Volume Two: An Abundance of Blossoms Always Feels Lonely
Trapped in Danger
You want me to leave, and I will just leave? Don’t think you can shake me off.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like thunder on flat ground, which shocked the whole valley and broke the silence between the two of them. The entire house began to shake. Qin Junlan hurriedly supported Liu Qianxun, tightly holding her hand, “Quickly, let’s go!”
How could it explode so early? Even if Li Yue’s signal is fast, it shouldn’t be able to detonate now.
In the mountains, the firelight shines up to the sky, with sparks spreading into a red sea at lightning speed. The fire’s glow lights up the dark sky, with the sound of flames howling in the night wind, as if a fierce beast wanting to devour the entire forest.
“Master, quickly go!” Li Yue rushed over, and not far away, another explosion occurred, causing the entire ground to shake slightly.
“What is going on? How can there be such a big fire?”
“It is someone setting the fire. When I came out, I saw the firelight starting, spreading quickly from behind the house. I suspect that someone secretly laid a fire-starting rope from the beginning.”
People in the mountains were running wildly, busy escaping for their lives. Qin Junlan saw these people were disorganized, lacking any calmness and courage to deal with special situations, instead panicking into chaos. This is certainly not a regular army; they are bandits recruited later to the mountain, so could those people be their families?
The original plan was to ignite explosives to cause chaos, not to harm people on a large scale. However, this fire and explosion are absolutely not part of her arrangement. Could it be Yun Yao, activating some mechanism in the mountain to destroy it?
“Master, quickly go, the fire is too fierce, this subordinate found a secret passage to go down the mountain.” Xiao Yi hurriedly came over. After these two days of exploring the mountain, he had already figured out the mountain’s dangerous terrain and major obstacles.
He opened the road in front, while Li Yue guarded Qin Junlan’s side. Rolling stones continued, and the flames, driven by the wind, surged into a fire dragon. Luckily, the secret passage entrance was not yet affected. It was the place where Yun Yao led Qin Junlan to inspect the silver taels. The iron door’s two giant bronze locks were easily chopped off by Xiao Yi.
Following the route he explored, the four of them stepped forward, occasionally able to hear the deafening sound of mud and stone rolling down the mountain. Bypassing the treasury, Qin Junlan saw that the silver inside was already gone. The transfer speed was so fast, showing that the timing of the evacuation was just right for her to catch up.
“Boom~” A violent explosion sound erupted, and the secret passage tottered, with mud and stones above beginning to fall slowly. Li Yue instinctively wanted to use her hands to protect Qin Junlan, but saw her waving her hand to shield Liu Qianxun’s head, fearing the mud and stones might slip and hit her.
Suddenly, a huge stone rolled down, and Liu Qianxun, with sharp eyes and quick hands, without hesitation, pulled Qin Junlan over, “Yan’er, be careful!” Qin Junlan stumbled and fell into Liu Qianxun’s embrace, and this moment of warmth seemed frozen. For the first time, Qin Junlan felt a sense of being cared for from the heart.
This feeling was different from being protected by guards or supported by officials. It was warmth and care bursting from the heart, the concern overflowing into the strength of an embrace. So-called sharing weal and woe, just like this.
“Master, are you alright?” Li Yue was greatly surprised, realizing she was not as quick to react as Liu Qianxun, nearly allowing harm to come to the master. With her fright not yet settled, she had no time to blame herself and could only maintain higher vigilance.
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“No problem, you all take care of your own safety.” Had Qin Junlan’s eyes ever shown fear? Just like when she first ascended the throne, unafraid of the officials’ difficulties, unfazed by the princes’ threats, she resolutely and decisively used her political achievements to silence public gossip.
Halfway through the journey, seeing a nearly collapsing furnace, Qin Junlan stopped. Inside the furnace, some silver pieces remained, and a few silver ingots were left hurriedly on the ground.
“Master, it’s official silver!” Li Yue picked up one. The ground began to shake again and was about to collapse, “Take it, quickly go!”
In the face of life and death, they never thought they would encounter such a dangerous situation, binding their lives together. Just as they were about to reach the exit and safely escape danger, Qin Junlan suddenly heard the sound of a child crying. She stopped, thinking it was her imagination.
“Hold on~” Qin Junlan listened intently. Liu Qianxun also heard it, confirming there was indeed a child’s crying sound. Turning her head to look carefully, she was surprised to see a four or five-year-old girl curled up in a corner, crying.
Qin Junlan rushed over and immediately held the child. Just as she stood up, a huge stone fell from above.
“There, there, don’t be afraid, little sister. Why are you alone here? Where are your parents?” Qin Junlan gently stroked the child’s back, wanting to ease the fear and worry in her eyes. The child’s face was dusty, with tears mingling with rock dust, congealed on her face.
“Wuwuwu, mother went to find father, hasn’t come back yet~” The girl, frightened, curled up in Qin Junlan’s embrace, feeling much more at ease.
“How can there be common people here??” Qin Junlan immediately handed the girl to Liu Qianxun, instructing: “Xiao Yi, escort Xun’er and the child out. I will go back to see if there are other common people.”
Liu Qianxun quickly grabbed her and stopped her, “You can’t. The way back might already be blocked, and if you return, the secret passage might also collapse!”
“If there are old, weak, women, and children in the mountain, how can I abandon and ignore them! Xun’er, listen to me, go out with Xiao Yi first, and I will follow shortly.” Qin Junlan turned around and went back. Li Yue did not say more, as whatever the master says is what goes. Initially thinking it was only an irregular army, now even the families are in the mountain, Qin Junlan cannot ignore this.
“You take the child out!” Liu Qianxun also, without saying much, handed the child to Xiao Yi and followed along.
“Master, Miss Liu, I…” Xiao Yi, holding the child, helplessly watched the three of them run toward danger again. He looked at the child in his arms and could only obey orders and go down the mountain first.
Liu Qianxun, no matter what, would not abandon Qin Junlan and leave alone. She rushed to Qin Junlan’s side, feigning anger, “Trying to shake me off, it’s not that easy.”
Qin Junlan did not say more, simply taking her hand, interlocking their fingers, feeling more determined. No matter what, they must lead her and the other common people out of here.
In the crisis-ridden passage, stones sometimes rolled down, and the way back was already partly obstructed. Crossing stone piles and passing mudflows, the three of them finally exited the cave, but in the blink of an eye, the entire cave had collapsed, burying the only escape route.
“Yan’er, do you see over there?” Liu Qianxun’s dark pupils, with light and shadow condensed into starlight, furrowed into a cold sharpness, light as water, thin as cold frost yet without ripples. Such danger and desperation seemed to have no impact on her.
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The mountain fire roared, and the explosions were nonstop. Corpses gradually appeared on the ground, with wails and screams continuously reaching their ears. Qin Junlan rushed into the chaos, regardless of her own safety, and in that moment of crisis, saved an old man trapped under a tree.
“Old man, don’t run around, just stay here!” she said, then rushed over again to pick up the old man’s grandson and place him beside the old man. “Li Yue, watch over them and gather the people together.”
With her meager strength, how could she gather these scattered people? Now facing potential mountain destruction and human death, these people were panicked and chaotic, completely without a backbone. She had to find the leader of this group to possibly escape the crisis. She quickly scanned the surroundings, searching where her eyes could reach for that possibly existing person, as sweat flowed down from her forehead.
She has always remained calm in challenging situations, but saying she wasn’t nervous would be false. With so many lives at stake, including Liu Qianxun who traveled south with her, bearing the responsibility for everyone’s life and death, how could she panic?
Liu Qianxun had never seen Qin Junlan like this, strongly suppressing anxiety and unease, yet still calmly facing the current danger. She does not understand why Qin Junlan, being an emperor, would not first think of her own safety, but instead, focus on settling these unrelated people. Moreover, these are subordinate soldiers of a rebel army, originally unforgivable, and that Yun Yao has already escaped, so why care about these people’s lives?
Human lives have always been divided into noble and humble, just as there are masters and servants within the palace. She is the supreme ruler, her safety concerns the world’s people, so why invest so deeply? Liu Qianxun does not understand the way of being a ruler; if the commoners are gone, where is the world?
Liu Qianxun does not fear such danger. For her, it is easy to escape from here even with just her Qinggong, as long as the whole mountain isn’t burning. In this crisis, she and Qin Junlan share hardships, which perhaps could also promote their relationship, slowly allowing her to lower her guard.
But she never thought, many things happen merely because bodily instincts are at play; without feelings, how can there be mutual protection?
Watching Qin Junlan repeatedly risk herself to save unrelated people, Liu Qianxun finally couldn’t help but take action. She struck out with a powerful palm, deflecting the tree trunk that was about to hit a woman.
“Are you okay?” She helped the woman up, maintaining her usual slight coldness, but the woman was tearfully grateful, “Thank you, young master, for saving me. This place is dangerous, you should leave quickly, don’t let us burden you.”
The woman, even at this moment, was concerned about her safety. It turns out the world isn’t so cold and indifferent, and people aren’t completely unrelated. A string in her heart was gently touched.
“Don’t worry about me, go to that young master over there, and later we’ll go down the mountain together.” Liu Qianxun gently pressed the woman’s shoulder. She gratefully looked at this person with a delicate face yet a slight chill, feeling warm and clear inside, as even someone with an icy appearance can still bring warmth.
Liu Qianxun herself did not realize that she was gradually being influenced by Qin Junlan, her thoughts and understanding subtly changing.
Qin Junlan was searching for a core person, and Liu Qianxun understood her thinking. It was not possible to gather thousands of people on the mountain through individual strength alone; they needed to find a leader, just as a flock of sheep must have a shepherd.
She quickly inspected the surroundings, as Qin Junlan was overwhelmed with rescuing people and hadn’t yet had the opportunity to find one. Suddenly, a fireball came down from a tree, heading toward two people running below. Just as she was about to take action, she saw someone rush out, using his body to hit the tree, causing himself to fall and cough up blood.
It was him!
Liu Qianxun grabbed him, gently pressing her fingertips to seal several of his acupoints, temporarily relieving his pain.
“It’s you?” He recognized Liu Qianxun as the attendant beside Young Master Yan.
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“This approach isn’t a solution. Gather everyone together, and Young Master Yan will lead you down the mountain. Blindly fleeing like this will only lead to death in the sea of fire.”
“Why should I trust you? If it weren’t for your ulterior motives angering Boss Yun, why would he abandon us and leave?”
“I’m not here to argue with you. If you don’t trust us, then let those brothers and families stay here and wait for death. We will leave on our own, wasting Young Master Yan’s effort to return to save you!” Liu Qianxun suppressed her anger, feeling this person simply didn’t recognize good intentions. If not for Qin Junlan, she wouldn’t care about their fate.
The fire, roaring like dragons and tigers, continued to rise fiercely, with fleeing people scattering chaotically. Uneven trees fell successively, pressing on those escaping. Seeing this, Qin Junlan leaped gracefully, the tree trunk engulfed in flames. She swept across and kicked the tree half a foot away. The person beneath was still burning, and Qin Junlan quickly removed her outer garment to extinguish the flames.
Yet, the fire did not go out; it burned even more fiercely, and the person screamed desperately for help. Qin Junlan did not want to give up and tried to move forward to save him but was pulled back by Liu Qianxun, “Yan’er, he can’t make it, don’t go!”
A living person, before her eyes, gradually burned to a char, until that final painful gaze, even cries for help were drowned out, leaving only a charred body like a withered tree. Qin Junlan had never felt so powerless before; just a little more, and she would have reached him.
Qin Junlan’s fingers gently twitched, fists tightly clenched, her eyes dark and empty, and her eyelids slightly twitching, reflecting heavy sorrow.