The moment the carriage lost control, Jiang Yi’s instinctive reaction was to hold Jiang Si tightly. The two sisters crashed against the side of the carriage, letting out low cries of surprise.
The carriage bounced violently, making it impossible to sit steady. Jiang Yi, enduring the impacts against the carriage wall, urgently asked Jiang Si, “Fourth Sister, are you alright?”
Jiang Si, protected in Jiang Yi’s embrace, was deathly pale. Countless fragmented memories exploded like fireworks in her mind.
In her previous life, she had been sitting in a carriage, heading toward a cliff…
The memories related to death, hidden deep in her heart, were triggered instantly, making her body cold and stiff, momentarily forgetting to react.
Jiang Yi’s urgent calls and the whooshing wind coming through the window brought Jiang Si back to her senses.
She couldn’t panic. If she panicked, who would protect Elder Sister?
“Elder Sister, I’m fine,” Jiang Si said, reaching out to grab a protrusion on the carriage wall, struggling to move towards the door.
Seeing this, Jiang Yi became greatly alarmed, her voice changing pitch, “Fourth Sister, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to see what’s happening…” Jiang Si’s voice was broken by the violent jolts of the carriage, but her movement towards the door didn’t stop.
Jiang Yi desperately grabbed Jiang Si’s ankle, exclaiming, “Fourth Sister, don’t be reckless! What if you fall out of the carriage?”
Through the curtain blown high by the wind, Jiang Si had already seen the situation clearly: the usually docile horse was galloping at full speed as if stimulated by something, and the carriage driver was nowhere to be seen. Recalling the sound at the moment of the incident, the driver had probably been thrown off then.
In other words, at this moment, only the two sisters remained in the speeding carriage.
The wind made it difficult for Jiang Si to keep her eyes open. The scenery on both sides was rapidly receding, everything seeming to repeat the nightmare of her previous life. The only difference was that this time, Jiang Si wasn’t alone; Jiang Yi was with her in the out-of-control carriage.
It was precisely this difference that, instead of causing Jiang Si to emotionally collapse while re-experiencing this fear, made her calm down.
She had already experienced something more terrifying. At that time, she couldn’t save herself, but this time she absolutely wouldn’t sit idly waiting for death.
Jiang Si supported herself on the carriage door frame with one hand while reaching for her waist with the other, pulling out a sharp needle from her pouch.
At this speed, neither insects nor powders could be used on the panicked horse. The best choice was to use the poisoned needle that had recently taken down the bearded man.
As long as the needle pierced the horse’s skin, the toxin would paralyze the horse’s body in an extremely short time, surely slowing its speed. Then, whether to jump from the carriage or take other self-rescue measures would be optional.
However, horses were different from humans; piercing through their fur wasn’t so easy, especially in the current galloping situation.
Jiang Si gripped the needle tightly, biting her lip hard, her gaze gradually falling on the horse’s backside in front of her eyes.
The flesh there should be softer.
At this moment, she suddenly understood a bit why Erniu liked to bite that spot.
Having found her target, Jiang Si steeled herself and began to climb out.
Jiang Yi held onto her legs tightly from behind: “Fourth Sister, have you gone mad?”
“Elder Sister, hold onto the carriage wall, and don’t worry about me. I have a way to slow down the horse.”
Although it was a panicked horse, it was still pulling a carriage with passengers, and running on a muddy road. Even at its fastest, it couldn’t be described as lightning-fast.
This was also an important reason why Jiang Si was confident in saving herself.
“No, Fourth Sister. If I let go, you’ll fall out!” Jiang Yi had also become determined at this point, holding onto Jiang Si’s ankles and refusing to let go.
Jiang Si felt quite helpless.
This was holding her back!
Seeing pedestrians ahead screaming and dodging, with the carriage seemingly on the verge of falling apart, Jiang Si was about to use brute force to break free from Jiang Yi’s restraint when suddenly a sharp shout came: “Young Miss, hold on tight!”
Old Qin, who had caught up on horseback, leaped through the air from his horse onto the back of the panicked horse.
Startled, the horse raised its hooves, wanting to throw off the person on its back. The carriage swayed precariously, looking increasingly dangerous.
The moment she heard Old Qin’s voice, Jiang Si retracted into the carriage, tightly grasping the carriage wall and shielding Jiang Yi: “Don’t panic, Elder Sister. Old Qin will surely find a way. You must hold on tight and don’t get thrown out.”
Jiang Yi was deathly pale, unable to utter a word, only knowing to nod continuously.
The carriage seemed to start slowing down. Under Old Qin’s strength and skill, the panicked horse showed signs of gradually being brought under control.
Just then, a small child suddenly ran out into the middle of the road ahead, staring blankly at the oncoming carriage, forgetting to react.
Veins bulged on Old Qin’s temples as he forcefully gripped the horse’s neck to change direction. As they got closer and closer to the child, a figure rushed to the middle of the road, scooped up the child, and nimbly rolled to the roadside.
In the moment after this, the child’s loud crying rang out.
The carriage rushed forward another dozen zhang before finally slowing to a stop.
The entire carriage seemed to have fallen apart, coming to a disheveled stop by the roadside. Jiang Yi, supported by Jiang Si, stumbled out of the carriage and bent over vomiting.
“Young Miss, are you alright?” Old Qin tied the horse to a tree by the roadside and walked over.
Although Jiang Si looked unwell, her expression was still fairly composed. She waved her hand and said, “I’m fine. Old Qin, go see if that child is hurt.”
Old Qin nodded and walked back.
Jiang Yi recovered a bit and said with a pale face, “Fourth Sister, I’m fine now. Let’s go check on that child.”
The two sisters walked back together. The person who had saved the child was angrily questioning Old Qin: “How were you driving? People are coming and going on the road, and this child was almost hit.”
Only then did Jiang Si notice that the person who had saved the child was a young woman.
Unlike the usual young ladies she had seen, the woman before her was tall, wearing a narrow-sleeved short jacket in pea green, with a pair of long boots on her feet, and her trouser legs tucked into the boots. This outfit, coupled with her dark eyebrows and eyes, exuded an indescribable air of heroism and sharpness.
“Is the child alright?” Jiang Si asked.
The woman turned her gaze to Jiang Si. Seeing that the young lady who spoke was extremely beautiful and had a gentle tone, her tense expression relaxed slightly, and she nodded slightly, “Fortunately, he’s fine.”
Jiang Si sighed in relief, showing a genuine smile, “That’s good. Thanks to your quick action just now.”
The woman was about to say something when a woman who had been working in the fields rushed over, embracing the still-wailing child, and began to cry and lament.
Jiang Si reached for the pouch at her waist and felt a bit embarrassed.
Her pouch was too full of other things, leaving no room for money, which was all with A Man.
“Auntie, we’re sorry. This is for the child’s medical expenses.”
The woman accepted the silver ingot handed over by Jiang Yi, tugged at the child, and thanked them. Fearing that someone might covet the eye-catching silver, she didn’t even bother to retrieve the farm tools left in the field but ran off with the child in her arms.
Jiang Yi, bringing Jiang Si with her, thanked the young woman again.
The woman waved her hand dismissively and turned to leave.
At this moment, among the onlookers who had stopped to watch the commotion, two pairs of eyes fixed on the woman.