The rapids are surging, and the river water is cold to the bone. Unable to breathe, unable to think, his throat has been filled with river water, and his body is like a stone sinking ... rapidly Li Jing subconsciously struggled, but the more he struggled, the faster he sank. In his weak consciousness, it is close to the end of his life.
Just then, a silhouette descended sharply from the water above his head and landed on a level with his body, and the silhouette embraced him. Even in his weak consciousness, Li Jing still felt that the body was very soft, like the warm embrace of a mother in a dream. The figure hugged him tightly, pressed her face against his, and then searched for his lips with her mouth. Li Jing suddenly felt that there was a breath in his mouth, a warm airflow rushed into his throat, and then, his nostrils bubbled up, and his body stopped sinking and began to float upwards.
He felt that his body was light, like a feather, cutting through the layers of water waves, soaring upwards, soaring ... upwards The constant flow of air from his mouth is still continuing, sustaining his breathing. I don't know how long, Li Jing felt a lightness in his head, and his whole head floated out of the water, and he opened his mouth and desperately breathed. Opening his eyes, he saw Meiniang.
Like a swimming fish, Xiao Meiniang discerned the direction a little after coming out of the water, treading water with the current, holding Li Jing towards the shore. Not long after arriving at the shore, Meiniang dragged him onto the shore and laid him down flat, leaning over and squeezing his abdomen. Li Jing was so nauseous that he finally squirted out river water with a muddy odour.
The two of them were soaked to the skin. Xiao Meiniang was only wearing a single garment, and was shivering at this time. Li Jing finished vomiting, only felt the gold stars in front of his eyes, but also regained his sanity, turned back to look towards the river, about two or three miles ahead of the river, the big ship was still burning. Thinking of the horrifying scene just now, he could not help but shiver a few times.
Xiao Meiniang did not wait for Li Jing to speak, so she climbed up and raised her eyes to look around. Seeing that there was a house not far from the shore, she said to Li Jing, "Brother Wood, we have to hurry to find someone to build a fire to keep us warm, or we will definitely suffer from the cold."
Li Jing struggled to stand up, only feeling his footsteps were weak. Without another word, Xiao Meiniang took his hand and walked up the slope by the faint starlight in the sky.
Arriving in front of the house, Xiao Meiniang pushed open the wood door and saw that it was a few dilapidated huts, but no lights were visible. Xiao Meiniang shouted a few times, no one in the house responded, so she pushed open the wooden board door and entered the inner room. Inside the house was dark, Li Jing was a little scared. Xiao Meiniang said, "Wood brother wait first, when I find flint to make a fire to keep warm."
Li Jing was puzzled. How could one find flint in this pitch-black, broken house? Even if he could find flint, where would he find something to start the fire? But at this moment, he was so shocked that he could only comply with Meiniang and sit down on the ground.
Xiao Meiniang carefully groped and gradually walked towards the inner room, and from time to time, there were slight crashing sounds. Li Jing's heart was very scared, coupled with his body being soaked to the skin, his body kept fighting. In order to alleviate this horror, he shouted with a trembling voice in Meiniang's direction, "Have you found it?" Meiniang replied from the inner room, "Almost there, wood brother don't be afraid ..."
In the darkness, Li Jing felt hot on his face and was shocked to realise that his timidity had been discovered by Meiniang. So he stopped saying anything. Between ghosts, he actually recalled the scene of being sent mouth-to-mouth by Xiao Meiniang in the depths of the river, and couldn't help but feel his cheeks burning even more.
Suddenly, there was the sound of flint clashing in the inner room. Li Jing's spirit lifted and he followed the sound. When he carefully crossed the threshold, Meiniang had already lit the hay. By the light of the fire, Li Jing realised that Meiniang was in the third room at the moment, adding firewood to the stove fire pit.
Firewood was lit, and Meiniang spread some hay on the ground, allowing Li Jing to sit down and roast the fire. The water vapour steaming from his clothes rose like smoke, and the broken house was suddenly alive. Li Jing couldn't help but ask, "How could sister find the stove fire at once? Could it be that the gods have descended to earth?"
The flattery flattered Meiniang. Under the firelight, her flushed face was bright and colourful. "Look ..." she pointed to the remaining ashes in the stove fire pit, "These firewood ashes are obviously left behind by the fishermen who make fires and cook on weekdays, and the firewood ashes have a special smell, I found the firewood ashes by my sense of smell. As there is firewood ash, there is a stove pit; as there is a stove pit, there are flints and firewood."
Li Jing was surprised, "How does sister know that the owner of this house is a fisherman?"
Meiniang pointed back. Li Jing borrowed the light of the fire and saw that there was a small boat placed on its side against the window of the house, with the bottom of the boat facing the fire pit of the stove, almost covering the wall. Meiniang said: ''This fishing boat has been in disrepair for a long time, so it is placed between the stove and fire, and usually a fire is built to bake away the water stains that have been deposited in order to prevent it from rotting. This is a necessary homework for fishermen on the river."
Li Jing listened quietly like a student, but still didn't understand why she could smell the firewood ashes. Xiao Meiniang sighed slightly, "Sister knew that you are a son of an official family and have never been on a stove. If you grew up building fires and cooking, there would be no need for me to say more."
Li Jing was even more shocked, "Sister is a princess, and you still need to build a fire to cook?"
Xiao Meiniang said: ''Brother Mu does not know, because I was born in February, I was regarded as having an unlucky birthdate, so I was adopted by my sixth uncle since I was a child. In less than a year, Sixth Uncle passed away, and the palace recognised me even more as a great nemesis and almost ordered me to be executed. My uncle took pity on me and adopted me. But my uncle's family is poor, and they didn't get along with my mother, also do not want to receive the royal grace, their own fishing boat for a living, so I grew up in the home fire cooking ... "Speaking, eyes filled with tears.
Li Jing never thought that a country's princess would be so difficult, and could not help but feel compassion. Xiao Meiniang reached out and wiped her tears away, forcing a smile and said, "I know it's hard for Brother Mu to believe. In fact, even in the palace, the days are not as good as imagined. Now the so-called Liang, only two to three hundred miles of land around Jiangling, the newly established Sui and steal the great Liang of Chen are eyeing, the royal family, living in fear, the fear of the day, rather than live in uncle's home heart solid."
Li Jing suddenly said, "Sister, I want you to be my sister, okay??"
Under the firelight, Xiao Meiniang's face was like a pear blossom after rain: ''Good! In ancient times, there was the Peach Garden, but now we siblings are brother and sister by the river. However, you have to tell me your real name."
"My surname is Li Jing." Li Jing said with a straight face, "I am only afraid that my birth is humble and I am not worthy ... of my sister ..."
Xiao Meiniang heard the word "match", couldn't help but blush, and hurriedly digress: "So it's brother Li ... Sister named Princess, in fact, a fisherwoman, fishing and diving, burning and cooking, but it's not difficult for me. Since you recognise me as a sister, in the future, do not mention the matter of the family."
Li Jing was full of joy, kneeled down on the ground, kowtowed three times to Xiao Meiniang, and said, "Sister Meiniang is here, please accept my younger brother Li Jing's obeisance. Today, thanks to your sister's rescue, I was lucky to survive. If there is an errand in the future, even though there are thousands and thousands of miles, I will surely be of service."
Xiao Meiniang helped him up and said with emotion: ''Sister grew up so big, there has never been anyone who really cared about me. Although my uncle has the grace of raising, but my aunt seemed to be somewhat resentful of me when she died ... Although my younger brother is young, he is an extraordinary person, and he will become a great man in the future! In the future, if there is any hard work for my brother, my sister will not be polite."
Li Jing's heart blossomed. Xiao Meiniang, however, lightly relaxed her beautiful brows and asked, "When you were on the boat, you were first taken away by Boat Master Xie and then came back to save me, where are Boat Master Xie and the others? And that little brother ..."
Although Li Jing recognised his sister in his heart, but he knew that the identity of Alone Star was a major concern, and it was not appropriate to confess, so he said, "Please don't worry about your sister, they should be fine. On the contrary,Mr. Zhang and Qing Ni, at this time do not know how ..."
Xiao Meiniang said, "After all, my younger brother is a northerner, I don't know that our riverside family relies on the river to make a living, and a three-year-old child can also dive. Uncle and Qing Ni, whose water skills are far above mine, will dive to escape in case of danger."
Li Jing then released his heart and said, "After Xie shipowner brought me to the bilge, I met my elder brother Han, and the old man who carried the guqin ... Suddenly, a boatman came to report that someone on the ship had done something, and found that many compartments had been placed to draw fire, concluding that the culprits were going to set fire to the ship. So Xie shipowner immediately ordered the boatmen to solve a spare dinghy, from the bilge into the river. Before the dinghy was launched, the ground floor of the cabin caught fire. After I got into the boat with the owner of the boat Xie, Han, my little brother, the old man carrying the qin, and A Yue, the fire started to burn. I ... I was worried about my sister's safety, ignoring Brother Han's stop me, I found a rope and returned ..."
Li Jing spoke in a stoned manner, but Meiniang listened with tears splashing out of her eyes. She embraced Li Jing in her arms, her body trembled slightly, and she sobbed in a low voice, "Brother for me, regardless of life and death, risking his life, sister this is the blessing of which life to repair ..."
Li Jing smelled a faint fragrance, touched a soft body, and heard some rapid breathing ... Since he was three years old, he had left his mother s embrace and started the almost harsh civil and military training. However, at the bottom of his heart, he did not want to leave his mother's embrace. There was warmth, protection and love there, peace, sound sleep and freedom. Like a dream is the home of reality, and like a nest is the bed of birds and animals. Li Jing did not want to study literature, nor did he want to practice martial arts, he wanted to be in the embrace of his mother and Meiniang such a deep dream, never wake up again ...
Suddenly, Xiao Meiniang pushed him away, got up and ran to the water tank, fetched a ladle and scooped up water to douse the fire. Li Jing woke up from the beautiful dream he had just had, and when he listened with his side ear, there seemed to be someone's voice in the distance, so he couldn't help but secretly admire Meiniang's extraordinary ear power.
Xiao Meiniang doused the fire and the house was suddenly dark. She pulled Li Jing and climbed into the boat. The boat had been smoked day and night by the fire, so it was really comfortable and dry, and was big enough to accommodate Xiao and Li. Li Jing could have been farther away from Meiniang, but he remained close to her. Meiniang did not care, acquiesced to let him next to.
At that moment there were footsteps. A gruff voice shouted through the door, "Anyone there?" After shouting a few times and no one answered, he said, "It seems to be a fisherman's house. Brother Qiu please go ahead, let's go inside and take a look before we talk."
The "Qiu brother" did not say anything. After a while, only to hear the sound of flint, stove fire between the light. Li Jing looked along the cracks on the side of the ship, and could not help but suck in a breath of cold air - the person holding the candle flame was the "Shadowless Ghost Hand".
Followed in a man, dressed in black, eyes like copper bells, waist hanging sword, footsteps heavy, nose heavy, probably more than forty years old. Shadowless Ghost Hand carefully inspect just been splashed out of the firewood, squat down and sniff, hissing sound: "Wang brother, here is obviously someone, the fire has just been splashed out, I think the owner of this hayloft in order to avoid us, hidden in the house." After saying that, the viper-like eyes searched around, and finally looked fixedly at the side-placed canoe.
Li Jing s heart was cold, secretly praying that this ghost hand would not come closer. But it is not the case, the shadowless ghost hand noiselessly approached the canoe ... Li Jing felt the warm body of Meiniang, who was close to him, shivering.
When the Shadowless Ghost Hand was only two steps away from the canoe, a slight noise came from the outside of the hut. Shadowless Ghost Hand turned back swiftly, leapt over the threshold, grabbed a person, lifted him in like a chicken, and threw him on the ground. Li Jing took a look, it turned out to be an old man in his fifties or sixties, with a dishevelled head, tattered clothes, a limp and a hunchback, his muddy eyes full of fear, and shivering unceasingly.
The one surnamed Wang asked, "Who are you? Why are you hiding in the house? Why did you put out the fire? Why don't you make a fire!" As if he was the master of the house and had the right to question the uninvited guest.
The old man responded with trepidation, "The official ... villain has been fishing on the river for decades, and this is the villain's nest ... The night wind is cold, and the villain builds a fire to keep warm, and when he hears that someone has come, he is very scared ... So ... that is why the stove fire was extinguished ..." said while taking firewood and relighting the fire.
Li Jing was secretly shocked when he heard this. It turned out that the old man had long been hiding in the house. What confused him was why this old man had admitted to dousing the stove fire? And why did he deliberately show up when the Shadowless Ghost Hand was about to discover himself and Meiniang?
The firewood was rekindled. Shadowless Ghost Hand sat cross-legged on the hay and asked, "Old man, where is your family?"
The old man replied, "I ... alone."
That surnamed Wang took out a copper plate, waved it in front of the old man, his voice eased a bit: "I am the right supervisor of the Chen general Wang Shanke, responsible for the emperor's forbidden palace guards. Today, I went to the riverside on official business, and landed here at night, and at this time, my stomach is hungry and thirsty. Outside the door there are two big fish, you and go pack up and cook them."
The old man kowtowed, climbed up and lit the pine torch on the stove, hooked his back and went out to pack up the fish. The shadowless ghost hand to wait for him to leave, whispered: "Brother Wang, this lame old man is suspicious?" Wang Shan Ke said: "A fisherman, what is suspicious? I see that brother Qiu has not been out for many years and has become less bold."
Shadowless Ghost Hand laughed coldly: "Now that you have become a general, you don't look up to me. I think when we brothers robbed together on the Lingnan Road, brother Wang still owes me a hundred gold."
Wang Shanke laughed: "Although I became a general, how could I be as lucky as Brother Qiu? Later, you met a different person and learnt great martial arts, and your value skyrocketed, which time you did a job for less than 10,000 gold? One job is worth ten lifetimes of my salary, and you're still not satisfied? Let's say this time, you're working for the Empress of Sui, how many people in the world have this kind of skill?"
Shadowless Ghost Hand said: ''Brother Wang, aren't you also an errand boy secretly sent by the Emperor of Great Chen? If not for such a chance, you and I brothers could not have met. However, the head has not yet been obtained, so I'm afraid it's not good to deliver."
Wang Shanke said: "No no , More than twenty of my men were assigned to each cabin and set fire to the ship, the ship burned down in the centre of the river, hundreds of young and old, none of them went ashore, either burnt to death or drowned and fed to the fishes, and even the strong and healthy people were still like this, not to mention the children!"
Hearing this, Li Jing confirms that the Shadowless Ghost Hand is an assassin secretly sent by Empress Dugu. It seems that the general surnamed Wang is also a bandit with him in his early years and is now under the orders of Chen Shubao. One of them wants to kill Alone Star and the other wants to kill A yue, and they meet on the boat. The two must have failed to find their respective targets, I do not know who came up with the poisonous plan to burn the boat, at the expense of hundreds of innocent people to lose their lives, it is really a great crime! Thinking of this, Li Jing's hand trembled slightly. Xiao Meiniang at his side held his hand in her palm and pinched him. Li Jing came back to his senses and clenched his teeth to stabilise his mind.
Shadowless Ghost Hand laughed: "Brother Wang is superfluous, if you can't find anyone, you set fire to the ship, even though your face is a general, your inner self is still a robber!"
Wang Shanke was a bit annoyed: "Brother Qiu is very capable, but why don't you see any powerful tactics? There are 500 to 600 people on board, and the cabins are like a maze. I had no choice but to use this tactic, and you're here to amuse me!"
The Shadowless Ghost Hand waved his hand and said, "Brother Wang, don't be annoyed, I have no intention of amusing myself. Since I have already done it, I don't need to regret it. It's just that in our line of work, we always need to see people alive and dead in order not to be entrusted."
Wang Shanke eased his mood a bit, took out a candle from his pocket and lit it, dripping grease and sticking it on top of the stove, saying, "A huge river, not to mention a few hundred people, or even thousands of people, would have sunk the body in a short while. If brother Qiu does not feel at ease, at dawn tomorrow, brother will accompany you to visit again."
Shadowless ghost hand "hmm" a sound: "according to the river terrain, the south bank terrain high, the north bank terrain low, if there is a dead body out of the water, will first rush to the north bank shoals." Said sideways look at the wooden boat, "here is a wooden boat, tomorrow let this fisherman rowed across the river, carefully ..." words just here, suddenly shut up, side ear listening.
Just outside the wood door, there was a sound of footsteps.
Someone said aloud, "May I ask the master if I can stay the night?"
Li Jing's heart jumped into his throat when he heard the voice.
It was Han Zhong's voice.