Di Ming

Chapter 6 Rolling Ice
The small thatched hut was immediately filled with a strong stench of blood.

Foamy blood poured into a small puddle on the ground, still steaming.

Zhu Yin's face was pale and gloomy, calm and indifferent. He squatted down to examine the corpse, wiping the bloodstains from the scalpel with the dead man's underwear.

Fortunately, Lai Shan had already taken off his fur coat, so it wasn't stained with blood.

"Ugh..." Ning Caiwei's stomach cramped, and she could no longer hold back and vomited.

She is the president of the Ning Group, a legend in the Chinese business world, and a renowned figure.

But ultimately, she was a law-abiding businesswoman and had never witnessed murder.

Zhu Yin stepped forward and patted Ning Caiwei on the back, comforting her:
"It's alright. Eliminating evil and punishing the wicked is like killing a chicken; you'll get used to it."

"You've killed someone?" Ning Caiwei quickly came to her senses and asked, still shaken.

Zhu Yin nodded. "I've killed foreign spies and carried out anti-traitor missions. Sister Caiwei, there has never been a peaceful life since ancient times. We have come to this era, and only by becoming braver and more tenacious can we survive."

Ning Caiwei's nausea subsided considerably, and she said, her face pale:

"Brother Zhu Yin, thank you. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have..."

"Alas, this era is too dangerous. We've only been here for a day, and we almost met with certain death."

Zhu Yin shook his head: "You don't need to thank me. We came here together, so of course we should live and die together. I won't abandon you to save my own life."

Ning Qingchen was a top student at the medical school, so she had seen corpses many times and had taken anatomy classes. She was not afraid of the dead.

But seeing a living person being killed right in front of me was still very shocking.

Coupled with her childish mindset, she was about to cry again.

She had no idea that Zhu Yin had killed people before, and not just one person.

Thinking back to the scene before he transmigrated, where he was forced to resign and threatened to leave his sister, Ning Qingchen felt somewhat ridiculous.

He actually threatened a ruthless person who killed people like chickens!

"Qingchen, are you scared?" Ning Caiwei saw that her younger sister looked unwell and quickly picked her up and shook her.

She could tell that after her younger sister became a two-month-old baby, her mindset had also become childlike.

For example, sucking fingers, wanting milk, or crying easily.

This is a typical example of how the body influences the mind.

She is nine years older than her younger sister, and Zhu Yin is eight years older than his younger sister; they are both capable of developing adult thinking and psychology. Their mentality is relatively stable, and they are minimally affected.

Ning Qingchen felt much more comfortable in her sister's arms.

My sister smells so good.

I want to drink milk!

How embarrassing! But I just want to drink milk!

Thinking of milk, Ning Qingchen's little mouth started bubbling again.

“Sister Caiwei, we can’t stay here any longer.” Zhu Yin sighed. “We finally found a place to escape the cold, and we can’t stay here now.”

Ning Caiwei was also extremely depressed.

The two plotted to kill the Jurchen man, and since he hasn't returned yet, someone will surely come looking for him.

We need to move them as soon as possible.

The problem is, with the snow blocking the way, they have no relatives or friends, and are completely lost. Where can they go?
What if we encounter danger again?
As it turns out, even if she smeared her face and made herself ugly, she couldn't prevent herself from being violently assaulted.

For some men, they don't care about a woman's age or appearance, they don't discriminate against food, and they are not picky eaters at all.

There must be quite a few men like this in this era.

“We’re going to Liaoyang? Isn’t that Han Chinese territory?” Ning Caiwei said. “We should be safe once we get to Liaoyang.”

Zhu Yin shook his head. "That guy with the bushy eyebrows said Liaoyang City is several hundred miles away. In this weather, we don't have any transportation, and we have a child and a dog with us. When can we get to Liaoyang City?"

"Even if it takes half a month, we still can't get there."

"Besides, we'll be passing through many Jurchen strongholds along the way. How many dangers will we encounter?"

Ning Caiwei immediately realized that going to Liaoyang City was simply unrealistic; the risks were too great.

Zhu Yin drew a rough map on the ground with a stick and explained, "Sister Caiwei, look, this is a map of Liaodong that I drew from memory, and it's pretty accurate."

With a tap of his wooden stick, he said, "This is Liaoyang, the political center of the Liaodong Military Command of the Ming Dynasty. This is the Ming Great Wall, this is Fushun Pass, this is Kaiyuan..."

"Where are we now? Judging from the conversation between those two Jurchens, we are currently in the Wangjia tribe (Wanyan tribe), and we are definitely not too far from Wanyan City, probably at most a hundred miles away."

"Wang Jia's tribe is here, this is the Hun River, this is Nurhaci's Sukesuhu River tribe, this is the Dong'e tribe, this is the Zhecheng tribe, this is the Hun River tribe..."

"And that letter said that Nurhaci now possessed the Suksuhu River tribe, the Dong'e tribe, and half of the Hunhe River tribe."

“If we want to get to Liaoyang, we must enter through Fushun Pass. Do you see the problem?” Ning Caiwei hadn’t expected Zhu Yin to be able to draw a map of Liaodong during the Wanli era, and she quickly saw the problem.

"In other words, if we want to go to Liaoyang, we must go to Fushun Pass, and to get to Fushun Pass, we have to pass through Nurhaci's territory?"

“Excellent!” Zhu Yin was very pleased with Ning Caiwei’s ability to see the problem. “We must pass through Nurhaci’s territory. It’s at least three hundred li through Nurhaci’s territory.”

"Whether we can safely reach Han territory depends on whether we can get Nurhaci's protection."

"If we can get his protection, we can safely return to Han territory."

"If we don't get his protection, we children won't even be able to survive, let alone go to Liaoyang. We might be captured by the Jurchens and become their slaves."

Ning Caiwei frowned and said, "But why would Nurhaci protect us? Just because of that letter?"

Zhu Yin nodded, "Yes, it's that letter that the Lord of Balda sent to Li Chengliang. Even if this letter reaches Li Chengliang, he won't kill Nurhaci."

"History has proven that Li Chengliang shielded and indulged Nurhaci for a long time, which can be considered as raising a tiger to cause trouble. He underestimated the ambition and ability of the Wild Boar Skin and overestimated the strength of the Haixi Jurchens."

"The problem is, this is history. Nurhaci himself didn't know that this letter actually posed no threat to him."

“If we give this letter to Nurhaci, he will definitely thank us. We are quite familiar with history, and as long as we pretend to be friendly with him, we can gain his trust and escort us to Liaoyang.”

"This is the best way for us to leave safely."

Ning Caiwei then asked, "Nurhaci is a Jurchen chieftain. Is he reliable? What if he not only doesn't thank us, but also kills and harms us?"

Zhu Yin shook his head and smiled, "That shouldn't be the case. It's true that Nurhaci later rebelled against the Ming Dynasty and oppressed the Han people in Liaodong, but at least for now, he is still relatively respectful to the Ming Dynasty on the surface."

"He cunningly released Han slaves captured by his subordinates on several occasions and returned them to the Ming Dynasty in order to win the Ming Dynasty's favor."

"At this time, compared to other Jurchen leaders, Yezhupi was more obedient to the Ming Dynasty. This feigned loyalty and deception of the Ming Dynasty was also an important reason why he was able to unify the Jurchen tribes."

"So he should be more friendly to us than the other chiefs."

"Secondly, from the Jurchen perspective, Nurhaci was a heroic figure who valued integrity, kept his promises, and was magnanimous. In the Jurchen eyes, his character was impeccable; he was a true man."

"At least we don't have to worry about this kind of person harming us children."

Ning Caiwei now trusted Zhu Yin completely and began to regard him as her pillar of support.

“Okay, I’ll do as you say. We’ll go find Nurhaci under the pretense of delivering a message.”

Zhu Yin pointed to the shrine in the west wing and laughed:

"It was the revelation from Mother Fodo and Lord Cuohazhan that led us to deliver the secret letter to the heroic Prince Shule!"

“I think Lady Shule will definitely regard us as little guests from afar.”

“If he doesn’t even have this magnanimity, he can’t become the future Khan of Heaven.”

Ning Caiwei smiled too.

The two then dressed Lai Shan in his fur coat, hat, and other clothing, and hastily buried the body.

After eating their fill of dry rations, they quickly left the hut.

Lai Shan's horse was still tied up outside, but as soon as Zhu Yin approached, the horse began to kick wildly, showing great resistance.

“This horse is intelligent and probably knows we killed its owner,” Ning Caiwei said. “Let’s go, don’t worry about it. We’re too young to ride a horse steadily anyway.”

Zhu Yin had no choice but to abandon the horse, but he took Lai Shan's provisions with him.

With the fur coats and hats left by Lai Shan, the three felt much better, at least they wouldn't freeze to death so quickly.

This time, Zhu Yin walked into the forest.

Because ordinary Jurchens primarily hunted, they preferred living in forests rather than open spaces.

Only Jurchen nobles lived in castles.

To survive, you need to encounter people and buildings.

Many of the Jurchen villages were located in the forest.

The wind in the forest had subsided considerably, and the cold was now barely bearable.

After walking less than ten miles, the three of them discovered a river in the forest.

A group of Jurchen women dressed in fur coats were rolling around on the ice, laughing and joking.

"What are they doing?" Ning Caiwei couldn't help but ask, very curious.

Zhu Yin replied, “It’s ice rolling. This is a custom of Jurchen women. They roll on ice during the first month of the lunar year to ward off bad luck and pray for good fortune.”

"Sister Caiwei, hurry up and take your sister with you to get out of here!"

"You roll around with them, and after a few laps, you'll get to know them!"

(End of this chapter)