Seeing someone blocking her way, Meng Ruliu stepped forward and carefully examined the man.
She had practiced martial arts for many years and had fought against enemy generals, so she knew what kind of person was obviously skilled in martial arts.
The man in front of me was of medium build, dressed like a scholar, the kind of person who would appear harmless on the street. He wasn't carrying any weapon, but seemed to be holding a whistle for some unknown purpose.
She said to Su Wan, "Don't panic, sworn sister, he doesn't know martial arts."
Su Wan was relieved and stepped forward, standing about ten feet away from the middle-aged man, saying, "Sir, are you waiting for someone? Could you please move aside? Our carriage needs to pass."
The man was standing in the middle of the road, with trees on both sides, making it impossible for a carriage to pass.
The middle-aged man glanced at her and said, "You must be Su Wan?"
Su Wan raised her hand and touched her face. She thought her makeup was pretty good. How did the other person recognize her so quickly?
The middle-aged man seemed to sense her confusion and said, "I was also present the night the Western Rong army appeared at Xiping Pass, and I remember your voice."
Su Wan then realized what was happening.
This time, her disguise was for Chu Mingyao's maid, not for a woman to dress as a man, so she didn't specifically change her voice. The other person recognized her by her voice; it seemed this person was in the Southern Chu army at Xiping Pass.
Since the other party recognized her, she didn't intend to hide it and said, "Sir, you are right. May I ask your name?"
The middle-aged man said, "I am Jiang Wenpei from a family of renowned physicians."
Chu Mingyao, standing behind Su Wan, was taken aback and asked Jiang Wenpei, "So you are Jiang Wenpei, sir. How did you know we were coming?"
Jiang Wenpei smiled slightly: "Third Princess, when you and the Crown Prince of Xirong rescued Wei Jingzhuo at Xiping Pass, the Goddess said that you would definitely help the Great Jin people again. The Goddess was right after all. What are you doing bringing Su Wan to the capital?"
Chu Mingyao said, "Mr. Jiang, you've been deceived by Qiu Jie. She's not a goddess at all..."
Jiang Wenpei interrupted, "The patriarch has already verified Miss Qiu's jade pendant, so what doubts do you have? I don't want to hurt you. Turn around and leave immediately, and I might let you go."
Su Wan's heart skipped a beat. The jade pendant had been verified, which meant that Bai Zhiyi had picked up the jade pendant she had lost.
The Southern Chu army occupied Xiping Pass, and it seems quite reasonable that they found the jade pendant and gave it to Bai Zhiyi.
Chu Mingyao said, "Mr. Jiang, please let me finish. Qiu Jie is not a goddess; her real name is Bai Zhiyi. She is the daughter of the Duke of Shangjing. Her parents are in the carriage..."
"Enough," Jiang Wenpei interrupted again. "Su Wan is cunning, and I've experienced that firsthand. I don't want to hear any more of your sweet talk. Leave now, or don't blame me for getting rough."
Su Wan didn't know what Jiang Wenpei's threat was, but to be on the safe side, she pulled Chu Mingyao's hand and slowly backed away, saying to Meng Ruliu, "Sister-in-law, I'm leaving this to you."
Neither she nor Chu Mingyao knew martial arts, so Meng Ruliu and Lin Qingfeng had to step in when this happened.
Chu Mingyao said to Meng Ruliu, "Mr. Jiang has been deceived by Bai Zhiyi and refuses to believe us. Don't hurt him; our priority is to get to the capital as soon as possible."
Meng Ruliu nodded, stepped forward empty-handed, and said, "I see that you are a weak scholar, and I don't want to make things difficult for you. Please step aside, we are going to see the emperor to expose Bai Zhiyi's false goddess identity."
Jiang Wenpei said, "I don't want to resort to violence either. I have tried to dissuade you three times, doing everything I could, but you still refuse to turn back. So don't blame me for being impolite."
After saying that, Jiang Wenpei picked up the whistle and blew it once.
A foul wind suddenly arose from the depths of the forest, followed by two deep tiger roars that startled countless birds into flight.
Su Wan was startled, thinking she had misheard. While she was still searching for the source of the sound, the horses beneath everyone were already neighing in fear, their hooves pawing the ground erratically as they retreated in panic.
Meng Ruliu's face turned pale, and she shouted at Jiang Wenpei, "What the hell are you doing?"
Jiang Wenpei took two steps back and stood still, saying, "The tiger is here."
The bushes on both sides of the road rustled and whispered, as if some animal was rushing towards them from the woods.
Meng Ruliu tried to remain calm and wanted to step forward. Suddenly, the bushes parted, and two striped tigers leaped out, landing on all fours and letting out a roar that shook the leaves to the ground.
The women all screamed in shock.
This was the first time Su Wan had ever seen such a large tiger. It was over three meters long from head to tail and probably weighed several hundred kilograms. The most terrifying thing was that there was no glass wall or iron fence between her and the tiger. If it actually climbed up, her small frame would probably only be enough for the tiger to take a couple of bites.
Seeing a tiger in a safe place is one thing, but actually facing a tiger face to face is another.
The men were panicked, and the horses were even more panicked. The tiger roared at the horses beneath them, and they no longer obeyed their masters. Chu Mingyao's horse neighed and reared up, throwing Chu Mingyao off the horse and galloping into the jungle.
Meng Ruliu and Su Wan's horses collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth, terrified to death.
When the king of beasts appears, all animals tremble in fear. Even a magnificent steed like Snowflake was intimidated by the tiger's imposing presence, letting out a long howl and pulling the carriage away as fast as it could.
Su Wan was the first to recover from her panic. She called out to Xuehua, "Xuehua, don't run away, wait for us."
One of her legs was pinned under the dead horse, and she couldn't move it no matter how hard she tried. She shouted to Lin Qingfeng, "Qingfeng, come help me!"
Lin Qingfeng couldn't hold back Xuehua at all. He gripped his longsword, leaped off the carriage, and rushed to Su Wan, forcefully lifting the dead horse.
Su Wan pulled her leg out and got up, pointing ahead to Lin Qingfeng and saying, "Quick, pull my sworn sister back, I'll go help Sister Chu."
Chu Mingyao was thrown to the ground by the horse, suffering a severe fall, and was struggling to get up. Meng Ruliu seemed stunned by the two tigers, standing motionless. The two tigers shook their heads and wagged their tails, approaching her step by step.
Lin Qingfeng rushed forward, grabbed the distraught Meng Ruliu, and pulled her backward, shouting in her ear, "Run! I'll hold off the tiger!"
Although Meng Ruliu was highly skilled in martial arts, this was the first time she had ever seen a tiger, and she was completely terrified. Lin Qingfeng's roar brought her back to her senses. She turned around and rushed to Su Wan, who had already helped Chu Mingyao up.
The two tigers originally intended to pounce on Meng Ruliu, but seeing Lin Qingfeng blocking the way with a gleaming longsword in his hand, they seemed to know the danger and flanked Lin Qingfeng from the left and right, raising their claws to make a feint attack.
"Snowflakes, don't run away, wait for us." Su Wan helped Chu Mingyao grit her teeth and chased after the carriage.
Her legs were in excruciating pain from being crushed by the dead horse, and she could only limp along. Chu Mingyao was also dazed from the fall and couldn't walk fast either. Meng Ruliu was anxious, so she simply grabbed their belts, lifted them up, and chased after the carriage in the distance.
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