My Cold-Hearted Wife Chapter 40

As soon as Guard Qian fell from his horse while dodging an arrow, Cheng Danruo knew she was in danger.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced behind her and saw that one of the bandits had already been gravely wounded and was bleeding without stop, one was entangled in a struggle with Guard Qian, and the remaining one was following closely behind her horse.

He tried several times to shoot an arrow, but gave up each time in the end – the horse’s running path was too strange, veering left one moment and right the next, making it truly difficult to aim.

However, this was not because Cheng Danruo was highly skilled at riding. On the contrary, it was precisely because she did not know how to ride that the horse was extremely uncomfortable and kept adjusting its position, trying to throw the person on its back off.

Animals do not lie.

Lying on its back, Cheng Danruo directly felt the horse’s agitation.

It bolted wildly, completely disregarding what was in front of it, and every huge jolt seemed as if it would fling her off. She had no choice but to hug the horse’s neck tightly to avoid falling.

This made the horse even more uncomfortable.

It expended more physical strength, and naturally its galloping speed slowed accordingly.

The sound of hooves behind her grew closer and closer.

An arrow flew over, grazing the horse’s rump.

The horse was startled and reared up with a long neigh.

Cheng Danruo’s body fell backward, and she clung desperately to the saddle so as not to fall off

In that instant, she heard the footsteps of death.

I am going to die.

Sorrowfully, she thought, with a one-in-four chance, did I lose the bet?

Perhaps staying behind with Zi Su and hiding in the inn would have been safer; perhaps staying with Yan Hongzhi and letting the guards protect them to the end would have been safer; perhaps taking the eastern route just now would have been safer.

Why did I have to take this gamble?

Because I am unwilling to accept it. She clenched her teeth, and waves of resentment surged in her chest.

Wealth and honor are sought in danger.

If she could survive this calamity, then with today’s help to Yan Hongzhi, she could obtain an independent household registration and, even more, with the help of the Yan family’s reputation, secure a place in the capital.

She wanted to live like a human being, so despite being equally terrified, she was willing to risk everything and take this gamble.

Yet… had she lost?

Heaven truly had never favored me. Why is it so hard for me to live? Cheng Danruo felt despair, yet still forced herself to hold on with her last breath, refusing to let go of the saddle.

Even if struck by an arrow, she might not necessarily die. A hostage alive is more valuable than one dead.

At most, she would only be injured. I have not lost.

She desperately tried to convince herself, and somehow found the strength to draw the dagger hidden in her sleeve. In the instant she thrust it down, hesitation flashed through her mind: can this really work? Although television portrays it this way, a car accident would not make a person spin one hundred and eighty degrees in midair before landing.

However, there was no time to think much, and she could still only take the gamble.

The tip of the blade stabbed into the horse’s rump.

The exhausted horse suddenly felt sharp pain and truly sped up.

Panicking and desperate, it ran without choosing a path, and saw a fence appear ahead. It was made of wood, generally placed on both sides of the street, and closed at curfew to block the road. It was about half a person’s height – the common people in the city were no fools either. When they heard the pirates had invaded, everyone returned to their own homes, but they did not forget to block the roads and guard against the enemy’s advance.

In addition, since this place could be considered the center of the county town, it was unknown which quick-witted local militia member had wrapped spearheads onto the top and turned it into a cheval de frise. The weapons gleamed coldly, and the horse was afraid at the sight of them, not daring to jump, and hurriedly rushed toward the road on the other side.

But not long after it turned, dust suddenly billowed at the end of the road.

Someone was riding over.

Cheng Danruo looked around, suddenly pulled tight on the reins, squeezed the horse’s belly with both legs, and with great effort ordered the horse to turn. With enemies front and back, there was absolutely no way to live. Better to return to the blocked fence and, using the horse’s height, vault over to the other side of the fence. Perhaps there was a slim chance of survival.

“Go.” She patted the horse’s neck. Her hormones were secreting madly, her whole body hot and sweating, yet shuddering again and again.

The horse’s hooves beat urgently. The pirate who had originally been trailing behind now faced her head-on, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, but the arrowhead angled downward, aimed at the horse’s body.

She had guessed right.

Cheng Danruo’s courage surged, but she discovered she could not grab the fence to use for leverage.

The horse was too far from the fence. It instinctively avoided sharp objects and did not dare approach.

Her cold sweat poured out, yet she did not know how to control the horse. The fingers gripping the reins had already gone stiff.

The bowstring was drawn fully taut.

“Miss Cheng.” Someone behind her called out, “Get down!”

Cheng Danruo was startled and hastily bent low.

Two arrows shot out face-to-face, both extremely close to Cheng Danruo. Her heartbeat stopped completely in that instant.

The arrowheads sank into flesh and blood, making a muffled sound.

The horse gave a miserable cry, and its body suddenly toppled to the side.

The pirate’s arrow had struck its chest and abdomen.

At the same time, the arrow from behind swept past and shot into the pirate’s eye socket.

The arrowhead pierced into the brain. There was not even a need to struggle; he died instantly.

However, Cheng Danruo’s crisis had not ended there.

The horse she was riding was shot dead, and its body toppled toward the fence on one side. The distance she had earlier thought too far had now become the sickle of death, ready to harvest her life.

Cheng Danruo did not want to die.

She struggled desperately to free herself from the stirrups, and with great difficulty finally got both feet out, but the horse’s weight was far greater than hers and had long since thrown off her center of gravity.

To steady herself, she needed something to use for leverage, but where could she find it? The stirrups and saddle were all strapped to the horse’s body and could provide no support at all.

She clawed wildly in the air, wanting to grab something to steady herself, but could only grasp handfuls of empty air.

The urgent hoofbeats were like sudden thunder, rapidly approaching.

Xie Xuanying came galloping over, rode close to the overturned wounded horse, then reached out and grabbed her arm.

At the critical moment of life and death, Cheng Danruo had no idea who had grabbed her, nor did she care who it was. She immediately seized this fleeting pull and struggled with all her might to extract herself.

At such a distance, with the weight of one person, unless one had innate divine strength, it would be impossible to haul a person up into the air by arm strength alone.

Xie Xuanying held his breath, exerted strength simultaneously through his waist and abdomen, and dragged the person toward himself.

Cheng Danruo only felt her body suddenly leave the ground, then rapidly fall backward.

Then, her buttocks and legs struck the saddle, and the military horse, weighing nearly five hundred kilograms, steadily caught her weight, only shifting slightly in unease.

In the next instant, the wounded horse fell to the ground, and the long spears mounted on the fence “chi chi” pierced through the horse’s body. The sharp spearheads burst out through its powerful chest and abdomen, and bright red blood slid down along the ridges of the spearheads.

The smell of rust spread out.

That was close.

Xie Xuanying secretly let out a breath. A woman’s weight was much lighter than a man’s. If it had been a man, he truly would not have been confident he could save the person.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at the person sitting in front of him.

Cheng Danruo’s face was astonishingly pale, and her lips had no trace of blood color at all. She stared fixedly at the corpse riddled with holes, without blinking, as if confirming that she herself had not died like the horse.

“Miss Cheng?” he ventured.

Startled, she came back to her senses. Her gaze was scattered, and she had to blink hard before she could see clearly who he was.

“Young Master Xie, thank you…” Before she finished speaking, she frowned sharply. She looked down and saw that the Daoist robe she wore on the outside was already stained with patches of blood.

Although her body had not been pierced into a hedgehog by the fence, earlier the horse’s body had pressed down on her. In the midst of struggling to escape, she did not know whether it was wood or a spearhead that had wounded her lower leg.

Now that the crisis had passed, the message of pain was finally transmitted to her brain, and her teeth reflexively clenched her lower lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Cheng Danruo felt at her waist. The pouch was inside the Daoist robe and was not easy to reach, so she pushed up her sleeve and untied the silk handkerchief wrapped around her arm. After a moment’s hesitation, she raised her eyes and glanced at Xie Xuanying.

He also hesitated for a moment, then swept his gaze around front and back.

No one.

So he immediately turned away, pretending to count arrows, looking as if to say, “I cannot see anything.”

Cheng Danruo did not act coy either. She at once lifted her skirt and, through the trouser leg, bound the blood vessel above the wound – at this time, women mostly wore knee trousers, that is, trouser legs, which served both for warmth and ornamentation.

She only lifted the hem of her skirt to her knees. The exposed part was still covered by the trouser legs. Although it was not elegant, it definitely had not reached the point of losing her chastity.

This was also why Xie Xuanying dared to pretend not to see.

Cheng Danruo moved very quickly. In less than half a minute, she finished bandaging and lowered her skirt.

Xie Xuanying felt greatly relieved.

He had just realized that he had still handled things improperly.

He should have dismounted.

It was only that he had just thought she seemed not to know how to ride, and so had skipped over this point. But the saddle was only so large, and with her sitting sideways in front of him, even though her movements in bending down to bandage were not large, physical contact was still unavoidable.

Of course, this kind of contact did not bring desire.

In broad daylight, both of them were covered in dust (blown up from the dirt road while riding), splattered with blood (some from the enemy, some from the horse), and also covered in cold sweat and hot sweat. Their collars were stuck to their necks. It had nothing at all to do with the warm fragrance and soft jade of a romantic story or opera, with a full embrace.

It was panic, it was helplessness, it was the tension of bristles.

Yet Xie Xuanying did not regret it.

If Cheng Danruo had just now asked to dismount, preferring to endure the pain rather than be rude, then he would have respected her as a proper and rule-abiding woman, but that would have been all.

But she accepted his kindness.

This gave him a strange sense of satisfaction, and also a subtle pleasure: he was not pedantic, and she was not coy. Whether or not they admitted it, the two of them truly had reached a tacit understanding in that moment and had entrusted each other with trust.

A thousand thoughts and feelings, all in but an instant.

As soon as she finished dealing with it, Xie Xuanying immediately dismounted.

Fortunately he was quick. At the moment he landed, a rumbling commotion came from the end of the street.

The others had caught up.

“Miss Cheng, rest assured,” he promised in a low voice.

She had not leaked a single word about the Shangsi Festival incident, so today’s matter he too would keep secret and not let her reputation be damaged.

Cheng Danruo, however, did not react in time and looked at him strangely.

But they no longer had the chance to speak alone.

The lead guard pulled tight on the reins and stopped his horse to report, “Young Master, Liu Zongqi sent word that all the bandits at the county office have surrendered and been taken captive. They do not wish to be our enemies.”

Xie Xuanying sneered, “They know what’s good for them.”

He saw that the dead pirate’s horse was still usable, took the reins, and swung himself onto it. “Leave one person to escort Miss Cheng back to the inn. The rest of you, follow me.”

Before returning to the county town, Xie Xuanying had already learned that both the eastern and Xiyu Village had joined the pirate camp.

Their numbers had suddenly increased greatly.

He did not change his strategy. He ordered Skinny Monkey and Liu Haiping to contact the people of the two villages and state that as long as they surrendered, those who had not followed the bandits before today would have their past offenses pardoned and would still be allowed to go back and live as law-abiding commoners.

He also produced a ruthless move: the first ten people to leave the darkness and turn to the light would be rewarded with silver ranging from about 12.5 ounces to 1.25 ounces.

One had to understand that in the wealthy Jiangnan region, one shi of rice cost about 0.625 ounces of silver, and one bolt of cloth cost roughly 1.25 to 2.5 ounces of silver. For the best farmland in Shanghai, one mu was only about 43.75 ounces of silver.

For an ordinary household, a year’s expenses were no more than 25 to 37.5 ounces.

The villages were poor, so this was no small fortune.

Many people were moved.

With only ten places and rewards decreasing in turn, most people did not have time to think much and rushed to declare that they had all been forced into it and absolutely did not want to be in league with the pirates. The wise and brilliant lord magistrate!

In this way, Liu Haiping, with twenty soldiers, without the slightest effort, made the fifty or sixty bandits guarding the county office throw down their weapons and surrender.

Next came the encirclement and suppression of Black Abacus and his group.

He could not possibly be persuaded, and Xie Xuanying would not spend effort on such a man reeking with evil.

The order was simple: “Whoever beheads the bandit leader will be rewarded with one hundred taels.”

Among the people who had come with him, the highest-ranking official was a centurion, of the proper sixth rank, with an annual salary of one hundred twenty shi of grain. Calculated by the earlier rice price of 0.625 ounces of silver, that was more than 62.5 ounces of silver.

This was annual salary!

The bonus was at least two years’ annual salary, enough to buy several mu of fine farmland in Jiangnan.

From the centurion down to the common soldiers, everyone was stirred.

Even the able-bodied men from the fishing villages, upon hearing it, were eager to try. “We are willing to perform meritorious service to atone for our crimes.”

Xie Xuanying agreed.

The city gates had already been closed. The runners who had been hiding here and there, upon hearing of the reward, also drilled out from every corner and likewise planned to get a share.

Xie Xuanying remained in the county office, waiting to catch a turtle in a jar.