Daughter of the Jianghu (Part 7)
The blazing fire outside the betting arena didn't affect Bian Hongqiu's vision. Most of his body couldn't feel the flames, and only the clear, bright moonlight cast a shadow, allowing him to clearly see the sharp arrow tip a dozen steps away. With unprecedented calmness, he slowly and methodically recalled the lesson Shao Zheng had taught him.
There were plenty of hyenas around, but he knew his own limitations and knew he couldn't take down any of them with his current skills. But the souls of the unjustly killed lay before him, and even if they were strangers, he refused to run away. There was no point in mourning over a cowardly life.
The hyenas shot their arrows faster than he could manage, forcing Bian Hongqiu to dodge them with ungainly grace. He was struck twice in the calf, another in the same wound on his left shoulder, and another in his waist and abdomen. He gasped, his own breathing and heartbeat thundering in his ears. Even as sweat poured down, neither pain nor fatigue slowed him down.
He couldn't remember what Shao Zheng said anymore.
He only remembered one winter hunt, when he hadn't yet revealed his weakness. The former Liang Wangs still didn't know their new master was a weanling child, and they eagerly anticipated his first kill. He was deeply terrified of his poor archery skills, and the strong winds outside the Great Wall combined to drive him to sickness.
He was unwilling to be absent, so Song Jingyan had to have people draw a circle in the enclosure - this was the first joke he made. The dignified Princess Liang was shooting arrows at a palm-sized area as if it was a game, and the prey had been captured alive long ago.
Shao Zheng was still standing beside him at that time.
Bian Hongqiu didn't dare look back, but he could sense that Shao Zheng must be very disappointed. He still remembered Shao Zheng's indifferent words at the time: "The prey will definitely die." This half-certain, half-sarcastic remark was still fresh in his mind, and it was now firmly ingrained in his mind.
The prey will definitely die.
Bian Hongqiu pulled out the two arrows from his calf with shaking hands. The weakness from blood loss had not yet set in. He supported himself on his knees and raised his head, walking around the betting field with a powerful and bright look in his eyes.
This hunting ground is about the same size as the circle Song Jingyan drew for him.
He looked out at the hyenas outside the ring, their blood boiling with excitement, their faces twisted to the point of ugliness, each one confident of victory, their bloody mouths gaping in joy. At that moment, he almost saw himself standing outside the ring years ago. The moonlight, impartial, condensed into a single, clear line. He saw the panic and fear in the eyes of this other "Bian Hongqiu," even the helplessness and embarrassment were fully displayed.
But "Bian Hongqiu" is no different from these hyenas.
"He" trapped the prey in the hunting ground and took its life from a high position.
Bian Hongqiu once again confirmed Shao Zheng's words that the prey would definitely die.
So he gathered the drawn arrow in his palm, broke it into pieces of length that suited his hand, and kneaded it into a crude defensive weapon. Then, he shook his legs, feeling the "blood rushing" from all over his body. He ignored the feeling and the arrows that were aimed at him, leaping out of the betting field in a few steps.
The hyenas were stunned at first, and then they were completely enraged by his behavior.
The hyena facing him let out a bloody laugh, disregarding fair play. With one long stride, it reached the betting fence and brandished a blood-stained bow, its string mottled and unrecognizable. This hyena enjoyed playing cat and mouse, but didn't want to be provoked by the mouse, so it simply decided to strangle the daring little mouse with its bow.
At this moment, Bian Hongqiu's unique flexibility as a "girl" was fully revealed. He was caught in a net, but he bent down and got out at a speed that even he could not replicate. Then he wrapped one hand around the hyena's arm, which was as thick as a tree trunk, and jumped up. The hyena, who underestimated the enemy, roared angrily, and with his index finger and thumb together, he pinched Bian Hongqiu's shoulder.
Bian Hongqiu finally felt pain and thought his shoulder was crushed.
His left hand was shaky and he couldn't hold on to the person, but the opportunity he wanted was exactly this moment - several arrows pierced into the hyena's temple with a desperate force.
In the light of the fire, red and white liquid gushed out.
The next moment, Bian Hongqiu was thrown to the ground fiercely, and heard a "crack" sound on his left shoulder. He tilted his head back, tears welling up in his eyes again.
The frenzied cheering in the gambling arena suddenly ceased, and the entire Menghu Ridge seemed to have fallen asleep. Only the distant rustling of people could be heard, mixed with the lazy chirping of cicadas. The clouds drifted away, and the moonlight came mercifully. Bian Hongqiu's hands were covered with veins, and his ears were buzzing with his own heavy breathing.
He stared at the "Milky Way" in the betting field for a while, thinking it was a cheerful stream, and he heard the sound of flowing water.
It was not until the moonlight climbed up his calves and was dyed red by his endless blood that he realized that it was the sound of bleeding.
Bian Hongqiu realized that he had spent thirteen years in a daze and could not hear a single sound.
He looked up again. The shadowy torchlight was pressing down on him. The hyenas' eyes were fierce, as if they were looking at a criminal with a heinous crime. Across the fence from him, a recently deceased hyena had its eyes wide open, and blood and brain matter slowly and steadily flowed out of the tiny pores in its temples.
Bian Hongqiu wiped the sweat from his chin, then coughed softly and gave the hyenas a polite smile. The scent of "delicate flowers" that had haunted him since birth was banished tonight by the smell of blood, its shadow fading into obscurity. If he could see his own expression, he'd know it resembled Song Jingyan's.
He bent his eyebrows with difficulty and said to the hyenas in a hoarse voice, "Nothing more than that."
He stared into the hyenas' red eyes and thought: These beasts, why should he kneel here and die?
The bleeding weakness finally set in, spreading all the way to his beating heart. He realized that he had never faced his own weakness squarely, and in the past, it seemed as if he had only used it as an excuse to escape, and he didn't even think it was shameful.
The damp dirt, strewn with bones from the gambling arena, clung to his palms, and the rising sand, swept thousands of miles in, awoke him. Bian Hongqiu refused to close his eyes, determined to stare into the hyenas', hoping to witness his own laughable fate in their eyes. The dirt in his palms might have been the fate of soldiers who had perished tragically at the hands of barbarians, but the lord of the Liang Palace they followed could only kneel before these scoundrels, awaiting his own death.
Bian Hongqiu was neither desperate nor sad.
He was angry at himself for being like this.
The broken arrows in his hands fell to the ground one by one. All of Bian Hongqiu's past attempts at escape turned into his stubbornness at this moment. His eyes remained motionless, just waiting to twist the neck of another hyena.
Faced with this thin and tough willow branch, the hyena forgot about the tragic death of its companion and did not even bother to use weapons. It smashed down with a fist that was almost half the size of Bian Hongqiu's head. Bian Hongqiu tried to dodge, but half of his face was swollen by the wind. He fell down and was kicked by the hyena on the side, breaking two of his ribs and choking on a mouthful of blood.
He gasped for breath, blood mist spreading between his lips, but he still forced himself to open his eyes as if to torture himself.
Uncontrollable tears and numbing pain continued to flow. Suddenly, a blindingly bright fire appeared in his peripheral vision. One ear bled, and a cacophony of voices filled the air. He couldn't tell what was real and what was a dying illusion. Through his blurred vision, he seemed to see Song Jingyan reaching out to him—just like his sister had done on the boat before they separated.
"Sister...I'm sorry..."
He feels sorry for no one.
Bian Hongqiu's fingertips pointed upwards, about to drop weakly.
Then, unexpectedly, his fingers were grasped tightly, and the dull pain awakened his consciousness. His eyelids were forcibly opened, and the panic that Lao Ju had never shown in front of him flooded into his eyes. He saw the concern on Lao Ju's face that did not belong to him.
Bian Hongqiu was picked up by Lao Ju and thought: Who is Lao Ju worried about?
He collapsed against Lao Ju's chest. All the hyenas were lying dead, each with a bloody scar on its neck. It wasn't Lao Ju's own knife; he had just stuck it in the ground after using it.
Bian Hongqiu was drowsy, but the pain from the wounds was too great. His will gradually gave way to weakness, but his pampered body hadn't yet adapted to the harshness of the weather. He felt like water, tears and blood seeping out of him continuously. Lao Ju held him, feeling him grow lighter in his arms. His steps grew faster and faster, but his arms remained steady.
There was chaos on Tiger Ridge.
With her hands freed, Zhuang Ji took out a rusty hatchet from the woodshed, chopped off the shackles on her feet with brute force, and then removed the locks on Lao Ju and the bodyguards one by one. The hatchet in her hand died, but she didn't bother to find a suitable weapon. She led half of the people to sneak into the wine cellar and grain pile on the mountain and set them all on fire.
One of the escorts grabbed a pair of gongs and drums from somewhere, leaped onto the eaves of a high roof, and pounded them fiercely, then roared in a deep voice, "The soldiers are coming! The officials from Lanling City are here to suppress the bandits!"
This bell-like sound echoed across Menghu Ridge.
Everyone, whether asleep or not, was awakened. Zhuang Ji unshackled everyone trapped in the woodshed and explained everything one by one, using the same excuse: "The masters of Lanling City have come to rescue us!"
Even those who had lost all hope rekindled their hope and listened to Zhuang Ji's instructions very obediently and carefully.
Several big bosses on the mountain all died in the betting field, killed by Lao Ju's knife.
The underbosses were running around like headless flies. Headmaster Sun, unable to stop a single one, ran in a rage, getting dressed. Ever since the death of the headmaster, this figurehead had been trading resources with the former governor of Lanling City, his footing still shaky, while the other leaders were only interested in sharing the spoils rather than working. He knew that if things continued like this, Menghuling would eventually fall, but he felt he still had time to rectify the situation, even considering continuing to exploit this decline to resort to underhanded tactics.
Unexpectedly, the chassis collapsed first.
He saw the flames rising into the sky, and the thought of the road in the ditch came to his mind. He braked and ran down the mountain.
As long as you have your life, you will never run out of firewood!
Unexpectedly, just as he ran halfway up the mountain, he met the equally furious new magistrate of Lanling City. The people around the new magistrate were carrying the former magistrate like a dead dog - the one who had temporarily retired to become the deputy magistrate after entering the city from Xi Zhongting, and who had an affair with Sun Dangjia.
The new prefect of Lanling was also very puzzled.
He had been reminded by Xi Zhongting that the corrupt officials in the prefecture had not been eradicated. After months of waiting, he finally caught the old prefect's son-in-law and found out that Menghuling was now a paper facade. Thinking that time was of the essence, he immediately ordered half of the city's soldiers to go up the mountain. However, as soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, he heard a loud call: "The soldiers are coming."
The new governor, who was afraid to watch a chicken being killed, was so angry that he rushed forward with a sword in hand.
He still didn't believe it! Who was the one who tipped off the news so boldly? He wanted to see which beast could escape from Menghu Ridge tonight!
Meanwhile, the new governor, dashing up the mountain, was stunned upon seeing what was happening. Captive civilians, supporting each other, stood vacantly at the exit, their legs limp. Zhuang Ji and his escorts, dusty and grimy, led the retreat. Lao Ju, unsure of the arrivals, suspected they were the cunning bandits of Menghu Ridge. He held a knife in one hand and, holding the half-conscious Bian Hongqiu horizontally in one, stood at the front, a lone man guarding the pass.
Flames shot up into the sky from Menghu Ridge and burned fiercely behind Lao Ju.
There is still "hope" that life should not end.
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