CH 42

Chapter 42 – Escape (1)

However, what the soldiers told Chen Yulian differed from the traps she encountered.  Along the way, she even lost some of the men who came with her.

“You used so much effort to come up the mountain just to cause me trouble?’

This is indeed a tremendous deal of effort!

“Who came to cause you trouble?  I have no choice………ah!  No…….don’t hit me!  I’ve already brought all of you here and you’ve promised to let me go………”

All of you?

Li Jing’er looked out of the window opening with anxiety and saw seven to eight extremely tall men standing in front of the house.  Each of them was about 180 to 190 centimeters tall and the tallest man was about 200 centimeters in height!  They were stout and burly like the tall giant named Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter’!

Although they were wearing the traditional costumes of the present dynasty, the foreign facial features of the men were very distinct.  They had fierce faces, carried bows on their backs, and had sharp curved swords tied to their waists.

She saw one of the men slap Chen Yulian and then kicked her down as if to show disdain for her uselessness.

Chen Yulian got up stiffly.  Her face had become swollen and a corner of her mouth was bleeding.  Clutching her stomach, she walked back to the door and said in a weeping tone.

“You……..open the door, or else they will beat me to death.  Slu…….Li Jing’er, help me.  My elder brother is Lord Zhenfu, he will reward you……..open the door, I’m about to die……..”

Chen Yulian did not expect that she would end up in such a messy situation as today.  Originally, she heard that her elder brother and Xiao Erlang had led troops into the city to hunt down the spies lurking inside the city, so she brought people with her to wait at the city gate for them.  She intended to waylay Xiao Erlang and confess her love to him and not let him return to this woman.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long, she encountered a group of vicious men who not only robbed her of the carriage but also killed the coach driver and the maid.  If she had not shouted that she was Lord Zhenfu’s younger sister, she might have died too.

Later she found out the identities of those men.  The group of people was Agulie, the left-hand man of Country Feng’s King, and his men.  Then she thought of an idea to kill two birds with one stone and told them that a woman of one of their pursuers lived in the mountains.  The woman could be taken as a hostage and there was also a place for them to take refuge and fill their stomachs.  Chen Yulian even volunteered to take the group of men there.

However, she did not expect the group of men to break their promise.  Although they promised not to hurt her, she was still beaten and kicked mercilessly.  They dragged her up the mountain like an animal and refused to release her.

“Your life and death have nothing to do with me.  Without you as his younger sister, Lord Zhenfu will soon get promoted and become rich.  After dragging him down for so many years, it’s time for you to repay him.”

Who can she blame?  Her life can’t be kept after committing a crime.  If she had remained at home, she would have been fine.

“Bitch, you still refused to help when you see someone is about to die!  Do you still have a conscience?  Open the door!  Don’t even think of resisting stubbornly, at least you’ll be left with a complete corpse, otherwise………”

Once she gets her hands on that woman, she will cut her into pieces and tear apart her limbs!

“Since you want me to die, why should I let you live?  Why don’t we die together and have a long talk along the road to hell?”

Will this door be able to hold up?

“You……..fine, you’re good, you’re seeking death!  You can wait to be raped and then killed…….then raped again and killed.  Your three children will be treated as two-legged lambs to be roasted alive over the fire until they’re cooked!  The flesh of children is the most cherished and they say they will give you a piece too……..”

Feeling terrified, Li Jing’er’s pink face turned pale and she turned around to hug her three children.  Li Jing’er’s body trembled with anger when Chen Yulian mentioned two-legged lambs………

Upon seeing the first crack appearing on the door, Li Jing’er could not help but make a painful decision.  Although she did not want to do it, she still had to make the decision when she saw the door could no longer withstand the external blows and the latch was bent due to the forceful impacts.

She gathered the three children in front of her and the first thing she did was stroke Shuangming’s head and then caressed Shuangzhen’s face.  With tears in her eyes, she looked at them longingly and said in a strong nasal tone.

“Shuangming, you are the elder brother.  Mother is going to tell you a secret in our house.  Listen carefully………enter this room on the left and walk to the end.  You will come to a dark tunnel.  Do you remember Mother had made you and Shuangzhen each a backpack that is similar to your father’s?  Take a set of thick clothes each and put them inside your backpacks, then put in a few pieces of dried meat and flint………”

“Mother, what do you want to do?”  Shuangming’s face was as white as a sheet of paper and he was trying not to cry.

“Grit your teeth and very quickly you’ll pass through the tunnel.  It’s freezing in the tunnel, so put on the little lamb hats that Mother made for you.  Take Shuangzhen with you through the tunnel and Mother will follow a little while later……..”

“Mother……..”

He suddenly grabbed his mother’s hand and kept shaking his head while Shuangzhen was crying silently at the side.

“Listen, let Mother finish speaking………Mother will definitely follow up and catch up with you.  How can Mother be at ease?  However, if unfortunately we get separated……..do you remember the numbers that Mother carved on the wall and taught you to recognize them?  Look for the numbers and follow them as you go down the mountain to the village.  As soon as you reach the village, look for Uncle Niu and ask him to drive the ox-cart to send you to Renxin Medical Hall in the city to find Shopkeeper Zhang.  Tell Shopkeeper Zhang your father’s name is Xiao Jingfeng and ask him to help you find your father……..”

Speaking up to here, Li Jing’er choked and could no longer speak.

“Mother, I want to be with you, I don’t want to leave……..”  Shuangming cried.

“Mother, I don’t want to go, let’s leave together………”  Shuangzhen burst into tears.

“Be good, listen to Mother.  If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to leave later because you walk very slowly.  That’s why Mother wants the both of you to leave first.  Mother has long legs to run so I’ll catch up with you very quickly.  Without both of you here, you won’t hinder me otherwise I will have to wait for you, then wouldn’t all of us be caught?”

She coaxed the children.

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“Really?  Mother……..”  Mother is indeed taller than them and can walk very fast.

“Yes, Mother will never lie.  Mother still has to carry Little Sister Yue and we’ll all go to look for Father.”

That’s not lying to you but only fooling you……….because you’re too pure and simple.

“Alright, I’ll listen to Mother.  Mother must hurry up!  I’ll protect younger sister.”

Both Shuangming and Shuangzhen first put on their clothes, then the deerskin boots to protect against the cold, furry lamb hats, and leather gloves.  In their backpack, they put in a change of clothes, some dried meat, and flint.  One child held a little dagger while the other child held a beloved silver comb and the two children ran into the interior of the cave.  Every three steps they ran, they turned around to look back and eventually disappeared into the dark corner.

Little Sister Yue who usually plays noisily with her brother and sister became very quiet and followed her mother silently with her little face all tensed up.

“Shuangyue, are you afraid?”  Her daughter who was initially swaddled like a little ball had grown up and now she could walk and run and even call her ‘mother’!

“Mother is here……..not afraid.”  The childish voice rang out loudly.

“Good girl……..Mother will protect you.”  Mother won’t let anyone hurt you………

Boom!

By this time, a hole had appeared in the door panel.  As the dazzling light shone in from outside the house, the chopping sounds of axes continued endlessly.  Not long after, many small slits appeared in the door.

Based on the movements of the light shining in, it could be deduced that people were walking back and forth outside.  After the holes became a little bigger, a human face could vaguely be seen and a big eye was peering in from one of the holes, trying to get a clear view of everything inside the house.

The surrounding outside the house was covered in snow and very bright.  However, if one is to look in, it will be very dark unless a fire is burning inside the house, otherwise, nothing can be seen except for some shadows.

On the other hand, the view is very clear when one looks out from inside the house.

As the cracks in the door panel grew bigger, one could see very clearly the number of people outside, what they were doing and even their conversation could be heard.

At this moment, Li Jing’er suddenly jumped up and did something that caught the people outside off guard.  She took out a bag of fine red powder and threw it accurately outwards through the holes.  The blowing wind scattered the fine red powder and landed on most of the people.  Following that, screams of pain could be heard.

“Ah! ! !  What’s this?”

“So spicy, spicy!  My tongue is numb…….”

“My eyes……..I can’t open my eyes!  It’s painful, I’m blinded!……”

“Ah! !   It’s chili powder!  Don’t rub!  The more you rub, the more it stings!……..*cough, cough*…….  So spicy, I’m choking……..*cough*………”

The last voice belonged to Chen Yulian.  Death was already at the doorstep but instead of taking the opportunity to escape, she actually helped the people of Country Feng and told them the powder was not poison.

But this can give her some extra time, right?

She had to leave now as she could see that the door was about to give way, so she quickly picked up her daughter and ran into the interior of the cave.  Before leaving, she glanced at the dried mushrooms that were stored on a high ledge and grabbed a handful of them.  After throwing them into the pot of leftover soup from last night, she disappeared into the darkness of the cave.

Instantly, a bone-piercing chill rushed over and it was so cold that she shivered.  The frozen animal meat was piled up high like a hill and even the stone walls in the cave were frozen.  It was so cold that her palms had turned red.

In the coldest part and the darkest bottom section of the floor, there was a small hole less than half a person’s height.  It could be seen that the tunnel was man-made.  Inside was slightly damp but devoid of water and it was only big enough for one person to pass one at a time.  This tunnel was discovered accidentally and its total length was about five li*.

(A Li is a traditional Chinese measure of distance that is about 500 meters. In other words, the tunnel is about 2500 meters in length.)

She had gone through this tunnel before and it led to the outside world.

The stone house was actually situated between two mountains and the tunnel led to the east side of the other mountain.  Between the stone house and the mountain lay dozens of mountain paths and traveling on those paths would take up two days.

Perhaps it was due to her preparation for a rainy day or due to overthinking, she had sprinkled lime and sulfur in the tunnel to keep away the snakes and also marked the trees outside the tunnel.

She had actually planned to take the children for an outing in the wild this coming spring and at the same time teach them some survival skills.