After discussing the arrangements for departure, the sisters began to pack the clothes they would take with them.
A month of hiding had made them accustomed to sewing their valuables into their undergarments. Even if they were only leaving for three days, they had to carry the important things with them.
After Wei Nanxun finished packing her luggage, she saw the jade pendant hidden in the compartment of the box. After thinking it over, she put it in her purse at her waist.
This was what she had brought out with her along with the silver bills and land deeds when she left the Wei family.
She and her benefactor were now separated by vast distances, and it would be difficult to meet again in this life. This was the only memento, and it was extremely important to her.
The next day, after dawn, Zhixia prepared Little Tiger’s water and food before locking the door and getting on the carriage.
The driver was Grandpa, and they accompanied Granny in the carriage.
Since they were going up the mountain to worship Buddha, they were all dressed in plain cloth clothes, their hair wrapped in headscarves, without makeup or any jewelry, looking quite like tea-picking girls or silk-washing girls from the countryside.
The White Horse Temple did not accept outsiders to stay overnight. They had discussed it yesterday, and after going out, they would claim that they were the old couple’s nieces and grandchildren who had come to worship Buddha together, so they shouldn’t be embarrassed.
Everything went smoothly along the way, but a long queue formed when they were leaving the city.
Zhixia lifted a corner of the cloth curtain and looked around strangely: “What day is it today? Why are so many people leaving the city?”
Grandpa, holding the reins outside, said: “It’s not that there are many people leaving the city, it’s that the officials are checking carefully, searching the carriages one by one, that’s why it’s so slow. I don’t know what’s going on, I haven’t seen such a scene in many years.”
Hearing this, the two in the carriage changed their expressions slightly. Everything had been fine yesterday, but the defenses were strict just when they were leaving the city. What a coincidence.
Granny, who didn’t know what they were thinking, smiled indifferently: “These high officials are idle all day long and looking for trouble, as long as it has nothing to do with us common people.”
Wei Nanxun squeezed out an awkward smile, fearing that it had something to do with her!
After waiting for a while, it was finally their turn. The official repeated tirelessly: “How many people are on the carriage? What are you doing leaving the city?”
“Returning to the official, this old man’s surname is Lin and I live in West Street. I opened a tea stall opposite the yamen in my early years. On the carriage are my old wife and two nieces. In two days it will be the fifteenth, and our family is going to Baiyun Temple to worship Buddha.”
The official lifted the curtain and glanced, seeing that it was indeed an old woman and two girls, and was about to raise his hand to let them pass.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a team of people came from outside the city, whipping their horses, causing sand and dust to fly everywhere.
Even the guarding officials ate a mouthful of sand, but dared not complain, and quickly stepped forward to salute: “Lord Ge, why did you come in person?”
This group of people were all dressed in brocade and strong clothes, wearing black hats and long knives at their waists, and it was clear that they were from the capital. In the middle of them, there was a horse with a chestnut-brown body and snow-white hooves. Although the person sitting on the horse was dressed the same as the others, his face was handsome and had an unspeakable nobility.
The leader, surnamed Ge, nodded hastily and asked, “How’s the investigation going?”
“Don’t worry, my lord, we’ve checked everything carefully. There are definitely no two young women, one master and one servant, leaving the city today.”
Lord Ge obviously looked at the man in the center, and after getting the look, he hummed again and was about to continue into the city, but just as he was about to brush past their carriage.
A short voice sounded: “Wait, has this carriage been checked?”
Wei Nanxun instantly squeezed Zhixia’s hand next to her. It was Pei Yuyan, how could it be Pei Yuyan!
Even if she had been sitting in the carriage the whole time, without looking outside, she would never mistake his voice, absolutely not. He had actually chased her here.
When this team came just now, she had a bad feeling, but she never thought it would be him.
Wasn’t the day after tomorrow the day of his wedding? He was really crazy.
Wei Nanxun’s heart had jumped to her throat, and the hand holding Zhixia’s was icy cold. She had never thought that she had such weight in Pei Yuyan’s heart. If he really valued her, why didn’t he believe her in her previous life, and why did he personally feed her poison?
As the sound of horses’ hooves approached step by step, she felt as if she had been thrown into a frying pan, extremely tormented and extremely painful.
Lin Grandpa was an honest man. Seeing that he was being asked, he repeated it again. A guard next to him who had been to Grandpa’s tea stall remembered him and helped him say: “My lord, this old man is indeed from our town, not an outsider. The people in the carriage are all his female relatives.”
But Pei Yuyan obviously didn’t believe it, he only believed his own judgment.
He held the reins with one hand, drove the horse forward, and without looking sideways, raised his hand to lift the cloth curtain.
Wei Nanxun was so frightened that she was about to jump out of the car when the leader surnamed Ge received a message from his subordinates and hurried forward and lowered his voice: “Your Highness, two girls, one master and one servant, just left the city in Xixi County, saying they went to the west.”
His fingertip swirled at the cloth curtain, drawing a shallow arc.
Before everyone could react, Pei Yuyan clamped his legs tightly around the horse’s belly, and the chestnut-brown horse galloped out like lightning.
Since he had left, the others naturally spurred their horses to follow.
There was another burst of flying sand and rocks. They came quickly and went quickly, and everything seemed to return to the previous calm.
“Official, what about us…”
The guard hadn’t suspected them in the first place, and now he naturally raised his hand: “Go, go, don’t get in the way here.”
Wei Nanxun’s heart didn’t drop until the carriage left the city gate. It was really a narrow escape.
It seemed that the people she had arranged before had finally had an effect. This time, they had confused them and could finally delay some time, but she still didn’t dare to take it lightly and quickly told Grandpa to drive the carriage away from here.
When the carriage had driven far away and was about to disappear from sight, a guard suddenly said: “That’s not right, how do I remember that Lin Old Man’s family died in the drought a few years ago? There’s only one son in the family, who just got married and doesn’t have children. Where did two such big nieces come from?”
The atmosphere froze for a moment, and someone said: “Not good, quickly go and call Lord Ge back!”