Chapter 71: Throwing Dung
The Yan Family’s eldest daughter, noble and peerless, should have been pampered in her chambers, her fingers never touching the grime of the world.
Yet here she was, injured by a group of vulgar bodyguards.
All because the Prince said, “A woman should not make things difficult for another woman.”
All because she had promised the Prince, “I will handle Chen Yunniang’s affairs.”
Truly a unique and unconventional young lady.
Seeing him staring at her hand, Yan Shi’erniang casually shook it, pretending not to care:
“I’m fine. Did you hide Yunniang well? It looks like they’re really going to storm the city to snatch her.”
She put her hands behind her back, carefully pressing the wound, and let out a hiss of pain.
Afraid that Han Xing would discover it and mock her for being afraid of pain, she straightened her back even more.
Han Xing said softly, “Don’t worry, Lady Chen is with Lord Cheng, they won’t be snatched away by them!”
“Where is the Prince? Quickly invite him back.”
“Someone has already been sent to deliver the message. No matter what, we must hold out tonight.”
Han Xing’s use of ‘we’ greatly improved Yan Shi’erniang’s mood. This guy finally recognized her as his companion, not someone he needed to protect.
While Han Xing and the Yan Family members guarded the city gate, the Zheng Family was looking for another entrance.
The border city was too dilapidated, the city walls too low, with broken ramparts everywhere, making it easy to find an entrance.
However, Han Xing and Cheng Yu knew the border city like the back of their hands, and had people stationed at every breach.
Coincidentally, Huo Zi’an, who had just joined the Tuntian Army’s Ferment Fertilizer squad, also joined this battle, which was utterly comical to him.
He and his teammate, whose name was Niu Da and whose courtesy name was Dave, guarded the same breach.
This Dave spoke unclearly, and one had to listen carefully to understand him.
Although they had only worked together for two days, Huo Zi’an found that this person was simple-minded, gentle, sincere, and extremely devoted to his family.
He could barely go three sentences without mentioning his wife, using her as a comparison for everything.
And he talked incessantly; if you didn’t stop him, he would just keep talking. Huo Zi’an went from speechless to numbly listening.
Even when the two of them were scooping excrement from a latrine with shit scoops, amidst the overwhelming stench, Huo Zi’an, suppressing the urge to vomit, could still calmly talk.
And he was saying, “The shit this old woman pulls is truly foul, unlike my wife, who never pulls foul shit…”
Huo Zi’an wished he could roar to the heavens, “God, just give me a quick end!”
As long as he could escape from Li King, that madman, and escape from this border city filled with lunatics, he would do anything!
His silence was, in a peculiar way, recognized by Niu Da:
“Heh heh, you’re a good man. Others don’t like my rambling. From now on, you’re my good brother!”
After being deemed a good brother by Niu Da, he was invited to Niu Da’s home for dinner. Niu Da’s wife, who could only be described as not ugly, made him a special meal.
She fetched a bowl of Dongpo Pork from the Forceful Restaurant to go with Niu Da’s wine.
With one bite of the meat, Huo Zi’an forgave Niu Da for his incessant chatter that day.
Unexpectedly, the next day, after only half a day of scooping shit, they were urgently assembled and assigned the task of guarding the city wall.
Because everyone else feared Huo Zi’an’s assassin identity, worried he might betray them at a critical moment, only Niu Da, with great loyalty, insisted on being in the same group as Huo Zi’an.
When distributing weapons, he even gave Huo Zi’an the newest shit scoop, taking the one he had used for ten years himself.
Huo Zi’an: …
Fighting with a shit scoop? I haven’t done that since I was eight.
Can this border city get any more absurd?
When the Zheng Family members charged over, Huo Zi’an initially wanted to use his identity to intimidate them. If he could connect with the Zheng Family, it would be even better to have them send a message to Prince Yu.
As soon as he said, “I am an Imperial Guard from the Commander’s Office, not Li King’s subordinate.”
He was interrupted by the Zheng Family thugs: “I don’t care if you’re a horse rider or a donkey rider, you’re all dogs of the Imperial Court, and you deserve to be beaten!”
As they spoke, over a dozen people charged forward. Niu Da roared and blocked Huo Zi’an with a shit scoop.
At this moment, Huo Zi’an could no longer worry about contacting the outside world and could only focus on guarding the breach in the city wall with Niu Da.
He wielded the shit scoop in his hand like a spear, giving the dozen attackers no chance to retaliate.
Niu Da seized the opportunity to run off, fetch two buckets of excrement, and use the shit scoops to splash the Zheng Family members with sewage.
Then Huo Zi’an watched as the Zheng Family thugs collapsed. They had been shouting earlier, but now they didn’t even dare to open their mouths.
With sewage all over their heads and bodies, any opening of their mouths meant a mouthful of filth.
The scene of over a dozen people being drenched by the falling sewage was, tsk, anyone who saw it would know, a lifelong nightmare!
Worse than falling into a cesspit!
The Zheng Family thugs stopped charging forward and all ran back.
When it came to fighting, the people of Yandi weren’t afraid of blades, but they couldn’t stand being splashed with shit!
Huo Zi’an watched their retreating backs and couldn’t help but burst into laughter, shaking off his previous gloom.
How to put it, being a dung collector himself was indeed depressing enough to make one want to die, but seeing others drenched in sewage felt completely different.
Niu Da was very loyal. Seeing that the sewage could drive away the enemies, he quickly fetched two more buckets to help his nearby teammates.
Huo Zi’an joined in as well, and the result was that this group of ‘dung collectors’ stank up half the city wall.
Fortunately, the effect was good. In any case, the Zheng Family bodyguards dared not charge towards anyone holding a shit scoop.
The Zheng Family’s plan failed, so they devised another: arson.
They shot fire arrows from afar into the city. If the city caught fire, the people inside would surely rush out, and they could seize Chen Yunniang in the chaos.
As fate would have it, just as the fire was set, the wind direction changed.
The thick smoke blew entirely towards the Zheng Family. Coincidentally, near their stationed area was a patch of dry grass that ignited with a single spark.
The border city did not burn. Cheng Yu calmly directed the extinguishing of the fire.
Instead, the Zheng Family was burned into a panicked retreat, no longer daring to use fire attacks.
In this chaotic manner, they held out for a night, and the Zheng Family was unable to breach the city.
Han Xing looked at Yan Shi’erniang beside him, who was struggling to stay awake, her eyes wide open, and then at the furious Zheng Family members in the distance.
And those Tuntian Army soldiers who held their ground. He didn’t want any lives lost. The Prince had entrusted the border city to him, and he had to return it to the Prince with every soldier intact.
Chen Yunniang must be protected, Yan Shi’erniang must be guarded, and the border city must await the Prince’s return, completely unharmed.
Han Xing had an idea and said softly to Yan Shi’erniang, “While they’re off guard, hurry and leave.”
Yan Shi’erniang immediately glared at him, “This young lady keeps her word. If the Zheng Family doesn’t leave, I absolutely will not leave!”
“When my Eldest Brother returns, he will definitely drive these dogs of the Zheng Family away!”
Han Xing had no temper and explained softly, “I meant, you take Chen Yunniang with you.”
“Don’t go into Yanzhou City. Run towards the seaside. The Prince is there. Once you leave, we can go all out to drive away the Zheng Family.”
Yan Shi’erniang’s eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly, “Okay, don’t worry, this young lady will definitely protect Yunniang well.”
She would get to see the Prince!
Han Xing took her to see Cheng Yu. Before Han Xing could persuade him further, Cheng Yu agreed to the plan.
Because in Cheng Yu’s view, he would risk his life to protect Yunniang without hesitation.
But he didn’t want others to lose their lives because of this. What if the Zheng Family acted recklessly and border soldiers died because of it?
Even if he could be with Yunniang in the future, they would both live with guilt for the rest of their lives.
