PDLP Chapter 128 Yan He
Chapter 128 Yan He
The cries for help weren't far from Meng Fuqing and the others, so they quickly looked away and had no intention of helping.
With the plague raging, they did not leave the official road simply because they wanted to take advantage of the low temperature and the fact that the plague had not yet spread completely, and to travel as much as possible by using the smooth official road.
Since Huang Daji was alright, the group rejoined their group and prepared to continue their journey.
As the convoy slowly began to move, Meng Fuqing could still hear the woman's cries for help. He didn't know where she was calling for help; it sounded like it was coming from above, and there was an echo.
As the convoy started moving, the cries for help became increasingly urgent.
Despite the large number of people on the official road, cries for help echoed in the air, making one feel as if they were being attacked by vengeful ghosts, sending chills down their spines.
"Wait...don't go! Help me! Help me!"
"Miss Meng—Meng Fuqing!"
A slightly hoarse "Meng Fuqing" almost made Meng Fuqing think he was hallucinating.
Until Meng Ali timidly asked, "Big sister, is a female ghost calling your name?"
Realizing it wasn't a hallucination, Mu Sheng used his lightness skill to go check before Meng Fuqing could make a move.
She corrected, "It's not a female ghost, it's a person."
Meng Ali gradually relaxed and asked in surprise, "Ali doesn't even know where this is? How come someone recognizes Big Sister?"
Meng Fuqing shook her head; she was puzzled too.
A moment later, Mu Sheng came to Meng Fuqing's side and told her about the woman, "Miss Meng, that woman said her name is Yan He, and that she knows you."
Mu Sheng did not go to sell grain and did not recognize Yan He, but he was very familiar with Meng Fuqing.
A few days ago, Yan He returned to Yezhou City. Why is he here?
Looking back now, the circumstances of being chased on the day I sold the grain were indeed somewhat strange.
They were delayed in selling their grain for a long time, and were also delayed for a while because of that person who was infected with the plague. Since the Yang family had their eyes on them and gathered people to rob them, why didn't they prepare in advance?
Wouldn't it be easier to ambush and kill them by blocking their only way?
"I gonna go see."
She ventured into the mountains and followed Mu Sheng to Yan He's location. After seeing Yan He's current predicament, she understood why she could only hear his voice but not see him.
A steep mountain peak stood in the forest. Yan He seemed to have fallen from the top of the cliff and landed on a protruding platform in the middle of the peak.
The platform was more than ten meters above the ground, and Meng Fuqing could only see the other person's head peeking out, still waving at her.
"Meng Fuqing, it really is your convoy! It's me, Yan He! Please save me!" Yan He was overjoyed to see a familiar face approaching.
Meng Fuqing had a lot of questions, but now was not the time to ask them.
She observed the steep mountain wall. Above the platform, there were some trees and tangled vines growing diagonally on the mountain wall, but the area around the platform was bare, with no plants that could support a person's weight and allow them to climb.
She wondered how Yan He, who possessed internal energy, could have fallen to such a state. Could it be that his identity had been exposed and he was also being hunted down?
With doubts in her heart, she raised her voice and asked, "Aren't you highly skilled in martial arts? Can't you come down by yourself?"
Speaking of this, Yan He was furious.
"I was ambushed and poisoned with the Power-Dissolving Powder, and now I have no internal energy left... Meng Fuqing, I don't want to die. If you can save me, I will do anything for you, even be your lackey, okay?"
Xie Jin, who had come from the official road to check the situation: ...
Meng Fuqing was speechless. Couldn't he just be a human being?
Yan He continued, "Why do you think I've fallen into such a miserable state? It's because I helped you, and that corrupt official surnamed Hu filed a complaint against me!"
"The night you sold the grain, I sensed something was wrong when I got back. On our escape, I even managed to stop the Yang family's men... Anyway, it's all your fault, you have to take responsibility for me!"
She spoke with such conviction and arrogance, as if it were the truth of the matter.
Meng Fuqing had no way to verify it, but his doubts lessened somewhat. If Yan He had helped, it could be explained.
Given that this person was indeed quite capable and his intelligence should be above that of Niu Er and the others, Meng Fuqing had the idea of saving him.
She asked Yan He, "Is there anywhere up there where we can tie a rope?"
If possible, try shooting an arrow to bring the rope up.
Yan He had been chased here and had been freezing cold all night on the platform. He had tried every possible method and was very familiar with his surroundings—cliffs and precipices, barren of any vegetation.
If she hadn't been stopped by tree branches a few times when she fell, and hadn't grabbed a vine haphazardly, she would be a pile of mud right now.
She screamed in despair, "No!"
Meng Fuqing had no choice but to turn to Xie Jin and ask, "Can you use your lightness skill to save them?"
Xie Jin uttered only one word: "Difficult."
He disliked Yan He and was reluctant to save him, but seeing Meng Fuqing's interest, he hesitated, "But, we can give it a try."
In the end, the task still fell to Mu Feng.
Mu Feng tried to use the protruding rocks to leap onto the platform, grabbed Yan He by the collar, and pulled him down.
Upon landing, he abruptly let go, and Yan He, who had not yet regained his balance, was thrown to the ground.
She clutched her arm in pain, crying out "Ouch!" a few times, and glared angrily at Mu Sheng, "Do you want to kill me?"
Mu Feng reported to Xie Jin in a serious tone, "Young Master, the person has been brought here. This young lady was fine just now and should not have been injured."
Yan He felt a lump in his throat. He stopped pretending, grabbed his bag, and got up from the ground in a cowardly manner, glaring at Mu Feng fiercely.
She was still dressed in a plain white Taoist robe, but the disguise on her face had disappeared, revealing her original appearance. She had bright eyes and white teeth, and her almond-shaped eyes were lively, a stark contrast to her previous mature demeanor.
His white hair alone made him look out of place.
Du Zhong arrived with his men. Meng Fuqing and the other man had been gone for so long that they thought something had happened.
Upon learning that Yan He was someone they knew, Du Zhong said, "Miss Meng, Young Master Xie, we're afraid we can't travel this official road. We heard from a group of refugees who just passed by that some of them have contracted the disease and are suffering from persistent high fevers."
The three of them got together and discussed it, and finally decided to change their route and stay away from the refugees.
There are too many of them. If one person gets sick, it means that everyone is likely to suffer. They can't afford to gamble, and they can't afford to gamble.
Fortunately, they traveled very efficiently these past two days, and now they are only halfway to Jing'an Prefecture. Next, they just need to cross the Lanjiang River and pass through the Cangxia Plain, and they will be close to their destination.
Yan He was busy escaping and was unaware that a plague had broken out in Yezhou City. He stood aside and eavesdropped for a while before gradually understanding the current situation.
However, she couldn't care less about that right now. She just looked around warily and whispered to Meng Fuqing, "Meng Fuqing, I feel something is wrong here. Last night, I fell off the mountain while riding my horse. The horse died on the ground. I could see the horse's body from above, but I couldn't stay awake any longer, so I dozed off for a while. When I woke up from the cold, the horse was gone."
She led Meng Fuqing to a spot where the surrounding weeds were stained with congealed blood, and the ground was a darker color. "This is where the horse fell to its death."
Meng Fuqing didn't understand why she looked so serious. "Perhaps some passing refugees took your horse to eat."
Yan He shook his head. "Soon, I heard men talking downstairs. They were looking for someone; in other words, they were looking for me."
Last night, there were no stars or moon. Yan He, who was huddled on the cliff, had no internal energy to protect him and was so cold that he couldn't stand it anymore. So he wanted to get up and walk around.
She hadn't called for help since falling. Now that she had no internal strength left, what kind of good person could be out at night? It would be better to wait until dawn to see how things went.
Just as she made a move, she suddenly heard voices and barking dogs coming from the bottom of the cliff.
The wind was strong at night, and she couldn't hear the conversation below very clearly.
One person asked, "...Was the horse found here?"
The other person answered, "Yes..."
"...After abandoning the horse, they'll definitely...look for someone nearby..."
The other person seemed hesitant, "There are enough horses for us to eat for two meals..."
Before he could finish speaking, another man raised his voice and angrily rebuked, "Fool! Since this man can afford a horse, he must have a lot of wealth. Why did we come all the way from the south to kidnap him? Just for food? More importantly, we'll make money! When things get better, we'll become rich and never have to live a life of uncertainty again!"
"Boss... I'll go find it right away!"
Yan He leaned closer to the edge and looked down. She could vaguely see figures moving in the woods. She pondered for a moment what those people had said and realized that the situation in the south was probably no better than in the north. It had already reached the point where people were eating each other.
However, it is also possible that these people are inherently evil and take advantage of the natural disasters to do whatever they want.
Soon, a dog barked below her. Yan He immediately pulled her head back, held her breath, and listened carefully to the sounds below.
"Why is the black dog always wandering around here? ... It's all bare, there's nothing here..." one person wondered.
Several figures in the woods looked up along the cliff face. Suddenly, one of them pointed to the stone platform where Yan He was and asked, "Did that person fall to his death up there?"
Yan He dared not make a sound. These people were willing to eat people for money, so who knew if they would even dare to climb cliffs four or five zhang high?
In a corner she couldn't see, a small stone on the edge of the platform was teetering precariously in the wind. Another gust of wind blew, and the stone fell from the sky. Yan He noticed it out of the corner of her eye, gritted her teeth, and suppressed the urge to curse.
There was nothing she could do but pray that the people below hadn't noticed the little stone.
Unfortunately, the small stone landed almost face-to-face with the group and the dog, nearly hitting one of them. The group looked at each other, their eyes filled with a kind of neurotic excitement.
One of the higher-ranking people suddenly spoke up: "If we can't find it, we can search again during the day tomorrow."
The others chimed in, "It's getting late, let's go back!"
Although they said they were going back, two of them actually stayed behind.
They found a sheltered spot at the bottom of the cliff and waited for any movement before returning to report.
This person must have suffered many injuries from falling off the cliff. Tomorrow, all they need to do is shoot arrows to force him down, and then robbing him or kidnapping him will be as easy as picking up free money.
They waited until dawn.
Yan He had a very difficult time after that. She only needed to think for a moment to know that the last few words were meant for her, so even though she was almost frozen, she did not move again.
As the sun rose in the eastern sky, she could see several groups of refugees walking along the official road, but they were few in number, so she dared not call for help.
It wasn't until she saw a long convoy that she dared to call for help. The reason she didn't call out Meng Fuqing's name at first was because she didn't recognize the convoy as belonging to Meng Fuqing.
Finally, seeing that the convoy didn't seem to want to get involved and appeared to be leaving, she thought that Meng Fuqing's group would also be heading south, and such a long convoy was rare, so she tentatively called out, and to her surprise, it actually brought people over.
After briefly recounting his experience from the previous night to Meng Fuqing, Yan He said, "If they had left someone to guard the bottom of the cliff last night, I wonder if they would have been watching you... and us."
As she finished speaking, she looked around somewhat guiltily.
Meng Fuqing looked at her with eyes full of regret, "If I had known earlier, I would have left you up there to fend for yourself."
Yan He exaggeratedly clutched his chest, "How could you be so heartless? I've helped you so much..."
Seeing that Meng Fuqing wasn't buying it, Yan He immediately got serious again. "How about this? You give me some men, and I'll lead a team to wipe out their stronghold. We'll split the loot 40/60, I get 40% and you get 60%. That way, they won't be trailing behind the caravan."
"You don't have internal energy?"
"Don't look down on me. I can still wield a knife even without internal energy!" After saying this, Yan He paused, took out a dry biscuit from his bag, and said while eating it, "I'll eat some first, then I can wield a knife."
Meng Fuqing didn't delay her from eating. She stood there for a moment and pondered, "I can lend you some manpower, but you get two and I get eight."
Upon hearing this, Yan He nearly choked on the bite of biscuit she had just put in her mouth. After finally managing to swallow it, she glared at Meng Fuqing and said, "How can you be even stingier than me?"
"If you want a quick victory, the people I send won't just be my own; I'll have to share some with others. In short, to do it or not to do it?"
"Do!"
During the conversation between the two, Xie Jin, Du Zhong, and others waited on the side and overheard most of what they said. Once the two had reached an agreement, they quickly dispatched some people, led by Yan He, to find the hideout of those people from the previous night.
Since Yan He started calling for help, one of the two who had been on guard all night went back to the cave to report the situation, while the other, realizing that things were not going well, managed to escape and also ran back.
This group consisted of only about ten people. They were very tempted by the abundant supplies in the convoy, but they also knew that they were outnumbered, so they decided to follow the convoy and steal things.
Before they could come up with a solution, a group of people who stormed into the cave wiped them all out like autumn leaves in the wind.
Upon seeing the scene inside the cave, even Mu Feng, Qi Liang, and the others, who were used to seeing corpses, couldn't help but frown, because human limbs were still being boiled in the large pot. After searching the cave thoroughly, they discovered that these people had stolen a lot of valuables. Not only that, but there were also ten living people tied up by them deep inside the cave.
After releasing the person, the group returned to the bottom of the cliff and reunited with Meng Fuqing and the others.
On the way back to the official road, Yan He approached Meng Fuqing and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Jing'an Prefecture," Meng Fuqing asked, "When did you fall?"
Yan He replied, "Last night, the people chasing me thought I had fallen off a cliff and died, so they left."
"Was it really you who stopped the man in black?"
Yan He snorted, "I knew you wouldn't believe me, look at this—"
She took out a small bottle of medicine from her bundle. "This is a secret medicine made by my great-great ...