Chapter 42: "I Said, Even If It's a Dead End..."
The further south they traveled, the damper and colder the weather became. As night fell, a torrential cold rain began to pour.
Xiao Li had been hurrying Wen Yu along for dozens of miles. When they finally found an inn in the rain, it was already packed to capacity. Even the main hall downstairs was filled with people sleeping on makeshift beds on the floor, all seeking shelter from the rain and making do for the night.
The moment they stepped inside, the inn attendant waved his hands repeatedly: "No room, no room! The main hall and the woodshed are both full. You'll have to find somewhere else to rest!"
Wen Yu's cold hadn't yet healed, and with the rain now so heavy—and the next town still over ten miles away—Xiao Li didn't dare continue traveling with her. He slipped a piece of broken silver into the attendant's hand and said, "Please, young man, do us a favor. We just need a place to shelter from the rain."
The attendant, holding the silver, said somewhat awkwardly, "The inn really is full. But the stable can provide shelter from the rain. If you don't mind, you could make do there for the night?"
Xiao Li wasn't afraid of dirt or stench, but he worried Wen Yu might not be able to bear the smell in the stable, so he hesitated and looked at her.
Wen Yu had used her shawl to cover her hair, doubling it as a wind-blocking face covering that concealed the lower half of her face. She also wore the bamboo hat Xiao Li had given her, wrapping herself up completely.
The inn attendant could only tell she was a woman from her clothing. Seeing Xiao Li look at her, he also turned his gaze her way and heard a particularly hoarse "It's fine" from under the hat.
The attendant happily tucked the silver into his sleeve and led them to the backyard: "Alright then! Follow me, honored guests!"
The rain was heavy that night, and the inn was full of people. The stable was also packed with horses, but fortunately, the compartment where fodder was stored still had space to stand.
The inn attendant tossed some rain-splattered fodder into the neighboring trough and said to them, "This is the place. The smell might be a bit unpleasant, but it's much quieter than squeezing onto the floor in the main hall! With so many guests tonight, we're overwhelmed. If there's any lack of hospitality, please forgive us."
Xiao Li simply said it was no trouble.
After the attendant left, Wen Yu took off her hat and covered her mouth as she coughed repeatedly.
Xiao Li piled the dry fodder further inside and urged her to lie down and rest, frowning as he asked, "Did getting caught in the rain worsen your cold?"
Wen Yu had been shielded by the hat; only the hem of her skirt and her shoes and socks were thoroughly soaked. Xiao Li, however, was drenched from head to toe by the cold rain, with water droplets still dripping from the ends of his hair.
She shook her head and looked at the person whose soaked clothes clung to his robust physique, saying, "I'm alright. Why don't you ask the attendant for a set of dry clothes? Wearing wet clothes after being drenched in the rain can lead to illness from accumulated cold."
Xiao Li said, "My skin and flesh are tough and sturdy. I won't get sick."
The rain was noisy, and the constant dripping under the eaves was unceasing.
He wrung the water from his sleeve and looked outside: "This rain will probably last all night. Your shoes and socks are soaked; they might not dry by tomorrow."
He turned to Wen Yu and said, "I'll go find a brazier for you to warm yourself by, and I'll heat your medicine too."
Before Wen Yu could say "Wear your hat," he had already dashed out into the rain and left the stable.
Wen Yu thought of their argument that afternoon, her eyes lowering as a flood of complicated thoughts swept through her mind.
Outside the inn, a team of officers, wearing bamboo hats and straw raincoats, reined in their horses as they arrived swiftly through the rain.The twenty-some riders at the front wore no armor, all clad in black capes.
The leader said, "This is the place. If Wen Shi's daughter took this route, within a dozen miles, this is the only inn where she could rest. The heavy rain tonight is truly heaven-sent."
The tightly shut inn door was kicked open. Those sleeping in the main hall scrambled up in panic, and upon seeing the soldiers entering with blades in hand, they screamed in terror.
A cold gleam swept from the hand of the man in the black cape, and the one who screamed fell into a pool of blood.
He said coldly, "Too noisy. Anyone else who cries or wails will meet the same fate."
Everyone in the main hall trembled with fear, covering their mouths, not daring to make another sound.
The man gave a slight nod of his chin toward those behind him, and the soldiers following him surged into the inn, beginning a thorough search.
Those remaining in the main hall held a portrait, grabbing the hair of each female guest one by one, carefully comparing their faces to the image.
With cold blades pressed before them, the women's eyes brimmed with tears, but even as their necks and behind their ears were roughly handled, they dared not cry out.
A soldier dragged out the inn attendant hiding under the counter and brought him before the man, reporting respectfully, "Thirteenth Captain, we've caught an inn worker."
The attendant kowtowed repeatedly in terror, "Sir, I'm just a lowly laborer, always honest and law-abiding. I beg you, spare my life!"
"Look up."
The attendant raised his tear-streaked face and saw the man unfurl a scroll in his hand, asking coldly, "Have you seen the woman in this painting?"
—
Xiao Li, passing from the stable through the inn's backyard to the kitchen, heard the commotion and screams from the main hall through the rain, but they quickly fell silent.
He paused, sensing trouble, and hid behind a locust tree in the yard under cover of darkness.
Hurried footsteps approached.
The lanterns hanging in the inn's back hall swayed violently in the strong wind. In the dim, yellowish glow, cold rain poured down as soldiers' boots splashed through the mud. The leader searching the area shouted, "You few, search the kitchen! You others, search the stables! The rest, come with me to the woodshed!"
The torrential rain masked many sounds.
Xiao Li silently subdued the three soldiers heading to the stables. Just as he was about to rush back to find Wen Yu, he suddenly heard the neighing of horses from the stable area.
His expression tightened, and he hurried toward the stables.
Upon arrival, he found the haystack in disarray, the backyard gate wide open, and one horse missing from the stable, as if Wen Yu had left in a hurry.
Commotion arose again from the front courtyard, and outside the inn, the sound of pursuing horses could faintly be heard.
Thinking Wen Yu had heard the disturbance in the main hall and left alone on horseback to avoid burdening him, Xiao Li's face darkened. He kicked open the door of a nearby stable, startling the horse inside, which neighed in alarm.
Xiao Li grabbed the reins and commanded coldly, "Out!"
He led the Chestnut Horse into the rain, mounted it, and was about to chase after her when a clear, slightly hoarse voice called from behind, "Xiao Li?"
Xiao Li stiffened, reining in the horse and turning back. He saw the bamboo basket filled with hay in the empty stable shift, and Wen Yu emerged from it, a few strands of dry grass stuck in her hair, looking somewhat disheveled as she said, "I'm here!"A heart clenched and suspended high, then brutally slammed to the ground—this was roughly what Xiao Li felt at this moment.
Lightning tore through the pitch-black sky. Seated on horseback, drenched by the torrential rain, water droplets trickling down his jaw, he stared at the figure emerging from the hay basket: "You didn’t leave?"
Wen Yu, heedless of the rain soaking her, rushed to his horse and said, "I heard the hoofbeats outside the inn and the commotion in the main hall, so I guessed the pursuers had arrived. I tied some dry grass to the horse’s back, covered it with a straw hat and cape, and used your trick from last time—prodding the horse’s hindquarters to make it bolt and lead them away."
She handed him the bundle: "Soon, more than just us will be riding away. When the officers realize they’ve been tricked and turn back, the more people leaving the inn on horseback, the more their forces will be scattered, increasing our chances of escape!"
Xiao Li took the bundle, hung it on the side of the saddle, and then, gazing at the slender, pale hand extended toward him through the rain, gripped it firmly and pulled her up onto the horse. Wen Yu landed securely in front of him.
The moment he spurred the horse into a gallop, Wen Yu felt the arm wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling tighten abruptly.
Her back collided solidly with his chest, and she was almost completely enveloped in his embrace, held so tightly it felt constricting.
Wen Yu turned her head in surprise to look at him, but Xiao Li had already lifted the arm around her waist, shifting it to shield her face from the cold wind and rain, as if the earlier bone-crushing embrace had merely been an unintentional act in the heat of the moment.
A flash of lightning illuminated the world in an eerie, pale white.
The panicked horse laden with dry grass was intercepted. Pei Shisan tore off the cape tied to the hay and saddle, his expression—along with those of his companions—turning grim and furious.
He hurled the cape to the ground with a snarl: "The area within a ten-mile radius is completely surrounded. They won’t escape tonight! Turn back and pursue them!"
In the rain-soaked night, all sounds were muted, making the sudden clatter of hoofbeats on the official road especially distinct.
Xiao Li rode for an unknown length of time. When another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, it revealed the glint of arrowheads amid the distant trees and undergrowth.
"Ambush!"
Realizing the danger, he shouted the warning and, in almost the same instant, scooped up Wen Yu and rolled off the horse.
There was no sound of bowstrings being released, only the swift whistling of arrows cutting through the air. The horse was struck and collapsed, while the swarm of arrows, as if guided, pursued Xiao Li, embedding themselves in rows across the muddy ground where he and Wen Yu had rolled.
Wen Yu’s heartbeat nearly stopped. Only after Xiao Li dragged her into the roadside thicket, shielded by reeds nearly as tall as a person, did the volley of arrows cease.
Having narrowly escaped death, both she and Xiao Li were breathing heavily, their breaths unsteady.
Sheltered beneath him in the tangled reeds, she felt the droplets from his soaked hair fall against her neck. Her chest heaved violently as she whispered, "The official road is blocked. We’re likely trapped within a cordoned search area."
Xiao Li looked down at her, their breaths mingling through the cold, damp air.
It was impossible to tell how many were lying in ambush in the rain, but the enemy had crossbows positioned in the darkness. If they dared show themselves on the road, they would be riddled with arrows.
Escaping tonight seemed harder than scaling the heavens.
The sound of chaotic footsteps drew nearer through the rain. From the side, the rustling of grass being parted was heard. Xiao Li’s Miao blade flashed from its sheath, and two officers fell, blood spilling from their necks.He sheathed his blade and turned, his single arm locking around Wen Yu’s slender waist as he lifted her and swiftly retreated deeper into the reeds. “I told you—even if it’s a dead end, I’ll carve a path out for you.”
The soldiers who rushed over upon hearing the commotion only found the corpses of two comrades.
The rainy night became their best cover. The sound of heavy rain beating against leaves masked the faint rustling of grass and footsteps.
Xiao Li’s Miao knife dripped with blood. Along the way, he had cut down all who stood in his path.
A faint crackle of dried reeds being stepped on came from ahead. His Miao knife swung horizontally, blocking two steel blades chopping down through the torrential rain. As he kicked one soldier flying, the arm holding Wen Yu’s waist swung back, the force sending her soaring into the air. Her foot struck another soldier’s jaw.
Xiao Li switched to his right arm, firmly securing her waist, while his left wielded the blade as they vanished once more into the rain-shrouded reeds.
On the official road, the captain dismounted and inspected the dozens of subordinates whose throats had been slit with a single strike. His expression darkened. “That Wen Shi woman has an expert with her. Just surround them here—don’t press the pursuit. Wait for the thirteen captains to arrive and capture them.”
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