Tenderness of Fire

Li Jing kept coughing, and only after a long time did he smooth out his breath. To his surprise, A Yue picked up the sheepskin water bag, handed to his mouth, said crisply: "Brother ... drink water ..." Li Jing looked at her watery eyes, for the first time in his life was Touched. A small states princess of the royal family, fallen into difficulties to this point, but still have a good heart, really let a person's pity.

Xiao Meiniang gently stroked Qingni's swollen face and comforted her in a low voice, "Qingni is not afraid! Such barbarians, we don't have to bother with him. When we return to Jiangling, we can tell Father to get rid of him ..."

Li Jing drank two mouthfuls of water, and his lifted heart was sort of put down. With his martial arts foundation, he could judge that the kung fu of the snake-eyed man was by no means inferior to Xiao Mohe, or even to Dugu Hun. In just a few days, Li Jing met Dugu Hun, Huangfu Ren, Lai Gu'er, Song Tianling, Xiao Mohe, Snake Eyes and other experts, strong martial arts heart. Of course, his uncle's martial arts skills are outstanding, but his uncle is more devoted to the war, and has no interest in the jianghu fight. Li Jing only hated himself in front of these masters even no power to fight back, if there is uncle's hands, in front of the A yue and was taken away by the ship owner of the Alone Star will not lose protection ...

Xiao Meiniang's gentle voice snapped him back to reality, "Brother Mu, don't be silly, the people have all left."

Li Jing steeled himself and began to worry about Alone Star's safety again. Xiao Meiniang said, "Brother Mu, what did that boat owner hand over to you just now?"

Li Jing didn't want to hide it from her, so he just said, "It's my elder brother, who left a letter for me to listen to the ship's owner."

Xiao Meiniang's beautiful brows moved lightly as she bowed her head in deep thought. After a long time, she said, "That's it. I think it's possible that your elder brother, who was also on the boat, realised that he was no match for this 'Bamboo Pole Man', and that's why he stealthily showed the warning."

Li Jing was almost amused by the words "bamboo stick man". On second thought, what Meiniang said made sense. Brother Han Zhong was his uncle's personal bodyguard, and his kung fu was second only to his uncle's in the General Mansion, but he was probably no match for this skinny man, which was why he had left a letter asking him to hand over the Alone Star to the ship's owner. However, Han Zhong's appearance gave Li Jing something to rely on in his heart.

The ship continued to sail after a slight shake. Seeing that Qing Ni kept crying out in pain, Li Jing took the "Purple Cloud Cream" from his baggage and went forward to wipe her wounds. This is the medicine that Han Qinhu gave to Li Jing to reduce swelling in the army, and it is often used for generals' swelling and poison. At first, Qingni kept avoiding it, but after smearing it on her face, she only felt cool, so she accepted it honestly.

After applying it, Qing Ni thanked Li Jing and sighed languidly, "Princess don't comfort me either. In fact, even if I return to Jiangling, I'm afraid it will be difficult to avenge this slap."

Xiao Meiniang did not make a sound. Qing Ni continued to sigh, ''In today's Liang, there isn't much territory left except for Jiangling City. The Sui in the north and the Chen in the south-east can pack us up when they want to. This world, in fact, is the same as people, who is strong is powerful, who is weak is unlucky!"

Xiao Meiniang glared at Qing Ni: "Little Ni is too stupid to say anything! If you don't listen to me, you won't be able to change your talkative ways, and you'll have to suffer a lot in the future."

Qingni hurriedly shut up. Silence returned to the room.

Even A Yue was sleepy after this journey. Li Jing helped A Yue to lie down, picked out a short coat from the baggage and covered her up. A Yue was very good, trying to hold up her eyelids, flickering her long eyelashes, not wanting to fall asleep. Li Jing's heart suddenly ached. The Li family is all male, Li mother Han after giving birth to him has always wanted a girl, however, born to the sixth or a boy. Once, his mother changed his sixth brother, Li Zhengming, into girl's attire, and was scolded by his father, Li Quan.

"Brother, I want to hear a story." A Yue tilted her head sideways, asking Li Jing to tell her a story. Li Jing had read quite a bit, but he couldn't think of which story to tell for a moment. The stories his uncle told were all about war. Her mother had told the story of Lady Wei, so he told A Yue how Lady Wei learnt calligraphy under Zhong Cao, how she practiced the way of the sword, and then passed it on to Wang Xizhi. After the telling, A Yue said, "Brother, I've heard this story before."

Xiao Meiniang, who was sitting quietly on the side, laughed, "Brother Mu, Lady Wei's story is known to women and children in the south, and of course Yue has heard it. You have to tell the story of the north, perhaps she hasn't heard it."

Li Jing scratched his head for a long time before remembering the story of Hua Mulan from the army. During the period when Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong of the Northern Wei Dynasty was promoting Han culture, she was able to fight against the Zoran army in the north, and a woman, Mulan, dressed as a man, took her father's place in the army and returned victorious. A Yue listened with great interest. When Li Jing finished speaking, she said, "Brother, I've heard this story before too."

Xiao Meiniang couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Brother Mu, in fact, storytelling still needs to be a southern talent. The story you told has been compiled by the people of Chen into the Mulan Dictionary which has been widely recited, and it's not surprising that A Yue has heard it since she was a child."

Li Jing was greatly embarrassed, "Then please ask sister to tell A Yue a story."

Xiao Meiniang thought for a moment and told the story of Zhaojun's journey out of the plug. Of course, Li Jing had heard of this story, but when Xiao Meiniang told this story, the cited evidence was clear and clear, and in his heart, his respect for Xiao Meiniang increased a few more points. For some reason, in his heart, he actually linked Xiao Meiniang with Wang Zhaojun, Prince Yi Huang and Hu Hanxie Shan Yu, and his heart was frustrated.

The story was long, and A Yue fell asleep during Xiao Meiniang's narration. The room gradually darkened. Li Jing lay on his side along the couch and dozed off, unknowingly falling asleep as well.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Li Jing woke up with a start and looked at the window, which was already dark and heavy. He got up and opened the door, and Xie Kangtu stood in the doorway. Li Jing was delighted and hurriedly invited the ship owner into the inner room. Xiao Meiniang knew at a glance that the shipowner had settled in and immediately burst into a smile, "Shipowner Xie has worked hard. Please take a seat."

Xie Kangtu closed the door behind him, took a candle and lit it, placed it on top of the candlestick in the room, and then straightened his clothes and bowed down, saying under his breath, " thanks the princess for saving him!"

Xiao Meiniang invited him to get up and said with a smile, "Thank you, Boat Owner, for being so courteous. In fact, it's thanks to the boat owner for rescuing us."

Xie Kangtou said, "According to the boatman's report, Great General Xiao and the 'Shadowless Ghost Hand' had disembarked two hours ago."

"Shadowless Ghost Hand?" Xiao Meiniang frowned, "Could it be that bamboo stick man?"

Xie Kangtou said: "Since I was fifteen years old, I have been travelling in all directions, and I know more or less what happened in the jianghu. This 'shadowless ghost hand' is specialised in life assassins, but there have been nearly two decades have not been in the jianghu. There is a rumour in the jianghu, called 'ghost hand out, parents cry', that is, this person is God out of nowhere, as long as the shot, never leave a survivor, and extremely trustworthy, once accepted to kill the job, will certainly complete the entrusted, but the remuneration is also extremely high. Today this bogeyman on board, this floor cabin except you this one, all guests were knocked out by his ..."

Li Jing then remembered that since the shadowless ghost hand came in, Zhang Ke next door has not moved, so it is the secret plan. He pushed the door and entered the cabin, and saw Zhang Ke lying on the couch, seemingly asleep. Li Jing probed his nose and felt that his breathing was even, so he was sure that he was not in any serious trouble, and only then did he return to his room.

Xie Kangtu smiled and said: ''Little master need not worry, the prince's maternal uncle is only temporarily unconscious. The Shadowless Ghost Hand acts strangely, but it won't hurt anyone. Are you coming with me? Or will you stay here?"

Li Jing hesitated for a moment. He couldn't wait to be with Meiniang, but was worried about causing trouble for her and Qingni. So he lifted his bag and bid farewell to Xiao Meiniang's master and servant. Xie Kangtu gently picked up the sleeping A Yue and put she back into the bag, bowing to Xiao Meiniang, he said: ''Please forgive me for causing inconvenience to Princess. It's getting late, please sleep in peace Princess, I'll come back tomorrow to pay my respects, so I'll leave first."

After Xie and Li left, Xiao Meiniang asked Qingni to check on her uncle. Not long after, Qingni reported that the uncle was still unconscious, but his nostrils were even, so there was no serious harm.

Xiao Meiniang said, "Uncle has worked hard all the way, it's good to get some sleep."

Qing Ni said, "I think this person surnamed Mu has a great deal to do, otherwise how would he have attracted so much trouble?"

Xiao Meiniang sighed, "A person's life is inherently troublesome. Qingni, what should come will come, and what should go will go."

Qing Ni said, "Princess don't blame me for talking too much again ah, I see this wooden Li, like to the princess is very interesting ..."

Xiao Meiniang's face flushed, then gently whacked Qingni's arm: "Little ninny don't chew on the tongue! He is still a child."

Qingni spat out her tongue, "Children always grow up ..."

The word "big" had just been uttered when the ship suddenly felt a jolt, and the candles on the candlesticks fell to the floor and went out, causing a sudden darkness. Immediately after that, the sound of calls could be heard coming from the cabin downstairs.

Xiao Meiniang reacted quickly, pulled Qing Ni, rushed to her uncle's room, and tripped over a heel. Carefully identifying, it turned out that Zhang Ke on the couch had been thrown to the floor by the shock just now, and was still unconscious. Xiao Meiniang shouted, "Qingni, hurry and fetch water!" Qing Ni panicked and went back to her room to fetch the water bag, tripping again in the aisle.

Another huge shock came, and there was actually firelight outside the porthole. By the light of the fire, Xiao Meiniang went out and snatched the sheepskin water bag in Qingni's hand, pulled the plug and poured it on Zhang Ke's face. Zhang Ke woke up with a jolt, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Meiniang, what is it?"

Meiniang said, "Uncle, I'm afraid the ship is sinking."

Zhang Ke shook his head once, "This is a thousand mile ship, there has never been a sinking incident, what exactly is the reason for this?"

Meiniang didn't have time to explain more to her uncle and shouted to Qing Ni, "Get up quickly, let's get off the boat." Saying so, she went back to her room to fetch her bag and pulled her uncle to rush out. Just after taking a few steps, a thick stream of smoke leapt up, choking people so much that they couldn't breathe. Xiao Meiniang could only run back to her room, took her bag, pulled out three cloth towels, soaked them with the rest of the water, put them over her mouth and nose and tied them at the back of her head, and then gave them to Zhang Ke and Qing Ni as she did, and ran towards the gangway at the end of the corridor. Just as they arrived at the gangway, they saw that the fire downstairs was already burning, and the ship's hull began to tilt. At one time, miserable cries arose in all directions, hundreds of travellers and hundreds of boatmen on board were in a mess.

Zhang Ke was a little more awake at this time and realised that the ship was on fire. He had been working as a boatman on the river since he was a child, and knew that all boats were afraid of catching fire. Usually, if a boat caught fire locally, the boatmen could put it out in time. However, the fire on this big ship was extremely fierce, in a flash, it seemed that the whole ship had burned up, and it was impossible to extinguish it.

At this time the first class passengers rushed out, to the gangway mouth desperately crowded. Qing Ni has never seen such a scene, scared legs soft, coupled with the wet cloth on the breathing is not good, fell headlong to the gangway, by the back of a fat man rushed over under the body, the gangway that is blocked. Xiao Meiniang wanted to go to help Qing Ni, was an old man holding legs, can not move.

Xiao Meiniang, in a hurry, touched the beads in her bag and threw them vigorously to the corridor behind her, shouting, "The valuable night pearl, it's for you!" The pearl flashed with light, immediately attracting the attention of the crowd behind her, all of them returned to grab the beads, even the old man also loosened his hand. Xiao Meiniang was able to get away and violently kicked at the fat man. The fat man rolled down the gangway. Xiao Meiniang did not hesitate any longer, leaned down and pulled up Qingni, and led Zhang Ke towards the third floor.

However, the third floor is the second class cabin, more passengers, at this time has long been plugged off the gangway to the first floor, black pressure, crying and shouting, and the fire with the wind is about to burn to the first floor. Xiao Meiniang looked out of the cabin, the river is dark and heavy, even if you can run to the deck, at this time can not get off the ship.

At this time, suddenly heard a sharp and crisp voice in the cries: "Meiniang ... sister ..." Xiao Meiniang heard, it was Li Jing s voice. This voice is particularly pleasant in the clutter of human voices, the sound of the wind, the beeping sound of the fire and the sound of the collapse of the floorboards. Xiao Meiniang was suddenly moved for a moment. Over the past sixteen years, although the body of the princess, but because of the "unlucky birth date" was first adopted by the sixth uncle Xiao Xian, less than a year after the death of uncle, transferred to the uncle Zhang Ke adoption, from a young age to taste the sorrows, really care about her not a few people. Now, a boy who met in passing, even in this difficult to desperately call their own, so that her nose sour, almost falling tears.

Xiao Meiniang tore away the wet cloth, pressure sharp voice in response to Li Jing, but only shouted out a sound, that is, by the thick smoke choking breathing difficulties, and hurriedly put the wet cloth to cover the mouth and nose. At this time, the ship's hull plunged, and it looked like the bilge had already taken on water. Xiao Meiniang turned back to look for Zhang Ke and Qing Ni, but she couldn't distinguish them in the thick smoke. Suddenly, only to hear the first floor of the gangway on someone screaming, but see a young man, waist wrapped rope, foot on the people's head, hand-held block, ape-like on the third floor. It is Li Jing.

"Sister hurry!" Li Jing's eyes shone when he saw Xiao Meiniang. But the gangway had been jammed, and it was impossible to get down to the first floor. Li Jing tugged Xiao Meiniang and returned into the first cabin on the starboard side, quickly unhooked a long rope from his waist and tied it to the wooden leg of the short couch in the room, drew out the short knife on his leg, chopped the window pane, and, ignoring the difference between men and women, picked up Meiniang and sent her out the window, shouting, "Hold on to the rope and jump down!"

Xiao Meiniang gritted her teeth and went out of the cabin, her hands gripped the rope, but did not dare to jump. At this time, the ship was once again skewed, Xiao Meiniang was shocked, her hands slipped, and the rope almost fell out of her hands. Fortunately, with a desperate grip, she grabbed the rope as it slipped a few feet. Li Jing then rolled out of the porthole, and in the light of the fire, he saw Xiao Meiniang's hands shaking, but her face was not terrified, so he couldn't help but be convinced. He only saw him going down the rope, and when the soles of his feet reached Meiniang's hands that were gripping the rope, he realised that he couldn't go any further down.

Li Jing glanced at the deck. But see the smoke rolling, the fire blazing, hundreds of travellers trampling on each other, adults and children crying to the sky. There are travellers whose clothes are on fire, screaming and running wildly, and finally can only jump into the river ...

Xiao Meiniang looked up at the anxious Li Jing and hissed, "Can you swimming?" Li Jing shook his head vigorously. It was at this time that the floor of the large ship broke from the bottom, and the entire ship building all fell to the right side, like a small volcano smashing into the river ...