Once General Qian heard that He Sanlang had rejected his mission, his first reaction was disappointment. After a moment, his next reaction was to grin with frustration from the brat’s actions.
No matter what, He Sanlang was an upstanding man who followed his own moral compass. He hadn’t been tempted by the easy chance to gain merit and had instead chosen to save his own wife first. Great General Qian only respected him even more for that choice.
It was more human to be carried away by one’s emotions. If a man could abandon his wife and children for the sake of chasing achievement or merit, then even if he had great talent, General Qian would prefer that he simply vanish without having those talents recognised.
He Changdi personally led his men in the investigation. After half a day of searching, they finally got some leads.
He Sanlang’s tense, statue-like face finally loosened and warmed up a little.
He took the men under him who were the most skilled in martial arts and rushed all the way through the night to the place the leads pointed to.
The harsh winds were accompanied by icy snowflakes, cutting like razors and jagged stones across his face. However, He Changdi acted as if he couldn’t feel any of it and urged his mount onwards across the snow-white plains fading into twilight.
He realised that he couldn’t think of Chu Lian at all. The moment she appeared in his thoughts, it felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart. It hurt a lot.
He Changdi suddenly felt that he had turned into something beyond his control, something scary and fearsome. If anything happened to that wicked woman, even killing every single person wouldn’t be able to ease the hatred in his heart.
The mix of emotions in his chest made him uneasy. Ever since his reincarnation, he had thought that there would only be hatred left for him in this lifetime, that he would be able to remain calm and detached towards anything. However, in these mere six months, he had experienced a greater swath of emotions than he had ever felt in his previous life. And now the person who had brought all that to him was possibly in danger.
He Changdi raised the whip in his hands and directed it at his horse’s rump. He had to go faster, even faster!
He wanted to fly right to Chu Lian’s side and pull her into his embrace and comfort her.
Xiao Hongyu, Li Yue, Li Xing, and the rest of the party behind him could only grit their teeth and do their best to follow upon watching him whip his horse on faster and faster.
A hill finally came into sight before them, surrounded by darkness and the swirling snowy winds.
By the time He Changdi and his party had reached the two tents in the middle of the hill, night had fallen.
The owner of the tents had already been frightened half to death by the sudden visitors earlier that day. Now that another party brimming with a ferocious aura had come, he was overcome with misery.
He scrambled over to welcome them in a panic and tried his best to show them an accommodating smile. He raised his arm, prepared to welcome the icy-looking man in front with a proper Han salute. However, before he could, the owner was immediately pushed over onto the snow by that same handsome man.
He Changdi couldn’t wait for the man to speak. He strode forward with great urgency and quickly pulled aside the tent flap of one of the tents.
There were more than ten makeshift beds on the floor, with people of varying ages. He looked at face after face, but the woman he wanted to find wasn’t there!
A pang of disappointment flooded his chest. He quickly walked over to the other tent. His hand trembled as it reached out for the tent flap, but he finally found his determination in the next second.
The tent flap flew up and He Changdi stared into the tent.
The sight of it empty was like a dagger piercing into his chest. His heart had been emptied of all hope in the blink of an eye.
He Changdi stared at the emptiness in a daze, his mind completely blank. The sourness and bitterness in his heart was overwhelming.
Xiao Hongyu, who had followed in behind He Changdi, was a little stunned by the scene. However, he was just an observer to this and thus was able to keep his reason.
He reached out to pat He Sanlang’s shoulder and slid past Sanlang to enter the tent first. When he looked around, he quickly realised that something was not quite right.
Xiao Hongyu squatted down in a corner and felt around. His hands were immediately met with a layer of dark red earth. When he lifted his hand to his nose and took a sniff, Xiao Hongyu was met with a familiar rusty smell. Anyone who had been on a battlefield would recognise it as the smell of fresh blood.
Xiao Hongyu’s heart sank. With a grave expression, he said, “Brother He, come and take a look over here.”
He Changdi immediately strode over to Xiao Hongyu’s side. When he noticed the bloodstains in the corner of the tent, his entire body stiffened up.
His lips were pressed so tightly together that he couldn’t speak. Xiao Hongyu sighed inwardly. It looked like Brother He really cared a lot about Honoured Lady Jinyi.
“Brother He, don’t think too much for now. We’ll go and question the owner of this place. Maybe it’s someone else’s blood.”
It was at this moment that the owner of the tents was dragged inside.
After a round of questioning which revealed that Chu Lian had escaped, the cloud of despair over He Changdi finally lifted.
The owner of the tents could tell that he couldn’t afford to offend these people. He personally brought He Changdi and the rest to where he had buried the three men and one woman.
He Changdi examined the kidnappers’ clothing closely. When he found a tattoo inked in the same spot on all of the kidnappers, his brows furrowed. Now he was certain that Xiao Bojian was the one behind this incident.
As careful as Chu Lian had been, because she had left in such a rush, she had still left some traces behind.
He Changdi had brought one of the scouts skilled in reconnaissance from the northern border troops. They followed the traces and continued on their journey.
