The five Wolf Guards still remained silent, not even making any superfluous movements. To them, talking to a dead person was a waste of time.
They unsheathed their weapons, and the crossbows were fully loaded with arrows.
Death had raised its scythe high and was ready to claim her life at any moment.
"Miss, you and Hongmei go first. I'll stay behind to hold them off," Hongrui said, once again shielding Lu Yinxi behind her. At this moment, Hongrui finally showed a bit of the demeanor of a killer in her manner.
However, when she said this, she was determined to die.
Going up against five opponents alone was no different from courting death.
But Lu Yinxi ignored her. Staring at the five men not far away, she had already made up her mind.
She placed a hand on Hongrui's shoulder. Without taking her eyes off the men, the young girl leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Hongrui, something incredible might happen later. You don't need to do anything. Just take me and Hongmei away."
Incredible things?
Hongrui tilted her head slightly, not understanding what she meant. But the Fourth Miss had already pulled away from her ear and was speaking to the five men not far away.
"All five of you, immediately..."
A sudden arrow whistled through the air, interrupting the young girl's words and disrupting the stances of the five men not far away.
Immediately afterwards, more arrows came flying one after another. They seemed to deliberately avoid Lu Yinxi and her group and headed straight for the Wolf Guards.
Could this be reinforcements?
Taking advantage of the fact that the five men were busy dodging the arrows and had no time to pay attention to them, Hongrui quickly pulled the young miss and Hongmei to a relatively safe place.
At the same time, the shouts of battle rang out from the other side of the forest.
Then, in Lu Yinxi's line of sight, a group of men in coarse cloth clothes but holding big knives appeared.
Some of them seemed to be familiar faces.
The situation had changed!
The five Wolf Guards never expected that just trying to kill a woman would bring out so many troublesome people.
Should they kill them all or retreat first?
The five men exchanged a tacit look in the direction where Lu Yinxi was hiding and then sidestepped to avoid the slashing knives.
There were too many people. Even if they killed them all, they might not be able to kill Lu Yinxi.
Realizing this, they didn't hesitate and immediately chose to retreat.
In the blink of an eye, the five men had disappeared into the forest.
Just like that, they left?
Looking at the group of men who had suddenly appeared, Lu Yinxi was quite surprised.
At this moment, one man stepped out from the group and knelt in front of her. "I'm late, miss. Please punish me."
"Lu Hu? Is that you, Lu Hu?" Lu Yinxi squinted and called out uncertainly.
No one would have dared to associate the man in coarse cloth shorts in front of them with the former taciturn coachman.
"Yes, it's me," Lu Hu replied.
The young girl understood better than anyone what Lu Hu's appearance meant.
The joy of surviving the disaster gradually faded, and her vigilance rose. Lu Yinxi took a small step back, ready to run at any moment.
"Did Mother and Father send you to take me home?"
"Miss, you've misunderstood. The Prime Minister and the Lady didn't ask me to take you back."
Not taking her back?
The young girl suddenly widened her eyes. "Is this true?"
"Absolutely! The master and the mistress have ordered me to take you to Longxi."
Longxi, her mother's hometown.
Lu Yinxi immediately understood the intentions of the two elders of the Lu family.
Previously, Prime Minister Lu had intended to send her to Longxi, but it was not convenient to act because the Assistant King was watching.
Now, by accident, she had left the capital, which happened to suit his wishes.
Biting her lip, Lu Yinxi said seriously, "Lu Hu, you should know that I won't be willing to go to Longxi with you."
"Fourth Miss, I'm afraid this isn't up to you."
This meant they were going to force her to go to Longxi.
The big men who had just helped her fight against the Wolf Guards had now all turned against her. Even Hongmei and Hongrui seemed to be on their side.
Lu Yinxi's situation could only be described as isolated and helpless.
Just then, a group of soldiers in armor suddenly rushed out and surrounded them.
Then, a very familiar figure gradually appeared in front of Lu Yinxi.
On the fourth day of the army's march on the official road, they finally left the capital's territory, and Shang Luoshu finally began to act.
"Go separately? No, no, absolutely not!" After hearing Shang Luoshu's proposal, Yan Wuxin waved his hand repeatedly. "Your Highness the King of Jing, you are the commander-in-chief. The army should be led by you."
"Does Lord Yan know that I'm the commander-in-chief?"
These words left Yan Wuxin speechless.
"What does Lord Lin think? How about I lead some people to Yangxian first to find out the situation, and then you lead the army to join us?"
The sudden rebellion in Yangxian must have a reason. Compared to suppressing this rebellion, Shang Luoshu wanted to figure out the reason and strive for a peaceful solution.
After all, those rebellious people were once the subjects of the Great Qi.
The soldiers of the Great Qi should only shed the blood of the enemy. Unless necessary, Shang Luoshu didn't want their weapons to be pointed at their own people.
So, he came up with this proposal.
He would lead twenty personal guards to Yangxian first, and the rest of the people would be under the command of Lin Zihan.
"I have no objections to Your Highness's plan, but if you leave, there will be no commander in the army," Lin Zihan said.
The commander-in-chief was not only the person in charge of the army but also the spiritual leader of a team. Without him, the army might collapse soon.
"Lord Lin, don't worry. I have my own way," Shang Luoshu replied.
That night, the news spread in the army that Shang Luoshu, the King of Jing, had suddenly fallen ill. After several military doctors' successive diagnoses, they finally concluded that His Highness was suffering from acclimatization after leaving the capital and needed to rest well.
So, Shang Luoshu, the commander of the army, openly moved into a carriage.
"This... this..." Yan Wuxin, who knew the inside story, stared at the departing Shang Luoshu and his group, speechless for a moment. How could he complete the task assigned by the Assistant King?
"Isn't Lord Yan going to send a message to the Assistant King?"
Lin Zihan, who suddenly appeared behind him, almost scared half of Yan Wuxin's life away. "What does Lord Lin mean?"
"Isn't my meaning obvious?" Lin Zihan pretended to be confused. "I just want Lord Yan to send a message to the Assistant King that Shang Luoshu, the King of Jing, has left the army without permission and gone to Yangxian."
Without the burden of the army and deliberately choosing a shorter path, by the next day, Shang Luoshu and his twenty men entered the territory of Jizhou.
They had planned to rest for a while during the day, but soon the man heard the shouts of battle. So they followed the sound and found their way here. And then, this was the scene in front of them.
The young girl who had appeared in his dreams almost every night was now standing in front of him. She wasn't wearing the gorgeous and complicated dresses from his dreams but a men's short outfit, which made her look extremely energetic.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and then she ran towards him, shouting the name he had always wanted to hear.
"Luoshu!"
It wasn't until Lu Yinxi ran in front of him that Shang Luoshu believed that this wasn't a dream.
The girl he had been longing for day and night had really appeared by his side.
"Xier?"
"It's me!"
The young girl's eyes were curved, and the excitement on her face was not feigned. "I've come to find you!"