Chapter 143
Zhou Li’s arm strength is not as good as before.
After shooting three arrows in a row, her arms were already sore, and the trembling of her fingers seemed to be protesting against her. She ignored her physical fatigue and confronted the tiger with high concentration, her eyes wide open, trying to overwhelm the opponent with her momentum.
Animals are different from humans. They have spirituality and can sense danger.
The horse Zhou Li fell on neighed anxiously. Zhou Li patted the horse twice with his hands, but his eyes were still fixed on the other side. Zhou Li thought to himself, "Good horse, don't be afraid!"
Normally, horses would have been frightened and fled when encountering a tiger. However, Zhou Li was indeed a Ferghana horse, as he was able to keep his composure even when encountering a tiger.
Zhou Li pointed her bow at the tiger's eyes. There were not many arrows left in the quiver behind her. These arrows were picked up from the corpses on the ground by her following the tiger's trail.
Gong Yinai stripped off her clothes in a panic, leaving only her undershirt and hid in the bushes. The tiger jumped into her discarded clothes, sniffed hard and growled, as if it was addicted to the smell.
Zhou Li's eyes caught sight of Gong Yinai, who was still hiding in the bushes and dared not move. The tiger was only a few meters away. She made up her mind, drew her bow and shot an arrow. The tiger dodged sideways, dug its claws into the ground a few times, and looked at Zhou Li with its cloudy eyes, as if it was measuring the opponent's strength.
Gong Yinai's position was too dangerous. Zhou Li didn't dare take any risks and tried to lure the tiger away. She steeled her resolve and shot another arrow straight at the tiger's eyes! The tiger, indeed, became angry, roared, and charged at Zhou Li!
Zhou Li pulled the reins, and the horse's hooves spun in the air! Man and horse became one! With a single leap, he leaped over the tiger's head and fled deep into the dense forest!
How could the king of beasts tolerate being provoked by something he considered his prey? He immediately chased the man and his horse deep into the dense forest!
Gong Yinai was shocked. When she came to her senses, there was no one around her. She sat down on the ground in embarrassment, gasping for breath, and quickly ran in the opposite direction!
Gong Yinai exerted all her strength, clenched her fists and ran desperately. In her mind was the image of Zhou Li fighting the tiger without fear of life and death. She ran slower and slower, gasping for breath, with her hands on her thighs, bent over and gritted her teeth.
Zhou Li, who are you?
Who planned to kill her?
Gong Yinai's mind was in a mess and she couldn't think. She lowered her head and laughed softly.
She turned her head and looked behind her, but she could no longer see the way she came.
She was rescued again.
It's not her destiny to die!
As the sun set, the army gradually returned to the grassland, each one laden with goods. They chatted and laughed as they waited for the guards to count the prey. Then, a gruesome announcement drifted from afar. A soldier, his body covered in blood, rode on horseback and shouted, "There's a tiger in the jungle!"
Everyone was suddenly shocked!
The soldiers immediately surrounded the nobles and counted their number!
Everyone is back! Only the prince is still missing!
Emperor Qing was furious! He ordered his men to immediately destroy the dense forest!
If he's alive, I want to see him! If he's dead, I want to see his body!
Because of the Crown Prince's affairs and the disappearance of the Crown Prince's Consort, the servants did not dare to report it, and Zhou Li's disappearance on horseback was concealed.
It was getting dark, and Zhou Li emerged from the river. She had already shaken off the tiger.
Zhou Li climbed ashore and wrung out the corners of her clothes. She smoothed her long hair and breathed a sigh of relief. She had no idea where the good horse had run off to.
Zhou Li was being chased by a tiger in front. She knew that cats rely on smell to identify the location of prey. She bravely drove away the Arabian horse and hid in the river herself. Sure enough, the tiger did not smell her scent when it reached the river, and ran away after the Arabian horse.
Zhou Li apologized to the horse in his heart.
The situation was urgent. If the horse could survive, she didn't want it to die. She could only pray to God for help.
Zhou Li determined the direction and walked slowly, one step deep and one step shallow. After walking for an unknown amount of time, she suddenly heard footsteps in the dense forest. She pricked her ears and hid, fearing that it was someone coming to kill Gong Yinai.
The other party could release a tiger in such a place, which must mean they want to kill Gong Yinai! They will definitely send someone back to investigate the situation. Gong Yinai is still alive, and I wonder if he has been rescued.
Zhou Li hid under a big tree. The shadows of the tree were uneven, and the slender moonlight could not penetrate the dense branches. The forest was dark, the perfect place to kill someone and dispose of the body!
Zhou Li heard footsteps. She picked up a thin piece of stone and tried it out, then walked around the tree and waited on the other side. When the person came over, she kicked him and pinned him against the tree. She clamped his arm from behind and pressed the thin stone against his throat. Zhou Li approached: "Don't move!" She lowered her voice: "Who sent you?!"
Silence.
Zhou Li felt something was wrong.
The body under her was soft, unlike that of a warrior who had practiced martial arts for a long time. A warrior's body should be hard and could not have the fragrance of flowers. She frowned and used her knee to support him, turning his face. The moonlight happened to shine through the leaves and hit the man's face. He had thin eyebrows, thin lips, narrow eyes, and a pair of beautiful eyes with a cold light.
Zhou Li was stunned.
"Prince?"
She loosened her legs in a daze.
Gong Yinai was only wearing her inner clothes. It was dark and the temperature in the forest dropped sharply. Zhou Li's clothes were all wet. When he had just held her hostage, the clothes on Gong Yinai's back were also soaked. A cool breeze blew and they both sneezed at the same time.
It was not suitable to stay here any longer, so Zhou Li took Gong Yinai away. On the way, she asked curiously, "Didn't I ask the prince to leave? Why is he still here?"
Gong Yinai pursed his lips slightly, not seeming to say that he was worried about Zhou Li. He returned the same way and said with pursed lips: "I am worried that there is an ambush ahead."
"Oh." Zhou Li suddenly realized, and she smiled and said, "The Crown Prince and I are worried about the same thing. Just now I thought it was an assassin who came to find us."
Gong Yinai was silent for a moment before asking, "Are you okay?"
"It's okay." Zhou Li said indifferently: "In the past, in the Northern Frontier..." She stopped talking in time and narrowly changed the subject: "In Beiwan, I also went into the mountains with my family, hehe... hehehe..."
Zhou Li was almost sweating profusely. She almost let slip that she had been walking her dog and hunting in the northern border as Gong Yifu.
Gong Yinai looked quietly at Zhou Li, who was leading the way, and hummed softly. After a long pause, he said, "You are very skilled."
Zhou Li was full of nonsense: "I have been in poor health since I was young, so I learned a few moves to strengthen my body."
Gong Yinai stopped talking again.
As they walked through the dense forest, they could occasionally hear the cries of animals. Zhou Li, unable to bear the environment, carefully explained to Gong Yinai, "I'm also worried that someone might be setting up a killing tactic. That's why we're not returning to our camp. We're heading in the opposite direction. Someone should know by now that the Crown Prince is missing. We'll be safe once the Imperial Guards arrive."
Gong Yinai uttered a reluctant "hmm", as if everything was under her control and she was not at all panicked.
Zhou Li glanced at her and couldn't help but make a joke, trying to break Gong Yinai's calm demeanor: "Aren't you afraid that I'm a killer?"
Gong Yinai was silent for a moment before a thin voice rang out from behind Zhou Li: "...If you were a killer, why would you risk your life to save an orphan?"
Zhou Li laughed and then realized that he was stupid.
Walking in the opposite direction, we soon left the dense forest and arrived at the foot of the mountain.
The temperature dropped sharply at the foot of the mountain. Zhou Li's clothes were soaked and she couldn't help but hug her arms and sneeze again. She instructed Gong Yinai, "From now on, you must clear all our footprints and not let anyone see them."
Gong Yinai saw that her face looked pale in the moonlight and did as he was told.
Although he was a little clumsy, he managed to make a broom out of weeds and swept away his footprints as he walked. Then Zhou Li found a gravel road, cleared his footprints and went back.
She said to Gong Yinai, "Let's stay here tonight and see when someone comes."
Gong Yinai nodded and agreed.
The two men didn't dare to make a fire, so they found a place with many vines for shelter and huddled together shivering.
At the beginning of autumn, the temperature dropped sharply at night, but it was still bearable.
Gong Yinai felt Zhou Li's skin was cold, and her clothes were sticking to her skin. Gong Yinai endured it for a moment before saying, "Take off all your clothes."
Zhou Li crossed his arms and looked at her, as if she was a pervert.
Gong Yinai said expressionlessly: "You are my concubine." If I wanted to do something to her, I could have done it long ago.
Zhou Li smiled awkwardly. As Liu Yingzi, she knew that Gong Yinai had feelings for her. Now when she heard Gong Yinai asking her to take off her clothes, her first reaction was to protect herself.
Zhou Li took off his clothes, leaving only a damp undershirt, and hugged his arms to rub them to generate heat.
It's really torture not being able to light a fire in such cold weather.
Gong Yinai lowered her eyes, opened her arms and gently placed them on Zhou Li's shoulders, pulling him into her arms. Without waiting for Zhou Li to speak, she said lightly, "I'm also cold."
Zhou Li didn't move again. Gong Yinai put some clean dry grass on their legs to keep them warm. The two of them leaned their heads against the grass and gradually fell asleep.
There was a sudden noise in the middle of the night, and the two woke up immediately, holding their breath, and looked at the person who had followed the clues they left in the woods.
Wearing the armor of the Imperial Guard, Gong Yinai thought he was someone sent by Emperor Qing. Before she could get excited, Zhou Li pulled down his clothes and shook his head at her. The two heard a voice: "He's right in front of us. Kill!"
Gong Yinai's heart suddenly sank. Could it be that Emperor Qing wanted to kill her?
Zhou Li didn't dare to say anything. He took her hand and wrote "wait" on her palm.
Gong Yinai lowered her eyes and felt an itch in her palms. When Zhou Li finished writing the last word, she suddenly clenched her palms and looked at Zhou Li in disbelief.
Only Gong Yifu disliked the complexity of the character "等", so he created a cursive script of the character "等". Why did Zhou Li also know this font structure?
A huge wave of emotion rose in Gong Yinai's heart.
Who is she? Why does she have the embroidery skills of Liu Yingzi and the cursive calligraphy of Gong Yifu?
Maybe there’s more to it than that…
A huge wave of emotion rose in Gong Yinai's heart.
Zhou Li was still looking at Gong Yinai foolishly, and patted her shoulder gently as a comfort.
Gong Yinai clenched her fists and looked at Zhou Li with complicated eyes. She even forgot for a moment that the group of people who had just passed by were chasing her.
Zhou Li twitched his ears, and when he heard the group of people leaving, he gasped and said, "We can't stay here for long. Let's go somewhere else!"
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