Chapter 34: Rescuing Hu Ji

  Zu Zhao and his party left Xili Village, with many thoughts in his mind. Although today's gain was not great, he finally found a clue figure. For him, the problem now lies in this clue figure, unexpectedly, the other party is very likely to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army in the future.

  Zhang Jue, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, the three brothers, had been planning the Yellow Turban Rebellion for a long time. In other words, although the Taiping Dao followers have not yet gathered to start an uprising, it does not mean that these people are not currently preparing for an uprising.

  He had to assume that Deng Mao of Xili Village was one of the Yellow Turbans, so would this time's horse robbery be related to the Taiping Taoist sect's conspiracy? If it were indeed the Taiping Taoist sect preparing for a rebellion that led to the horse robbery case, what would their next move be?

  During this period, in Xihuo Bridge, he organized the wandering children and the local villagers to practice martial arts, one of the purposes was to deal with the Yellow Turban Rebellion. However, before they could achieve the best results from their training, the Yellow Turbans had already taken action, which was not a good omen. Nevertheless, this case would inevitably have an outcome, even if it were the future Yellow Turban Army, it would be nothing more than a mob, let alone at present, they couldn't even be considered as such.

  Thinking of this, he had some vague plans in his mind.

  "Big brother, look over there."

  Just after leaving Xili Village, Zuji suddenly pointed at a patch of wild grass growing in the barren field by the side of the road and called out.

  Including Zu Zhao, all the young masters of the Zu family turned their heads to look over, only to see that on the barren field, there were several people who seemed to be young dandies chasing after another person. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the person being chased was actually a woman. These people were heading from south to west, and were coming in the direction of the road. As they got closer and closer, it became apparent that with the physical strength and speed of these young dandies, they could have easily caught up to the woman, but they didn't do so. On the contrary, they seemed to be playing a game of cat and mouse, as if they had already captured their prey.

  The woman was exhausted, her legs weak and trembling, several times tripping over stones in the deserted field and struggling to get up again. Finally, she leaned against a tree at the edge of the field, her back against the trunk, staring at the silk-clad boys chasing after her.

  "Stinky girls, keep running?"

  "See where you can run to, who in Lianzhi County doesn't know me? You dare to hit me? Today I'll let you know my ferocity. First, I'll play with you until you're exhausted, then sell you off to Liaodong."

  The woman shouted a few times in a hoarse voice, but it was a string of discordant notes that no one could understand what she was saying, but the anger in her emotions was unmistakable.

  Because of the tree trunk's obstruction, Zu Chao on the small road couldn't see the woman's face clearly, but from the bright-colored skirt and that strange yet rhythmic accent on her body, it seemed to be the same Huren Gulinaer he met in the fruit forest.

  Those several young masters closed in on her from different directions, and Gulinare was already nowhere to escape.

  "Big brother, it seems to be that Gulie... do you want me to help?" A young man who had followed Zu Chao to the orchard before hastily asked for instructions.

  "This has nothing to do with us, let's just keep moving." Zu Zhao made a decision after a brief moment of contemplation. Just like when he encountered those barbarians in Xili Village before, he couldn't afford to cause more trouble for the sake of a few foreigners.

  But just a few steps away, the sound of the young master's lewd laughter came from the direction of the wasteland. Hu Nu seemed to have resisted, and as a result, she was slapped several times by those young masters without any courtesy, her weak body directly fell to the ground. Soon after, the group of young masters burst into laughter, and then the sound of clothes being torn apart was heard, accompanied by Hu Nu's mournful screams.

  The originally expressionless Zu Zhao suddenly pulled the reins in his hand, turned the horse's head towards the direction of the wasteland, kicked the horse's belly with force, and rushed out like an arrow. The crowd of Zu family children on both sides were completely unable to react, and after a while, Zu Ji was the first to whip the reins and follow up, and the others only came back to their senses and followed closely behind.

  However, in the blink of an eye, Zu Zhao had already rushed to the front, pulled up the reins and lifted the horse's front hooves off the ground. With a loud whinny, it suddenly revealed a majestic and intimidating aura. The several young dandies were frightened and retreated several steps back. The leader of the group, whose pants were only half on, didn't have time to put them on properly and ended up tumbling to the ground in a heap.

  "What the hell is wrong with you, looking for death?" The leading youth barely made out that the horseman was just a sixteen or seventeen year old boy, and immediately got up, put on his pants, and started cursing loudly.

  "Who does this kid think he is, daring to cause trouble here!"

  "Are you blind? Don't you recognize Young Master Xu San of Xili Village?"

  Several young men followed suit and shouted in unison, each with a ferocious expression, completely disregarding their ancestors.

  However, when Zu Qi and other young men from the Zu family rushed over on horseback, the atmosphere changed again. Those young men were all stunned, not only had they not expected the other side to be so numerous, but also everyone was equipped with horses and swords, showing that they were not ordinary people.

  "You'd better get out of here as soon as possible." Zu Zhao said with a cold face and an icy tone.

  "Hum, how bold you are... what kind of people are you? Do you know who I am?" The leading youth, in order to not lose face, forced out a burst of energy and shouted, but his tone was intermittent and trembling, already exposing the panic in his heart.

  "A bunch of insolent whelps, I know your names. This is my final warning to you, get out of here quickly!" Zu Zhao's voice was first filled with ridicule, then became increasingly severe, his words cutting like a sharp blade.

  Before him, a group of young men, although all very young, were mostly older than Zu Chao. The older ones even called the younger ones "whippersnappers", and the extent of this humiliation is self-evident.

  "You think you can rely on your numbers, don't you? You want to help those Hu Yi women, you're just traitors who collude with foreign tribes. I have plenty of people in my county, let's see how I'll punish you for the crime of killing thousands...!" The young man at the forefront couldn't hold back his anger and retorted loudly, intentionally speaking big words to save face.

  No one knew that he hadn't finished speaking, only to hear a "ting" sound of metal rubbing against each other. Zu Zhao had already drawn his sword from his waist and was staring at the opponent with eyes full of murderous intent.

  These young men never thought that Zu Chao would really take action, and they immediately lost all their momentum. Several of the younger boys in the back were already unable to stand on their feet and were about to run away. The leader of the group was instinctively frightened back a few steps, originally intending to continue shouting, but when he turned his head, the people behind him had already run far away, so he couldn't care about anything else and hurriedly rolled and crawled away in escape.

  Until those pampered young masters ran far away, Zu Zhao still had a cold face, and the murderous aura that had not dispersed put the sword back into its scabbard.

  He turned his horse around and looked at Huguo Gulinaer, who was lying under the tree. Her originally thin clothes were now in tatters, her top torn into several pieces, revealing a camisole underneath, and her bright skirt had split open in several places, exposing her slender white feet. Her cheek was red and swollen, with a streak of blood at the corner of her mouth, and her gemstone-like eyes were closed, with many glittering tears rolling around in their sockets.

  "How are you?"

  Zu Zhaoping calmly asked. For him, he could ignore how the Han people discriminated against and oppressed the Hu people, but his principle was that he absolutely could not tolerate bullying and humiliating women who were weak and poor. These arrogant and lawless rascals, doing such outrageous things right in front of him, he certainly couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

  Upon hearing Zu Zhao's words, Hu Nu slowly opened her tear-filled eyes and looked at the young man sitting on horseback. With great difficulty, she struggled to sit up. Her torn clothes slid down her shoulders, revealing her smooth, wheat-colored skin. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, covering her chest, as tears seeped through her long eyelashes and fell onto the dry earth, blooming before disappearing like withered flowers.

  "That horse..."

  The woman's voice was hoarse and sweet as she tried to speak, but her throat was so sore that she couldn't make any more sounds.

  "Now I can only help you by taking you away." Zu Zhao had hesitated for a moment before saying this, but since he finally said it, it was already well thought out.

  The woman lowered her head, and tears dripped onto her arm.

  "Live on, you still have the chance to change your fate. If you die now, not only will you gain nothing, but also no one will sympathize with or pity you." After a while, Zu Zhao seriously advised again.

  Gulinaer raised her head and looked at Zu Chao, with tears flashing in her eyes, the blue gemstone-like big eyes were full of blur and confusion.

  Zu Chao didn't dismount. He leaned forward, stretching out his hand to the girl, his eyes meeting Gulinaer's without evasion, with a hint of encouragement.

  Gulinaer hesitated for a moment, her expression still dazed and even somewhat numb. She covered her chest with one hand and slowly extended the other hand. Zu Chao grasped her soft hand and pulled it up to place it on the front of the horse's back, holding the reins with both hands, just in time to protect her already weakened body from falling off during the bumpy ride.

  Gulinaer sat on the horseback with a slouching posture, although her expression was dazed, she understood that she was now disheveled and so close to a man of another tribe, his breath could even brush against her cheek. In the midst of complicated emotions, she couldn't help but add a hint of shyness, thinking about the injustices and humiliation she had suffered in recent days, thinking about her companions being captured, thinking about what would happen next... For a moment, her heart was like an overturned bottle of five flavors, and she almost couldn't breathe.

  "It'll be better if you cry it out." Zu Zhao said with a slight bow of his head, looking at the pitifully beautiful Hu Niang in front of him.

  Gulinaer's long eyelashes fluttered twice, and she finally couldn't hold back her tears. She didn't have the strength to stop crying, nor did she have the strength to support her own body, and suddenly fell into Zu Chao's arms.

  Zu Zhaowei felt the familiar faint scent on the other person's body, and also sensed the trembling vulnerability like a wounded small beast.

  The family members of the Zuo's ancestral home were full of doubts, but they didn't say much. Although it was a Hu person who was rescued, it was still a chivalrous and righteous act, after all, it was still something to be proud of.

  I recommend two educational films, "Citizen Kane" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".