Bend Over [ 折腰 ] - Chapter 12

[Chapter 12: Liu Lang]

The people sent the princely bride out of the city, it was normal, Wei Liang did not care at first, gradually saw more and more people gathering, and finally they actually rushed to chase the carriage, the two sides of the crowd like a market, if it were not for the fact that there were soldiers on both sides of the carriage with spears to accompany them, they were afraid that they would all be crowded over, their hearts were anxious, and they looked back at Wei Shao, who was slightly behind, and saw that he seemed to have some unhappiness on his face.

Obviously, such a scene should not be within his expectations.

Wei Liang couldn’t help but complain in his heart that Qiao Nu was troublesome, and then looked at the carriage, fortunately she had lowered the curtain, hurriedly patted the horse closer, while personally escorting the carriage, while loudly ordering people to disperse, and finally out of the city, which accelerated the speed, and finally stopped at the side of the road a few miles away from the city gate.

Wei Shao’s face was still heavy as water, he couldn’t see what he was thinking, and he didn’t get off the horse. When Wei Liang and the others arrived at him to say goodbye, they gave two orders and told him to be careful on the road, and then his eyes lifted up, and he swept the carriage in front of him, which had not been opened since leaving the city, and drove the horse back to the city.

Wei Liang stood on the side of the road, watching the figure on Wei Shao’s horse gradually disappear, turn around and shout at his entourage: “Get on the road!” Send the lady back to her hometown as soon as possible, and I can come back earlier! ”

……

This New Year’s Day has passed on the road. Four or five days later, I arrived at a place called Qiuji, and crossed a winding mountain road a few miles ahead, which was the situation between the rivers. It was almost evening, it was dark, and the wind blew like a knife, as if it were going to snow. Considering that the winding mountain road was difficult to walk, he stopped and settled down in the nearest courtyard to spend the night.

In the carriage where Xiao Qiao sat, there was a stove and a mattress, but even so, at the end of the day, the toes were also frozen and numb, not to mention that Zhong Mi and the maid were sitting in an ordinary carriage without a stove. When there was a short break at noon, she asked Chunniang to call Zhong Mi and the maid and let them sit in their own carriage for warmth. Zhong Mi refused, saying that there was a difference between the upper and lower levels, and the master and servant should not be confused. The maid was a little afraid of her, and when she saw that she was not up, she had to grit her teeth and continue to ride in the same car with her. At this time, I finally stayed, although this inn was dilapidated, it was much warmer than outside, and after entering, everyone relaxed.

Xiao Qiao paid for it and asked Yi Cheng to buy some pork head meat and wine to come back and let Wei Liang and the sergeants who escorted him all the way to eat wine to warm up. Yi Cheng learned that she was a member of Wei Shao’s family, and where did she dare to ask for money. Xiao Qiao naturally would not let him paste it upside down and let ChunNiang pass it over. Yi Cheng personally went out to buy it back and burned it on the table. The sergeant was very grateful to this considerate lady, and sat down to eat and drink. Wei Liang stood at the door of the stagecoach, looking at the dark sky outside, and there seemed to be some concern in his expression.

The cold of the northern waxing moon is really not covered.

Xiao Qiao gave birth to a pair of fleshy feet, round toes, fingernails are light pink, and there are neat small crescents on them, which looks very cute, once in Yanzhou, winter has never had frostbite. Only a few days here, began to itch, last night was even more itchy scratching the liver, rubbing and rubbing in the bed, fortunately Chunniang was thoughtful, before going out with frostbite cream, picked out some out to smear her, and then helped her rub, tossed half a night, late at night to fall asleep, the next morning, was woken up by Chunniang, said that it was snowing outside, General Wei had already gotten up, this time people were waiting for her on the road outside the lobby, just sent someone to urge.

Little Qiao was sleepy, yawning, holding back his breath, and was pulled out of the hot bed in pain, half-open and half-closed, confused by Chunniang’s service to get dressed, randomly groomed, ate a few bites of what was sent over, and the maid over there also put the cover away and went out to the lobby together.

Wei Liang had been waiting for some time, and was impatient, when he finally saw her coming, although he was dissatisfied, only she was a female monarch after all, and she did not dare to make too much trouble, so he performed a ritual haphazardly, and said in a rough voice, “It is difficult to walk on the winding mountain road, I am afraid that the snow will get heavier and heavier, I will go on the road earlier, or I will pass earlier,” and when she was finished, she shouted loudly and prepared to go out.

Xiao Qiao knew that he was anxious to get himself to Yuyang as soon as possible. Walking to the eaves of the door outside the inn, I saw that overnight, the heavens and the earth had become a world wrapped in silver, and the snow that was deeper than the calf had accumulated in the ditch next to the road, and the distance was white, and a gust of wind swept over, and the whole person snorted.

The carriage had stopped at the gate, and Little Joe was about to go up, when four or five people hurriedly came from the opposite road, looking like merchants on the road in the morning, and ran to the gate of the inn to hide from the snow, while stomping on the snow on his feet, he said: “Is the general going to go to the river?” The mountain road is blocked in front of me, and I can’t go over!

Wei Liang asked exactly. The merchant explained in a tongue-in-cheek manner. It is said that they went out in the morning, and when they reached the front of the mountain, they saw that the stones on the mountain collapsed, blocking the way and making it impossible to pass.

“The hills are piled high!”

A businessman is more than a hand.

“Alas, I’m afraid I’m going to be stuck here, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to pass.”

Another of his companions sighed.

Wei Liang froze, as if he didn’t believe it, he groaned, asked Xiao Qiao to go ahead and wait, and took two people on horseback himself, braving the wind and snow to see what was going on.

When he returned, his brow was wrinkled, saying that the road was indeed blocked by falling rocks, and he should not be able to walk today.

Little Joe listened, covered his face, yawned, and turned to go in. The maid opened the covers and laid them back, and she went inside to catch up on sleep.

No one urged her anymore. The sleep was refreshed. When I woke up, my cheeks were covered with red, my feet were smeared with frostbite cream, and I put on my socks before going to sleep, which was also very comfortable. Got up and ate, and it was already afternoon.

The lobby in front of the stagecoach is also much livelier than in the morning.

In such bad weather, most of them are still running outside, except for a few people like Xiao Qiao who have unspeakable hidden hardships, most of them are merchants traveling in the field. The lobby is all because the road is blocked and turned back here to temporarily settle down for warmth. The eunuch did not drive them away, allowing the caravan to stay in the lobby in front of them for the time being, but not to break into the back hall at will.

Wei Liang only wanted to send Xiao Qiao to Yuyang as soon as possible, but he didn’t expect that just a few days after he came out, the road would be blocked, and his heart was anxious, lest it rain again tonight, the stones would probably freeze together, and it would be even more difficult to eradicate it again, and when he saw that the snow was gradually showing signs of stopping, he immediately organized people to go to the passage.

The merchants also longed to go on the road earlier, and seeing that the general had taken the lead, they all echoed, Wei Liang counted the people, brought good tools, left two relatives, ordered them to take care of Lady Junhou here, and led the people away.

……

In the back hall, the charcoal fire of the stove in the house is flourishing and warm.

Anyway, today is no matter what, I can’t go, Chunniang took out the needle basket, and a few maids made needlework around the stove. Little Joe was leaning over the bed in a daze. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, and it turned out that the coach had brought a plate of chestnuts that had just been roasted on the fire, which was sweet and fragrant. Chunniang handed some money to Yi Cheng and took the chestnuts. Little Qiao asked the maid to wrap some in a towel and give it to Zhong Mi in the other room on the side.

After a while, the maid returned and said that Zhong Mi did not want it, but only asked herself to pass on the message on her behalf, saying that she thanked the lady for her kindness.

Little Joe saw that she did not want it, nor was she reluctant, so he asked the maids to share the food, and the maids were very happy, sitting around the fire while peeling chestnuts, while whispering gossip.

Chunniang also did not do needlework, washed her hands, sat on the edge of Xiao Qiao to peel chestnuts for her to eat, said, this Zhong Mi, it is really difficult to get close, a subordinate is like this, I don’t know where to go, how is that Mrs. Xu? What about the mother-in-law of the queen?

She put a freshly peeled yellow chestnut flesh in Xiao Qiao’s mouth and sighed to herself.

Xiao Qiao saw that she was worried about herself again, so he also peeled a chestnut, forcibly stuffed it into her mouth, and smiled: “Will someone over there still want to swallow me alive and peel me alive?” Chunniang, what are you worried about? Eat chestnuts! “It’s

on fire!”

At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside, and someone shouted loudly.

ChunNiang was shocked and hurriedly got up and pushed the door out to investigateSee. I saw that the room in a corner just a few rooms away from here was actually on fire, and the tongue of fire and smoke were rising from the doors and windows, and it looked like it was burning from inside. The bell next door also smelled it. The equestrian ran over in a panic, and while ordering someone to put out the fire, he apologized to Xiao Qiao who smelled the sound, saying that it was a utility room, and he didn’t know how it suddenly caught fire, seeing that the fire was very fierce, lest it burn here, he could only ask Madame Junhou to go to the front hall to avoid it temporarily.

ChunNiang rushed back to the house and helped Xiao Qiao get the cloak out. Zhong Mi took the maid back to the room to collect some softness, and then came out, and a group of people gathered Xiao Qiao to the front hall.

The people in the court all followed Wei Liang to the passage, and there were not enough people to put out the fire, so Yi Cheng hurriedly ran back and begged to borrow the two retinues to fight the fire, but Zhong Mi refused, saying: “Each of them performs his duties.” The two of them have an important task, that is, to guard the lady…”

Her voice just fell, “bang”, the door behind her was suddenly pushed open, and several people who looked like merchants but had knives in their hands rushed in, and without saying a word, they pounced in the direction of Xiao Qiao.

“Protect the Lady!”

Zhong Mi reacted extremely quickly, shouted, and rushed to Xiao Qiao’s body, blocking her behind her.

ChunNiang also reacted and pounced on Xiao Qiao’s side.

The two retinues were well trained on weekdays, although they were less to more, they did not hesitate at all, and when they saw the situation, they immediately drew their swords and quickly blocked in front of them side by side, confronting each other.

“Who?” How dare he rush into the Yanhou family of Youzhou?

Zhong Mi asked sharply.

Just at this moment, there was a rushing sound of horseshoes stepping on the snow outside the door, almost in the blink of an eye, the gate actually broke into a white horse, and immediately sat high a man, wearing a bucket hat, wearing a coat, the brim of the hat was pressed very low, it was not clear to see the face, but judging from the shape, it should be a man. He rode exquisitely, after the horse broke in, there was no half a moment of stay, wrapped in a gust of wind and snow cold, straight towards Xiao Qiao, the guards could not stop the fierce horse, could only dodge to both sides, the white horse turned to Xiao Qiao near, bumped into the front of the Zhong Mi and Chun Niang, with a scream from the maid, Xiao Qiao had been copied by the man on horseback, the knight then made a sharp stop, the white horse turned around, and the two of them rushed out of the gate, at first those who pretended to be merchants roared, and in the blink of an eye, they also retreated cleanly.

All of this happened too suddenly, from the beginning to the end, but in just a few tens of seconds.

When Zhong Mi and Chun Niang were knocked away by the horse, they each suffered some bruises, and despite the pain, they climbed up from the ground and chased to the door, and the white horse had already run out for half a mile, becoming a white dot in the snow, and disappeared into the vast snow field in the blink of an eye.

[End of This Chapter]