She avoided the window and glanced outside again. Good heavens! There were dozens of soldiers standing outside, shooting arrows at her inn.
Jin Xiaoyu was furious. Damn it! There is nothing wrong with my inn! Why are you guys setting fire to it?
Setting fire without saying a word, and even done by soldiers! Were they taking advantage of me because they thought I had no one powerful backing me up?
However, the arrows came one after another fiercely, obviously forcing the people inside the inn to get out.
Jin Xiaoyu put on her clothes and pulled out another sword. She grabbed a few more pieces of silver with her in case of emergency.
The noise was so loud that all the guests in the inn came out, including those who came today, the old man and the boy.
When Little Xun saw Jin Xiaoyu, he immediately called out, “Sis!”
All the staffs at the inn came out as well.
Jin Xiaoyu nodded at Little Xun and asked the staff, “What’s going on? Why are the soldiers burning the inn for no reason?
The staffs had no clue at all.
Little Xun told Jin Xiaoyu, innocently, “We’re playing with cats and mice. Now that these cats are here to catch us, so we have to run.”
Jin Xiaoyu, “…”
So it seemed this little guy caused such a trouble for her.
A great cloud of smoke blew into the inn. Jin Xiaoyu coughed a few times before she asked with anger, “Who are you? Why are the soldiers coming after you?”
Xun Jianan stood out at this moment and apologized to Jin Xiaoyu, “Young lady, to be honest, they are here for me. I was a former Prime Minister, who was punished for offending the Emperor and the State Preceptor at the expense of executing my whole family. However, there were a few righteous men who believed that my life should not be taken away, so I escaped with my grandson. Who knows that I couldn’t escape their hunt even if I’m here – in the middle of nowhere!”
Prime Minister?
Jin Xiaoyu was so low-spirited a while ago that she was completely cut off with things happening in the imperial court, so she did not any affairs about the Prime Minister.
She sneered, “I’m so unlucky to be implicated. My inn is about to be burned because of you.”
“I’ll take whole responsibility. In the current situation, I don’t think I can escape. My death is not to be regretted. It’s just that my grandson…” the Prime Minister said with grief.
Jin Xiaoyu said, “Your grandson has only one life and so do others. You can’t sacrifice all of us just because you are noble, right?”
Hearing this, the Prime Minister felt even more distressed and guilty.
The few men following the Prime Minister bitterly attacked Jin Xiaoyu, “What could you know as a woman?! The Prime Mister served three emperors. He had done many good things for the people in his life. If he could get his life back, I would rather use ten of my lives to trade for his! ”
Another added, “That’s right. We volunteered to protect the Prime Minister. It’s just that we’re unlucky tonight. I didn’t expect that the soldiers would arrive so soon. Otherwise, we would rather sleep in the desert than getting you into trouble.”
When Jin Xiaoyu saw how righteous they were, she recalled how polite the grandfather and the grandson had been in the day. Perhaps they were not so bad, she wondered.
Looking at Little Xun again, he probably realized as well that the situation tonight was different. It was the first time that Jin Xiaoyu saw him look timid.
This inevitably hurt Jin Xiaoyu.
She scolded herself: Ah, this damn sympathy.
The smoke was getting thicker and the people inside the inn felt choking. If they did not go out sooner or later, they would have to die here.
Prime Minister Jin said, “I’ll go out and talk to them. I’ll ask them to let you all go. This matter was originally caused by me. You have protected me for such a long time that I’m afraid I will get your lives in danger. This young lady is right. You are all lives of your own and a son of parents. I can’t be so selfish.”
Of course the others would not allow this to happen, “It’s already in such a situation. In any case, we will have to fight with our lives. If we die, we die together; and if we live, we live together!”
Jin Xiaoyu roared impatiently, “Stop arguing! Come with me!”
Everyone looked at Jin Xiaoyu, not knowing she had other ways to save them from this situation.
Jin Xiaoyu said, “If you don’t want to die, follow me right now.”
Even though she appeared to be very angry at this moment, everyone could tell that she was actually helping them.
So everyone followed her.
Apart from them, there were also a few other guests at the inn. Jin Xiaoyu did not let these people follow. Instead, she let Idiot knock them out.
After they blacked out, Jin Xiaoyu asked Idiot, Fool and Si Sha to send all of them out.
The group of men were puzzled by Jin Xiaoyu’s actions. Jin Xiaoyu explained, “They have nothing to do with us. If we knock them out, firstly they won’t be burned to death, secondly they won’t be troubled by the soldiers, and thirdly they won’t incriminate us. Let’s go!”
Jin Xiaoyu brought them to the kitchen. It turned out that one of the hearths was the entrance to a secret underground tunnel. Only one person could get in every time, so Jin Xiaoyu let them enter one by one before she followed.
The tunnel was dark but Jin Xiaoyu was able to find the lock. Once they completely got into the tunnel, she locked it and did not let Idiot and Fool follow.
They were innocent. She did not want to implicate them. They would definitely be able to find the way out even if they did not enter the tunnel.
They walked along the dark and long tunnel for about half an hour until there was no way ahead.
Jin Xiaoyu walked across them, opened a lock and pushed open the cover above them.
With a flush of yellow sand pouring in, they could vaguely see the stars in the sky.
Jin Xiaoyu shouted, “Get out before it’s too late!”
The group climbed up again. It turned out that it was behind a small sand hill. This tunnel was dug by Jin Xiaoyu when she opened the inn. It was specifically used for escapes.
The sand hill blocked the sight so that the surrounded soldiers could not see them. They could flee in the opposite direction.
In the darkness, a few black shadows rushed to the desert not far away.
……
However, they were eventually discovered.
The soldiers surrounded the inn for a long time, but only a few people of no importance were forced to come out as the inn was about to burn down. So they interrogated Idiot and Fool about where the Prime Minister and his followers were hiding.
Idiot and Fool figured out that they had already escaped so they came clean about the tunnel.
Through encirclement, the soldiers quickly set their target on the desert, so they sent people to chase after them again.
Jin Xiaoyu and the others did not escape quickly enough, so they were discovered by the soldiers right after they ran through the desert.
The Prime Minister’s followers told Jin Xiaoyu to run away with the Prime Minister and Little Xun and they would bring up the rear.
Jin Xiaoyu did not hesitate. She was neither a relative nor a friend of the Prime Minister, for whom she even lost her inn. At this time, there was no need for her to risk her life helping them.
Jin Xiaoyu pulled Little Xun over and grabbed the Prime Minister, “Come with me!”
However, the Prime Minister pushed Jin Xiaoyu away. He gasped and said, “I‘m too weak to continue running. Miss Jin, you’re a righteous person. Can you please send Little Xun to Baoning City for me?”
“You’re not leaving?” Jin Xiaoyu asked with shock.
The situation was already worse enough. If he simply stayed as he said, wouldn’t we be escaping for nothing before this?
The Prime Minister Jin looked at Little Xun again and said to him, “Little Xun, follow this sister. Listen to her. Don’t be naughty. Once you finish this game, you will see grandpa in the future.”
Little Xun asked, “Grandpa, isn’t this game over yet?”
“It’s far from over. Just go!”
Jin Xiaoyu saw that the soldiers had already approached in front of them. In the meanwhile as she tried to resist the soldier, she dragged Little Xun towards her, “Little Xun, let’s go!”
“Grandpa…” not far away, Little Xun looked at the blazing flames shooting towards the sky. He could in fact guess what had happened.
Prime Minister Jin waved goodbye to Little Xun in the desert with a kind smile on his face.
Jin Xiaoyu dragged Little Xun into the stone tunnel in the desert and disappeared from Prime Minister Jin’s eyes.
Prime Minister Jin shouted to those people, “You guys, hurry up and leave too. Don’t worry about me anymore. It is already a blessing from heaven for me to live for so many years, and it is also a blessing from you. Your great kindness
will be paid back in my next life!”
His followers tried to persuade him, “Prime Minister Jin, we are not afraid of death. We would rather die to protect you and escort you safely to Baoning City.”
“A few of you have already sacrificed. If you sacrificed your lives as well, I won’t be able to face my people even in my afterlife. Please accept my gratitude!”
After saying that, Prime Minister Jin took out a dagger and cut his throat open with without the slightest hesitation.
Blood splashed out that shocked everyone.
The Prime Minister was not afraid of death. He had lived for so long just to protect his grandson. Now that his grandson was protected by Jin Xiaoyu, so he did not want to be the burden of others anymore.
The group of men fought against the soldiers for a while, knowing that they could not resist so many soldiers with their ability. The Prime Minister was already dead, so in any case it was impossible to save him.
They quickly retreated to the stone road behind the desert, intending to escape from there.
……
There were many paths inside the mountains in the desert, as if in a maze. Once they followed a wrong way, it would hardly be possible for them to meet again.
Jin Xiaoyu dragged Little Xun with her. She was figuring the way out based on her living experience in the desert for years.
One advantage here was that the road was too narrow for a horse to enter, so that everyone could only walk on their feet.
Jin Xiaoyu encouraged Little Xun as they walked. He had to keep up. Little Xun knew by instinct that he did not have another choice once he came in, so he could only follow Jin Xiaoyu.
The group of men originally following the Prime Minister planned to catch up with them at first. But there were too many crossroads, so they got lost eventually.
They thought that Jin Xiaoyu was not a bad person, so it was not likely that she would abandon Little Xun as long as he was alive.
So they took care of themselves.
When they reached dawn, Jin Xiaoyu finally led Little Xun out of the mountain.
She was worried that soldiers would chase after them, so she did not dare to rest. She stole a horse near the farm. Then, she put Little Xun up on the horse before getting on the horse herself.
“Sis, did you borrow this horse?” Little Xun asked on the horse.
“Of course it was borrowed.”
“When should we return it?” Little Xun asked innocently.
“When we have money.”
“Sis, grandpa said it isn’t right to steal things,” Little Xun added.
“…” Jin Xiaoyu wanted to shout at him. At a time like this, who cares if the horse was stolen or borrowed?
But somehow, she suddenly thought of someone who was as straightforward as Little Xun, telling her that lying was not the right thing to do.
She took out some silver from her pocket and threw it onto the grass. “Look, I gave the money. I bought this.”
Little Xun smiled brightly at her.
