Chapter 9: Thunderbolt Throws the Dart

  The subsequent development can be described with a sentence of ancient poetry: "When the mountain is exhausted and the water returns, there is no road; when the willow tree is dark and the flower is bright, there is another village."

  No, for Fei's current era, it can't be considered an ancient poem, but a future poem...

  In short, the three of them rode their horses out of the Shi family's compound and had only gone less than three miles when the sky began to darken slightly, with the afterglow spreading across the ground - it was probably around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a fire dragon appeared from afar, winding its way along the main road. Shi Xun's heart was already filled with anxiety and he hastily dismounted his horse, pulling his attendants to hide in a small grove by the side of the road. The three of them cautiously peeked out to take a look and saw that it was a column of soldiers, numbering at least five or six hundred men, all armed with long spears, large shields, ring knives, and iron swords, hurrying towards the Shi family's compound.

  "Damn it!" Shi Xun gritted his teeth, "Could it be that the prefecture has sent troops ahead of schedule?"

  He guessed it right, and it turned out that the county's bookkeeper had just sent someone to cross the Lie River to inform Shi Yi, but was caught by Governor Zhang. Immediately afterwards, Governor Zhang ordered the commander to lead his troops to search for Shi's father and son, and he led the main force to follow up the next day.

  Mr. Xun immediately wanted to ride his horse, take a shortcut back to the villa to warn his father, but was held back by Ah Fei and Lun Jia. In Lun Jia's opinion, even if he had wings on his back or possessed the skill of wind control, it would still be impossible to arrive in time. The young master's departure was clearly a leap into the tiger's den! Ah Fei fabricated reasons to hold him back, saying: "The governor wants to harm Master and his son, but if the young master doesn't return, it will be a constant worry; as the saying goes, 'cutting grass without removing its roots, the spring breeze blows and it grows again', he won't harm Master. If the young master returns, then Master will be in danger!"

  Mr. Xuan glanced at A Fei, but fortunately, over the years, A Fei's strange words were not uncommon, so Mr. Xuan just thought it was a barbarian proverb and didn't ask further.

  According to Ah Fei and Lun's meaning, Master has made preparations, it shouldn't be difficult to escape. Young Master should still follow the original plan and set sail back to his hometown. Moreover, our side is weak and isolated, facing hundreds of county soldiers, just like three small ants, even if we go back, it would be useless, better to return to Beihai and find relatives, then think of a way.

  But Shi Xun was resolute and refused to listen - go back to Beihai first? The yellow flower dishes have all gone cold, even if you can come up with some kind of clever plan, it's impossible to bring the old man back to life! So in the end, he still brought two slaves, temporarily abandoned his horse, carefully followed behind the soldiers, and returned to the vicinity of the villa. From a distance, only saw those soldiers shouting, scattered around, surrounding the Shi family villa. Then from a corner of the villa came a commotion, as if someone was shouting: "Don't let the traitor escape!"

  Before long, another burst of cheers erupted from the crowd: "The old thief has been captured!" Shi Xun's eyes were about to split open with rage, he drew his sword and was about to rush over to rescue him, but was firmly pressed down on the shoulder by Lun Jia.

  A Fei still spouted the same baseless nonsense, insisting that as long as his son didn't take the bait, his own life would be spared - he himself didn't even believe this, and Shi Xun wasn't some renowned hero, so why would Zhang Taishou need to spare his old life out of fear? But if he didn't say this, watching Shi Xun struggle would only make him rush back to the manor, where he'd be dragged down with him - as a house slave, he couldn't not follow. In the end, it would be a case of "when the jade is destroyed, the stone is also destroyed" - and he, this artificial jade from two thousand years later, had no desire to die alongside these ancient stones.

  At this time, Shi Xun was thoroughly confused. He covered his ears and believed the reason fabricated by A Fei, with emotions of anger, panic, and worry repeatedly entwining and brewing. In the end, he decided to wait until midnight before sneaking into the villa to investigate - "The sky is dark, the county soldiers won't leave the villa. I'm familiar with the geography inside the villa, so I'll sneak in quietly. If I can save my father, it's best to escape together. If things don't go well, then I'll die with my father!"

  As a result of the investigation, they were ambushed and killed, probably because of their own doing. The governor hated them so much that it was unlikely he would spare their lives. Meanwhile, the Lun family, while protecting the young master, was also hit by multiple spears and became a bloody mess. They managed to escape but not far before reporting the news of the Shi family father-son's simultaneous demise to Ah Fei, after which they fell to the ground and soon died.

  Only one Ah Fei was left, who couldn't help much due to night blindness and could only wait outside the village to respond, barely escaping with his life. Then, this time-traveler, after repeated consideration, found that his desire to live was gradually being outweighed by his desire to live a better life. He finally decided to take a risk and, with a flick of his body, planned to use the name Shi Xun to swindle and deceive in Beihai.

  He has considered all aspects very clearly. Firstly, Le Lang is a remote place and Beihai is in Qingzhou, the frequency of personnel coming and going at that time was extremely low, as long as he hides in the Beihai family and doesn't come out to see people casually, the lie won't be easily exposed. Secondly, Shi Xun was brought to Le Lang by his father when he was just over a year old, and Shi Yi didn't entrust any other tokens besides that letter, so it's likely that no one in his hometown can distinguish between true and false either.

  What's more, Ah Fei relied on his years of living in the Shi family compound to develop a keen sense of curiosity, and he had dug up all sorts of things from top to bottom, inside and out. He even knew about the birthdays of the Shi family father and son, that Shi Xun had no birthmarks on his body, how tall or short and fat or thin Shi Xun's deceased mother was, and what social class they belonged to. To put it simply, the Shi family slaves might not know much about their masters' private lives, and the Shi family father and son didn't have a deep understanding of all the maidservants either. Throughout the entire compound, including several other compounds, Ah Fei knew more than anyone else about all sorts of information related to the Shi family's masters and slaves. He acknowledged Shi Er as his superior, but no one dared to claim they were better than him!

  So after changing his clothes, he rushed all the way to Nanshan. Originally, according to common sense, Zhang Taishou wanted to capture the Shi family in one net, so he secretly dispatched troops to surround them, but only a barbarian slave escaped, and it should not have been taken seriously, and no one would be sent to chase him. But everything is prepared for, if not prepared, then abandoned, it should be considered that, in case someone betrayed, the barbarian slave still had a letter written by Shi Lao Ye himself, originally planning to go to the interior to visit relatives, but Zhang Taishou might, to avoid unnecessary trouble, pursue this poor little slave relentlessly.

  So although he had no mount, Ah Fei quickened his pace and traveled day and night, arriving at Nan Pu just before dawn on the fourth day. He boarded the sea vessel that Shi Yi had mentioned earlier. The owner of the ship knew Shi Xiong, but at this time, Ah Fei didn't need to impersonate him, so he didn't care.

  The boat owner with the surname Qian came over and asked, "Young master looks unfamiliar, may I ask your name?" Ah Fei replied casually, "My surname is Yang, my name is Guo, my courtesy name is Gai Zhi, from Le Du, planning to travel to Central Plains for studies."

  Le Duo is the easternmost county of Le Lang, and he doesn't believe that this guy who has been running around the sea all day can still be familiar with all the gentlemen in Le Duo.

  As expected, the boat owner bowed repeatedly: "It's actually Young Master Yang, nice to meet you, nice to meet you. However, the Central Plains are not very peaceful nowadays, and I'm afraid your journey of studying and traveling will be quite bumpy."

  "Oh?" Ah Fei knew he was being asked a rhetorical question, "What kind of unrest? The boat owner travels between Qing and You states, what he sees and hears must be vast, yet you still ask for guidance."

  A Fei had followed Shi Xun for several years, and this local tyrant's demeanor had been learned to perfection. He also knew some characters and had a bit of a foundation in classical literature, which made him completely different from the common people. As a result, he didn't arouse any suspicion at all. Along the way, he chatted with Qian Shipowner with great pleasure. Qian Shipowner thought to himself: "This Mr. Yang is not arrogant like other scholars and doesn't look down on us merchants; he seems like someone worth befriending."

  According to Qian's introduction, at the beginning of this year, the prefectures and counties of Guandong rose up in arms to overthrow Dong Zhuo. The two sides fought fiercely on several battlefields in Zhongyuan, and finally Dong Zhuo set fire to Luoyang and took the emperor hostage to Chang'an. However, this was also a matter of the first half of the year. As for the situation in the second half of the year, Qian's information is relatively delayed, and he almost knows nothing - Ah Fei must know more than him.

  A Fei mainly asked him about the situation in Qingzhou, Donglai and Beihai counties. According to Qian Chuanzhu, in recent years, the Yellow Turbans had frequently invaded Qingzhou, causing great unrest in the area. However, the governor of Donglai, Cai Boqi, and the minister of Beihai, Kong Wenju, were both virtuous officials who comforted the refugees, encouraged farming and weaving, and managed to maintain a relatively stable situation.

  This season, the northwest wind is the strongest. According to reason, a sea boat should hoist its sails high and sail sideways with the wind, and it would take no more than two days to see the Shandong Peninsula, then continue east along the coast for about another day before landing in Huang County. But unexpectedly, there was an unpredictable storm, just as the destination was in sight, a sudden southeast wind blew from who-knows-where, "whooshing" and blowing the boat away from the shore, followed by a loud clap of thunder and heavy rain pouring down.

  Yang was drinking with the ship owner in the cabin when a sudden clap of thunder boomed outside, causing him to jump and drop his chopsticks. The ship owner comforted him, "Storms at sea are nothing unusual, Master Yang, don't be alarmed." Yang picked up his chopsticks and replied casually, quoting Liu Bei's later words, "The power of one shock is thus far-reaching." But in his heart he was praying, "You wicked heavens, just let me arrive safely at Beihai... consider this thunderclap as a farewell gift to me, bless me to escape like Liu Bei from the siege of Fancheng and from now on may I be like a tiger entering a forest or a dragon swimming in the ocean!"

  As the saying goes, "sincerity moves heaven", but for someone who doesn't believe in heaven at all, heaven probably won't bless him. After a thunderclap came strong winds and heavy rain. A large ship was tossed about on the waves like a dumpling being boiled in water, constantly rolling and pitching up and down. Before even half an hour had passed, it suddenly capsized beautifully, throwing everyone into the sea.

  Luckily, Ah Fei didn't have high hopes for the treacherous sky, so he had already tightly tied his bundle to himself and was holding onto the mast. Before the ship even capsized, the mast broke, and Ah Fei plunged into the water with a loud splash, then sank down with a "gurgle gurgle gurgle" sound...

  ————————I am a fashionable divider line————————

  First of all, thank you to the friends who came to see this book. Some friends may ask, "You wrote about the Three Kingdoms, we're familiar with it, but why can't we find any famous characters?" Isn't this just like a pure fantasy novel? Please don't worry, the protagonist is still on the Korean Peninsula, what famous people were there at that time? As soon as the protagonist runs to Central Plains, the possibility of famous people appearing will naturally increase. Soon, very soon, please be patient and continue reading, if you're happy with it, please help vote for a recommendation ticket. Thank you, thank you!