They had chased after her on the snowboat. Along the way, they had found two frozen corpses, both male.
Judging from the direction they had been headed, they were likely Xiao Bojian’s men, sent after Chu Lian.
If even they hadn’t been able to survive in this weather, how would a young and fragile lady like Chu Lian fare?
He Changdi refused to continue that line of thought.
Xiao Hongyu couldn’t help but try to reassure him after seeing how silent his brother had been the whole time, “Brother He, try to think positively. Since Sister-in-Law managed to escape this far, she must have found a way to survive.”
He Sanlang shot a glance at Xiao Hongyu, the complicated bitterness in his eyes speaking volumes. He couldn’t even think of his past complaints about her at this time. His only hope now was to see Chu Lian safe and sound.
Wasn’t there the saying ‘troublemakers live for thousands of years’? How could anything happen to that wicked woman?!
The snowboat glided silently over the snow-covered ground in the night. They continued travelling for what seemed like years to He Sanlang before the whole group abruptly stopped.
He Changdi finally showed some signs of life as he started and headed out of the warm pen to ask why they had stopped.
“What’s going on? Why did we stop?” Fatigue was clear in He Sanlang’s husky voice.
Li Xing quickly ran over, “Third Young Master, there’s no sign of any more tracks…”
Terror took over He Changdi for a moment.
What did they mean by no more tracks? What a bunch of useless fools!
He Changdi disregarded the objections of his subordinates and headed out to see for himself.
The scout had no choice but to lead him to where the tracks had vanished.
The hoof marks had disappeared under the snow. They couldn’t find any more tracks despite checking in every possible direction. He Changdi stood in the middle of the endless snow-covered plains. His heart felt like an icy block in his chest that had frozen over in an instant, even colder than the northern night around him.
His hands clenched into fists as the depths of his eyes turned murky. He turned to all of his subordinates around him and ordered, “Look around! Even if we have to dig up all of the ground in a radius of a hundred kilometres from here, I want to see Third Young Madam in front of me!”
He was normally a man of few words and cold expressions. His subordinates had never seen him in such a frenzy before.
Thus, they could only obey their orders.
Each of them got back onto their respective snowboats and started searching for clues in their surroundings.
He Changdi stood right at the spot where the tracks had disappeared, as if he had turned into a statue. He refused to believe that Chu Lian would have simply vanished and died out here!
At a loss for what to do, his gaze drifted over the surroundings and he noticed that his soldiers had made a campfire not too far away. About twenty metres away from the fire, there was one area that protuded out strangely…
He Changdi had simply been scanning the horizon when he had noticed the lump. He abruptly stopped moving and stared at that spot.
In the next second, he was madly sprinting out towards that lump in the ground.
When he reached that spot, he reached out into the snow with his fingers. He seemed to have touched something as his entire body trembled and he immediately knelt to the ground and started shovelling snow with his hands.
While digging, he called out for the rest as loudly as he could.
Xiao Hongyu quickly noticed his actions and led a team over, equipped with shovels.
“Dig, dig right here! But be careful!” Xiao Hongyu ordered after seeing how frenzied He Sanlang’s movements were.
The top layer of snow was quickly removed and they finally saw what was underneath: two horses! Two dead horses, to be precise.
Xiao Hongyu stopped digging in disappointment, but He Changdi noticed that the horses’ bellies had been sliced open.
His eyes lit up and he threw himself at the horses.
Xiao Hongyu thought that he had gone crazy because they had only found some dead horses. He hurriedly pulled him back and tried to persuade him in a mournful tone, “Brother He, don’t lose hope! These are just some horses, Sister-in-Law… Sister-in-Law isn’t here, stay strong!”
He Changdi pushed the brat away and let out an angry roar, “What nonsense are you saying? Your sister-in-law is right here inside the horse’s belly! Hurry up and help me pull her out!”
After Xiao Hongyu was abruptly pushed by He Changdi, he stumbled and fell into the knee-deep snow. It took him a moment to process the words before his expression turned into stunned astonishment, “What? Sister-in-Law is in the horse’s belly!? The hell are you guys waiting for?! Quick, we have to save her!”
He Changdi pulled apart the horse’s belly with his bare hands, only to discover the brothers Myeryen and Narisong curled up together within.
Even while hidden inside a horse’s belly, they hadn’t been completely shielded from the low temperatures outside. The two brothers had been sickly to start with, so they had already passed out by now.
He Changdi stared blankly at them for a second. When he finally recognised that they weren’t Chu Lian, he turned to the other horse immediately.
Xiao Hongyu was already there with his men.
Once the horse’s belly was opened, they found Chu Lian lying inside, hugging a barbarian woman.
Xiao Hongyu cried out in surprise before shouting, “Brother He, Sister-in-Law… Sister-in-Law is here!”
The moment He Sanlang had turned around, he had already seen Chu Lian lying in the middle of the horse’s belly with her eyes shut. He pushed away the people surrounding the horse like a madman before throwing himself down on the ground next to Chu Lian. His hands shook as they reached out to embrace Chu Lian, his heart in his throat. It was only when he felt the warmth of her body on his fingertips that his heart finally settled back down into his chest.
