped back and reached out to catch it. The compass caught his hand, but it still hit the corner of the stool when it fell.
The treasure wouldn't be damaged by a bump. Xie Zhu glanced down at it, then picked up his sword and walked outside.
Unexpectedly, just as he took a step, a burst of red light suddenly appeared in his hand.
Looking down, the red light gradually faded, and where the three red lines had previously appeared, a new red line appeared intermittently, trembling and pointing towards the west.
Xie Zhuo was stunned for a moment, but after he came to his senses, his eyes were filled with the joy of regaining what he had lost. The great sorrow and joy were but a fleeting moment.
He tucked the compass into his robes and set off.
—
Under the moonlight, the horses avoided the main road and bypassed the city, heading towards their destination along the side roads.
Xie Baoqiong lifted the bamboo curtain on the carriage window a crack and looked out. The carriage had been traveling on the road intermittently for two days.
The carriage traveled along deserted trails, and as it got further and further away from the capital, he gradually lost his sense of location.
Aside from leaving to look for food, Amei spent most of her time in the carriage talking to him and Qi Gui. Although it was almost always Amei who was talking, and he and Qi Gui hardly spoke, Amei was still very enthusiastic.
This prevented him from finding an opportunity to send Qi Gui and the other children away.
Even if they could be sent away, Xie Baoqiong was worried about how Qi Gui, who had never left the capital, would be able to send himself and the other four unconscious children back to the capital, not to mention that there was no shortage of man-eating wild beasts in the mountains.
Therefore, the matter was delayed again and again.
Outside the window, the mountains stretched out in a continuous line, and a vast expanse of green caught Xie Baoqiong's eye. He munched on the fruit that Amei had picked, while memorizing the route and observing the surrounding terrain.
only……
The mountains outside the window seem more and more familiar the more I look at them.
And not far away, amidst the green hills and fields, a red shadow runs.
Two red tails with white trim hung behind it as it ran up and down.
The more I look at her, the more she resembles Xiaochun.
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Author's Note: Tips for Expanding on the Main Text
Compass: Originally named the Tracking Compass, its initial purpose was to locate the family members of enemies (limited to direct blood relatives and siblings). PS: To prevent enemies from faking their deaths and escaping, even the already deceased will be displayed.
The forger was later killed, and the compass was destroyed, ending up in the hands of someone else.
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