When the men in black first appeared, everyone thought they were coming for a certain prince. The four princes' guards had already drawn their weapons and were ready to meet the enemy. When they heard someone shouting "Kill the one in red", they immediately realized that the other party's target was not the prince, so they changed from offense to defense and just protected their masters as they retreated.
The Su brothers also heard the shouting. If it were in the past, they would definitely not care and would definitely take their sister away as soon as possible. But now Zhao Jingyu is engaged to their sister and he is their brother-in-law. It would be unreasonable to ignore him.
"What should we do, brother?" Su Jinxuan asked Su Jincheng loudly.
Su Jincheng was also in a dilemma. Seeing the man in black approaching, he couldn't ignore Zhao Jingyu, but he was also worried about his sister's safety.
"You take Xiu'er and leave, I'll stay." He swung his knife at a man in black and gave orders to his brother at the same time.
This was not the time to show off, Su Jinxuan did not hesitate and immediately ordered the rest of the brothers to protect his sister and break out.
"Brother, please take my family out as well." Zhou Yuncheng shouted, pushing Zhao Lanzhi to Su Jinxuan and going to reinforce Zhao Jingyu.
"Yuncheng..." Zhao Lanzhi called him in a trembling voice.
Zhou Yuncheng paused and smiled at her: "Don't be afraid, go out first, I'll come back to find you."
After saying that, he rushed towards Zhao Jingyu without looking back.
"Don't worry, Miss Four, they will be fine." Su Jinxuan kindly comforted Zhao Lanzhi and protected her and Xie Nanjia in the middle. The eleven brothers surrounded the two girls and squeezed out with difficulty.
Xie Nanjia didn't say a word from beginning to end, and followed his brothers in retreating with the crowd.
Zhao Lanzhi's hands and feet were shaking, and she nervously grabbed one of Xie Nanjia's hands.
Xie Nanjia did not comfort her as carefully as before, but still kept her lips tightly pursed and said nothing.
The sounds of fighting over there could be heard clearly even through the chaotic and noisy crowd. Xie Nanjia looked back and saw swords flying and clothes fluttering. Zhao Jingyu's red clothes appeared and disappeared in the chaos, and the figures of Wei Jun and Huangfu Jiaojian were always on his left and right.
With Wei Jun, Huangfu, Su Jincheng, and Zhao Jingyu's other guards, there shouldn't be any problem. She felt relieved and struggled to break out of the crowd with her brothers.
The reason why she didn't say a word was that she didn't want to distract Zhao Jingyu or her brother. Although she knew martial arts, those people on the other side were all masters and she couldn't beat any of them. Staying would only cause trouble for her own people. Instead of this, it would be better to leave peacefully and save them some worries.
At this time, the people had gradually realized that they were not the targets of those people's attacks, and began to consciously flee in all directions. The place where the fighting took place quickly became an empty place.
In this way, the men in black could no longer take advantage of the chaos, and Zhao Jingyu and his men did not have to worry about hurting innocent people. Gradually, they gained the upper hand, and the men in black fell one after another.
"It's okay, they should be fine." Su Jinxuan said, "Let's go home quickly, Fourth Miss, go to our house first and take shelter, and then we'll send you back later."
"Thank you, Mr. Su." Zhao Lanzhi said.
Su Jinxuan suddenly realized that his sister hadn't said a word since the incident, and couldn't help but asked worriedly, "Sister, are you scared?"
"I didn't." Xie Nanjia said, "I just don't want you to worry, let's go!"
"Okay, let's go home first." Su Jinxuan nodded.
At this moment, the people who had already run away suddenly started to riot again. They turned around and squeezed back, screaming. The people behind were caught off guard and were hit hard. They seemed to be swept by the waves and fell to the ground one by one. They had no time to turn over and get up, and the crowd trampled on them.
"What's going on? What's going on?" Amid the continuous wailing, many people asked questions at the top of their voices.
"It's the soldiers. They are outside with arrows, saying they want to suppress the rioters. They will shoot everyone, no matter if they are good or bad..." a noisy voice shouted.
"How could this happen? Don't those soldiers have brains?" The Su brothers tried their best to resist the surging crowd, but were still knocked down.
Xie Nanjia thought that maybe those were not soldiers, but someone who was deliberately creating chaos.
I'm afraid there is no one else except the Queen and the Crown Prince who would be willing to harm the lives of so many innocent people in order to kill Zhao Jingyu.
Since the Queen and the Crown Prince are determined to win tonight, it is impossible that they only sent a dozen men in black. Presumably, in addition to the men in black and the officers and soldiers on the periphery, there will be more people mixed in with the people, preparing to join the battle by taking advantage of a new wave of riots.
This was not a solution. She pursed her lips and thought for a while, then broke free from Zhao Lanzhi's hand. While the Su family was being swayed by the crowd, she quietly squeezed out of their protective circle and disappeared in the vast crowd.
Zhao Lanzhi didn't pay attention at first because there were too many people. She was so nervous that she didn't even notice that Xie Nanjia had broken away from her hand. It was only after a long time that she realized that Xie Nanjia was missing.
"Xiu'er, where is Xiu'er? Why is Xiu'er gone?" she shouted in panic.
The Su brothers were standing in a circle with their backs to each other, trying their best to resist the surging crowd. When they heard Zhao Lanzhi's shout, their hearts skipped a beat. They turned around and found that their sister was gone.
"What happened? Where is Xiu'er? Was she lost in the crowd?" Su Jinxuan was so scared that his voice changed.
The other brothers looked at each other in bewilderment, the shadow of twelve years ago resurfaced in their minds, and they were all so frightened that their legs went limp.
"I told you not to come out!" Su Jinxuan slapped his head in annoyance and shouted, "Hurry up and look for her. Third brother, you are responsible for taking care of the fourth lady. Everyone else go look for her separately!"
The Su brothers dispersed in response, squeezed into the crowd and shouted, "Xiu'er, Xiu'er..."
Su Jinhong untied his belt, tied one end around Zhao Lanzhi's wrist and the other end around his own hand, and told her to follow him closely.
Zhao Lanzhi burst into tears: "It's all my fault. If I hadn't asked Xiu'er to come out, she wouldn't have encountered this..."
Su Jinhong was a grown man, and his heart was in a turmoil. He had no way to comfort her. He just protected her silently and let the crowd carry them away.
Without the strength of his brothers, he alone could not withstand the impact of the crowd.
At this time, Xie Nanjia had returned to the fighting arena.
She was slim and agile, unlike the others who had no direction, so she squeezed through quickly. As she expected, a large number of killers mixed in the crowd and launched fierce attacks on Zhao Jingyu and the others one after another.
The ground was littered with corpses, and many of Zhao Jingyu's men were seriously injured. Even Wei Jun, the most capable fighter, had his arm cut and his movements gradually became slow.
Xie Nanjia didn't dare to rush forward. After hiding aside and observing for a moment, he shouted, "Second Young Master, take off your clothes!"
She found that the killer who came later did not know Zhao Jingyu at all, and only chased after the one wearing red clothes. Several civilians wearing red clothes around were not spared.
Zhao Jingyu was fighting hard against the enemy when she suddenly heard Xie Nanjia's voice. She was slightly startled. Afraid that others would notice her, she forced herself not to look in the direction where she spoke. She saw an opportunity and quickly took off her coat.
Xie Nanjia breathed a sigh of relief, took out a slingshot from her arms, tore off the string of South China pearls on her neck, put the beads into her pouch, left one clipped on the slingshot, and aimed at the lantern hanging above her head.
This slingshot was a birthday gift her father made for her when she was a child. When she stayed at the general's mansion two days ago, her father gave her the slingshot as a New Year's gift. When Zhao Lanzhi went to find her in the afternoon, she was shooting sparrows in the garden, so she put the slingshot in her arms.
She thought, if she had known this would happen, she should have brought a bag of stones. Now, she can only sacrifice the South China pearl necklace she just got from her grandmother.
I wonder what the grandfather sweeping the streets will think tomorrow when he finds pearls all over the floor.
She smiled, loosened her hand, and with a "pop", the lantern went out. However, the sound was drowned out by the noise, and no one in the chaotic crowd noticed that a lantern had been extinguished.
It was not until the surrounding lanterns went out one by one that people slowly realized something was wrong. By the time they attracted the killer's attention, the surroundings had already fallen into darkness.
Even though there was a full moon overhead, they could no longer tell who was who in the chaos. In order to avoid hurting their own people, both sides slowed down their attacks.
Xie Nanjia took advantage of the chaos to enter the scene, grabbed Zhao Jingyu's hand, pulled him out of the melee, and mixed into the bustling crowd.
Zhao Jingyu didn't even ask who it was, but just held her hand tightly.
He knew it was her. When the lanterns went out one by one, he knew it was her idea.
Others didn't even have time to kill people, so who else could think of "killing" Lantern at this time except her
But if he left like this, the other side would continue to fight if they didn't notice. He thought about it and shouted loudly: "Zhao Jingyu ran away, Zhao Jingyu ran away!"
"..." Xie Nanjia was shocked and pinched him hard in the dark.
Who is this
Do you think your life is too long
When they heard that Zhao Jingyu had escaped, they gradually stopped fighting, and a voice similar to that of a commander shouted, "Chase quickly, don't let the target get away!"
The killers merged into the crowd and tried their best to find their target.
The archers who were creating chaos on the periphery also stopped shooting and joined the pursuit.
The crisis was resolved, and the people gradually calmed down and retreated like the tide.
Su Jincheng and the others stopped and stood there gasping for breath.
"Where did Zhao Jingyu go?" Su Jincheng asked Wei Jun.
Wei Jun covered his injured arm and shook his head blankly: "I don't know either. The second young master should be fine. That voice just now was his own voice."
"Ah?" Su Jincheng was stunned, "He, why did he..."
This guy is really interesting. He even ran away, but still notified his opponent. Why? Is he the thief crying "stop thief"
"It should be here to rescue us." Wei Jun said.
"Oh!" Su Jincheng suddenly realized and thought that this guy was okay.
"So what should we do now?" Zhou Yuncheng asked, leaning on his knees.
"Let's wait here!" Cheng Zhiye said, "I've already sent the signal, my father and the Marquis should be here soon, let's wait until they arrive."
Zhou Yuncheng then noticed him and asked in surprise: "Didn't you go out to chase the girl? When did you come back?"
"..." Cheng Zhiye was speechless, "My sword is almost bent, and you didn't know I was back?"
"Really? I didn't notice it. Hehe..." Zhou Yuncheng laughed dryly and asked Su Jincheng, "Your brothers should have rushed out, right?"
He was concerned about Zhao Lanzhi's safety, but didn't want to ask too obviously.
Su Jincheng was also concerned about his sister's safety. After hearing his question, he straightened his clothes and said, "You wait here. I'll go home first and let you know if there's any news."
Just as he was about to leave, Su Jinxuan arrived. There were no lights around, so he couldn't tell who was who. He asked loudly, "Brother, brother, are you okay?"
Su Jincheng was stunned and walked towards him: "Why are you back? Where's Xiu'er?"
"Xiu'er, Xiu'er got separated from us..." Su Jinxuan replied weakly.
Su Jincheng's heart sank suddenly and he froze there.
"Then, what about my house?" Zhou Yuncheng was shocked and ran over to ask.
"Miss Fourth is fine, my second brother is watching her!" said Su Jinxuan.
"A dozen of you are useless, how can one person keep an eye on them?" Zhou Yuncheng was anxious, "Go, go, go, go find them..."
The three of them left in a hurry without even saying hello, leaving behind Cheng Zhiye, Wei Jun Huangfu, and several injured guards.
Xie Nanjia and Zhao Jingyu hid in the crowd and walked eastward. As the crowd gradually dispersed, they could no longer hide, so they had to turn into the alleys and walk through dark and remote places. As for where to go, they had no idea for the time being.
Zhao Jingyu said that Cheng Zhiye had already sent a signal and Dingyuan Hou should be coming to the rescue soon. They just needed to delay for some more time and the danger would be over.
From time to time, there were the sounds of messy footsteps running past at the end of the alley. Those were the people tracking them. In order to avoid being discovered, the two dared not talk much. They could only hold hands and play hide-and-seek with those people silently in the dark.
However, all the alleys were connected. As they walked to the end of an alley, two men in black came towards them. There was no shelter at the end of the alley, and when the moonlight shone through, the two men immediately spotted them and ran towards them quickly.
In a hurry, Xie Nanjia pushed Zhao Jingyu against the wall, held his face and kissed him.
"My dear, you've been gone for half a year. I can't bear to leave you..." She murmured, "I've made up my mind. I want to elope with you!"
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
(End of this chapter)