knife

Chapter 8 Your Appearance
Zhang Qingyun glanced at her father in the middle of the group with a troubled look, sighed silently, gently patted her horse's rump, and caught up with Li Dachui and Fang Xiaomao, who were leading the way.

In the past two days, she has seen things very clearly. Without these two people, her group would have died countless times.

If Ao Hu's open and brazen attacks gave them some reason to be on guard, then these past few days, his assassination attempts have become completely unpredictable.

The day before yesterday, after traveling all day, we camped by a stream.

Just as they were about to drink the boiled water, Li Dachui stopped them.

The water is poisonous.

It's hard for people to believe.

So many horses drank the water and nothing happened to them.

The water in their hands was still boiled, how could it be poisonous? It's running water.

But facts speak louder than words.

After a wild rabbit that had been captured was given a bowl of hot water, it kicked its legs in the blink of an eye. When its fur was parted, even the skin underneath had turned black. The potency of the poison left everyone speechless.

What was even more unimaginable to everyone was the method by which the poison was administered.

Li Dachui was also in high spirits. He took his pretentious sword and went upstream to catch the guy who had poisoned the poison.

However, he returned with a look of utter disappointment on his face.

They failed to catch him; he got away.

Yesterday, the group passed by a herding family's home.

Cows, sheep, tents, a woman dressed in bulky clothes kneeling on the ground milking cows, a half-grown child with a runny nose waving a small whip and looking at them with curiosity, and a shepherd riding on horseback with a warm smile, loudly greeting them.

It's a perfectly normal scene.

But just as everyone relaxed and greeted the shepherd, three crossbow bolts whistled out from behind the shepherd's bent-over body. The milkmaid lifted the huge cow with both hands and hurled it at them from several feet away, while a boy wielding a small whip suddenly had a short knife in his hand and charged at them like a whirlwind.

The carriage was smashed to pieces by the cow, and the constable who was recuperating inside was basically going to die from the blow.

The Yuan brothers didn't react in time.

Wu De lagged at the very back of the line.

Zhang Qingyun couldn't even scream.

My whole body was frozen.

Only Li Dachui seemed to have sensed it all along.

With a flick of his wide sleeve, three crossbow bolts were swept away. With another flick of his sleeve, the bolts flew backward. The shepherd who rushed forward never expected that the arrows he had shot would actually return. Moreover, the scholar's casual toss had a stronger momentum than the bolts he had fired with his crossbow.

Three arrows pierced his body, and he fell straight to the ground.

The boy only had time to rush to Zhang Ruo's side before he could strike with his knife, when Fang Xiaomao appeared in front of him and broke the boy's knife in one swift motion.

The boy, who had turned to flee, was entangled by the Yuan brothers, who had finally come to their senses. With their double swords combined, the boy, who had lost his weapon, was cut into three pieces in less than three rounds.

The woman who had just thrown the cow and hadn't yet rushed forward saw her two companions die instantly, so she immediately turned around, mounted her horse, and fled.

But Fang Xiaomao's knife came whistling through the air.

The heart enters from the back and exits from the front.

Dead as hell.

After two days of travel, they were assassinated twice. How many more will happen?

Thinking of the 100,000 taels of silver hanging over her father's head, Zhang Qingyun frowned with worry.

The wages of avarice is death.

One hundred thousand taels of silver is enough to drive countless people crazy.

The reason my father has fallen to this state is ultimately because of money!

However, Zhang Ruo knew Zhang Ruo's personality. After their conversation at the temple a few days ago, and then during his conversation with Li Dachui, Zhang Ruo discovered that Li Dachui had absolutely no respect or loyalty to the Qin Dynasty. As a result, Zhang Ruo became even more indifferent.

He had an attitude of "I'll die if I want, it's none of your business."

Even Zhang Qingyun thought he looked rather irritating.

And Li Dachui must also be an arrogant person.

He disdained to argue with Zhang Ruo, and had an arrogant attitude that implied he didn't want Zhang Ruo to die.

Both of them were arrogant, but Zhang Qingyun was in a difficult position.

If Li Dachui, that arrogant guy, suddenly decides he doesn't want to be arrogant anymore and runs away, our group might really not survive until tomorrow.

The Yuan brothers were said to be people of the martial arts world, and their martial arts skills were not bad, but when they arrived in this land beyond the Great Wall, they were clearly not used to the local environment.

Needless to say, Wu De, being an official, was even further removed from the picture. Besides, they were a step further apart.

To ease the tension and win over Li Dachui, only a woman like herself could do it!

But what can be done?

Who told my father to be like this?
"Brother Li!" Zhang Qingyun called out softly, her eyes peeking out from behind the veil, looking at Li Dachui with a mixture of shame and pleading, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to speak.

Li Dachui chuckled: "Miss Qingyun, I'm doing this on someone's behalf, so don't worry. I may not be a good person, but I'm a man of my word. But is Master Zhang really going to Zhenwu City? Actually, the best choice would be to go into hiding and extricate himself from this vortex."

“My father is a stubborn man, the kind who would rather die than bend.” Zhang Qingyun sighed softly. “As his daughter, I can’t persuade him. The only thing I can do is to stick with him and see things through to the end.”

Li Dachui shook his head: "The key is, why is he still so happy to be used as a pawn? He wants to be a loyal minister who exposes this lie, a famous minister who will be remembered in history, so why would he drag a beautiful, knowledgeable, and sensible woman like you down to your death?"

The first half of his words was as serious as could be, but the second half suddenly took a turn, and to Zhang Qingyun, the frivolous intent was palpable.

Her face flushed instantly, and the tips of her willow-leaf eyebrows shot up. Her previously supple posture on the horse suddenly became upright.

Li Dachui, however, seemed oblivious to everything, still staring intently at the other person with an innocent look that made one want to slap him across the face.

But Zhang Qingyun couldn't do that.

Her stiff body relaxed again. She lowered her head, took a deep breath, and when she raised her head again, she had tried her best to calm herself down.

"I'm wearing a veil, how can Brother Li know if I'm beautiful or ugly, or even as ugly as Wu Yan?" She tried to make her voice sound normal, so soft that only Li Dachui could hear it, but her slightly trembling voice still revealed her state of mind at that moment.

"Of course I know what kind of person you are!" Li Dachui's words made Zhang Qingyun's heart pound.

"How could you possibly know? I've never left Chang'an before! And I've never even met you, Brother Li!"

“Intelligence!” Li Dachui stared directly at Zhang Qingyun, seemingly scrutinizing her appearance: “I’ve seen portraits of Zhang Gong and you. The painter’s skill was extraordinary; the portrait of Zhang Gong was incredibly lifelike, so your appearance must be quite accurate as well.”

Zhang Qingyun was both shocked and furious, yet she could not utter a sound.

The thought that his portrait was circulating among bandits made him feel as if caterpillars were crawling all over his body.

Zhang Qingyun remained silent, as did Li Dachui.

After a long while, Zhang Qingyun finally rallied her spirits. Since things had come to this point, there was nothing she could do but take care of the present. She had already disregarded her own life and death, so what did it matter if her appearance was being seen by those barbarians?

"Brother Li, Uncle Yuan said you were disguised, and what I'm seeing now isn't your real face! Is that true? I can't see it at all!"

Li Dachui laughed heartily, glanced back at Yuan Rong, and said, "He's quite the old hand, and his judgment is pretty good, but ultimately, it's because I've spent so much time with him that he's seen through some of the tricks of the trade."

"You really did disguise yourself?" Zhang Qingyun looked the other person up and down. "What do you usually look like?"

Li Dachui coughed lightly, then suddenly covered his face with his sleeve and laughed, "My true face is quite fierce, so don't be scared!"

"I'm not that timid!" Zhang Qingyun said dismissively.

Li Dachui lowered his sleeves, and Zhang Qingyun immediately gasped as a face crisscrossed with scars appeared before her.

"Scared now? Look how handsome you were before, but you insisted on seeing my real face. Now you've really spoiled the mood, haven't you?" Li Dachui laughed heartily.

Zhang Qingyun swallowed hard, stared intently at the other person, and suddenly said, "This face is fake too!"

Li Dachui's laughter abruptly stopped, like a quacking duck being choked. This little girl certainly has a keen eye.

As the sleeves of his robe brushed against his face, another face appeared before Zhang Qingyun when they were unfolded again.

He had a very handsome face, but his complexion was a bit bluish, and he looked sickly.

Zhang Qingyun shook her head.

And so, another honest-looking, pitiful face appeared.

He still shook his head firmly.

Then, a man with a thick beard and a weathered yet resolute face appeared before Zhang Qingyun.

“They’re all fake!” Zhang Qingyun said.

"How did you figure it out?" Li Dachui asked, feigning a humble interest. "These masks were made by a friend of mine who is an expert in disguise. He peeled the skin off people's faces to create each one, and each one took several years to make."

Zhang Qingyun shuddered, and a look of disgust involuntarily appeared in her eyes.

"Eyes! No matter how your face changes, your eyes don't match your face at all. It's the first appearance that makes it hard to see any flaws?"

Li Dachui laughed loudly: "Indeed, the most ingenious disguise is never these lifelike masks. These are just for deceiving people. The earliest masks, on the other hand, took a lot of effort and were true disguises. But Miss Qingyun, we are not yet at the point where we can show you our true faces!"

“You know what I look like, but I don’t know what you look like. That’s not fair!” Zhang Qingyun took off the veil she had been wearing on her head and stared intently at Li Dachui.

Li Dachui tilted his head and smiled, saying, "I'm going to cut off that painter's head. He painted Zhang Gong so realistically, but as for your painting, he didn't capture even one percent of your appearance. He really deserves to die."

"May I see your true face, Brother Li?"

“You will see it!” Li Dachui said, “But not now!”

(End of this chapter)