Chapter 163: Miss Yan Travels North Alone
Jin Sui’s voice was not loud, but to Yan Jiu’s ears, it was deafening, shaking his heart. He could tell these were Jin Sui’s true feelings, not perfunctory words or a deliberate attempt to package personal affection as righteousness.
So there was such a woman in the world! No, even thousands of men could not compare to Miss Ji’s profound understanding of righteousness.
Yan Jiu stood up, cupped his hands in a salute, and said, “Miss Ji’s words make me ashamed. I apologize to you.”
Jin Sui chuckled, “Why apologize? I think it’s better for you to voice your doubts openly, rather than harboring them in your heart.
We haven’t had a proper chat on this journey. Since we’re on the topic, let’s clear the air once and for all.
I know what Yan Jiu is worried about. You think I have romantic feelings for Gu Changxiao and worry I’ll act impulsively in the Northern Frontier.
I can assure you, I will not act recklessly.”
Yan Jiu sighed inwardly. Miss Ji didn’t promise she wouldn’t develop feelings for Gu Changxiao.
Of course, he could understand, because no one could guarantee that.
Just like him, if someone had told him a few months ago that he would fall for a woman who was unconventional and acted erratically, he would have thought they were crazy.
This seemingly delicate Miss Ji before him had once burned Tartars and beheaded Zheng Yun. Where in the world could one find another woman like her?
And her words just now seemed to open a brand new door for him. Although he didn’t know what lay behind that door, his blood was already boiling.
Compared to Miss Ji’s thoughts, he felt like a frog in a well. All his life, his thoughts, his actions, were for the Yan Clan, and at most, for Yandi and Yanzhou.
Like all the gentry of Yanzhou, he always felt that even if the Great Xia Imperial Court and the Northern Frontier were at each other’s throats, it wouldn’t affect Yandi much, or rather, it wouldn’t affect the gentry much.
The Yan Clan, for instance, had a genealogy tracing back to the pre-Qin period. Through countless dynastic changes, the Yan Clan remained the foremost in Yandi. This also fostered the gentry’s aloofness and disdain for the common folk.
Dynasties were nothing in their eyes, let alone commoners.
But the appearance of the border city gave Yan Jiu a vague premonition that if the gentry did not adapt, they would eventually be overthrown by another force, a force he had not yet identified.
Today, Miss Ji told him: it was the power of faith, a power that transcended love.
As the carriage wheels rolled forward and the waves surged, what could he, Yan Jiu, the head of the Yanzhou gentry, do amidst the great tide?
Seeing that he was deep in thought, Jin Sui did not disturb him and left the room.
She sincerely hoped that Yan Jiu would gain some insight and understand that cooperating with Gu Changxiao was not just helping Gu Changxiao alone, but saving the border residents and rebuilding the backbone of Yandi.
When she returned to deliver hot water, Yan Jiu realized the awkwardness. They could sleep in the spacious carriage, but sleeping in the same room on the same bed meant something entirely different.
The post station was too small, and there weren’t enough rooms. Only he had a private room; the other rooms were already crowded with people sleeping on the floor.
Yan Jiu quickly stood up, “It was my oversight. Miss Ji will stay in this room tonight, and I will sleep in the carriage.”
If Jin Sui agreed to this, the Yan Clan bodyguards would surely spread rumors tomorrow that she and Yan Jiu were having an affair.
Sleeping in bunk beds on a train is completely different from sleeping in a double bed in a hotel.
She quickly said, “I’ll sleep in the carriage. Jiulang, please don’t refuse me. Otherwise, I’d rather sleep on the floor in the next room. I slept on the floor at the Black Feather Camp anyway.”
Yan Jiu directly picked up the quilt and was about to leave, “Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Jin Sui was speechless. Could someone who showed disgust at a single grain of rice falling on the floor tolerate sleeping on the floor with others?
“If Jiulang is going to be so particular about these trivial matters, then I’ll just share a carriage with Liu Yun!”
These words made Yan Jiu stop in his tracks. How boring would it be to travel without Miss Ji by his side?
Jin Sui successfully persuaded him to let her sleep in the carriage. It was a large carriage where she could stretch out without the curtains drawn or being divided, and roll around freely.
Especially after bathing in the space, rolling onto the thick animal hide blanket was so comfortable that she almost forgot she was in the frozen Northern Frontier.
Before sleeping, she couldn’t help but wonder, where were Gu Changxiao and his group? Where was Miss Yan? Could she sleep well tonight?
The answer was no. Miss Yan had just lit a bonfire, heated some rice wine, set up her tent, and habitually cursed Gu Changxiao, blaming that vixen for hiding the Prince!
What real and fake Li King? I don’t believe it! It must be that vixen who imprisoned the Prince and is spreading lies.
Han Xing, that idiot, actually believed it! They wouldn’t save the Prince, so she had to rely on herself.
Prince, wait for me! I will definitely save you from that vixen!
She had just taken a sip of rice wine, and her whole body felt warm, when she heard a chilling yet familiar growl from the wilderness. It was wolves!
Miss Yan drew the dagger at her waist. This was a refined iron dagger she had specifically bought from the border city, capable of slicing through bone as easily as mud. Along the way, several lone wolves had already fallen to this blade.
When she stood up, she realized the situation was different this time. It wasn’t a lone wolf, but a pack of wolves!
She took a large gulp of rice wine, took out a fish oil firearm from her embrace, leaped onto her horse, and galloped away. As the pack of wolves approached the bonfire, she threw the fish oil in her hand into the bonfire with all her might.
After a “boom” and a loud noise, there was a sky full of fire. The wolves were startled and retreated with whimpers.
Miss Yan laughed heartily on her horse, “You wanted to eat me? Tonight, I’ll eat roast wolf meat!”
Suddenly, she felt a chill down her spine, her hair standing on end. A rough laugh echoed in her ears, “How about it, Big Brother? I told you she had treasures on her!”
“Dare to ride alone on the Northern Frontier border? If she didn’t have treasures, she would have died long ago! What a good thing! Such a small thing could ignite such a large fire.”
“I heard that a Tartar army on the Yandi border was burned to death by the Li King using thunder fire, and even a city was burned down! Could this be that thing?”
Yan Miss Yan forced herself to calm down, smiling as she turned back and saluted the three men, “Greetings, sirs.”
At the same time, while the three men were admiring the wolves burning and viewing her as a prize, she spurred her horse and galloped north with all her might.
The three men were not surprised but delighted. This was more interesting. A little girl who was scared silly would be easy to catch, like catching a sheep. What fun was that?
Only by catching a girl like a lone wolf, and seeing the despair on her face when she fell into a desperate situation, would it be truly interesting!
Yan Miss Yan galloped on, her head down. Fortunately, it hadn’t snowed in the past few days, and much of the snow on the ground had melted into the sandy land, making the path easy to discern.
She cursed Han Xing inwardly. Before, when the Prince ordered you to suppress bandits, you said all the bandits on the border were dealt with. Why are there still so many?
If Han Xing could hear this, he could only sigh in exasperation and say nothing more.
Young Miss, I suppressed the bandits near the border city, not the bandits in the Northern Frontier!
If you encounter mountain bandits on the road to Chang’an, will you also blame me for not clearing them out?
Miss Yan didn’t have time to curse further, because the horse bandits had caught up. They deliberately didn’t shoot arrows, as if to toy with her. They swung their lassos, first catching the horse’s neck, which Miss Yan, with quick eyes and hands, severed with a single slash.
The second person then lassoed Miss Yan and chuckled, “What I catch is mine!”
“Haha, the woman is yours, I only want her precious saber!”
Miss Yan was pulled off her horse. Fortunately, she knew martial arts; an ordinary woman would have died from such a fall.
Dragged for dozens of meters on the ground, Miss Yan finally found an opportunity to cut the rope, and her horse had already disappeared.
Miss Yan wiped her bleeding cheek. It was fine if the horse ran away; she would just kill them and take their horses.
She confronted them with her saber. Her swordsmanship wasn’t great; she used to practice with a whip, but she had a precious saber and several fish oil firearms on her. She refused to believe she couldn’t kill these three horse bandits!
As Yan Jiu had said, this solitary journey northward had taught Miss Yan a lot. Not in the way he expected, by suffering lessons, but by becoming bolder and more fearless.
She couldn’t help it; her idol was the Fake Li King. Just thinking about what the Prince had done made all her current difficulties seem trivial.
Meanwhile, Han Xing was leading a team of scouts, searching for local herdsmen. Captain Huang, holding the telescope given by Jin Sui, treated it with the reverence one would a treasure from an immortal.
Even though he had already shown it off to Han Xing a hundred times, he continued to boast, “See? Press here, and you can see clearly even in the dead of night.”
Han Xing echoed him a hundred times, “Amazing! I wish I had asked Daoist Ji for one back then.”
Privately, Hei Hu and the others still called Jin Sui “Prince,” but Han Xing consciously tried to change his address, as it was disadvantageous to Daoist Ji.
“Oh! There’s a horse ahead. Judging by the saddle, it’s from our Great Xia!”
Han Xing instantly transformed into a bandit, snatching the telescope from Captain Huang’s hand and carefully observing the warhorse, which was galloping away in fright, with a half-broken hemp rope still around its neck.
He quickly said, “Someone, stop that horse!”
It was indeed a Great Xia horse. They, along with the Prince, were anxiously awaiting news from Cheng Yu! If not for this, their group would have moved faster.
When two soldiers stopped the horse, they exclaimed in distress, “The messenger encountered horse bandits? Look at this rope, it’s newly broken. They should be nearby.”
Only Han Xing’s anxiety was different. He discovered a familiar riding crop tucked into the saddlebag, a riding crop that had whipped him many times.
He couldn’t help but mutter, “Impossible, this is impossible.”
Captain Huang quickly nudged him, “What’s wrong? Do you know who it is?”
Han Xing mounted his own horse and said to the big black horse, “Take us to find your owner.”
He didn’t return the telescope to Captain Huang. Instead, he said, “We’ll search separately! Send someone to notify the Prince.”
Captain Huang shouted from behind, “Give me back the telescope!”
Han Xing ignored him, paying attention to the horse hoof prints on the ground, and prayed that this big black horse would lead them in the right direction.
Miss Yan, whether it’s you or not, you must be safe!
Fortunately, the big black horse led them correctly. When Han Xing, holding a spear, appeared before Yan Miss Yan with one horse and two people, she felt as if she were dreaming.
And because she had lost so much blood, her head began to spin. The blood flowing from her forehead blurred her vision, making her feel as if Han Xing was surrounded by countless stars.
She tentatively called out, “Han Xing?”
Han Xing leaped his horse forward, a spear thrust severing the rope around Yan Miss Yan’s body, lifting her off the horse bandit’s horse.
Miss Yan was flung high into the air. Han Xing slapped his horse’s back and leaped, catching her in mid-air.
Unfortunately, because the young lady who had been tracking them for three days had too many firearms, the initial three horse bandits, after being burned, blew their bone whistles and summoned more companions.
Now, the two of them were surrounded by over twenty horse bandits.
Han Xing didn’t ask why Miss Yan was here. Instead, he glared at these people, “How dare you injure her!”
Han Xing grabbed a piece of hemp rope, tied Miss Yan to his back, wiped the blood from her face with his cloak, and said softly:
“Don’t sleep. Watch me kill them!”
Miss Yan smiled, “Kill them all! Leave none behind.”
Han Xing also smiled, feeling relieved. He didn’t know how long Miss Yan had been tortured, and he feared that before he arrived, her proud spirit would have endured.
But after being rescued, she relaxed and fell into a deep sleep, never to wake again.
This was a common way for people from the frigid lands to die, passing away with a smile in their sleep.
Seeing Miss Yan’s spirit, there was no need to worry that she wouldn’t be able to hold on.
Han Xing performed a dashing spear flourish on his horse. With his broad shoulders and slender waist, clad in the fish scale silver armor specially made for him by Daoist Ji, he looked like a god of war descending from the heavens.
Although he was alone with just his spear, he instilled fear in the eyes of the mountain bandits, who had been toying with them like lambs just moments before.
It wasn’t just fear of the person before them, but also of his identity.
“He’s a Xia Army general? Has the Great Xia army passed through?”
Han Xing naturally didn’t answer them. He spurred his horse, galloping swiftly, and with a single thrust of his spear, he impaled one person. The strength in his arm was terrifying.
Soon, his spear was like a string of candied hawthorns, skewering three horse bandits. He then forcefully plunged it into the ground, where it stood unyielding.
Even more terrifying was that the horse bandits on the spear were not yet dead, their limbs flailing as they wailed, their cries sounding as if they came from hell.
This terrified the other mountain bandits, who retreated. Some wanted to turn their horses and flee.
Someone shouted, “He’s out of weapons! Quickly, kill him!”
Han Xing, however, glanced back at Miss Yan on his back. He was afraid that Young Miss would fall asleep, and also afraid that his brutal display of force would frighten her.
Little did he know that Yan Miss Yan felt a bit ashamed at this moment. Indeed, every time she had hit Han Xing before, he had let her win and played with her.
With his martial prowess, how could he have failed to dodge her whip!
She didn’t think there was anything wrong with Han Xing killing the bandits so violently. She had seen more terrifying corpses, like the sea of bodies hanging in the forest, or the Tartars burned in the old border city.
She had just been beaten black and blue by these horse bandits and wished she could tear them limb from limb. Han Xing was avenging her, so why would she be afraid!
Hearing the horse bandits say Han Xing was out of weapons, Miss Yan quickly pointed to a precious saber stuck in the ground, “Go get the saber. That’s my saber.”
Han Xing shook his head, reached for his waist, and pulled out a hand crossbow. With two crisp clicks, he said softly, “Close your eyes.”
Miss Yan shook her head, “I’m not scared! I already burned them once.”
Han Xing smiled, “Miss Yan is indeed a heroine.”
Miss Yan proudly puffed out her chest, then suddenly realized she was pressed tightly against Han Xing’s back. Her face immediately flushed, and at the same time, she noticed that the ears of their ruthless Mr. Han were now bright red.
It was hard to tell if it was from the cold or because the girl on his back was pressed too close.
With a press of his finger, he aimed at the group of horse bandits preparing to flee. With a ‘boom,’ they and their horses were sent flying.
The fire quickly spread, and the others lost all will to fight, shouting, “Run! Run quickly!”
A horn sounded, and a unit of Xia Army soldiers appeared, shouting and surrounding them. Captain Huang had arrived with his men.
The journey had been monotonous, and the soldiers had no other amusement besides teasing Eunuch Zhou. Now that they had found horse bandits, they were all eager to kill them.
Seeing that he didn’t need to act, Han Xing quickly prepared to bandage Miss Yan’s wounds, only to see the girl, who had been so spirited moments ago, slump softly onto his shoulder.
