Yan Xun shook his head and said, "I'll send you up first, and you go find someone to save me."
Chu Qiao was stunned, looked Yan Xun up and down, then nodded and said, "Okay."
After going through so much trouble, when Chu Qiao saw the full moon in the sky, she felt as if it was a matter of life and death. She lay on the snow cave, looking down at Yan Xun who was still trapped in the cave, and shouted loudly: "Wait, I'll go call for help."
Yan Xun smiled and waved his hand, "Go quickly!"
Her ankle hurt a lot, as if it had been twisted when she fell just now. Chu Qiao walked a few steps in pain, and suddenly a thought came to her mind. She stopped unconsciously, her eyes narrowed slightly, and a chill ran down her spine.
If she just turned around and left like that, given the remoteness of this wilderness, Yan Xun would definitely die tonight. Then, would she have taken revenge? Thinking back to the first day she came here, the blood flowing, the sharp arrows, and the young bodies in the hunting ground, Chu Qiao's heart beat faster and faster.
Although most of the deadly arrows that day came from the two brothers of the Zhao family, although most of the arrows shot by Prince Yan hit the wolves, although he was later mocked by the brothers of the Zhuge family for being too soft-hearted, and although he trusted me so much and smiled as to let me go and come back quickly.
Chu Qiao stood in the pale wilderness, her eyes as dark as ink, flashing with an exciting edge.
With a bang, a dry branch more than one meter tall was thrown into the snow cave, almost hitting Yan Xun's head.
Before Chu Qiao showed her head, she heard Yan Xun roaring angrily, "You want to kill someone?!"
Chu Qiao rolled her eyes impatiently, "If you want to kill you, you don't have to go to such great lengths. Come up quickly."
Yan Xun climbed up quickly with great agility, looked Chu Qiao up and down, smiled and said, "I thought you would leave this evil person like me alone and walk away."
Chu Qiao gave him a cold look and said, "I only blame myself for not being cruel enough."
Yan Xun laughed, ran to her, bent down slightly, and said, "Come on, as a reward for not abandoning me, I will carry you back."
Chu Qiao looked him up and down in confusion, "Are you willing to do something so embarrassing?"
"This prince is in a good mood."
Chu Qiao stopped talking, and just when Yan Xun thought she was unwilling, his back suddenly felt heavy, and a soft little body appeared.
The ground was white like frost, and the light reflected from the snow was dazzling. It was the first time in Yan Xun's life that he carried someone on his back. His movements were a little awkward, and he twisted his body restlessly. Chu Qiao stretched out her white and tender little hand and patted his neck, "Be quiet, I'm going to fall."
Yan Xun was stunned, and indeed became much more obedient. He walked slowly in the wilderness with Chu Qiao on his back.
"Hey, do you know how far we've walked?"
The child calmly replied, "Less than an incense stick of time. It will take about an hour to walk back."
Yan Xun nodded, "Your name is Xing'er?"
"How do you know?"
"I heard it from the maid you framed me with last time on the cliff."
Prince Yan seemed to be in a good mood tonight. Seeing that Chu Qiao didn't respond, he continued to ask, "What's your real name? What's your last name?"
Chu Qiao snorted softly, "Why should I tell you?"
"If you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me," Yan Xun snorted, "I don't want to hear it yet. Sooner or later, you will cry and beg me to listen."
"Then you just wait patiently for that day."
Yan Xun frowned, "You are just a kid, why do you speak in such an old-fashioned tone?"
The child on his back curled his lips in disdain, "You guys are all so young, why are you so cruel?"
Yan Xun was stunned, then laughed and said, "My God, you really hold a grudge."
The child's voice was a little sad, and then it turned cold, and he said indifferently: "You don't bear grudges, that's because no one has pointed an arrow at you."
The wind was blowing hard, and Yan Xun suddenly felt a little cold. He opened his mouth to retort, but in the end no words came out. The distinctions of high and low that he had believed in for many years seemed a little inappropriate when talking about them in front of this child. There are some things that everyone says are right, so you naturally think they are right as well, even if sometimes you don’t actually think so in your heart. The cold moonlight shone on the snow, and the two children's figures looked a little thin.
At this moment, there was a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds in the distance. Yan Xun was refreshed and said, "My people are coming."
The child lying on his back frowned slightly, and listened with his ear tilted. He heard a chaotic sound of hooves, as if a large army was coming, and the sound of many people running. The snow and fog in front were surging like a silver dragon and a white snake, forming a line into a surface, rushing forward in a mighty manner.
The child narrowed his eyes slightly, opened his red lips, and said slowly: "It seems that he is not yours." The north wind blew up heavy snow, which fluttered down as densely as goose feathers, covering the pale full moon and making it almost impossible to open one's eyes.
The sky above the snow was dark, and from time to time the mournful cries of night owls could be heard. Those black wings circled in the sky. Looking down from mid-air, Zhenhuang City was like a pearl in the snowy glacier, dazzling and sparkling. At this moment, outside this pearl, there was a group of foreign people with ragged clothes, pale faces and thin bodies, who were totally out of place in the prosperity and splendor of the imperial capital, and they were trudging along with difficulty.
The biting north wind penetrated the foreigners' ragged clothes, blowing like knives on their skin that had already turned purple from the cold. A strong wind suddenly blew up, and the people gathered together with difficulty to resist the fierce cold wind. Without the protection of city walls and buildings, the winter on the Hongchuan Plateau became increasingly unbearable. Suddenly, the cry of a baby was heard in the team. It started as a single voice and gradually expanded until it spread to the entire team.
With a whoosh, the sound of whips suddenly rang out, and the general on horseback came forward with a gloomy face and shouted sternly: "Shut up!"
However, how could those ignorant babies obey his orders? The crying continued.
The general frowned, rode his horse into the crowd, bent down, snatched a baby from a young woman's arms, lifted the baby high, and then slammed it to the ground with a bang!
"Ah!" A shrill scream suddenly rang out. The child's mother cried out in shock, suddenly knelt on the ground, hugged her child who had no sound left, and burst into tears.
The general's eyes were sharp, and they swept across the faces of the refugees like an eagle, and wherever he went, there was silence.
On the wasteland, the only sound left was the young woman's crying. The general drew out his long sword and cut the woman's spine with a swish. Blood splattered onto the pale snow.
Chu Qiao's breathing suddenly stagnated. She bit her lips tightly and exerted force on her hands, ready to rush out.
"Are you going to die?" Yan Xun hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear, "They are the army of the Wei clan. Don't act rashly."
"Let's do it here." The general in black armor and black fur coat said in a deep voice to his subordinates. Upon hearing this, the soldiers wearing cold iron helmets jumped off their horses swiftly, drew the sabers at their waists with a swish, pulled the ropes, and the refugees with their feet tied fell to their knees on the ground.
The general's eyes were gloomy, his gaze was like a knife, his thin lips were pressed into a straight line, and he slowly uttered a word: "Kill!"
The sound of knives rang out in unison. The young soldiers' faces were as hard as iron, and they didn't even blink. Dozens of heads rolled down and landed on the thick snow. Warm blood spurted out of the cavity and formed a fishy and hot stream, but was immediately frozen by the cold air.
The child bit his lower lip tightly, hiding behind the snow slope and watching the massacre happening up close, his heart tightly gripped. Her eyes were so bright, like shining stars, but there was such a heavy light flickering in them. Yan Xun's hands were a little cold. Although he was still holding her tightly, there was an emotion flowing in his blood that made him almost dare not turn his head to look into the child's eyes. The small body under his arms exuded a heat that almost burned his hands.
He watched the rulers of the empire holding the butcher's knife over the heads of civilians again and again, and felt that what they were chopping off were not human heads, but their own beliefs. The stubbornness that has existed in my heart for too many years has been peeled off layer by layer, leaving me with nothing but wounds and no place to hide my shame.
The sabers were swung down, blood splattered everywhere, but the faces of the foreign civilians were calm, without any fear of death. Chu Qiao saw clearly that it was not the numbness caused by extreme fear, nor was it the despair of having no hope, nor was it the self-abandonment under despair, but rather a kind of stubborn stubbornness and deep hatred. Everyone was very quiet. No one was crying or cursing. Even the children in the old man's arms were very well-behaved. They opened their eyes and watched their fellow tribesmen die one by one under the executioner's knife. Their eyes were bright, yet huge waves were rolling in their eyes.
It is a hatred that would scare even the nine gods in the sky, and a resentment that would make even the Asuras underground retreat.
The anger and hatred suppressed in the heart slowly grew, and the child's fists were clenched tightly like a bloodthirsty little wolf.
At this moment, there was a burst of rapid horse hooves in the distance, along with the man's anxious and angry shouts: "Stop! Stop!"
The snow-white warhorse quickly approached, and the young man jumped off, whipping the knife-wielding soldier's wrist like crazy, blocking the refugees, and angrily yelling at the general: "Jiang He, what are you doing?"
"Major General Shu Ye, I am following military orders and am executing the rioters." When the general saw the young master, he frowned slightly, but still dismounted and saluted respectfully, and said in a deep voice.
"Rampants?" Wei Shuye pointed at the old, weak, women and children on the ground with angry eyes and said sternly, "Who are the rioters? Them? Who gave you the power? Who allowed you to do this?"
Jiang He's expression remained unchanged, like a stubborn stone. "Major General, this is the order from Shengjin Palace, your uncle personally requested it, the document was jointly signed by the Council of Elders, your brother personally approved it in red, and the decision was made by the clan leaders of the entire Wei clan after discussion. I am just following orders."
Wei Shuye was stunned for a moment. He turned his head blankly and his eyes swept across the faces of the refugees one by one. These foreign people, who had never frowned in the face of death, suddenly changed their expressions the moment they saw him, and could no longer conceal the anger in their eyes. An old woman suddenly stood up and rushed over, ignoring the soldiers on both sides, cursing, "You liar! Shameless traitor! The gods will punish you!"
A long sword suddenly chopped down, slamming into the woman's waist. Blood flowed from the blood groove of the sword. The woman's waist was almost cut in two. Her body fell to the ground powerlessly, but she still used up her last bit of strength to spit a mouthful of bloody phlegm fiercely on the corner of Wei Shuye's white clothes, grinning and cursing: "Even if I become a ghost...even if I become a ghost...I will not...let...let you go..."