Укротитель зверей

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I was about to cry again. I wanted to comfort him, "Mo Li, your life is at stake. Don't take that inexplicable unpleasantness with my master to heart." But before I could speak, I felt a weight in my hand. When I looked down, he had fallen onto me and was completely unconscious.

~~ ...

Hai: I didn't explain clearly last time, which caused everyone to misunderstand. The ending I was talking about is still more than 100,000 words short of what we've serialized so far. This is the first time I've written about ancient times, and I originally thought it would be a long and unfinished story, but it just kept getting longer and longer... Now it seems like it will take 300,000 words to finish...

Narrator: You've finally broken free from the curse of short-form writers, congratulations...

Chapter 86

The riverbank was deserted, with only waves lapping against the shore. There was no one in sight, let alone the Qingyi and the others who fell off the cliff with us. We haven't seen even a scrap of their clothing since.

My heart ached, knowing their chances of survival were slim, but Mo Li desperately needed medical attention and couldn't stay here any longer. I draped my clothes over him, then, disregarding everyone else, I picked him up and ran off.

There was a dense forest by the river. After passing through it, you would see a straight official road. It was noon, and the road was deserted, but the sounds of horses neighing and wheels rolling could be heard in the distance, as if someone was on their way.

I looked into the distance and saw a dark shadow approaching. Through the dust and smoke, I could make out the outline, and it was indeed a carriage.

If there's a carriage, someone can take us to town, and there must be a doctor in town. Thinking of this, I was overjoyed and, holding Mo Li, ran towards the carriage.

I sprinted forward and quickly reached the carriage. The driver probably didn't expect someone to suddenly appear on the empty road. Startled, he abruptly reined in his horse. The horse neighed and stomped its hooves, stopping precariously in front of me, almost trampling me.

"Are you looking for death?!" the coachman cursed.

There were voices in the carriage, "What happened? Damn it, I hit my head." Then a fat man lifted the curtain and stepped out, glaring at me angrily.

The fat man was dressed in glittering gold, looking like a wealthy merchant. The coachman, who was also acting arrogantly, became even more overbearing when he saw his master come out.

"Master, it's a beggar girl who suddenly ran out looking for death."

A beggar girl? I looked down at myself. My clothes were torn and covered in mud. I was soaking wet and my hair was disheveled. I did look like a beggar.

"Get out of my way! Don't block my path. I'm on my way to the city for business. Can you afford to pay for a moment's delay?" the fat man yelled at me. His eyes fell on Mo Li, whom I was holding in my arms, and he suddenly covered his nose. "Damn it, this girl is carrying a dead person out here. She's dead and she's not even burying him. Bringing him out here is bad luck for me!"

I had originally intended to politely ask him for a ride, but his wicked manner had already angered me. When he said that Mo Li was dead, it ignited a fierce fire within me.

I stopped arguing with them, turned around, walked to the roadside and gently put Mo Li down. He was completely unconscious, lying on his back on the ground, his black hair flowing, which made his face look even whiter than snow.

The two men, who were about to ride away, suddenly froze in shock. I turned around and saw the fat man staring intently at Mo Li's face, practically drooling.

"Tsk tsk, so he's just a pretty boy. Little girl, how about I give him to you, and I'll give you a few copper coins and bury him for you?"

Without saying a word, I placed my hand on a tree branch by the roadside, and with a crisp snap, I broke the arm-thick branch in two.

"Master, she, she..." the coachman exclaimed. Before he could finish speaking, I turned around, gathered my strength, and leaped up, lashing them down hard in mid-air.

"I'll show you what it means to call me a beggar! I'll show you what it means to say he's dead! I'll show you what it means to drool over him!"

As I spoke, I continued to whip them, filled with resentment, and I used all my strength. I had been forced into this situation by Wen De for three years in Qingcheng. Although I hadn't mastered any unparalleled martial arts, I was more than capable of dealing with these two. In just a couple of moves, I whipped them off the car and onto the ground. They were screaming and howling in pain, their previous arrogance gone, rolling on the ground begging for mercy.

"Oh dear, it was my fault, I was wrong! Please have mercy, Grandma! Please have mercy!"

I stopped, panting, and glared at them fiercely, asking, "Which town does this road lead to?"

The fat man, whose face was covered in blood from my slaps, lay on the ground with his hands covering his head, trembling as he answered, "This, this is the official road to Chongguan City. If we ride at full speed, it will take about half a day to get there."

I had no idea what the name meant, so I asked again, "What kind of place is that?"

"Chongguan City is right on the border; once you cross the border, you'll be in the Kingdom of Mexico."

Mo country...

Hearing those two words sent a chill down my spine. I clenched my fist and kicked him hard. "What about the other direction? There should be other towns, right?"

The fat man let out a wail after I kicked him, groaning and unable to speak. I turned to face the coachman, and before I could even lift my foot, he spoke up, "Grandma, don't hit me! I'll talk, I'll talk. There are towns on the way back, the nearest one is only five hundred li away."

"How long does it take to travel 500 li?" I glanced at the fat horse standing to the side, which was happily grazing with its head down, without even raising its head once.

“It won’t take long,” he said, holding up a finger. “At most three days.”

Enraged, I kicked him far away, yelling, "Three days isn't a long time!"

The coachman and the fat man started wailing and howling. I was still not satisfied, so I kicked them both hard and yelled, "Get out! I want the carriage. I never want to see you two bastards again!"

The two men were overjoyed, and after hearing what I said, they immediately ran away with their heads in their hands, not daring to look back, and disappeared from my sight in the blink of an eye.

I dropped the branch and turned back to Mo Li's side. He hadn't woken up yet; his expression was calm, as if he had fallen asleep. But his face was getting paler and paler, and his lips had lost all color.

I carried him into the carriage. Although the fat man was crude, he seemed to be rich. The carriage was magnificent, with soft pillows and thick cushions everywhere. I carefully put Mo Li down. He was cold, with no warmth anywhere on his body. I was anxious and couldn't help but lean over him and listen carefully for a while until I confirmed that his heartbeat was steady and continuous before I calmed down a little.

I got out of the carriage, turned around and sat on the carriage shaft. I looked in both directions, struggled with my decision, and finally gritted my teeth and rode towards Chongguan City.

He said that Elder Qing's bone-piercing nail traveled along the blood vessels, causing numbness, so there shouldn't be any immediate danger to his life, right? But if he continues to sleep like this, without eating or drinking, how can he endure three days? Naturally, I don't want to go towards the Mo Kingdom, but at this moment, it's more important to find a doctor to treat him as soon as possible. As for my psychological trauma, I can only put it aside for now.

I had never driven a horse-drawn carriage before. At first, the horse wouldn't listen to me at all. No matter how I whipped it, it wouldn't obey. I was so angry that I jumped off the carriage halfway through and broke off a tree branch. I turned around to whip it, but it was quite sensible. Seeing my furious look, it suddenly started running forward obediently. In the blink of an eye, it had run a long distance, leaving me stunned for a long time before I remembered to leap after it. I had to use my lightness skill to get back onto the carriage shaft.

After I landed on the carriage shaft, I didn't care about the horse. I first stuck my head into the carriage to see how Mo Li was doing. He was still lying quietly in the carriage, just like before, like a painting. I couldn't take my eyes off him. No wonder that fat man was drooling over him.

I turned back to catch my train, and thinking of those two idiots, I suddenly felt a little relieved for them.

No matter how angry I am, I'll only give them a beating. If Mo Li knew that he was coveted like this while he was unconscious, those two would probably have been torn to pieces by now, right?

I couldn't help but imagine the scene, and then I shuddered. I immediately decided that I would never tell him what had just happened. It would be better to forget it and pretend that nothing had ever happened.

After that, the horse didn't need me to whip it anymore. It ran very hard all the way. I was both annoyed and amused by it. It seems that like master, like beast. They all come from the same family. They won't listen to reason, so they'll have to drink the penalty cup.

The official road was straight, and the horses pulling the carriage galloped along. At first, there were dense forests on both sides of the road, and I didn't see a single passerby for a long time, which made me doubt whether I was going the right way. Later, there were more and more people and carriages, but everyone who passed by me gave me a surprised look. I suppose it was because my disheveled appearance and dusty face while driving the carriage was too conspicuous, so it was impossible not to attract attention.

As dusk approached, the outline of houses began to appear in the distance, a small roadside inn for people to rest. I wasn't in a hurry to go there, so I reined in my horse and led it to a quiet spot by the roadside. I turned back and searched the carriage, trying to see if there was anything useful in the fat man's cart. I wanted to use whatever I could, whether it was clothes or money, just to avoid drawing attention to myself and Mo Li as we ran into the inn and causing trouble.

The car was dimly lit. I was afraid of accidentally running over Mo Li, so I bent over and searched carefully. Suddenly, I heard a hoarse voice asking a question.

"What are you doing?"

~~ ...

Since I don't have internet at home, yesterday I took my laptop to Starbucks, sat down, turned it on, plugged it in, and then...

Narrator: Then she had a disaster, because her computer broke down and she couldn't turn it on...

Chapter 87

I was pleasantly surprised. "You're awake?" I said, reaching out to help him up, but as soon as my hands touched his body, I was startled again.

His body was burning hot to the touch, as if he had a fever.

He was chilled all over before, which terrified me. Now he's burning up, which scares me even more. Could this fluctuating temperature be another symptom of poisoning?

"Where are we?" he asked again, his voice low, but he was definitely awake, not just mumbling unconsciously.

"On the way, I found a carriage. It's getting dark, and there's an inn by the roadside. Shall we go in and rest for a bit?" I whispered in his ear, not daring to tell the truth about how we got the carriage.

Suddenly, a sound came from the road. People were talking as they approached, their voices were loud, and their conversation could be clearly heard in the carriage.

A rough voice said, "Why are those people in such a hurry to find a young girl? Did they lose their concubine and are they desperate to get her back?"

"The news came from Chongguan City, saying there was a reward of fifty taels of gold, which drove the nearby towns crazy."

"Fifty taels of gold, those people seem to be quite wealthy. Why don't we two brothers take advantage of this official business to go and join in the fun?"

"Let's finish the important business first."

"What important business could it be? It's just delivering a secret message for the master. A trip to Chongguan County government office would suffice. What's the point of lingering in such a small border town?"

Another man let out a disgusting laugh, “Brother, is this your first time going to Chongguan? Don’t underestimate it just because it’s a small border town. There are plenty of interesting things there. There are foreign women in the red-light district. Their breasts are huge, and their slutty attitude is incomparable to that of women from the Central Plains.”

"Damn it, you're making me angry. I need to go pee in the woods first, I really need to."

I was getting impatient listening to their conversation when I heard a sudden groan of unease. Sure enough, after the rustling of the bushes, I heard a shout, "Hey, there's a carriage here!"

I was startled, and before I could decide whether to go out, I heard the horse neigh loudly, and the carriage shook.

"Whose carriage is this? Why is it parked on the side of the official road? Officials, please inspect it!"

I knew I couldn't escape, so I got up to leave, but Mo Li pressed down on my wrist. He was weak and didn't hold me tightly. He looked at me and spoke in a hoarse, weak voice, "Kill him, but don't get your clothes dirty."

...

I remained silent.

Mo Li, although I never thought you were such a kind and chivalrous person, to ask me to kill two people without batting an eye and then worry about me getting my clothes dirty... this is really going a bit too far with your cult-like behavior.

Before I could answer him, the carriage curtain was swept open, and a long sword was thrust inside, with a black sheath and a red hilt—the colors typical of official business.

"Get out of the car!" the man with the knife shouted from outside the car.

I turned my head sharply and saw two men standing outside the car, one tall and one short. Their faces were indistinct in the twilight, but their expressions were identical: excited and ferocious.

The sky was darkening, and the setting sun was gathering its last rays. The carriage was parked in the woods by the roadside, hidden from the official road by dense foliage. Passersby could not see it at all. The two men spoke in a firm tone, but their voices were not loud. They did not seem like officials conducting an inspection, but rather like they were trying to cover their tracks.

My temples throbbed involuntarily, and I wanted to cover them with my hands.

Could it be that these two officials are trying to rob me on the road?

“It’s a little girl,” the tall man said, then exchanged a glance with his partner.

"Look at her ragged clothes and this carriage, could it be..."

"Could she be the concubine who escaped?"

As the two men finished speaking, all four of their eyes lit up, and they turned to me together. The tall man with the gruff voice couldn't help but burst into laughter, "I never thought I'd be so lucky today, I've found fifty taels of gold while taking a piss."

My heart pounded with fear as I listened. The short man then leaned in a little more and said, "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me telling you to get out? Oh? There's another person in the car, a pretty boy at that. So it's a concubine eloping."

Mo Li's fingers, which were resting on the back of my hand, suddenly tightened. I glanced back at him and saw that his gaze was cold and his thin lips were slightly turned down, indicating that he was extremely angry.

Seeing that I remained silent, the two men assumed I was too scared to move, and became even more brazen. The taller one standing outside the car reached out to pull me, saying, "Girl, where are you going to elope? Why don't you play with me first? I'll show you what a man is."

The short man who peered into the car only stared at Mo Li's face, a lewd expression on his face, and said without turning his head, "You pull her out, I'll check the one inside."

The tension that had been building in my head snapped. I grabbed the large knife, kicked the short man out of the car, and then slapped the knife twice across his ugly face.

Caught off guard, the two men were sent flying. The taller one hurriedly drew his sword, but fearing their shouts would attract passersby, I leaped past them. They swung their swords at me, and I desperately parried. The two men were ruthless; one reached for my sword, and the other swung it horizontally, almost cleaving me in two. Fortunately, my speed was astounding, and I immediately swung my sword back. The two men had no time to defend themselves and were instantly felled to the ground...

After I finished chopping them down, I realized they were already dead, and I froze, gripping the knife.

"Peace." Mo Li's voice rang out softly.

I turned around and saw him leaning against the car door, looking at me.

I snapped out of my daze, dropped the knife, and ran back to his side. I opened my mouth but couldn't speak. My chest felt tight, my breathing was heavy, and my head was throbbing as if it were about to explode.