Chapter 158: Beacon in Troubled Times 08
Long Sen had just come with the shadow guards on horseback. Hearing Xiao Lou’s words, he hurriedly turned and grabbed two fast horses.
Xiao Lou fed Yu Hanjiang some painkillers. The painkillers could only relieve minor pain while the wound on Yu Hanjiang’s back was deep to the bone, as wound as long as 40 cm crossing almost his entire back. Xiao Lou knew this medicine wouldn’t help and Yu Hanjiang’s continuous sweating showed he was enduring extremely intense pain.
Xiao Lou picked up a white cloth to help him dry the sweat on his forehead and softly asked, “Is it painful? Can you stand it?”
Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath and whispered, “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
His wound was poisonous and it was difficult for him to even stand still. Xiao Lou hurriedly reached out to hold out.
Group Leader Yu was currently seriously injured. If they were attacked, wouldn’t they be helpless due to a number of their cards being banned?
Thinking of this, Xiao Lou suddenly had an idea.
In the ancient world, many electrical appliances and modern cards were banned but there were still a few cards that could be used. For example, Li Qingzhao’s second skill ‘Who Sent the Brocade from Beyond the Clouds’ was a flying pigeon that could deliver books, letters or items to a designated teammate.
The ancient world also used pigeons to pass messages and this card could be used in ancient times without any sense of conflict. It was probably due to this reason that it wasn’t banned.
Xiao Lou immediately summoned Li Qingzhao, picked up a paper on the table and wrote on it, “Old Han was attacked. I want to summon everyone to meet at the medicine house in the northern valley outside of Jiangzhou. From Yunxiao.”
In addition, he tied a Qin Guan card to the pigeon. He let the pigeon out of the window and designated the target, Shao Qingge.
Li Qingzhao’s flying pigeon had a feature. As long as the target was locked, the pigeon could send the letter no matter the location of the target and it wouldn’t be intercepted halfway. There would be a prompt for ‘information delivery’ and even a sleeping person would be woken up.
He sent a message to Chief Shao because Chief Shao could go to the Fragrant Sky House to find Ye Qi and he also knew Old Mo’s residence. By asking Shao Qingge to call these two people over, they could be some help if there was danger.
The group of shadow guards could also be brought by Long Sen to be used when necessary but they were all masked and Xiao Lou wasn’t assured. If there were any spies then it would be troublesome. Their teammates were more reliable. In addition, it was necessary for the teammates to meet and analyze clues in detail before the case actually happened.
After arranging all of this, Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang out to the yard.
Long Sen had readied the fast horses and the two of them helped Yu Hanjiang onto one. In order to prevent him from falling, Xiao Lou got up on the horse behind Yu Hanjiang, arms gently around this person’s waist as he grabbed onto the reins.
This was the first time Xiao Lou was riding a horse but the physical memories of this world made him quickly adapt to horseback. He pulled the reins and gave a soft cry. “Go!”
The black horse heard the order and immediately started running. On the late night streets, the horseshoes made a clear ‘clacking’ sound on the stone road. Xiao Lou and Long Sen rode the horses and rushed out of Jiangzhou as quickly as possible.
Yu Hanjiang was confused and could only notice the refreshing smell of Xiao Lou’s body. He leaned against Xiao Lou and closed his eyes. He believed that Xiao Lou would be able to help him escape. He had never trusted a person so much.
The severe pain and high fever made Yu Hanjiang’s consciousness become more and more blurred. It wasn’t long before he passed out. Xiao Lou noticed that Yu Hanjiang was unconscious and his expression changed. He immediately accelerated the speed of the horse.
The two horses galloped like the wind and left Jiangzhou in an instant, advancing down a winding road outside the city toward a valley. Xiao Lou found the medicine house based on his memories.
It was around 5 in the morning and the entire medicine house was very quiet. The thatched house was dark and it was obviously their owner was sleeping. Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang down from the horse and had Long Sen knock on the door.
Long Sen was so anxious that he almost smashed the wooden door. “Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu, are you in? Open the door!”
The man’s anxious voice echoed in the valley and the birds on the trees flew up in shock. The house was soon lit up with candlelight and a moment later, a young girl in a dark green robe opened the door, her expression indifferent. It was indeed Liu Qiao. After seeing Long Sen, her eyes widened. “Brother Long, what’s going on?”
Immediately after, Xiao Lou in female clothing helped Yu Hanjiang come over.
Liu Qiao wasn’t surprised by Xiao Lou wearing female clothing. In the plot setting, she was the medicine processing child adopted by Xiao Lou’s mother. She knew the entire process of Yu Hanjiang pursuing Xiao Lou and even participated in their wedding.
The dreams of the last two days told her everything about the past. Seeing Xiao Lou in female clothing, she was the only teammate without a wide mouth. Instead, she calmly said, “Come in quickly.”
Everyone helped Yu Hanjiang enter the house. Liu Qiao closed the door and asked softly, “Yu daren is injured?”
Xiao Lou helped Yu Hanjiang to the bed and leaned against the bedside, watching Liu Qiao calmly. “He wasn’t only injured but also poisoned. Someone was sent to assassinate the prefectural magistrate and coated the sword with poison. The assassin said it was the Broken Soul Do you know this poison?”
“Broken Soul?” Liu Qiao immediately walked over. “Let me see the wound.”
Xiao Lou had Yu Hanjiang lie on the bed and lifted his clothes. He unwrapped the white cloth and saw that the 40cm wound on Yu Hanjiang’s back had started to fester and pus. Large areas of the surrounding skin had become blue and black.
Xiao Lou had seen many terrible wounds as a forensic doctor but this wound was on Yu Hanjiang’s body. His heart couldn’t bear the stinging pain and he clenched his fists to try and keep himself calm.
Long Sen cursed. “Fuck! This poison is too terrible! Xiao Liu, can you take care of it?”
Liu Qiao took out a medicine book. “The book left to me by my master did mention Broken Soul. I can match the antidote.”
Xiao Lou asked, “Do you have all the medicinal materials here? I can buy them if you are missing anything.”
“Rest assured, there are all types of rare herbs here to make the medicine. Wait a minute, I’ll go and make it.”
She turned to the pharmacy next door, grabbed a scale and picked the ingredients for the medicine as the book documented.
She was able to distinguish all these herbs, showing that Liu Qiao hadn’t been idle in the last two days. After accepting the status of medicine child, she immediately studied the book her master left to her and wrote down the name and location of medicinal herbs.
Xiao Lou finally sighed with relief, thinking it was fortunately that Xiao Liu hadn’t dropped the chain at the critical moment. This girl was a student of Chinese medicine in reality and she was clever and calm when things went wrong. Adding her to the team after 4 of Spades was the right decision.
Liu Qiao quickly prepared the medicine according to the prescription and brewed it for a while over a gentle heat. She drained the medicine residue, cooled the soup and brought it over in a large bowl, explaining, “This is an externally applied medicine that needs to be evenly spread on the wound. As for the internal medicine, I will make it now.”
Xiao Lou nodded. “Okay, give it to me.”
He took the medicine bowl from Liu Qiao, grabbed a clean brushed and dipped it in before carefully applying it to the wound on Yu Hanjiang’s back. This was the basic skill of medical students but Xiao Lou found his hands were shaking uncontrollably. The wound was too terrible. The flesh was open and the ribs could almost be seen.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath, steadied his fingers and slowly helped Yu Hanjiang apply the medicine.
Long Sen could only stand by and watch. He found that Professor Xiao had sweat on his forehead and his expression was extremely serious.
The person who was always gentle and smiling was unusually pale at this time and his expression was ugly like he wanted to kill someone.
Long Sen didn’t dare to disturb him and went to see Liu Qiao.
Moments later, Liu Qiao refined the medicine for internal use. Xiao Lou carefully applied medicine to the entire wound and broke up the pills that Liu Qiao brought, assisting Yu Hanjiang in taking them.
Yu Hanjiang still didn’t respond and Xiao Lou was worried. “When will he woke up?”
Liu Qiao replied, “He should be okay after an hour.”
Xiao Lou nodded and gazed at Yu Hanjiang with eyes full of heartache. “I will stay here to guard him.”
Long Sen and Liu Qiao glanced at each other and didn’t dare speak.
Just then, there was the sound of a sharp arrow breaking the air and an arrow was shot through the window, hitting a pillar inside the house. Xiao Lou’s expression changed. “They should be the assassins targeting us.”
After the first sharp arrow, countless arrows were fired like a rainstorm, surrounding the entire medicine house!
The rain of arrows was fired into the room and Liu Qiao quickly pulled a screen in front of everyone. “Be careful!”
There were a few sounds as the poisonous arrows were all fired into the screen.
Xiao Lou nervously clenched his fists. Yu Hanjiang was lying in bed and the most powerful member of their team was now unconscious. If they couldn’t survive this assassination then how could they face the harder Spades rooms in the future? If their force was limited then they could only win with wisdom.
Xiao Lou quickly calmed down and tried to communicate with Shao Qingge through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings. “Chief Shao, can you hear me?”
A familiar voice rang in his head. “Yes, I received the flying pigeon and I called Xiao Ye and Old Mo to head in the direction of the medicine house. What happened?”
Xiao Lou briefly explained. “Group Leader Yu was poisoned and we found Liu Qiao to help detoxify his wound. As a result, a group of assassins came to find us.”
Shao Qingge was aware of the severity of the situation and spoke immediately, “Xiao Ye’s teleportation card is still available and the three of us are travelling very quickly. We have reached the valley you mentioned. I can see many people in black shooting arrows at a thatched house. Are you in that house?!”
Xiao Lou smiled bitterly. “Yes, we are surrounded.”
Shao Qingge was silent for a moment. “What to do? Old Mo and Ye Qi’s control cards are all banned.”
Xiao Lou carefully thought about it. Currently, the displacement type cards could be used, including Long Sen’s long jump, Ye Qi’s teleportation and Liu Qiao’s light footwork card. The invisibility cloak and chameleon cards could also be used but these would only change the visual effect, not make them disappear out of thin air. There was a dense rain of arrows outside so they might still be shot into a hedgehog when going out in stealth.
His eyes swept over the arrows in the ground and his eyes suddenly lit up. “Use poison.”
Liu Qiao responded. “Yes, I have a lot of highly toxic powders here. As long as I can get out, I can handle them.”
“We should act inside and outside.” Xiao Lou ordered Shao Qingge in a shrewd manner, “Let Xiao Ye and Old Mo carry a wooden plank and come over using the teleportation card, attracting the attention of those people. On our side, we will let Liu Qiao go out in the arrow rain and poison those people.”
Shao Qingge gave Xiao Lou’s instructions to Old Mo and Mo Xuemin exclaimed emotionally, “My wooden plan is 5 metres long and two metres wide. The three of us can carry the board while moving and use it as a shield! Professor Xiao is so wonderful.”
Ye Qi wondered, “Chief Shao, do you want to copy the teleportation card? The three of us should use it separately or the operation won’t be easy.”
Shao Qingge nodded. “Old Mo will use the teleportation card to meet Liu Qiao and we’ll both cover them.”
He also passed this information to Xiao Lou and received Xiao Lou’s confirmation. “Count to three seconds and then take action!”
The people counted to three seconds in their hearts.
The people in black were probably afraid of traps inside the thatched house and didn’t enter. They only crazily fired arrows from outside. The arrows shot from all directions turned the thatched house into a hedgehog. A man in black even started a fire, trying to burn the thatched house to ashes.
The four people inside the house were forced to turn the bed over to hide under the bed.
Just then, Ye Qi and Shao Qingge suddenly lifted a wall-sized board and teleported through the crowd. The people in black firing arrows were stunned. In their view, the plant was moving in the air as fast as lightning, as if they were carried by invisible ghosts.
The scar-faced person in the lead frowned. “Fire!”
Ye Qi quickly lifted the board to the door to block the arrow rain. Old Mo’ss solid wood flooring was very wide but the other side actually set fire to the tip of the arrow. Seeing that the board was about to be burned, Ye Qi was frightened and hurriedly called to those in the house, “I’ll cover you so come out quickly!”
The next moment, Ye Qi felt a gust of wind and the faint scent of medicine.
It was the effect of the invisibility cloak. Liu Qiao was wearing the invisibility cloak and used her light footwork card to pass over the treetops and circle behind these people.
She jumped flexibly between trees and spread out her hands quickly. A green toxic fog spread all around her and in the blink of an eye, the group of people lost their weapons and fell unconscious from the poison!
Liu Qiao counted and there were 20 people. She flew back to the house and told Xiao Lou, “They are all unconscious and don’t seem like they came to you to seek revenge. I remember Master said that the enemy your father made before his death was a poison expert?”
Xiao Lou nodded. “It might be aimed at Group Leader Yu. There are a group of people who want to assassinate him.”
Ye Qi’s face was white with fright and he couldn’t help spitting out, “Fuck, is this a Hearts room or a Spades secret room? Don’t we have to solve a case? First, I have to act as a member of the brothel and then a group of killers was sent to assassinate us??”
Liu Qiao and Long Sen turned to look at him. “This is?”
Ye Qi stared at them. “It’s me!”
Shao Qingge smiled. “It is Miss Ye of the Fragrant Sky House.”
Liu Qiao, “……”
Long Sen, “……”
He was dressed in a goose yellow dress and was very lady-like. The lighting was so dark that the two people almost didn’t recognize him.
They might both be wearing female clothing but Professor Xiao was in a white robe and was gentle and elegant. It was somewhat okay to accept. Meanwhile, Ye Qi was the singer in a brothel and his style was sexy. Everyone looked at him sympathetically and Ye Qi exclaimed angrily, “What are you looking at? What if I am wearing female clothing? I don’t want to do this!”
Liu Qiao seemed indifferent. “Oh.”
Long Sen smiled and turned his head. “Well, the house is going to be burned. We should quickly get Professor Xiao and Group Leader Yu out.”
The thatched hut had caught on fire and the blazing flames lit up the dark night, filling the house with smoke.
Xiao Lou covered his mouth and nose and helped Yu Hanjiang come out with the assistance of his teammates. Then the thatched hut collapsed behind him. Seeing that no one was injured, Xiao Lou was relieved and said, “The house is burned. Let’s go to the cave over there and talk about the next plan.”