You Are My String Of Fate

2.12 || Virtuous To One's Husband

Hou Feihong must have bribed the border patrol, the riders did not have any difficulty getting out of Liulin town. The group urged their horses to run for about six to seven hours, before the leader signaled for everyone to stop.

Madame Hou's and Auntie Hou's faces were practically bloodless, and their personal maids were already weeping silent tears. Fatigue was also etched on the two oldest couple, but Liu Qirong respected them more than ever. They had not voiced the tiniest words of complaint.

The Old Patriarch looked at her, his lips were pulled slightly. This was the first time Liu Qirong saw him smiling, causing her to be more dumbstruck. The old man seemed to know what she was thinking before, "This is nothing. When I was young, I've ridden non stop for two days and three nights. In the end, we had to push our horses off the cliffs to divert our pursuers. Your grandmother here is no pushover either. When the capital was besieged, she dispatched a small number of our trusted people to look for me."

The drooping eyes were full of melancholy, "My son is also outstanding. But the heaven was not on his side, he had to perish in war."

The sky had started to set in the horizon, and no other sound was heard apart from the chirping of summer night insects. The bleakness and uncertainty of the situation made everyone to be silent, each to their own thought. Canopy of trees provided a somewhat cool respite against the hot balmy evening.

All the black-clothed men were still hiding their faces, causing Liu Qirong to feel uneasy. If they were really Hou Feihong's men, then shouldn't it be alright for them to show their real faces now they were out of town?

If there was anything tens of lifetimes and deaths had given her, it was her gut instinct. She knew Hou Feihong was not as gentle or kind as he portrayed to be, but that was a given. What kind of a war General is a kind person?

"Sir, may I know where or when I can meet my Lord Husband?" Liu Qirong feigned a bit of restlessness in her voice, as she addressed the person who had introduced himself as the leader of the black-clothed men. She was comforted in the fact that at least, Anluo seemed to be in the group for the sole purpose of protecting her.

"It must be Yuzhen's doing again. But... why?"

Was a line of ['I don't dislike you'] enough for a man to go to such length for another's man wife?

The man replied courteously, "It's above my order to disclose our course. Not even my men know." He had begun to respect this young woman, who had shown courage for the past few hours while the other women were scared into tears.

Truth be told, he was worried as well. The latest message from his superior told him to wait around this vicinity for further instruction. This was the norm, a rescue escort was usually broken into several chains, to avoid any leak of information. He had not received his order directly from Prince Hou, he was too low in the military ladder for that. But the order he received definitely bore the Prince's military seal.

And at the moment, it was already past the agreed time.

Just when Liu Qirong was about to ask another question, a female's scream broke through. All the men immediately took their blades out and circled Liu Qirong and others. Madame Hou's face paled as she stuttered, "Tha... th-that's... Yanyu's voice. S-she wanted to go to the toilet." Yanyu was her personal maid.

As soon as she finished talking, a few men immediately jumped into view, their presence previously masked behind the darkness of the night. The light provided by the sole moon was already insufficient, as the men were against creating some fire. 

As soon as he saw the newly-appearing men, the leader of their group seemed to want to say something, but the new group of men immediately sprinted with blades in their hand. Soon, both groups were embroiled in a fight.