Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Xiao Che was puzzled as well. Logically speaking, the Hu people should not have appeared here.

This place lay northeast of the capital, while the tribes of the Hu people were northwest of Great Xia. The two directions were completely opposite.

While Xiao Che was frowning in thought, the Hu people had already cut down one of the three men they had surrounded. Only two remained, and one of them seemed to have lost consciousness, leaning entirely on the other for support.

“General! Hold on! You can’t fall asleep!”

Qin Meng’s shout was like a death knell, making the Hu people attack even more fiercely. Every move they made was aimed to kill.

Just as Qin Meng thought they were about to die there, one of the Hu people in front of him, who had raised his blade and was about to slice through his throat, suddenly went wide-eyed and slowly toppled backward.

Immediately after, two figures leaped out of the woods, drawing the attention of all the Hu people.

Xiao Che and Zhu Laosan each held a broadsword, fighting back-to-back against the Hu people in a fierce, deadlocked battle.

After only a few exchanges, Zhu Laosan began to fall into a disadvantage.

Fortunately, Xiao Che helped him from time to time.

In less than fifteen minutes, all the Hu people had been dealt with.

Xiao Che had already instructed Jin Bao to climb a tree and hide. Seeing that Xiao Che had taken care of the Hu people, she was about to come down. But when she lowered her head, she saw Zou Yong holding a sleeve crossbow, aiming a sneak attack at Xiao Che.

“Bad man! You can’t hurt Daddy!”

She had been climbing down the tree, but she immediately changed course and leaped straight down from above, landing astride Zou Yong’s neck. With both hands, she grabbed his hair and yanked with all her might.

Zou Yong’s sleeve arrow flew off course and disappeared into the grass nearby.

“Let go, you little beast! You dare attack an officer? Do you not want to keep that miserable life of yours?”

Zou Yong reached up to pull Jin Bao off, but she dodged him, opened her mouth, and bit down on his ear.

“Aaah-!”

Zou Yong’s scream echoed through the woods.

Lu Shuangshuang wanted to go up and help, but as soon as she got close, Zou Yong kicked her to the ground.

Jin Bao, however, refused to let go. She held on until Zou Yong’s ear was left with a deep row of teeth marks and blood kept pouring out.

The moment Xiao Che sensed someone firing a hidden arrow, he turned back to look at Zou Yong. He happened to see Jin Bao tearing at Zou Yong’s hair.

He dropped his broadsword and rushed toward them.

In the end, it was Xiao Che who pried Jin Bao off Zou Yong.

“Just you wait. This isn’t over.”

After throwing out that threat, Zou Yong turned to run.

Xiao Che’s gaze abruptly turned cold. These people had bullied those from the Marquis’s Mansion, and now they even dared to bully his daughter. There was only so much a man could endure.

As Zou Yong fled, a stone shot toward the back of his head. In an instant, he lost consciousness.

Holding Jin Bao, Xiao Che walked over, sank his qi into his dantian, and stomped down on Zou Yong’s ankle. After a crisp crack, one of Zou Yong’s legs was as good as ruined.

“Good girl, how are you? Are you hurt?”

Xiao Che carefully wiped the blood from the corner of Jin Bao’s mouth and asked in concern.

Jin Bao shook her head, her big eyes sparkling. “I’m fine. This isn’t Baby’s blood. It’s the bad man’s. He wanted to shoot Daddy dead, so Baby protected Daddy. Baby can bite people, you know.”

As she spoke, Jin Bao even pulled a fierce little face. In Xiao Che’s eyes, it was not intimidating at all. If anything, it was rather adorable.

Xiao Che bent down to check Zou Yong’s wrist, and sure enough, he found the sleeve crossbow.

He took it straight away, planning to modify it later so Jin Bao could use it for self-defense.

When they returned to the woods, Lu Shuangshuang was already examining the unconscious man.

The man beside him seemed to be his subordinate. Though he was covered in wounds himself, he did not leave his master’s side for even a moment.

“Lord Marquis, this man has been poisoned by snake venom, then suffered serious injuries afterward. He has lost too much blood. The most urgent matter is to neutralize the snake venom in his body. Otherwise, I’m afraid he won’t survive another half hour.”

After taking his pulse, Lu Shuangshuang’s expression was grave.

Qin Meng immediately dropped to one knee and bowed to Lu Shuangshuang.

“Please, Madam, save him. For your great kindness, I, Qin Meng, would repay you even if I had to serve you like an ox or a horse.”

Lu Shuangshuang was startled and quickly bent down to help him up.

“Please don’t do this, Young Master. He was bitten by a five-step snake. The only reason he has lasted until now is because of his internal energy. If he were an ordinary person, he would have been dead long ago. I can use silver needles to seal his acupoints and temporarily slow the spread of the poison, but that is only a stopgap measure. If we can find Lobelia chinensis, it can cure this poison.”

Surprise and joy burst in Qin Meng’s eyes. Ignoring the blood still seeping from his wounds, he prepared to help search for Lobelia chinensis.

“Madam, please tell me what Lobelia chinensis looks like. I’ll go look for it right now. I will definitely bring it back within half an hour.”

Lu Shuangshuang glanced at the wounds on Qin Meng’s body. In his current state, he would probably collapse before he found any Lobelia chinensis.

“Young Master, you should stay here and rest properly. Look after your friend. I’ll go.”

Qin Meng cupped his fists. His body swayed slightly, but he still forced out a faint smile. “Thank you, Madam. I will have to trouble you.”

Jin Bao hurried over and took Lu Shuangshuang’s hand. “Auntie, Baby is going too. Baby can help.”

Thinking of Jin Bao’s ability, Lu Shuangshuang hesitated for a moment. She glanced at Xiao Che and, seeing him nod, finally left with Jin Bao.

As soon as the two of them were gone, Xiao Che looked at Qin Meng.

Qin Meng was also quietly sizing up Xiao Che and Zhu Laosan.

For a while, none of them spoke.

In the end, it was Xiao Che who looked at the unconscious man on the ground and asked, “Little brother, who are you people? Why are you here?”

Qin Meng looked at Xiao Che warily. Although Xiao Che had saved their lives, he still could not tell him the truth.
“We’re hunters from nearby. We came up the mountain to hunt, ran into bandits, and got into a dispute with them. We haven’t yet thanked our benefactor for saving our lives. May we ask your honored name? We will surely repay you handsomely.”

Xiao Che knew the man wasn’t telling the truth, and he remained deeply wary of them. But he had heard that cry of “General” loud and clear.

The nearest pass to this place was Shanhai Pass. If this man was a general, then he had to be one of the commanders stationed there. Xiao Che remembered that the chief commander of Shanhai Pass was named Cai Hong and was in his early thirties, which matched the man before him quite well.

“I am Xiao Che, nothing more than an exile.”

Qin Meng jerked his head up and stared at Xiao Che, disbelief filling his eyes.

“Xiao Che? The Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery? Of the Xiao Family? Great Xia’s War God General!”

Xiao Che nodded. “That’s right. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the officials.”

Zhu Laosan chimed in from the side, “That’s right. This is Lord Xiao himself.”

Qin Meng immediately bowed to Xiao Che.

“General Xiao, this lowly officer is the Shanhai Pass Garrison Commander. This is our chief commander, Cai Hong, General Cai.

“A few days ago, we received word from an informant that spies were active in the area.

“The general happened to be training the soldiers nearby in forest combat, so he brought us here to apprehend them.

“Who would have thought that while we were resting in the woods, the general would be bitten by a venomous snake?

“And then we just so happened to run into Hu people spies. They had set up an ambush here. We lost many brothers and still failed to wipe them all out.”

Xiao Che nodded slightly. “It seems the person who gave you that information has a problem. Otherwise, how could you have fallen into their trap so easily?

“After all, this is Great Xia territory. The Hu people couldn’t possibly be more familiar with this place than you are, unless someone had already given them a map and your route of movement.

“You ended up in this state and were even chased down by them. General Cai nearly lost his life here as well.”

Qin Meng felt deeply ashamed. After they had been ambushed, he had known at once that something was wrong. Someone had deliberately lured the general here.

There had to be a traitor in the military camp. Once he returned, he would definitely drag that villain out.

Xiao Che also told him about the Horse Bandits who had slaughtered the town, along with his own suspicions.

Qin Meng was furious. “If it really is someone inside Shanhai Pass colluding with the Horse Bandits to harm innocent people, I will tear that person to pieces.”

In less than half an hour, Lu Shuangshuang returned with the medicinal herbs.

With Jin Bao’s help, finding Lobelia chinensis had gone very smoothly. They found it by a nearby stream, and also found herbs to treat chills and fever.

They fed the Lobelia chinensis to Cai Hong, then applied crushed dandelion externally to reduce the swelling. Within half a day, Cai Hong should be able to wake up.

Qin Meng thanked them again and again.

Xiao Che and the others had been gone for too long, and Old Madam Xiao was still ill. They had originally planned to bring Cai Hong back to the broken temple with them.

Just then, soldiers from Shanhai Pass arrived in the woods as reinforcements and took Qin Meng and Cai Hong away.

Xiao Che and the others also prepared to return to the broken temple. When they passed by Zou Yong, Zhu Laosan glanced at the unconscious man on the ground, spat a harsh “ptui” at him, and left without another word.

When they returned to the broken temple, Cui Jin noticed Zou Yong was missing and stood up with a frown.

“Where’s Zou Yong?”

Right now, he and Zou Yong were the only allies. Without Zou Yong, he had lost a helper.

“He didn’t come back? We ran into spies from another country in the woods and fought them. Zou Yong said he was coming back to report it. He hasn’t returned?”

After saying that, Zhu Laosan sat down as if it had nothing to do with him.

Cui Jin instinctively felt that something was wrong. He immediately headed toward the back mountain to search.

Lu Shuangshuang quickly processed the herbs she had gathered, decocted them, and gave the medicine to Old Madam Xiao.

It was not until everyone had almost finished resting that Cui Jin helped Zou Yong back.

One of Zou Yong’s legs was broken, and his head was covered in blood, but he had not seen who had attacked him.

Zou Yong was certain it had been Xiao Che, but he had no proof.

Now he and Cui Jin were outnumbered and no match for them. They could no longer find some random excuse to beat them like they had before.

It seemed that when they reached the next post station, he would have to send a message to the capital and have them find a few more helpers for him. Ideally, they would get rid of Xiao Che in one fell swoop.

After Old Madam Xiao drank the medicine, she broke into a sweat. Her fever went down, and her spirits improved considerably.

They continued traveling for another three or four days before finally arriving at Shanhai Pass.

Beyond Shanhai Pass was outside the pass. Once they left, it would be difficult to ever return.

Everyone unconsciously turned back to look at the road behind them.

But no one noticed that a man was standing on the city wall, his eyes venomous as he looked down at the group of exiles below, then fixed his gaze on Xiao Che.

As if sensing something, Xiao Che raised his head and met Yang Xianwen’s eyes directly.

Just as it was Zhu Laosan’s turn to lead the exiles into the city, the soldiers guarding the gate blocked their path.

“New rule from above. Exiles are not allowed to enter the city. Go around through the woods over there.”

Zhu Laosan glanced at the woods the soldier was pointing to, and rage surged up in him.

“Who would dare go through those woods? Shanhai Pass was built as a strategic pass between towering mountains in the first place. The terrain on both sides is treacherous precisely because it can hold off enemy invaders. You’re telling us to take the woods? Isn’t that the same as sending us to our deaths?”

The soldier drew his saber. “Whether you live or die has nothing to do with us. We’re only following the new rule. Hurry up and get lost. Keep arguing, and we’ll arrest every last one of you and treat you as spies.”

Zhu Laosan was about to keep arguing, but Xiao Che pulled him aside.