"Don't worry, Uncle Zhong, I'm here." Song Tantan was full of confidence; as long as she was alive, she would definitely protect Ye Moxun.
Zhong Qingyi looked deeply moved, while Ye Moxun's lips twitched, speechless, yet an unconscious smile crept onto his face.
Song Tantan and his group traveled through the night, but the road was too dark and the horses couldn't find their way. They would run wherever there was a road, and ended up going somewhere else.
"Go and rest for a bit, I'll drive, and you can take over later." Without waiting for Zhu Xiu's reply, Song Zhuiyan pushed her and forced her onto the carriage, then took the reins and started driving.
After a while, she called out, "Tantan, come and be with your aunt."
Song Tantan immediately moved to her side, her little hand still clutching Ye Moxun's arm, and said worriedly, "A-Xun, stay close to me, don't stray too far from me." She had promised Uncle Zhong that she would protect A-Xun.
"It's here." Ye Moxun sighed, wondering how the little paws could be so strong, they had squeezed his arm until it hurt.
"A flashlight, the biggest one," Song Zhuiyan whispered in her ear.
Song Tantan scanned the supermarket with her mind and finally chose an extra-large flashlight. Suddenly, the light ahead was bright. In fact, the horse's night vision was quite good, but Song Zhuiyan needed to see the situation ahead clearly so as not to fall into an ambush.
"What is that? Is it daylight? No, it looks like it's shining from Tantan." Ah Zhu was stunned, staring blankly at the light from the flashlight.
"Could it be a luminous pearl? But how big would a luminous pearl have to be to shine so brightly?" Zhu Xiu stared at Song Zhuiyan in a daze. She had thought the Song family girl was quite mysterious, but she never expected her to have such a treasure hidden on her.
In fact, Zhu Xiu had never seen a real luminous pearl. She had only heard the storyteller mention it and knew that the treasure could provide light. Forgive her limited imagination, but besides a luminous pearl, what else could she think of that could provide light?
Ye Moxun originally wanted to find an excuse, but obviously he didn't need to go to the trouble. Everyone had a strong imagination, so he just let them think it was a luminous pearl. Anyway, the people in the carriage were all poor children, and none of them had ever seen what a real luminous pearl looked like.
The Zhang family must have seen the luminous pearl before. Judging from the Zhang sisters' attire and the belongings on the carriage, it's not hard to tell that the Zhang family is no ordinary family. However, since the Zhang family's carriage was at the very back, they couldn't see what was in front of them and had no chance to suspect anything.
"Ah..." A scream came from ahead. Song Zhuiyan quickly pulled on the reins and stopped the carriage. Upon closer listening, she heard that there were also people fighting ahead, and it sounded like a group fight.
With wolves in front and tigers behind, why is there fighting everywhere? Who on earth is determined to fight to the death in the middle of the night?
"What's going on?" Zhong Qingyi asked loudly when she saw the carriage in front stop.
"There's a fight going on up ahead, and there are no forks in the road. What should we do?" Song Zhuiyan's face was icy, and her mood was gradually becoming irritable.
Before Zhong Qingyi could reply, he saw figures moving on both sides. His expression hardened, and he said sternly, "Who is hiding there? I advise you not to do anything rash, or don't blame me for being ruthless."
He wasn't one to waste words. If it weren't for reminding Song Zhuiyan and the others, he would have already drawn his sword and attacked. Why would he have bothered with so much talk?
Song Tantan jumped up and shone the flashlight wrapped in rags to both sides. She found that there were many people hiding in the bushes on both sides of the road, and her face immediately fell.
"Bang!" Several explosions rang out, followed by screams of agony.
"Those who want to live, get out here right now, or this is what will happen to you." Song Zhuiyan and Song Tantan asked for two bottles of high-proof liquor, lit them, and threw them over, immediately injuring several people.
"Hero, spare us! Heroine, spare us! We'll come out, please don't be angry." An old voice came, and then dozens of people walked out from both sides.
Several of them were being helped up, clearly having been injured in the explosion.
"Who are you people, and why are you lying in ambush here? Speak up!" Song Zhuiyan stood on the carriage, her knife never leaving her hand, her voice icy and stern.
“You’ve misunderstood, heroine. We weren’t lying in ambush here. We just happened to be fleeing here and had no choice but to hide when we heard the sound of horses’ hooves. We’re from a village. There were originally more than a hundred of us, but now there are only eighty left. We’re all refugees, not bad people.” This time, it was a middle-aged man who spoke, presumably the leader of the group.
They had indeed been fleeing all the way here. They were so frightened by the sound of horses' hooves that they hid on both sides of the road. However, when they saw that there were only two carriages and a few people on foot, and that most of the people in the carriages were children, they had an idea. They wondered if they could steal some food. But before they could even start, their whereabouts were discovered.
If the entire village attacked together, these people would have no chance to resist. The problem is that they have powerful weapons; if they were to throw one at them, they would be killed and forced to surrender.
"What happened up ahead?" Song Zhuiyan asked in a deep voice.
"General Du's men wanted to launch a sneak attack on Fengcheng, but they were discovered by Prince Duan's men... Anyway, a fight broke out." The leader didn't seem to know much about the situation, only that the two sides were Prince Duan's and Duke's men.
“It seems that the two groups that clashed earlier were also people from Prince Duan and Duke. There’s no peace anywhere here.” Zhong Qingyi came to Song Zhuiyan’s side to discuss countermeasures with her.
If we don't take the main road, we'll have to abandon the carriage, but I'm really reluctant to do so. The children are all small, and they won't be able to survive on the road without a carriage.
"Your life is more important, don't worry about the carriage, let's run!" Song Tantan jumped off the carriage, her little voice resolute.
"That's the only way," Song Zhuiyan instructed the others. "Take your belongings and we'll go this way." She pointed to one side casually, as she wasn't familiar with either side. She subconsciously pointed south because she was a southerner in her previous life.
"Brother Zhong, Sister Song, we have too many things to carry. Could you please help us carry some? If you help us carry them, we'll split the rest," Zhang Qingyu pleaded.
"Seven split, otherwise who would be willing to risk their life to carry things for you? You should know that the results of carrying things empty-handed and carrying heavy loads are completely different." Song Zhuiyan's lips curled into an ambiguous smile. Zhang Qingyu was quite clever, making others do the hard work for her while giving her such a small benefit.
Normally it would be one thing, but now we're running for our lives. Everyone's life matters. You think you can just settle things halfway? How dare you!
Zhang Qingling tried to interject, but Zhang Qingyu stopped her, and the latter nodded with a pained expression, "Okay, let's split it three to seven as you said." The grain and money were all with her, her sister, and Uncle Zhao; the rest were fabrics and such, which could be distributed among the others if needed.
"Then everyone hurry up. What time is it to haggle? If we can't even save our lives, all these material possessions are useless." Song Zhuiyan's words were clearly mocking Zhang Qingyu, but she seemed to have forgotten that she was also haggling, and in fact, she was also reluctant to part with those things.
Poor thing, she didn't want to have to openly take everything from her spatial storage when the time came; these women and children were truly penniless.
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