After that tree broke last time, not only did she get a big bump and have to rest for a few days, but all the dozen or so newly recruited soldiers who accompanied her were stung and had to take half a month of sick leave.
Since that incident, everyone has basically avoided the Marshal's presence whenever possible, trying not to get too close to him.
She was foolish enough not to know the situation, and yet she still went to him when he was at his lowest point. Although she gained his approval, it came at a price!
As she finished speaking in a low voice, a flock of birds suddenly flew overhead, and a rain of bird droppings fell, covering Anyi's jade crown, hair, and shoulders.
Looking at Xie Lanzhi across from her, she was riding a horse. Upon hearing the birdsong, she covered her head with her black cloak, and bird droppings fell all over it. Afterward, she took off the cloak and skillfully changed into another one.
An Yi noticed that she carried a cloak with her and couldn't help but sigh, realizing that the marshal had managed to escape.
Just when she thought nothing would happen for the time being, a eagle suddenly flew down from the sky, let out a whoosh, and swooped down with its sharp talons, about to attack the marshal.
Xie Lanzhi skillfully took out a paper umbrella and, with a bang, blocked the eagle's first attack. The paper umbrella pierced a hole, and as soon as the eagle passed through it, Xie Lanzhi closed the umbrella, trapping the eagle inside, and then threw it down the mountain.
The eagle was immediately thrown around in a daze, then flew away from this troublesome place.
An Yi: "......."
What did I see? Someone was so unlucky that they started to anticipate what was happening and even timed their escape with props.
After finishing her usual unlucky routine before the trip, Xie Lanzhi breathed a sigh of relief and said to An Yi, "We won't be unlucky as often anymore, so let's take this opportunity to go out and have some fun."
"Marshal, are you so insistent on going out for a race with me? Is there another purpose?" This time, An Yi wasn't so resistant. She always felt that the Marshal wasn't the kind of person who had too much free time and wouldn't do anything reckless.
Xie Lanzhi said, "There is something I want to tell you."
“Then I’ll go!” Anyi finally mounted a horse.
Xie Lanzhi first dismounted the horse, and the black horse immediately ran back. Xie Lanzhi then directed the horse to circle back and forth for about a dozen times before it finally got onto the main road under her control.
An Yi watched as she skillfully handled some minor unexpected situations, and she couldn't help but admire her.
"Marshal, I'll be running now."
Xie Lanzhi nodded and followed behind Anyi. The two walked onto the sandy road built by Jinghua Prefecture, which was very fast, like a horse racing. However, after running around the mountain forest, the coolness gave people a refreshing feeling.
An Yi hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
After a month or so of bad luck, Xie Lanzhi finally found a moment of peace amidst the shady trees.
The two began a horse race, covering the main road around Jinghua Prefecture three times before Xie Lanzhi's black horse became temperamental and refused to run. An Yi's horse, however, galloped off with equal gusto.
Xie Lanzhi dismounted, and the black horse started running again, throwing her off.
Watching the black horse grow smaller and smaller, Xie Lanzhi couldn't help but facepalm: "Sigh, even the horse that fought alongside me has forgotten my scent."
When Anyi turned back, he found Xie Lanzhi standing alone, but her horse was nowhere to be seen.
Her face paled instantly. It would take half a day to walk back from that far away. She couldn't just abandon her brother-in-law.
An Yi dismounted and handed the horse to Xie Lanzhi, saying, "Brother-in-law, you go back first. When you get back, just ask someone to bring me a horse."
Waaah, I knew I shouldn't have gone out with her.
Xie Lanzhi took the opportunity to tell An Yi what she wanted to say: "Your sister asked me to tell you that she will return Huayin Kingdom to you in ten years."
An Yi was stunned, and she loosened her grip on the horse's reins.
Xie Lanzhi took the reins and plopped down on the horse, saying, "I'll go back first and have someone bring you a horse."
An Yi nodded blankly.
It was too dangerous for Anyi to share a horse with her, so Xie Lanzhi had no choice but to go back first.
As she rode her horse along the main road, she thought to herself, "Little Phoenix's arrangement must be related to the original work. So, I'll start by deducing the plot of the second half of the original work from Artur's perspective."
Niliubei is where Xie Ying died, and afterwards, Huayin Kingdom fell into the hands of the Little Phoenix, and Anyi would embark on a ten-year road to restoration. This is roughly the plot of the second half of the original novel.
Ten years from now, Xie Lanzhi no longer cared about the future of Huayin Kingdom. By then, with the unification of the Nine Provinces, whether Huayin Kingdom belonged to Anyi would be irrelevant. Anyi would at most be considered a vassal state.
Since Anyi has no heir, her territory will be reclaimed. Therefore, control will ultimately fall into the hands of the future empress.
Thinking of this, Xie Lanzhi admired her beloved wife's methods even more.
Xie Lanzhi ran and ran, disappearing down the road alone on horseback. Before Anyi could even rejoice, she waited and waited, but no one came. Almost two hours passed before, thankfully, some government officials passed by, recognized her, and gave her a hard time.
When Anyi returned to the county government office, she was still angry that her brother-in-law hadn't called anyone to pick her up.
When she returned to the county government office, Si Xitong immediately summoned her.
An Yi arrived at the side room.
Si Xitong asked impatiently, "Anyi, where is Lanzhi?"
An Yi tilts his head: ......
How would she know that! She even had to ask her sister why the marshal hadn't come to pick her up for so long.
"Well, the marshal told me to wait for her on the road, but she hasn't returned yet," An Yi said. "Didn't she arrive at the county office a while ago?"
"Could it be that we haven't arrived yet?" An Yi thought it was impossible. Even if he got lost for another two hours, he could find his way as long as he kept walking towards the sun.
As a result, the atmosphere in the room became eerily silent.
Azi stood up and couldn't help but tug at An Yi: "Marshal, she hasn't come back yet."
An Yi's mouth dropped open: "No way! She rode my horse back to the county office."
Could my brother-in-law be so unlucky that even his horse is sabotaging her? Wait, her black horse seems to have already sabotaged her, and now even her horse is sabotaging the marshal?
Afterwards, Si Xitong sent a large number of Jin troops to find Xie Lanzhi.
This time, Xie Lanzhi seemed to have vanished. The Jin army searched the vicinity of where she had been seen, following the trail of her disappearance. They even checked the trees near the cliff to see if anyone was hanging there.
The spies racked their brains to draw out the general route the marshal would take, so that the newly recruited soldiers could find it.
We still couldn't find it.
As the sun was about to set, Si Xitong took a horse and couldn't resist going out to find it herself.
At this moment, Li Fuyi arrived at the county office. Seeing that his master was about to go down the mountain, he hurriedly said, "Your Highness, you mustn't! My men have already found the marshal's whereabouts. Someone saw her run into the dense forest to the west."
"The dense forest over there is notorious for its dangers; those who go in need to wander around for at least a month before finding a way out."
Si Xitong dismounted and ordered, "Immediately organize a thousand men to enter the dense forest to search for the person, and then build a road through the forest afterwards."
"Another road construction?!" Li Fuyi exclaimed instinctively, then covered his mouth. His Highness is practically a road construction maniac. He's built so many roads in Jinghua Prefecture, making it easier for countless people to travel to and from Beifu.
Si Xitong said coldly, "Go quickly."
"Yes, sir!" Li Fuyi quickly relayed the message.
When Si Xitong returned to the county government office, she felt that it was not a solution to keep Lanzhi in this state. She wondered if there was anyone at Zhaixing Tower who could change Lanzhi's fate.
The wizards kept at the Star-Picking Tower should also get some serious business done.
Meanwhile, Xie Lanzhi was lost, having been led astray by the horse, which was still leisurely grazing.
She looked up at the sky and saw that only half of the setting sun remained on the mountaintop. She also saw that there were dense forests all around, and wild animals might appear at night. Not to mention dealing with wild animals, she would have no way to find her way out at night.
She didn't have a tinderbox on her, because she was afraid of getting into a fire.
"Where are you taking me?" Xie Lanzhi patted the horse's neck, and the horse snorted at her defiantly.
When you're down on your luck, even drinking water can cause problems.
Xie Lanzhi experienced this principle firsthand. She was worrying about how to get out—whether to continue up the mountain to find a high vantage point for a better view before continuing, or to set up camp now, make a fire, conserve her energy, and figure out how to get through the night first?
A series of loud footsteps came from nearby. Xie Lanzhi tried to pull her horse behind a boulder, but the horse suddenly took off running.
She took the opportunity to hide behind a boulder and saw with her own eyes a group of Central Plains people dressed as Huns, a total of one hundred people, hurriedly chasing after horses, saying, "The national shaman said that a fat sheep will come to our door in three days."
"Quickly, go after them! Maybe they're the fat sheep the national shaman was talking about!"
"Don't let him get away!"
Fat Sheep Xie Lanzhi: "......"
State shamans? Could these people be Huns or Xiongnu? Why do they look like people from the Central Plains?
Could they be assimilated Central Plains people from the Xiongnu? If so, it means... it means that Aqina still has a backup plan in Huayin Kingdom, and this time it may not be because of the coal mine.
Was it because of her? Did that sorcerer foresee getting lost here?
This feeling of being schemed against made Xie Lanzhi's face turn cold. Xie Ying's original ending was already over, which meant she didn't have much of a role in the original story. The fact that the National Witch could still roughly predict her position was probably related to Aqina taking away three years of her life-extending time.
Those three years of extended life could be attributed to his good fortune. But if he thought he could always take advantage of others, he was being too optimistic.
Xie Lanzhi felt she had found something to do. Under the cover of darkness, she followed the footsteps of the group of Huns and Central Plains people until she found their camp in a bamboo forest on the mountaintop. There were a few thatched huts, tables and chairs made of animal hides, and teacups made of bamboo tubes.
It appears they have been stationed here for quite some time.
Two of the men who had chased after the horse were bruised and battered. They helped each other back to the hut, saying as they walked, "Was that...was that a horse?"
"Why do I always have bad luck when I run into it? I should have just shot it dead with an arrow!"
"No, the national shaman said that the horse brought us fat sheep, but we don't know exactly what kind of fat sheep it is."
The two men went to chase the horse but were kicked by it and crashed into a tree. Dozens of people followed, leading a horse back to the hut, cursing, "It's one person falling down, but a whole group of people falling down in one place."
"Looks like I've been too good to you guys, making you lack exercise!"
The leader was a Hun man with a high nose.
"Brother Aza, this isn't our fault! Who knew the horse would be so strange!"
"Could it be a fairy in disguise?!"
Seeing his subordinates spreading increasingly wild rumors, Aza angrily rebuked them: "The Master has taught us countless times, 'The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits.'"
There are no ghosts in this world!
Hiding in a ginkgo tree behind the thatched hut, Xie Lanzhi squatted behind a trunk as wide as a person, thinking to herself, she didn't know if it was a ghost or not, but there really was such a thing as God in this world.
And then there's Ju Zi, who should be Lu Qing's husband.
Why are his men still lurking in Huayin? Could they have some other purpose? Xie Lanzhi decided to keep an eye on these people until she found an exit to return. She wanted to prevent them from doing anything that would harm Little Phoenix's interests.
The people of Aza started cooking over fires, using smokeless flames to keep the fires extremely well-hidden. Furthermore, the dense forest was a place even the locals of Huayin avoided, so no one dared to enter. Now it served as a rear base for the Hun people.
Xie Lanzhi watched as the man named Aza prepared authentic Shandong cuisine, and the rice he cooked was so delicious that a hundred people were fighting over it.
She swallowed and rubbed her stomach: "I'm so hungry."
After they finished eating, they wandered around, and some even took off their pants and relieved themselves naturally. Xie Lanzhi hid under a big tree and didn't leave. When the group decided to go to sleep, they all went into the thatched hut.
Xie Lanzhi jumped down from the tree and took the opportunity to look for food on the open-air stove. There was some leftover rice, and she even made a rice ball to take away with her, quite ceremoniously.