CH 85

Back to the Countryside

Chapter 85:逃出

[Escape]

Gritting his teeth, He Ling pulled the cork out of the bottle inside his sleeve.He took a look at the three men in black who were resting with their eyes closed. With a wave of his hand, he scattered all the powder, spreading a mist of powder.

As he did so, the men in black had already opened their eyes. However, they were already covered in the powder and could not even raise their hands before they lost consciousness, falling to the ground.

He Ling threw away the medicine bottle. He covered his beating heart, breathed a long sigh of relief and at the same time he also regretted in his heart that if only he had remembered this bottle of medicine earlier, perhaps he would not have been kidnapped. 

His Xiang Gong had put it on his body after the accident with He Fu for the second time but he had not used it since then, so he had forgotten about it. However, he didn’t expect it would come in handy this time.

He got up from the ground after he had calmed down. Walking past those people, he went out from the cave and faced the windy snow. Now, he had to get away from here as soon as possible, so that he wouldn’t be caught up again when they woke up.

He had been taken away along the road for an hour or two. Those several men were moving fast so he was already far from the col where they had stopped for rest. It would be impossible for him to walk back there. He also didn’t believe that Xiang Gong and the others would stay there.

He Ling pulled up the hood of his heavy cloak over his head to shield his face from the snow and the wind. He had to find a more secluded place to hide first, waiting until it was safe, then he would look for a nearby town. In such a place, he might be able to wait for and meet his husband and the others.

After several hours of heavy snow, a thick layer had fallen on the ground and every step he took was hard but he could not stop. He would freeze to death in such a place if he was not found.

He reached out and touched his bulging belly, pulling his cloak tighter to protect it more tightly. He had made the child in his belly suffer, having to endure hardship together with him. In the future, if the child was born later, he would definitely love and dote on him well.

He Ling’s body gradually grew stiff in the cold weather. He put his awfully painful fingers to his lips and breathed in, rubbing his hands together to bring a little warmth on it. 

Beside the pitch-dark night sky and the vast expanse of white snowland, he could see nothing but this in his vision. He could not help but feel a little desperate in his heart. If he couldn’t find a place to stay then would he really die here?  For a moment, he did not know whether it was right or wrong for him to escape. But if he did not escape and was really used as a bargaining chip to compel his husband, then he would rather die here now.

Just at the time he was filled with frustration and anxiety, the sound of a horse neighing came from far away in the windy snow. He froze and looked around in a panic but he could not find any place to hide himself. He did not know who was coming. If it was someone who harbored ill-intentions, wouldn’t he be in more danger?

The sound of horses’ hooves gradually approaching him, He Ling covered his belly and took a few steps back. The thick accumulated snow made him sway and almost fall. When he looked up again, he could clearly see the horse’s appearance. At that moment, his eyes lit up, “Mu Yan?”

The one who came racing through the snow and wind was the one he knew so well, Mu Yan. Hearing his call, Mu Yan gave another long neigh and soon reached him, obediently stopping in front of him. 

“Mu Yan, why are you here?” He Ling was so pleasantly surprised as he went up to him and cupped his face, gently stroking it. He was so excited that he eventually asked Mu Yan a question.

Naturally, Mu Yan would not answer but he merely fling his head and snorted, on his body still carrying a few burnt leather ropes that had been used to secure him to the carriage.

Only then did He Ling remember that the carriage he was riding in had been set on fire by those men in black so the carriage should have been burnt down and these ropes also must have been burnt off at that time. Luckily, Mu Yan was fine.

Mu Yan was the only one who had come here alone. That meant, Mu Yan was not with his husband. Mu Yan was able to find him that quickly, so he must have followed him from the time he was taken away. He Ling put his arm around his neck and rubbed it gently. His stiff and cold body warmed by the warmth of his body, “Thank you for coming over!”

Just exactly at the time his heart was full of despair, meeting a familiar face, whether it was a person or a horse, it gave his heart a lot of peace. He pulled all the ropes off from Mu Yan’s body. However, he was at loss, because previously Mu Yan was pulling the carriage, so without a saddle how could he get on (the horse)?

It was as if he understood the difficulty in his eyes, Mu Yan’s forelegs bent. His whole body drew down to a height where it was easier to mount the horse.

He Ling smiled and patted his body, praising the horse and said, ‘Good horse!’ then stepped on its bent front legs and sat on it, gently placing both of his legs in between the horse’s belly. He was pregnant so he could not let it run too fast.

Mu Yan stamped on his hooves as he began to move forward and walk slowly. He grabbed the horse’s hair on the temples to steady himself. At least, he was not so confused anymore. Having company by his side, he became much stronger. 

For a long time one person rode on one horse advanced through the snow and wind, until the darkening sky was white in colour as the fish’s belly (grey dawn/ marble white color of the dawn sky). The snowflakes were much lighter than before, He Ling yawned and raised his hand to rub his sleepy eyes.

Even an ordinary person who had not slept all night would feel sleepy, let alone a pregnant person who needed a lot of sleep. He lowered his body to lie on Mu Yan’s back. He tried to ease his confused head. Pressing against him like this, it warmed up his cold and stupefied body. Reaching out and wrapping his arms around its neck, his consciousness drifted away in the slightest of shifts.

It was at this moment that Mu Yan stopped in his pace, to let out a sound, waking up He Ling who was about to fall into a deep sleep. He straightened up and shivered violently, couldn’t help but be thankful in his heart that luckily he hadn’t fallen asleep. It simply would have been a fatal thing (which could have caused someone to die) in this kind of weather.

He patted Mu Yan who once again had helped him. Looking up, he saw a small wooden hut. It looked a little rustic (simple and crude) but it did provide shelter from the wind and snow. He got down from the horse and walked over to the hut, carefully pushing open the (purposely left) unlocked door. Inside, it was empty and no one was there, except a simple cooking stove, a few animal skins laid on it and some firewood piled up in the corner. There was nothing else. It must have been a place where the mountain hunters had settled for the time being.

The house was not large but there was still space for Mu Yan to come in. He was relieved, if he had to leave Mu Yan outside, how could he have the heart to do so? 

He Ling lit up the fire using the dry firewood. Once the house was warmed up, he curled his body up on the animal skin and had a feeling of coming to life. He slowly closed his eyes, thinking in his mind before he fell asleep; he wished that he could be reunited with his husband sooner.

A whole night had passed as they couldn’t find any trace and with that heavy snowstorm, any trace would have been covered up in a moment.

Qi Yue sat expressionlessly on a stool. A brutal emotion was raging in his heart, if the other party dared to hurt his little Fu Lang even a little, he would make them have a fate worse than death. (the literal one is this: one would beg for life but couldn’t live and pray to die but couldn’t die!?) 

“Qi Gongzi, also not need to be too worried. Supposedly, they have kidnapped him, they will not hurt his life.” Lin Yuxue looked at his unpleasant expression, poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.

In fact, after learning that the other party had been taken captive, her heart was secretly delighted. If he died at the hands of those men, wouldn’t she then have another chance? Brokenhearted was all for a moment, a man as strong and powerful as Qi Yue would forget those pains sooner or later.

Lowering his eyes to the tea in his cup, Qi Yue did not move but only said in a cold voice, “Stop thinking those thoughts in your head that you shouldn’t have, if you don’t want to die yet.”

Lin Yuxue’s body stiffened and her face changed as she didn’t say anything more. An ordinary country ger, where did he get the good fortune to have this man’s heart and eyes full of thoughts of him, refusing to give even a tiny bit to others? 

Shen Juming sighed, he felt more and more guilty in his heart. Shi Xiong had placed the person into his hands yet he failed to protect him. If anything happened to Xiong Fu Lang, he was afraid that he’d never be able to be in peace, “Mu Yan has also disappeared since then, did he really go after him?”

“Most likely! (The literal one using : Nine times out of ten)” But whether he could catch up with him or not was unknown. Qi Yue closed his eyes and raised his hand to touch his forehead. In the hands of those men, even if He Ling’s life was not in danger, they would not take care of him attentively. He was pregnant so if he didn’t eat or sleep well, his health would be affected. 

It was his fault for leaving A Ling’s side. He should have let Shen Juming do such a small matter as collecting firewood. What was the harm in being slower? At least he would have been able to protect him thoroughly.

Since he also didn’t know where he had been taken to now, not knowing whether he was afraid or not. He wondered too if he was hoping in his heart that he would be there sooner and come to rescue him? Just thinking about this made his heart ache as if it had been twisted together.

“Lin Gu niang, trouble you to leave for a moment!” Shen Juming looked at her, tilted his head and made ‘(请!) Please!’ gesture to Lin Yuxue.

[请! : it depends on the context, it could also be used to ask someone to sit down, come in etc but I think 请 is quite a polite word to ask for someone to leave, especially in this context]

Having said that, it must have meant that there was something he wanted to discuss that he didn’t want her to know. She bit her lip, finally left her seat, went upstairs and returned back to her room.

After he saw her figure disappear up to the stairs, only then Shen Juming said, “Shi Xiong, the person who sent them must be one of the people in the valley, then Xiong Fu Lang should also be taken back there too and placed nearby. Shouldn’t we rush back earlier?”

Since the other side had kidnapped He Ling, they naturally had the intention of keeping Qi Yue out from meddling in the matter of taking up the Valley master’s position. If he wanted to get that position safely and securely, he would not put his bargaining chip too far away. 

“Instead of delaying here, why don’t we speed up and head back to the valley? Perhaps we can still discover those people’s traces on the way.” They didn’t know which direction the other party had escaped, bringing the person they kidnapped last night. They had searched like headless flies (headless fly is a metaphor for sb who is rushing around frantically) all night in vain. 

What he said had naturally crossed Qi Yue’s mind but his heart couldn’t let go of it and wanted to find the person back sooner, to keep the person with him, only then he would be at ease. Unfortunately, the snowstorm last night did not allow him to have his wishes fulfilled

Now, the best way was to chase them all the way there, as Shen Juming said. If he found those people… He narrowed his eyes, he would definitely tear their bodies into thousands of pieces. 

“How is Yun Su?” Qi Yue’s eyes turned to look at him.

The mention of the other party made Shen Juming’s expression darkened, his heart throbbing with pain, “Still hasn’t woken up …”

The sword didn’t pierce into his heart, but it was a bit deep. He had lost a lot of blood yesterday so if he wanted him to recover from the wound completely, he guessed, it would take a long time. He was usually afraid of pain the most, so how could he have been so foolish as to rush up to him (and shield him)? 

“You stay here and look after him ba! I’ll rush back to the valley alone.” Qi Yue knew that if they left Yun Su here in the care of others, Shen Juming definitely would not be able to feel at ease. Anyway, he could take care of those things alone so he didn’t have to follow him.

“How could it be like this?” In the end, if they hadn’t insisted on looking for him, Shi Xiong also wouldn’t have come back with them. Then none of this would have happened too, so now how could he leave the other party to solve it out alone? 

“Juming.” Qi Yue suddenly called out to him, his expression was differ to some extent from the past, “If Yun Su wakes up and sees someone other than you, he will definitely be sad.”

Shen Juming was stunned, not knowing what he meant by this,”Shi Xiong, Xiao Su is not such a weak person.”

Qi Yue sighed, now that after he had someone he loved, only then he understood what it was like to be in love with someone. It must be even harder to bear if that person was never able to respond to his feeling, “After all these years, can’t you really see that he is in love with you?”

Up to here, his words were clear enough so he could only let the other side think deeply about it. He stood up and left the place. His little Fu Lang was in a dangerous situation, therefore he had no time to care about other things. Let them solve their own affairs ba! 

Shen Juming’s mind was in a state of confusion at the moment. Shi Xiong’s words kept echoing, Yun Su’s heart was pleased with him? Wasn’t the other party always treating him like his older brother (Ge ge)? How could he be in love with him?

He raised his hand to cover his head, his face full of disbelief but at the same time, he then recalled last night when he had taken him into his arms ; the look of at ease on the face of the person whose chest was stained with blood.

The author has something to say :

When I was writing that part about Mu Yan, I remembered a foreign video I had seen before. The girl had been trying to get on the horse for a long time but she couldn’t get on it and finally the horse squatted down and let her step on his legs. At that time, I thought that horse was very handsome (cool), so I couldn’t help but write this part ~23333333