As night fell, Bai Xiangu's followers brought in hot water, and Guo Shao sat on a stool to warm his feet. Bai Xiangu was not as fair as Jingniang, and had freckles on her cheeks. She was also a bit older, probably over thirty years old.
Jingniang pulled open the bamboo curtain on the back wall, brought a stool, stood on the stool, stretched out her hand to test the wooden strips nailed on it, and pulled the bamboo curtain back up. She got down from the stool, walked around the room, looked down under the bed, and then looked up at the ceiling.
Guo Shao watched her doing chores silently, listening to the whistling wind outside, and suddenly said: "Thank you, Jingniang." Jingniang glanced at him coldly, with an expression that gave people the illusion of arrogance, and she did not respond.
After a while, she said: "I and Bai Xiangu will sleep here tonight. This upstairs is not close to the ground, so there is no moisture. We can just take a blanket and a quilt. It is not a good thing to live alone when you are away from home. One more person means one more helper. It is not a problem for you to have an affair with that lady Li tonight."
Guo Shao was stunned: How is it possible
Jingniang said: I don't think it's possible. Madam Li can't live alone. If you want to have an affair with her in the middle of the night, it will easily alarm her family. If you are discovered, I will see how you will explain it to Li Chuyun.
Guo Shao shook his head and said: I never wanted to do that.
After the three of them washed up, Jingniang and Bai Xiangu really made a bed on the floor and slept on it without taking off their clothes. Guo Shao had no choice but to lie on the bed as well.
The lights were on. I lit two oil lamps but the light was still so dim. In the era without electricity, the night was really very dark; if you were not in the city, the population density in the suburbs and countryside at that time was only a few tenths of that in modern society, and it was really deserted at night.
The sound of the wind and the unfamiliar environment made Guo Shao a little insomniac. He felt that his sleep quality was indeed poor. As long as he was not too tired, it was easy to stay awake. He tossed and turned like this, enduring the long night.
I don't know what time it was when I suddenly heard a slight click from the back window. The sound was so slight that Guo Shao thought it was an animal that saw the light on in the house and bumped into it, so he didn't pay much attention. Unexpectedly, there was another noise right after that, and the click sound was not natural at all.
He immediately became alert. When he turned around, he saw Jingniang and Bai Xiangu also sitting up gently. Jingniang's eyes moved to Guo Shao, and she pointed at the window and put her finger to her lips and made a gesture.
Guo Shao's expression froze, he looked into her eyes and nodded slightly.
Jingniang picked up a short sword and handed it to Bai Xiangu, and then she picked up a long sword. This woman is really vigilant, she even put the weapon next to her pillow. Guo Shao didn't take any precautions today. Although he was in a bad mood in the afternoon, he didn't expect that he, a general, would be in danger when he went out to play with soldiers.
Guo Shao climbed up and saw that his bow, arrow and sword were placed on the chair next to him. He walked to the chair in his middle clothes, tied his belt directly, hung the sword on the belt first, and then took the bow and arrow in his hand. He perked up, and the scene of Jingniang pulling open the bamboo curtain before going to bed flashed in his mind: the window was very high and narrow. Most of the back windows in this era were like that, with a small opening for ventilation.
There's no way anyone could have climbed in through that window.
Guo Shao looked up at the roof and heard no sound. He thought for a moment, then looked back at the door and the window beside it. He waved his hand, and Jingniang turned to look at his movements. He pointed at Jingniang and Bai Xiangu, and then pointed behind the door.
Jing Niang nodded and slowly walked over here. There was almost no sound in the room, and the three of them were silently making preparations.
Guo Shao easily picked up a table outside, then turned it over and placed the table top facing the door. He half-knelt behind the table, pulled out an arrow from the quiver, and waited silently.
The window behind him made a noise for a while and then stopped. Not knowing what was going on, Guo Shao looked back from time to time. At this moment, there was another noise, and with a thud, a smoking wooden barrel fell from the window behind the bamboo curtain.
Oh no! Guo Shao quickly picked up the table and ran towards Jingniang.
With a loud bang, flames shot up into the sky and rushed straight towards the roof. In an instant, tiles and wood fell down, and there was a series of ping-pong sounds. White smoke spread rapidly, and soon enveloped Guo Shao and others in thick smoke.
Cough, cough, cough. There was a cough in the smoke. Guo Shao held his breath and asked hurriedly: Are you all right
Jingniang's voice said: I'll open the door, don't go out yet, beware of an ambush
"Good cough!" Guo Shao responded.
But Jingniang and Bai Xiangu coughed for a long time but couldn't open the door. It seemed to be locked from the outside. Jingniang shouted. The room was filled with smoke and it was pitch dark. Guo Shao walked over and touched the wooden board. It was relatively thick, and the door opened inwards: if you push hard against the outside, the door panel will be blocked by the door frame and it will be difficult to open.
Guo Shao didn't try to knock on the door. Instead, he shouted "Be careful with the window", threw away his bow and arrow, and quickly swung the table and smashed it with a bang. He smashed it several times in a row, smashing the wood and window paper on the window into pieces. Thick smoke immediately poured out, and people shouted outside. Guo Shao paused for a moment, threw the table out, and immediately heard a crackling sound. His heart skipped a beat. There were bows and crossbows outside.
The fire spread in the house. The bed and the roof were already on fire in the thick white smoke. The smoke made it very difficult to breathe. If you stayed in there for a long time, you would be choked to death.
Guo Shao felt for a wooden frame by the door, on which were several towels and a wash basin. He wet the towels, called Jingniang, handed them two wet towels, and covered his mouth and nose with one. Then he picked up the wooden frame and threw it out, and there were two more crackling sounds of the crossbow nailed to the wood. He threw the stool out as well.
At this moment, there was a loud bang, and the door was knocked open from the outside. Luo Mengzi's voice said: "Brother, brother!"
Guo Shao was overjoyed and shouted: "Second brother, be careful, the crossbows outside can't hold back their power any longer." He was the first to run out of the door, followed by Jing Niang and Bai Xiangu.
The guards immediately surrounded Guo Shao against the wall. Guo Shao said, "There is a table next to the window. Use it as a wooden shield." After hearing this, Luo Mengzi found the wooden table with a broken leg on the ground and lifted it up.
Looking back, he saw flames and smoke rising from the house and the roof. The wind blew the fire even more fiercely. The smoke was quickly blown away by the wind. Guo Shao looked around and saw that among the crowd rushing out, several people with crossbows were shooting at this side. However, the wind was a bit strong and the crossbow arrows themselves were not very accurate. The crossbows were not accurate, and the several crossbow arrows that flew over one after another all missed the target. Those people fired a barrage of crossbow arrows, and when they saw that they were useless, they turned around and ran away.
One of Guo Shao's personal soldiers drew his bow and shot an arrow, but unexpectedly, there was a scream from the opposite side and the arrow hit a passerby who was running in panic.
Second brother, you take two people to the stable. Don't chase Lu Chengyong far after dark. You and two people go downstairs to block the door and try to keep him alive. Seeing the live one, Guo Shao gave an order and said, "Give me a bow."
At this moment, he suddenly saw a bow aimed at him at a door. Jingniang was standing in front of Guo Shao. He didn't think about anything for a moment and pushed Jingniang subconsciously. The sound of the bowstring rang out, and Guo Shao felt a sinking below his left collarbone. He didn't feel anything at first, but soon he felt a sharp pain. He was not wearing armor, not even an outer coat, just a white undershirt. The arrowhead pierced directly into the flesh, and the blood immediately dyed the white clothes red, the color was very conspicuous.
Everyone was very anxious, and Jingniang's face turned pale.
Guo Shao pushed aside the personal soldiers who were running in front of him, stared at the man who had thrown away his bow and arrow and was running, and drew his bow and arrow. The wind was strong and Guo Shao's eyes were wide open. He endured the pain and calmed down. Sure enough, the man knelt down in response, as if the arrow had hit his thigh.
Go and arrest him, don't kill Guo Shao shouted.
But he saw a man running towards the door downstairs. Guo Shao shot him to the ground with another arrow. After he used too much force, his left arm was in pain and he lost strength, so he threw away the bow and arrow and said: Jingniang, go and see how Li Niang is doing.
Fairy Bai, go quickly. Jingniang said, and then she tore open Guo Shao's clothes, lifted them up and looked at them, and said in a strange voice, "The arrow is poisonous."
When Guo Shao looked down, he saw that the skin near the wound was a little dark blue.
Jingniang looked up at the direction of the fire, and pulled Guo Shao to the east, where she saw a door open, and a man and a woman came out in dishevel. Without saying a word, she dragged Guo Shao inside.
What the hell does that mean? the man shouted.
With a clang, the sword flew out of the scabbard halfway and scratched the man's neck, immediately cutting his skin and causing a trickle of blood to flow. The man was so frightened that his body softened and he knelt down. Jingniang shouted: If you say another word, I'll have your head on my neck!
Jingniang pulled Guo Shao into the house and found a place for him to sit down. Her movements were quick and steady, with a cold expression on her face. She first took a lamp and placed it on the table, then pulled out a short dagger from her bosom and placed it on the table, looking into Guo Shao's eyes and said: "I will pull out the arrow first, you bear with it."
Before Jingniang finished speaking, Guo Shao was about to answer when he suddenly felt a pain in his shoulder. He yelled, "Fuck!" Guo Shao's forehead was covered with cold sweat and his entire left arm was shaking. His face turned pale and he said, "Can you be gentler?"
Jingniang didn't say anything, she took off her outer garment, wiped the blood off him, and held the dagger over the lamp to heat it. Guo Shao hurriedly pulled out his undergarment to look at the hole. Fortunately, the clothes were only torn by the arrowhead, and no cloth was directly broken in the wound. He picked up the thing he had pulled out, looked at the bloody arrowhead on it, and asked: What kind of poison is this
Jingniang said: It should be arsenic. It won't kill anyone. It will be fine as long as you let the blood out.
Guo Shao asked: Isn't arsenic meant to be drunk
Jingniang said: Arsenic is the easiest to find, where are the other poisons
At this moment, Guo Shao suddenly felt a heat under his collarbone, and Jingniang lowered her head and put her mouth to his wound to suck. Guo Shao hurriedly held her head and said: Arsenic is a heavy metal, it won't kill people even if it bleeds, but it will be dangerous if you eat it.
Bei Jingniang spat and ignored him.