Pan Wenjun looked at Sun Xingjian with horror in her eyes. She saw the answer on his ashen face. It seemed that her guess was correct.
"Get on your horse quickly!"
Sun Xingjian shouted urgently, grabbed Pan Wenjun's arm, and in one swift step, pulled her two or three zhang away until they were in front of the two horses. He used the momentum to push Pan Wenjun onto the horse's back, then quickly flipped himself onto the horse, shook the reins sharply, and turned back the way they had come.
At this moment, the bear that had been hiding behind the bushes stood up, its eyes darting over the branches and leaves to see them, and it roared again.
Pan Wenjun panicked and hurriedly tried to urge the horse to move forward, but she did not expect that the white horse, which had been walking slowly without any apparent problems, would suddenly have its leg problem exposed when it started moving too fast. The horse immediately knelt on its front legs, causing Pan Wenjun to fall down as well!
At the critical moment, Sun Xingjian leaned over the horse and scooped up Pan Wenjun around the waist, letting her ride with him and sit in front of him.
Just moments before, Pan Wenjun had been in a state of panic due to the roar of wild beasts and the horse's stumble, but in that instant, her heart suddenly calmed down. It felt as if she had returned to that morning ten years ago.
She was locked alone in the enemy's tent for an entire night, like meat on a chopping board, waiting to be sent to the slaughterhouse—the enemy general's mansion—at dawn.
On that despairing morning, amidst the thick fog, a man burst into the tent without a word, hoisted her onto a horse, and carried her out of the fog, back to her father's side.
Now, nestled once more within Sun Xingjian's muscular arms, leaning against his strong, warm chest, she felt as if all the dangers outside were irrelevant to her. In his embrace, she felt as if she had entered a safe haven, where no storm could disturb her.
Pan Wenjun even leaned back greedily, pressing herself tightly against the chest of the person behind her, thinking that even if she were swallowed by a bear the next moment, she would have no fear.
Although bears may appear clumsy, they are actually no slower than horses when running at full speed, and can even outrun many ordinary horses.
The warhorse Sun Xingjian was riding had come back with him from the border. It was a Ferghana horse, a gift from the military governor, and was naturally much faster than ordinary horses. However, now that it was carrying two people, its advantage was not much, and the black bear behind them was getting closer and closer.
Sun Xingjian glanced back and whipped the horse's rump a few times, trying to urge it to go faster, but when he looked back again, he found that he still couldn't get the bear away.
It seemed that running away was useless. Rather than both of them being in danger together, it would be better to rescue one of them first. With this thought in mind, Sun Xingjian made up his mind, leaned forward slightly, and whispered in his ear, "I'll distract it. You just keep running forward and don't worry about me."
Without waiting for Pan Wenjun to comment, Sun Xingjian nimbly mounted the horse, then leaped high into the air, grabbing a branch and dangling in mid-air.
Pan Wenjun turned around in surprise and saw him kick the relentlessly pursuing black bear hard on the head!
No matter how strong the black bear was, it staggered back several steps after taking Sun Xingjian's powerful kick. It was completely enraged by the man hanging in the tree, and instead ignored Pan Wenjun who was riding away on horseback, and attacked Sun Xingjian with all its might.
When the black bear charged again, the agile Sun Xingjian had already climbed up the branches with both arms to a height that the bear could not reach.
However, as with any tree, both humans and bears can climb. The black bear quickly scaled the trunk and climbed up. Sun Xingjian closely observed its progress. When it reached the same height as him and was about to pounce on the branch he was standing on, Sun Xingjian pulled off the belt from his waist and threw it upwards, wrapping it around a higher branch. Then he jumped twice with force, snapping the branch he was standing on, causing the black bear, which had climbed onto the branch, to fall to the ground along with him!
Sun Xingjian remained hanging in the tree. The bear, though thrown hard, refused to give up. After a short while, it tried to climb the tree again.
Sun Xingjian looked up and saw that there were no branches he could easily reach above, so he couldn't repeat the same method. So when the black bear climbed to about his height again and was about to pounce on him, this time Sun Xingjian jumped down himself.
He had some light-footed skills, so landing from that height wouldn't cause him any injury. He rolled on the ground, immediately stood up, and sprinted away, intending to shake the black bear off while it slowly descended the tree.
However, the black bear moved much faster than he had expected. Just as he was racking his brains about what to do next, the sound of horses' hooves grew closer. It was Pan Wenjun who had returned!
While Sun Xingjian was still in shock, Pan Wenjun had already reached out her arm. She didn't have the strength to pull him up in one go like he had before, and he needed her help.
Sun Xingjian hesitated for only a moment before resolutely reaching out to grasp Pan Wenjun's hand and mounting his horse. He nervously turned back to check how far away the black bear was, only to find that the running black bear's right hind leg was clearly lame, and its speed was getting slower and slower.
Sun Xingjian was secretly delighted; it seemed that the fall earlier had worked.
"Don't worry, it won't catch up for a while. Let's hurry back to camp."
As soon as she finished speaking, Pan Wenjun asked him with some difficulty, "But do you still know the way back?"
Having temporarily escaped their predicament, Sun Xingjian realized that they had been wandering around in circles during their escape, and were now lost in the deep forest.
...
When Wei Shuwan woke up from her nap, she began to worry after learning that her uncle and Sister Pan had not yet returned.
She walked to the tent entrance and looked at the sun over the mountain: "It will be dark in about an hour. Could they have gotten lost?"
Zi Qiao was also worried: "Should we send someone to look for them?"
Wei Shuwan nodded, "That's the only way. Send all the people we brought with us there."
Zi Qiao agreed and went down to make arrangements. Wei Shuwan suddenly thought of something and instructed Miao Xiang: "Go and get a few tobacco pills and distribute them to them. Once they discover them, immediately send a signal."
Miaoxiang accepted the order and went down to her post.
Wei Shuwan stood in front of the tent for a while, but couldn't stand it any longer, so she found a wooden stick to use as a temporary crutch, went out, and looked around.
Although she couldn't go into the forest to search in her current state, she could at least go to a place with a good view and keep an eye on things so she could know the progress as soon as possible.
Wei Shuwan walked with her crutches to the highest point of this open area—the astrological platform.
Nearly a hundred steps were indeed a bit difficult for her, a "disabled person". When she finally reached the top with fine beads of sweat on her forehead, her eyes crossed the last step and met someone's gaze first!
"Li Qingchen, what are you doing here?"
As she asked this question, Wei Shuwan's gaze also fell in the direction that Li Qingchen had been looking earlier, and their camp was right in front of her.
"You...you weren't following me, were you?"
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