Chapter 497: Chapter 479 Escape
Fengyu identified the direction and ran towards the mountain, avoiding the village. The night concealed her figure. She fainted in a cave, and when she woke up, it was already daytime. Struggling to get up, she was overcome by hunger and cold. Excessive blood loss left her freezing and her whole body in excruciating pain, almost immobilizing her. Her palms were scratched, her forehead was bruised, her shoulders and abdomen bore deep gashes. Nearly crawling, Fengyu managed to sit up and tore off part of her inner lining to bind her wounds.
"Ah..."
Though the wound on her forehead had scabbed over bleeding through the night, the injuries on her shoulders and abdomen were disturbingly deep. She couldn’t continue hiding in the cave. She needed a doctor. If she were unwounded, hiding in the mountains for three or four days might have worked, but with such severe injuries, she had to seek treatment.
Running away was nothing new to Fengyu.
It was almost like reliving her childhood, fleeing with Xiaoqi during those days. The only difference was that she had grown up now, and Xiaoqi was no longer by her side. She had to escape on her own.
"Fengyu... you can do it!" she gritted her teeth and endured the pain, "You will survive!"
Fengyu walked in the direction of the Capital City, seeking villages. She dared not go into towns. Blood from her abdomen had already stained her clothes red. Her vision blackened intermittently as she staggered forward. Even upon seeing rising smoke from chimneys ahead, Fengyu couldn’t hold out, collapsing in a wheat field.
When she woke up again, it was already deep into the night. Intense pain lingered; her body burned feverishly. Cautious, she surveyed her surroundings. She was in a stone-built house, narrower than the maid’s quarters in her mansion. It had only a bed and a table. In the corner were shelves with clay pots and farming tools. A faintly glowing oil lamp lit the interior. Beneath her was a crude and hard wooden bed. Besides her wounds aching, the uneven bed tortured her back with discomfort.
As she shifted slightly, pain surged overwhelmingly. Fengyu lowered her head to observe that her hands and forehead had already been bandaged, and there was a faint herbal scent. Her abdomen and shoulders had been treated roughly as well. She took a deep breath and listened to the chirr of cicadas and occasional cries of night owls, gradually relaxing her taut nerves.
Footsteps approached, prompting Fengyu to close her eyes.
An elderly woman entered. Fengyu felt the callused hands of the woman touch her forehead. "Still burning hot. Old Song, should we go to the town and call for a doctor to check?"
"Check for what doctor? Those soldiers said there’s a fifty-tael bounty. At dawn, we’ll report to the authorities in town. Fifty taels are enough for us to live five or six years comfortably."
"I think the girl has a kind face. Injured so severely, she doesn’t look like someone inherently malicious."
Listening to the couple’s conversation, Fengyu understood that Chen Mo had already come searching through the village. Considering her strength after climbing ashore, she wouldn’t have made it far. That’s why she hid in the mountains for a day and night. Chen Mo wasn’t poisoned, and when the poison in the Jinyi Guards was resolved, they would definitely descend the cliff to search for her. This village was close to the cliff. Severely injured and slow-moving, Fengyu could only gamble that Chen Mo and his men had finished scouring the village.
Moreover, this was in the direction of the Capital City — the opposite direction of West State and Ningzhou. The most dangerous place became the safest place.
If Chen Mo wanted to find her, he’d certainly enforce the lockdown on cities towards Ningzhou and West State instead.
"That group of soldiers searching for a young girl like her, what terrible crime could she have committed?"
"Don’t worry about it. The silver is what matters. We’ve never saved fifty taels all our life."
...
Fengyu had made up her mind. She purposefully coughed, drawing the couple’s attention from outside the room. Soon, a plainly dressed middle-aged woman entered. She looked around forty years old, with a face worn by years of hardship and toil. Seeing Fengyu awake, she hurriedly pressed her back down and asked about her injuries with concern.
Pretending to be pitiful and delicate came naturally to Fengyu; almost no one could resist. She lied and claimed to be a merchant family’s eldest daughter who had fallen for a poor scholar. The two were deeply in love, but her parents wanted her to marry a nobleman as his concubine. The nobleman was old enough to be her father, with children older than her. So, she planned to elope with the scholar, only for the noble’s men to chase them down and kill her beloved before her eyes. Not willing to be taken back to marry, she gritted her teeth and jumped off a cliff, her life narrowly saved by kind strangers.
This story was something Fengyu had heard several times before. It was the creation of a sentimental scholar from West State, who had been harshly criticized by the locals for writing melodramatic romances between ladies and scholars. The locals found the premise ridiculous, wondering why a noble lady would consort with a poor scholar, dismissing it as an unrealistic fantasy. The scholar had been shamed into leaving West State after living there for less than six months.
Qiuxiang used to read the story with great relish until Chunlu pointed out the insidious undertones. Qiuxiang had angrily ripped the book to shreds. Many people had commented that the story mirrored Xie Xun and Fengyu’s dynamic, with its tragic ending especially disliked by the local people. Fengyu herself had read it carefully, feeling indifferent — Xie Xun was nothing like a poor scholar.
Now, this tale was perfect to use, spoken with tragic beauty and paired with her vulnerable demeanor, making her believable. Fengyu took off her pair of earrings and placed them in the woman’s hand. "Auntie, these are my most valuable possessions. In a town pawnshop, they could fetch one hundred fifty taels of silver. I have nothing more to repay your kindness, but I ask you to shelter me and not let anyone know that I’ve been seen here. I just want to find a safe place to live out my days in peace, without fear."
She deliberately emphasized the amount of one hundred fifty taels. If it came down to seeking wealth, she was far more convincing than Chen Mo.
"These... can really be pawned for one hundred fifty taels?" The woman seemed unable to believe the value of the jewelry.
"Yes, the craftsman who made these earrings was from the Imperial Palace itself, using the finest gemstones and gold. They are valued at over two hundred taels. If you go to the Su Family’s Trading House to pawn them, you’ll easily get one hundred fifty taels." Fengyu naturally claimed to be the child of a merchant family and added details that others might find credible.
The woman held the earrings, enchanted by their craftsmanship. Even with little exposure to luxury, she recognized their extraordinary quality. Fengyu was in tatters, but her fabric was high-quality yunbrocade, and her skin was smooth and delicate — features nurtured exclusively in affluent families. Fengyu began to weep softly, pleading for the woman’s protection, vowing to repay her someday.
The woman quickly comforted her, sympathetic to Fengyu’s plight. Once Fengyu was settled, she went outside to discuss the matter with her husband. Fengyu dragged herself to the door to listen to their conversation.
"Are these earrings really worth one hundred fifty taels?" the husband asked.
"Look at how well-dressed the girl is. Of course, her jewelry is valuable. Look at her clothes, the high-quality fabric and intricate embroidery alone must be worth a fortune. Her lover was killed, and she’s on the verge of death herself — there’s no reason to make it worse for her. Besides, the soldiers already searched this place and left. Why should we harm a girl like that? She’s so young, even younger than Xiuxiu. You have the heart to do such a thing?"
"Those soldiers said she’s the daughter of a criminal and a fugitive. Harboring criminals is a capital offense."
"Why are you so stuck on that? The soldiers have already left, and no one knows she’s here. Once she recuperates and leaves, what does it matter who she is?"
...
Fengyu listened as they debated back and forth. It didn’t seem like they planned to betray her. The woman had a kind heart, and the man was simply motivated by money — an easier situation to handle. Fengyu touched the red coral bracelet on her wrist.
How was Xie Xun in Ningzhou?
She needed to find a way to let Xie Xun know about her whereabouts!
No, she couldn’t tell him.
The conflict in Ningzhou was at its peak. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, and if he made a mistake on the battlefield due to divided attention, she’d regret it forever.
The incident years ago, when she was startled and fell from her horse only to have her leg crushed under Dugu Jing, was still etched in her memory.
Fengyu stayed at the couple’s house for a few days. The husband couldn’t wait and brought her earrings to the town’s pawnshop, selling them for one hundred twenty taels. Overjoyed, he generously bought some medicine for Fengyu. Fengyu didn’t feel bad about losing her jewelry. These people saved her life, and she was willing to pay whatever it cost. Although the husband was greedy, his willingness to buy the medicine showed he wasn’t truly wicked. But Fengyu couldn’t stay there for long.
The jewelry being pawned might not immediately lead Chen Mo to her, but a farmer unexpectedly possessing high-value jewelry would attract curiosity and potential danger.
Fengyu packed the medicine the husband bought and asked for ten taels as travel money. Under the cover of darkness, she left the village. In front of the couple, Fengyu headed northwest, but once out of sight, she turned towards the Capital City instead.