Chapter 22 The bright moon is like a cat slave trying to please its master.
The evil thoughts had not yet dissipated, but sparse footsteps were heard.
Zhao Huaixu had never seen her in such a miserable state. There were blood clots on Fang Yilan's face, and one of her eyes was so swollen that she could hardly open it. When she saw him wake up, she smiled with her teeth showing. Her left hand was frozen purple, and she spread out her palm as if offering a treasure.
It's a handful of wild fruits.
Fang Yilan walked up to him and stuffed the wild fruits she had found into his mouth, not leaving any for herself.
"Eat...and live."
Zhao Huaixu froze in place, confusion etched across his face, not quite understanding why she'd done this. Suddenly, he seemed to recall someone who had once said the same thing to him, using the same tone.
"Why?"
Fang Yilan shook off the snow on his body, pulled him up, and walked into the mountains again.
“There’s no reason to live.”
Zhao Huaixu was a little disappointed when he heard this answer.
What is he expecting?
Maybe he was expecting her to say: Live for me.
...
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Fang Yilan felt as if her body had died, her senses completely gone. Only when she exhaled could she see the vapor condensing into frost, telling her she was still alive.
The soul still barely controls the brain, and consciousness still exists.
Her eyes were only focused on the road beneath her feet. Blood marked her footsteps. She took one step after another, but she could not get out of the mountain.
It might be an illusion brought about by her near-death experience. In a trance, she actually saw a snow-white horse appear in the deep forest in front of her, staring at her quietly from a distance.
It seems like I have been watching like this for years.
It suddenly moved and slowly walked towards her.
When I got closer, I saw that the horse was still wearing a saddle. The cloth pad on the horse's back had faded its original color and turned gray and yellow; the hoof nails were also covered with mottled rust, but it was not difficult to see how carefully the previous owner had decorated it.
The white horse stopped in front of her, its breath on her face, sniffing her lightly.
Fang Yilan raised her left hand with great effort and gently stroked the horse's soft mane. The horse was very smart and rubbed its head against her palm affectionately.
The white horse seemed to have smelled something, and excitedly raised its front hooves, raised its head and neighed, then ran briskly around the two of them, then fell sideways and lay in front of her.
Fang Yilan used up his last bit of strength to move the unconscious Zhao Huaixu onto the horse's back, and then he crawled up using his hands and feet.
She patted the horse gently: "Good horse..."
The white horse seemed to understand the compliment. It twitched its ears slightly and stood up steadily.
In an instant, the white horse's front hooves rose into the air, igniting its hidden fierceness, and it rushed out like a white lightning tearing through the snow and fog.
Fang Yilan reached out to hold Zhao Huaixu, tightly grasping the saddle pad to prevent it from falling off, her eyes constantly jumping and wandering in the bumpy ride. In her blurred vision, she seemed to catch a glimpse of the word "Cen" embroidered on the saddle.
…
"Deputy General, there seems to be a white horse over there." A personal soldier was searching in the mountains when he suddenly saw a horse that seemed to be shining with pearls all over its body and was running towards him at a very fast speed.
"That's...Jiaoyue." Lieutenant General Lin looked at the running horse and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
The name "Jiaoyue" comes from the fact that its fur is bright white like snow.
There was no way he would be mistaken; that was Fang Yicen's warhorse.
The young general from the Fang family, dressed in iron armor and riding a white horse, was full of vigor and ambition, and was praised by everyone in the Northwest Army. He loved his horse like his life, and the first thing he did during a truce was to wash his mount thoroughly.
It's still alive...
When the horse came closer, they noticed that it was carrying two people covered in blood.
"It's the General and Young Master Zhao!"
"Quick! Call a doctor!"
*
A tearing pain spread from the head to the nerves, and Fang Yilan slowly opened his eyes due to a strong feeling of nausea.
The memories flooded back, startling her so much that she almost straightened up.
"Miss! She's awake, go call the doctor." Shu Xue hurriedly held Fang Yilan down and turned to shout outside the house.
Fang Yilan's consciousness gradually returned. She didn't expect that she was still alive. Looking around, she found that she had returned to the Marquis' Mansion.
I subconsciously moved my right arm, and the piercing pain came back.
Shu Xue's face was full of distress as she advised, "Miss, your arm was badly injured. It almost damaged your meridians. Please don't move around anymore."
"Have you recovered the food supplies?"
"Where's Zhao Huaixu? Is he... still alive?"
"Xunyun, are Zhuang Gu and the others back safely?"
Fang Yilan only felt that her throat was extremely dry, but she still made a series of sounds.
The door hinge creaked and was pushed open. Zhao Huaixu appeared at the door. His face was pale and almost transparent. His eyes were staring straight at Fang Yilan. His eyes were empty and hot, as if he was still confirming whether the person in front of him was an illusion created by his obsession.
Behind him, the servant Ah Fu trotted up and hurriedly helped him to sit on the low couch beside Fang Yilan's bed, complaining dissatisfiedly: "Young Master Zhao just woke up and heard the master calling the doctor again. He insisted on getting up and following us, and there was no way to stop him."
Fang Yilan waved her left hand in front of him and shook his hand again: "I'm still alive and well. Feel it, it's still warm."
Zhao Huaixu seemed to be finally pulled back to the real world by this warmth, and nodded woodenly.
"You should go back to your room and recuperate first. I don't have a place for you to lie down here. I can't give you half of my bed, right?" Fang Yilan started to act unruly as soon as he could speak.
Zhao Huaixu actually wanted to get up and go to bed.
Fang Yilan hurriedly pulled the man back.
"General, you have brought me across the snowy water, so Yu'an could barely survive. I only feel safe when I stay by your side. Please let me stay in the room."
Shuxue and Ah Fu looked at each other, their eyes widened, blood...blood?
Fang Yilan tried to persuade him, but Zhao Huaixu's eyes were full of stubbornness and he refused to go back to the side room.
Tsk, so clingy.
There was no other way, Fang Yilan could only order someone to set up a temporary bed frame in the room.
Shuxue and Ah Fu looked at each other and held their foreheads with their hands.
It was unbearable to watch. He left the space to the two of them and left the room to buy something.
When Zhao Huaixu saw the door closed, he held Fang Yilan's hand again, put it against his face and gently rubbed it, listening to the rhythm of her pulse, his face full of satisfaction.
Like a raccoon trying to please its master.
Fang Yilan suddenly got goosebumps and subconsciously tried to pull her left hand back, but he held her down and she couldn't move.
There was a chaotic sound of footsteps, and Lieutenant General Lin and Doctor Lu arrived together.
Doctor Lu was so angry when he saw Zhao Huaixu standing in front of the bed that his beard was about to fly. "Why are you here? Are you worried that you've lived too long?"
"You've got a huge hole in your back, and you're running around instead of just lying down. Why didn't the stone just pierce through you? That would save me a lot of worry."
Fang Yilan's attention was diverted by Doctor Lu, and she suddenly felt a little pain in her left hand from being gripped by Zhao Huaixu.
Fang Yilan thought Zhao Huaixu was afraid of being scolded, so she retorted with some dissatisfaction: "Doctor Lu, be careful with your words and actions!"
Generally speaking, people with excellent medical skills often have bad tempers.
Doctor Lu has been accompanying the army to provide medical treatment for many years. Even if he encountered Fang Yilan's father not following the doctor's advice, he would dare to point at the person and scold him, not to mention Fang Yilan, who is in the prime of his life.
Doctor Lu puffed his beard and glared, his old mouth seemed to be filled with poison, and his words came like a barrage of cannonballs.
"You dare to talk back? Look at your right hand, I don't even want to say anything more! The bones are so broken that they can be made into a bow. If you delay any longer, you won't even need to practice spearmanship. You'll spend the rest of your life practicing martial arts and catching knives with your bare hands, performing on the streets to make a living."
Fang Yilan's head was buzzing from the scolding.
In the end, I took it all on myself.
Fang Yilan didn't dare to provoke Dr. Lu anymore, and quickly changed the subject.
"How did you save us? I saw a very white horse in the mountains. It was very smart. It carried us away. It looked like it had been abandoned in the mountains by its owner."
Deputy General Lin choked up as he spoke: "That's your brother, Fang Yicen's horse."
Fang Yilan felt a sharp pain in her soul, almost suffocating. However, she clearly remembered that Fang Yicen was buried in Jin'an, and the two places were at least hundreds of miles apart. Why did Jiaoyue appear here?
There must be some unknown secret hidden in this.
Fang Yilan frowned slightly and asked again, "What happened to the spy who tried to assassinate me that day?"
Xun Yun's expression was solemn as he described what happened after he fell off the cliff that day: "He committed suicide on the spot, leaving no clues to follow."
Weird, so weird.
First, an assassin sneaked into the Marquis's mansion for no reason, then the secret of Gao Qianhu's connection with the assassin and Genji was revealed, and now there are spies in the army who intend to murder her.
Everything points to the Genji clan, and if you think about it more deeply, it seems that they are also aimed at the person sitting on the dragon throne.
It was as if someone behind the scenes was deliberately manipulating her and forcing her to see the truth.
But is there really a murderer who would so bluntly write the four words "I am a bad guy" on his face?
Fang Yilan asked again: "How is the food supply?"
Deputy Lin reported, "All the food and fodder we looted has been stored. With this batch of food and fodder, we can last for another month. The food and fodder shipped to the capital has also been delivered, but..." He paused, his expression slightly helpless, "It was detained by Zeyang."
"Zeyang?"
Lieutenant General Lin explained, "General, you may not know that the eldest son of Zhou Ji, the governor of Zeyang, is none other than Zhou Qi. He must have felt that the Fang family deliberately embarrassed him and humiliated him because of the previous incident, and so he held a grudge against them."
Fang Yilan raised her eyebrows slightly. "What's the situation in Xiling? I encountered their search troops earlier and was seriously injured. I can't hide this."
Vice General Lin's expression darkened as he spoke of this. "Once Suotai heard the news that the general had fallen off the cliff, he immediately assembled his forces. I estimate they will attack us in a few days."
This is an attempt to kill her while she is sick.
Fang Yilan sneered: "He really sees me as a thorn in his side."
"Zuotai has been at war with us in the northwest for many years, and has suffered countless defeats at the hands of your father and brother. He has long hated the Fang family and regarded them as his number one enemy." Lieutenant General Lin was not surprised by this.
"In that case, let's send these two 'distinguished guests' to Zeyang." Fang Yilan narrowed her starry eyes slightly.
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The author has something to say: I’m stuck in a writer’s block, and I don’t know how long I can keep up the manuscript stockpiling [burst crying][burst crying][burst crying] I beg for collections!!
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