Chapter 30: Corpse Appearance

  On the way back, Min An hugged the soft pillow and fell asleep again. Fei Yi picked him up and asked, "Where did you learn these despicable tricks?"

  Min An patted Fei's arm with his hand, but that arm was as still as if it were cast in iron. He shouted: "What's despicable or not, as long as it achieves the goal, it's a good move, and you're the one who told me that before."

  He pressed his lips tightly together for a moment without speaking, and only relaxed his furrowed brow afterwards, saying: "But I don't like this matter."

  Min An turned back to look at Fei Yi's face, sensing Fei Yi's unspoken intimidation.

  Fei Yi said in a low voice: "You don't have to lower your own standards to cater to the people around you. I don't want to hear or see those frivolous words and despicable things again, got it?"

  Fei's eyes were extremely black and bright, staring at Min An without moving. Min An nodded silently: "I understand." It wasn't until Fei shook off his body like a dirty rag that stained his hand that he truly felt that Fei was disgusted with him.

  What was Fei Yi despising him for? Min An thought back carefully, and suddenly realized that the so-called "lewd talk" referred to those bawdy jokes he had told in front of Han Xiang. He turned his head again to look at Fei Yi's expressionless face, and couldn't help but mutter to himself: Look at him, also a young master from a wealthy family, I don't believe he is so innocent, not having been to those places of pleasure and vice.

  "In the quiet carriage, Fei suddenly spoke up and said: 'Don't think nonsense, I'm just reminding you that if you continue like this, you might really lose track of whether you're a man or a woman.'"

  Min An ignored his back injury and sat up, answering loudly: "How am I not a man? You'd better not use this to bully me in the future!"

  Fei Yi said faintly: "I'm testing you, since you've acknowledged the Young Master as your master, you must naturally undergo his trials."

  "What test?"

  "Every time the young master mentions his trusted followers, he has to examine them from all aspects of riding, shooting, driving and fighting. Those who pass will be sent to good places, while those who fail will surely die."

  "Really?!" Min An exclaimed in surprise.

  "As fake as your dentures."

  "What's true and what's false?"

  Fei Yi said faintly: "If you don't believe me, go ask Li Qun."

  Min An immediately fell silent, his hand propping up his chin, staring out the window in a daze. As for the matter of the trial, he would rather believe it existed than not, after all, the number one attendant of the crown prince, Li Qun's arm had several scars from knife wounds, which were said to have been brought back from the Western Frontier battlefield. And then there was Xiao Zhi, who according to Xiao Bao'er, had also been tempered by the Crown Prince before being sent to Changping Fu as a civil official.

  Min An thought to himself, whether it was a literary minister or a brave general, or even an insignificant person like an ant, if they wanted to cling to Li Peinan and gain a stable and prosperous life, they would have to suffer first.

  At this time, Fei Yu tidied up his collar and smoothed it out, appearing to say unintentionally: "Why not follow me to be a little horse boy, you won't have to suffer so much."

  Min An came back to his senses and exclaimed in surprise: "Are you digging at the corner of the Crown Prince's wall?"

  "It's better to suffer at my hands than to seek death and life in his."

  Min An pouted: "You said tormenting me is true, in the past few days, you treated me with cold and hot attitude, making me unable to figure out your mind, so, I think you're not a good person either."

  "How do you want me to treat you?"

  Min An raised his hand and made a bow: "Friends interact with each other, naturally they should be as close as liver and gallbladder."

  "Friend?" - Fei Yi's lips curled into a mocking smile as he whispered, "You're not qualified."

  Min An was picked up by Fei Yi and said a few words that made him feel astonished, and then he was thrown out to drive the horse carriage. He sat on the carriage seat, carefully watching the coachman's driving skills, and secretly sighed in his heart: such a difficult thing, Li Peinan wouldn't really want to test me, would he...

  The charioteer sitting beside him said, "The Western Barbarians are fond of forming a battle line with their cavalry. Once our army disperses them, they can mount a horse and fight again, showing off their martial prowess. If the young master really goes to the Western Frontier, first he must hold on tight to his horse in the swirling dust, not letting himself fall off, then think about how to save his life - as long as he doesn't die, that's also a meritorious deed."

  Min An's tongue was tied: "The Western Frontier... actually killed so fiercely..."

  The coachman glanced at Min An and smiled faintly: "So following the second young master is still more stable."

  Min An was like a punctured balloon, quickly deflating to the side, and it wasn't until half a day later that he suddenly spat out: "You guys intentionally made the young master sound so terrifying, are you trying to make me retreat?"

  The coachman smiled and said: "I see that young master has a weak body, just like the second young master. I'm just trying to remind you kindly."

  Min An couldn't see through the true and false words, always feeling a fog of uncertainty over his head. He didn't know that the carriage driver was from the distant Northern Li country, a trusted aide of Fei Yi, and would naturally follow Fei Yi's intentions in speaking and acting. Fei Yi thought of their shared past as fellow disciples and didn't want Min An to suffer too much at Li Peinan's hands, so he spoke up to remind him first. However, Fei Yi was a bit apathetic by nature and disliked saying things clearly, which made Min An feel like he couldn't grasp the situation. Earlier, he had recommended Min An to Li Peinan, and also because of Wu Ren's entrustment, had asked Li Peinan to return Min An, but was unsuccessful. All these matters were suppressed and not mentioned by him, and Min An himself didn't know about them either.

  The night grew darker and heavier, with large drops of dew falling on the leaves.

  Min An leaned against the car door, drowsy and silent. The carriage was quiet as if everyone inside had fallen asleep. On a winding mountain road, there was only the sound of their horse-drawn carriage, exceptionally clear in the night air. After a while, the two white horses pulling the carriage suddenly let out a loud whinny, folded their legs, and pulled the carriage into a deep pit that had been dug open.

  This trap was set up more secretly, lying across the road that the carriage had to take, deliberately choosing a narrow underground location so that the wheels of the carriage could not avoid it. In order to make it look real, the person who dug the pit also piled up sand and soil of the same color as the ground on the mouth of the pit, making it impossible to distinguish between true and false in the dark.

  The charioteer brought the carriage down with a loud crash and cried out: "Young Master——"

  His adaptability was astonishing. Just as the carriage stumbled, he kicked open the window and shot out of the compartment like an arrow, his body not stopping until he landed on a pine tree beside the mountain path. He didn't bother to look at the situation in the trap, but instead drew a soft sword from his waist, shook it in the wind, and straightened the four-foot-long cold iron in his hand.

  "Was it Wang Huaili who sent you?" asked Fei Han coldly from the tree.

  On the mountain path, no one responded. A group of dark brown short-clad men emerged from behind the trees on both sides, holding steel forks and iron crossbows, eager to pounce on the pine tree where Fei stood. Fei carefully observed their physique, seeing that they had thick arms and short legs, with ropes on their backs for binding prey. He felt a sense of certainty in his heart. "You are a group of hunters, familiar with the terrain. I said that Wang Huailie's brain would not dare to openly send officials to rob."

  The men holding the steel forks still didn't dare to speak, looking around at the people beside them, their footsteps becoming increasingly hesitant. Just in that brief moment of silence, the leader of the group beckoned with his hand and said to his companion holding the iron crossbow: "Take a look inside the pit."

  "Looking for the account book? It's on me." Fei Yustood steadily on the branch, gazing down at the people below with an air of superiority, as if he were a god looking down from above, "Let's see if you have what it takes to get it."

  He didn't seem to care about the situation at the bottom of the pit, but that didn't mean he wasn't concerned. He stood tall and had strong eyesight, and had already seen that Min An and the coachman were not seriously injured, so he drew the attention of the robbers to himself. Of course, he could also see that even if he hadn't done this, Min An would have been more than enough to deal with these people.

  Just as the white horse was pulling the carriage into the trap, the carter rushed over to protect Min An, squeezing him out of his seat and pressing him under his body. He himself could not escape, being pinned down by the heavy carriage. Min An fell out and hit his head on a rock on the wall of the pit, with a patch of blood seeping from under his hatband. After regaining consciousness, he first asked in a low voice if the carter was still holding up, and upon hearing an affirmative reply, he unhesitatingly wiped some blood from the wound onto his mouth and neck, then closed his eyes and pretended to have fainted, slumping down at the bottom of the pit.

  The car husband looked a bit silly, trying to pull his injured leg out from under the carriage, and crawling towards Min An. Min An suddenly opened one eye, nodded at the car husband: "Brother, you quickly pretend to be dead, they won't shoot us with crossbows if we're dead."

  Due to the urgency of the situation, Min An could not explain that during his tenure as a book officer, after widely interacting with the people, he understood that the hunters were reluctant to shoot iron arrows because of the cost of bows and crossbows.

  The carman thought he couldn't drag the young master on the tree behind, although his hind legs were already injured and dragging. He simply pulled over the soft cushion on the carriage seat to protect his chest and also fell beside Min'an.

  "I didn't expect Min An to speak up again: 'Big brother, your death pose is wrong.'"

  The carman replied in a low voice: "What kind of death is this?"

  Min An heard that the clothes on the tree were attracting the attention of the hunters, and he took the opportunity to say: "The young master said that they are hunters, and after exchanging a few words with them, they didn't fight, it can be seen that this batch of people is not very powerful. But their bows and arrows are fierce, and they have seen many dead animals, whether we can escape this disaster depends on the angle at which the blood spills from our mouths and the softness of our skulls, like me, this is the correct way. You're still holding a soft cushion tightly against your chest, are you hoping that others will guess that the account book is hidden inside?"

  The coachman suddenly realized and threw away the soft felt, Min An took advantage of the opportunity to hook it over and padded it behind his head to stop the bleeding.

  The two people at the bottom of the pit remained motionless, maintaining a dead silence.

  The hunters outside the pit did not go to shoot and kill the two "corpses", but instead surrounded them, launching an attack on Fei. Fei's martial arts skills were higher than everyone else's, and with little effort, he repelled the crowd's attack. The soft sword in his hand was like a spirit snake, directly targeting their shoulder井穴, forcing them to drop their weapons without harming their lives.

  After a brief fight, the wounded hunters fled into the mountains. Fei Yu jumped up, grabbed the last one, threw him to the ground, stepped on his shoulder and asked: "Who sent you? What are you doing here?"

  The captured hunter was in so much pain that he couldn't help but confess: "A gentleman came to the mountain with a document, recruiting hunters to rob horse-drawn carriages on the road. The document had an official seal, so we believed him. He told us to intercept the carriage and not harm anyone, just saying that there were treasures on our bodies. He only wanted a yellow leather account book, and we thought it was a good deal, so we dug a pit and waited."

  He inverted the soft sword, pointing the tip at the hunter's shoulder well, which had already been stabbed. A cold light slid down, causing the hunter to gasp in shock: "Spare my life, young master! I'm telling the truth!"

  Fei Yi sneered coldly: "The truth? Then I'll ask you, how did the government officials know we went to Peach Blossom Village?"

  "We didn't know you went to Peach Blossom Village," said the hunter. "That gentleman instructed us, we just need to wait for you on your way back."

  Fei Yi thought for a moment and knew that Lie Hu's words were true. He asked again: "Who is the husband you mentioned?"

  "Hunter Road said: 'I don't know what his name is, he says he's a book boy sent by Lord Wang, wearing a blue cloth shirt, holding an official document in his hand, looking quite elegant.'"

  "Where is he now?"

  "After crossing the mountain, we took a small path and were told that after obtaining the account book, we should go to the government office to hand it over to Lord Wang."

  He didn't get any further information from the hunter and just told him to "get out", letting the hunter leave in a hurry.

  The bottom of the pit was eerily silent, and Fei could only walk to the edge of the pit and shout: "How long do you want to pretend?"

  Min An opened his eyes and carefully observed the situation above, then struggled to help the carman up. With Fei's help, they pulled him out of the pit. The white horse with a broken leg also lay on its side, whinnying softly. Min An couldn't bear it, so he rescued them one by one and bandaged their injured legs.

  Min An touched his head and a big lump of blood came out from his hand. He felt that everything in front of him was getting darker, and he almost couldn't stand up. After resting for a while, taking advantage of Fei Yi's diagnosis and treatment of the horse, he climbed out along the rope. The car driver outside the pit had already hung on the wounded horse's saddle, listening to Fei Yi's arrangement, and first went to the barracks in the suburbs of Qingquan County.

  Min An was somewhat surprised and asked Fei Yi: "Why did you ask the carriage driver to go to the barracks? Are you going to mobilize the troops?"

  He tightened the saddle and tested the speed of the white horse that was left behind, and after finding out that it was not seriously injured, he got on its back. Min An held the reins, and only then did he reply: "It's not important who the hunter is assigned to, what's rare is that along the way, the young master didn't even send a scout to meet us, it can be seen that something unexpected happened at the inn, and he was also trapped. If you can trap the young master, it's definitely not simple, first mobilize the guards to assist in the battle, only then can we be absolutely safe."

  Fei Yi was about to rush out on horseback, and Min An hastily asked: "What about me? What should I do?"

  He brushed aside Min'an's hair behind his head with a whip in his hand and asked him, "Can you hold on?"

  Min Anjue felt that the words were familiar and was exactly what he jokingly asked Car Fu Gege, so he had to force himself to answer: "Nothing serious."

  "You can't get through this critical juncture with a face like that of a dead person? Why do you need to follow me?"

  Min An smiled: "Look what you said, can't I just ride a horse back to the guest house and ask Master to help me diagnose my injury?"

  "Not on the clothes, whip pointed at the horse's body: 'Come up'."

  Min An struggled to climb onto the horse's back, his hands finding no place to grasp, and muttered a quick "sorry" before embracing Fei Yi's waist. Fei Yi furrowed her brow: "Show some manly spirit." Min An had no choice but to twist his hands behind him, grasping the horse's rump, as he bounced along with Fei Yi.

  The wind and the horse ran for a while, but unfortunately, they had to turn back to pick up Min An who had fallen off the road. After running for another period of time, he had to turn his head again to pick up Min An who was lying on the ground unable to get up. Finally, he lost his patience and said to Min An: "Come to my front, hug me, if you fall down again, I will trample you to death myself."

  Min An hastily crawled to Fei Yi's side, hugging his waist and sitting sideways on the horseback, burying her head in Fei Yi's chest. Fei Yi urged the white horse to gallop faster, asking in the wind: "What are you doing?"

  Min Anmeng replied in a low voice: "I'm dizzy, lend me something to lean on."

  Fei Yi glanced at Min An's face, which was covered in dust and had blood on the back of his head. He let out a quiet sigh and didn't lift him up. Min An felt even more uncomfortable and hugged Fei Yi tighter, causing the dust on his forehead and the sand on his hat to inevitably rub onto Fei Yi's clothes. Fei Yi endured for a moment before saying, "Every time I go out with you, I always end up getting dirty."

  Min An seemed to have not heard, raised his head to look at Fei Yi: "Can't you run a bit slower? My denture is about to fall off." After finishing speaking, he also slightly curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled, showing Fei Yi the place where his broken tooth was about to split open. His appearance matched with the sweat and dirt all over his face, really pitiful to look at.

  Fei Mo said after a moment of silence: "You'd better keep your head down."

  Two people galloped on the official road outside Qingquan County, and Non-cloth almost couldn't remember what method Min An used to make him retreat again and again, allowing Min An to move from in front of him to behind him, even using a rope to tie his waist, and borrowing his shoulder and back to sleep for a while.