Chapter 79 A Gale Sweeps Away Fallen Leaves
As soon as the Qingzhou Guard arrived, the situation in the courtyard turned completely against the Crown Prince. Pang Shi was greatly encouraged and wielded his sword with incredible skill. He defeated the distraught Xuanjia soldier in just a few strokes and, fearing he might commit suicide, quickly dislocated his hands, feet, and jaw.
In reality, aside from suicide squads, very few people can slit their own throats without hesitation.
When the soldiers of Luzhou saw the Qingzhou Guard arrive, and General Mingguang Kai shouted "Your Highness the Crown Prince," they immediately realized that they had been tricked by the Xuanjia soldiers. They were so frightened that they trembled all over and knelt down on the ground.
The Qingzhou Guards captured everyone without lifting a finger.
General Mingguang Kai strode forward, and Magistrate Meng and Meng Guanqi quickly stepped aside. The Crown Prince stepped forward from behind to receive the greeting.
General Mingguang Kai knelt down with a thud and saluted, saying in a deep voice, "Commander Xu Liang of Qingzhou Guard has arrived late to rescue Your Highness. Please forgive me!"
Only then did the guillotine raised above the Crown Prince's head finally disappear. The Crown Prince stepped forward to help Xu Liang up and said with emotion, "General, please rise. If you hadn't arrived in time, I fear I would not have escaped death tonight."
After receiving Wan Quan's message, Xu Liang mustered three hundred cavalrymen and set off overnight within half an hour. They rushed and finally arrived at Biyang County in the middle of the night, but were delayed by the sudden rain. It was now almost midnight before they finally met His Highness the Crown Prince.
Seeing that Xu Liang's armor still had bloodstains, as if he had just been through a great battle, the Crown Prince asked in surprise, "Where did the bloodstains on General's armor come from?"
Xu Liang's expression was solemn: "I encountered an ambush more than ten miles outside of Biyang City. It was the soldiers of Luzhou. Eunuch Wan said that they were traitors who were trying to assassinate Your Highness. So it took some time to capture them. They left more than a hundred cavalry to finish them off. I was afraid that Your Highness would be in danger, so I came ahead of schedule after fighting for a while."
At this moment, the Xuanjia soldiers, whose hands and feet had been removed and whose jaws were broken, and who were also bound hand and foot, changed their expressions drastically, their eyes widening in fury.
Pang Shi sneered and kicked him: "You still don't believe me! If you really killed us here, your superiors wouldn't have let you leave Biyang County alive. What kind of crime is assassinating the Crown Prince? How could he leave such a big handle in the hands of the living? Only the dead can keep their mouths shut."
The group of soldiers from Luzhou who were lying in ambush outside Biyang County were somewhat wronged. Their orders were that a band of bandits disguised as Luzhou soldiers had killed Magistrate Meng's entire family. Their mission was to suppress bandits, and they had no idea that the Crown Prince was among those killed. When the imperial envoy arrived to investigate and find out the truth, it turned out that the entire Magistrate Meng family had died. No one knew that their real purpose in killing Magistrate Meng's family was to cover up the Crown Prince's death.
Of course, the Crown Prince's death could not be known to anyone. If the Emperor were to discover that the Crown Prince had died in Biyang County, Lin'an Prefecture, the Emperor would be furious, causing millions of corpses to lie in wait and blood to flow for miles. He would also surely send the most powerful imperial envoy to investigate the murderer. No one could guarantee that not a single word of the assassination of the Crown Prince had leaked out. Therefore, his death absolutely could not be known to the court.
The perfect ending for the crown prince is to disappear, disappear forever, so that the emperor has to go through the trouble of searching for him. After a while, the civil officials will naturally get restless and want to re-establish the crown prince.
This was a perfect plan, and it almost succeeded. But after encountering Meng Guanqi and his group, fate seemed to play a cruel joke on them. The crown prince was rescued right under their noses.
Now that the commander of Qingzhou Guard has personally led three hundred cavalry to rescue the emperor, it is certain that the officials of the prefecture will be alarmed tomorrow. An urgent message will be sent back to the capital immediately, and His Majesty will surely send troops to welcome him. After the crown prince returns to the capital, he will immediately launch a strong counterattack. What's worse, this time the emperor will definitely stand firmly with the crown prince.
Those who plotted to assassinate the crown prince, upon learning the outcome, would probably be so eager to cut off their own arm to save their lives.
Xu Liang ordered the Qingzhou Guards to take all the soldiers in the courtyard away: "Your Highness, what should we do with these people?"
The Crown Prince pondered for a moment: "First, lock them up in the prison in Biyang County. General Xu will send several soldiers to keep a close watch on them. I want to bring all of them back to the capital."
The soldiers of Luzhou were terrified and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly: "Your Highness, spare our lives! Spare our lives! We know nothing. It was General Wu who ordered us to come here. He said you were traitors and spies. We dared not disobey orders, so we followed you. Please spare our lives, Your Highness!"
With the Qingzhou Guard troops at his disposal, the Crown Prince finally revealed the majestic aura of a superior. With a wave of his hand, the Qingzhou Guard soldiers stepped forward one by one, grabbed them, and headed towards the county jail. Head Constable Shi led the way with the remaining constables.
Li Xiaoxiao pushed away the Qingzhou guards who came to escort her: "Get out of the way, I am from Lord Meng's family."
The Qingzhou Guard arrived late and had no idea who she was. Seeing that she refused to comply, two men immediately stepped forward to restrain her.
Meng Guanqi had been keeping an eye on her. When he saw two soldiers surrounding her and about to arrest her, he immediately ran over in the rain: "Xiaoxiao! Let her go! She's from my family."
He yanked the hat off her head, revealing long hair. The two soldiers were stunned when they saw it was a woman: "A woman?"
Meng Guanqi was about to explain to the two of them when he suddenly felt a weight on his body; Li Xiaoxiao had leaned against him.
He was startled and unconsciously reached out to hug her, only to feel her body begin to slide down. Meng Guanqi exclaimed in surprise, "Xiaoxiao?!"
Li Xiaoxiao was pale, her eyes were closed, and she had fainted.
Under the scorching sun, Li Xiaoxiao felt as if she were walking on a desert. Sweat soaked her entire body, and the sand burned blisters on her feet, making every step excruciatingly painful.
She searched everywhere for the location of the oasis.
No, not anywhere.
For a moment, she felt somewhat dazed. Had she returned to the apocalypse? The sun, the environment, the barren desert—she found a sense of familiarity deep within her bones.
This made her a little scared.
"Young Master! Ah Sheng!" She stood up and called out, but no one answered her.
"Willow branch, Mother Mao, are you there?" she called out again in another direction, but as far as she could see, there wasn't even a blade of grass.
She didn't know why she was here. Hadn't she already traveled back to the Great Wu Dynasty more than 30,000 years ago? How could she have suddenly returned? What happened? How did she get back?
No one responded to her, so she chose to follow the direction of the sun. She was extremely thirsty and might die there if she didn't find water and food soon.
But the desert sun was so intense, and the sand was so hot. She felt like she had a fever, her wound was infected, she felt uncomfortable all over, and she was sweating profusely. Her consciousness was becoming hazy.
She collapsed, her head throbbing with pain.
She closed her eyes.
She might die here. In the apocalypse, human life is worth less than grass. People die every day for all sorts of reasons. She has no parents and no friends. No one will care if she dies.
But there was always an inexplicable regret in her heart. Perhaps someone cared about her? Meng Guanqi, Asheng, Mama Mao, Liuzhi, Granny Qi…
She was so kind to them, surely someone will remember that she came here?
She was dazed and confused, feeling uncomfortable all over her body. Her stomach suddenly cramped. She was so hungry. How long had it been since she had eaten? She was about to die, did she have to starve to death as well?
"Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, wake up, Xiaoxiao?" Mao's mother's voice suddenly came from afar. Mao's mother?!
Li Xiaoxiao suddenly perked up and opened her eyes wide, her mother's big face right in front of her.
Seeing that she had opened her eyes, Madam Mao was overjoyed and immediately called out, "Liuzhi! Liuzhi, quickly tell Madam that Xiaoxiao has woken up."
Li Xiaoxiao felt as if she had been in another world. She quickly looked up and surveyed her surroundings, and a huge weight was lifted from her heart.
This is her room, the room in the backyard of the county government office. She did not return to the apocalypse.
While waiting for her to arrive, Mao's mother placed her hand on her forehead with concern and said softly, "Xiaoxiao, how are you feeling? Are you still dizzy?"
Li Xiaoxiao tried to sit up, but felt completely powerless.
Mao's mother quickly helped her up and leaned her against the headboard.
Li Xiaoxiao clutched her stomach: "Mommy Mao, is there anything to eat? I feel like I'm starving!"
Madam Mao was both surprised and delighted. It was good that she wanted to eat. If she could eat again, she would recover quickly. She nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, there is bird's nest porridge here. Have some first. When Madam arrives, I will cook noodles for you right away."
As he spoke, he handed the half-bowl of bird's nest porridge on the table to Li Xiaoxiao to drink.
Li Xiaoxiao finished the porridge in three gulps, feeling as if those few mouthfuls of porridge had been poured into a bottomless pit. Instead of making her stomach feel better, she was even hungrier.
She smacked her lips: "This porridge has no taste!"
Seeing that she seemed to have truly come back to life, Mama Mao was both delighted and amused. She couldn't help but poke her forehead: "You really can't eat fine food. This is bird's nest porridge that Madam emptied her chest to specially cook for you. It's incredibly nourishing. Just have a taste; do you want to eat your fill? You wait here, I'll go cook you some noodles right now~"
No sooner had the words been spoken than footsteps sounded outside the door. Madam Liu led a group of people, including Granny Qi, Liu Zhi, Xiu Mei, Mei Xiang, Xing Ge, and even Aunt Luo and Meng Liniang.
All the women in the backyard have come! You know, Aunt Luo, Meng Liniang, and Li Xiaoxiao usually have almost no interaction. Why are so many people here when I wake up?!
Li Xiaoxiao's room was too small to fit so many people, so several others were left outside the door, craning their necks to peek inside.
Liu sat by Li Xiaoxiao's bedside, holding her hand, her eyes almost overflowing with affection: "Xiaoxiao, you're finally awake. How are you feeling now? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
Li Xiaoxiao felt goosebumps rise all over her body. Liu Shi in front of her looked frightening, but she still honestly said, "I don't feel unwell anywhere, I'm just too hungry..."
Liu hurriedly said, "You've been unconscious for nine days and haven't eaten much. Mama Mao, hurry to the kitchen and cook something easy for Xiaoxiao to digest. Go ahead."
Mao's mother immediately agreed and went to the kitchen right away.
Xingge followed behind Mama Mao to help.
Li Xiaoxiao was stunned by what Liu said: "What? He was unconscious for nine days?"
Mrs. Liu sighed, "Yes, we were so worried."
Doctor Xie came to check Li Xiaoxiao's pulse every day. If he hadn't kept saying that Li Xiaoxiao's pulse was getting better day by day, Liu and the others would have thought that Li Xiaoxiao would remain in a coma forever.
Li Xiaoxiao asked anxiously, "What time is it now?"
Liu said, "Today is the 29th of the lunar year, and tomorrow is the 30th. It's good that you woke up before the 30th, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to eat all the delicious food during the New Year."
At this point, as if remembering something, she immediately said to Liu Zhi, "Liu Zhi, hurry up and go to Huichuntang to find Doctor Xie to come for a follow-up examination. Xiao Xiao has woken up, so we need to take her pulse again."
Liu Zhi agreed and immediately ran out quickly.
Li Xiaoxiao finally remembered what happened before she fainted: "Then, what about Madam, and the Crown Prince?"
Just as Liu was about to answer, a series of hurried footsteps came from the doorway, and Meng Guanqi's anxious voice rang out from outside: "Mother, I heard that Xiaoxiao has woken up, is that right?"
Liu stood up with a big smile: "She's awake, she's awake. I'll have Liu Zhi go and invite Doctor Xie, and I'll have Mama Mao make noodles for Xiaoxiao."
Meng Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief, but he was too old to go into Li Xiaoxiao's room now, especially since it was full of people.
He stood at the doorway, hesitant to speak.
He had a lot to say to Li Xiaoxiao, but with so many people in the room, it wouldn't be appropriate to say it in front of them.
Just as she was hesitating, Doctor Xie came panting behind Liu Zhi.
Liu immediately said, "Alright, alright, Doctor Xie is here. If there's nothing else, you can all go back. The New Year is the day after tomorrow, so everyone should hurry up and finish what they're doing. This is our first year in Biyang County, so we must have a good New Year."
"Yes~" The women in the room bowed to Liu with joy and withdrew one after another, leaving only Liu, Granny Qi, and Doctor Xie in the room.
Meng Guanqi stood at the door waiting for the results.
Doctor Xie took Li Xiaoxiao's pulse and said with a smile, "Please rest assured, Madam, Miss Li is fine now. She just needs to be careful not to overeat."
Madam Liu was very satisfied: "That's good, I can rest assured now. Granny Qi, see Doctor Xie out, and also send him the New Year's gift you prepared for him."
Doctor Xie quickly bowed and said, "Oh, you're too kind, Madam."
Madam Liu was very pleased: "Thank you for your hard work these past few days, Dr. Xie. This is just a small token of my appreciation. I hope Dr. Xie has a good New Year."
Doctor Xie immediately chimed in, "Then this old man will respectfully accept your offer and wish Madam a Happy New Year in advance. From now on, Lord Meng and Young Master Meng will surely soar to great heights."
Madam Liu was pleased and smiled as she had Granny Qi escort Doctor Xie out.
Mama Mao brought over the cooked noodles, and Liu instructed Liuzhi and Xingge: "Xiaoxiao hasn't been in the sun for a long time, she's gotten so pale. Move the table outside so she can eat outside."
She knew that Meng Guanqi must have a lot to tell Li Xiaoxiao, but it wouldn't be appropriate for her son to talk to a maid in the room, so she simply moved the table to the courtyard and the two of them sat down to talk, where everyone passing by could see them.
Liu Zhi responded to Xing Ge and moved the table from Li Xiaoxiao's room to a sunny spot in the courtyard.
Li Xiaoxiao was starving and, ignoring Meng Guanqi, wolfed down her noodles.
One bowl, two bowls, three bowls...
Meng Guanqi was alarmed and immediately stopped them: "Alright, alright, Doctor Xie said you can't overeat. You've already eaten three bowls, you can't eat anymore."
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