Chapter 56

Chapter 56: "From now on, stop always thinking of others. Think of yourself too."

Could someone who’d served as an official retain no shred of loyalty to his sovereign? Qin Chongli admitted… he didn’t.

After realizing the Emperor likely knew about Jiang Wu’s male disguise all along—deliberately allowing it for years before ruthlessly tightening the net—only a sliver remained. Learning the royal family’s rotten deeds and their plan to pin everything on Jiang Wu extinguished even that, leaving only rage.

Perhaps fueled by this anger, when the chance for a "fresh start" appeared, Qin Chongli seized it more eagerly than Jiang Wu himself.

Entering Daizhou meant blades would inevitably cut through the darkness.

"Weren’t they supposed to be refugees? How are they rebels?" Qin Chongli pulled his right foot back, freshly freed by Jiang Wu, then securely grasped his grandson’s hand as planned. Only then did he voice his confusion to Du Yinsui.

Du Yinsui: "…"

Heaven knew, these rebels and refugees smelled exactly the same from afar. The rebels just had a tattered banner…

"These rebels seem useless, getting beaten down by the guards. Does this mean we can’t escape?" Chu Xiulan clutched the little one tightly, her body tense, ready to run.

"Patience. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," Du Yinsui murmured, her gaze fixed on the woods beyond the ruined temple. The night was indeed crowded—confirming her haste in finalizing their escape was worthwhile.

Of the ten guards, three lay dead, one had fled, leaving six battling a dozen rebels waving a ragged flag and shouting, "Protect the Tiger King! Kill corrupt officials! Seize the grain carts! Fill our bellies!"

Few as they were, proclaiming a "Tiger King," raising a banner, and chanting slogans made them rebels. Armed with wooden spears and kitchen knives, their gear was worse than the refugees hiding in the woods.

But rebels had their uses. Surely the "Tiger King" wasn’t among this small group? As long as some survived, they might draw more guards away, buying precious escape time.

Unlike their restraint in Old Cave Village, the guards here hacked and killed without mercy. Soon, the temple floor ran slick with blood.

As the rebels dwindled to a handful, shifting from attack to flight while guards pursued them, refugees surged from the woods.

Twenty or thirty refugees ignored the fleeing rebels and guards beyond the temple, charging instead towards the donkey carts and carriages parked outside.

The guards instantly abandoned the chase and turned back, clashing with the new threat.

"Go," Du Yinsui breathed. Those who’d shed their shackles earlier pressed against the wall, crouching low. They inched behind one collapsed Buddha statue towards another nearby fallen idol. Whispering a prayer, they scrambled over the ruined temple wall using the toppled figure.

Du Yinsui had scented refugee groups along their path all day, many radiating malice. Confirming some had altered course to follow them meant tonight would be chaotic.

Nightfall saw the guards chain prisoners to temple pillars or fixed debris—a routine that had never failed. They never imagined prisoners could pick locks, so their focus stayed entirely on the waves of rebels and refugees.

Du Yinsui had chosen their resting spot carefully: isolated from other groups, surrounded by crumbled statues, with temple wall gaps at various heights. Crucially, a heavy stone table and a wooden pillar stood ready for shackling. As night fell, the guards chained them there without relocating them.

The fire burned further off, leaving sleepers in shadow beyond its light. Every detail seemed normal, yet all were Du Yinsui’s careful design.

Including… not parking with the other carts. Claiming the late hour and need to water the donkey before shackling, she’d tethered their cart in the backyard. Though the donkey cart was nearly spent, squeezing a little more use from it was welcome.

The guards, already wearied from the earlier fight, battled the new wave of refugees fiercely. After killing nearly half, the refugees finally retreated—but damned if one carriage hadn’t been stolen in the chaos!

It wasn’t one of the two vital supply carriages; it was Xu Lv’s original one. Still, it held plenty of goods! As the carriage vanished into the woods, the guards—all bearing wounds—hesitated to pursue deeply, unsure if more refugees lurked within.

Inevitably, the guards started complaining about Tan Wang, upset over losing a skilled fighter, which made the day’s fights especially frustrating. They grumbled that Tan Wang shouldn’t have left, that they shouldn’t have entered Daizhou, and that they shouldn’t have camped there that night… When people feel powerless and angry, they need someone to blame. Amid the complaints, the guards finally returned to the broken-down temple. The strong smell of blood and the bodies on the ground made their eyelids twitch with annoyance.

They blamed the ruined temple for having so many holes in the walls that rebels could sneak in and die inside. "Get up, drag the bodies out," ordered a tall, thin guard, holding his hurt arm as he threw a few sticks into the fire that had almost died down. Then he kicked the man closest to him, who turned out to be Agu.

With his shackles off, Agu said nothing and quietly started dragging the bodies away.

Sitting not far from Agu, Wei Huiqing bit her lip hard, hugged her knees, and kept her head down, too scared to make a sound or even look up. But she wasn’t scared of the bodies or the guards. What Wei Huiqing feared was…

She worried that if the fire got brighter, she might look again at the spot where the Buddha statue had fallen, and the guards might notice something was wrong. Wei Huiqing held back her curiosity, trying not to think about the empty-looking corner she had peeked at earlier.

That evening, Chu Xiulan had come to her suddenly and handed her a thick-topped, pointy hairpin like a chopstick and a thin, sharp stone for protection. Chu Xiulan didn’t say much else, just told her it was for self-defense. But Wei Huiqing felt something wasn’t right.

When the rebels attacked that night, Wei Huiqing panicked for a while. After the guards fully took control, she calmed a bit and stopped watching the fight. Instead, she glanced quickly at where Chu Xiulan and the others were staying for the night.

After just one look, she turned away fast, too afraid to look again.

Because… she hadn’t seen anyone there. Only the fire remained, with no people around.

A strange thought started nagging at her heart, and she had to work hard to hide her shock.

Not long after the guards beat back the second wave of rebels, Wei Huiqing’s suspicion was proven right.

Since rebels had entered the temple, Zheng Yi carefully walked around checking the prisoners while Agu was dragging out the bodies.

In a group already shrunk by deaths, missing six more people was too obvious. Zheng Yi stood in front of the small fire, staring at the empty spot where even the shackles were gone. He froze for a moment before shouting for other guards to search the temple.

But by then, what could they find in that tiny, ruined temple…

They had really escaped!

Now that she could look openly at the spot, Wei Huiqing was still stunned. She hadn’t been imagining it—they were truly gone.

Watching the guards hunt around the temple like angry dogs, Wei Huiqing felt a sudden sharp pang in her heart.

Du Yinsui had invited her once, asked her to join them.

If she had said yes then, could she have escaped too? Could she have broken free from the awful cycle of being exiled and pardoned, pardoned and exiled…

Beside her, Wei Yuting choked on some water he was drinking to calm himself. He coughed softly into his hand, not daring to be loud.

The muffled coughing snapped Wei Huiqing’s mind back from her daydreams of freedom.

Oh…

She still had a father.

If she ran away, that father might be beaten to death.

The light of longing for freedom faded from Wei Huiqing’s face, leaving only a stagnant pool.

Back then, she refused to go live with Du Yinsui because of this father too.

Wei Yuting still dreamed of returning to the capital three times through her, his daughter. He wouldn’t let her go. If she lived with Du Yinsui and the others, Wei Yuting would haunt her relentlessly, and it might spread to all of them.

Wei Huiqing was saved by Du Yinsui and Jiang Wu. She couldn’t repay their kindness by bringing them trouble.

But… she truly wanted to escape.

Life was always about making choices. Sometimes you chose right, sometimes wrong, but most times you couldn’t turn back. You had to keep going, keep choosing…

Like Qin Chongli, being exiled was chosen for him by the emperor. He thought the emperor chose wrong because he chose… to be a fugitive.

The donkey, tired from a whole day, wasn’t running very fast. For Qin Chongli, a first-time fugitive with a pounding heart, desperate to step onto Jin Kingdom’s land, it felt painfully slow.

But when he glanced at the little Du girl, calm and steady, wielding her small whip confidently in the dark, moonless forest to guide the donkey around turns or forward, his heart settled a bit.

Apart from earlier mistaking rebels for refugees, the little Du girl hadn’t misjudged anything else.

Following her plan, they truly escaped.

They didn’t even need the backup plan, which might have meant fighting the guards or scattering.

Qin Chongli touched the flower pouch in his coat. He didn’t know why the little Du girl said to pat it on a tree if they scattered, but he carried it like a treasure.

Everything went smoothly. Then… finding the cannibals should go well too.

Was the little Du girl a fortune-teller or an all-knowing spirit? Qin Chongli wondered secretly.

Just then, the donkey cart stopped, startling him. He guiltily looked at the little Du girl who had pulled the reins.

Had she heard his inner thoughts?

"They aren’t chasing us. They probably won’t come before Tan Wang returns," Du Yinsui guided the donkey into the bushes. "No beasts or people are nearby. Stay quiet and don’t move. We’re going back once and will return quickly."

This spot wasn’t beyond the midpoint of Du Yinsui’s smell range. Going back, even if trouble brewed farther off, they could return in time.

"You’re going back?" Chu Xiulan gasped.

"Yes. Very fast, don’t fear," Du Yinsui soothed.

In the pitch-black woods, not fearing was hard.

"I… it doesn’t have to be today. Later…" Jiang Wu recalled Du Yinsui’s promise but didn’t know her exact plans. Though eager for revenge, he wavered about leaving them.

"Trust me. Stay silent and still. Nothing will happen." Du Yinsui held Jiang Wu, then said plainly to Qin Chongli and Chu Xiulan, "I’m going to kill Liu Yaozu. Only by killing him can we start fresh."

She said "we," but it was really for Jiang Wu.

Hearing this, Chu Xiulan, who had been trembling, stopped shaking.

"Go quick, come back safe. Be careful," Chu Xiulan straightened and patted Jiang Wu. "With Miss Du, don’t push yourself if trouble hits."

"We have the flower pouch. Don’t fret over us; if trouble comes, we’ll run," Qin Chongli added. "But you two, safety first. Stay safe, and chances will come."

Du Yinsui stayed silent.

Fine, but really, nothing would happen!

"Let’s go," Du Yinsui tugged Jiang Wu. Seeing him hesitate, she added, "From now on, don’t always think of others. Think of yourself too."

Killing this man would let the past fade a little.

Du Yinsui didn’t want Jiang Wu stuck in old pain. Liu Yaozu had to die.

She couldn’t take an empty shell while his heart lingered with Liu Yaozu.