Chu Qiao could no longer hold back her tears. She covered her mouth and cried out uncontrollably.
Thirteen, thirteen, thirteen…
It started raining at four o'clock that night. After Zhao Chun'er and Zhao Song got on the carriage, Chu Qiao came to the open grassland, followed by a large number of officers and soldiers from the Southwest Town Government with ferocious looks on their faces. Song Gan and others looked frightened, like a bunch of wretched wild dogs.
"Who cut off Zhao Song's arm?"
"Your Highness cut it."
Chu Qiao frowned and shouted, "You're lying!"
"Miss, I didn't!" Song Gan was so scared that his face was full of tears, and he shouted loudly, "It was really your highness who chopped him off. He came to assassinate your highness, and your highness chopped off one of his hands. Miss Yu wanted to kill them, but your highness didn't let us, so he asked us to escort them back to the imperial capital."
Chu Qiao took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Why don't you kill them, Your Highness?"
"The head of the guards said that he was afraid that the young lady would be angry." Song Gan had just finished speaking, fearing that Chu Qiao would mention his abuse of private punishment again, and hurriedly said, "But, if we do it on the road, the young lady won't know and won't be angry."
Chu Qiao's voice was low, and the heavy rain poured down on her hair, "Did the guard also say this?"
“This… yes, yes!”
He Xiao saw Chu Qiao's bad face and immediately shouted: "If you dare to say something nonsense again, I will chop you to pieces!"
"No need to say more," Chu Qiao raised her head and said in a deep voice, "Drag them away and execute them all!"
"I'm not talking nonsense!" Song Gan cried, "Girl, look at us, who among us hasn't been harmed the most by the Xia people? How many of our parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters have died at the hands of the Great Xia officials? If you don't want us to take action, why did you transfer us from various camps?"
"Yes!" another soldier shouted, "What's wrong with us beating him? We slept with the princess of Daxia, so what? My sister was raped by the nobles of Daxia, and my parents went to report it to the police, but they were beaten to death in court! What did I do wrong?"
"That's right! Girl, what have we done wrong? Why are you punishing us?"
"Let me tell you what mistake you made!" A flash of lightning suddenly exploded, and the sky and the earth were filled with bright white. The girl turned around, pointed at the carriage, and said slowly, word by word: "Because the people who killed your parents, insulted your sister, bullied and persecuted you, were not them!"
A huge scream suddenly rang out. Chu Qiao did not look back, but just stared at the carriage quietly. Her steps were so heavy as if she was carrying a thousand-pound rock, and she could not take a single step forward.
"Girl!" He Xiao strode forward, wiped the water off his face, and said in a rough voice, "Those beasts have been slaughtered."
"He Xiao, you guys go to Ximaliang by yourselves." Chu Qiao said softly with a pale face, "I can't go with you."
"Girl!" He Xiao was shocked and shouted, "Why?"
There were rumbling thunders and heavy rain. The pouring rain hit my face, hiding the tears that I didn't want to show to others.
"Because I have more important things to do."
The morning sun rose, the heavy rain stopped, and the sky and the earth were filled with a fresh air, as if all the filth and sin had been washed away by the rain.
On the high slope of the cliff, a man stood tall, wearing a long white fur coat, with a pale face and ink-black eyes, quietly looking at the mountains and rivers in the distance.
"Master, we should go now."
Wu Daoya stood behind Yan Xun and spoke softly.
Yan Xun didn't say anything, just staring into the distance. A cold wind blew, and his frail body suddenly began to cough violently. The sound was so heavy, and there seemed to be a bloody and salty taste in the air.
"Young Master?"
"Yeah." Yan Xun waved his hand, turned around slowly, refused Wu Daoya's hand that wanted to support him, and walked slowly down the hillside while coughing.
The green mountains were rolling and undulating. Behind the invisible ridge, a green cloth carriage moved slowly forward. In the high sky, a snow-white eagle was circling and wailing, following the carriage and gradually leaving the sky of Yanbei. The lonely wasteland is uninhabited for hundreds of miles. Years of war and killing have turned this place into a scorched earth. Whenever a large army passes through, the people flee everywhere, looking for other places to live. However, in this turbulent world, where is the true paradise?
It rained heavily for three consecutive days. The north wind was howling and the rain was pouring down. The carriage drove to a dilapidated village and all we could see was black ruins. Chu Qiao found a relatively intact house and walked into it carrying the still unconscious Zhao Song on her back. She cleaned the house swiftly, found some clean hay, and gathered firewood to make a fire. In less than half an hour, the house became warm.
This uninhabited area is in the central Sichuan region. Chu Qiao and the Southwest Town Envoy passed through here and had a battle with Zhao Yang's expeditionary army not far away. Obviously, the people here were frightened and fled in that battle. They didn't have time to take anything away except food and clothes. The pots, bowls and kitchen utensils were still intact. There was even clean water in the water tank, and there were large bundles of firewood for the winter in the woodshed.
Chu Qiao carried a bowl of hot water and walked to Zhao Chun'er who was sitting alone in a corner of the room. She squatted down and handed her some dry food and water.
The former princess did not look up, nor did she dislike such a simple meal. She took the dry food in silence, lowered her head to drink a sip of water, and remained quiet without saying a word.
Zhao Chun'er has been like this all the way. Unexpectedly, she showed no hostility towards Chu Qiao, nor did she show any obvious resistance. She was submissive and taciturn, eating when she was given food and drinking when she was told to. When the road was difficult to travel, she would get off the horse and push the cart with Chu Qiao in the rain; when there was no dry firewood, she would eat the hard-to-swallow coarse grains with cold water like Chu Qiao; when encountering a shallow river, she would dismount and wade; when encountering rioters, she would imitate Chu Qiao, pick up a knife, and her eyes would flash with the ferocity of a hungry wolf. However, she seldom spoke, and apart from Zhao Song, she was no longer interested in anything in the outside world.
Chu Qiao knew that she was not grateful to her, nor was she frightened. In that humiliating disaster, the girl grew up at an astonishing speed, and something had changed in a corner that no one noticed. Chu Qiao even wondered with some worry whether what she was doing at this moment was a disguised form of self-destruction?
Chu Qiao crushed the dry food and poured it into hot water. She came to Zhao Song, stretched out two fingers to pry open his mouth, and then forced the food into his mouth.
The man's brows were furrowed, and his chin was covered with new stubble. Unlike Yan Xun and Zhuge Yue, Zhao Song once had a pair of clean and clear eyes, thick eyebrows, and looked like a little lion when he was angry. However, in just a few days, the once sunny and energetic young man was tortured to the point of being emaciated and his face as pale as a piece of white paper.
Looking at his empty right arm and bloodstained clothes, Chu Qiao gently turned her head away, unable to bear to look any longer.
"Um……"
A low hum suddenly sounded, and Zhao Chun'er, who had been quiet all the time, suddenly jumped up like a little animal and staggered forward.
Zhao Song's brows were furrowed, with a look of pain on his face. Chu Qiao half-knelt beside him nervously, excitedly holding his hand, and whispered softly: "Thirteen? Thirteen?"
"Silly... boy... don't go!" A low and broken voice came out from the man's mouth. He closed his eyes tightly, veins popped out on his forehead, and his face looked painful, like a wild beast trapped in a cage.
“Thirteenth Brother!” Zhao Chun’er threw herself on Zhao Song and shouted, “Thirteenth Brother, Chun’er is here, I’m not going anywhere!”
Chu Qiao was pushed aside by Zhao Chun'er and couldn't help but whispered, "Princess, don't touch the wound."
"Get out of the way!" The girl turned around suddenly, her face stern and looking at her coldly with disgust.
"Don't go with... him... you'll... die..."
"Thirteenth brother," Zhao Chun'er looked sad and nodded continuously, "Chun'er knows, don't worry."
Zhao Song's face was abnormally flushed, and he seemed to have a fever. Chu Qiao stood aside, but didn't know how to approach such a pair of siblings. She wanted to go back and boil some water, but just as she turned around, a hoarse voice nailed her feet to the spot like lightning.
"I... I can also... protect... you... Ah Chu..."
Zhao Chun'er was stunned and pale, as if possessed by a ghost. She turned to look at Chu Qiao, then turned to look at the unconscious Zhao Song. Suddenly, an ugly bitter smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. She returned to the corner covered with hay, hugged her knees and buried her head deeply.
Zhao Song was talking nonsense the whole night. Sometimes, he was cursing Yan Xun for being treacherous, sometimes, he was frantically yelling at Chun'er to run away, and more often, he was begging Chu Qiao desperately, asking her to stay and not leave.
The man who drew a line on the long street and was determined to sever all ties with her with a sharp and decisive attitude, exposed all his fragility and softness on this rainy night. Every word he said was like a knife, ruthlessly cutting Chu Qiao's heart.
When it was almost dawn, he suddenly woke up. Chu Qiao stayed by his side all night, feeding him water and applying compresses on his face to cool him down. When she saw him wake up, she called out in surprise, "You're awake?"
The sound startled Zhao Chun'er who was sleeping with her eyes closed. The girl opened her eyes and looked over, but did not come over.
Zhao Song's eyes were a little confused, and for a moment he didn't even know where he was. He looked at Chu Qiao, his eyes changing from initial surprise to confusion, and then emotions such as regret, resentment, and anger flashed through his black eyes one by one, and finally were all covered by great indifference. The look was so cold, like the solid ice on the eternal snow-capped peaks, sending chills down one's spine. From his eyes, Chu Qiao seemed to relive their friendship over the years once again, from their first acquaintance to close friends, and finally, it all collapsed under the towering palace walls.
At this moment, Chu Qiao suddenly understood a fact that she had known for a long time but still held on to a glimmer of hope: it was really impossible for her and Zhao Song to be friends anymore. Some damage had already been done, just like his broken arm, no matter how he tried to repair it, it was impossible to restore everything to its original state.
"Chun'er?" Zhao Song turned his head and looked at Zhao Chun'er in the corner. His voice was hoarse, like a rusty saw blade. His only arm stretched out towards the thin girl.
Zhao Chun'er pursed her lips, crawled over on her knees, her eyes red, her lips trembling, but she forced a smile that was uglier than crying, and held Zhao Song's hand tightly.
It was pouring outside and a fire was crackling in the house. The brother and sister who survived the disaster looked at each other in silence, like two statues. Thousands of words that didn't need to be expressed turned into two sad looks, meeting in the small space.