Gao Yang stood outside the cave. He only heard a thunderous boom from within, immediately followed by trembling earth and shaking mountains. His eyes nearly split with fury as he was about to rush inside. Fortunately, He Zhong beside him quickly pulled him back. At this moment, massive rocks and trees were tumbling down from the slope. The people surrounding the cave entrance also cried out in alarm and hastily retreated.
When they reached a safe location, the tremors from not far away also ceased. Dust filled the air. Looking again at the mountain before them, a small section of the southern face had collapsed. The rocks that rolled down the slope had completely blocked the cave entrance. Inside must have already caved in. Even if they wanted to dig through this cave again, it would take quite a long time. However, this commotion must have already alarmed the authorities of the neighboring county—people should arrive before long.
Inside the mine tunnel within the cave, Qiu Xinran’s ears were buzzing. Her head felt dizzy and muddled for quite a long time before she finally regained consciousness. She raised her hand to support her forehead and only then realized someone was still pressing down on her. When they had jumped down from above just now, this person had protected her in his embrace. Now rubble and wood fragments surrounded them on all sides. She hadn’t been hit by any of these things, but she didn’t know if he had been seriously injured.
At this thought, Qiu Xinran’s heart tightened. She hurriedly reached out to pat him: “General Zhao, are you alright?” After she called out several times like this, the person on top of her seemed to finally slowly awaken and moved his body. Qiu Xinran let out a long breath, silently reciting in her heart: Thank heaven and earth.
The person pressing on her was not light. She carefully climbed up from the ground and helped him sit up against the wall. Hearing him groan sullenly, she quickly asked: “Are you injured?”
When the two jumped down, the gunpowder above had just exploded—he must have been affected by it. The other party didn’t speak for quite a while. Qiu Xinran waited with fear and trepidation. After a long time, she finally heard him slowly speak: “…I’m fine.” His voice was low and hoarse, seeming somewhat different from what she had heard before. Just now when they were above, Qiu Xinran had momentarily wondered about this in her heart, but because the situation was tense, she hadn’t paid much attention. Now hearing him speak, she thought perhaps it was because he was injured, so she didn’t think too deeply about it: “What should we do next?”
“Since Yashu prepared an escape route, this mine tunnel must connect to the outside.”
Qiu Xinran thought the same: “I don’t know what the situation is like above. I think we still need to get out as quickly as possible, lest the mine tunnel collapse again.”
The man nodded and stood up supporting himself against the stone wall beside him. Qiu Xinran noticed his movements were somewhat labored and quickly reached out to help. The other party’s movements paused, but he didn’t pull his hand away. Fortunately, although this mine tunnel wasn’t spacious, it was enough for two people to walk side by side.
Outside should already be deep into the night. The surroundings were silent—only the footsteps of the two could be heard. Even their breathing sounds seemed clearly audible in such darkness.
Qiu Xinran wasn’t familiar with Zhao Rong. At this moment, she suddenly felt somewhat awkward and could only make conversation: “How did the General know there would definitely be a tunnel down here?”
“I’ve fought Yashu several times and know his character. Although he’s utterly loyal to Qi Kedan, he won’t easily throw his life away—he must have kept a backup plan.” Xia Xiuyan said indifferently. “Since entering the cave, there were many unexpected developments, yet he always remained standing in place without moving. He also used such a long fuse and placed the gunpowder near the cave entrance. I guessed he must be hiding something behind him—perhaps an escape passage.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xinran nodded and flattered: “The General’s attention to detail is meticulous and admirable.”
The man half-leaning on her finally detected something strange: “What are you calling me?”
Qiu Xinran felt his question was odd: “General Zhao… isn’t that correct?”
The person beside her fell into an eerie silence and didn’t respond for a long while. Qiu Xinran’s heart felt uneasy, wondering if perhaps some sentence she had just said was wrong. After a moment, she heard him ask matter-of-factly: “Just now when Yashu called you close, what did he say to you?”
At his question, Qiu Xinran finally remembered and quickly answered: “He said he hid that box in a pond behind this mountain, with a bluestone slab weighing it down. Lifting the stone slab would reveal a sealed copper box. However, now that he’s dead, I don’t know if he was just making this up to deceive me at the time.”
Xia Xiuyan pondered for a moment and shook his head: “Yashu is an arrogant person. He was certain we would all die in the cave today, so there was no need to fabricate a lie to deceive you. Otherwise, if it aroused my suspicion, the loss would outweigh the gain.”
“So you’re saying everything he said was true?”
“We’ll know once we get out and take a look.”
In the time it took to exchange these words, they had already walked forward a considerable distance. Qiu Xinran felt she was completely blind. Rather than saying she was supporting the person beside her, it was more accurate to say the person beside her was leading her forward. She couldn’t help asking: “Can the General see the path clearly?”
“I can see a little.”
“The General has excellent eyesight.” Qiu Xinran praised sincerely. “Among the people I know, you rank first or second.”
Xia Xiuyan asked as if casually: “Who else?”
Qiu Xinran hadn’t expected him to take such complimentary words so seriously. At this moment, mentioning anyone didn’t seem quite right, so after pondering for a moment she answered: “The Marquis Dingbei.” Since Zhao Rong was Xia Xiuyan’s subordinate, saying his eyesight wasn’t as good as Xia Xiuyan’s shouldn’t make him upset, right?
Just as she was thinking this, who knew he would ask again: “How do you know?”
Qiu Xinran now truly felt this General Zhao was indeed too serious. She could only stammer: “When the Marquis Dingbei was still at the academy, I once saw him practice archery. His archery skills were superb—he could hit a willow leaf from a hundred paces away.”
The man in the darkness slightly curved the corners of his lips and deliberately said: “But I’ve heard that the Marquis Dingbei was weak and sickly in his youth, and his riding and archery skills were inferior to others.”
“Mm…” Qiu Xinran choked for a moment and could only say vaguely: “Then perhaps that time he just happened to hit the bullseye and I happened to witness it.”
Xia Xiuyan said again: “I’ve also heard that the Daoist once gave guidance to the Marquis Dingbei on riding and archery?”
Qiu Xinran wondered what ancient history this was—how were legends about her still circulating in the palace? But at a time like this, she could only brazenly say: “Guidance is too much to say. We merely practiced riding and archery together for a few days.” Her words carried several parts barely concealed nervousness. In a moment of inattention, she stumbled beneath her feet.
Fortunately, the person beside her had quick eyes and fast hands and caught her with a reverse grip. Qiu Xinran steadied herself against the rock wall and breathed a sigh of relief: “Thank you.” After saying this, she suddenly froze. She had originally been supporting his arm, but now that he had caught her hand, she could feel the thin calluses on his hand and some slightly rough raised areas on his palm—it seemed like scabs that had formed after injuries on his hand healed?
The other party didn’t notice her strangeness. After she steadied herself, he also didn’t let go of her hand: “Follow me.”
They seemed to be closer to the exit here. There was faintly a trace of light in the cave, and they could also hear the sound of water. Xia Xiuyan sensed the person beside him had suddenly become much quieter and couldn’t help turning his head to glance at her: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Qiu Xinran gathered her spirits and asked tentatively: “How did the General know I was here today, and even arranged for people to come and set up an ambush in advance?”
“Yuan Zhou deciphered the Qian hexagram you left at the restaurant. The Qian hexagram points south and favors metal. We looked through maps and discovered there’s an abandoned mine tunnel near the Mountain God Temple. For the Dayue people to infiltrate Chang’an and hide so many people without anyone knowing, this would be a good place to conceal their presence.”
Qiu Xinran had been hiding in the storage room and had heard them mention the mine tunnel in the southern part of the city. Afraid she would forget, she had arranged a Qian hexagram on the ground as a marker, never expecting it would leave them a clue. That hexagram was actually extremely simple—it merely indicated a direction. Yuan Zhou initially overthought it and spent quite some effort, always feeling his senior martial sister’s hexagram contained profound mysteries. But the great way is simple—stepping back to look, he discovered Qiu Xinran had blatantly arranged the character “south” on the ground for him, making him both annoyed and amused.
As they spoke, their eyes suddenly brightened. They saw bright light ahead not far away. The two walked closer and looked up to discover at the end was a cave opening the width of one person, covered with a layer of straw. Moonlight sparsely shone into the cave through the gaps in the straw—this was precisely the exit of the mine tunnel.
The cave opening wasn’t far from the ground. Xia Xiuyan measured the distance between the opening and the ground, leaped up with a spring, stepped on the nearby rock wall, and in the blink of an eye like a startled rabbit or swooping falcon, had already jumped up.
Qiu Xinran stood in place looking up at the cave opening. After a moment, she saw the man return, apparently having confirmed there was no ambush in the surrounding area. Only then did he return to the cave opening and extend his hand down to pull her up. Qiu Xinran hesitated, placed her hand in his, and suddenly said out of the blue: “Last time at Qinglong Temple, the General lent me an umbrella and I haven’t had the chance to return it. After we get out of here, I really need to return it as soon as possible.”
The other party paused. After a moment, he said: “No rush.” As soon as the words fell, he exerted force with his hand and pulled her up to ground level in one motion.
Qiu Xinran kicked against the rock wall. Her body felt light as she reached the surface. One foot hadn’t yet stood steady when she suddenly lunged forward. Xia Xiuyan was caught off guard and couldn’t help stepping back half a step. He actually didn’t stand firm and was truly knocked to the ground by her. Fortunately, the area around the cave opening was all soft straw. In his arms was a warm, soft body. Opening his eyes, overhead was a full moon, spilling its light upon the earth.
Qiu Xinran had pinned him to the ground but didn’t immediately get up. She sat up, pursed her lips, and looked at him seriously, then suddenly reached out and carefully pressed her hand against the mask. The masked man looked at her with some surprise but actually didn’t stop her. He only gazed steadily at her, his eyes filled with moonlight, bright enough to dazzle. Her fingers brushed across the mask as if brushing across his eyes, finally gently removing the mask from his face.
“Xia Xiuyan!” In the vast wilderness, fish surfacing to breathe were so frightened by this angry roar that they plopped back into the water with a splash.
The woman in a snow-blue robe clenched the mask in her hand in anger. Under the moonlight, her expression was exceptionally vivid. Last time when he escorted her back from Fangchi Garden, she had only cupped her hands and bowed, begging him to spare Mei Que. But now she sat on top of him, brows raised and eyes glaring like a pair of peach blossom eyes. She had even forgotten her earlier forms of address like “Marquis” and “Young Master.” Xia Xiuyan suspected that if she could free up her hands, the next second she would pounce forward and grab his collar.
So the man lying face up on the grass, meeting her furious glare, suddenly laughed, shattering the pool of moonlight held in his eyes.
“Why are you angry?” The man lying in the moonlight caught her hand and shamelessly accused her instead: “I never said I was Zhao Rong. Clearly it was you who mistook me.”
This time when he spoke, his voice had returned to the familiar clear male voice. Qiu Xinran thought about how he had deliberately disguised himself in the cave earlier—that was one thing—but just now in the mine tunnel he still did the same, clearly deliberately watching her make a fool of herself. She said angrily: “You deliberately didn’t speak up!”
The corners of Xia Xiuyan’s lips held a smile: “I saved you, yet you still mistook me for someone else. No matter how you think about it, I should be the one who’s angry.”
Qiu Xinran was furious beyond measure. Her emotions had risen and fallen dramatically all evening. First she was mistakenly kidnapped, then she nearly got blown up by gunpowder in the cave. Now the culprit was righteously saying she was in the wrong. For a moment, she felt no one under heaven was more wronged than she was. Thinking again of just now in the cave when she had actually wanted to help him conceal the matter of riding and archery made her feel even more humiliated. She didn’t know how Xia Xiuyan had been laughing at her in his heart at that time! At this thought, her heart felt even more aggrieved… and before she knew it, her eyes reddened.
Seeing her suddenly stop talking and only stare at him with her mouth tightly pursed in a stubborn little hedgehog expression, looking quite pitiful, Xia Xiuyan took a closer look and saw her eyes were somewhat red. He couldn’t help being startled.
“Alright, I was wrong, you…” He instinctively softened his tone. Halfway through, he startled himself. How did these words come out sounding like coaxing a young girl? His heart felt some slight awkwardness.
Qiu Xinran couldn’t appreciate his current state of mind. On a normal day, she wouldn’t lose her composure like this over such a matter. It was only that just now when she thought she was with Zhao Rong, she had desperately focused on how the two of them could escape, not daring to slack off for a moment. Now suddenly discovering the person beside her was actually Xia Xiuyan, besides feeling wronged, she also felt she could breathe a long sigh of relief. Somehow, for a moment she couldn’t quite control her emotions. However, now that she had calmed down, she also felt she was being somewhat embarrassing and turned her head to stand up.
Hearing her sniffle, Xia Xiuyan thought he had truly made her cry. His spirit shook as he gripped her wrist with force. Qiu Xinran looked over strangely. As their gazes met, she saw him look away and ask unnaturally: “This angry?”
Not asking would have been better. His question made Qiu Xinran even angrier. She huffily threw down the words: “Angry to death!” and stood up. As she rose, the person beneath her groaned sullenly. Her movements paused. She looked at him coldly as he frowned and covered his chest. The man’s face was pale, looking much weaker than usual. She observed dubiously for a while, feeling his appearance didn’t seem fake, and only then bent down again: “What’s wrong with you?”
Xia Xiuyan made no sound, only braced himself against the ground preparing to stand. Qiu Xinran saw what seemed to be light perspiration on his forehead and ultimately couldn’t resist reaching out to help him. With this, she finally discovered his shoulder and back garments were torn, with blood faintly seeping through beneath.
“You’re injured?” She cried out softly, remembering how when they came down from the mine tunnel just now, he had protected her beneath him. Most likely he was injured at that time. For a moment, her heart softened again. She forgot all the anger from before and even regretted pressing him to the ground just now, not knowing if that had made his wound bleed again.
Xia Xiuyan glanced sideways at her expression and obediently leaned on her to stand up, saying as if nothing had happened: “It’s nothing serious. Let’s find a place to settle down first before discussing further.”