CH 70

Chapter 70: Lord Bian, Why Don’t You Let Me Carry The Prince Instead?

After hearing this, Bian Zhonghua frowned.

If he was on his own, Bian Zhonghua wouldn’t have hesitated to go look into that village regardless of the strange stories surrounding it.

However, he was leading a group of people right now. He couldn’t take the risk.

‘Do you really want to spend the night in the wilderness? Qi Ci is still injured, and to top it off, it’s winter so it gets really cold at night. In case his wounds don’t heal properly and he gets sick, what should I do?’

While Bian Zhonghua was still pondering about it, a sudden warm and enthusiastic voice sounded close to his ear: “Hey, why are there so many people out here? Oh? It’s you, Gongzi, are you having trouble finding the way?”

It was the farmer who bumped into Bian Zhonghua not that long ago.

The farmer showed a simple smile and waved his hand: “Come, come. I’ll lead the way for you.”

Bian Zhonghua then looked at the other Secret Servants and made up his mind. He will lead the group of people to follow in the farmer’s footsteps.

Along the way, the two Secret Servants kept a close eye on the farmer, trying to see through him; as if they were waiting for the farmer to turn into a bloody mouthed demon, they wanted to prepare just in case.

Unexpectedly, the farmer was actually quite chatty, and soon revealed his whole family background. Even when his hen laid an egg, and when the sow got pregnant.

No matter how they looked at it, everyone felt that this farmer was just a simple and honest man. Nothing suspicious could be found throughout him.

This way, it seemed that they had measured the heart of a gentleman with the heart of a villain1.

When they reached the narrow road in the depths of the forest, the group encountered a problem. The carriage couldn’t pass.

The farmer had an idea: “In any case, the village is not far ahead. Why don’t you leave two people here to watch over the carriage, while the others walk along the mountain road?”

Bian Zhonghua thought about it for a while.

‘After resting for one night, we will continue our journey, so there shouldn’t be a problem leaving the carriage here. Moreover, once we reach the village, I can look for good medicinal herbs to treat Qi Ci’s injuries.’

After Bian Zhonghua took a decision, with his authority, no one would doubt him. The next step was to ask the Prince for instructions.

“Your Highness, Prince Chongfeng…. Prince Chongfeng?”

Unexpectedly, after calling out in front of the carriage for a while, no response was heard from the person lying inside. The two Secret Servants couldn’t help but look at each other with a puzzled expression.

Bian Zhonghua frowned, worried that something had happened to Qi Ci. After saying to everyone that his imprudence must have offended the Prince, Bian Zhonghua reached out and lifted the curtain.

Inside the carriage, Qi Ci was wrapped in thick fur, while his whole body was shrunk to a corner, sleeping soundly.

After seeing that Qi Ci was alright, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A Secret Servant was about to say something, but he suddenly saw that Bian Zhonghua’s face looked even more serious than before.

The Secret Servant hurried to keep his mouth shut.

Bian Zhonghua, on the other hand, ignored everyone else’s astonished gazes, bent down, and entered the carriage. Then, he held Qi Ci in a warm embrace, and with extremely light and gentle movements, Bian Zhonghua took Qi Ci out of the carriage.

“Lord Bian?” A Secret Servant lowered his voice and said: “This—”

“You and the coachman will guard the carriage here. The rest will follow me towards the village.” Without the slightest intention to explain, Bian Zhonghua ordered in a lower tone.

The Secret Servant clasped his fist and obeyed the order as he secretly glanced at Bian Zhonghua, thinking: ‘Lord Bian must be whispering because he doesn’t want to wake His Highness.’ The more he thought about it, the more he believed that was the case.

Finally, the group of people walked along with the farmer on the rugged and narrow mountain road, while the other Secret Servant became worried about Bian Zhonghua getting exhausted by carrying Qi Ci all the way. Because of this, he said: “Lord Bian, why don’t you let me carry the Prince instead?”

Bian Zhonghua simply glanced at him and said: “Don’t worry, you go ahead and explore the road.”

However, the mountain road was very difficult to walk by. Only a skilled man such as Bian Zhonghua could carry another man in his arms and still walk as fast as he could. On the other hand, the accompanying palace maids and servants were stumbling and limping, so they couldn’t help but ask how far the village was.

The farmer replied cheerfully: “Not far, not far. We’ll be there soon.”

In fact, it wasn’t that far away, just like the farmer said. After walking through the dense forest, a clear sky suddenly appeared in front of them.

The scenery in front of them was incredibly shocking.

Looking upward, there was the vast sky, while looking downward, there was a vast valley. The group stood on the ridge of the valley, thinking about the immensity through which the sky and the earth extended. It felt as if they were small fish swimming in the vast ocean, or a mayfly flying for hundreds of years.

Almost half of the valley was a lake, while the other half was a dense forest. If you looked carefully, you could see a few red-tiled roofs close to the lake.

The Secret Servant was stunned enough to stumble after seeing this. He said: “The last time I was here, I could only see the water of a dead lake, looking dark green. Lord Bian, how can this be? Do you think there’s something fishy about this?”

Bian Zhonghua didn’t answer him, he simply looked around for a long time with astonishment in his eyes. After thinking about something, he said: “You may have seen wrong.”

“Then, then what about this village?”

“I don’t think there’s anything strange about it.”