Chapter 816 Intimate Distance
A cool breeze blows along the path through the dense woods.
A stream meanders through the forest, like a nimble white snake.
A group of people stopped by the stream to rest for a while, fetching water with ladles and bowls, and taking a break.
"What is Dalang looking at?"
Wei Mei suddenly asked.
Upon hearing this, Li Guo'er and Li Xian turned their heads and saw that Li Dalang was fetching water while looking back at the forest path they had come from, his face somewhat lost in thought.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking, what if Li Congshan and the others don't fall for the trap and catch up with us? We really won't be able to escape then."
Beside him, Lu Ya, who had been intently watching the compass, shook his head:
"Senior Brother Zhang just received a sound from his compass... According to the agreement, this sound means that Li Congshan and the others continued south as Her Highness the Little Princess predicted, and chased after her to Hanyang County. Sure enough, they did not find our alternative route."
Upon hearing this, Wei Mei and Li Xian both breathed a sigh of relief.
Together with Li Dalang and Lu Ya, they couldn't help but look at the plum blossom-dressed young lady who was being helped by Caishou to fetch water with her skirt.
Li Guo'er ignored him, her attention seemingly drawn to the fish swimming in the stream, watching them with great interest.
The peach-pink ladylike dress she used to wear was gone, replaced by a blue short jacket with a front opening, a style often worn by common women.
Not only Li Guo'er, but also Li Xian, Wei Mei, Li Dalang, and Lu Ya, all changed their outfits.
He looked like a wealthy landowner on a journey.
The amount of luggage they carried was reduced by more than half, and the carriage they had brought from the Xunyang Prince's Mansion had disappeared.
The air between the group was filled with a rich yet spicy aroma.
It has a faint aroma reminiscent of a mixture of ambergris and realgar.
The clothes of Li Xian's family, as well as Lu Ya's Taoist robe, compass, and peach wood sword, were all smeared with these spices.
It concealed their presence.
Lu Ya looked at Li Guo'er with admiration in his eyes, and he inevitably spoke more than usual:
"It was Her Highness the Princess who was so clever, coming up with such a brilliant plan. She discarded clutter along the way, setting up many illusions, and had Senior Brother Zhang follow with a compass to report back. We knew exactly which clutter attracted Li Congshan and the others, saving us from being suspicious and even doubting ourselves..."
At this point, his eyes filled with emotion:
"In this way, we will know exactly which of our luggage and items attracted Li Congshan and his men to chase us. We can then arrange a big fire to burn all the suspicious luggage to ashes, leaving only some that are more certain, such as the carriage that transported ice. We can have Xie Daoyou carry it to pretend to be us and head south to mislead the enemy."
Wei Mei turned back and looked in the direction of Qingya Post Station, her expression still showing lingering fear:
“It was really dangerous. I didn’t expect that not only our two carriages that we usually use in the Prince’s Mansion were marked, but also the carriage that transports ice... were all marked by Li Congshan and his group. Although I don’t know how he did it or what kind of Qi Refining technique he used, if Guo’er hadn’t gone to test it out, something really bad would have happened.”
Li Dalang asked curiously:
"Sister, what was the meaning of the poem you left at Qingya Post Station yesterday? Why did you suddenly leave ink marks?"
Li Guo'er didn't look up, continuing to scoop water from the stream, gently shaking her head:
"Thank you for your instructions. We need to deceive Li Congshan while leaving a trace. This is the only way."
Li Dalang asked with concern:
"What does this mean? Could it be a hint? Is Miss Xie going to leave this for my beloved?"
Li Guo'er lowered her eyes and said:
“I think it’s unlikely, but Sister Xie really believes he can find it.”
As if remembering something, she pursed her lips:
"Ever since that skirt knife started reacting from time to time, Sister Xie has been distracted every day. I can only give in to her this once to put her mind at ease."
Li Xian sighed with some emotion:
“We must listen to Ling Jiang. She has done a great job again this time, continuing to drive south to draw away our pursuers… The more I think about it, the more ashamed I feel. Tan Lang and Ling Jiang have helped us so much, but we have been a burden to them. We have been on the run the whole way. We couldn’t help Tan Lang much with what happened in Xunyang City, and we even hindered his search for his childhood sweetheart. It was the same back in Longcheng…”
Li Xian, dressed as a wealthy landowner, was speaking when he felt warmth on the back of his hand. He turned around and saw his wife, Wei Mei, gently stroking his hand.
Wei Mei offered optimistic words of comfort:
"Now is not the time for self-pity. We must return to Luoyang. This is the greatest reward we can give to Tanlang and Lingjiang. We have come all the way from the Su family mansion in Longcheng. There is no turning back now. Turning back would mean falling into an abyss. No one can stop us from returning to the capital!"
Li Xian gazed silently northward, his eyes somewhat misty.
Li Dalang turned to ask Lu Ya:
"Master Lu, when will Master Zhang return? Is he waiting for Miss Xie to come back together?"
Lu Ya slowly shook his head and glanced at the compass:
"I don't know, after Senior Brother Zhang sent that message, there was no response. But I can ask him."
After saying that, the expressionless Taoist priest lowered his head again and began to manipulate the compass.
Li Dalang looked at it closely for a while. There were symbols of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches on the bronze plate, but he didn't understand them very well, so he had to walk away.
Li Dalang glanced again at Li Guo'er, who was leisurely scooping water, and whispered in a voice that his parents couldn't hear from nearby:
“Sister, aren’t you worried that our plan will fail, and that Li Congshan will see through our scheme and come after us? Right now, neither Lady Xie nor Master Zhang are around. We’re actually at our weakest point. If we get caught, we’ll almost certainly die…”
Li Guo'er handed the water pouch to Cai Shou, letting the little girl go play in the water and catch fish. She took the white handkerchief, wiped her hands, and with bright eyes and red lips, she uttered a few words:
"I am afraid, but what can I do?"
Li Dalang was speechless for a moment.
Li Guo'er sat on a blue stone, with a slender sword beside her.
She looked her brother up and down, observing his expression.
Seeing that his younger sister's pretty face remained unchanged, Li Dalang took his long sword, placed it across his knees, and spoke calmly:
"Our journey north was not for sightseeing. From the moment we left the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, no, from the moment we left the Su Mansion in Longcheng, we should have been prepared to die halfway through the journey."
"If you want to enjoy wealth and luxury, why not stay in the Su family mansion in Longcheng? If you don't want to be a caged bird, you should break out of the cage. How can you be safe and secure?"
Li Guo'er lowered her clear eyes, like stars hidden behind clouds. She drew half of the long sword from her lap, and the sword light, like the clear radiance of a palace in the heavens, flowed like water onto the faces of the Li siblings who were closest to her.
“Brother, I thought you were prepared long ago. I didn’t expect you to be so afraid now. It’s human nature, but it’s not the behavior of a great man, especially a man who is going to do great things.”
Li Dalang scratched his head:
“I was being too attached to appearances. My sister has great courage. I often think, if only my sister were a man… I thought the reason my sister was so calm was because Master Yuan left some message.”
Li Guo'er remained silent.
At that moment, she turned her head, her peripheral vision seemingly drawn to something.
Li Guo'er suddenly looked downstream in the stream.
Li Xian, Wei Mei, and the others were also drawn to the scene. They turned their heads and were all taken aback.
"What is this? A fish?"
Wei Mei asked in surprise.
A white sturgeon was seen swimming slowly from the lower reaches of the stream, going upstream.
But upon closer inspection, it is floating.
Upon seeing this object, Lu Ya suddenly stood up, staring intently at it.
Just then, the surrounding leaves trembled slightly, and the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground came from afar, accompanied by the rustling sound of leaves being blown apart by heavy objects.
A knight charged through the forest.
Li Xian and the others' expressions changed drastically.
Li Guo'er and Li Dalang subconsciously thought of something and stood up in a flash, blocking the way for Li Xian and his wife.
Lu Ya listened for a moment, then frowned: "Two men on two horses, or perhaps scouts..."
"Your Highness, it's me!"
Ouyang Rong's clear voice came from the gaps in the forest, like a gentle summer breeze.
Li Xian and Li Dalang laughed heartily.
Lu Ya loosened his grip on the hilt of the peach-shaped sword behind his back, letting his guard down.
He continued to stare at the white sturgeon that inexplicably terrified him, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little princess lower her hand from the moonlight sword, and silently sit down on the spot. She lowered her head to scoop water from the stream, her back to the crowd and the person who was about to arrive.
I didn't go out of my way to greet him.
A moment later, two swift riders burst out of the woods.
It was carrying a man and a woman.
They were all familiar faces.
After Lu Ya saw the young man in the scholar's robe and the girl in the palace dress look around, he dismounted.
That inexplicably terrifying white sturgeon, like a fledgling swallow returning to its nest, frolicked and swirled around this young master Ouyang.
"My love!"
Li Xian, Wei Mei, and Li Dalang all greeted him with beaming smiles.
Halfway there, they finally got a good look at the girl in the palace dress and her cold, aloof face.
"Rong...Rong Zhennvshi?"
The crowd hesitated, their expressions filled with curiosity.
Rong Zhen didn't look at the crowd, staring straight ahead at the floating white sturgeon.
She seemed to nod slightly in response to the crowd's calls, but the gesture was very small... making her appear quite aloof and indifferent.
Ouyang Rong checked everyone over and found that they were all unharmed, except for having changed into simple clothes and had no injuries from the fight.
He let out a long breath, pushed away the clumsy fish that wouldn't stop sticking to him regardless of the situation, and said:
"I'll explain about Lady Historian's matter later. I've finally caught up with you. By the way, where's Junior Sister?"
Ouyang Rong looked around, and the atmosphere quieted down for a moment.
Li Xian said with remorse:
“My dear niece is not here. She went to lure the pursuers away for us. We were being chased by Li Congshan. Fortunately, Guo’er had a brilliant plan this time.”
Li Guo'er glanced sideways at Rong Zhen behind Ouyang Lianghan, silently sizing up the lady-in-waiting, her gaze lingering on the tiny gap between the latter's arm and Ouyang Lianghan's arm.
There is a subtle boundary to physical distance between people of the opposite sex.
Rongzhen seemed not to see the little princess who looked like a saint. She raised her small hand and adjusted the mandarin duck jade hairpin on her high-piled bun.
Li Guo'er's gaze, which had been turned to the side, slowly moved upward and landed on the hairpin.
Ouyang Rong suddenly walked up to Li Guo'er and pointed to the long sword on her lap:
"Junior Sister's sword?"
Before he could speak, Li Guo'er threw the sword directly at him.
"Yes, Sister Xie left it with me for self-defense."
Rongzhen then joined the others in looking directly at the little princess with the plum blossom makeup.
Ouyang Rong took the Moonlight Sword, weighed it in his hand, examined it closely, and after a moment, took out a small seal from his robes.
Li Guo'er was close by, face to face, and her eyes caught sight of the words "Red Lotus" faintly engraved on the small seal.
No one knew what the young man in the scholar's robe meant by this.
Rong Zhen's face remained unchanged as she turned her head to examine the Moonlight Sword and the seal, seemingly quite interested. As a result, her petite figure unconsciously moved closer to Ouyang Rong.
The young lady's elegant bun brushed against her husband's broad shoulders.
Aside from Lu Ya, the straight-laced man who only loves staring at fish.
Li Guo'er, Li Xian, Li Dalang, and Wei Mei's gazes instantly fell on Rong Zhen's still cold face.
...
Zhang Shixiu never expected to encounter reinforcements.
On the official road near Hanyang County, when he was rescued by the oncoming armored cavalry, also dressed in black robes and armor, he was still somewhat dazed.
However, when he clearly saw the fiery red robes worn by one of the leaders, he immediately realized:
"You... Fellow Daoist Xie, who are these people?"
Xie Lingjiang breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that he was unharmed.
"This is the reinforcement brought by my eldest brother. Her name is Qin Ying, the granddaughter of General Qin. The old general transferred a Xuanwu Battalion from the front line. After I finished setting up the illusion in Hanyang County, I was preparing to return when I ran into Qin Yanqing at the city gate. My family has some connections with the Qin family, and we are old acquaintances."
"We were originally going back, but since we ran into them, we decided to bring them out. We were planning to stop Li Congshan, but we met Qin Ying on the way. She came back from Qinya Post Station and said that there was a Taoist named Lu Ya who might be being chased by Li Congshan's White Tiger Guards. She asked us to go and help, so we came. But we didn't expect that it wasn't Lu Ya who was being chased, but you."
Qin Ying, who was next to her, nodded slightly as if to greet her, and then rode forward.
Go and help Qin Yanqing command the Xuanwu Camp to repel the pursuers.
Xie Lingjiang drew his sword, preparing to go help. Before leaving, he glanced at Zhang Shixiu:
"You were exposed at Qingya Post Station?"
Zhang Shixiu clutched his chest wound, bowing his head in shame.
"Yes, I was discovered by Li Congshan and Miaozhen and chased all the way here. I dared not lead them back to the road to the east, so I could only run desperately towards the official road to the south."
Xie Lingjiang frowned: "How did they find you?"
Zhang Shixiu sighed, "It's a compass. It has Junior Brother Lu's aura on it. This is also what Li Congshan and the others are targeting."
As he spoke, he reached into his pocket to retrieve something, but suddenly his expression froze.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Zhang Shixiu remained silent and quickly searched his body.
At this moment, Qin Ying and Qin Yanqing returned with the Xuanwu Camp soldiers, carrying thirty or forty severed heads in their hands.
Qin Yanqing clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, but his brows furrowed in confusion:
"It's resolved. There aren't many rebels, only about forty riders."
Xie Lingjiang frowned immediately: "Where are Li Congshan and Miaozhen?"
"I didn't see it."
"Oh no!"
Zhang Shixiu suddenly spoke up:
"The compass is missing; it seems it was dropped in the woods during the fight..."
Xie Lingjiang asked seriously, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, where are Li Congshan and Miaozhen?"
Zhang Shixiu stared blankly around, his brows furrowed tightly.
"I don't know. I was no match for them and was seriously injured when I left the forest. I fled south all the way. I only felt that there were pursuers following closely behind me, and I didn't notice whether Li Congshan and Miaozhen were behind me."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Zhang Shixiu's expression changed.
——————
(P.S.: Some of my good friends misread the title of the previous chapter, "Guo'er Offers a Plan," as "Guo'er Offers Juice." What have you guys done to me? This isn't a bus to kindergarten, let me off!)
(End of this chapter)
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