CH 31

At this moment, Yuan Ci Xian was not flustered anymore. The fact that the other party set up such a trap showed that they knew her details very well, but she had no clue about their identities. She had to calm down before she could think of a way to deal with it.

Her gaze slowly swept over the uninvited guest: there were twenty-five men in the front and the back, all of them had good horses, all of them wore short robe, and had burly bodies. They had black masks covering their faces, and carried Mo swords that was known for its long handle and suitable for dealing with cavalry, viewed from a distance, it seemed there were no special lines on the blade.

They didn’t give her much time to think. The one in the lead raised his hand and cut off the tripping rope with the sword, and then swung forward. The people on both sides rushed forward without getting off, and attacked Yuan Ci Xian’s guards.

Yuan Ci Xian was surrounded but did not say a word. Shi Cui knew that she was observing the enemy’s situation, so she didn’t say anything to disturb her. It happened that Cao An didn’t talk too much, so they galloped silently and brandished their swords to disperse the black-clothes men who were trying to get close to her.

Although the Yuan family’s guards were considered skilled, they were no match for these people who came prepared, and the long-handled Mo swords slashed and slashed the spears, and quickly swept them all off their horses. After a short while, there was a bloody smell all around. When a guard’s head was slashed off by a Mo sword, and blood flew profusely from the cut-off neck, Yuan Ci Xian, who was still motionless, finally turned pale.

She had indeed been in the army, and had seen corpses strewn all over the fields and the tragic scenes of people dying. But in the end, she had always been sheltered by her father, and only watched from a distance, rarely experienced such a killing scene. Even if she rescued her father last time, she was still commanding from the back. At this moment, the cruel methods of these people really made her shudder.

This area had been raining a lot lately, and the two sides didn’t fight for a long time before the originally clear sky became a lot darker, in an instant, the wind flew the sand and rocks away, and it was as dim as dusk.

She took a look at the sky, took a few breaths amidst the sound of swords piercing the flesh, avoided paying attention to the mud, blood and corpses all over the ground, calmed down, and whispered to Shi Cui: “Look at their formation.”

Shi Cui had followed Yuan Ci Xian for many years, she had a tacit understanding with her, and understood as soon as she hear it. Although the current fight between the two sides was not like the army’s battle, and even if the smart killer had the upper hand, in order to reduce the damage, they would not fight indiscriminately, so even if it looks scattered, there must be some pattern to follow.

At a glance, she discovered a crucial point. The opponent’s purpose was to kill people, so logically speaking, they should charge all the way, but this formation looked like a pair of wings. While they were killing, they were protecting someone.

Yuan Ci Xian saw that she was aware of the clues, and continued to whisper: “The commander at the head is just a cover, not the real leader. That person may be their master. You cover Brother Cao and attack him.”

When Cao An heard this, he exchanged glances with Shi Cui, then said “County Princess be careful” and galloped out.

It turned out that Yuan Ci Xian did guess right. Seeing that Shi Cui and Cao An were approaching menacingly, and aimed for the dragon’s lair, the other party had to slow down the pace of killing and gathered to protect their master. In this way, the few remaining people on Yuan Ci Xian’s side could take a breath.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the raindrops fell down.

The rain was so heavy that people could hardly keep their eyes open. Shi Cui and Cao An’s slashing momentum was forced to slow down. As a result, the plan to defeat the enemy by capturing the chief first was doomed to fail. The two faced endless killing moves, they were busy hacking and killing while anxiously looking back to watch the situation. They saw that the guards of the Yuan family behind them were gradually defeated, and Yuan Ci Xian had no choice but to dismount, picked a barrier sword and personally confronted the enemy.

Soon, all ten guards were dead, and in the pouring rain and mist, only her slightly thin figure was left.

Yuan Ci Xian had studied martial arts, but had never killed anyone. In front of these well-trained killers, a few moves were not enough, not to mention two fists difficult to beat four hands, and it was not long before she was defeated.

One killer on the horse bent down to catch her, grabbed her and held her firmly in front of him, and then galloped out with a whip, seemingly wanted grab the first credit.

Seeing this, Shi Cui hurriedly chased her regardless of being stabbed by the enemy. Cao An wiped the rain on his face, desperately blocking the swarming killers for her.

Yuan Ci Xian was abducted by the man behind her and jolted all the way, unable to move an inch. She panted for a while, and reluctantly said: “If you don’t want to die, then rein in your horse right now.”

Because her whole body was soaked by the cold rain, her voice trembled slightly. The man ignored her.

She continued: “I still have a helping hand not far ahead. Your brothers are now entangled by my guards, and they can’t catch up for a while. You kidnap me alone, and you will never end well. Which one is more important, grabbing credit or your life? You rein in your horse first, and wait for your brothers to come, I can’t escape anyway, so wouldn’t it be safer?”

The man still did not speak, not even fluctuate.

Yuan Ci Xian laughed frustratingly, and raised her voice: “This brother, don’t you understand human’s words? I’m serious, my people are coming soon, you are diving towards the sword’s edge. You believe it or not, after I count to three, you will fall off the horse.”

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t even believe this kind of nonsense. She knew that even if she counted to thirty, no one would come to rescue her. She couldn’t persuade him to rein in the horse, so she had to say something to distract him, to see if there was a chance to throw him down.

She was so cold that her lips were trembling, then she counted slowly: “One, two…”

The killer seemed to be really determined that he didn’t even move the hand holding her arm, but at the moment when Yuan Ci Xian cried out “three” in despair, there was a sudden thunder above his head, and the man let out a muffled groan, then really fell off the horse.

Yuan Ci Xian was stunned and looked up at the sky.

Is that all right? Could it be this was the so-called struck by thunder?

She was so stunned that she forgot to move. The horse under her felt the change of its master, lost control, probably refused to carry her, and wanted to throw her off. When she came to her senses, she stretched out her hand to pull the rein, half of her body was hanging outside, but it was already beyond saving, so she fell down with a low cry.

The moment she fell off the horse, Yuan Ci Xian thought, since Heaven has the virtue of loving life, and asked Lei Gong to help her, maybe it would not make her fall too badly.

Then she really didn’t fall too badly. When she was about to fall to the ground, a pair of hands passed under her waist, and lifted her up. The next moment, she was on another galloping horse, her waist encircled by someone from behind.

The man asked her in a deep voice: “Yuan Ci Xian, is this what you call riding skill in the army?”

After hearing this voice, she immediately turned her head, and saw Lu Shi Qing with a dark face, squinting at her slightly. She was so cold that her thinking was slow, she forgot to reply, and looked up at the sky in a daze.

Lu Shi Qing laughed angrily: “It wasn’t thunder, it was me.”

She looked down at the sleeve arrow in his hand, fully understood, and asked strangely, “Why are you here?”

“You don’t want me to come, I can throw you away right now.”

She quickly shook her head, pulled his arms around her waist, and said repeatedly: “Want to, want to, of course I want to! You must save people till the end!”

Lu Shi Qing looked at the blood and mud all over her body, and the raindrops hanging on her long eyelashes, sighed, and did not speak again, but the arm resting on her waist tightened a bit, and continued to raise the whip.

Yuan Ci Xian felt relieved and asked him: “Did you see Shi Cui and Brother Cao when you came?”

He nodded: “They covered me.” After saying that, he added, “Those two can protect themselves. Just worry about yourself, the other party may catch up at any time.”

She said “oh”, folded her arms in his embrace and stopped talking.

The rain gradually weakened a bit, but Yuan Ci Xian was really frozen and couldn’t bear it, not to mention that Lu Shi Qing was also soaked, and it was not warm to be next to him. After a long time, she tremblingly said: “… Where are we going?”

Lu Shi Qing replied: “You think I know?”

This was a place where chicken won’t take shit and birds won’t lay eggs, it was a straight and deserted road, it’s unknown where the end was. Yuan Ci Xian was desperate, but suddenly her head had a flash of inspiration, looked around in all direction, and said: “About ten miles ahead, there will be two forks, you choose the west side. That road used to be an official road, and there is an abandoned post station nearby.”

Lu Shi Qing looked down at her: “How do you know?”

“I rested there when I was following you…”

“…”

Half an hour later, the two went to the post station to hide from the rain. In order to prevent the horse from wandering outside and revealing their whereabouts, they took it to the back and tied it to the stable behind the house.

This post station was originally a small, single room with dilapidated doors and windows, which could not keep out the wind, and there were holes made by mice in the corners. If Yuan Ci Xian hadn’t rested here yesterday and cleaned it, the surroundings would be even more dirty. Even right now it was not very clean, after all, it had accumulated dust for too long.

Lu Shi Qing flinched as soon as he entered the door.

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at him: “Assistant Minister Lu, you don’t have a choice to be picky right now, just let it go.” After saying that, she dragged her tired body and fell headfirst into a roll of straw bedding.

When she left yesterday, she didn’t tidy up the place. At this moment, there were still many straw rolls, firewood, and a few fire pockets left on the ground.

Lu Shi Qing also knew that she was right, so he had to suppress the itchy discomfort all over his body, and went to check whether the firewood was damp, and finally lit it with a fire pocket. When he turned around, he saw that she was fast asleep, and refused to answer after he called her several times.

He had no choice but to squat down in front of her, reached out and shook her arm: “Don’t go sleep yet.”

Yuan Ci Xian woke up, but her eyelids were so heavy that she couldn’t open her eyes, she stretched out her hand and waved it randomly, almost slapped him in the face. Said: “I haven’t slept all night, and I’ve been chased this whole time. I’m really tired. Don’t disturb me…”

Lu Shi Qing dodged her hand, remembered the embarrassing incident last night, coughed, and said: “Dry your clothes first before going to sleep.”

She shook her head and muttered softly, “I’m fine, I’m not delicate, I won’t catch a cold… You are more important, just dry yourself…” After finished speaking, she fell silent again.

Lu Shi Qing was furious, and dragged her to the fire along with the straw bedding.

“Hey…!” Yuan Ci Xian was dragged awake by him, reached out to grab his arm, “Stop, stop… I’ll go by myself!”

He let go of his hand, then pointed his chin to signal her to hurry up.

Yuan Ci Xian was too tired to stand up, so she had to crawl to the side of the fire on her hands and feet, raised her head and said weakly: “Assistant Minister Lu, where can I roast dry in my clothes.”

“Then take them off.” He frowned while saying that, then turned his back and walked to the corner.

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at his back, and asked hesitantly, “How do I know you won’t turn back?”

Lu Shi Qing seemed to say “heh”, and imitated what she said earlier: “County Princess, you don’t have a choice to be picky right now, just let it go.”

She sighed, had no choice but to take off her outer clothes first, ready to roast it dry before exchange it with her inner clothes. When she raised her eyes, she saw that Lu Shi Qing’s feet were already dripping with water spot, it seemed he also looked miserable, so she said: “Assistant Minister Lu, you can take off your outer clothes and give it to me, anyway, roasting one or two is also the same.”

“No need.”

“Don’t be stubborn, if you catch a cold, who will take me to escape?”

Lu Shi Qing was so angry with her that he pulled his belt and threw his outer clothes back without turning his head.

Yuan Ci Xian reached out to take it, and yawned while roasting it: “I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep while roasting, you talk to me. How did you know I was in danger?”

He snorted coldly: “Your good dog.”

He was about to hurry on his journey, but was dragged off from his carriage by the animal biting the hem of his clothes. Heaven knows how he was able to understand a dog language under such circumstances.

Yuan Ci Xian was slightly taken aback when she heard this. That’s right, she didn’t even notice, Xiao Hei seemed to have disappeared long ago. Probably took advantage of the chaos to report to Lu Shi Qing.

“Where is Xiao Hei, where did he go?”

“How do I know.” Lu Shi Qing said impatiently. Why should he care what that dog’s doing.

Yuan Ci Xian was choked by his tone, and couldn’t speak anymore. Thinking that making him flee far away with her for no reason made her feel very apologetic, so after a long while she said in a low voice: “I’m sorry, Assistant Minister Lu, for causing you to fall into this muddy water.”

Lu Shi Qing hesitated slightly, and said, “I’m used to it.”

Anyway, every time she stuck to him, something bad happened.

He just said it casually, but Yuan Ci Xian didn’t know what he thought, and asked after a long silent: “Am I always bring bad luck to people?”

Lu Shi Qing pondered for a moment, and answered with a more moderate statement: “It’s alright.”

But he didn’t know that in the girl’s ears, “it’s alright” was equal to “yes”. So Yuan Ci Xian was not comforted at all, but sighed: “If I hadn’t insisted on running out, they wouldn’t have been sent by brother to protect me.”

Only then did Lu Shi Qing knew what she was thinking. When he heard this, he almost turned his head to look at her, and only after turning the tip of his boots did he remembered that it was wrong, hurriedly turned his head back, then said, “It has nothing to do with you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Her voice dropped.

Lu Shi Qing also witnessed the tragic situation when he came, which was indeed shocking. It was understandable for a normally cheerful person to be depressed for a while. He frowned and wondered how to continue the conversation, but after a while, he suddenly smelled a strange smell.

It’s like something burning.

He wrinkled his nose, turned around suddenly, and saw Yuan Ci Xian crookedly fell asleep on the straw bed. Their outer clothes were piled up at the roaring fire, and they were burned. He dashed forward to rescue it, but he only had time to fish out two torn robes.

Lu Shi Qing got up slowly, wearing a thin undershirt, shivering in the cold mid-autumn wind.