After drinking the medicine Xiaoyue had prepared, Liang Qi slept for a while. When he woke up, his mind was much clearer. He opened his eyes and looked at the pit in the ground, where the lit fire warmed the two of them.
When Liang Qi let go of Xiaoyue and was about to get up and pull the blanket over himself, Xiaoyue clung tightly to him in her sleep. Liang Qi couldn't bear to pry Xiaoyue's hands off forcefully, afraid of hurting her.
Liang Qi propped himself up on his elbow and gently comforted Xiaoyue with one arm. In Liang Qi's eyes, Xiaoyue was extremely tired and her sleep was not peaceful. Sometimes she would move her feet, sometimes she would hug Liang Qi's waist tightly, and sometimes she would burst into tears and instinctively wipe away her tears after letting go of Liang Qi.
Seeing Xiaoyue like this, Liang Qi felt a pang of pain in his heart. He slowly comforted Xiaoyue, sat up, placed Xiaoyue's head on his lap, gently stroked Xiaoyue's forehead, and gently rocked Xiaoyue's body. Gradually, Xiaoyue's breathing became even, and she was no longer afraid or frightened.
Liang Qi gently placed Xiaoyue on the ground, then pulled another handful of firewood from the dwindling amount. The firewood in the burning pile was now scarce, enough only for a few more additions.
Liang Qi remembered that besides the firewood in the doorway, Li Lei had also chopped some firewood and piled it at the back of the front house.
Liang Qi wanted to take advantage of the moonlight to go to the front and back of the house to fetch firewood. The firewood in the well certainly wouldn't last until dawn, and by then, heating up a meal would be a problem.
Liang Qi tucked the blanket around Xiaoyue, moved the fire a little closer to her, then climbed up the hole, lifted the lid on her head, and quietly jumped out of the house.
Through the bright moonlight, two people could be seen standing at the entrance of the main house, pacing back and forth. Liang Qi glanced at the moonlight and realized that he would probably be discovered before he could even gather firewood.
After thinking for a while, Liang Qi decided to set up the wooden window that Xiaoyue had used to make windows in the summer. He jumped out and then carried the firewood three times in one go.
The firewood was thrown in through the hole.
He found another kettle, filled it with water, and then tried to open the lid of the sauerkraut jar to take a piece of sauerkraut in.
Just then, Liang Qi heard the two guards tiptoeing over, and he quickly put the lid back on.
My head buzzed, and blood rushed to the top of my head. I quickly closed the window and then the hole, before jumping into the room and hiding in the cabinet on the kang (heated brick bed).
The two men pushed open the door and peered into the room. One of them said, "What's that noise? You're such a paranoid person. There's no noise at all. If you don't believe me, go in and see for yourself."
"No, I'm not going. You've forgotten how the centurion and Blackie got hurt," the man replied, his legs trembling.
Liang Qi also wanted to know what had happened. But Xiao Yue was in a trap, so he couldn't act rashly. He looked at the door and saw that there were only two people guarding it. The people in the east room of the main entrance were still awake, with an oil lamp lit.
Liang Qi thought for a moment, then tore off half a sheet of wallpaper from the wall. The wallpaper looked deathly white in the moonlight. He poked two holes in it and used it to make a makeshift hat.
He pushed open the door, took a few quick steps, and caught up with the two people. Behind them, he touched their left and right shoulders with both hands, then quickly squatted down.
The two men turned around but didn't see Liang Qi. Liang Qi then snatched a knife from the big man's hand.
When the shorter man turned around, Liang Qi slashed the man's neck with his knife, and the tall man's face was covered in blood.
Seeing that the person was about to shout, Liang Qi threw down the knife and quickly leaped onto the roof of the main house.
At the same time, the tall man let out a cry and shot straight into the sky; many of the injured people in the west room quickly ran out.
The remaining tall soldier who hadn't been beheaded could only scream loudly, his words incoherent, as if he were terrified.
His hands were trembling, and the soldiers around him quickly smelled a strange odor. The big man was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder.
"What's going on? Why is it so noisy?" The scholar put on a coat and came out of the house.
"I don't know. When we came out, we saw You San shouting and yelling. Shi Qing had already been beheaded. We didn't see anyone when we came out either."
The scholar looked at Shi Qing, whose head had been chopped off, and pointed to the two soldiers closest to him: "Go get a shovel and bury Shi Qing. Find four more people to keep watch at night, and the rest of you can go back inside and rest."
"I don't know what the centurion's plans are for tomorrow, so I'd better get some rest. Find that Yu San a pair of pants, and drag him inside to sleep."
After the scholar finished speaking, he returned to the east room. Two soldiers who came out of the west room carried Shi Qing to the back of the house. Unable to find an iron shovel, the two soldiers buried Shi Qing and his head with the snow from the ground.
Three other people carried You San into the house, took off his pants, and threw them away. They then washed You San, who cowered in the corner of the wall by the kang (a heated brick bed), trembling with fear.
Four men were on guard outside, while only three remained inside. The eight men were the centurion's personal guards; one had died, another had died of fright, and Liang Qi was still on the roof of the main house, shivering from the cold.
Xiaoyue, who was trapped in the well, was awakened by You San's scream. Seeing three large bundles of firewood piled up next to her, she knew that Liang Qi had gone out. She picked up two pieces of firewood, lit them, and then used them to build another fire on the other side.
Then, using branches, they carefully smeared the ashes from the burnt grass and wood on the ground, picked out the excess firewood, spread it on the dried ground, stacked it into a wooden plank bed, and then placed the damp mattress on the makeshift bed to dry.
Xiaoyue stacked the extra firewood into a stool and placed it next to the fire, then put the quilt there to warm it.
While waiting for Liang Qi, they picked out the two remaining bundles of firewood, all of the same thickness, and began to insert them one by one into the four walls of the trap, comparing their dimensions.
After a short wall was erected, Xiaoyue began to feel uneasy.
Liang Qi left without saying goodbye. Given how fast he built the wall with sticks, he should have been back long ago, unless something had happened to prevent him from returning.
Xiaoyue kept pacing around in the narrow space, which was about two people high and three steps wide and five steps long. Finally, unable to rest easy, Xiaoyue risked climbing up and opened the lid a small crack to look around.
It was quiet outside. Xiaoyue moved the cover aside, opened the hole with both hands, and jumped out. In the bright moonlight, she saw Liang Qi shivering on the roof.
Liang Qi also spotted Xiaoyue pushing open the door through the moonlight. He quickly gestured to Xiaoyue to go back, then picked a few icicles from the eaves and threw them into Ge Sanlin's yard in the opposite direction from Xiaoyue.
The soldiers all ran towards the sound, and Liang Qi, like an eagle, darted into the room in a few leaps.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com