Chapter 83: Risks Once You Make a Decision, You Can't Change It
After An An recognized his father, he didn't think anything of it. Instead, Chen Lianxiu and Zhou Linjin each had their own thoughts, and it took them a long time to calm down.
There is one more thing left to say.
In fact, this matter is much more difficult to talk about than the previous one, because after all, it is a fact that Zhou Linjin is An An's father. It's just the difference between saying it and not saying it. But telling An An that she is going to leave her for a while, let alone An An, even Shen Lianxiu herself finds it difficult to accept.
An An has never left her since she was born. How could she bear to be separated from her? Besides, there is a high possibility that she will never come back.
When she thought about it, Shen Lianxiu's heart ached like a needle.
But no matter how heartbroken I was, I could only tell An An the truth.
Chen Lianxiu hardened her heart, leaned against An An's little head, and said to An An, "Starting tomorrow, we're going out for a while. An An, just wait for us at home, okay?"
"No." An An uttered two words from her small mouth.
Shen Lianxiu added: “Grandmother, aunt, and sister Zhu’er will be at home with you.”
"don't want."
After An An finished speaking, she gradually felt that something was wrong. She realized that Chen Lianxiu was not joking with her, and stared at Chen Lianxiu vigilantly.
Before Shen Lianxiu could come up with conditions and discuss them with her, An An burst into tears.
She hugged Shen Lianxiu's arm and cried heartbreakingly. Her reaction was much greater than when she just learned that Zhou Linjin was her father.
Seeing this, Zhou Linjin said, "Forget it, you stay here."
"No," Shen Lianxiu said these two words with an expression very similar to An An's. "If you go alone, or go with Shen Wuyu, it's almost impossible to come back. But if there are three of us, we might be able to get away with it."
"Yuan, I didn't agree with you taking risks with me in the first place." Zhou Linjin paused, "This is what I should do, not you."
"Should I watch you...die?"
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
After a long time, Zhou Linjin smiled and said, "I'll just take it as your concern for me."
Chen Lianxiu ignored him, but just lowered her head to look at An An and wiped away her tears.
Zhou Linjin turned around and walked out.
"Wait," just as he was about to open the door, Shen Lianxiu stopped him, "An An can't leave me, and I don't want to leave her, let her go with us."
She is usually a very sober person, but when facing her crying daughter, she may no longer be able to stay sober.
Zhou Linjin frowned and walked over again: "It's absolutely impossible to take An An with you."
"I don't care, you have to find a way anyway." Chen Lianxiu suddenly raised her eyes and looked at him, as if she was acting coquettishly with him.
She rarely acted like this, and Zhou Linjin's heart suddenly turned into a pool of spring water, which was hard to resist.
His reason told him that he should leave immediately, no matter what she begged for, he would leave her here tomorrow.
But Zhou Linjin also found that he could not refuse her at all. He desperately wanted her to stay by his side like she was now, no matter what she did. He just wanted to keep looking at her.
Shen Lianxiu continued to speak: "Since it has been agreed upon, it cannot be changed. You have to find a way."
Zhou Linjin struggled hard to free himself from the vortex of love and desire. Relying on the remaining shred of rationality, he said, "Ayuan, if Anan follows us, if something happens..."
"I didn't let An An follow us on impulse. King Hui is treacherous and ruthless. Even if we were in the city, we wouldn't be able to escape his tricks. It doesn't matter whether An An follows us or not. It just seems safer." Chen Lianxiu said, "If we don't end this war quickly, we will be trapped and starved to death in the city sooner or later."
After a long silence, Zhou Linjin said, "Then let her follow us."
Originally, he went there with the intention of dying, since he was alone anyway. But now that he had made arrangements and plans, and wanted Chen Lianxiu and An An to follow him, he had to be as careful and thorough as possible and not make any mistakes.
Zhou Linjin sat down next to Shen Lianxiu. An An, who was still crying, glanced at him secretly, but Zhou Linjin noticed and touched her face twice.
"Bringing her along would be even more helpful in confusing King Hui," Zhou Linjin said with a wry smile. "After all, why would they bring a child along for such a dangerous mission?"
Before Shen Lianxiu could speak, An An said, "I want to be with my mother!"
"Okay, I won't separate you from your mother." Zhou Linjin thought for a moment and then said, "We won't separate either."
Then, Zhou Linjin and Shen Lianxiu carefully taught An An how to speak when the time comes, mainly about titles and how to explain the identities of himself and his parents if someone asked. An An was smart, and maybe because he was afraid of being forced to stay here if he didn't learn, he learned it almost immediately.
Zhou Linjin asked her some questions over and over again in different ways, and she answered them all well.
Shen Lianxiu went to tell Shen Wuyu about this matter again. Seeing that they had already remembered it, Shen Wuyu didn't say anything else.
The next day, at daybreak, Chen Lianxiu, Zhou Linjin and others were quietly released from the city gate.
Perhaps because there have been no pedestrians recently, the scenery outside the city is particularly desolate. The half-bright sky makes the mountains and fields no longer as lush as before, but a gray and green color, shrouded in morning mist, like a desolate ruin.
King Hui's army was stationed not far outside the city. Because they did not dare to attack the city rashly, they had stayed there for several days.
The three of them carefully observed their surroundings, guarding against anyone noticing them. Every time Zhou Linjin walked a distance, he would point out the direction according to the map to Shen Lianxiu and Shen Wuyu.
They walked for almost an hour. Although Zhou Linjin estimated that there was still a long way to go, he no longer dared to accompany them.
The closer you get, the more likely you are to encounter scouts scouting nearby.
Once he was discovered and brought before King Hui, his identity would be impossible to hide.
Zhou Linjin pointed at the map, pointing each point in his path and guiding them to identify it. He then said, "As we agreed before, you will head towards King Hui's camp. I won't go with you, but I will follow you from a distance, avoiding any scouts you might encounter. Once you've met King Hui, we'll see how he arranges for you. Once you're settled, I'll pretend to have found you. King Hui probably won't notice."
Chen Lianxiu took a deep breath, took the map from him, and looked at it carefully again to identify the direction. Then he said, "I've memorized it. If we are stationed in the military camp, you'd better not come over yet. If we are stationed outside, you can show up later."
Hearing this, Shen Wuyu also nodded in agreement: "Yes, if it is really in the military camp, I will find a way to get him to send us out to live."
The three of them agreed on this, and Zhou Linjin asked An An and Xiao Shu again about their identities. Both children answered correctly, so he felt at ease and let them go ahead, and he would follow carefully.
Because they were carrying two children, Shen Lianxiu and Shen Wuyu did not walk fast. Previously, Zhou Linjin carried one on his back and held the other in his arms, but now they had to rely on themselves. The roads in the mountains were difficult to walk on, and it was also difficult to carry the children, so they could only hold their hands and walk.
They kept walking like this until it was already past noon. The sun was about to set if they continued walking, when someone finally discovered them.
Shen Wuyu naturally had the token she had taken from King Hui that year. She handed it to the scout. The scout first looked the four of them up and down. Seeing that they were just women and children, and that Shen Lianxiu had already rubbed mud on her body in advance, it looked like she had been traveling for a long time. So the scout took them back first and went to see King Hui with the token.
While waiting, Shen Wuyu took Shen Lianxiu’s hand and said softly: “Sister, I’m afraid to see him.”
Shen Lianxiu held her cold hand: "Don't be afraid, sister is here."
It was not until the sun set that someone came to take them to see King Hui. When they arrived at the main tent door, someone stopped them again.
It looked like he was King Hui's personal guard, and Shen Wuyu seemed to recognize him. She first gave Shen Lianxiu a wink without making a sound, then pulled Xiaoshu over and said to the man, "Let us mother and son go in."
The man then led Shen Wuyu and Xiaoshu inside, while Shen Lianxiu still stayed outside with An An.
Chen Lianxiu lowered her head, wrapped her arms tightly around An An, and let her lean against her legs. Although her heart was beating so fast that it was about to jump out of her throat, she only dared to reveal a hint of uneasiness that was just right.
She wanted to hear what was being said inside the tent, but the sounds of military training were all around, making it very noisy. The main tent was also extremely large, and once inside, people could not hear any conversation, so she could not hear anything at all.
After a long time, Shen Wuyu came out of the tent. She had obviously been crying, and was still holding the naive little tree in her hand. When she saw Shen Lianxiu, she nodded gently at her.
It was the same guard who made a "please" gesture to Shen Wuyu and asked them to follow him.
Chen Lianxiu was just about to feel lucky that he didn't see King Hui, when he suddenly saw someone striding out of the main tent behind him. Just a glimpse of him from the corner of his eye made Chen Lianxiu shudder.
King Hui walked up to Chen Wuyu and stood in front of him. He saw that he was indeed a man of extraordinary bearing, with a feminine look between his eyebrows. The two completely different temperaments blended together in a surprisingly harmonious way. He often heard people say that King Hui looked like the Queen Mother and was very beautiful. Seeing him today, it was indeed true.
No wonder Shen Wuyu was deceived by him back then.
Shen Lianxiu glanced at him and quickly lowered her head. King Hui didn't even glance at her. He just said to Shen Wuyu, "Go back and wait for me obediently."
Shen Wuyu burst into tears again and said in a sobbing voice: "Liu Yan, if you dare to abandon me again, I will die in front of you."
King Hui frowned when she called him by his given name, and stopped talking to her. He just whispered a few words to the guard and turned away.
The guard called two soldiers and took them out of the barracks.
He brought them to a small farmyard near the military camp, which was about an incense stick's time away from the camp. It was not very far, but not very close either. The two soldiers were sent to protect Shen Wuyu and Xiaoshu.
Chen Lianxiu breathed a sigh of relief. What she was most worried about was whether she would run into Zhou Linyu, who had already escaped, next to the King, but fortunately she did not run into him.
She had originally guessed that King Hui would not let Chen Wuyu live alone. What if the person sent here knew Zhou Linjin, like this personal guard must know him? That would be difficult to deal with. But now, looking at these two randomly captured soldiers, the chances of them recognizing Zhou Linjin were probably not high.
The guard said to Shen Wuyu, "We found this place temporarily and have already had it cleaned up. Madam, please wait for His Highness here. It's a mess right now, so please don't run around."
Shen Wuyu nodded and responded lightly, not looking very serious. The guard was probably used to her being like this, and left after saying that.
After he left, Shen Wuyu only asked the two soldiers to guard outside the courtyard. After all, the place was not big, with only three rooms in total. You could see the whole place at a glance, so there was actually nothing to guard.
Shen Wuyu closed the door and looked at Shen Lianxiu and patted his chest.
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The author has something to say: Happy National Day everyone!
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