Qin Yining could draw some conclusions from the conversation between her pursuers yesterday.
One: Their accents gave away that they were from the north, from Great Zhou.
Two: They were following the orders of a marquis to kill the Qins.
Three: Theyâd stayed behind to conduct a thorough search and probably couldnât complete their mission if they didnât kill anyone surnamed Qin.
Four: Their martial arts was on a level that enabled them to go toe-to-toe, but nothing more, with the Valiant Tiger escorts.
So therein lay the question. Which army commanded these men with rigorous coordination and advance martial arts skills?
Who was the marquis whoâd ordered the death of the Qins?
Which marquis in Great Zhou had the ability to lead three hundred adept soldiers to ambush them?
Qin Yining didnât think for half a second that the Zhou emperor had sent the attackers. He needed the surrendered Yan officials to be a counterweight to the two parties at his court. If he didnât want the Yan officials, he couldâve refused the surrender to begin with. There was no need to send out men to intercept them halfway.
Therefore, the âmarquisâ behind the operation this time must be someone in high authority, wielding authority over troops, and had done this behind his liegeâs back.
The answer was jumping up and down in Qin Yiningâs mind. Could it really be the Marquis of Northern Stability, the sworn brother of Pang Xiao and the Zhou emperor?
Wasnât he supposed to be stationed on the Tatar border with his Dragon Riders? What was he doing here at this time?
And if the assassins were targeting only the Qins, why had they killed so many innocents at the front of the caravan?
If they werenât targeting the Qins, how would that explain the conversation sheâd overheard?
The myriad of thoughts scattered in her mind wasnât something that could be sorted through quickly. But of one thing she was certain, and that was she needed to hide carefully over the next few days. She couldnât descend the mountain no matter what.
The assassins had their marching orders. Their mission wasnât complete if they didnât go back with a head, so theyâd show up again sooner or latter. There was only one of her. She couldnât fight them, so she had to hide.
Thankfully, she could draw on her experience surviving in the wilderness. Though it was the barren season of winter, she was confident that sheâd be able to survive.
Pleasant joy thrummed through her when she thought of how dejected and anguished Lian Shengjie must be at the moment.
Lian Shengjie was the imperial representative overseeing the surrender. Since he was heading back to the capital with the Commandery Prince of Yan and a large cohort of surrendered officials, he naturally had to protect them well.
Now that such a tragedy had occurred on the road, imperial wrath would be mighty. Most importantly, it was a tremendous loss of face for that old fart!
It wasnât the first day that Lian Shengjie had been at odds with Pang Xiao. He was the secret envoy behind her being kidnapped and used as bait. When that plan had failed, heâd brazenly sauntered in to seize Pang Xiaoâs opportunity of honor and glory.
Thereâd been a hundred Valiant Tigers left behind for him, but heâd managed to fall to bandits halfway along the way and lose so many of Great Zhouâs new subjects.
He wouldnât be able to explain himself to the emperor even if he had ten mouths to speak with.
Since the âmarquisâ had taken pains to disguise his men, the Zhou emperor wouldnât be able to glean any clues. Thus, Lian Shengjie failing to properly escort the new Great Zhou subjects and being powerless in the face of mere bandits â that was a scandal just waiting to break.
Running through the current situation again greatly cleared up Qin Yiningâs mood and alleviated her gloom. Having thought it all through, she went out in search of food.
In the absence of tools, she used suitable branches as a substitute and foraged plenty of dried grass to weave traps for small animals. But even still, it was very difficult to hunt in the snowy mountains in the dead of winter.
Qin Yining spent an entire day trying to figure out how to get food. There were no wild vegetables or fruits during this season, and no nets or lure to catch birds. Itâd be easier to scale the heavens than to actually catch some small prey with her simplistic traps.
Hunger gnawing at her, she combed the woods extremely cautiously. She didnât find any prey, but found four corpses instead.
Theyâd already been reduced to skeletons. She could vaguely make out from their clothing that three of them were Great Zhou soldiers, and the fourth just an ordinary commoner. From their positions and poses, as well as broken arms and necks, Qin Yining could tell that this was the tragic story of one fighting three, but all four falling in the end.
Troubled times had descended for many years, and tragedy like this could be found anywhere. But to think that sheâd stumble upon this deep in the isolated mountains!
Emotions rippled through her. But it was also a great stroke of luck that useful weapons lay next to them!
She picked up a machete, a dirk, two daggers, a bundle of rope, an empty water skin, and a satchel containing unknown medicine pills. Newly equipped, she went off in search of food again.
Thankfully, she found a source of water before long â part of a creek yet to freeze over. After much effort, she caught a hibernating frog at dusk and returned to her shelter to roast it.
No wonder those of this world would use any method to fight for power and wealth. Only with these two would life be comfortable.
Although this lifestyle wasnât comfortable, Qin Yining pleasantly endured it as if she was eating sweets. As she took in the fragrance of roasting frog, she reflected optimistically that the weather had been good today. Perhaps Iâll be able to catch a wild rabbit tomorrow. I wonât have to worry about starving to death then.
As her thoughts ran wild, the snow suddenly crunched nearby.
Startled out of her wits, she almost threw away the frog in her hands. She hastily picked up the short sword and and looked warily in the direction the sound had come from.
Just at that moment, a strong gust of wind travelled past, shaking the shrubbery. A furry, roughly one meter tall thing swiftly ran away.
What animal was that?
Qin Yining stared intently at where the creature had vanished and heaved a sigh of relief when she noted that there wasnât anything there.
Thank goodness it wasnât a wild fox. Iâd be in even more danger then.
Munching through a bony, tasteless frog, she felt warmth return to her body. When laying down dry straw in her shelter, she heard a soft rustle nearby. The corner of her eye caught another shadow flitting past.
Gravity descended on the girl.
What kind of animal was that? Why was it so fast, like an agile leopard?
She picked up a weapon without a change in expression and quickly grabbed the torch sheâd made from the fire. If it was an animal, it should be afraid of fire.
She maintained her frozen position for a while, but the creature didnât appear again.
It looks like the little thingâs run off.
Qin Yining went back to carpeting her shelter.
But this time, she suddenly felt something behind her!
She whirled around and saw a figure right in front of her.
It was a child about seven or eight years old with a dirty face and matted hair. It was wearing thick animal pelts and pushing a wild rabbit with half-charred fur next to her campfire.
Not anticipating that Qin Yining would turn around, the child jumped, wide-eyed with surprise.
Qin Yining spoke with surprise, âEh, youâ¦â
The child turned and ran off before Qin Yining could finish, as fast as a breath of wind.
Realization struck the Qin fourth miss. The creature sheâd seen earlier was this child!