Shen Tang was too preoccupied to be afraid now. She followed closely behind the woman.
The commotion had drawn the assassins’ attention. In an instant, seven or eight of them rushed over and surrounded the two women.
Faced with so many attackers, the woman showed no hint of retreat. Her eyes were filled with cold, murderous intent.
She shielded Shen Tang behind her and swept her long sword through the air so quickly that all Shen Tang could see was a blur of silver.
The assassins were clearly no match for her. Within moments, their bodies littered the ground.
The woman’s sword flashed like lightning, piercing the last assassin through the chest. She yanked it free without hesitation, and the assassin’s body hit the ground with a thud, utterly still.
Without pausing, she led Shen Tang through the encirclement, fighting her way to the residence of the eldest branch.
Shen Tang looked around anxiously but couldn’t see Madam Shen or her uncle.
Still, she didn’t dare wander off and cause trouble for the woman.
There were even more assassins here—dozens of them, surrounding the people trapped in the middle. The woman saw what was happening and swung her sword at once, every strike viciously aimed at a vital point. The assassins couldn’t withstand her, and she soon opened a gap in their ranks.
Only then did Shen Tang see that the person inside was Meng Huaiyan.
Qingyang and Tingsong were both covered in blood. Shen Tang couldn’t tell whether it belonged to the assassins or to them.
When Tingsong saw the newcomer, he cried out excitedly, “Youlan, you’re finally here!”
Only then did Shen Tang realize that Youlan must be the bodyguard Meng Huaiyan had said he would send to protect her.
With Youlan joining them, the tide of battle, which had begun to turn against them, quickly shifted.
A dozen guards escorted Meng Huaiyan out of the encirclement at last. Qingyang kept swinging his sword as he called to Meng Huaiyan, “Heir, head into the woods! We’ll hold them off!”
Meng Huaiyan didn’t hesitate. He told Shen Tang to follow, then hurried into the woods.
Shen Tang quickly followed. As they went, the sounds of fighting behind them grew more and more distant.
Neither of them dared to relax. Shen Tang struggled to keep up with Meng Huaiyan, but she didn’t have a man’s stamina, and soon began to tire.
Seeing this, Meng Huaiyan put an arm around her shoulders and half-dragged, half-pulled her onward at a run.
After an unknown stretch of time, Meng Huaiyan finally stopped. Shen Tang was panting hard and could barely stand. She leaned against a tree and sank down.
Neither of them spoke. The woods were so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.
Shen Tang glanced around. Towering, thickly clustered trees surrounded them, and only a faint trace of moonlight filtered through.
The moonlight cast hazy shadows across the woods, leaving everything indistinct. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something might suddenly rush out of the darkness.
Frightened, Shen Tang tried to make conversation. “Have you offended someone?”
First they had poisoned him, and now there was a large-scale assassination. It was as if they had a deep-seated grudge against him.
Meng Huaiyan didn’t answer. It was too dark for Shen Tang to see his expression; all she could make out was his tall figure.
She hadn’t expected him to answer anyway. She only wanted to talk and distract herself.
Shen Tang was about to say something else when she suddenly heard the crack of a foot coming down on a dead branch.
“Crack!”
In the stillness, the sound was especially terrifying.
Shen Tang hurriedly covered her mouth and held her breath.
Meng Huaiyan gripped his sword, eyes hard, as he warily scanned their surroundings.
Suddenly, a figure darted out from the right. The assassin’s sword flashed with vicious intent, stabbing straight toward Meng Huaiyan’s chest.
Meng Huaiyan raised his sword to block. Their blades met in a spray of sparks, and the two faced each other over the crossed swords, their eyes filled with icy murderous intent.
Meng Huaiyan drove a swift kick toward the assassin’s waist. The assassin dodged, and Meng Huaiyan seized the opening to strike.
Blades flashed, cold light glinted, and the two figures darted and clashed through the woods, stirring up a fierce wind.
Shen Tang watched them intently. Suddenly, she saw another figure move like a ghost, rushing to stab Meng Huaiyan in the back.
Horrified, Shen Tang shouted, “Watch your back!”
Meng Huaiyan tried to dodge, but when the assassin saw his accomplice arrive, he attacked even faster and more ruthlessly.
Meng Huaiyan couldn’t defend against both at once. Unable to evade in time, he was slashed across the back and let out a muffled groan.
Shen Tang quickly felt around on the ground, found a rock, and hurled it at the assassin with all her strength.
She might not be good at music, chess, calligraphy, or painting, but she had been an excellent slingshot player as a child.
She didn’t have a slingshot now, but she could still throw a rock accurately.
The rock flew straight toward the assassin’s head. Hearing it whistle through the air, he turned and dodged.
Meng Huaiyan seized the moment. Moving like a ghost, he struck swiftly and precisely, slashing at the assassin’s neck. One blow killed him.
The other assassin saw his companion’s gruesome end and faltered, fear making him hesitate.
Meng Huaiyan gave him no time to react. He attacked at once, every strike aimed at a vital point.
After little more than a dozen exchanges, Meng Huaiyan ran him through the chest. The assassin’s eyes flew wide as he fell to the ground with a thud, dying with his eyes open.
Meng Huaiyan had been badly wounded. He stopped abruptly and swayed, only staying upright by leaning on his sword.
Shen Tang hurried forward to support him. “How are you?”
His voice was solemn. “We can’t stay here. Go.”
Shen Tang draped Meng Huaiyan’s arm over her shoulders.
The poor visibility made it impossible for her to tell which way to go, so she could only pick a direction and keep moving.
She didn’t know how long they walked.
All she knew was that Meng Huaiyan’s weight against her was growing heavier and heavier.
They couldn’t keep going. If they didn’t treat his wounds soon, Meng Huaiyan might bleed to death.
Shen Tang stopped and carefully lowered him to sit on the ground. “Do you have any medicine?”
Meng Huaiyan nodded and murmured, his voice barely audible, “In my robe.”
Shen Tang reached into his robe and found a brown porcelain bottle.
With their lives at stake, she had no time to worry about propriety between men and women. She opened Meng Huaiyan’s clothes.
There were several ghastly wounds across his chest, but the deepest was the one on his back, slashing diagonally from his shoulder blade all the way down to his waist.
Blood poured from it, and it was deep enough to see bone.
The sight was truly horrifying.
Shen Tang tried to steady her trembling hands as she sprinkled medicine over the wounds, then tore strips from her skirt and used them to bandage him as best she could.
By then, Meng Huaiyan had passed out from blood loss.
But Shen Tang didn’t dare rest there. The two of them were too conspicuous, and the place was too open to be safe.
Meng Huaiyan was in no condition to travel, so they needed to find somewhere secluded to rest.
With difficulty, Shen Tang hoisted him over her shoulder again. The weight of an adult man was no small thing. She gritted her teeth and summoned all her strength just to keep from collapsing.
Shen Tang had already been moving slowly; with a man to carry, every step became even harder.
Fortunately, she soon found a cave. There were signs that someone had lived there, probably a hunter who used it as a resting place.
Shen Tang breathed a sigh of relief and carefully laid Meng Huaiyan down on a flat spot.
She didn’t dare go far. She gathered some dead branches near the cave and used them to conceal its entrance.
After all that, her stomach was completely empty. She searched around the cave and managed to find some wild fruit.
The fruit was terribly sour and astringent, but it was the only food she could find in the mountains.
Shen Tang didn’t dare be picky. She forced down more than a dozen of them, and at last her stomach felt a little better.
Though it was April, the mountain air grew chilly at night. Shen Tang couldn’t help rubbing her arms.
Still, she didn’t dare light a fire. In the darkness, it would make them far too easy to spot.
She couldn’t risk it.
Meng Huaiyan lay quietly where she had left him. His complexion looked a little better than before, so the medicine seemed to be working.
Shen Tang breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the tension had eased, a weariness unlike anything she had ever felt washed over her, and her eyelids grew heavy as lead.
She pinched herself, trying to keep her eyes open and stay awake.
But her exhaustion won out, and at some point she drifted off.
Half-asleep, she felt cold and edged toward a source of warmth. She found a comfortable position and sank into a deeper sleep.
A chorus of birdsong woke Shen Tang. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was curled up right beside Meng Huaiyan, their bodies pressed close together.
Her face flushed crimson. She hurriedly sat up and moved away, feeling both embarrassed and awkward.
At least she had woken first. If Meng Huaiyan saw her like this, he would think she had designs on him again.
Shen Tang gently nudged him.
Meng Huaiyan’s brow furrowed slightly. He let out a faint groan but didn’t wake.
When Shen Tang saw how flushed his face was and how heavily he was breathing, she had a bad feeling.
She reached out to touch his forehead. His skin was burning hot.
He had a fever! Shen Tang knew nothing about medicine, but she knew that if he didn’t get treatment soon, he might not survive.
What should she do? What should she do?
Shen Tang took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Then she remembered seeing a shallow stream nearby the night before, while searching for wild fruit.
When she was little, there had been a village doctor in her village who once told her about a medicinal herb called water reed grass.
It had broad leaves and juicy roots, and it often grew near water and in damp, shady places.
The whole plant could be used as medicine to clear heat and detoxify.
Shen Tang left the cave and headed toward the stream.
Weeds crowded the stream bank. She parted them with her bare hands and searched carefully.
She searched for a long time but couldn’t find any sign of water reed grass. Her worry mounted, and soon she was sweating from the effort.
After searching a little longer, she finally found a dozen or so plants a few yards from the stream.
They were flourishing, with thick, lush leaves.
Overjoyed, Shen Tang pulled up all of them and hurried back to the cave.
Meng Huaiyan lay there, barely breathing. Without the slight rise and fall of his chest, he might have been dead.
Shen Tang crushed two or three of the water reed grass plants with a rock, gathered them up, and tried to feed them to Meng Huaiyan.
He was unconscious, his teeth clenched shut. The herbs she put in his mouth simply spilled out at the corners of his lips.
Shen Tang frowned, looking troubled.
After hesitating for a long time, she gritted her teeth, shoved the herbs into her own mouth, and then pressed her lips to Meng Huaiyan’s.
Their lips met. His breath, hot and labored, washed over her, and Shen Tang’s body stiffened slightly as her face turned bright red.
Holding her breath and thinking of nothing else, Shen Tang gripped Meng Huaiyan’s jaw, used her tongue to part his teeth, and quickly passed the mouthful of herbs into his mouth.
When she saw that he had swallowed them, she did the same thing again and again until she had managed to feed him all the herbs.
Shen Tang breathed a sigh of relief. Her mouth was full of the herbs’ clear, bitter taste. She lowered her eyes to Meng Huaiyan’s face, feeling conflicted.
After resting for a while, Shen Tang used her sword to tear the hem of Meng Huaiyan’s robe into several strips and soaked them in the stream.
She removed Meng Huaiyan’s clothes, gently wiped his wounds several times with the wet cloth, and applied medicine again.
She secured the remaining wet cloth over his forehead, trying to bring his temperature down.
After all that exertion, Shen Tang was ravenous.
There were still some of the wild fruits Shen Tang had picked yesterday. She wolfed them all down, and at last her stomach felt a little better.
Shen Tang leaned against the wall. She had only slept for a few hours last night, and had spent the whole morning rushing around.
Exhausted, she soon drifted off without realizing it.
Hearing a noise through the haze of sleep, Shen Tang jolted awake. Meng Huaiyan was frowning tightly, murmuring something under his breath.
Shen Tang moved closer before she could make out that he was asking for water.
His lips were so dry they were peeling; he must have been terribly thirsty. Shen Tang hurried to the stream.
With nothing to carry water in, Shen Tang could only cup it in her hands.
Shen Tang let a little water slip through the gaps between her fingers and into Meng Huaiyan’s mouth.
Meng Huaiyan parted his lips unconsciously and gulped it down. The water in her cupped hands was gone in no time.
After two or three trips, Meng Huaiyan had drunk his fill and sank back into a deep sleep.
Shen Tang, however, couldn’t sleep again. She left the cave to look for more wild fruit, ate a few herself, and saved some for Meng Huaiyan.
Meng Huaiyan felt as though he had slept deeply for a very long time. His head was groggy, and his eyelids felt as heavy as lead.
He tried with all his strength to sit up, but accidentally pulled at the wound on his back and let out a muffled groan of pain.
Hearing him, Shen Tang exclaimed in delight, “You’re awake?”
There wasn’t a spot on Meng Huaiyan’s body that didn’t hurt. He managed to sit up and gave a low “Mm.”
Shen Tang took out the fruit she had saved for Meng Huaiyan. “Want some?”
At the mention of food, Meng Huaiyan suddenly felt unbearably hungry. He reached out and took one.
The fruit was small, with greenish skin. Meng Huaiyan braced himself for its sourness, but still winced when he tasted it.
Shen Tang giggled. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—it’s a little sour.”
Meng Huaiyan looked up at her and saw the mischievous smile in her eyes.
She hadn’t forgotten at all. She’d done it on purpose.
Meng Huaiyan finished the rest of the fruit, and finally felt something in his stomach.
“How long was I asleep?”
“A day and a night.”
So much time had passed. He wondered what was happening in the capital now.
That man had probably already learned that Meng Huaiyan hadn’t died after all. He must be furious by now.
Meng Huaiyan couldn’t help giving a cold laugh. He was suddenly looking forward to seeing that man’s expression.
“Get some rest. We’ll set out tomorrow.”
Shen Tang looked concerned. “Are you well enough?”
“I am.”
“All right.”