The fifth time, the journey is difficult
Li Liuyan noticed that there were more than 20 people in this group. Other than herself and the owner, Manager Zheng, the rest were all people from the escort agency. Their escort leader heard that everyone called him Chief Escort Zhou, but Li Liuyan did not ask about it.
The group of people continued walking. If they were lucky, they could still stay in an inn when night fell in town. Otherwise, they could only sleep in the wilderness. After walking for a few days, Li Liuyan felt her back ache, her legs cramped, and her butt was red and swollen from the bumpy ride. Li Liuyan thought that she had learned some ways to strengthen her body from Lu Wushuang in the past half a year. Otherwise, she would have collapsed by now. She really missed the days when she had a car to travel.
Li Liuyan frowned and gritted her teeth as she followed behind the escort team. Shopkeeper Zheng slowed down and approached them, saying,[Brother Li, are you alright?]
Li Liuyan was usually easygoing and got along well with everyone. Shopkeeper Zheng was in his forties, with a thick waist and a round face. His eyes were usually narrowed into a line, and with his small mustache, he looked harmless. He had been in business for 20 years and was used to seeing all kinds of things in life. Li Liuyan came from the future and had extraordinary knowledge. The two of them hit it off when they chatted. Shopkeeper Zheng saw that Li Liuyan was having a hard time traveling and came over to offer his condolences.
Li Liuyan pretended to be cool and said,"It's fine, I'm still holding on."]
Shopkeeper Zheng smiled and said,"You're suffering because you want to save face. Look at your wrinkles. They're all twisted into dough twists. You're still fine?"]
Li Liuyan said,[If crying is useful, I don't mind crying.] Anyway, the matter was already set in stone. If he were to complain, he might as well face it with a smile.]
Shopkeeper Zheng said," Brother Li, you're still so open-minded. Back then, when I was doing business, everything went wrong, and I couldn't help but blame everyone. After that, my business became even worse. It was only when I was in my thirties that I realized that I had to be optimistic about everything. I pulled myself together and started from scratch. That's how I built this foundation.]
Li Liuyan said,[Business is hard. It's not easy for you to travel all over the world.]]
Shopkeeper Zheng sighed,"I worked so hard to earn this family business, all because I wanted my child to have a good environment." You don't know that my unfilial son doesn't study. He only knows how to spend money to have fun. He can really anger people to death.]
Li Liuyan said,[The world isn't just about studying. Bring him along when you do business and let him experience the hardships of the world.]]
Shopkeeper Zheng said," I only have one son. When he was in his teens, my business wasn't doing well, so he followed me through hardships. Now that I have a family business, how can I bear to let him follow me? You've only been gone for a few days, and you're already so tired. My son can't bear such hardship. The world is so chaotic now…]
Li Liuyan heard Manager Zheng's words and sighed,[Poor parents.] He didn't say anything else.
The weather was getting colder and colder. Not long after, Li Liuyan ran into Chang Xue, the first person she met on her way here.
The snow was very light. Li Liuyan opened her palm and the snow fell on her hand. It was slightly cold and disappeared without a trace. Li Liuyan looked into the distance. In front of her was a small mountain, and there were trees by the roadside. Li Liuyan closed her eyes and imagined the beautiful scenery when the snow was heavy.
Suddenly, there was a commotion. A group of people rushed out from the forest and blocked the escort team. Li Liuyan was shocked.[Could it be that we met bandits again?] These days, they had encountered a few horse bandits, but they had been chased away by the escort team and had long fled.
Li Liuyan looked closely at the bandits in front of her. They were all valiant, and there were more than 30 of them. She couldn't help but worry. She rode to Shopkeeper Zheng's side and said,[Is there a problem?]
Shopkeeper Zheng had never seen such a large-scale horse gang before. He muttered,"[I don't know. I'll tell you after I read it.]
Chief Escort Zhou rode his horse forward and cupped his fists.[Are you all from the Buping Mountain Village? I and Chief Sun…]
A burst of strange laughter interrupted Chief Escort Zhou's words. Chief Escort Zhou looked over and saw the burly man in the lead. He was bald and wore a fur coat, revealing his chest. While playing with the saber in his hand, he said casually,[The grandson you mentioned died under my blade long ago. Now, I am in charge of the Buping Mountain Stronghold. Remember, I am the Five Tigers Broken Sect's Dao Qian Buduan.]]
Chief Escort Zhou quickly said,"So it's Stronghold Chieftain Qian. I'm…"
Qian Buduan waved his hand and said,"If you want to pass by safely, fine. As long as you leave the escort carriage behind, I won't touch a single one of your people. As for me, I only want money."]
Chief Escort Zhou was stunned when he heard this. As the saying goes, there are rules in the trade, and rats have their ways. When escorts work, as long as they pay their respects to the various Fort Masters and Village Masters along the way, the journey would be considered peaceful. There would only be a small group of insignificant thieves. He had never met someone who didn't know the rules.
Before Chief Escort Zhou could reply, Qian Bulian said, Do you think I don't have enough materials to keep these carriages?] As soon as he finished speaking, the lackey behind him took the bow and arrow, pulled the bowstring, and shot an arrow at Chief Escort Zhou.
Chief Escort Zhou was already prepared. He drew his sword and brandished it in front of his chest to protect himself. With a ding, Chief Escort Zhou knocked the arrow away. He felt his thumb and forefinger go numb.[What strength!] He knew that he had met a tough guy today and would not be kind. He spurred his horse forward and shouted,[Go!]
When Qian Bulian saw Chief Escort Zhou come forward, he shouted,"Okay!" and urged his horse to welcome him. Both sides saw that their commanders were already fighting and rushed forward.
Seeing that they were fighting, Shopkeeper Zheng said to Li Liuyan," Brother Li, it looks like this is going to be difficult. If the escort team is in a bad situation, you and I will escape as soon as possible.]
Li Liuyan had never gotten into a fight before. The only fights she had seen were in movies and television shows. Hence, when she saw the two sides fighting, she was a little excited. However, when she saw a bandit chop off the head of a bodyguard, blood spurted out. Seeing the head rolling over, Li Liuyan's face turned pale. The brother who had been drinking with her yesterday had become a headless corpse.
Li Liuyan, who had been hurt mentally, couldn't even answer Manager Zheng's question. She could only nod.
The situation was indeed unfavorable for the escort team. Firstly, they were at a disadvantage in numbers. Secondly, the people in the escort team were obviously not as bloodthirsty as the bandits. The more they killed, the more frightened they were, while the bandits became more excited. There were casualties on both sides. Soon, only Chief Escort Zhou and four or five people were still fighting.
There were many people on the bandits 'side. Two of them saw that Shopkeeper Zheng and Li Liuyan were hiding far away, so they rode their horses over. When Shopkeeper Zheng saw this, he shouted at Li Liuyan,"[Run!] With that, he turned his horse around and ran. Li Liuyan reacted and quickly followed.
Li Liuyan was still behind Manager Zheng, but she had overtaken Manager Zheng in just a moment. Li Liuyan looked at the thin horse she had bought and thought to herself, Could it be that you also sensed danger, so you ran so desperately?]
He turned his head and looked behind him. The two bandits were following closely behind him, and there were no signs of them catching up. Li Liuyan said,[Fortunately, their mounts aren't very fast.]]
Just like that, the tug-of-war began. Li Liuyan focused on driving her beloved sedan.
There was a scream. Li Liuyan quickly turned around and saw that Shopkeeper Zheng had an arrow stuck in his back.
Li Liu Yan shouted,"Shopkeeper Zheng, how are you?"]
Shopkeeper Zheng said,"It's…okay. Don't stop. Keep…keep running!"]
Li Liuyan didn't know how long he had been running. Although the horse bandits behind him had disappeared, he didn't dare to stop. He shouted several times for Shopkeeper Zheng to stay on the horse, but there was no response.
Shopkeeper Zheng fell off his horse. Li Liuyan quickly reined in the horse and jumped down. She ran over to pick up Shopkeeper Zheng and checked his pulse. Knowing that Shopkeeper Zheng was not dead, she quickly pinched his philtrum.
A moment later, Shopkeeper Zheng slowly woke up. Li Liuyan saw the arrow that had hit his back and knew that Shopkeeper Zheng was afraid that he would not live for long. She did not know what to say.
Shopkeeper Zheng smiled miserably and said," Brother…Li, I didn't expect…that I would die…here. I only hope that you can…bring my corpse…back to Jiaxing."]
Li Liuyan said,"Don't worry, I'll definitely help you."]
Shopkeeper Zheng said,"Thank you…When you reach Jiaxing…tell my son not to play around."] As soon as he finished speaking, Shopkeeper Zheng slowly closed his eyes and took his last breath.
Li Liuyan placed Shopkeeper Zheng's body on the horse's back. She found a nearby village and paid for a coffin. She then hired some people to bury Shopkeeper Zheng's body.
Li Liuyan bowed to Shopkeeper Zheng's grave and said," Brother Zheng, I can only bury you here first. When I return from Xiangyang, I will definitely bring you back to Jiaxing.] Li Liuyan poured another glass of wine and continued on her way.
Because of the delay in Manager Zheng's burial, it was not far from the 24th of October. Li Liu Yan did not care about the journey to Xingchen. Originally, she did not have to worry about anything when traveling with the escort team. However, on her own journey, Li Liu Yan encountered a lot of trouble. She did not know that the journey could not be calculated. For the past few days, Li Liu Yan had been camping in the wild and eating cold steamed buns.
It was already late at night, but Li Liuyan was still hurrying on her way. They were only a few dozen miles away from Xiangyang, but it was already the 24th of October. If it got any later, everything would be over.
Suddenly, there was a flash of white light in the sky. Soon, there was a muffled sound, and the ground shook. The horse was so frightened that Li Liuyan almost fell off.
Li Liuyan stared blankly at the sky and muttered, Nanyang fire, looks like the Mongolian army's gunpowder warehouse exploded. After rushing for so many days and suffering so much, we still didn't make it in time.]
Li Liuyan was in a daze as she muttered to herself,[A world-famous hero invited all the heroes in the world to celebrate a woman's birthday. Yang Guo, oh Yang Guo, since you are afraid of arousing unnecessary lovesickness and put on a mask, why did you give Guo Xiang three gifts in front of everyone?] Do you really want all the good women in the world to be heartbroken for you?] Thinking of Cheng Ying, Li Liuyan gritted her teeth and cursed Yang Guo.
Li Liuyan knew that she wouldn't be able to make it in time even if she continued on her journey, so she got off her horse, picked up some firewood, and started a fire under a tree. After eating some steamed buns, she laid her head on the bundle and fell asleep. He had been living in the wind and sleeping in the open these past few days. He was really too tired.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]