Chapter 21 Orphan

Changshan County.

There is a dense forest twenty miles away from the Qingzhou border.

A group of officers and soldiers were scattered in the forest looking for him.

A tall man with dark skin was directing the officers and soldiers not far away to go to the low cave above, "Search that cave, maybe we can hide in it."

The men who looked very similar but turned pale spoke.

"Second brother, do you really think the Qin family will take action? Those people are the former prince's party members. Once caught, they will be escorted to the capital for questioning. If the Qin family takes action at this time, we adults will catch them, and they will have nothing to do with them.

"

The tall man with the white face was his brother, and he laughed after hearing this. "Of course the Qin family knows, but they will not fail to take action. So our adults said, let us pay attention, maybe this time, we can catch the Qin family

Evidence of secret soldiers! The Qin family will definitely be dead by then!"

The gentleman they were talking about was none other than the Deputy Inspector General of Shandong Province, Xing Landong.

The two brothers are working for the Xing family, and if they can catch the Qin family this time, they will be rewarded heavily when they return to the Xing family.

High and low in caves.

A family was hiding here, their clothes soaked with mud and water, and torn into strands by thorns.

They were all in a state of embarrassment, but everyone was trembling with fear and holding their breath. The adults were even afraid that the children would make any noise, so they held the children in their arms and covered their mouths.

Mountain rain began to fall outside the cave, and the ticking sound echoed in the small cave, which was extremely clear.

No one dared to make any sound, but they heard scattered footsteps, coming closer and closer from bottom to top.

The whole family's hearts were in their throats.

In the next breath, the dark figure blocked the skylight at the entrance of the cave, and one foot was about to step into their hiding place!

The low, dark cave was wet with rainwater dripping from the cracks in the stones, making the cave feel deathly silent.

The dark shadow at the entrance of the cave stopped, and only one foot was on the edge of the cave entrance.

The people in the cave who were holding their breath couldn't help but tremble. They heard the faint voices coming from outside.

"There is a hole here. Let the people below come up with lamps and shine their light inside to see if anyone is hiding in it!"

The words fell to the ground, and the child in the cave almost cried in shock.

One of them, an elderly man with a gray beard, tightly covered the child's mouth and nose.

But even so, the faces of his wife, children, and grandchildren gradually showed a look of despair.

When the people below handed over the lamp, how could they still hide it?

They were chased by these people for nearly a thousand miles, but in the end they all died.

Even the gray middle-aged man couldn't help but close his eyes.

However, after waiting for a while, no one came up with a light. Instead, several urgent calls came up from below.

"Escape! Run to the two mountains to the north!"

…

Below the cave.

The tall black man confirmed with his brother again and again.

"Is the news accurate? Then Qin Shen took people to the two mountains to the north? Where did the news come from?"

Bai Gao said clearly, "It's the person I have buried for a long time, the maid who has direct access to Qin Guanzhong's study. This news is unmistakable! Let's go quickly! If we catch Qin Shen and the private soldiers of the Qin family, our brothers will be rich!"

Upon hearing this, the tall black man no longer hesitated.

"Escape! Run to the two mountains to the north!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the black shadows in front of the cave entrance began to shake, and within a few breaths, the footsteps gradually faded away.

The people in the cave were so astonished that they could hardly believe it. Until the footsteps outside the cave faded into the distance, several female relatives cried uncontrollably.

The middle-aged man with a gray beard wanted to stop them, but the wife behind him looked sad and raised her hand to hit him on the back.

"You have really brought harm to our family!"

As the old wife spoke, she began to cry more and more quietly, hitting the middle-aged man repeatedly.

"Everything was fine originally. There were no floods or famines. The family lived a peaceful life. You, you, insist on writing nonsense. That's great. That man named Xing is ruthless. He has Shang Fang's sword.

, you are just a scholar, and we are just ordinary people, how can you go against the emperor in the Forbidden City?! Isn’t that digging your own grave?! You are really hurting us!”

The children below did not dare to complain. The old woman said all these things that no one dared to say in one breath.

The middle-aged man's expression changed several times under this accusation.

He looked towards the entrance of the cave, where the dim skylight cast a dim light, and after a long while, he opened his mouth.

"If a country has no wise ruler, peace is just a short-lived illusion. If everyone cuts off their heads and lives, no one will survive in the end."

As he spoke, he glanced at his children and finally looked at his old wife.

"Someone has to stand up, and someone has to die for it. Why can't it be you and me?"

In the dim skylight, he spoke word by word.

"Because of my humble position, I dare not forget to worry about my country."

The cave became silent again.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, footsteps suddenly sounded outside again.

The family hiding in the cave turned pale the moment they heard the footsteps.

Only the middle-aged man suddenly seemed relieved, with a look of determination on his face.

"I'll go out and lure them away. You can continue to escape to Qingzhou!"

After he finished speaking, he leaned forward and ran straight out of the cave. The old woman's eyes were split open when she heard this, and she grabbed it, but in vain.

In a moment, the middle-aged man had emerged from the cave, standing upright in the skylight between the mountains.

Unexpectedly, just when he was ready to kill him, a question came from behind him.

"But Mr. Sun from Maocheng?"

The middle-aged man looked around in surprise, and saw a person on the path behind him wearing a dark silver-patterned robe, with a crystal-white jade necklace hanging from his tight waist. His features were difficult to see clearly in the dim light of the mountain forest.

, but there is a power spreading from the whole body, making people dare not be bold or convinced physically and mentally.

"Yes, he is an old man." Sun Wenjing bowed.

The young man also returned the gift.

"Qingzhou, Qin Shen."

Sun Wenjing opened his eyes wide, as if a drowning man had caught the roots of a tree on the shore.

His fingertips trembled. He looked at the young man walking forward slowly and heard steady words falling into his ears.

"The pursuers have gone to the two mountains to the east. You are all safe. There is no need to hide anymore."

When the seven members of Sun Wenjing's family were neatly taken to a secret village, they discovered that the five or six families who fled with them had also been rescued here.

However, compared to the neat population of Sun Wenjing's family, some of those families had lost more than half of their wealth on the way to escape.

But it was a blessing to be able to escape safely.

Another old gentleman with all white beard and hair, who barely survived the escape, is still lying there, more than ten years older.

When Sun Wenjing's old wife He saw him, she burst into tears and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"uncle!"

Only then did the old gentleman open his cloudy eyes and recognize his niece.

The old man went to help He with trembling hands, and He looked behind him. Besides his aunt who was also old, the only one beside him was his ten-year-old grandson.

"Cousin, where are my siblings?!" He's voice trembled.

However, the old gentleman paused and spoke in his usual voice.

"They're all gone."

With just three words, He almost lost his breath, and immediately burst into tears.

She looked at the few remaining relatives and found it difficult to accept this reality.

Just as she didn't understand her husband, she couldn't understand her uncle's original decision.

"The first prince has passed away, why does my uncle still work for the first prince? After all, our family is a farming and studying family, no matter what happens, the family will not be ruined? But now"

Before he finished speaking, the old gentleman hit him with a cane.

"How could you ask such a question?! Do you not see the suffering in the world, or have you forgotten how your elder brother died?"

He was startled when asked.
To be continued...