Cutting Thorny Brushwood (Three)

  Foreword (Three)

  Qian Jingrong and her sister Qian Jinglan, after two days and three nights of fleeing, encountered two groups of Ou Yangfu's men on the road. Now there are only four people left in their group: the two sisters, Liu Jian, and a loyal servant. Having just shaken off the pursuing soldiers, each person is covered in thick bloodstains.

  "Halt." A voice stopped the horse, bringing to a stop the advancing footsteps. Ahead of them, someone turned their head around and said to the two people in the carriage, "Miss, there's an old temple up ahead, shall we take a rest there?"

  Qian Jingrong and Qian Jinglan inside the carriage simultaneously lifted the curtain and looked out, following the direction pointed by the two men outside.

  "Sister, let's rest here for the night. You're not feeling well and can't rush anymore." Qian Jinglan furrowed her slightly Western-style eyebrows, stopping her sister from rejecting her suggestion to take a break for who-knows-how-many times on this trip.

  Qian Jingrong looked at her and sighed, his face pale from the recent rush of travel, and nodded slightly. Qian Jinglan immediately raised a cheer and carefully helped the six-month-pregnant Qian Jingrong out of the car.

  "Ah, sister, there's still someone inside!" Qian Jinglan exclaimed, holding onto Qian Jingrong's leg just as she was about to step in. The two men who were unloading the goods rushed over, their faces tense, and stood behind them.

  Qian Jingrong moved slowly and didn't see clearly, glanced around at the quiet surroundings, and whispered to the guard in front of her: "A Zheng go take a look, if it's..."

  Qian Jingrong lowered her head and looked around with a dull expression, revealing a hint of indifference. At this moment, whether it was true or not, there couldn't be even the slightest danger present.

  After days of fleeing, the group had exhausted all their mental and physical resources, and couldn't afford to have anyone make any more mistakes. Although they already had enough blood on their hands, they also didn't have any room for error, and couldn't afford to take a wrong step.

  "It is." Qiao Zheng naturally understood the unspoken meaning, and saw that he took out the knife from his waist and stepped in quietly, while Liu Jian stood silently guarding the two women.

  The three people standing outside the door, Liu Jian protected the two sisters behind him, but all three of them could see the situation inside.

  He only saw an old Taoist priest wearing a tattered Taoist robe, covered in dirt and grime all over his body and face. The old Taoist was startled awake by the sound of Qiao Zhengmai stepping on something as he walked in, turned his head to look at the source of the sound, and saw a man with a ferocious expression and a thick beard holding a knife walking towards him.

  He was so startled that he jumped up in three strides, "Hey, what do you want to do." He shouted, his face full of anger but not a hint of fear, just staring at the big man in front of him with extreme indignation.

  He thought that after he lay down and slept, someone would be holding a knife against him. How could he not be furious? His eyes scanned the three people blocking the light outside the broken door, narrowing his eyes to take a closer look. Although he couldn't see their faces clearly because they were backlit, he felt a strong chill coming from them, seemingly from the woman standing behind and to the left.

  Qian Jingrong stared at him for a while, then walked in with her big belly, Qian Jinglan followed behind her, carefully following beside her and tightly supporting her.

  Qian Jinglan's husband immediately turned around and continued the move he had just made, he also saw the person clearly, and didn't feel any killing intent that hadn't dissipated along the way. Although this person was too dirty, it wasn't a problem.

  Qian Jingrong walked up to Qiao Zheng's side and glanced at the old man who was standing upright, staring straight at her: "Put the knife away." She said lightly, looking around the broken temple, which was damp and had a musty smell in the air, but she felt safe now and could finally put her mind at ease and get a good night's rest.

  Qiao Zheng glanced at the old Taoist who was still muttering to himself in the corner, ignored him, put away his knife and cleared a clean spot in the temple. He then spread out an oilcloth on the ground, took down water and food from the horse carriage, lit a fire, and slowly stewed the dried meat in a pot.

  The old Taoist watched the four of them, except for the woman who was not feeling well, they were all busy cleaning up the old temple. In a short while, the temple looked much cleaner. He rubbed his nose and still smelled a strong meaty smell. His face suddenly turned ugly, he shrunk into his own corner, fidgeting with anxiety, swallowing saliva, holding his stomach, and from inside, there was a rhythmic rumbling sound.

  Qian Jinglan scooped up the meat soup from the pot and handed it to Qian Jingrui, who was resting on a soft haystack. She also got herself a bowl and sat down on the ground, eating dry rations while blowing away the rising steam, slowly sipping the hot soup.

  For the earth-shaking changes over the past three days, she was initially bewildered, but now it's crystal clear that falling from heaven to a state where even her life is in danger every day is nothing more than this.

  Can't help but make her regret it, should have reminded my sister earlier, but she's still being kept in the dark, even Liu Jian's family fortune was managed by him for himself and his own benefit. Now everything is too late, behind them are endless pursuers, holding large knives, strong and powerful masked men with unknown identities...

  "Hey, stinky girl, how can you only think of yourself eating and not see that there's another person sitting here starving?" The old Daoist could no longer bear the pangs of hunger and stood up in anger, stretching out his hand and pointing at the four people with his dirty black hand.

  "Stinky Taoist, who are you calling a stinky girl?" Qian Jinglan's temper flared up and she immediately exploded. There were only two women here, and she didn't want anyone to insult her or her sister. Now they were in a desperate situation, being pursued and killed from behind, but it wasn't to the point where they would let a stinky beggar scold them.

  "What about you, and those three of yours, then?" The old Taoist raised his chin high, speaking in a tone as if bestowing a favor:

  "Hurry up, bring some food over. I'm starving, haven't had a drop of water for three days. I was sitting there meditating just fine, but you all came and disturbed me. Now look, you've made me hungry again. And to make matters worse, you're all drinking meat soup, big bowls full, it's just too much!"

  Jumping up and down, he scolded the four people opposite him, staring at the meat soup in the jar with mouth watering.

  Qian Jinglan's temper flared up, and no one could stop her. She put down the bowl of soup and took a step forward, "You call this not eating for three days? I see you're jumping around and shouting with such good energy, how can that be from not eating for three days? Unless you've become an immortal." After finishing speaking, she laughed to herself, "But what kind of immortal would look like you, stinking all over?" She scrunched up her nose as she looked at him, as if the smell was assaulting her nostrils.

  The old Taoist blew his beard and glared, "Right, I'm almost an immortal, hurry up and bring that thing to pay respects to me, I'm now in a semi-immortal state." The old Taoist was pleased with himself, stroking his black beard, self-satisfied, raising his chin, and casting a sideways glance at them.

  Qian Jinglan burst out laughing, causing the others to also smile at the old Taoist. This old Taoist was so gullible that he would only end up starving himself. The few people shook their heads in amusement as they looked at him.

  The old Taoist's face turned bright red with anger, obviously furious that his trick had failed and he was now being ridiculed.

  "Ah Zheng, give him the rest of the food in the pot." Qian Jingrui said with a smile, lying on her side and holding her swollen belly.

  Just as Qiao was about to bend down and pick up the clay pot, the old Taoist, with a proud face, quickly ran over on tiptoes, swiftly picked it up and wanted to leave. He then saw several steamed buns on the bundle, swallowed his saliva, and looked back at the big-bellied woman with a pitiful expression.

  Staring at each other for half a moment, none of the four people budged. The old Taoist gritted his teeth and muttered, "I'll trade something."

  "Oh, what else could you possibly have that's valuable?" Qian Jinglan wasn't underestimating him, it's just that this old man was always mumbling nonsense and never told the truth, and his shabby appearance made her not dare to think he had any money on him.

  The old man hugged the vase, his empty right hand repeatedly touched his body for a while before finding a dusty brocade pouch. As all four of them looked at him, he took out a yellow talisman with a mixture of pride and caution.

  Qian Jinglan saw the talisman and immediately laughed. The old Taoist had a talisman on him, which was normal, but he thought of using it to deceive people into giving him food and drink, which was a bit too much. Who cares about the talisman in his hand? No matter which temple you go to, it's easy to get a talisman by making a circle and asking for one. He even treated this as a treasure.

  "This symbol has a big origin, you don't understand." The old Taoist said mysteriously with narrowed eyes. He glanced at the four people in front of him, and when he saw the woman's suddenly protruding belly, his eyes suddenly widened. He felt a strange aura emanating from the woman beside him, and was about to take a closer look when Qiao Zheng took a step forward to block him, while Qian Jinglan also turned around and sat back down beside her sister.

  Qiao Zheng heard him muttering to himself, repeating and murmuring.

  "How strange! It's as if it's from... This pregnancy is quite unusual, isn't it?" asked Qian Jingrui, who was leaning against the rest.

  Qian Jingrong naturally didn't take this ominous warning to heart, she wouldn't let anyone use her child as an excuse to deceive and cheat, so she coldly snorted and turned her head, no longer paying attention to him.

  Qian Jinglan was already quite certain that the old Taoist had been deceiving him, and with a scornful curl of his lip he no longer bothered to reason or argue with him.

  The old man, seeing no one paying attention to him, came back to his senses, picked up the earthen jar from his bosom and took a big gulp. He chewed on a piece of meat with great vigor, his eyes shining brightly as he stared at Qian Jingruo. Rubbing his nose, he said: "Perhaps it's fate that brought us together. Even if it's just to thank you for the meal, I'll eat my fill. Here, take this."

  Generously, he tossed the pouch on his hand to Qiao Zheng's nearest hand, bent down quickly and grabbed a few pieces of dried meat from the bundle, took a big bite, and chewed with relish.

  At this time, looking at him, his whole body seemed to be covered with a faint red light. Among the four people in the house, except for Qiao Zheng, no one looked at this old man.