Chapter Six: Step by Step Downfall

  I didn't even have the temper to scold, and I quickly crawled out of my warm little nest to the window and gently covered the nozzle with my fingers. I clearly felt the air rushing against my fingers and sprayed twice, then the small nozzle retreated from the window gap.

  I took a deep breath and stared at the window with wide eyes, and indeed, the nozzle had changed its position and was coming in again. Taking advantage of it not being stable yet, I bit down on the nozzle like a mad dog and then blew it away with one breath.

  Only two muffled coughs were heard from the opposite side, and a low voice said: "Quickly help me, I've been hit by that kid"; Standing under the window listening carefully to the outside commotion, it seems they have many people; The chaotic and low footsteps faded away. After crawling back under the bed, I started worrying about tomorrow's affairs.

  After daybreak, the old boss really went out to buy a dog, and the fat woman also went outside. I secretly left the room, stretched my waist and walked back and forth in the yard for a few steps before heading towards the outside of the store. I found a small stall selling breakfast, had a delicious bowl of noodles, then came to a paper shop, bought a few sheets of paper and several envelopes, and sat down to write inside the paper shop.

  I first wrote a letter to the general manager of Sun's mansion in Chang'an, congratulating him on getting rich. Then I sent another one to Zheng Xiong with a picture of a pig head. Next, I wrote a second letter to Zheng Xiong with only a few words: "Peaceful town, come quickly." After sealing it, I asked around and found out the location of the post station in this town, then went there.

  Arrived at the post station, spent two taels of silver to report an urgent delivery, I sent out the first two letters, then took out the third letter and said: "This letter will be delivered one hour later, but it must be delivered quickly, here are two more taels of silver as a reward for you, I want to hear back from this letter tonight, it's not far, just less than 60 miles away, if you can deliver it even faster, I'll give you another reward. Remember, it will be delivered one hour later." After finishing speaking, I walked out of the post station with a steady pace and returned to my room to sleep soundly.

  At noon, I rubbed my eyes and got up to walk out the door, only to see that there was a doghouse in the yard, with three large dogs like donkeys squatting inside. They circled around the doghouse for a few laps, and those dogs barked at me wildly.

  I turned around and went outside to buy two catties of pork entrails and threw them in, then the three dogs looked at me like I was their father. Then I found the boss and paid for another day's rent, and that boss also fooled around with me for half a day, almost calling out.

  I went back to my room and sat for a while, then I turned around and asked the boss where the local specialty was, after getting an answer, I left the store. When I got to the street, I walked in that direction for a while, looked back to see if anyone was following me, and then quickly left the town and hit the road again.

  As I walked, I wondered if this trick could shake off the people behind me? Would Zheng Xiong come to meet me? My heart also ached for that knife I had thrown away at the inn, what a pity about that thing.

  I walked on the official road, there were many people on the road, I wandered around and found a village, bought a set of clothes and an axe from an old man, also got some rope, bought 4 steamed buns and a gourd of water at a small restaurant in the village, then found a deserted forest to chop some firewood, and after rolling on the ground for a while, I was satisfied with this outfit and continued on my way.

  After walking for more than 30 miles, the sky was getting dark. There were fewer people on the road compared to daytime, and after it completely darkened, I was the only one still hurrying along the road. Looking at the quiet surroundings, I felt a little scared. Touching the axe at my waist to boost my courage, I threw the firewood on my back into the grass and ran with all my might.

  Ran for half a day with the load on my legs, I'm really grateful that Zheng Xiong came. Ran for half a day without panting, and not much sweat either, looks like the 60 jin leg bag wasn't tied in vain. Will add to 80 jin when I get back and continue training.

  Just as I was enjoying myself, I suddenly heard the sound of urgent horseshoes coming from behind me. I quickly dodged and ran to hide behind a large tree by the side of the road. In the blink of an eye, the horseshoes arrived at where I had just been standing.

  Someone said: "He shouldn't have run this far, his legs can't reach here."

  A very familiar voice said: "This is not necessarily the case, you are not clear about this kid's skills, don't look at him as small, less than half a year ago he single-handedly killed more than 30 people, night raids, poisoning, and plotting, it can be said that there is nothing he won't do. I was observing him at the time, like a wolf following behind those mountain bandits, the killing aura emanating from his body made me not dare to get close. And this time you several were tricked into this miserable state by him, and you still want to treat him as a child? Tell the messengers along the way to be careful in searching within ten miles, we will continue to pursue forward for ten miles, if there is nothing then we will search back on the road from where we came.

  I was shocked to find that the speaker was Zheng Xiong, and I hastily turned out from behind the tree, opening my mouth just about to shout, but in an instant my heart sank, cold sweat pouring all over my body like a spring. Under the moonlight, three horses were running forward, with Zheng Xiong's robust figure in the middle, and the two people on either side wearing familiar black clothes, their heads wrapped in white cloth that was dazzlingly bright under the moonlight. Damn it, they were those two thieves who had been stung by bees! At this moment, I understood everything.

  The official road can't be walked anymore, I ran along the trees by the side of the road while thinking about what I saw earlier, that little brat Zheng Xiong sold me out, no wonder there were people following us as soon as we left the camp, no wonder they stared at me like a dog staring at shit, and now there's less than 200 miles of road left, how can I possibly make it? Currently, it seems I have almost no chance of winning, the enemy situation is unclear, plus Zheng Xiong who knows me all too well, wanting to escape will be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

  It seems that they don't have many people, which means it's impossible to conduct a large-scale search. I'll walk further away and then talk. Having made up my mind, I won't think about it anymore, and run towards the due south direction.

  After daybreak, I couldn't run anymore, so I climbed up a tree to catch my breath and look around. In front of me was a small village, not big at all, with only about 20 or so households.

  After climbing down the tree, I came to a family's gate at the village entrance. There was an old man in the yard who also saw me. I stood in front of the gate and bowed to the old man, asking: "Old sir, how far is it from here to Chang'an? I'm from Tongguan and want to go to Chang'an, but I got lost on the way."

  The old man chuckled and said to me: "You're quite far off the road, you know. From here to Chang'an is still over 180 miles away. If you came from Tongguan, then you've taken a detour of more than 60 miles. If you head north from here, after 40 miles there's a place called Liujiacun, and once you get on the official road there, you won't get lost again."

  I said: "Thank you for your guidance, old man. Is there a place in this village where I can buy something to eat? I'd like to get some food for the road."

  The old man said: "This village is not close to the main road, so there are no shops either. My family has food, follow me and I'll get you something hot to eat, and also give you some dry rations to take with you." As he spoke, he pulled my hand and headed towards the small hut.

  I hastily said: "Thank you for your kindness, old man, but I'm in a hurry to rush on the road, just give me a few pieces of dry food, and I'll draw some water from your well and be done."

  The old man said: "Alright, you wait here for a moment, I'll go get some dry rations for you." After saying that, he went into the house.

  I finished drawing water and sat on the edge of the well, thinking for a moment. I stepped into the house, pulled out a piece of charcoal from the old man's stove, and took out the remaining paper and envelope. I knelt on the edge of the well and wrote a letter to General Shang. The letter read: "Your subordinate Yan Jiulang reports to the general, since leaving the camp, there have been people following me, and several times I was ambushed but managed to escape. Your subordinate has investigated that Zheng Xiong, the second battalion leader of the White Tiger Camp, is colluding with the enemy. I hope the general will be cautious."

  After finishing writing the letter, I said to the old man: "Old fellow, I still need to trouble you with one more thing, please send this letter to the nearby post station for delivery. This money is for postage, and if there's any extra, you can use it to buy some wine." As I spoke, I took out two taels of silver and several dozen copper coins from my body and handed them over.

  The old man took the money and smiled at me saying: "Alright, you just rest here for a while and wait for news, I'll return the extra money to you." Then he left without waiting for me to say anything else. I gazed at the old man's receding back and started chanting Buddha's name again.

  Didn't wait for the old man to come back, went out and continued on the road. After being filled with a few buns and cold water in my stomach, my eyes were a bit hard to open, found a place with water to wash my face, the icy water droplets made me sober up quite a bit.

  Their search range is within ten miles ahead, and I am currently 50 miles away from the official road. At this rate, it seems they won't find me for now. If I maintain this 50-mile distance and move forward another 20 miles, I should be out of their circle. After rushing for 20 miles, I really couldn't hold on anymore. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly above my head, making me feel extremely hot and thirsty. My sweat made my clothes stick tightly to my body. Water was running out, and my feet were aching to death. The scenery around me started to blur as well. I called out in my heart that things weren't going well, knowing that if I continued like this, I would collapse within half an hour and wouldn't be able to get up again.

  Found a tree shade and lay down on the ground, after drinking all the water in the gourd, the dry heat feeling on my body was suppressed a lot. Then I pulled another bunch of branches from the tree and sat down to weave a hat.

  After finishing, I looked and it was actually not bad, the energy on my body had also dissipated, so I put on my hat and walked forward. This time I didn't walk as fast as before, while walking, I looked around in all directions, like this for half an hour, a horse carriage caught up from behind.

  The person rushing the car was a young man in his early 20s. I approached him with what I thought was the most adorable smile of my life, but he looked startled and asked, "What do you want to do?"

  I hastily said: "Big brother, hello! Where is this bus headed?"

  The young man said: "I told you not to laugh, it's too ugly. My car is going to Xiping Town 30 miles ahead, do you want to take a ride? Give me 20 copper coins and I'll take you for a while."

  Helplessly, I took out 20 yuan and stuffed it into his hand. Then I asked him: "How far is Xiping Town from Chang'an?"

  The young man said: "It's about 120 miles away, are you going to Chang'an?"

  I said: "Right, going to Chang'an. Is there a carriage and horse shop in Xiping Town?"

  The young man said: "Yes, Xiping Town is very big, do you want to hire a horse and carriage to Chang'an?"

  I said: "Yes, I'm in a hurry to rush on the road".

  The young man asked again: "It's probably going to cost five taels of silver to hire a carriage from the town to Chang'an, do you have that kind of money at your young age?" As he spoke, he began to size me up from head to toe.

  My heart skipped a beat, from his eyes I felt that this person was not a good guy, hurriedly said: "I don't have it on me, but my aunt's family lives in Chang'an, when we arrive they will give it to you"; The young man hummed and stopped talking.