"Save me, save me..."
"Save me, save me..."
Countless hands, densely packed like countless thorns, stretched out from the darkness from all directions, all grabbing at Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang looked up, and saw black mist behind the hands. Behind the black mist were sad, tearful faces, including men, women, young and old. Those people stretched out their hands to grab him, while howling and struggling in sorrow and despair.
"How to save him, how to save him..." Yan Liqiang yelled at those people, his voice hoarse, "Tell me, what happened..."
The faces in the black fog seemed to have not heard anything and continued to repeat “Save me, save me…”
Countless hands reached out to grab Yan Liqiang. The lingering black mist gradually pressed Yan Liqiang closer and closer. More and more hands grabbed Yan Liqiang, making him feel suffocated. Yan Liqiang roared, "Who are you? What happened?"
The hands that were grasping his body turned into white bones, and the sorrowful faces shed tears of blood, which turned into a surging river of blood, sweeping towards Yan Liqiang...
…
“Ah…” Yan Liqiang screamed loudly, suddenly woke up from the bed and turned over and sat up.
In the dark room, there was only the sound of Yan Liqiang's violent breathing. Yan Liqiang touched his forehead and found it was covered with sweat. This was not the first time Yan Liqiang had done this. In just three short days, this was the third time. The same nightmare kept appearing in his dreams.
People who practice martial arts generally seldom have nightmares, because they have sufficient yang energy, and once they fall asleep, they fall into a deep sleep and seldom dream. So in Yan Liqiang's memory, he seldom has any dreams when he sleeps, especially since he started practicing the Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing. As soon as he lies down, his body will automatically fall asleep as if it is being recharged, and his brain is at peace. How could he possibly have such a dream, and it has been like this for three days in a row.
After sitting on the bed for a while and calming himself down, Yan Liqiang lost all desire to sleep. He got out of bed and opened the window of the room. A fresh and cool night breeze blew in, drying the sweat on his forehead in an instant.
It was not yet dawn outside, and the sky was filled with stars and the moon. Looking at the time, it was probably not even the hour of Yin yet. It was already February, and the spring breeze in February was like a pair of scissors. The willow trees outside the yard had begun to sprout new buds, and the entire Deer Garden was full of vitality. However, Yan Liqiang's heart was frozen, and he felt a chill to the bone.
Yan Liqiang was not a superstitious person, but he had the same nightmare for three consecutive days. Yan Liqiang knew that it must be a foreshadowing of something. As the time for the Emperor's southern tour was getting closer, an inexplicable sense of crisis made Yan Liqiang more and more anxious and uneasy in the past few days.
The White Lotus Sect has been too quiet these days, so quiet that Yan Liqiang is a little scared. If the White Lotus Sect continued to make trouble and continued to leave bloody corpses everywhere, Yan Liqiang would feel at ease. However, these days, the White Lotus Sect in the entire capital area seemed to have suddenly quieted down. This made Yan Liqiang feel something was wrong. So many masters of the White Lotus Sect gathered in the capital area. Could it be that these days, those people in the White Lotus Sect did nothing but go on an outing
Yan Liqiang always felt that he seemed to have missed and neglected something important, but he had thought about it countless times in the past two days and could not find any clues, which made him a little crazy.
He barely practiced the Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing twice in the house, but he still couldn't calm down. The more he practiced, the more irritable he became. After two times, Yan Liqiang simply stopped practicing. After changing his clothes and washing up, he saw that the east was already getting light. He thought about today's date, February 12. He contacted Fang Beidou the day before and there would be some special arrangements today. He had to go out, so he left Luyuan alone.
"Sir Yan, are you going out?" Yan Liqiang had just arrived at the gate of the Deer Garden. An officer guarding the gate saw Yan Liqiang coming and hurried over and saluted Yan Liqiang.
"Well, just going out for a walk and seeing two friends..."
The officer's expression was different from usual. His smile was even brighter. When he saw Yan Liqiang, he showed his eight teeth, and his expression was cautious. "Well... I don't know when the master will be back tonight. The master has been back in Luyuan for such a long time, and we brothers haven't visited the master. It's really rude. If the master is convenient in the evening, we, the Xing brothers, have prepared some small things and would like to visit the master. I hope the master doesn't mind..."
This officer was just a small flag officer, and his status was too different from Yan Liqiang. Saying that he was visiting Yan Liqiang was just a polite way of saying it. In fact, even if they tiptoed, they couldn't reach Yan Liqiang, let alone visit him. According to the rules, they had no qualifications at all.
Yan Liqiang glanced at him, stopped immediately, and pulled the officer to the tree at the entrance of the Deer Garden. He patted the officer on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Why are you being so polite to me? We are brothers. What's the point of visiting me? You really treat me like your father-in-law. Just say what you want to say. Don't beat around the bush. It's too formal!"
Seeing Yan Liqiang's friendly attitude, the officer was a little flattered. He gritted his teeth and said, "We... We heard that you have thousands of travel permits from the court every month, so... so..."
"Does anyone in your family want to leave the capital?" Yan Liqiang asked directly.
The officer with the small flag nodded, looked around, and lowered his voice a little, "I won't lie in front of you, sir. Although the court said that the calamity will not come, I am also worried. And I heard that there was really an earthquake in Ganzhou a few days ago, but it was not reported in the court's official newspaper. It would be fine if the calamity does not come, but if it does come, I have parents, an older brother, a nephew and a niece at home. All the old and young live outside the imperial capital. I feel a little uneasy. I want my family to take shelter outside for a while..."
"Is it possible that you can't open a pass at home?"
The officer with the small flag gave a bitter smile and said, "The imperial court has a strict control over travel permits now. Not to mention me, even if you are a lieutenant of the Eagle Commander rank in the Deer Garden, it is not easy to get a travel permit from the imperial court!"
"Besides you, is there anyone else who needs a guide?"
"Yes, of course. The people in the Deer Garden, unless their families are not in the capital, like Eunuch Li and his family, are all secretly anxious now if their families are still here. If there is really no heavenly tribulation, there is nothing to worry about. Why would His Majesty leave? No one says it, but no one is stupid..."
Yan Liqiang hesitated for a moment, "How many travel permits do you think you will need?"
“This… I and the families of several brothers will probably need more than 40 passes together, and the other people in Deer Garden who need it may need hundreds of passes in total… I don’t know… Your Excellency… can you…” At this time, a pass was a huge favor, let alone so many of them, so the officer with the small flag felt guilty and didn’t know how to start. Almost everyone working in Deer Garden knew that Yan Liqiang had a pass. They also knew that the pass in Yan Liqiang’s hand was because Yan Liqiang had a good relationship with Lord Sun and was highly regarded by Lord Sun, and then he mortgaged it with the silver from the Wool Monopoly Bureau of Qiyun County. It was said that it was several million taels of silver every year, a huge amount of money, and an ironclad relationship. This is why Yan Liqiang has so many available passes in his hands. It would be impossible for someone else to get them.
"You can notify your family today and ask them to pack up their belongings. Come to my yard in the evening and I will show you the way. Let's not be polite. Just listen to me. The sooner your family leaves the capital, the better. If there is no heavenly calamity, you'd better come back next year. Just treat it as a long journey..." Yan Liqiang said directly, without any hesitation, and was decisive.
The officer with the small flag was about to cry, his eyes suddenly reddened, "Thank you very much, sir... I... I..."
"Brother, don't say that!" Yan Liqiang patted the small flag officer on the shoulder again, and the small flag officer was moved to tears...
(End of this chapter)