Game in the forest, the sound of flying stones
The hand gripped her tightly, the touch of leather and metal cold, mixed with a clean and sharp masculine aura. Qiongying's struggles were easily dispelled; the opponent's strength far exceeded her imagination.
"Ugh...!" She let out a vague whimper and bent her elbows to try to push back, but the other person held her tighter in his arms, making her unable to move.
"Don't move." Zhang Qing's voice was still close to her ear, very low, with an unquestionable warning, "Unless you want to attract everyone here."
Qiongying's body froze instantly. The light of the torches flickered not far away, and the footsteps of soldiers were approaching. She had no doubt that if she were exposed at this moment, she would be subjected to even tighter guards and a fate from which she could never escape.
She forced herself to calm down and stop resisting, but the muscles all over her body were still as tense as a fully drawn bowstring.
Zhang Qing seemed to sense her compromise, and the hand covering her mouth loosened its grip slightly, but he still didn't let go. He dragged her along, silently retreating deeper into the dense forest. His movements were as agile as a cheetah, and he seemed quite familiar with the terrain.
Not until the noise outside gradually faded away and the firelight was completely blocked by layers of branches and leaves did he stop behind a leeward slope and loosen his grip on her.
Qiongying immediately rushed forward a few steps, turned around abruptly, and leaned her back against a rough tree trunk, breathing heavily. At the same time, she quickly slipped the flying stones out of her sleeves, clasped them tightly between her fingers, and stared vigilantly at the figure in the darkness.
Moonlight filtered through the gaps between the branches, barely outlining Zhang Qing's tall figure. He had shed his dazzling crimson wedding gown and donned a dark, tight-fitting suit, which accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and his agile movements. His face was expressionless, but his eyes, still startlingly bright in the darkness, stared at her intently, scrutinizing her with a touch of... indescribable interest.
"You...what do you want?" Qiongying spoke first, her voice slightly hoarse from the tension just now, but she tried to maintain her composure. "Capture me and report me to Tian Hu for the credit?"
Zhang Qing did not answer immediately. He took a step forward, and the approaching distance brought a strong sense of oppression.
Qiongying instinctively stepped back, her back pressed tightly against the tree trunk, her knuckles turning white from the strain of gripping the flying rocks. "Stop! If you come any closer, I'll be rude!"
Zhang Qing indeed stopped, about ten steps away from her, a safe distance from her, yet still wide enough to launch an attack at any moment. His eyes swept over her tense posture and her ready hands, and the corners of his mouth seemed to curl up imperceptibly.
"The princess is skilled in both fighting and scheming," he said, his voice steady, his emotions unrecognizable. "First, you feigned fainting to disrupt the wedding; then, under the guise of recuperation, you managed to escape. If I hadn't been more vigilant, you would have already left me far behind."
Qiongying was shocked. Had he really seen through her from the beginning? Or was he trying to trick her?
"I don't know what you're talking about." She forced herself to remain calm. "I was just frightened for a moment and wanted to go to the nunnery to rest, but on the way I was attacked by villains. In my panic..."
"Attack?" Zhang Qing interrupted her, his tone tinged with a hint of sarcasm. "My Lady, do you mean using a dagger to cut through the tough silk cloth from the inside out, or are you referring to this long-prepared nightwear, and..." His gaze fell precisely on her hand holding the flying stone, "...this skillful way of holding the stone?"
Qiongying was speechless. In front of such a meticulous and thoughtful person, all her disguises seemed pale and powerless.
"Since you've seen through me so long ago, why didn't you expose me right here in the palace?" she asked coldly, dropping her pretense. Her mind raced, pondering a plan for escape. A head-on fight? Judging by the novel's description, Zhang Qing's martial arts far surpassed hers, especially his uncanny ability to throw rocks, which never missed a single shot. She could only outsmart him, or... seek opportunities and exploit the situation.
"What good would it do me to expose you?" Zhang Qing asked in a calm tone. "A princess who would rather die than marry me, if I were to forcibly take her back, would only create another pair of resentful lovers and cause more trouble."
These words stunned Qiongying. She had imagined all sorts of reactions from Zhang Qing: angry, indifferent, businesslike, but she had never imagined he would be so... "reasonable"?
"Then why are you stopping me now?"
Zhang Qing was silent for a moment. In the moonlight, the lines of his profile seemed somewhat cold and hard. "I just want to know. Why would the princess, at the cost of her reputation and her life, escape the marriage? Is I too unworthy for the princess to see, or... is the princess hiding something else?"
His gaze was so sharp that it seemed to penetrate her eyes and reach the depths of her soul.
Qiongying's heart skipped a beat. Of course, she couldn't say she was doing this to change the tragic fate of the Liangshan heroes, or to expose this damned world. She took a deep breath and decided to respond half-truthfully.
"General Zhang is a young hero with unrivaled martial arts skills. How dare Qiongying look down on him?" She slowed her tone, her voice filled with just the right amount of pathos and determination. "However, this marriage, from beginning to end, has been nothing more than a tool for my adoptive father to win over Liangshan. Why did he ever ask for my consent? Although my enemy Qiongying is a woman, she understands the principle of 'better to die in glory than live in disgrace.' Rather than being a pawn at the mercy of others, trapped in a cage for life, I'd rather fight to the death and seek freedom!"
Her words not only pointed out the essence of marriage, but also showed her strong character that refused to be controlled, which was reasonable.
Zhang Qing listened quietly, his face still expressionless, but his eyes seemed to move slightly.
"So, the princess has made up her mind and doesn't want to go back?"
"Yes!" Qiongying said firmly, "Unless I die!"
The forest fell into silence, with only the rustling of leaves in the night wind and the faint sound of searching in the distance, which had not yet given up.
After a long time, Zhang Qing suddenly sighed softly, so softly that it was almost inaudible.
"My princess, you should know that if you leave, King Tian Hu will never let you go. He will definitely send people to search for you everywhere, and he may even take his anger out on anyone who may have been involved with you. You are a weak woman, without anyone to rely on, where can you escape to? Although the world is vast, is there a place for you to stay?"
His words were like a cold needle, piercing the bubble of resoluteness Qiongying had created in her momentary anger and revealing the harsh reality before her. Yes, where could she go? She had nothing, no relatives, and faced an endless pursuit.
A chill rose from the depths of her heart. But she immediately straightened her spine and looked at Zhang Qing with a burning gaze: "Don't worry, General! There is always a way out. Even if it means mountains of swords and seas of fire, I will go through it!"
Seeing her obviously fearful but forcing herself not to bow her head, a hint of complex emotions flashed in Zhang Qing's eyes, which he himself had not even noticed.
"In that case..." He spoke slowly, and at the same time, his right hand dropped to his side seemingly casually.
Qiongying's pupils suddenly contracted! She was too familiar with this move! In the original novel, Zhang Qing's flying stone skills often had no signs before they were launched!
Almost the moment his fingers moved, Qiongying's instinct for survival and her deep understanding of the original martial arts made her body react before her brain! She suddenly leaned back and forth, performing a move similar to the iron bridge. At the same time, the three flying stones clasped between her fingers formed a "品" shape, with sharp sounds of breaking through the air, and shot towards Zhang Qing from above, middle and below!
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
She didn't know if Zhang Qing would really kill her, but she couldn't just sit there and wait for death! This flying stone was both a self-protection and a test!
However, Zhang Qing's reaction was faster than expected!
Facing three oncoming cold beams, he advanced instead of retreating. His figure flashed like a ghost, and with a flick of his left sleeve, as if possessing some kind of sticky gravitational pull, he effortlessly swept the stone aimed at his face into his sleeve! Simultaneously, his right hand shot out like lightning, his index and middle fingers precisely catching the stone aimed at his chest! As for the stone aimed at his lower body, he simply leaned slightly to the side, letting it grazed the edge of his clothes, then embedded itself deeply into the tree trunk behind him with a thud!
The whole process happened in a flash, so fast that it was dazzling.
Qiongying kept leaning back, looking at Zhang Qing standing there unharmed, playing with the two stones with his fingertips. When his eyes fell on her again, it was with a new, undisguised surprise and...admiration?
"Excellent flying stone," he commented calmly, without a trace of anger in his voice. "The power, accuracy, and timing are all superb. Chief Steward Qiu... has truly passed on all his skills to you."
Qiongying's heart sank. Her strongest sneak attack seemed like child's play to the opponent! The gap in strength was so huge!
She was feeling desperate, but she saw Zhang Qing flip his wrist and gently throw the stone between his fingers and the one in his sleeve back to her.
"then."
Qiongying caught it subconsciously, and the cold touch startled her.
"Since the princess has made up her mind to leave," Zhang Qing looked at her, his tone returning to its previous calm, even with a hint of elusiveness, "I...will grant your wish."
What? Qiongying almost thought she had misheard.
"Five miles west of here, there's an abandoned hunter's cabin that can provide temporary shelter from the wind and rain. Tomorrow morning, the intensity of the mountain search will ease. You can follow the stream behind the cabin, go around Ciyun Mountain, and head northwest to the border of Yuncheng County. There... perhaps you'll find the 'freedom' you seek."
He spoke slowly, but clearly pointed out a way out for her.
Qiongying was completely stunned. Not only did he not arrest her, he even helped her? Why?
"Why...are you helping me?" she asked in disbelief.
Zhang Qing turned around, his back to her, and looked towards the faint firelight in the distance. His voice blended into the night, sounding a little ethereal: "Perhaps, it's because Zhang... doesn't want to be just a chess piece."
After saying this, he did not stop. His body rose and fell a few times before disappearing into the thick darkness, as if he had never appeared.
Only Qiongying was left, holding the two lost and recovered flying stones, standing there, her heart pounding and unable to calm down for a long time.
The night wind blew, bringing with it a cool breeze, but it couldn't blow away the thick fog in her heart.
Zhang Qing, the "featherless arrow" who was both loyal and righteous in the original novel, seemed to be subtly different from the image she knew.
And her journey to escape from marriage really began at this moment.
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