Volume 1: This Heart's Inclination Chapter 28: The Secret of Nan Qi

  With a loud explosion, Tai Shi Lan suddenly sat up.

  The moment she sat up, she quickly opened the handcuffs on her hands with a key and grabbed the chain to lean against the carriage window.

  At this time, smoke and dust filled the air, with a hissing sound that didn't stop. Faintly visible were dark gray figures darting back and forth like lightning, appearing and disappearing on rooftops and all around.

  The people inside rushed out, and the officers and soldiers who were sleeping on the ground beside the carriage were also awakened. These people got up in a flurry, unable to see anything in the smoke, and subconsciously looked around.

  Thick smoke and fog filled the air, stinging Taishi Lan's eyes. Even with his eyes wide open, he could only see vague human silhouettes and flashes of white light that resembled lightning.

  The sword is drawn.

  The rainbow rises, and all things are stirred in the clear waves.

  The dense fog was cut through by the crisscrossing sword lights, each one shining like snow and white as frost. Each ray of light that passed through revealed a bright red, thick drop of blood, like a string of coral pendant falling down.

  Soldiers and officers fell down in batches, survivors panicked and fled to the inner courtyard for help, colliding with people rushing out of the house. In the thick fog, it was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. The people inside the house suddenly counterattacked, and another round of miserable cries and chaos erupted.

  Outside was a tumultuous hell, but Taishi Lan remained motionless, still staring intently at the carriage next door.

  The carriage and the people in it are the key.

  Her intuition told her that the assassin was there to save the people in the carriage, this is the only chance of escape!

  She suddenly lifted her head.

  Then she saw a figure.

  Lofty and slender, with large sleeves fluttering, it shoots down straight from the rooftop, looking slow but suddenly appearing in front of you. The dense fog in front of him splits open straight, and the dense fog behind him trails out a rolling grey mark. He stands in the middle, like a beautiful jade born out of the bursting smoke and clouds between heaven and earth.

  Warm and bright.

  Her figure is extremely beautiful, but her facial features are indistinct.

  Tai Shi Lan stared at him intently and saw him lightly land on the top of the neighboring carriage.

  "Who! Who!" Chang Gonggong chased out barefoot, panting and exhausted. His eyesight was good, he saw that slender shadow, "Who are you? Get down here!"

  That man stood still in the fog, smoke swirling around him, condensing but not dispersing. He seemed to be completely ignoring the eunuch, yet also seemed to be smiling slightly.

  "Defend the gate! Everyone defend the gate!" Gong Gong shouted loudly.

  That figure flashed, disappeared from the top of the carriage, and in the next instant, he had already landed on the beam of the adjacent carriage. His fingertips trembled, and the iron chain that locked the horse suddenly fell off. The fine horse let out a long whistle, raised its hooves and charged forward.

  Not towards the main gate crowded with people, but straight into the wall!

  He actually wants to drive into the wall!

  This person who looks elegant and refined at first glance is actually so bold and fierce in their actions!

  In an instant, he straightened his waist, leaned forward, and with one hand, he pushed out the surrounding wall with a palm force.

  His long hair fluttered up, his sideways shadow was elegant and vigorous, like a condensed painting.

  In an instant, Tai Shi Lan straightened his waist, turned around, and heavily smashed the bamboo car window with a fierce blow, swinging the iron chain in his hand with all his might!

  The "clank" of the iron chain rang out clearly, falling on the window crossbar of the neighboring carriage. The carriage was moving at this time, and the iron chain clattered quickly for a while before finally getting stuck in the gap under the window crossbar.

  The fine horse exerted its strength, its muscles bulging all over its body, the iron chain was pulled taut, and the chariot surged forward with tremendous force. Just as it seemed that the chariot would burst forth with the chain, Tai Shi Lan grasped the chain firmly and gave a mighty heave!

  "Bang." She burst out of the window and heavily slammed into the iron body of the carriage next door.

  A golden star burst before her eyes, her whole body aching in pain. The rolling smoke and dust rushed towards her face. The iron chain tied to her hand was rubbing against her wrist bone with intense friction, causing excruciating pain. The carriage's massive inertia made it bounce violently, making her clatter repeatedly... Tai Shi Lan gritted her teeth, grasping the iron chain tightly, refusing to let herself be flung off.

  Suddenly, the carriage was suspended in mid-air, a gust of wind blew against his face, and his heart felt as if it had flown high into the sky. Taishi Lan opened his eyes to see the horse carriage suddenly leave the ground, flying high towards the moon. The starry night sky and the clear wind under the vastness rushed into his chest in an instant.

  That moment seemed to fly towards that big white moon.

  That moment seemed to stretch out one's hand and pluck a myriad of twinkling stars.

  In an instant, it's as if this body has dissolved into the vast azure sky.

  Tai Shi Lan thought that for the rest of her life, she would never forget this moment - beside the horse carriage, suspended in mid-air, amidst pain, soaring towards the moon, encountering the most dazzling and unimaginable wonder of her life.

  "Bang." The carriage shook violently and landed, Ta Shi Lan lowered his head to find that just now, the charioteer had actually driven the horse-drawn carriage into the air, crossing over the broken wall, and throwing the pursuing soldiers behind.

  The car window was somehow already open, she flipped over, arched her waist and slipped into the carriage.

  As he landed, he let out a long sigh of relief and couldn't help but feel grateful for his good habit of working hard over the years. Otherwise, that series of movements just now would not have been executed so perfectly.

  Suddenly, her shoulder was patted by someone, and she shuddered, remembering that there was still a mysterious prisoner in the car. Turning her head, she saw a pair of scorching crazy eyes hidden in a messy hair that couldn't be discerned in color. Although dirty, it could still be seen that his face was handsome, especially his chest which was turbulent and stood in front of her, almost touching Taishi's face.

  Tai Shi was stunned, she didn't expect this repeat offender to be a woman as well.

  "Just now we flew up......" The dirty woman smiled and said to her, "......is taking us to see Qing'er." She opened her arms, made a flying gesture, and cheered, "Go see Qing'er!"

  He was originally a madman.

  So many heavily armed guards and such a sensational prisoner, all for just one madman?

  "Let's draw a picture." The madwoman pulled her down, squatting and giggling as she pointed at the carriage wall where some crude drawings were scrawled in white chalk.

  Tai Shi Lan carelessly looked at the painting, furrowed her brow, pulled open her hand, and lifted the carriage curtain to take a look. The horse-drawn carriage was galloping across the wilderness at this moment, with no pursuing soldiers in sight. A group of people appeared in the distance, circling around a riverbank and rushing towards them. The coachman suddenly leapt up and left the carriage, running forward to meet them.

  The carriage continued to gallop forward with inertia, and it should have been safe by now, but Tai Shi Lan's heart was still uneasy, her innate intuition towards danger making her unable to sit still.

  The carriage suddenly tilted, as if it had hit a stone. Tai Shi Lan leaned against the window and saw that beside him was a patch of green reeds. His eyes flashed, and he immediately bowed his head, taking advantage of the carriage's tilt to slow down, and then jumped out again.

  She jumped out and rolled down the hillside, rolling into a thicket of reeds, where the green reeds covered her figure.

  The man who was driving the carriage soon galloped back, along with the person who had come to meet him. As soon as he got back on the carriage, he seemed to realize that there were fewer people inside and immediately pulled the reins to stop the horse.

  As soon as the car stopped, the door was opened and that crazy woman rushed out immediately.

  "Qing'er! Qing'er!" She waved her hands, laughing loudly, "Mother is back! Mother has escaped! Mother will take you away now! Let's go, let's go, we don't want to stay here anymore, we don't want to be with the Emperor..."

  Her voice stopped abruptly.

  The man in a hurry stretched out his hand and gently grasped her throat.

  He stood with his back to Taishi Lan, from her angle, she only saw the long shadow of his back, a wrist extending out from under his sleeve, thin and not showing any bones, long fingers like jade.

  Tai Shi Lan held her breath.

  At this moment she finally understood, this man being kidnapped at midnight was not for saving people at all.

  Is it for forcing someone to ask about something important?

  That man seemed to ask a question of the madwoman, and the wind carried over a few scattered words: "......where is he?"

  "Quickly! Quickly!" The madwoman laughed and shouted, "Qing'er, mother is here..."

  The people who came to meet them waved their hands and several men rushed into the car. After a while, they came out shaking their heads.

  The man who was in a hurry looked up and seemed to be thinking.

  The sky gradually brightened, a thin ray of light pierced through the cloud layer, outlining his slightly raised chin, with clear and handsome lines. His scattered long hair danced with the wind and the tall grass, and his back figure was also full of elegance and charm.

  Then he seemed to sigh and reached out to stroke the madwoman's throat. With a flick of his sleeve.

  The madwoman's body went limp and rolled down, rolling all the way down the mountain slope, falling into a thicket of reeds, right next to Tai Shi Lan.

  The man didn't even glance at it and waved his hand, and several of his subordinates immediately smashed the carriage.

  This man doesn't ask for secrets and isn't in a hurry, he simply takes action to kill people, even destroying the carriage, cutting off all possibilities, quick and efficient.

  What's even more shocking is that he does these things with a calm and composed demeanor, as if they were nothing out of the ordinary.

  After doing all this, he seemed to think there was still someone in the car and made a searching gesture.

  Tai Shi's heart skipped a beat.

  That man was about to turn around, but suddenly stopped and looked back.

  On the way back, there was a rolling dust in the distance, as if the pursuing soldiers had arrived.

  He thought for a moment and ultimately did not want to linger here, beckoning with his hand, leading his subordinates to fly far away, their figures disappearing into the dawn light.

  Tai Shi Lan and others waited for a long time before slowly releasing their breath.

  A woman with a tilted head and a sideways body, her throat sank down in an eerie way, a pair of eyes that were gradually losing their luster stared at her fixedly.

  Tai Shi gazed at those eyes that had finally cleared up until death and took out the mortal needle.

  A human needle, one prick and the soul is back.

  “……I……my Qing’er……” The woman regained consciousness, and two lines of tears flowed down her face. “My child is dead……and I still have to raise the enemy’s child……Heaven……heaven……” She trembled as she searched for Tai Shi Lan's hand on the muddy ground, grasping it tightly. “I……I escaped with their treasure……haha……such a precious thing……they caught me and forced me to hand it over……haha……I won’t say……if I said Qing’er would never come back……” Her eyes grew dim, as if she was about to fall into madness again.

  Tai Shi Lan knew she had been tortured for too long and was already on her last breath, even if this person hadn't intervened today, she probably wouldn't have lived much longer anyway.

  Suddenly, her hand was in severe pain as the woman's last strength pinched her fingers, "Huar! Huar!"

  The last two sentences were shrill and shouted out with life, carrying the heat of blood and the trembling of the soul. Suddenly, the clenched fingers relaxed.

  Tai Shi remained silent for a long time, and then closed her eyes that would never be shut again.

  Not long after crossing over, she has already seen two women die in front of her. The first one left her with a mortal wound; the second one will bring what to her?

  Tai Shi Lan only felt her heart heavy as a stone, pressing down on her chest, making it hard to breathe. In this world, is the fate of the weak and women always so sorrowful?

  A loud sound of horseshoes quickly passed by on the mountain slope, presumably it was the imperial court's pursuers.

  Everyone else had left, she stood up and let out a long sigh.

  "Between the lines..."

  This woman, whether she was crazy or sober afterwards, kept muttering this sentence. What does it mean? Which sentence?

  Tai Shi walked thoughtfully up the mountain slope, where a broken carriage was scattered about. On one of the carriage boards, the white stone marks were still very clear.

  In Taishi's mind, there was also a clear flash of lightning that suddenly cut through the thick fog and illuminated the greatest secret of Southern Qi at this moment!

  Not true!

  It's in the painting!

  Digression

  If you can't understand this chapter, go back and refer to Chapter 3 "The Country's Abomination" and Chapter 4 "Rise to Power and Wealth, Die of Old Age", the answer will be self-evident.