Chapter 126 Riding Together, His Ears Turned Red
The speaker was the Third Prince.
Yan Wanshan turned his head to look in the direction of the voice, his eyes narrowed slightly, and warned in a deep voice: "Third Prince, I advise you to mind your own business."
"I can't control what you do to other people, but Prince Xiao is my cousin's husband. With me here, you can forget about touching them." The Third Prince walked up to the Xiao family and stood in front of Yan Wanshan. His guards stood behind the Xiao family members and deliberately pushed the escorts aside.
Yan Wanshan scoffed, "Oh, so you're calling yourself a cousin-in-law? The Third Prince is trying so hard to claim kinship, but does the Xiao family even acknowledge it? As far as I know, your two families have already fallen out long ago. What are you pretending for? I don't want to make things difficult for you right now."
"Men! Make your move!"
The guards looked at each other in bewilderment. Although Yan Wanshan was their superior, they didn't know where he had been transferred from, and they had never worked together before. They were not familiar with him, and his words were not as effective as Lao Liao's.
Seeing that they didn't move, Yan Wanshan took matters into his own hands, carrying a whip and walking towards the Xiao family.
The whip tip had just shot through the air and hadn't even fallen when a hand suddenly gripped my wrist.
Yan Wanshan kept pressing his arm down.
The two were secretly competing with each other.
The Third Prince's beautiful peach blossom eyes were now terrifyingly gloomy. His slender knuckles turned white, and the force was so great that it almost crushed his bones. His thin lips were tightly pressed together, and he said in a low voice, "I advise you to stop if you don't want to die!"
Yan Wanshan's face flushed red, his eyes widened like copper bells, and he stared at her intently, saying, "Third Prince... no, Zhao Xuan, you are no longer the former prince, but a prisoner."
He has the support of Prime Minister Qin and the Crown Prince. He is also a distant relative of the Qin family and doesn't take the Third Prince seriously.
The third prince grabbed his arm and twisted and pushed it.
He staggered back three steps, his arms aching and numb, hanging limply at his sides.
"Thank you, Your Highness the Third Prince."
The Third Prince waved his hand and smiled, "Your Highness, there's no need to be so polite. Xue'er is my cousin, and her family is my family."
Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground came from the other side of the mountain, "Bang bang bang!!!"
"Giddy up, giddy up..."
"What's that sound? It sounds like horses' hooves. Could those bandits be catching up?"
Run! Run!
The sound was exactly the same as the sound of horses' hooves when the bandits came last night. Thinking it was the bandits again, they panicked and fled, with some rushing forward.
Some people ran up the mountain. They had run twenty miles in one go, but before they could rest for even half an hour, they were too tired to run anymore. Even though they couldn't run anymore, they had to keep running, crawling on the ground like animals.
Because of his short arms and long legs, he wasn't used to climbing, and his movements were uncoordinated, causing him to fall. He took too large a step, his center of gravity shifted forward suddenly, and his hands couldn't support him in time. He landed headfirst, rolled forward once, and his waist slammed heavily against a tree. He clutched his back and cried out, "Ouch, ouch!"
The Xiao family and other families who were almost nowhere to be seen were tied up and forced to kneel on the ground, with no one caring for them. They couldn't escape unless they were untied.
Staring intently at the end of the road, a horse suddenly charged out from around the corner, carrying two people, with a woman in front.
Xiao Xuanwu shouted excitedly, "It's Third Sister-in-law, Third Brother! They're back! They're not bandits, they're my Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law! You don't need to run anymore!"
Xiao Xuance led the way, followed by Lao Liao and others.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that several people were also carrying on their horses. If they weren't their relatives, then who were they?
“They’re back, they’re back! He didn’t run away, so we don’t have to be whipped anymore.”
Those who hadn't run far heard his shout, turned around, and saw that it really was them.
"They're not bandits! Oh my god, that's great! You scared the hell out of me!"
Yun Zhaoxue sat on the horse, her back pressed against the man's broad, hot chest. His tall body almost enveloped her completely in his arms, and his warm breath brushed against her ear.
As the horse's hooves lifted, their bodies pressed even closer, inseparable. Through the thin prison uniform, she could clearly feel his heart pounding like a drum, "thump thump thump!!!"
One sound faster than the next.
He seems very nervous?
Yun Zhaoxue turned her head to observe his expression.
Because they were so close, when she turned her head, her forehead brushed against the man's thin lips, as if she had leaned in to kiss him.
Yun Zhaoxue, "..."
His heart seemed to be beating faster and faster.
Her black hair brushed against his burning neck and Adam's apple, a light, ticklish touch, like a feather scratching his skin.
The itch in his chest intensified, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his ears turned red.
Not wanting her to discover his secret, he freed his hand to cup her cheek and carefully turned her gaze back to the front.
He whispered, "Don't turn around, or you'll twist your neck."
Are you nervous?
"I can feel your heart beating fast. Are you nervous?"
Xiao Xuance's tall body stiffened abruptly, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the reins he was holding.
"...I like riding horses. I haven't ridden a horse in a long time, so I'm quite excited."
"oh."
She still thought he liked her.
When they were about ten meters away, Xiao Xuance suddenly tightened the reins, and the horse reared up and neighed softly, its front hooves pausing slightly in the air.
The horse's hooves kicked up a light dust, and his arms and chest tensed as he pulled her closer into his embrace.
He jumped off the horse first, then reached out to help Yun Zhaoxue off the horse.
"I can download it myself."
Xiao Xuance said, "You are pregnant, so it is not advisable for you to make any big movements."
He insisted on reaching out his hand, and Yun Zhaoxue, unable to resist, bent down and reached out her hand to him without hesitation.
Xiao Xuance slipped one hand under her armpit and the other under her knees, lifting her horizontally and gently placing her on the ground.
The others weren't as lucky. Lao Liao and the others saw several prisoners who had fallen behind lying on the roadside. They could still breathe, but couldn't walk, so they carried them back on horseback.
They jumped off their horses, then dragged the man down and threw him to the ground.
Old Liao's cold gaze swept over the crowd. "Whose family is this? Hurry up and come and claim them. You don't even know to turn around and look for your own family members when they go missing. A bunch of idiots."
The guards surrounded him when they saw him. "Master Liao, you're back! We thought something had happened to you. That's wonderful!"
Most of them had no experience leading exile groups to Lingnan.
They can only feel at ease when Lao Liao is around.
"What are you doing here with these people tied up?"
What kind of time is this? The bandits are still handcuffing and shackled people behind them. If the bandits catch up, these people will all die.
Yan Wanshan pushed through the crowd and stepped forward, saying, "Master Liao, someone reported that their family members escaped. I was planning to punish them according to the rules Brother Liao previously established: give each of them thirty lashes, and then send them back to the capital to be sold into slavery."
"Brother Liao, this is not my fault. They told me the story in great detail, and even said they saw it with their own eyes, so I had no choice but to believe them."
Old Liao was so angry that he cursed, "You're talking nonsense! Don't you even use your pig brain? Those who are in their prime and have all the right hands and feet haven't run away, so what's the use of these old geezers and the young ones running away? How are they going to support themselves?"
Xiao Xuance used a knife to cut the vines binding his relatives and asked, "Who reported that we ran away?"
Xiao Xuanwu said, "It was my second uncle and aunt, my third uncle and aunt, and the Yun family who said that our family took their grain and even stole our carts."
Old Liao is intolerant of any wrongdoing; those damned people must be severely punished to teach them the consequences of lying.
“Go and drag out those who are blatantly lying and making false accusations.”
Those who just reported the incident, including the second and third branches of the Xiao family, were all dragged out and thrown to the ground.
"Three lashes per person, and ten lashes next time."
If he weren't afraid of beating them to death, Lao Liao would have liked to give each of them ten lashes.
"Crack!" Wu was whipped on the back, leaving a bloody welt on her prison uniform. She screamed in pain, "Ahhh!!! Officer, spare me! I don't know anything! I didn't say anything!"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
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