Chapter 1296: Reunion (1)
When the weather cleared, they could finally come out of the small cave.
The water on the mountain kept flowing down, and the mudslide had gradually stopped. The original path was filled with trees, rocks, and soil, making it impossible to walk.
Mu Yangling looked at the road and sighed. “Since it’s getting late, let’s think of a way to hunt some prey for now. We’ll think of a way to leave the mountain tomorrow.”
The guards agreed and tried to think of a way to go to the adjacent mountain to hunt. After all, this mountain they were on was filled with rocks. It was lucky enough that they could find rodents this morning.
The few of them were so famished that their eyes were shining. Before the sky turned completely dark, they brought back a few rabbits and a silly roe deer.
The guard captain said happily, “This roe deer’s legs were broken by the mountain current and it was stuck halfway up the mountain. It caught our attention the moment we went over and we brought it back when we saw that it was still alive.”
As the rain had just stopped, only a few animals would run out to bask in the sun or look for food. Most of them were still hiding, so it took them quite some time to find a few rabbits.
However, these few rabbits were not enough to fill the gaps between their teeth considering there were so many of them, not to mention that they had been starving for two days.
It was impossible for there to be a water source on a stone mountain, but because it had just rained heavily, there were concave rocks filled with water, and water kept flowing down the mountain. Due to the fact that there was less mud and more rocks here, the water flowing mid-mountain was very clear.
Although Mu Yangling knew that there were many living organisms in this seemingly clear water even though they were invisible to the naked eye, hygiene didn’t seem particularly important when one was starving to death.
Thus, she used the water to clean up her prey without any psychological barriers.
If Mu Yangling was already like this, let alone the guards who fought battles alongside Qi Haoran. They happily peeled the skin and roasted the prey.
As they had discarded all the seasonings in their luggage, they did not even have the most basic salt. Still, when people were hungry, they would eat anything. Even Baozhu and Little Leopard ate a piece of roe deer meat.
Seeing that their mouths were filled with oil, Mu Yangling wiped their mouths and said, “Don’t eat too much of this since you’re still young. We’ll head out tomorrow and you can then have some light porridge.”
Little Leopard and Baozhu held the meat and turned around, continuing to eat with their heads lowered.
Mu Yangling felt a little helpless. She knew that they were famished and her heart ached for them. She could only watch them and not let them eat until they were overly-full.
After resting for a night, everyone was rather well-rested. They began to discuss a way to leave.
As this mountain was surrounded by a mudslide and the original road had long been destroyed, it was almost impossible for them to walk out.
The guard captain said, “Unless we wait for the sun to dry the mud, we won’t be able to walk out at all.” The guard captain paused and continued, “However, if we move alone, we can borrow strength from the trees and rocks in the mudflow. As long as there’s a place to rest along the way, we’ll be able to leave this place.”
Ultimately, they had to rely on qinggong. While they could bring along the children, it was impossible to take the adults along. Although the mud flow had stopped, it was still dangerous. Once a person fell into the mud, it would be very difficult for them to get up again.
Mu Yangling clearly knew this too. Frowning, she said, “Why don’t you go out and look for help first before coming back to save us?”
The guard captain felt that this was a good idea and immediately chose three people with good qinggong to go out and report their situation.
At this moment, Qi Haoran, who had been traveling through the night, happened to meet up with Fan Zijin and Rong Xuan’s men. He thought that they had already found Ah Ling, so although he was tired, he was ecstatic.
Just as they dug out the carriages used by Queen Consort Rong and the others from the mudslide, the terrified guards met King Rong’s smiling face.
The guards: “…”
Although they were Prince An and the Left Prime Minister’s men, they also knew that King Rong had deep feelings for his queen consort. Now that she was in danger, how could King Rong still smile?
They must have turned around in the wrong way.
Qi Haoran asked with a smile, “Where are Her Highness, Fourth Young Master, and the young princess?”
The guards’ faces froze and they immediately understood that someone must have sent a fake message to King Rong, leading King Rong to think that they had rescued Queen Consort Rong and the young prince and princess.
‘Who is that person? Step forward. We definitely won’t kill you. We’ll just make you wish you were dead!’
Because they were now facing a fate worse than death!
Seeing the guards mutter to themselves, Qi Haoran gradually sensed that something was wrong. He retracted his smile and asked again, “Where are Her Highness, Fourth Young Master, and the young princess?”
The guards hurriedly knelt down and apologized. “King Rong, we didn’t find Her Highness and the young prince and princess.” The guards stammered, “We… we found the carriages used by the King’s Residence…”
The group carefully moved aside and pointed at the destroyed wood on the ground. “We just dug this out of the mud flow.”
Qi Haoran sneered with a dark expression. “With the mudslide coming at them, how stupid do you think Her Highness is to continue riding in the carriage? They must not be in the carriage.”
The guards carefully observed King Rong’s expression, not knowing if he was comforting them or if he genuinely thought so.
However, no one could tell from Qi Haoran’s expressionless face.
Qi Haoran looked at the road and said, “Since Her Highness hasn’t come out, she must still be on one of the mountains inside. Prepare food and fresh water. My men and I will go in and look for her later.”
The guards stopped him weakly. “Your Highness, although the mudslide has stopped, it’s still dangerous inside…”
“Then will you go in to look for them instead?”
The guards opened their mouths. If they had the ability, they wouldn’t have dug up the carriages here.
Qi Haoran sneered and left with the dozen or so guards behind him.
To be able to protect the poisoned Qi Haoran, those guards’ martial arts skills were naturally not weak. Hence, the guards entered with rations and water, using the method that the guard captain and Mu Yangling had mentioned.
They didn’t have time to think of a safe way to enter.
The guards concernedly looked at Qi Haoran, who was jumping at the front, and started to lead him in pairs.
Qi Haoran did not reject their help since he had left hurriedly before the poison in his body fully cleared up. Now that he had used his internal energy, the poison circulated even faster. Even if he took medicine to suppress it, he was afraid that he would not be able to last until he found Ah Ling.
Therefore, he did not refuse the help of others.
Since Yuan Hui said that Ah Ling was fine, Ah Ling must be safe now. Qi Haoran had been persisting with this belief. Halfway there, he met the four guards sent by the guard captain.
Upon learning that Mu Yangling and the two children were safe, Qi Haoran’s eyes turned red.
Hence, the two teams split into two again. Two of them brought Qi Haoran and his men to look for Mu Yangling and the others. Qi Haoran assigned two more guards to go out and find manpower to save them.
On a sunny day after the thunderstorm, Mu Yangling brought the children to play on the mountain. After all, she couldn’t just sit on the ground and wait, right? Although the mountain was bare, there were also many pretty stones lying around.
With their mother accompanying them, the two children no longer felt as terrified about what they’d experienced in the past two days. Hence, when Qi Haoran flew up anxiously, he saw Mu Yangling holding a stone and laughing loudly with the boy-girl twins.
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