Li Que’er suddenly drove the carriage veering left, plunging into the mountain forest.

In the sharp swerve that followed, both Shen Zhuxi and Xiao Hu were thrown about inside.

The carriage barreled forward like a battering ram, thudding against several bandits in its path, and completed the extreme turn by the narrowest of margins.

The carriage gradually slowed, and Li Que’er came down with the whip again. The old horse let out a pained cry and took off running once more, pulling the carriage at full gallop.

Coming head-on were four or five mounted bandits, shouting for them to stop, charging toward the carriage with murderous intent.

Li Que’er raised his hand and loosed a crossbow bolt that struck the front leg of the nearest horse square on.

Accompanied by a shriek, both the horse and its mounted rider went tumbling to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Second brother! The rest are yours!” Li Que’er called out.

Li Kun let out a thunderous roar from deep in his abdomen and without hesitation launched himself from the carriage, hurtling toward the nearest mounted bandit.

One wrong move and he would land on the ground — to be trampled under hooves, to be run through by a blade!

Shen Zhuxi’s heart leapt into her throat. She did not dare blink, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on Li Kun as he flew through the air.

After one agonizing instant, Li Kun landed precisely on the back of the mounted bandit’s horse. Before the bandit could react, Li Kun’s monstrous strength had sent him flying off.

Li Kun, with agility that belied his enormous frame, settled himself firmly in the saddle. Then he caught the long blade Li Que’er threw to him, let out a battle cry, and charged straight at the bandits blocking the road ahead.

Li Kun had not yet truly unleashed his full power, but his unstoppable, one-man-army presence had already shaken the bandits blocking the path into momentary stupefaction.

Only after a brief frozen pause did they begin to react — but by then it was too late. Li Kun’s great blade was already upon them.

A head flew up, accompanied by a spray of blood.

Shen Zhuxi could not bring herself to watch. She closed her eyes.

The carriage lurched and jolted forward.

A bolt that came flying in at an angle struck the soft cushion Shen Zhuxi was holding up over her head.

She went rigid with shock and did not dare move, clutching the cushion in a death grip.

She had no idea how much time passed. When she opened her eyes, the sounds of battle had gradually died away. They had just passed through the spot where the landslide had occurred earlier.

Li Que’er raised his whip more and more frequently, but the old horse could no longer produce any meaningful increase in speed.

Li Kun, covered in blood, rode up on his captured horse and caught up with them.

Li Que’er pulled in the reins and brought the old horse to a stop.

“Sister-in-law, take your valuables and get off the carriage. Second brother will take you ahead first.” Li Que’er said.

“What about Xiao Hu?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“She goes with me.” Li Que’er said.

“I want to go with her too!” Xiao Hu cried.

“Impossible — there’s no room.” Li Que’er said without hesitation.

“I can ride. I can take her with me!”

“Don’t even think about it.” Li Que’er said coldly. “Either you come with me or you go on your own. Your choice.”

“You—”

Xiao Hu stamped her foot in fury — and immediately winced, the action pulling at her injuries, leaving her grimacing.

Li Que’er paid her no attention and turned to Shen Zhuxi. “Sister-in-law, let’s go. Rendezvous as we discussed.”

Shen Zhuxi hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Alright. You must catch up with us.”

She transferred to Li Kun’s horse, and with a lingering look of worry, watched the two she was leaving behind. Li Kun misread her expression, and with earnest good faith said: “Piggy don’t be scared… lean on me, walk sideways, no fear no fear…”

“…I’m not scared.” Shen Zhuxi gave him a reassuring smile.

“Good.” Li Kun nodded. “Let’s go! Walk sideways!”

He pressed his heels to the horse’s flanks, and the well-fed, stout horse shot forward.

Shen Zhuxi called back to the two she was leaving: “Take good care of yourselves!”

Li Que’er raised a hand and waved to her from a distance.

Without the carriage, Shen Zhuxi and Li Kun moved at a noticeably faster pace.

“If we go back by the old road, will those villagers report our whereabouts?” Shen Zhuxi said worriedly.

Li Kun looked bewildered. “What should we do about it?”

Shen Zhuxi thought for a moment and said: “Avoid the villages. Take the mountain roads.”

“Alright.” Li Kun nodded without particular opinion of his own. “We listen to Piggy.”

The horse’s hooves struck the steep and uneven mountain paths. Jolting considerably more than before, but with few human traces anywhere around them, the odds of running into Dinghai Stronghold’s lookouts dropped dramatically.

Shen Zhuxi endured the pain of being jostled back and forth on the hard saddle. After two hours, they finally arrived at the city gates of Jiao County under the light of the moon.

The time for entering the city had already passed. The gates were shut, and no guards were visible.

A scattering of fellow late arrivals huddled at the base of the city gate tower, waiting for dawn. Fortunately it was already early summer, and the nights were not bitterly cold. Shen Zhuxi abandoned the thought of making a fire and decided to make do through the night beneath the city tower.

She was the only woman outside the gates. Her presence drew a fair number of sidelong glances, but fortunately Li Kun was beside her, and his extraordinary stature alone was enough to deter most undesirables — to say nothing of the not-yet-dried bloodstains covering his person.

After Shen Zhuxi and Li Kun chose a spot and settled down on the ground, the two people nearest them quietly shifted away to make room.

The place where the incident had happened was not far from Jiao County. Two hours on the road — barring any unexpected trouble, Li Que’er and the other two should arrive before dawn.

But by the time the sky brightened in the east and the bleary-eyed guards lazily hauled the city gates open, Li Que’er and the other’s figures were still nowhere to be seen.

If only she had known where to look for them, Shen Zhuxi might have turned straight around and headed back.

She pressed down her growing unease and busied herself with what needed to be done: finding and securing a guest room at an inn, purchasing a solid new carriage at the carriage depot, preparing a supply of wound medicine, determining the location of the medical hall — making herself ready at every turn for Li Que’er and Xiao Hu’s arrival.

Li Que’er was resourceful, and Xiao Hu seemed sharp-minded as well, but Xiao Hu had injuries on her, and Li Que’er would be slowed down carrying a wounded person. No matter how she reasoned it through, Shen Zhuxi could not bring herself to stop worrying.

Once everything was arranged, she went and took a seat at a tea stall near the city gate and remained there for the entire day. Li Kun sat with her, eating for the entire day.

When the sun began to set again, the tea stall proprietor packed up the stove and tables and urged them to leave. Shen Zhuxi rose reluctantly, her gaze still fixed on the empty city gate.

If Li Que’er and the others didn’t arrive soon, the gates would close again.

“They’re coming, they’re coming!” Li Kun suddenly called out.

Shen Zhuxi spotted them too — two figures seated in a cart drawn by an old man. They passed through the city gate inspection and came into view.

The old man flicked the willow branch he carried. His ox ambled forward at an unhurried pace, pulling the wooden cart toward the gate.

“Que’er!”

Shen Zhuxi gathered her skirts and broke into a quick run.

“Sister-in-law!” Li Que’er rose to his feet from inside the cart.

The old man, seeing this, gave a call, and pulled the ox to a stop.

Shen Zhuxi arrived at the ox-cart breathless, and first looked Li Que’er over from head to toe, satisfying herself that he bore no visible injuries, before letting go of the breath she had been holding in her throat all this time.

Only then did she have the composure to look at Xiao Hu riding in the same cart — and the moment she looked, she could not help blurting out: “Xiao Hu is injured?!”

Compared to how she had looked when they parted, Xiao Hu’s condition was visibly worse. Her face was drained of color, a thin sheen of cold sweat beaded across her high-bridged nose, her lips were pale with a bluish tinge, and the clothing Shen Zhuxi had lent her was soaked through with blood — the stain spreading from the back all the way to the front of her chest.

“She was caught by an enemy blade. Not a deep cut.” Li Que’er said.

Li Que’er’s breezy dismissal ignited Xiao Hu’s anger. But she had little strength left, and she moved her lips without producing anything at all — only a furious glare in Li Que’er’s direction.

Shen Zhuxi’s advance preparations were proving their worth. She said urgently:

“I know where the medical hall is! I’ll take you all there!”

“Sister-in-law is always so thorough.” Li Que’er extended a hand toward her. “You and second brother get on first. I’ve arranged with this gentleman to take us a stretch of the way — riding the ox-cart will be faster than going on foot.”

Shen Zhuxi took his hand. Li Que’er pulled her up onto the cart.

Li Kun grabbed the side of the cart and hauled himself up with ease.

The old man gave the willow branch a flick, and the ox began its unhurried plod forward again. It was the hour when the market was closing for the day, yet foot traffic on the streets was no less than usual — passersby everywhere shot startled glances at Xiao Hu on the cart, covered as she was in fresh blood.

Only the old man took no notice of any of it, still calling out for business as he went along: “Ox-cart for hire, ox-cart for hire, three copper coins a person…”

Shen Zhuxi looked at the blood on Xiao Hu’s person and could not stop herself from urging: “Old gentleman, can you go a little faster? There’s someone in the cart who needs medical attention…”

“This is fast enough already. This ox is thirteen years old — how much faster could it possibly go?” The old man spoke as though he couldn’t see the injured person in his cart at all, his manner as unhurried as the ox beneath him. “You can rest easy. If she made it all the way into the city in this condition, she’ll certainly make it through the doors of the medical hall — nothing will happen to her.”

Shen Zhuxi had no idea where he drew such confidence that nothing would happen to Xiao Hu. She watched the blood on Xiao Hu with frantic anxiety, and before she knew it, her eyes were turning red.

Seeing this reaction in Shen Zhuxi, the girl who had started out looking pale and grim found some of her anger draining away.

“What are you… what are you crying about? It’s not you who was injured.” Xiao Hu shifted uncomfortably on her injured body, leaving a smear of blood on the wooden cart boards.

“…I’m just upset looking at you,” Shen Zhuxi said, her mouth pulling downward.

“I’m not even upset — why are you upset on my behalf…” Xiao Hu looked away. After a moment, her eyes darted back to Shen Zhuxi for the briefest of glances. “I’m not dead yet. Stop crying!”

Shen Zhuxi turned to Li Que’er, who had said nothing throughout. “What about you? Are you hurt?”

“What could have hurt him?” Xiao Hu had no strength to spare, yet she still cut in before anyone else could speak, her tone bristling with irritation. “When the blade came, who do you think ran the fastest?”

Li Que’er received her mockery without so much as a flicker of reaction.

“Only a fool runs slowly when a blade is coming.”

“You ran and left my back exposed — what do you expect me to say to that?!” Xiao Hu cried.

Li Que’er said coldly: “If you weren’t watching out for the enemy behind you yourself, what has that got to do with me?”

Seeing that Xiao Hu was about to fly into a rage again — which would only pull at her wound — Shen Zhuxi hurried to put a stop to the quarrel: “Of all the times to still be arguing!”

Li Que’er, at least, listened to Shen Zhuxi.

He turned his head, said nothing further, and fixed his gaze on the street ahead.

Li Kun looked at each of the three people in turn and added his own contribution: “Right… of all the times to argue, we haven’t even eaten yet…”

Shen Zhuxi could not help casting a glance at Li Kun, who made that declaration with such absolute conviction.

Could it be that in his eyes, all those wontons, flatbreads, date paste pastries, and sugar-glazed hawthorns… didn’t count as food?

The ox-cart, moving at its own unhurried pace, at long last arrived at the doors of the medical hall.

Li Que’er seemed to do it purely for Shen Zhuxi’s sake — he reached out a hand to help Xiao Hu down, only for Xiao Hu to knock it aside without ceremony.

“I can walk on my own!”

Xiao Hu forced herself to her feet, and before she had even steadied herself, she stumbled. Shen Zhuxi quickly stepped forward to support her. Xiao Hu’s body went rigid for a moment. She looked at Shen Zhuxi, and this time she did not refuse.

Shen Zhuxi steadied Xiao Hu and helped her down from the cart, then hurried inside the medical hall and called over the physician at the medicine counter to examine her.

Because the injuries were external, the physician called in his daughter, who was in the back courtyard preparing medicinal materials, to assist with staunching the bleeding and dressing the wounds.

After a long while, the physician’s daughter came out of the inner room, her hands stained with blood.

“Several external injuries — I’ve already stopped the bleeding.” She gave Shen Zhuxi and the others, who knew nothing of medicine, a brief summary, and then provided the physician with a more detailed account of the length and depth of each wound.

The physician stroked his long beard with a nod and looked toward Shen Zhuxi, who had been watching with evident concern.

“The external wound on her back is rather serious. Combined with the blunt trauma injuries to her shoulder and leg, she will need a good two or three months of recuperation before she fully recovers. In the meantime, she must not be allowed to do any heavy work.” The physician said. “I will prescribe several doses of medicinal broth and an external ointment — three times a day, without fail.”

“Thank you, physician!” Shen Zhuxi said.

Xiao Hu pushed aside the door curtain and walked out, freshly dressed. The physician’s daughter cried out in alarm: “Your injuries are this severe — how did you come out on your own?”

“My back was cut — that doesn’t mean my legs are broken.” Xiao Hu said, her face ghost-white, still refusing to back down.

“She was afraid we’d leave without her.” Li Que’er said in an offhand tone.

“Then why didn’t you leave?” Xiao Hu fired back without missing a beat. “You were leaving people behind quite neatly earlier.”

Shen Zhuxi looked from one to the other in helpless dismay.

After a moment’s thought, she asked about something else that had been weighing on her mind.

“Did you manage to bring the horse back with you?”

What about her Li Que bird?