A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

He Jinglan calmed down at this moment.

The difference was that her face showed a resolute determination to sacrifice herself for righteousness. "Xixi, don't try to comfort me now. I know what will happen if I fall into the hands of these evil people."

The two were already lying on the ground, and He Jinglan could whisper in Gu Xixi's ear by tilting her head slightly.

“The Northern Li people probably can’t understand what we’re saying. I’ll yell and pounce on him in a bit. While he’s still confused, you should run away quickly.”

Gu Xixi opened her mouth to say something, but He Jinglan reached out and pressed her lips against hers, smiling sadly, "Don't argue with me."

"Just inform my brother later."

"Also, that blockhead surnamed Meng, ask him if he's dead. If he's not, tell him I'm braver than him."

……

"Have you two finished chatting?" The man in black suddenly spoke from the bushes next door, his voice carrying a familiar impatience.

He Jinglan was taken aback, frowning as she looked at Gu Xixi. "Whose voice is that?"

Gu Xixi finally found a chance to speak, "You should know this better than I do, having grown up together."

He Jinglan gasped and suddenly turned to look at Gu Xixi's other side.

"Mu!"

Mu Nanzhao shushed him, "Shut up."

The Northern soldiers who had been outside the grassland had dismounted and were searching as they walked, their weapons shoving through the grass.

Gu Xixi and the others were closest to the Northern Li soldiers, so they lay flat on the ground, not daring to make any rash moves.

Mu Nanzhao observed the movements outside.

Gu Xixi's view was blocked, and she couldn't see anything, so she couldn't help but get anxious.

"What did you see? Are you going to leave now, or stay lying down? Say something."

Mu Nanzhao turned to look at her, not impatient, but somewhat helpless, "They haven't gone far yet, wait a little longer."

Having processed the awkwardness of the moment, He Jinglan asked, "We're already inside our country, why can't we run out and fight them?"

"The military camp is just ahead. As long as we make a commotion, the general will definitely send troops to rescue us."

Mu Nanzhao said, "If it were just our group, we could still put up a fight. But now..."

He glanced to his side and, unusually, adopted a relatively tactful approach, saying, "There are too many women who don't know martial arts, and we don't have enough manpower. The women have also scattered, and we can't protect them all."

“A real fight is a direct battle of life and death. Once there are casualties, even if Huo Jiang can bring his troops out in time and cut these Beili people into mincemeat, it will be of no use.”

He Jinglan fell silent. Indeed, she only had one life.

Gu Xixi asked, "How many of you are there? Why do I only see you?"

While remaining vigilant, Mu Nanzhao said, "About ten."

"I happened to see someone panicking and running into the grass, so I followed to see what was going on."

"I didn't expect there to be another one."

He seemed to grit his teeth and mutter to himself, "I should have called Meng Chengping along. He should take care of his own woman."

Gu Xixi didn't hear his rambling. "Did you say something?"

"It's nothing," Mu Nanzhao said calmly. "How many people came from the dependents' village?"

Gu Xixi gave the numbers.

Mu Nanzhao stared in disbelief, “What?! You!”

He looked around and lowered his voice even further, "You've emptied out the entire village of dependents?"

Gu Xixi said unhappily, "Don't use such an awful word as 'abduction'."

Mu Nanzhao was somewhat agitated, and after several attempts to find the right words, he said as calmly as possible, "Do you know who they are? They are military dependents!"

“Now that we are at war, if anything happens to them, Huo Jiang will definitely have to give their husbands an explanation.”

"Have you thought about how you, as the person in charge, will conduct yourself when the time comes?"

He Jinglan quickly protected Gu Xixi, saying, "This time, it wasn't Xixi who started it."

"It was all voluntary for Aunt Lin and everyone else, and I volunteered too!"

Gu Xixi said, "There's no need to explain for me."

“I was the one who led the group to adopt the fruit trees. If you’re talking about who started it all, then I am. If I’m ultimately found responsible and have to plead guilty and pay with my life, I will never complain.”

"But those military dependents did nothing wrong. Tonight, the Northern Li people secretly launched rockets and set fire to the Pinpo fruit forest. They said that as military dependents, it was their duty to deal with the fire crisis first and then convey military intelligence."

Mu Nanzhao was slightly taken aback. "The Beili people set fire."

Gu Xixi nodded, "Aunt Lin said that there are many northwest winds in the Northwest at this time of year."

"Once a sandstorm blows, the fire will spread very quickly."

Mu Nanzhao frowned in thought.

He Jinglan said angrily, "Now you know we're here to put out a fire, right? Apologize right now!"

Gu Xixi didn't even bother to glance to the side at that moment.

"His apology is something an ordinary person like me can't accept."

"However, instead of complaining about me bringing everyone out here, shouldn't you, who are paid by the imperial court, be taking immediate action to protect the military families? Isn't that something you should be thinking about?"

By this time, no footsteps could be heard outside the meadow.

Mu Nanzhao's eyes were like those of a hawk, fixed on a certain direction, and he said in a deep voice, "Now."

"run!"

He Jinglan was still bewildered when she saw Mu Nanzhao and Gu Xixi suddenly take off and run away at almost the same time.

"what?"

Fortunately, Gu Xixi held He Jinglan's hand tightly the whole time.

He Jinglan felt like a kite, forced to fly, its wings torn and disheveled by the wind.

Her legs reacted very quickly; before her mind could even process what she was thinking, her feet knew to run.

They were about to break through the tall, barren grassland.

He Jinglan asked, "Are we going out now? What are we going to do?"

Where the grass parted, several horses lay scattered about, temporarily left behind by the Northern Li people.

Mu Nanzhao grabbed the nearest reins and shouted, "Mount up!"

In the blink of an eye, he saw that Gu Xixi was moving even faster than he had said, and had already mounted a black horse.

He Jinglan reacted quickly this time, immediately climbing onto the horse that Mu Nanzhao was leading.

Mu Nanzhao, holding his soft sword, cautiously looked around and quickly instructed, "You all need to leave quickly. Once you leave this area, you'll be safe. Then go to the military camp and inform Huo Jiang."

The two looked down at Mu Nanzhao from their horses.

He Jinglan: "And what about you?"

Gu Xixi: "You're not leaving."

Mu Nanzhao said, "I'll go over there to meet them."

He suddenly stared into Gu Xixi's eyes and said, "I was too harsh with my words just now. I'm sorry."

"And all your men, I will bring them back to you one by one."

After saying that, he raised his hand and slapped the two horses!

The warhorse, in pain, galloped away.

As the night deepened, Mu Nanzhao did not see that Gu Xixi turned back to look at him as she walked away, her expression complex.

Puzzle, gratitude, or perhaps worry...

It was fashionable for noble ladies in the capital to wear men's clothing and ride horses for spring outings, so He Jinglan was also quite good at riding.

The two were on their way to seek reinforcements, so they didn't dare delay and hurried on their way.

He Jinglan shouted with delight in the wind, and then yelled, "Seriously, in all my years, I've never seen him apologize or back down to anyone. I hope I don't see the sun rise in the west tomorrow morning!"

Gu Xixi was silent for a moment, but then said, "Let's hurry up."