Chapter 4

The sky is high and the land is vast, the forests are dyed in different colors, and the southern geese chase the wind.

For the soldiers in training in the Yan State, this is an exciting weather; for the hunters, it is a season that heralds a good harvest; for the prisoners of war in the Battle of Qiujiang, it is a day that gives people a chance to survive. and hope, while also facing the irresistible disposition of death.

But for Mei Lin, this is definitely a tragic day. If those Nanyue people were captured and had to be driven by the Yan army and became supplementary materials for their training, then she was just a little maid in the palace, why would she be treated like this?

Sitting on the branch of a pine tree with lush leaves, Mei Lin plucked a pine cone and peeled off the pine nuts layer by layer. In her heart, she thought about the fallen plum blossoms of Muye Luomei, Murong Jinghe, and even the dark factory and its owner, she cursed them again and again.

It turned out that Muye Luomei's so-called game was to put the captives into the forest and only allow them to escape into the forest. Two hours later, her soldiers would enter into the forest to hunt and reward them based on their heads. As for Mei Lin, according to Muye Luomei, she wants to know how a person who doesn't know martial arts can survive in a crisis-ridden situation, which will help her conduct targeted training for soldiers.

Wasn't it just because she came out of the forest without any damage that she was suspected? Mei Lin curled her lips, a little helpless. Thinking of before entering the forest, Nuye Luomei called her aside and murmured something. Seeing that she didn't respond, she immediately showed a weird smile and said, "You'd better pray from now on that you won't be caught by me."

Even if she didn't react at that time, after so long, Mei Lin should have thought that her lack of knowledge of Xiyan language had been exposed. The words Muye Luomei said at that time were not in Xiyan language. Even if she don't understand it, she can still guess it now when she think about it carefully. It seems that this time it is impossible not to escape.

As for Murong Jinghe...

She shook her head and threw this man out of her mind. She looked at the sun that had climbed across the sky and set to the west, knowing that those soldiers should have been approaching. Before entering the forest, she carefully looked at the soldiers. From the spirit and energy they showed, she knew they were not ordinary soldiers. If she wanted to compete with them in terms of foot strength, she would not be able to compete with them even if they walked for two hours first. So she didn't rush as hard as the other prisoners, but cleaned up the traces she left as she walked. But...she suddenly thought of the sea holly that Murong Xuanlie was carrying, and couldn't help but look up into the sky.

The sky was blue, and except for a few wisps of floating clouds, there was no trace of birds, which made her feel slightly relieved.

Crack open a pine nut and taste the oily core meat inside, and the aroma fills her tongue.

It's good to be alive, Mei Lin sighed. Passing through the branches and leaves that were blocking her she saw two men, barely clothed limping over the rock, supporting each other. She remembered that they were running ahead of her, and they seemed to have lost their way, otherwise why would they have come back around again.

Just when she was considering whether to point them out, she suddenly heard a scream, and a white light shot through the air. It shot into the neck of one of them, then penetrated the other person, stringing the two together.

The pine nuts in Mei Lin's hand fell and she subconsciously held her breath, not daring to move. A moment later, a man wearing armor appeared in her field of vision. He quickly pulled out a knife, chopped off the two heads, and tied them around his waist.

Mei Lin closed her eyes quietly to avoid alerting him with her gaze. After a long time, when she opened it again, the man was nowhere to be found. She knew that if the two people hadn't distracted his attention, her head would have been hanging on that man's waist.

Finally seeing the strength of Muye Luomei's soldiers, the sense of crisis in her heart immediately rose sharply. The only thing she hope for now is that the sun will set early. No matter how powerful those people are, they will still be affected by darkness and the crises hidden in the dark forest. With her current strength, it is impossible to escape from the forest. She can only follow them in circles until tomorrow.

Muye Luomei stipulates that the return time for soldiers is the next morning. As long as she survives that time, she will be temporarily safe.

Mei Lin carried a bag of pine cones and tied it on her waist. After noticing that no one else was approaching, Mei Lin quickly slid down the tree and wanted to find another place to hide. Unexpectedly, as soon as her feet touched the ground, behind her Suddenly there was a chuckle. She froze and turned around slowly.

At some point, Muye Luomei stood on a rock not far away, holding a crossbow pointed at her.

"Sure enough, it's not easy. You can't avoid this general's men." The scornful tone, the murderous intent that cannot be ignored.

Mei Lin smiled bitterly, knowing that it was impossible for her to resist in front of this woman now, so she simply sat on the ground leaning against the tree, and couldn't help but lament on her ruined martial arts again.

"General Mei, you can kill me if you want. I don't want to run away either." After saying this, she smiled, and her laughter was full of sarcasm. "You are a great general and a great hero. You have deigned to play tricks on us who have nothing to do with you. People who have no ability to resist and are of low status. You are really capable.

With these words, Muye Luomei's face turned red and white, and murderous intent flashed in her eyes. However, she lowered the crossbow in her hand and sneered, "For a spy, does this general still need to pay attention to benevolence, justice and courtesy... Huh, if it weren't for you women, how could Jinghe be like this?" She said the last sentence with gritted teeth. It was obvious that this was the real reason why she wanted to kill Mei Lin.

Mei Lin smiled, feeling that this reason really made people feel innocent, and she spread her hands helplessly, "There is no need to accuse others. The most favored people in Prince Jinghe's house are definitely not the slaves. If the general really thinks about the prince, why not marry him directly? If you marry him, you can directly restrain him. Besides, with the prince's feelings for the general, how can he put his mind on other women at that time?" She diverted the question away from the spy without any trace. After all, she didn't care. Whether the other party has evidence or not, it is not a good thing for her.

Muye Luomei didn't know if she was aroused, her sharp eyes that were originally like a thorn in the back softened slightly, as if she was thinking about her words, but when she came back to her senses, she suddenly saw her eyes looking straight behind her, raised her eyebrows, and held up her hands The crossbow was raised again. "Stop your imagination, Jinghe is not here. Even if he is here, he can't stop me from killing you."

Mei Lin once again felt that her whole body was enveloped in murderous aura, and her back stiffened involuntarily, but on the surface she still looked frustrated. She raised her hand to press her eyes, and in front of her eyes came the image of the man being indifferent to her pleading. Her heart shrank slightly, and she laughed to herself; "I don't dare to hope for that. The prince wants to please the general, so how can he stop you?" He was gentle and loving one moment, but turned ruthless the next. That man was an eye-opener for her. Compared with him, the head instructors in the secret factory are simply inferior.

Apparently because of her words, she remembered the scene in the morning, Muye Luomei suddenly felt good. She flipped her wrist, held the crossbow vertically at the side of her leg, and said with a smile: "If you kneel down and beg me, I might consider letting you go once."

The insult and contempt were obvious, but Mei Lin was not angry. She smiled silently and put down her hand covering her eyes, "General Mei leads thousands of armies. Naturally, she sticks to her word. She must not regret what she says." As she spoke, without giving Muye Luomei a chance to repent and argue, she stood up then solemnly knelt down and kowtowed several times.

"General Mei, you are a hero among women, a heroine. Please spare my life."

Muye Luomei has never seen a greedy person who is afraid of death, but she has never encountered someone as shameless as Mei Lin. She was actually too lazy to even try to hold on, it's just that she couldn't take back the words she said. She was stunned and felt as if a breath was stuck in her chest. Not only did she not feel the pleasure of trampling people under her feet, she also felt so suffocated that she wanted to let it out.

However, her reaction was quite quick. With a move of her wrist, two arrows came out of the crossbow and hit Mei Lin on her left shoulder and right leg who was about to stand up, causing her to kneel down to the ground again.

"I only said I would let you go once, but I didn't say I would let you escape unscathed." Muye Luomei said calmly, but her expression could not conceal the pride of winning the game.

Mei Lin knelt on the ground, lowered her head and waited for the severe pain in her shoulders and legs to subside. She didn't know if she heard what the other party said. It wasn't until the dizziness caused by severe pain and fatigue passed that she held on to the big pine tree next to her and climbed up from the ground again.

"This humle servant thanks the general for not killing me." She raised her head and glanced at Muye Luomei calmly, then limped deeper into the forest.

Muye Luomei froze on the spot, looking at her back getting further and further away, those dark eyes flashed over and over in her mind, and suddenly she couldn't remember why she wanted to target a woman who didn't know martial arts like this.

The night was dark, starless and moonless, and bad weather could be foreseen the next day.

Mei Lin pressed her back against the uneven mountain wall, hoping that the coldness of the rocks would reduce the burning sensation in her body. The arrowhead has been pulled out and herbal medicine has been applied. The roughly treated wound is throbbing with pain, and her dizzy head also felt hot and painful. She knew she had a fever, so she didn't dare to let herself go to sleep, fearing that she would never wake up again after falling into a deep sleep, so she grabbed a sharp stone with her hand and pricked herself hard when she was almost unable to stand it any longer to stay awake.

This is a cave on a slope. After escaping from Muye Luomei, she held her breath and burrowed into the dense forest and bushes without daring to stop. Just because Muye Luomei let her go, it doesn't mean that her men will let her go. She no longer had the strength to clean up the traces she had left, so she could only try to go to places where bows and arrows and light skills could not be used.

Even so, the blood loss and pain still caused her to lose her usual vigilance, and she missed a step while running and rolled down the slope. Although she was knocked unconscious, she discovered this cave halfway up the mountain which was obscured by long grass and tree roots. Not to mention that she ran out of energy to continue running. Even if she could escape, she would not be able to escape the pursuit of those soldiers who were skilled in field combat. She was adventurous and hid herself, waiting for Muye Luomei to withdraw her troops.

Fortunately, no one noticed her until nightfall. Unfortunately, she did not have the power to protect her body, and her resistance was not as good as before. This experience, which was nothing before, actually gave her a fever.

Her thirsty throat, burning breath, and unspeakable pain and exhaustion all over her body were tormenting her and eroding her will.

In a daze, Mei Lin seemed to see the spring flowers all over the mountains and fields again. The dense rain was intertwined, making the blossoms white and extraordinarily beautiful. The fresh air surrounds her with the strong floral fragrance unique to February, making people want to just sleep and never wake up.

The fingers holding the stone moved, and finally lifted up, as if they had exerted all their strength, but in fact they were limply inserted into the wound on the thigh. The pain cleared her mind a little, and the heaviness of her body came back again. Something was eager to break free from this prison-like skin and burst out of her body.

What does my mother look like? She clung to a trace of clarity and tried to fight against the desire to give up. Suddenly she thought of this question that she had never allowed herself to think about before, and then she felt that her whole body was suffering from the inside out, and she was eager to know the answer like never before.

Why she didn't want her? Where did she come from? Did she ever have a family like other people? Does she have any brothers and sisters? It doesn't matter. She just wanted to know what her mother looked like. She just wanted to know this, nothing more...

She don't want any more...

In the darkness, Mei Lin's chapped lips were spread open, whispering softly, but no sound came out. Perhaps even she herself didn't know what she was whispering.

Maybe she won't make it this time. Just when this idea suddenly came to her mind, which was no longer awake, she suddenly heard a muffled sound, as if something hit the tree trunk, and even the rocks above her head seemed to be shaken. The sense of crisis suddenly woke her up, and she unconsciously stopped breathing heavily.

She tried hard to concentrate and hold her breath, but she didn't hear any more noise for a while. Just when her consciousness was about to drift away again, a sob suddenly pierced the increasingly thick chaos in her mind, shocking her heart.

The incessant sobs made Mei Lin, who was already feeling very uncomfortable, become irritable and didn't want to worry about it, but was afraid of hurting herself. She had no choice but to drag her body, which was reaching its limit to crawl out, find the black figure on top, grab it and pull it down, regardless of whether it was head or feet.

She didn't use much strength, but she scared the man so much that he screamed. From his voice, it could be heard that he was a teenager who was in the voice change period.

"Shut up!" Mei Lin felt like she had a splitting headache. When she spoke, she realized that her voice was hoarse, like sandblasted.

The young man was so frightened that he immediately fell silent. He wanted to ask who the other person was, but he couldn't open his mouth or cry. His whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

"If you don't want to die, just come with me." Mei Lin tried, but found that she didn't have the strength to drag the little boy away, so she could only lower her voice and threaten.

The young man didn't know whether he was scared out of his wits or realized that the other party meant no harm. He followed her obediently and climbed back into the cave below. It wasn't until he sat down against the stone wall and heard no other noise for a long time that he realized that the other party was trying to save him. Feeling grateful in his heart, he couldn't help but trembled and asked; "Sister...sister, where...where are you from?" He thought that they were both running for their lives, and it was not certain that the two of them knew each other. He was completely unaware that he was treating the other party as a prisoner of war like himself.

Mei Lin didn't answer. Perhaps because there was one more person, she felt a little better. She reached to her waist, touched a few pine cones and threw them to the young man.

The boy was hit several times. Although it was not serious, he immediately shut his mouth, thinking that he had made her angry. After a while, he quietly picked up an object that fell on his body, touched it, and put it to his nose to smell it suspiciously.

"Peel...the pine nuts..." Mei Lin had never seen such a stupid child. She endured it, but finally couldn't hold it back and reminded him with some difficulty.

The boy had been running away for a whole day without eating anything. He was so hungry that he was dizzy. When he heard that it was food, he didn't care about the scales scratching his hands, so he started to break them off. Then he groped for a pine cone that had fallen on the ground beside him, and dug out every pine nut inside.

Just when Mei Lin was drowsy and about to fall asleep, a hand touched her carefully and said, "Sister, you eat." 

It turned out that the boy had resisted eating until all the food was peeled off and then he handed it to her first.

Mei Lin's eyelids were so heavy that she could hardly hold them up. When she felt the other person's touch, she just groaned and had no strength to respond. The young man waited for a long time, and when he saw that she didn't respond, he took back his hand and began to knead it carefully.

So in the quiet cave, you can hear the sound of crunching and rattling. Although it was a little noisy, at least it would not make people get lost in the darkness.

After knocking off all the pine nuts in his hand, the young man smashed his mouth with unfinished content, and then listened attentively to the movement around him. Except for the heavy breathing of the person opposite him, there was no other sound. His panic-stricken heart finally calmed down, so he shrank down, curled up into a ball, and fell asleep.

At some point, it started to rain outside, and the autumn rain hit the branches and leaves, making a rustling sound. Probably because the entrance of the cave is low and the space is not large, it is not too cold inside the cave with two people squeezed inside. Breathing sounds of different frequencies come and go, as if they finally have dependence. Just when everything was calm, there was a crash, as if something hit the big tree above hard, causing the soil between the rocks to fall from the top of their heads.

The two of them, who had not slept deeply, were startled. They opened their eyes at the same time. Even in the dark, they could feel the shock in each other's hearts.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and there was no more sound from the roof of the cave. The young man couldn't sit still.

"Sister, let me go and take a look." He was worried that if other companions were injured, and if they were exposed to the rain like this, they would be in danger.

"Yeah." Mei Lin was also a little uneasy, wondering if someone else had slipped and fallen from above? If it were true, she's afraid they wouldn't be able to hide here for long.

The young man went out, and not long after, another person was dragged back. The night was dark and she couldn't see anything. Mei Lin just felt that the cold rain and mist was being brought in, making her shiver involuntarily.

"He's not dead yet." The boy said, while trying hard to rub the man's cold hands and feet. "His clothes are soaked, and I don't know where the injury is."

Mei Lin was silent, feeling that being nagged like this made the discomfort on her body less unbearable than it was at first. Her body was still hot and her wounds were still throbbing, but she was not alone now, and the darkness could no longer annihilate her silently.

"It's too cold. He will die, he will die..." The young man murmured, and then there was a shuddering voice, "I took off his wet clothes. Sister, let's squeeze in Let's keep him warm." As he said that, he dragged the silent man towards Mei Lin.

Mei Lin did not avoid it. After roughly judging that the last person brought in was not dangerous, she moved closer and sandwiched the person with the young man. At this time, she didn't mind passing on her hot body temperature to others.

A hand as thin as a chicken's claw stretched out from over there and hugged her shoulder, making the three of them lean closer together. The wound on her shoulder was grabbed, and severe pain hit her in waves, but Mei Lin gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound. First, the pain can keep her awake, and secondly, the feeling of sharing her life with others made her greedy.

However, this feeling was broken when the skylight entered the cave.

It was probably because the extra body temperature was absorbed by the people around her. At dawn, the fever on Mei Lin's body had subsided. The hand holding her shoulder had already slipped due to the owner's deep sleep, and it rested softly on the body of the person in the middle.

She stayed up all night. The quiet dawn made it possible to vaguely see things in the cave. She turned her somewhat stiff eyes and saw clearly the person who had been cuddling with her all night. Her face became extremely ugly in an instant. She closed her eyes, then opened them again to prove that she was not dreaming. Clenching her hands unconsciously, she took two deep breaths, then quietly moved aside, hiding herself in the shadows deep in the cave.

The unconscious man with a pale face turned out to be Murong Jinghe.

What a big joke!

Mei Lin lost her bearings and didn't know how to deal with the current situation. Maybe she should leave here immediately, or take this opportunity to kill him...

It was still raining outside the cave, and the sound of the raindrops hit Mei Lin's already fragile nerves, making her feel a splitting headache again. As a death warrior, killing is normal, so she can definitely kill the man who caused her to end up in this situation. Just like yesterday morning, when faced with her pleading, he didn't show any mercy.

With chaotic thoughts in her mind, Mei Lin's panic finally calmed down, and she crawled towards the entrance of the cave.

The raindrops dripping from the grass blades fell into her thirsty mouth, making her feel a little better. She took a few breaths of fresh air beside the cave before sitting down and looking back coldly at the two people in the cave.

The pale and skinny young man lay next to Murong Jinghe. He was obviously exhausted from a day of escaping and fell into a deep sleep. Although his face was dirty and his clothes were ragged, he could still tell from his childish features that he was no more than fifteen years old.

Since he could escape yesterday, he can survive in the future...

The sound of rustling grass blades reached her ears, interrupting Mei Lin's meditation. A dark-brown oblate snake head emerged from the grass beside the hole, stared with two dark eyes, spitting out two whiskers, and then swung its head and tail into the hole, revealing a body as thin as a child's wrist.

Mei Lin sat there, looking at it calmly, clenching her fists, and moved her throat involuntarily. Just as the black snake slid onto her legs that were blocking the road, the hands that were originally hanging on both sides of her body suddenly stretched out. One hand got stuck three inches away from the snake, and the other hand grabbed its body. When the snake's tail was frightened, it wrapped around her arm. At that time, she bit the snake seven inches above it.

Ignoring the snake's struggle and the increasing twist of the snake's tail, her teeth tightened until they pierced the cold snake skin and warm blood flowed into her mouth.

The snake's tail finally slowly loosened up, occasionally spasming, and then finally hung down softly.

Snapped! The dead snake, which was four to five feet long, was thrown to the ground. Mei Lin leaned against the rock wall almost exhausted, closing her eyes and panting. The unhealed wound on her left shoulder starting to oozed blood again.

After drinking a full stomach of snake blood, the physical strength exhausted by blood loss, hunger, high fever, etc. was finally replenished, and the body gradually warmed up. After regaining her composure a little, she opened her eyes and unexpectedly met a pair of clear black eyes filled with fear.

The boy woke up. And he obviously saw the scene of Mei Lin biting the snake. In other words, he was probably awakened by the noise.

Mei Lin thought for a while, then reached out to pick up the snake on the ground and threw it in front of him. She said calmly, "Eat it." Although pine nuts are good things, the quantity is too small after all, and they really can't play a big role in filling hunger.

The young man was so frightened that he shrank back to the unconscious Murong Jinghe and stammered, "You...you are..." He never expected that a woman would appear out of nowhere, and she was also a fierce and incomparable woman.

Mei Lin lowered her eyelids, not that she couldn't explain, but she really had no desire to speak, and didn't want to waste any energy, so she took out two more pine cones from her still bulging waist and threw them to the young man, while she crawled over and dragged the dead snake away. Her eyes searched the cave and finally landed on Murong Jinghe's legs.

She crawled over again, take off a dagger from above, and pull out the fancy-looking sheath. The thin blade is glowing with snow, and it looks like a good thing.

Sitting back down, she began to deal with the dead snake. Peeling off snake skins, beheading snakes, disemboweling snakes and removing internal organs...

"You...you...big...sister?" While she was doing all this, the young man finally came to his senses, and picked up the pine cone on his body in a daze. His face was in disbelief.

Mei Lin glanced at him, but still said nothing. She picked a few broad leaves that were half yellow but not green at the entrance of the cave and spread them in front of her. She put the snake meat slices on top and dug up the snake skin, bones and other things on the spot. Bury it in a hole to avoid attracting ants and other things.

Perhaps cooked snake meat tastes delicious, but raw snake meat is definitely not a compliment. The young man hesitantly looked at the white snake meat in front of him, and then at Mei Lin who was chewing silently. He couldn't help but swallowed, tried hard to suppress the waves of nausea, and forced himself to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth. However, before he started chewing, the cold and greasy taste with a strong fishy smell immediately made him spit it out.

Seeing the young man take one mouthful after another, almost vomiting out bile, Mei Lin couldn't help but frown, and went over to take back the snake meat, and then threw all the pine cones on her body to him.

"Yes... I'm sorry, big... big... sister..." The young man wiped his mouth with his sleeve, his beautiful eyes filled with tears, and he was about to cry because of self-blame.

"It doesn't matter." Mei Lin finally spoke. Although her voice was better than yesterday, it was still hoarse. The young man immediately confirmed that she was the one who took him in last night.

She wrapped the remaining snake meat tightly with grass leaves, put it in her arms, looked out to see the rain that was still falling, and then looked back at Murong Jinghe who was still unconscious for some unknown reason, and then crawled outside.

"Sister, where are you going?" The young man was shocked when he saw this and stopped stammering immediately.

"Leaving, are you going to stay here for the rest of your life?" Mei Lin said without looking back. After thinking about it, she reminded him by the way; "You should leave here quickly. There may be trouble if it's too late." At this time, those soldiers should be rushing back to report to Muye Luomei. If they found out that Murong Jinghe was missing, she's afraid that they would search the entire mountain forest or even block it. At that time, they would not be able to escape even if they wanted to.

"But... Sister, Sister..." The young man looked at Murong Jinghe who was lying aside. He didn't care about the pine cones on the ground, climbed up and grabbed Mei Lin's ankle with movements more agile than a mouse.

"What are you doing?" Mei Lin couldn't move forward and looked back with a frown.

"Sister, don't leave me." The young man cried, his eyes red, and his face full of grievances.

Mei Lin was a little stunned, she never expected that he would want to be with her. In the past, she had cooperated with other companions to overcome difficulties together, but usually they would separate after achieving their goals, and they would never be tied to each other. For her, this was the case last night. She gave him a hand, and he helped her survive the most dangerous night. Even if she was still dying after dawn, she would not complain if he left her alone. Likewise, she didn't think of calling him when she was leaving.

"Let's go." After thinking about it, she felt that he was quick and there would be no harm in the two of them traveling together, so she nodded.

The young man was overjoyed when he heard this, and a bright smile appeared on his face, which was dazzling.

"Wait for me." He said, and then quickly returned to the starting position, busy.

Mei Lin saw that he was going to collect the pine cones on the ground, so she looked away, climbed outside and sat under the big tree to wait and did not even look at Murong Jinghe who was lying unconscious inside. If her mind had been disturbed by his inexplicable display of infatuation in the past two days, it was completely destroyed yesterday. He was not kind to her, and she was not sorry to him, so his life and death had nothing to do with her.

The rain seemed to be falling harder, penetrating through the still dense leaves above her head, and hitting her with a few drops from time to time, but it did not affect her good mood after a full meal. She stretched out her hand to catch the rainwater, slowly cleaned the blood stains on it, and then looked at the mountain forest shrouded in rain and fog, thinking about an escape route.

"Sister, let's go." The young man's voice came from below, with a slight panting.

Mei Lin lowered her eyes and looked green, her face suddenly turning green.

The young man stood below, carrying Murong Jinghe, who was much taller than him, on his back. His face was red, but his eyes were full of incomprehensible joy.