Chapter Twenty-One: Unexpected Reunion

  "What is the most common self-cultivation method for a time-traveler returning to ancient times (excluding Xianxia background)?"

  "Running."

  No, in order to strengthen his body and escape from enemies first, countless predecessors of the crossing exercise have been practicing running. However, Shi Xun was not diligent in exercising in his previous life, so he didn't think about relying on running to strengthen his body. It's not that he couldn't run, when he was in a poor valley, he would unconsciously chase after rabbits and practice his legs, later when he followed Shi Xun, they often went out hunting, Shi Gongzi rode a horse, and as a slave, he had to follow along, pretending to be Shi Xun. After becoming Shi Xun, he occasionally ran one or two laps - so in terms of long-distance running ability, it can only be considered C-level.

  Unfortunately, at this time, he had been squatting for too long and his two legs were numb. Moreover, his pants weren't even tied up yet, so he had to hold them up with both hands...

  So he turned his head and ran, but before he could take three steps, his left foot stepped on the hem of his right pant leg. His long shirt got caught in a bush, and his legs went soft. He fell to the ground with a thud. As soon as he started running, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, "hiss hiss". When he fell to the ground, he felt a fierce gust of wind rushing towards his face. Luckily, he quickly came up with an idea and did a "ground roll", tearing his collar and getting his butt covered in dry grass. He barely escaped disaster.

  "Hss", a cold light flashing ring-headed knife chopped deeply into the ground, just inches from Xun's shoulder, less than two centimeters away.

  "I'm done for!" Dong Zhuo, Yan Liang, Wen Chou... I'm relying on you guys to flash back a fart! Not even a decent character for me to YY with before I die? Sun Jian, where's Sun Jian?!

  He was waiting for his last moment before closing his eyes, when he heard a voice shouting: "Wait!" Immediately, the ring-headed knife was pulled out of the ground and steadily placed on his own neck.

  Only to hear that voice say: "Hey, isn't that who?" - "Who" is who, can't you see I have a name and surname? - Then the person holding the ring-shaped knife said: "Big brother, your meaning is to tie him up as a hostage?" "Nonsense!" The previous person immediately gave his companion a brain concussion, his companion stumbled, almost cutting off Si Xun's neck. So the previous person hastily stretched out his hand to block the ring-shaped knife, but instead pulled open a mouthful of blood on Si Xun's face - "You idiot, you hurt me!"

  "Sorry, big brother." The man quickly inserted the ring-shaped knife into the ground beside Zhen's face and tore off a strip of cloth to bandage the previous person. The previous person suddenly became angry: "Who told you to put down the knife? What if this kid runs away?" The man chuckled: "He can't run, he's still holding his pants..."

  Xīn is so embarrassed, he wishes there was a hole in the ground for him to crawl into.

  That person had previously snatched a strip of cloth to bandage his wound, while educating his companion: "What is his identity? What is the identity of that old Cao? Taking him as a hostage, what's the use of that! We should hold him and think of ways to mix into that tent in the middle. As long as we get close to Old Cao, it will be easy to take care of him, heh heh heh!"

  Companion gives a thumbs up: "Elder brother's insight is high, younger brother admires it deeply."

  "It's all over," the man said with a glare, "hurry up and pick up your knife for real!"

  I don't know how it happened, but these two good-for-nothings chatted on and on, which actually eased the tension in his heart. He managed to muster up some energy and took a closer look at the two of them. The one who was injured had a tall stature, with a thin face and short beard, while the other man, who had just picked up the ring-shaped knife, was slightly shorter but had broad shoulders and a dense beard on his chin. "Gentlemen," Isao said, still lying on the ground, "may I tie my pants first?"

  The short man drew the ring-shaped knife across his neck: "Put it on. You'd better behave, or if you dare to run, I'll cut off your head with one knife!"

  "Yes, yes, I'm honest, very honest, can't be more honest." Xun Yi slowly got up, pulled up his pants, and tightened his belt. He finally let out a sigh of relief - judging from the tone of these two people, they wouldn't take his life for the time being. For now, he could only take things one step at a time. At worst, he would really bring them to Cao Song's tent and then find an opportunity to slip away. Although he wanted to protect Cao Lao's life, if it came down to it, his own life was more precious.

  He had just fastened his belt when he suddenly heard a "plop" sound, and a warm, sticky liquid splashed all over his face. He was shocked and closed his eyes: "Could it be that the guy really cut off my head?" But he didn't feel any pain, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw only a headless body in front of him, with blood still gushing out of the neck stump. The body swayed twice before collapsing to the ground. Almost at the same time, the skinny guy who had been injured in the hand let out a few choking sounds from his throat, and his knees gave way as he fell to the ground - his eyes were filled with shock and emptiness, and it was clear that he was taking more breaths out than in; one foot had already stepped into the gates of hell, but he simply knelt there, not falling over, nor could any wounds be seen on his body.

  His hands were still on the belt, but his legs began to tremble uncontrollably. The sky had gradually darkened, and he vaguely saw that after the dwarf fell down, a figure appeared behind him. He was not tall, and looked like an ordinary farmer, with a pointed mouth, sunken cheeks, and a long scar on his cheek. His clothes were tattered, but he held a ring-headed knife in his hand, with bloodstains on the blade. Looking again at the back of the thin man, it seemed that there was also someone there, but their body was mostly blocked from view, making it difficult to discern their appearance - could it be a child?

  All he saw was that "farmer" raised the blade in his hand and pointed at Zai Xun: "You..." Before he could finish, he suddenly turned his head to glance at the thin man, then suddenly became greatly shocked: "What's wrong with you?!"

  With a "thud", someone behind the thin man also fell to the ground. That "farmer" quickly rushed over to hold him, shaking him repeatedly, then turned his head and glared at Shi Xun: "What are you standing there for? Don't you come over and take a look?!"

  I see, so it's clear that this "farmer" and his companions have cleared the way for themselves. However... what's your surname? I don't know you, Master. You call me over and I'll go? Before that, would you please introduce yourself first? Who sent you here?

  But looking at that "farmer's" eyes... no, no, no, although he looks like a farmer, his eyes are absolutely not those of a farmer, they're clearly the eyes of a murderer! And indeed, he just killed someone with one knife cut, beheading them... this kind of person is not to be trifled with. He called me over to take a look, so I'll go take a look, looking won't make me lose any flesh.

  He comforted himself, thinking that since the other person had saved his life, they probably didn't have malicious intentions. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to see that the "farmer" was holding a small child in their arms. When he glanced at the thin man kneeling on the ground, he saw that there was a hole in his back with blood gushing out - fortunately, Xun had been eating relatively well for the past two years, so his eyesight had mostly recovered from being nearsighted; otherwise, it would have been hard to see clearly in such dim light.

  He turned to the "farmer" again, carefully asking: "You two...?" The "farmer" gave him a sideways glance and nodded towards his own chest: "Don't you recognize him? Then why did he have to come and save you?"

  Do you have to come and save me? Who is that? Xun bent down, using the last bit of light from heaven to carefully examine the child in the "farmer's" arms - a delicate small face, unfortunately covered with mud, lips curled up, with many blisters, head wrapped in a bandana, the color of this bandana...

  Could it be... Guan Yu!

  Xian panicked: "Guan, Guan Shi's daughter... she, she's injured? Where is the injury? Is it serious?"

  "The peasant let out a soft sigh: 'She's not wounded, she's just fainted from hunger... We've been surviving on nothing but chewing grass roots and drinking raw water for the past three days...'"

  "Hurry up, hurry up," said Xun, jumping up from his seat. "Follow me, I have food at my place."

  The peasant picked up Guan Ni - only on the way did he ask clearly, his surname was Bai, without a name, the fifth in the family, called Bai Lao Wu - followed behind Shi Xun's back, all the way to the camp. When they arrived at the gate of the camp, a Langya soldier hurried over to ask: "Mr., what's wrong with you? Where are you hurt?"

  He wiped the bloodstains off his face: "Not injured, someone else's blood..." He bypassed that soldier and brought White Old Five with him, taking a few steps to arrive at the entrance of Cao's large tent. He loudly shouted inside: "Go quickly, go quickly!"

  Cao De heard the noise and came out, seeing him in this state, he couldn't help but be shocked. Just as he was about to ask questions, Xun explained in one breath: "I happened to run into two assassins, fortunately these two friends saved my life - this one has fainted from hunger, would you please cook some porridge for her to drink?"

  "Porridge is ready," Cao De replied, "Father just called for a midnight snack and has just cooked a pot of meat porridge." Xun thought to himself that he had just finished dinner not long ago, was it only an hour ago? You're going to have another midnight snack, you'll get fat to death, you old thing! He heard Cao De say: "First bring him into the tent, I'll go call someone to serve the porridge."

  Xun asked: "Your respected father..." Cao De smiled and said: "Just enter my tent."

  The Cao family's large tent was divided into several areas, with a "living room" in the center and "bedrooms" around it - one for Cao Song, one for Cao De, one for Cao De's four-year-old daughter, and one for his 14-year-old son Cao Zheng. There were also two rooms for Cao Song's concubines. At this time, Cao De invited Si Ma Yi and others into his tent - there was still a screen standing in the tent, and when Cao De's wife heard the noise, she hid behind the screen first - and put Guan Ping on the mat.

  At that time, a maid brought over a bowl of meat porridge. Bai Lao Wu held up Guan Yi's head with both hands, and carefully fed the porridge into his mouth with a wooden spoon. At first, several spoonsful spilled out, but by the fifth spoonful, Guan Yi finally reacted, beginning to swallow as if he were conscious, or perhaps not. He continued until he had drunk half the bowl of porridge, then slowly opened his eyes.

  When feeding porridge, Xun told Cao De about the cause and effect - of course, he didn't mention his own embarrassing appearance with his pants down, nor did he mention that Guan Si was Guan Hai's daughter, but just said it was someone he occasionally met in the past. When he saw Guan Si wake up, he finally let out a sigh of relief, looked around at Bai Lao Wu, and then at Cao De, feeling that some words were not convenient to say in front of Cao De, so he pretended to glance at the screen: "Let's go to my account anyway."

  It was a ordinary small tent for soldiers, which could accommodate five or six people in general, but now it was occupied by him alone. After entering the tent and rearranging his pipe, he sent Cao De away and dared to ask Bai Laowu: "Wasn't it said that we were surrounded by Cao's army? How did you break through to get here?"

  I am the dividing line of dance

  This chapter also introduces a new NPC, who is a celebrity. The so-called "White Old Five" of the Yellow Turban Bandits, whose surname is Luo, and friends like to call him "Old Luo", once used the ID "Ghost King", is a veteran writer and editor of magazines (games & literature), often using the pen name "Bai Bei Wu" - just change one word, how fitting!

  By the way, it's been almost a month since I started writing, and I've given you three categories of recommendations from the beginning to the end. But why can't the number of collections go up? Friends who like reading this book, can you help me shout out loud everywhere? If the writing is really bad, then no one will read it, that's okay. What I'm afraid of is that if the writing is decent, many friends who like this type of theme won't know about it, and that would be a pity.