Chapter 16 Nightmare in the Rain: She was too scared.
After leaving Qingjiang Town with Aunt Shen and Huaiyin, Meng Yu traveled non-stop for three days towards the capital. By the time they arrived in Ningfen County, it was nearly evening.
The three of them found a cheaper inn to stay at and ordered a few dishes.
The aroma of the dishes wafted away and disappeared into the air. The bowls and chopsticks were set out, and Huaiyin, as usual, wanted to stand beside them and serve them their meal.
Meng Yu tried to pull her down to sit, but Huai Yin hurriedly waved her hand, saying, "Miss, this is against the rules."
"This isn't the mansion, there's no need for rules. Just sit down and eat. Besides, I've already treated you like my own sister, and I'm sure your aunt also considers you her daughter."
Meng Yu gestured and looked at Aunt Chen with a smile on her face.
Seeing the two women, once so beautiful, now disheveled and unkempt, Aunt Shen felt a pang of sorrow in her heart. With tears in her eyes, she took Huaiyin's hand and led her to sit down beside her, her voice gentle and soft.
“Yu’er is right. We’ve seen how good you’ve been to us, mother and son. These days, it’s been tough on you, having to travel and suffer with us.”
A lump formed in her throat, and Huaiyin shook her head violently. "Auntie, please don't say that. I was taken in by you when I was three years old, and I have always regarded you and you as family. You are suffering so much now, and it is all for your and my sake. I am extremely grateful. As long as I can be with you, I will not feel bitter no matter where we go."
Meng Yu sighed silently and smiled, glancing at the dishes out of the corner of her eye, and interrupted them: "In that case, Huaiyin, please sit here and eat in peace. After you finish eating, you can rest early, because we still have to travel tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, both of them smiled, wiped away their tears, and nodded.
***
After finishing her meal and washing up, Meng Yu felt extremely weak all over and fell into a deep sleep as soon as she touched the bed.
After an unknown amount of time, a cold breeze suddenly brushed past her ears. Meng Yu pulled the blankets tighter around her and subconsciously opened her eyes a crack, still half-asleep.
"Boom!"
Just then, lightning flashed through the window, illuminating the room.
A face radiating rage suddenly came into view.
By the light streaming in through the window, Meng Yu caught a glimpse of the man's face. Startled, she snapped back to reality, grabbed the edge of the bed, and clutched the blankets, trying to shrink into a corner.
To her surprise, the man gave her no chance to back away. He suddenly reached out and gripped her slender neck tightly, his face dark and ruthless: "Meng Yu, you have such a clever mind. You've been coaxing me for so long without revealing a single clue. When you and I were pretending to be friends..."
As he spoke, he reached out and poked her heart, his voice as cold as ice: "Does your heart have even the slightest hesitation or reluctance towards me?"
Meng Yu was so frightened that her legs went weak and her throat felt blocked, preventing her from making a sound.
Seeing that she remained silent with a cold expression, Lu Xiuyi tightened his grip on her neck, his expression becoming increasingly ferocious with the force of his grip.
Meng Yu tried her best to pry his hands off, but the man's hands were like iron fists tightly binding her neck, and she couldn't move them at all.
As less and less air entered her body, Meng Yu slowly closed her eyes. But just as she felt she was about to suffocate, the fear of impending death made her suddenly open her eyes.
Under the warm orange light, the pale curtains came into view.
Her back was soaked with cold sweat, and her clothes clung to her skin, but Meng Yu didn't notice at all. She just gasped for breath and subconsciously touched her neck, but there was no pain at all.
She glanced at the head of the bed again, and seeing that no one was around, she suddenly realized that everything that had just happened was just a nightmare.
My pounding heart gradually calmed down.
"Boom!"
A beam of white light flashed through the window, instantly illuminating the room and filling the cramped space with a damp, stuffy heat.
Meng Yu felt suffocated by the intense sense of oppression. She turned her head to look outside the blue curtains, but was suddenly startled to see a shadow standing outside. She turned pale as a sheet in fright, jumped up, and flung open the curtains.
But it was just the shadow of the door.
It turned out that the light from the corridor reflected off the door and then shone into her room, casting a deep shadow.
***
The torrential rain pounded against the window, making a crackling sound.
After a moment of shock, Meng Yu let out a heavy sigh, got off the bed, turned off a lamp, and lay down on the bed to tuck the blankets in and continue sleeping.
For safety reasons, Meng Yu originally only wanted to book one room so that the three of them could squeeze in for one night. However, Aunt Shen saw that she had been worried and unable to sleep for several days, so she took it upon herself to book two rooms and even let her sleep alone on a couch.
Her left eyelid had been twitching since evening, and it was getting worse now that she was lying down. After traveling for several days, her body was really sore and tired. Meng Yu wanted to ignore this minor discomfort, but as she tossed and turned, her eyelid twitched more and more, and her heart was pounding wildly.
The most terrifying thing was that the horrifying dream she had just had was still replaying in her mind.
After hesitating for only a few breaths, Meng Yu suddenly opened his eyes, sat up from the bed, and quickly changed his clothes with trembling hands.
Meng Yu and Aunt Shen's rooms were separated by only one wall, and there was only one night watchman, who was fast asleep at the counter. But Meng Yu still dared not let her guard down, so she picked up her bundle and gently knocked on the door next door.
Huaiyin was a light sleeper. Hearing the noise, she put on her clothes, squinted, and opened the door.
Upon seeing that the person who came was Meng Yu, who was carrying a bundle, Huaiyin instantly came to her senses. Just as she was about to ask a question, Meng Yu pushed her away and quickly gestured, "Don't ask yet, wake up Auntie quickly, we'll leave immediately."
She frowned, her expression solemn and serious. Huaiyin knew what it was about without even thinking about it, and hurriedly woke up Aunt Chen.
They didn't have much stuff, and Meng Yu packed it up quickly.
Just as Huaiyin was about to open the door and leave through the front, Mengyu quickly stopped her, pointed to the two tied-up sheets, and winked at the half-open window. Huaiyin immediately understood.
They were on the second floor, not far from the ground. There was an eaves for support between the second and first floors, and there were wooden stakes nearby. Aunt Chen and Huaiyin could climb down the bed sheet without much trouble.
The rain was pouring down outside the window, and the sheets were soaked through within seconds of being laid down.
Meng Yu helped Aunt Chen down first, followed by Huai Yin. After seeing that they were all safely on the ground, she put away the sheets, opened the cabinet, took out the spare bedding, laid it flat on the couch, and then stuffed the soaked sheets back into the cabinet.
Aunt Shen and Huaiyin were waiting downstairs. When they saw Meng Yu take back the bed sheet, they were anxious but dared not shout. They just stared up at her, trembling.
After waiting for a while, the two finally saw Meng Yu climb out of the window. She hugged the wooden stake to close the window and slowly climbed down.
The wooden stake was wet from the rain and slippery to hold. She used her hands and feet, gritted her teeth, and used all her strength to barely control her body and slowly climb down.
"hiss……"
Unexpectedly, there were barbs on the wooden stake. In the instant she slid down, they unexpectedly cut Meng Yu's palm. She frowned in pain and let out a soft cry, but she didn't have time to look closely. She still clung to the wooden stake and climbed down. She didn't know whether the water flowing down her temples was rain or cold sweat.
When she was still half a meter off the ground, Meng Yu released the wooden stake and jumped backward. The ground was covered with weeds and was very slippery after being wet with rain. Aunt Chen and Huaiyin caught her in time so that she did not fall to the ground.
Before the three of them could catch their breath, they braved the sudden rain and headed towards the city gate.
Halfway through their journey, Huaiyin suddenly remembered something and quickly stopped. Through the rain, she hurriedly said to Mengyu, "Miss, it's curfew now, and the city gates aren't open. How can we get out?"
Upon hearing this, Meng Yu stopped. Raindrops pounded heavily on the umbrella. She struggled to rest the umbrella on her shoulder and gestured with difficulty: "It's alright, I know an exit. Follow me."
Rain splashed on the ground, creating waves, and the view ahead became hazy and obscured.
Even taking the shortest route from the inn to the city gate would require walking through two streets. Fortunately, it was the dead of night, and with the torrential rain, no shop had its doors or windows open, so no one saw this ghostly figure moving through the darkness.
About fifteen minutes later, Aunt Shen and Huaiyin stood in front of the exit that Meng Yu had mentioned.
It turned out to be an octagonal dog hole...
Aunt Shen and Huaiyin exchanged glances, momentarily shocked. Seeing the rain intensifying, they disregarded everything else and had no choice but to bend down. Fortunately, they were both petite and nimble, and they managed to slip out without much effort.
After leaving the city, Aunt Shen did not think twice and immediately wanted to head towards the capital. Meng Yu quickly stopped her and pointed towards Yinjiang: "For safety's sake, Aunt Shen and Huaiyin should go to Yinjiang first. I will follow later."
Aunt Shen's brow twitched incessantly. She quickly grabbed Meng Yu and asked, "Where are you going?"
Meng Yu glanced back and said, "I'll clean up the mess."
Following her gaze, Aunt Shen saw that after the sudden rain, all the original footprints on the muddy ground had been washed away, leaving only a few deep and shallow footprints that crookedly stretched to their feet.
Aunt Shen held onto her clothes tightly, saying kindly, "Yu'er, there's no need to be so cautious. Everything should be alright."
Meng Yu shook his head with a wry smile, gently pried her apart, and raised his rain-soaked hand: "Now that I've thought of this, I absolutely cannot leave us with the slightest hidden danger."
She was terrified, terrified that Lu Xiuyi would use this as an excuse to find her.
She absolutely cannot, absolutely cannot, give him even the slightest chance.
***
After persuading Aunt Shen and Huaiyin to leave, Meng Yu smoothed out the rows of footprints that had spread from the dog hole with her bare hands, and then stomped several more times in the direction of the capital. Having done all this, she unloaded her bundle, took out the men's straw sandals she had prepared beforehand, put them on, and walked along the grass towards Yinjiang.
But before they had gone far into the bushes, they heard the creaking of the city gate in the distance, followed by a rapid and loud thud of horses' hooves approaching.
Meng Yu turned around and looked.
Torches flickered in the rain below the city wall, and through the dim light, she could make out the man charging at the very front at a glance.
His face was as black as ink, as if it had blended into the night.
Meng Yu's heart jumped into her throat. She looked around and saw a low-lying area not far away. She scrambled over and squatted down, covering her mouth tightly to prevent herself from screaming out of shock.
The sound of hooves gradually subsided, and a group of people, having discovered something, suddenly stopped not far away.
The atmosphere became heavy and oppressive; apart from the sound of the sudden downpour, there was nothing else. Meng Yu felt as if her whole body was filled with lead, and dared not move an inch, but her hands, which were tightly covering her mouth, still trembled uncontrollably.
The muddy road was covered with footprints of varying depths, which wobbled forward and disappeared into the darkness.
Lu Xiuyi's face was grim as he stared intently at the footprints. His voice, as if chilled to the bone, pierced through the heavy rain and struck Meng Yu's heart: "She can't have gone far. Chase after her. Even if she dies, bring her body back."
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