Chapter 22: Luring the Enemy
Just then, the sound of rapid footsteps came from afar, and more constables were chasing after them.
When Jinsui and Gu Changxiao had teamed up to kill this constable earlier, Grandpa Ling hadn’t helped because he had more important things to do.
That was to find a hiding place for them. Grandpa Ling firmly believed his divination was very accurate; the path to survival was to the north, and they would surely live.
He had indeed found a good spot, just below the mountain path where they had fought, a clump of tall wild bamboo intertwined with various wild vines, forming a natural canopy.
Jinsui and Jin’an supported the unconscious Gu Changxiao, one on each side. Grandpa Ling jumped down from the mountain path first, reaching out to catch Jin’an:
“Hurry down, hide first.”
Jinsui peeked down and asked, “Can it hold the weight? Will it collapse?”
Below the canopy formed by the wild vines was a cliff! Grandpa Ling was indeed bold; this was more perilous than Sun Wukong’s jump into the Water Curtain Cave back then.
Grandpa Ling quickly said, “The bamboo is resilient, it can hold the weight! Hurry down, the bandits are coming.”
Jinsui no longer hesitated. Those constables had no intention of taking anyone alive; they were here to silence them.
Either way, there was a fifty-fifty chance of dying, so it was better to jump down and hide to try their luck.
She lifted the iron chain on her feet and, almost carrying Gu Changxiao, jumped down together.
Grandpa Ling busily used his cane to disturb the bamboo branches and vines overhead, so that the people on the path wouldn’t see the anomaly here.
Jinsui felt like she had jumped onto a trampoline; with the slightest movement, her feet made creaking sounds, and she felt like she could step through at any moment and fall into the abyss.
Soon, they heard footsteps on the mountain path above. The constables were shouting at the bandits:
“Chase them quickly, they fled along this path.”
“Once you catch them, leave no one alive, kill them all on the spot!”
With a rustling sound of footsteps, they moved away. Jin’an nervously covered his mouth tightly.
Grandpa Ling sat as still as a rock, not daring to move a muscle, afraid that the bamboo branches would make a sound and alert the bandits.
Gu Changxiao leaned on Jinsui’s shoulder. Jinsui felt his back was wet and sticky. She turned her head to see that blood was still flowing.
She quickly reached out to cover the wound on his back, and then looked at the arrowhead on her shoulder, which was also bleeding.
The whip wounds on this man had not healed, no, the old wounds he had when she found him in the reed marsh were not fully healed.
And tonight, he had been shot and cut by a blade. With new wounds added to old ones, his blood was truly abundant! An ordinary person would have died long ago.
Jinsui took out the medicine pouch from her waist, not bothering to clean the wound first, and poured it directly into her palm, applying it to his back.
Gu Changxiao let out a pained groan, but remained unconscious.
After the footsteps overhead faded, Jin’an was the first to ask, “Grandpa, how long do we have to hide here?”
He then asked Jinsui, “Brother, will he die?”
Before either of them could answer, the boy started crying, “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have been so willful and run around.”
“I caused Grandpa and Brother to be captured by the bandits, and also caused Brother Gu to be injured.”
Jinsui comforted him, “You are responsible for being captured by the bandits, but this man being cut has nothing to do with you.”
“Those constables were here to arrest him.”
Grandpa Ling quickly said, “You can’t say that. If it weren’t for the three of us, with Brother Gu’s skills, he would have escaped long ago.”
Jin’an was speechless. This grandfather and granddaughter were too kind, taking all the blame upon themselves.
She stuck out her foot and said, “It wasn’t me who wanted to escape with him! We had no choice, did we?”
Just then, footsteps were heard overhead again. The group dared not speak further, holding their breath in fear. Yet, the bamboo branches beneath them repeatedly made crisp sounds.
It was as if a knife was hanging above their heads, its blade ready to strike at any moment, making every breath feel infinitely long.
Or rather, the four of them were like a parachute hanging in mid-air, with people below holding knives ready to kill them the moment they landed.
And the parachute, due to being overloaded, was about to send them to their deaths.
When the footsteps overhead disappeared again, Jinsui made a decision.
She first said to Grandpa Ling, “Grandpa, divine again. This time, divine whether the four of us can all survive.”
Grandpa Ling did not hesitate. He took out three copper coins and divined solemnly. His expression instantly changed from grave to joyful:
“A great auspicious omen. We will surely escape death.”
Jinsui smiled, “That’s good, because my plan is a bit dangerous. Grandpa must agree.”
As she spoke, she began to undress Gu Changxiao. When she pulled off his belt, a bronze token fell out.
Jin’an went to pick up the token, but Jinsui was drawn to another item that fell from Gu Changxiao’s chest.
It was half a sleeve. The fabric was rough and worn, made of the most common coarse linen from a peasant family.
It was also the clothing of Madam Zheng that she wore when she escaped from the Jiang Family.
It was the sleeve that Gu Changxiao had grabbed when she rescued him in the reed marsh that day, preventing her from getting away. In her haste, she had torn off half a sleeve.
She had never expected Gu Changxiao to keep this sleeve and hide it so carefully in his chest.
Did this person have a problem with his brain?
Grandpa Ling was looking at the bronze token. Upon seeing Jinsui’s expression, he quickly asked:
“What’s wrong? What is that thing?”
Jinsui quickly stuffed it back into Gu Changxiao’s chest, her fingers even touching his feverish skin.
“It’s nothing. Grandpa, did you recognize what that token is?”
Grandpa Ling shook his head, “I’ve never seen it before. Perhaps it’s a family heirloom from his Gu Family!”
Jinsui pressed, “So it’s proof of identity?”
She had given her Taoist robe to Jin’an to wear and was currently wearing the men’s clothing that Grandpa Ling had gotten for her from a fisherman.
She took off her outer garment and put on Gu Changxiao’s clothes, deliberately hanging the token on her waist in a conspicuous place. It was quite heavy and almost pulled her belt off.
She tore a piece of cloth from her outer garment to use as a veil to cover her face, and took out Gu Changxiao’s short blade. The only problem was the iron chain on her feet.
She first tried to pry it open with the short blade, but it was completely useless.
Looking at Gu Changxiao’s broken ankle, with bone exposed, she murmured:
“Being a cripple is better than losing my life. The situation is critical now. I’ll save your life and take one of your feet. Don’t blame me when you wake up!”
After speaking, she gestured, preparing to cut off Gu Changxiao’s foot.
Grandpa Ling was startled and quickly stopped her, “Absolutely not! He’s already so injured. If he loses a foot, he’ll surely die!”
“Let me try to open this lock.”
Jinsui neither agreed nor disagreed, and extended her foot to Grandpa Ling.
Grandpa Ling looked around, broke off a thin bamboo branch, poked it into the keyhole for a moment, then took out the copper hairpin from his head. With the two working together,
with a light ‘clang’, the iron chain was actually opened!
Jinsui was both delighted and impressed, “I didn’t expect Grandpa to have this skill!”
Grandpa Ling smiled proudly, then heard Jinsui ask, “Then why didn’t you open it for me earlier?”
Grandpa Ling looked sheepishly at the unconscious Gu Changxiao:
“I was afraid that if I opened it, Brother Gu would leave us and escape on his own!”
“If I had known he was such a gentleman, I would have opened it for you.”
Well, Jinsui couldn’t say that Gu Changxiao didn’t consider her a partner anymore. The four of them had at least eight hundred schemes.
Jinsui felt Grandpa Ling’s evaluation of Gu Changxiao was too high:
“He knew those constables were after him. We three were implicated by him, and that’s why he tried so hard to save us.”
Grandpa Ling slowly shook his head:
“A gentleman judges by deeds, not by intentions. If one judges by intentions, there would be few perfect people in the world. Regardless, Brother Gu saving me and Jin’an is a fact.”
Jinsui nodded, “Grandpa is right, so now it’s my turn to save him.”
As she spoke, she had already dressed up and was imitating Gu Changxiao’s voice, pinching her throat:
“Daoist Ji.”
Grandpa Ling was suddenly startled, and only then realized what Jinsui intended to do. He quickly said:
“No, no, you don’t know martial arts. How can you escape from those people’s pursuit!”
Jinsui chuckled, “But Grandpa has already divined that we will all survive!”
“Although fate is determined by heaven, human effort plays a part. If I don’t act, the four of us will only die trapped here.”
“Don’t worry, Grandpa. Although I don’t know martial arts, after walking in the mountains for so long, I still have the skill to escape.”
“When I lead the enemies away, you quietly go find a safe place to hide. I will definitely return alive to find you!”
