Ties of Love, Ruan Wan

Ruan Wan, unsuspecting, immediately lay down, and a dagger flew over her head and stuck straight into the bamboo in front of her.

Lou Qianyuan rushed over and shielded Ruan Wan behind him. Liang Kun also quickly came over, forming a triangle defense with Ruan Wan and Lou Qianyuan.

Five burly men surrounded her. Thinking they had succeeded, two of the men leered at Ruan Wan, saying, "Boss, let's keep this woman. It's rare to see such a good catch."

The eldest brother spat at him, "Second and third brothers, you're both country bumpkins. You think you can sleep with every woman you see?"

Lou Qianyuan looked at the leader and said loudly, "Isn't this the gang of ten who roam the border between Xia and Chu? How did they end up at the foot of the capital of my Great Xia?"

The eldest brother squinted at Lou Qianyuan and asked, "You brat, you're quite knowledgeable, knowing us brothers. And who are you?"

Lou Qianyuan did not answer him, but continued, "Do you know that the person who hired you is Zhu You, a palace eunuch of the Chu Kingdom?"

The others probably didn't know Zhu You, but the leader knew him very well, knowing his character but never having seen his face.

The eldest brother was startled and realized something was wrong, so he sent the ninth brother to watch over him alone.

Lou Qianyuan noticed the change in his expression and immediately said, "He hired you, but in the end, you might not even get your money; it might end up in his hands instead."

The eldest brother's eyes darted around as he carefully considered Lou Qianyuan's words.

Lou Qianyuan pressed his advantage, saying, "You didn't leave one person behind to guard your escape carts and horses. You can send a signal to your companions to check whether the person guarding the incantation is dead or alive."

The eldest brother whispered something to the second and third brothers beside him. The second brother then took out a firecracker from his sleeve, lit it with a tinderbox.

A loud bang echoed in the sky, followed by a cloud of blue smoke—their unique signal.

Lou Qianyuan saw that he had reached his destination and a smug smile appeared on his lips. The boss opposite him happened to catch Lou Qianyuan's smile.

The eldest brother regretted his actions too late. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Lou Qianyuan, yelling, "You dare to play games with me? You're asking for death!"

The leader raised his knife to strike, but Lou Qianyuan hurriedly said, "Wait, didn't you just ask me who I am?"

Lou Qianyuan didn't continue speaking. Liang Kun turned around and looked at his boss, "Do you still recognize me?"

The leader recognized Liang Kun's face and was startled. He quickly took a step back. "Liang Kun, the left vanguard of the Lou family army, how come you're not dead?"

Liang Kun sneered, "I let you escape twenty years ago, but you won't escape again today."

The second brother, having gathered his men, asked, "Boss, who is this person?"

The eldest brother ignored him and laughed, "You two with a weak woman, do you think I'm afraid of you?"

Lou Qianyuan laughed, "You forgot the signal you just gave? Not only your men could see it, but my reinforcements could too."

Ruan Wan turned her head to look at Lou Qianyuan, seeing his confident and composed expression. It turned out that all those words he had just said were to trick the boss into giving a signal.

But where did they get reinforcements? Ruan Wan realized that Lou Qianyuan was bluffing him.

At this moment, the third brother spoke up, "Boss, who cares who he is? Let's finish this quickly. I don't care about this little wench either. Let's kill her, grab the money, and run."

The leader kicked him to the ground, then glared at Lou Qianyuan fiercely. "You little brat, you think you can scare me like this? You're just stalling for time."

As he spoke, the leader charged forward with his knife, and Liang Kun rushed forward to fight him. The other three men, also with knives in hand, surrounded Ruan Wan and Lou Qianyuan.

The third brother, who was lying on the ground, immediately got up to help the eldest brother.

Seeing that Liang Kun's side was being gradually suppressed and was retreating step by step, Lou Qianyuan had to guard Ruan Wan and dared not make a move.

If this continues, they will definitely be defeated one by one.

Ruan Wan said to Lou Qianyuan, "I'm running away to escape their pursuit. You go help Uncle Liang."

Before Lou Qianyuan could react, Ruan Wan dashed out.

The second brother thought Ruan Wan was trying to run away, so he said to the people around him, "Fourth brother, eighth brother, you deal with the men, I'll go after the woman."

Ruan Wan ran into the dense bamboo forest, using her slender figure to navigate smoothly through it.

The second son had it much harder; he wasn't tall but he was big, and the dense bamboo forest became an obstacle for him.

The second brother chased after him, panting, "Little lady, as long as you don't run away and submit to me, I'll take you back to be my bandit queen. You'll be dressed in gold and silver, no worse than you were with that boy."

Ruan Wan couldn't help but turn around and spit at him, "You should look in the mirror. You're old and ugly. You'll probably be in your grave in a few years."

The second son was furious. He didn't care that the bamboo was in the way and charged around recklessly with his muscular body.

Ruan Wan, however, showed no intention of running away. She stood still and waited for him, pretending to be panting heavily and unable to run.

The second brother ran while cursing. Ruan Wan seized the opportunity, released her foot, and the bamboo under her foot bounced off, hitting the second brother directly in the face.

The second son, in pain, covered his face and yelped. Ruan Wan looked at the red marks left on his dark face and couldn't help but laugh out loud before running away again.

The second son's face was red, whether from being swollen or from being slapped, and he was radiating anger. He had never been mocked like this before.

He raised his knife and began hacking at the bamboo grove. Soon, he had almost completely cleared the bamboo grove in front of him.

Just as he was about to find Ruan Wan, he stopped in his tracks. Ruan Wan was still standing there.

This time he learned his lesson and looked down at Ruan Wan's feet; sure enough, she was stepping on a bamboo stalk.

The second brother smiled and looked at Ruan Wan, "You little vixen, did you think I'd fall for your tricks a second time?"

Ruan Wan smiled and looked at him, lifting his foot right in front of him. The man easily dodged it, his eyes lecherously fixed on Ruan Wan. "If you don't resist, I might leave you with a whole corpse."

As a result, the second brother took a step forward, and a bamboo pole flew horizontally from under his feet. The second brother fell forward and a knife stood straight in front of him.

He chopped down the bamboo on both sides, and when he tried to stop, he couldn't get a break. He was stabbed through the knife, struggled a couple of times, and then died.

Ruan Wan watched from afar for a while, and the second son really didn't make a sound. Ruan Wan walked up and touched his neck, and he was completely dead.

Ruan Wan's body trembled uncontrollably. This was the first time she had killed someone, but if she didn't kill him, she would be the one to die.

After calming herself down, Ruan Wan turned back. The road was covered in blood, and the bodies of the fourth and eighth brothers lay on the road.

Ruan Wan heard no sound and hurriedly ran forward, only to encounter Lao San's corpse on the way.

Ruan Wan's heart began to panic. Could something have happened to Lou Qianyuan and Liang Kun?

Immediately afterwards, Ruan Wan heard Lou Qianyuan's voice, "Uncle Liang, don't worry about me, go save Wan'er!"

"But, young master, you're so badly injured, how can I leave?"

Lou Qianyuan leaned against a bamboo tree, clutching his abdomen, while Liang Kun was covered in knife wounds and bleeding profusely.

Ruan Wan immediately tore open her dress and stepped forward, saying, "Uncle Liang, please take care of your wound first."

Lou Qianyuan struggled to get up. "Wan'er, are you alright? Where's that second son?"

Looking at the knife wounds on Lou Qianyuan's body and the large hole in his abdomen, Ruan Wan felt a lump in her throat and tears streamed down her face.

Lou Qianyuan panicked when he saw Ruan Wan crying, and hurriedly wiped away her tears, saying, "I'm fine, this injury is nothing."

Ruan Wan ignored him, tore open his clothes, and quickly used strips of cloth to bandage the wound to stop the bleeding.

Fortunately, the knife went in only shallowly and didn't damage any internal organs, otherwise I would have died here.

Ruan Wan cried and cursed, "If you can't beat them, just run away! Why are you risking your life?"

Seeing Ruan Wan so worried and tearful for him, Lou Qianyuan smiled happily and said, "It's all my fault. I'll definitely run away next time. Don't cry."

Seeing that he was still grinning, Ruan Wan felt an urge to punch him a couple of times.

After treating their wounds, Ruan Wan asked, "Should we continue on the main road or take the mountain path?"

Lou Qianyuan looked at the town not far away and said, "We've sent out the signal for half a day, but no one has come. It's safer for us to take the mountain road."

Liang Kun added, "And the eldest brother escaped with one hand cut off. The seventh brother and the tenth brother, who were on lookout duty, also escaped earlier. Most importantly, Zhu You is still in the city."

Ruan Wan nodded, "It is indeed more suitable to take the mountain path, but what about your injuries, especially in the middle of summer?"

Lou Qianyuan said, "That's alright. Let's walk slowly. You can gather some herbs along the way and give them to us first."

That's all we can do. Lou Qianyuan was in pain as soon as he left, but fortunately Liang Kun only had superficial injuries. After the bleeding stopped, he was fine, so we had to let him carry Lou Qianyuan.

Ruan Wan picked up the knife from the ground, found a thick bamboo stalk, cut off a section, and carried it with her.

Having suffered two serious injuries during this trip, Ruan Wan made up her mind that she must stay far away from Lou Qianyuan after returning to the capital.

Ruan Wan's worries came true. Lou Qianyuan started to have a fever that evening, and Liang Kun was extremely anxious, not knowing what to do.

Ruan Wan found a spot by a stream and settled down. She had Liang Kun use a damp cloth to cool Lou Qianyuan down while she went into the mountains to find usable herbs.

Ruan Wan found some herbs for external application to disinfect and stop bleeding, as well as some herbs to reduce fever. At this time, the bamboo she brought back came in handy.

Ruan Wan cut the bamboo into two sections, using one section to boil medicine and the other section to pound medicine.

Seeing Lou Qianyuan's tattered clothes covered in blood, Liang Kun said to Ruan Wan, "Young Madam, please change the young master into some clean clothes."

Ruan Wan took a look and realized that she did need to change. Wearing cleaner clothes would make her less likely to get infected.

Ruan Wan had previously helped Lou Qianyuan change clothes and wipe his body in the mountains, so there was nothing to be ashamed of.

Lou Qianyuan's body was burning hot. After Ruan Wan washed the dirt and blood off his body, she only dressed him in an outer garment.

He found a clean piece of clothing, tore it into a bandage, and applied the prepared medicine to it. Lou Qianyuan was in so much pain that cold sweat beaded on his forehead, but he didn't utter a single cry of pain.

It's likely that Liang Kun was present, because Lou Qianyuan used to complain of pain frequently back in the mountains of Liuzhou.

After taking the medicine, Lou Qianyuan fell into a deep sleep. Ruan Wan used stream water to cool him down and wiped his body.

Seeing Lou Qianyuan fall asleep, Liang Kun couldn't help but burst into tears.

Ruan Wan comforted him, "Uncle Liang, don't worry, Qian Yuan is very lucky and will definitely be fine."

Liang Kun said, “Our young master grew up alone in the capital. His wife passed away early, and the Marquis is stationed on the frontier all year round, not returning for several years at a time. Our eldest son died on the battlefield. The Lou family only has this one son left. If anything were to happen to our young master, I would have no face to face our ancestors.”

Seeing that Liang Kun was about to break down, Ruan Wan said, "Uncle Liang, could you tell me about Qian Yuan's childhood? I didn't grow up in the capital and know nothing about Qian Yuan's childhood."

Liang Kun then stopped crying and said, "Young Master was raised by the eldest son until he was eight years old. Since the eldest son joined the army at the age of fourteen, Young Master has been with the old steward. Although the Empress is taking care of him in the capital, he cannot live in the palace for long."

Speaking of this, Ruan Wan thought of Xia Changfeng, and then glanced at Lou Qianyuan lying down. They really were cousins, and the way they were injured was similar.

Liang Kun continued, "Under the guidance of the eldest young master, the young master was originally very composed. However, since the eldest young master went to the battlefield, the young master has had to handle all the social interactions in the capital, and his personality has become more lively."