Chapter 9

 

The city guard told Pei Xiaoyuan that today, as usual, the city gates were opened at fifth watch. Among those waiting to leave the city, there seemed to be someone whose appearance matched his description. After checking the pass clearance the person carried, he let him go without asking any more questions.

Obviously, this person was Miss Ye.

Pei Xiaoyuan was about to leave the city when he saw Chengping riding up to him from behind. He was full of guilt and started to confess his crime. It turned out that He shi had just asked him to verify what Zhu’er said. He realized that his words had caused trouble and he felt extremely guilty.

“I have already explained to the county governor that it has nothing to do with you! I was the one who found out about your marriage from the maid and asked you about it. When you refused to tell me, I made up some nonsense and caused Miss Ye to misunderstand me. You were even blamed by the county governor—”

“Forget it! You didn’t mean it!”

Pei Xiaoyuan stopped Chengping, “No need to say more. You should start your journey first. I’m sorry I can’t see you off. I’m going to go after her.”

“I’ll go too! I caused the trouble, so I should explain it to her myself!”

Pei Xiaoyuan looked at him and saw that Chengping looked sincere, so he allowed him and rode out of the city first, followed closely by Chengping. He Jin had also arrived at the city gate and was waiting. He saw the two men coming out from a distance and went forward to meet them, only then did he know that this accident had happened.

“I’ll go too. I know the way!”

He Jin immediately called a few of his men to follow behind.

This city was the seat of Weiyuan County and the only way from Ganliang Road to the capital. In addition to travelers, there were also endless stream of camel and horse teams on the official road during the day. Pei Xiaoyuan chased and searched, and finally heard the news he wanted from the leader of the caravan who stopped by the roadside to rest at noon: a young man had bought a horse from them in the morning. If there was no delay on the road, he should have gone at least a dozen miles.

Based on this, the group rode at full speed and finally chased to a fork on the road.

The road splits into two from here. The main road leads to the capital, while the other branch road, according to He Jin, was the road he took when he picked up the young lady.

She should have taken this fork to go back. Pei Xiaoyuan took this road, but just in case, he asked He Jin’s men to continue searching along the main road.

“If you see her, stop her. No matter if she’s willing or not, you must not let her go.

“Keep the person and be sure to wait for me!” he emphasized again.

The men complied. After giving his instructions, Pei Xiaoyuan immediately turned his horse onto the side road.

Not many people travel this road. After chasing for another ten to twenty miles, the scenery became increasingly desolate, with few carriages and horses. The distances between garrison towns, checkpoints, and villages along the way were also getting farther and farther apart. There was even no human habitation for dozens of miles, and only endless wilderness and barren hills.

Pei Xiaoyuan chased her for a while and began to become uncertain about her whereabouts.

‘I will be on my way back to where I came from.’

That’s what she said in the letter.

Isn’t this the way back to where she came from?

By this time, most of the day had passed, the sun was setting, and they had already chased for two to three hundred miles in one breath. The caravan horses had limited leg strength, and could not compare to the strong and tough military horses they were riding. Even if she was a good rider, she shouldn’t go so fast. They had chased her here, but they still couldn’t see her.

Chengping was usually a person who didn’t care even if the sky fell, but he must have felt the pressure today. He was silent on the road and just focused on looking for people. At this moment, he finally couldn’t help it and asked He Jin if he had taken the wrong road or if there was another path.

He Jin shook his head: “I took this road when I came here! It’s only been a few days, I remember it clearly, it can’t be wrong!”

Although his tone was firm, it was true that they had chased for such a long distance but still couldn’t see anyone. Having said that, he began to hesitate.

“Could it be that… the young lady is not going in this direction?”

Pei Xiaoyuan slowed down his horse, finally stopped and looked around.

Chengping and He Jin also stopped with him and saw that he suddenly closed his eyes, facing the field, motionless, as if he was concentrating on listening to something.

Strong winds were blowing everywhere, and their ears were filled with the sound of the wind.

“Master, what did you hear?”

He Jin also listened carefully. He heard nothing but the sound of the wind. When Pei Xiaoyuan opened his eyes, he immediately asked.

Pei Xiaoyuan looked around again: “I seemed to hear a horse neighing just now, but it disappeared when I listened again. The wind was too strong, and I’m not sure if I heard it correctly…”

He hesitated for a moment and said, “Maybe I heard it wrong.”

Chengping had fought with him before and knew that he had sharp hearing and rarely made mistakes. He then looked around and asked, “Is it possible that it was Miss Ye’s mount? Did she see us coming from afar and hide on purpose?”

His idea didn’t seem to be completely impossible.

It would be futile to continue pursuing this path.

“Why don’t we do as His Highness said and split up to look for places nearby where people can be hiding?” He Jin thought for a moment and suggested.

Pei Xiaoyuan nodded: “Alright. If you find anything, blow the deer whistle as a signal.”

After the discussion, seeing that the day was about to pass and there was no time to lose, Chengping and He Jin spurred their horses to the road and headed towards the slopes in the distance on both sides to search separately.

Pei Xiaoyuan stayed on the horse for a while, then suddenly turned around, his eyes swept in the direction behind him, and without hesitation, he turned his horse back.

Just as he said a moment ago, he heard a short neighing of a horse. He was not quite sure whether he had misheard it, but at that moment, he had a feeling that there was a pair of eyes in the darkness behind him, watching him from an unknown direction.

He drove his mount back along the road for about several dozen feet, then slowly stopped the horse on the road again.

As the dusk deepened, the setting sun behind the distant mountains reached its most colorful moment. The fiery red light spread over the wilderness, and even the figure on horseback was covered with a hazy halo.

“Sister?”

After a moment, he turned his head and tentatively called out to the rolling hills in the field on his right.

Apart from the sharp sound of the evening breeze blowing across the hilltop, there was no response.

He slowly turned back, still sitting on his horse, motionless. The wild wind blew the corner of his shirt and trousers, and kept hitting the boots on his feet in the stirrups. Suddenly, a fly came from the opposite side. The insect was overwhelmed by the wind and hit his horse’s face. The horse’s ears moved and shook its head to avoid being disturbed by the insect.

At this moment, the figure on the horse’s back flashed, reached out his hand, grabbed a horn bow hanging on the saddle, slung it across his shoulder, and stomped his feet on the saddle at the same time. With the rebound force, the whole person jumped up from the horse’s back like an eagle.

His toes had just touched the ground, and his body had not yet fully stretched out and stood upright, but he had already turned down the road and chased to the right.

At the same moment he landed, behind a mound of earth more than ten feet away, another figure in blue clothes that had been hiding suddenly stood up, jumped onto a horse hiding nearby, and quickly left.

This was a gentle slope that stretched downwards, with ditches and gravels everywhere, which was not conducive for galloping horses, so Pei Xiaoyuan abandoned his horse and chased down, which made his movements more agile and flexible. Sure enough, the blue-clothed man’s mount had difficulty running in the ditches and nearly stumbled several times, and was unable to speed up. After escaping for a while, the distance was actually shortened. The other party soon gave up, jumped off the horse, and continued to run forward. Pei Xiaoyuan followed closely behind. The two figures, one in front and one behind, soon moved away from the main road and went deep into the wilderness.

This person was quite cunning, and was fleeing towards a mountain area ahead. Pei Xiaoyuan chased him at full speed, and although he was slowly closing the distance, and could even see a mask covering his face, if he let him go further, it would be dark soon, and once he entered the mountain, he would probably not be able to find him.

He stopped chasing and ran towards a nearby high ground. After standing on the slope, he took the bow with one hand and reached back with his other arm to pull out an arrow from the Hulu quiver hanging on the hook of the belt behind his waist. He drew the bow, aimed at the figure rushing forward at the bottom of the slope in front of him, and released the arrow.

The arrow shot out like lightning, breaking through the wind and chasing after people in an instant. With a “snap”, the arrow penetrated the skin and bones and pierced into the man’s left thigh.

The fleeing man was suddenly hit by an arrow in the leg. He staggered and could not stop his body, fell to the ground and rolled several times. Then he got up again and continued to flee forward regardless of everything. However, his speed had slowed down a lot. Pei Xiaoyuan once again exerted his strength to catch up and quickly got close.

There were only a few feet between the two of them, and the mountain ahead was still several miles away. The man in blue probably knew he couldn’t get away, so he relaxed his mind and began to stagger, finally slowly stopped and stood still. The arrow pierced his left thigh, and blood was flowing along the wound, soaking most of his leg, and dripping along the boot, into the mud under his feet.

Pei Xiaoyuan walked closer.

“Who are you?” he shouted.

The man in blue still had his back to him, motionless and silent.

Pei Xiaoyuan raised his right hand and slowly pressed his palm on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

“Turn around and take off your mask.”

His tone was calm, but murderous aura suddenly gathered, like thick dusk covering the sky above his head.

The man finally responded. He moved his back and slowly raised his hand as he was told, seemingly about to take off the mask. Suddenly, his elbow moved slightly, flipping outward as the person turned around.

It turned out that there was a crossbow hidden under the half-sleeve he was wearing. As he raised his elbow, the hidden crossbow was triggered and shot towards Pei Xiaoyuan’s chest.

Pei Xiaoyuan would never be fooled by such trick. The five fingers pressing on the hilt of the sword suddenly tightened, the veins on the back of his hand bulged, and the sword swiftly unsheathed. With a clanging sound, the short crossbow was shot to the ground.

The man in blue originally wanted to turn the situation around with a surprise attack, but when he saw that his plan failed, he couldn’t help but reveal surprise in his eyes hidden behind the holes in his mask. However, he was still unwilling to surrender, and taking advantage of the opportunity of the sneak attack, he turned around, gritted his teeth, and continued to escape into the mountains ahead while dragging his injured leg.

How could Pei Xiaoyuan let him escape again? He rushed over and quickly stood in front of the other person.

The wind blew, a cold light flashed, and blood appeared on the tip of the sword.

The suede mask covering the blue-clothed man’s face was split into two pieces and fell to the ground with a thud.

The mask revealed the face of a young man. This person was significantly older than Pei Xiaoyuan, likely around thirty years old. He had handsome and striking features, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes. However, due to the pain from his leg injury, his face was covered in cold sweat, and his complexion was deathly pale. At this moment, there was an additional straight sword wound at the center of his forehead. The wound extended down to his brow bone, tearing the flesh open. Blood poured from the gash, flowing along his nose and cheeks, and splattering onto the chest of his round-collared robe.

Pei Xiaoyuan had intentionally broken his forehead, just to punish him slightly. He glanced at the other party, and without asking any more questions about his origins, he just took out the deer whistle and blew a few times in the direction he came from, and the sharp whistle sound was sent out with the wind.

The man’s injured leg kept shaking and his body was swaying, but he insisted on standing and refused to fall down. After he caught his breath, he slowly wiped the blood off his forehead, looked down at his blood-stained palm, nodded, and smiled.

“As expected of the son of General Shenhu, you really have the style of your father. I thought I was cautious enough, but I didn’t expect you to find out.”

His situation was extremely bleak, and his expression revealed a bit of frustration that he couldn’t conceal, but when he said this with a smile on his face, he still looked as handsome as a jade tree, without any sign of embarrassment at all.

From the moment he discovered the pursuit to the moment he drew his sword and saw blood, Pei Xiaoyuan’s expression remained calm. But at this moment, his eyes suddenly turned sharp.

The man continued to speak leisurely, “It is said that you were only eight years old when you knelt outside the Danfeng Gate with your mother, Madam Cui, to appeal for justice for the soldiers of the Shenhu Army. You, mother and son, moved the world with justice and saved many lives. I still admire you. But unfortunately, you can only keep them alive. They are all unique heroes and warriors who have fought for this empire and sacrificed their lives. But sixteen years have passed, sixteen years! Whether they are alive or dead, none of them have received the justice and rewards they deserve. Not to mention your late father!”

He stared at Pei Xiaoyuan, letting the blood flow from the cut on his forehead.

“It’s fine that the court doesn’t remember the contributions of your father and Pei Ji. Three years ago, you also made great contributions in the battle of Xifan. Everyone in the army knows it. However, the official title that should have belonged to you is not yours. You only have the empty title of a seventh-rank Cloud Cavalry Captain. You still stay in this frontier city, day after day, wasting your time.

“A real man should make achievements in life. Your uncle Pei Ji is already old, but you are still young. Are you really willing to spend the rest of your life like this?”

Pei Xiaoyuan’s eyes were gloomy, and he said coldly: “Who are you? If you keep trying to hide your true identity and talk nonsense, don’t blame me for my sharp sword!”

The other party showed no fear and sneered: “Wherever people die, it’s the destiny of heaven. If I die under your sword today, I accept it!”

Pei Xiaoyuan stared at him, while he simply closed his eyes and waited.

A trace of hesitation flashed through Pei Xiaoyuan’s mind.

He was of course aware that this man, who had just said those words, seemed to be fearless and ready to be killed, but in fact he was just trying to save his life from his sword.

It seems that his goal had been achieved.

If the person captured today was an ordinary spy and he didn’t want to tell his origins, Pei Xiaoyuan didn’t need to waste any more words and just kill him on the spot to avoid trouble.

But the blue-clothed man in front of him obviously had a complicated background, and it was possible that he had accomplices nearby.

However, no matter who it was, they were no match for the woman named Ye at this moment.

The most important thing for him was to continue looking for people. When He Jin arrived, he would hand the person over to him and let him take the person back. Even if he could not pry open his mouth for the time being, he would be able to lure out the accomplices sooner or later.

As his thoughts raced at lightning speed, suddenly, behind him, there was a strange sound that seemed to be faintly mixed in with the sound of the wind.

The other person slowly opened his eyes at this time and a smile appeared on his face.

“Master Pei, look behind you.”

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