A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

The father and son chased and fought in the woods, causing leaves to fall. Under the cold moonlight, only two black figures, moving too fast to be seen clearly, could be observed.

No one made a sound; screams were trapped in their throats. But the beating of their hearts was like a war drum, pounding against each other's eardrums, growing more and more rapid, never stopping.

Duan Yanxi was unable to seize the sword, and coupled with his leg injury, he quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.

Duan Yuanqian seized the opportunity, hooked his neck, and knocked him down into a puddle of water as he tried to escape.

Duan Yanxi struggled to kick him away, but Duan Yuanqian pressed down on his legs, raised his fists high, and punched him on the head several times. When he was on the verge of death, Duan Yuanqian pulled out the sword that had been knocked away earlier from the wet mud, shouted, and plunged the sword into his chest.

After a violent spasm, Duan Yanxi fell still, lying lifelessly in the mud, his whole body covered in wet mud, his face unrecognizable, only his two eyes staring blankly in the moonlight, as if he had died with his eyes open.

This was a fierce battle, not only physically but also psychologically.

After Duan Yuanqian stabbed out that sword, he was so exhausted that he didn't even have the strength to stand up. He collapsed to the side with a thud, letting the splashed mud and water splatter all over his face.

The cloak had fallen off during the fight, and there were several red marks on Duan Yuanqian's fair face, marks left by Duan Yanxi when he whipped him earlier.

He didn't care about being beaten or scolded, he didn't care about being indifferent, and he didn't even care about the Great Western Dynasty... What really made Duan Yuanqian want to kill him was that he found himself becoming more and more like Duan Yanxi.

His increasingly mature appearance and growing stature, including the day he fled from Chuanzhou, when he killed a guard to avoid being discovered, the blood flowing from the guard's wound excited him so much that he almost couldn't resist killing a few more unnecessary people.

What he used to hate most was Duan Yanxi's indiscriminate killing and bloodthirsty nature. But now, he was about to become the very kind of person he hated most...

Is this fate's arrangement? If so, then he should kill himself and the other before he completely becomes the second Duan Yanxi, eradicating the threat completely!

Duan Yuanqian regained some strength and got up to check Duan Yanxi's breathing. However, his fingers were trembling uncontrollably due to excessive excitement, and his fingertips were covered in wet mud, making it impossible to discern the other's breath.

He had no choice but to give up and go check the other person's wound.

The sword was indeed lodged in the left side of the chest, just below the heart. It didn't seem to be stuck very deep, but it was too dark to be sure.

Duan Yuanqian drew his sword, intending to finish the blow, but as he brought the sword down, he saw the man's eyes filled with astonishment and pain. His mind went blank for a moment, and he sheathed his sword, then stood up unsteadily.

Looking down at his former father, Duan Yuanqian felt a lump in his throat, his face wet with what looked like tears or mud.

"Don't be an emperor in your next life, really... You go first, I'll go kill your other son, and then I'll join you."

He turned around, dragging his longsword, and staggered toward the camp.

Suddenly he heard a muffled thud, and felt a numb, dull pain on the back of his head, as if something cool was flowing down his neck. His eyelids blinked heavily, and he lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Behind him, Duan Yanxi clutched his bleeding chest with one hand and gripped a rock with the other, staring at him with a sinister expression.

"How dare my son kill his father..." he cursed weakly, dropping the stone and picking up the longsword to strike Duan Yuanqian fiercely.

They stabbed him repeatedly, one sword after another, as if trying to turn him into a hornet's nest.

However, he was already very weak. He had just escaped death and it was a miracle that he was still alive and could open his eyes.

After stabbing the body more than ten times, he had to stop and catch his breath. He threw the sword away, too weak to look at the corpse, and staggered towards the camp.

Duan Yanxi thought that as long as he killed him, he wouldn't be angry about this matter. But when he was halfway there, he couldn't help but turn back and curse, "You beast! You bastard! This is retribution!"

Duan Yuanqian was naturally unable to respond. His angry shouts woke up the sleeping eunuchs and Ruolan. Everyone rushed out to check on him and, seeing him covered in blood, asked in horror, "Your Majesty, what happened?"

Duan Yanxi was embarrassed to let others know that he was being hunted down by his own son, and he didn't want them to see Duan Yuanqian's corpse, so he said:

"There are bandits here, let's get out of here quickly."

Upon hearing that there were bandits, the eunuchs quickly packed their belongings, helped Duan Yanxi onto the oxcart, and set off on horseback.

The prince was woken up in the middle of the night and cried incessantly along the way, no matter how Ruolan tried to comfort him.

Duan Yanxi was already on his deathbed, and the noise made his head throb. He was also soaking wet, and the oxcart was bumping around, so there was nowhere that suited him.

The thought that the son he had raised with his own hands had come back to kill him filled him with no affection for the son whatsoever. A surge of rage rose from the bottom of his heart. He suddenly bent down and snatched the prince away, and then... he lost his strength and fainted.

The prince slipped from his grasp and nearly fell under the wheels of a car, but fortunately Ruolan reacted quickly and pulled him back from the edge.

He was terrified and cried even harder. Ruolan held him and kept comforting him, glancing at Duan Yanxi with a hint of complaint. Seeing his pale and unconscious appearance, she prayed in her heart that he would just die like this.

Therefore, she did not disturb the eunuchs on horseback, but instead used the prince's cries to cover up the noise on the oxcart.

However, the eunuchs were concerned for Duan Yanxi, and she couldn't hide it for long. After walking several miles without hearing Duan Yanxi speak, the eunuchs turned around and were shocked. They immediately stopped to check on Duan Yanxi's injuries.

He was still breathing, but he had lost too much blood and needed to be stopped.

The group gazed into the distance along the remote and desolate mountain path, searching for a place to settle down. A faint glimmer of dawn was breaking on the horizon, weakly illuminating the wilderness. Beneath a sturdy old locust tree, a crooked bungalow stood.

The crowd was overjoyed, thinking there was a house nearby, but when they ran over, they found it was a dilapidated temple that had been abandoned for many years. The Buddha statue had long been moved away, the tattered prayer cushions on the ground were covered in dust, and spiders were crawling in the corners.

Even a dilapidated temple is still a temple; having a roof over one's head is better than sleeping in the open. The eunuchs quickly cleared a clean area, laid out straw mats, and carried Duan Yanxi over.

Someone suggested going to the town at the foot of the mountain to find a doctor, going there on horseback and returning on horseback, which would be quick.

Ruolan seized this rare opportunity and asked, "How about I go?"

"You? Can you ride a horse?"

"Yes, I've practiced before, and I can ride really fast... The fathers have been busy all night, and they must be very tired. I also want to do something. Besides..." Ruolan glanced down at his waist and said tactfully, "It's not comfortable for the fathers to ride horses, is it? Let me do it."

The eunuch blushed at her words and was truly swayed, intending to hand her the riding whip.

1 = Lao Qu said