RVW-42.2

And so, after they went for about four hours, they finally arrived at Qinzhou City.

It is a small mid-sized city with a pretty developed trade market. Here, one could see merchants travelling from the south to north, and also all kinds of goods from both north and south.

The night was about to fall when they entered the city.

The inn Imperial Guard Feng chose wasn’t the biggest in Qinzhou City, but it was definitely quiet and elegant for a stop.

Ru Cui helped Ah Nan into the room in Building Tian no. 1 to rest. Ah Nan lay limply on the bed, feeling her stomach churning, not wanting to eat. She only flicked the food Ru Cui brought over twice before setting it aside.

“Xiao Jie, it’s not good for you to be like this. It has only been a few days but your chin has gotten sharper. Wang ye would definitely be heartbroken once he saw it.” Ru Cui worriedly said, “Xiao Jie is cuter and huggable when round and smooth. I am sure Wang ye also thinks that way…..”

This is such a blatant teasing¹Actually the RAW for “blatant teasing” basically says naked molestation/21+ teasing ah!

Ah Nan, teased by this maid, glared fiercely at Ru Cui. Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t seem to have much threatening power.

Imperial Guard Feng had hurriedly invited a doctor from Qinzhou city over.

After the doctor felt Ah Nan’s pulse, he only said that Ah Nan’s body was weak because she hadn’t rested well recently and would be fine after recuperating for a few days. After he prescribed some medicine, he was then dragged to see Ru Lan, the maid who was in an even more pitiful state.

At night, Ah Nan went to bed and rested after taking the medicine.

Ah Nan lay in bed, unable to sleep well. Although there was a brazier burning in the room, she still felt a little cold. She really wanted to call Ru Cui in to warm the beddings. However, when she thought of Chu Baning’s expression once he found out, Ah Nan shuddered and quickly dismissed the thought.

Ah Nan suddenly felt the inconvenience of ancient time’s transportation system. Who knows when these monotonous and uncomfortable days would come to an end. She also thought of Chu Baning currently in Tongcheng, missing him even more. For a moment, she also thought, with her running here like this, what should she do if he gets angry…..

Ah Nan finally dazed to sleep amidst her running wild imagination.

*******

The next day, the sky was gloomy and cold wind howled by, but everyone still continued to set out for Tongcheng.

Who knows if it was because she was shaken dizzy so much that she got used to it, but for the remaining two days of journey, Ru Lan actually recovered without taking medicine. She no longer vomited or dizzy no matter how much the carriage shook, and could even eat, drink, and defecate like usual. Ru Lan’s complexion was no longer pale, except for looking a bit thinner, she otherwise looked spirited. Her condition was better than when they had just set off. It seems like the previous bout of illness was just for her to build up strength, she could recover on her own after enough rest.

On the other hand, Ah Nan has become more and more sick. Her body has lost the chub and fat, chin has also become sharper, giving off the impression of a classic sickly beauty. If it were in the past, Ah Nan would have been ecstatic to have Sister Lin’s aura that would make people be distressed for her. But now, Ah Nan only felt that these days are torture.

Ru Lan seemed to blame herself, thinking that it was because of her getting motion sickness and couldn’t attend to Ah Nan properly that she became like this——As for Ru Cui? Ru Lan just knows that idiot, she was only brought to amuse Wang fei and isn’t particularly useful, it’s the same with or without her presence.

The cold wind howled past, and the dry grass on the roadside was blown to the ground. The mountain was quiet, only the sound of horse hooves clattering and the creaking sound of carriages running over could be heard.

Imperial Guard Feng’s expression hardened as he looked at the dense forest ahead. He then made a gesture to the guards behind him, one that the Grand Imperial Guards are very familiar with. Quickly, 16 Grand Imperial Guards surrounded the carriage without a trace, forming a tight protective formation. Although Su Wang Mansion’s Imperial guards didn’t know what the Imperial Guard Feng had discovered, they were also carefully selected guards, if they saw something wrong, they would naturally be on guard at once.

In the carriage, Ah Nan’s whole body lay limply in Ru Lan’s arms, her face flushed red, beads of sweat was oozing from her forehead, her pale lips were cracked as she let out heavy gasps.

Ru Cui poured a cup of honey water and carefully brought it over to prevent spillage by the shaking carriage, then fed it to Ah Nan little by little. Ru Lan carefully wiped the sweat off Ah Nan’s forehead with a handkerchief, and then placed a damp handkerchief on her forehead to cool the fever down. She anxiously looked at the carriage window, but the curtains were drawn shut tightly, nothing outside could be seen. She just couldn’t help but want to look outside to give herself some comfort.

“Ru Cui, go ask Imperial Guard Feng when we will arrive in Tongcheng,” Ru Lan anxiously said, “Wang fei’s temperature is getting higher. If her fever won’t subside soon, I’m afraid that……” Ru Lan was choked up as she spoke.

Ah Nan’s fever started early this morning, when they had just set off. It was only a mild fever then, but who knows if it was because she was exposed to the wind in the carriage, but she had already developed a high fever by noon. However, there is no village or shops here, everyone also didn’t know what they should do, moreover there is still more than four hours left before they could arrive at Tongcheng. Imperial Guard Feng gritted his teeth and could only sped up.

“Ru Lan Jie jie, I just asked, there’s still two hours left,” Ru Cui whispered, feeling equally as anxious.

The two of them looked at the feverish Ah Nan, their hearts sinking. Two hours….. They are afraid two hours would be too long and their Wang fei couldn’t wait until then.

Just as the two maids were anxious, suddenly there was a sound of bow string flicking as it shot an arrow, followed by the sound of swords striking something.

The ones in the carriage couldn’t see anything, but they could hear Imperial Guard Feng outside shouting, “Protect the carriage!” Then the sounds of fight and murder could be heard. The horse pulling the carriage was frightened by the sneak shot of arrows in the ambush, suddenly neighing incessantly. Despite the coachman trying to control it repeatedly, the horse still spun for a while before stopping. Those in the carriage were made dizzy and turned around. Ru Cui and Ru Lan’s expressions changed greatly, the two of them went to left and right, tightly protecting the feverish Ah Nan.

“It’s Bei Yue people, kill them!!” Imperial Guard Feng quickly found their attackers’ identity and shouted out angrily.

Although Ah Nan had a high fever, she wasn’t muddled by the fever and naturally heard sounds from outside. Suddenly, the carriage slammed onto the brakes, and the three of them were thrown out with some force. Ru Cui was the luckiest, stuck in the carriage door and didn’t fall off. Ru Lan and Ah Nan, on the other hand, were unlucky and got thrown out of the carriage together, rolling down the road until they reached somewhere grassy.

Fortunately, the vegetation in the late autumn is variative and has yet to completely wither, it could be said somewhat dense. They happened to fall into a thicket of grass and didn’t break their bones. But Ah Nan was unlucky enough to knock her forehead on a small stone hidden in the grass. At that moment, she just felt that her forehead was warming up, there was something warm flowing out.

Ah Nan’s head was shaken to dizziness, she could hear the surrounding people crying out “Wang fei” in alarm. Inwardly, she cursed the attacking BeiYue people. They actually dared to come running here to Great Chu’s territory and launched a sneak attack. These BeiYue people sure have a lot of guts. 

“Wang fei, Wang fei…”

Ru Lan’s voice carried some sobbing sounds, she disregarded her pain and hurriedly stood up and pulled Ah Nan up, checking her over for any injuries. When she saw Ah Nan’s forehead had been wounded with blood still flowing down the corners of her eyes, looking extremely ghastly, she just wanted to cry then and there. Ru Lan pressed on the wound on Ah Nan’s forehead with a handkerchief and tightly hugged her as she looked at the battle ahead in terror.

The total number of their guards were only 30, while there were about 150 BeiYue people who launched the ambush. There was a large disparity of numbers with the enemies. Even if the guards are incredibly courageous, they also couldn’t take enemies five times their number. Despair filled their hearts, if no one came to save them, their lives would end here today. Right at this moment, a BeiYue was directly beheaded by a guard. The blood spurted out, that head flew over then rolled over to their feet, scaring Ru Lan to eventually let out a shriek.

Ah Nan squirted her eyes and looked over, only to see blood and flashes of glistening blades. A lot of people are dead, some are BeiYue people, there are also the guards who escorted them. Ah Nan felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, knowing that she had bad luck. Just as they were about to reach Tongcheng, they actually ran into something like this. God sure loves her a lot.

At this moment, Ah Nan saw Ru Cui climbing off the carriage and ran towards them. And behind her was a BeiYue person lifting his blade to her back…..

“Ru Cui…”

Suddenly, something different happened. The sound of an arrow being shot was heard, and an arrow came piercing through the BeiYue person’s throat. His eyes still wide open, he died before knowing it, his body collapsing to the ground. Ru Cui was also so frightened she jumped over to the side, patting her chest looking terrified.

Not far away, a group of soldiers in Great Chu uniforms straightened up and fired arrows on the BeiYue people. Behind those soldiers are two men riding on their horses, one black one white figures, looking extremely eye-catching. The two sat high on their horses, hands grasping on the reins as they observed the battlefield from afar. Obviously they are the commanders of this group of soldiers.

“The people ahead, who are you?” A man dressed in military gear loudly shouted.

“We are…..”

Imperial Guard Feng slashed the BeiYue person in front of him to death and wiped off the blood splashes on his face. But just as he was about to answer, he saw a delicate woman rushing forward and beat him from answering first, shouting on top of her lungs and mournfully shouted at the person not far away:

“Wang ye! Wang ye! Wang fei is here!!”

Everyone shivered in fear at the maid’s mournful cry. But the black-clothed man in Jinzhuang²This is Jin Zhuang (劲装), a type of clothing for fights ahead rode over even faster. The black beautiful horse shuttled through the crowd, causing the wind to howl as it passed. It neighed once it reached a thicket of grass, raised its front hooves high, and then came to a stop after a few seconds.

Ah Nan tilted her face up, looking against the light, and saw that familiar face no longer having the usual solemn expression, instead he looked both frightened and furious. For some reason, she felt incredibly happy, indescribable excitement and joy surged in her heart. Unexpectedly, she herself was able to make him change his expression, she felt extremely happy.

Then, Ah Nan smiled towards that person, and finally let herself faint in Ru Lan’s arms.