Chapter 93 Part 2

It was Tenth Month in a blink of an eye.

At dusk on the seventh day, Pei Xiaoyuan rode out of the city and came to the bank of the Wei River in the north of the city. He found an uninhabited wild bank along the river and dismounted.

Qingtou, who followed him, also jumped off his horse quickly, took the incense, wine and other things he had brought, then looked around. Finding a place closest to a water edge, he went down, put the things away, and then retreated to the side.

After Pei Gu died, the imperial court negotiated with Xifan many times, and after many twists and turns, his body was finally returned to his hometown for burial. Lady Cui was also buried with her husband over there.

The Wei River flowed eastward and merged into the Yellow River, and it also flowed through the ancient land of Hedong.

The wedding day was tomorrow, and Pei Xiaoyuan could not go back to his hometown. Therefore, he came to the bank of Weishui River to pay tribute to his parents and report the matter.

After washing his hands by the water, he wiped them clean with a plain towel, lit incense, held the incense in both hands. Kneeling by the riverbank, he faced the east toward Hedong, silently offering his prayers, and then kowtowed. When he was done, he inserted the incense into the incense burner and waited quietly. When the incense burned out, he scattered all the ashes into the Wei River. Then, he poured three cups of wine into the water, watching as the pale ash dissolved into the gentle ripples flowing steadily eastward. For a long time, he stood at the river’s edge, unmoving.

The autumn sunset sank below the western hills. The sound of evening drums could be heard faintly. A few startled water birds flew across the river, which had turned dark in color, and swept into the depths of the dark wilderness on the opposite bank.

Qingtou knelt down towards the direction of the water, bowed several times devoutly, then got up and called out “Master”.

“Running water can convey messages! The general and Lady Cui will soon know the good news, and they will definitely be happy for you! It’s getting dark soon, we should go back. After all the commotion earlier, you’ve finally managed to escape their clutches. You must be tired; go back and rest early to replenish your energy. Tomorrow is the big day to greet your bride at the palace—this is of utmost importance and cannot be delayed!”

Early in the morning, Chengping and many young men from the capital’s various guards trapped Pei Xiaoyuan in the tavern under the pretext of celebrating. Taking turns, they kept pouring him wine, refusing to let him leave. It seemed that they wanted to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get him completely drunk, preferably to the point where he would miss the wedding tomorrow. After all, the more outrageous the spectacle, the more entertaining it would be. It was Qingtou who sensed trouble, fearing his master might truly drink himself into oblivion and miss the wedding. He hurriedly fetched Han Kerang, who managed to extract the half-drunken man from the tavern. He groggily squinted his eyes open, and after some disorientation, came here.

After Qingtou finished persuading, he saw that his master really listened to him, loweing his head and turned to climbed ashore. He was happy and hurried to the riverside to pack up the incense burner and other items.

At this time, the sky was getting darker and the wind outside the city was getting stronger. The tangled trees on the grasslands near the riverbank rustled as their branches swayed, sending waves of sound through the treetops as the wind passed by.

Pei Xiaoyuan walked along the river bank, taking the lead to walk towards Jinwuzhui that was left at the front. Suddenly he hesitated, stopped, and moved his fingers slightly.

Accompanied by a sudden unusually sharp and strange sound, three short arrows suddenly shot out from the forest opposite at the same time, whizzing towards him.

Pei Xiaoyuan raised his hand at this moment, and immediately pulled out the sword hanging from his belt, which he always carried with him, and cut off the first crossbow arrow. Then he dodged at an extremely fast speed, avoiding the two small arrows that followed closely behind.

The crossbow arrows missed and hit the rocks by the river one after another, the arrowhead made two shallow pits on the stone surface, before whirlingly fell to the ground, showing how powerful the arrows were.

“Master! Wait for me——”

Qingtou had just come ashore with the incense burner and other things. He was completely unaware of what had just happened and rushed towards Pei Xiaoyuan excitedly.

Just as the first wave of three crossbow arrows passed by, the second wave of short arrows whizzed out from the same position in the forest.

“Get down!” Pei Xiaoyuan turned and shouted at Qingtou.

However, it was too late. The servant had already rushed forward and suddenly saw a crossbow arrow shooting towards his direction. Stunned, his hand trembled, and the incense burner fell to the ground. He froze in place, momentarily unable to react.

Seeing that one of the crossbow arrows was shooting towards him, Pei Xiaoyuan, after blocking the other two, lunged over the servant to shield him with his own body.

He paused, looked up and shot his gaze at the opposite side. After jumping up from the ground with sword in hand, he didn’t give the other party any chance, and rushed into the forest like lightning, slashed at the dense bush.

Accompanied by the sound of branches breaking, a masked man jumped out from behind a bush, holding a crossbow that could fire three arrows at a time.

The man didn’t expect that the six consecutive arrows would all miss. Seeing that his hiding place was discovered, he couldn’t help but feel horrified and could only draw his sword in a hurry.

Pei Xiaoyuan swung the blade violently and slashed directly at the masked man’s face.

The man knew that he wanted to see his face. With the cold blade pressing down on him and murderous intent coming at him, he dodged desperately, but the blade cut across his chest, leaving a wound more than a foot long, and blood gushed out immediately.

He fell to the ground and saw Pei Xiaoyuan rushing towards him again. He knew that since his previous assassination attempt had failed, at this moment, he was no match for Pei Xiaoyuan alone. He randomly released the three short crossbows that he had just loaded and had not had time to fire. Taking advantage of this last brief opportunity, he stood up from the ground with pain, covered his injured chest, and ran towards the Wei River opposite.

Pei Xiaoyuan knocked down the three crossbow arrows, then quickly turned and gave chase. He reached the riverbank, but in the end, he was a step too late. The masked figure had already leapt into the river, creating a splash of water, and was immediately swallowed by the current, disappearing along with the dark red stain of blood on the surface of the water.

Qingtou, realizing what had just happened, quickly scrambled behind a nearby stone, cautiously peeking out to watch. Seeing that the masked figure had been injured by his master and was forced to jump into the water to escape, leaving only his master standing alone by the river with a knife, he let out a long sigh of relief. He immediately sprang from behind the stone and rushed forward again.

“Master is brilliant and powerful! You scared off the assassin!” he exclaimed joyfully as he ran up to Pei Xiaoyuan, “If you hadn’t saved me just now, I would have been dead! Thank you so much!” After saying that, he spat loudly towards the water where the masked figure had just fled.

“Master, do you know who it is? How dare he try to harm you! I think he must be like the old god of longevity hanging himself, just asking for death—”

Suddenly he stopped talking and stared at Pei Xiaoyuan’s left arm.

A thin stream of blood was slowly flowing down his arm and dripping onto the ground.

“Master, you’ve been shot by an arrow!”

He finally saw clearly that a short arrow was stuck in the left shoulder of his master, and he couldn’t help but scream.

At this time, Pei Xiaoyuan had put away his sword, raised his right arm, and with a quick motion, gripped the arrow shaft, pulling the arrowhead forcefully from the wound on his left shoulder.

The arrowhead was embedded with a clump of torn flesh, and blood was pouring out from the wound, steadily oozing and spreading, making the scene appear extremely gruesome.

“Master!” Qingtou’s eyes widened and he cried out. “How could you force it out yourself?”

“The arrowhead may be poisonous. Do you have any more wine? Get it for me!”

Pei Xiaoyuan’s forehead was covered with cold sweat. He gritted his teeth and whispered the order.

Qingtou jumped up in shock and ran to the front of the horse, took out the wine bag, and as Pei Xiaoyuan instructed, he used the wine to wash his wound tremblingly. After using up the wine, Pei Xiaoyuan tore off a piece of his robe and asked Qingtou to bandage the wound tightly for him. It temporarily stopped the bleeding while they rushed back to the city.

He did not return to Yongning Mansion, but quietly went to the government office. Soon, He Jin hurried over.

He had worked as a military doctor in the army in his early years and was knowledgeable. He picked up the arrow that Pei Xiaoyuan brought back, sniffed the arrowhead, licked it, and his face suddenly changed.

“Master, this arrowhead is indeed poisonous. It has been soaked with dragon blood poison, which is a kind of snake venom. Although extracting it is difficult and the venom is quite precious, it’s not something that can be used in large quantities. I’ve seen it used before in the military. If the venom was freshly applied, anyone struck by this arrow could be in grave danger. However, after two hours or more, its toxicity gradually dissipates. The longer the time, the weaker the poison becomes. Fortunately, Master, you managed to pull it out in time. From the appearance and scent of the arrowhead, it seems the assassin had been waiting for the right moment. By the time he finally struck, the venom had already weakened considerably. Still, there could be remnants left. Master, you must not let your guard down!”

After Qingtou came back, he recovered from the initial shock and squatted in the corner, holding his head and wiping his tears, blaming himself in his heart. After hearing these words, he finally felt relieved and cried, “I’ll go tell the princess now! Call the imperial physician! It’s all my fault! If it weren’t for me, Master wouldn’t have been hit by the arrow!” After that, he started to run out.

“Stop!” Pei Xiaoyuan shouted at him.

He Jin hesitated for a moment, and also advised: “I think Qingtou has a point. Also, you are seriously injured this time. Tomorrow’s wedding ceremony will be complicated and not an easy task. I am afraid you can’t hold on. I think the princess is also a reasonable person. Why don’t you discuss it with her and see if it can be postponed…”

“Don’t let the princess know that I’m injured! As for the wedding, everything has already been prepared. How can it be delayed because of such a small injury?”

“Master!” He Jin felt really worried.

“Enough! There’s no need to say more about this matter.”

Pei Xiaoyuan spoke while staring at He Jin and Qingtou.

At this moment, his face was pale but his tone was very calm, and the decisive meaning in his words was very obvious.

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