First appearance
Jiang Yi sat in the carriage, trembling uncontrollably. She curled up in a corner and listened quietly to the sounds outside, as well as the pounding of her own heart, which grew louder and louder, as if it were about to leap out of her throat.
Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, I should be able to tell from the sounds: nothing but chaos, the screams of men, the clash of swords, the neighing of horses...
"Bang—"
Something crashed heavily into the carriage. The horse pulling the carriage paced uneasily, raised its head, neighed, and shook its neck. Jiang Yi was caught off guard and her forehead hit the wooden board. The pain was so intense that she saw stars.
[Ding—Hello host, I am... buzz... buzz...]
A cold, mechanical male voice seemed to echo in her mind, followed by an endless surge of electricity. Her ears began to ring, causing Jiang Yi a terrible headache and leaving her covered in a cold sweat.
What about He Lin? How is He Lin?
His father and brother are both generals, and they are fierce warriors on the battlefield. He Lin should know some martial arts, right? But what if he doesn't? Wouldn't that be very dangerous?
Jiang Yi shook her head vigorously. Everything outside was so clear, so close to her, yet so far away. Tinnitus, dizziness, blurred vision—oh no, could she have gotten a concussion?
She forced herself to move to the window, yanked back the curtain, and saw a chaotic scene before her. She couldn't tell who was who, and she couldn't see He Lin. There were corpses lying on the ground, and a few glaring splashes of bright red blood suddenly caught her eye...
"He Lin! He—"
"call out--"
An arrow flew from the horizon, but its aim was poor. It didn't hit her precisely, but instead struck the car window. Jiang Yi turned her head to look, and the feathers on the arrow's fletching were still tinkling. It was only a hand's width away from her head.
"call out--"
Soon, a second arrow pierced the air and stopped abruptly two fingers' distance from her temple, its bright arrowhead gleaming with a sinister light.
Drip, drip, a few drops of blood flowed down.
Jiang Yi seemed to be frozen in place, completely terrified. If you looked closely, you could see that her pupils had dilated slightly, a phenomenon that only occurs when a person is in a state of extreme fear...
She looked up and followed the large, well-defined hand upwards. The person who had come was He Lin. He was gripping the arrow shaft tightly, and his palm was cut as a result.
"you……"
He Lin frowned and stared at the person in front of him, his tone more serious than ever before: "I told you not to come out."
Jiang Yi then noticed that his face was splattered with red spots, which were blood.
Your hand...
He Lin didn't have time to answer that. He turned around, changed the direction of the arrow he had just grabbed, and threw it hard at the archer on horseback. Jiang Yi watched as the man was hit in the chest by He Lin before he could even draw his bow and fell straight to the ground. After struggling for a couple of moments, he fell silent.
When he turned around, Jiang Yi was staring at him in horror, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"If you're scared, sit back down." He Lin seemed completely unconcerned by her gaze. He held a dagger in his left hand, wiped the bloodstains on it vigorously on his clothes, and then stuffed it into Jiang Yi's hand, instructing, "Take good care of it."
Before she could react, He Lin pulled the curtain shut, blocking out the intense gaze.
He exhaled a breath of hot air, and as if eyes had appeared behind him, a large knife slashed straight down at him. He Lin slightly turned his body and kicked the man in the chest with his long leg, sending him flying several meters away, kicking up a lot of dust.
The head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) and bandits, who were engrossed in their sword dance not far away, stopped and nodded at him upon seeing this scene. He Lin understood and then dealt with the remaining men beside the carriage.
He intervened not out of a desire to meddle or to help others, but because He Lin knew that these robbers were vicious and ruthless, willing to do anything to achieve their goals. Each of them had a few lives on their hands, and if the current trouble wasn't dealt with, they would likely relentlessly pursue the caravan.
Inside the carriage, Jiang Yi gripped the dagger He Lin had given her tightly in both hands.
Suddenly, a man was kicked onto the carriage floor, his entire head falling in. The man grimaced and tried to get up, but as soon as he looked up, he made eye contact with the person inside.
He reacted incredibly quickly, half-lying on the ground while still reaching out to grab Jiang Yi's ankle. Jiang Yi screamed, kicking wildly with her legs dangling in mid-air, accidentally kicking his wrist. The man cursed something unintelligible, then He Lin grabbed her foot and dragged her outside...
Jiang Yi was stunned for a long time before she came to her senses and clutched her chest. Luckily, he didn't have a knife in his hand, otherwise she would probably be reporting to the King of Hell by now...
This is so exciting!
...
As night fell, a hazy crescent moon hung in the sky, accompanied by a few scattered stars. A gust of wind blew, and dark clouds obscured the moonlight, making it even dimmer.
In the valley, a group of people sat together around a burning campfire. The night was very cold, and most of them were wrapped in clothes made of animal fur. They drank in silence, with only occasional groans from the wounded echoing through the air, accompanied by the crackling of the campfire, which was especially noticeable in this place.
Fortunately, the caravan suffered minimal losses; no one lost their life, only minor injuries. The caravan members, accustomed to highway robbery from their travels, were unfazed. They bandaged their wounds, rested, and set off again at dawn the next day—a group of heroes once more.
But the robbers weren't so lucky. After all, they were just a bunch of outlaws who had turned to banditry. Even if they were robbing fiercely, they were not a real threat. They lost a few lives and were eventually driven away in a sorry state.
He Lin walked to the carriage and called out to the person inside, "Jiang Yi."
Jiang Yi immediately lifted the curtain, half-squatting at the doorway, and asked, "What's wrong?"
He Lin handed her two flatbreads wrapped in a handkerchief and a pot of water: "Eat something to fill your stomach first."
"Oh." Jiang Yi took it and took a couple of bites. She had thought the pancake would be cold and hard, but it was actually warm and a little soft. Then she asked indistinctly, "Have you eaten yet?"
"Not yet, I'll go over there later..."
Before He Lin could finish speaking, Jiang Yi jumped off the carriage, placed the water bag on the wooden board, and then gave him a cake.
"Give."
He Lin glanced down at the pancake she offered him, then looked at her and said, "No need, you can eat it yourself."
He knew Jiang Yi's appetite well, and estimated that these two pancakes would be just right for her.
"Hiss—take it, I can't finish it. Today was too stimulating, I have no appetite."
She stood beside He Lin, leaning lightly against the carriage, chewing on a flatbread and gazing at the campfire ahead, a flicker of flame dancing in her eyes.
The two sat quietly eating their pancakes, neither of them speaking, until Jiang Yi finally broke the silence.
"By the way, are you hurt? Let me see. You need to bandage the wound promptly, otherwise it will be troublesome if it gets infected." She only remembered this after finishing most of the pancake, turned to look at He Lin, and said anxiously.
"No."
"And your hand..."
He Lin had a long cut on his palm from the arrowhead while handling it, but he had already washed it with water and wrapped it with a white gauze.
"It's alright."
"real?"
"real."
Jiang Yi breathed a long sigh of relief: "That's good. So you know martial arts?"
"I know a little."
"Did your dad teach you that? But you fight so fiercely, it's not like you at all."
When the robbers were being dealt with, Jiang Yi secretly peeked through the curtain a few times. He Lin's skills were swift and efficient, no less than He Yu's. It can only be said that like father, like son. He truly lived up to his background as a general and did not disgrace He Wei in the slightest.
He Lin let out a soft "hmm" from his throat.
"Young Master He."
Hearing someone call them, Jiang Yi craned her neck to look over He Lin and saw the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) carrying two heavy mink coats, a friendly smile on his lips, striding towards them.
He Lin nodded to him: "Head镖头 Wang (Wang the镖头)."
"Thanks to Young Master He for his help today, otherwise my brothers would have been in trouble. Thank you very much."
"No need to be polite. Since we're traveling together, helping you is helping ourselves."
Upon hearing this, Chief Escort Wang lowered his head and chuckled, then shifted his gaze to Jiang Yi. "Young Master, you've been frightened today. If we hadn't encountered bandits and been delayed, we could have rested at the inn ahead tonight. There's nothing we can do about the rampant bandits on this road."
Jiang Yi asked, "They robbed people along the way, and the government didn't do anything about it?"
Wang Biaotou shook his head and said, "We can't manage this far even if we wanted to. The nearest town, Furong Town, is more than forty kilometers away. Besides, they're just some bluffing thugs. Brothers, just deal with them as you can to prevent them from harming other passersby."
Jiang Yi nodded in understanding.
"It's chilly at night, so I'll leave these two mink coats to you. Rest up tonight, and we'll set off early tomorrow morning. If we keep going, we should arrive in Furong Town before dark. Then I'll treat you two to a good drink."
He Lin reached out and took the mink coat: "Thank you."
Wang, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), nodded slightly and turned to leave.
After Jiang Yi finished eating the flatbread, she vigorously patted the crumbs off her hands and then handed the water pouch to He Lin.
"What are you doing?"
"Aren't you choking? Drink some water to help."
He Lin asked suspiciously, "Why aren't you drinking?"
Jiang Yi seemed speechless, but she still patiently said, "Aren't you a clean freak? You drink first. Don't worry, I won't mind. I'll drink what you leave behind."
"you……"
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean,' hurry up and stop talking nonsense, I'm going to choke!"
Under her gaze, He Lin inexplicably took the water pouch, took a symbolic sip, and then handed it back to her. Jiang Yi tilted her head back and gulped down several mouthfuls. After finishing, she wiped her mouth and closed the water pouch.
The two were very close. He Lin lowered his eyes and looked at her rosy lips. For some reason, his throat tightened and his Adam's apple bobbed violently. He silently looked away and gazed at the campfire not far away.
When he finally mustered the courage to ask Jiang Yi a question, he turned around and saw her asleep on the wooden plank of the carriage.
He Lin exhaled a breath of warm air and draped the mink coat over her body...
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