"Haitang, can you still stand it?" Mei Yuanchen pulled the reins and brought the horse close to Haitang's mount, then slowly stopped, and saw her face was pale and sweaty, and asked with pity.
"I can bear it, I" Haitang managed to say this, her breathing became rapid, her eyes trembled up and down, and she was about to fall off the horse. Mei Yuanchen used the move "Riding a Crane to Fly in the Clouds", jumped over sideways, and caught her firmly.
When Haitang woke up, she found that she was already lying on an unfamiliar bed. She tilted her head to the side of the bed, and under the dim light of the oil lamp, Mei Yuanchen's blurry back came into view. Haitang secretly gathered strength and slowly raised her body from the bed.
Mei Yuanchen heard the noise and hurriedly walked over from the table, helped her lean on the bed rail, and said warmly: "Begonia, are you feeling better? Are you hungry? I prepared some pears for you. Porridge, it's specially designed to cool down the heat, why don't you come and have some?" Without waiting for Haitang's reply, he went straight to the table, scooped out a bowl of cold porridge from the plate, brought it over, and sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning against Haitang. He sat down, took a spoonful of pear porridge to Haitang's mouth, and said softly: "Good Haitang, come and take a bite of the cold porridge."
In Haitang's memory, she had never been cared for and fed by someone so tenderly and considerately since she was a child. She stared blankly at Mei Yuanchen's serious description, and she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.
"Haitang, why are you crying?" Mei Yuanchen had already felt her pulse and knew that she was just weak due to the heat and was not seriously ill, so he was not in a hurry. While reaching out to help wipe away her tears, he chuckled and whispered: "You are my sweetheart. When you are sick, I will guard you and take care of you. That is normal. Why are you crying?" I will stay with you for eighty years, one hundred years, guard you, take care of you for eighty years, one hundred years, how will your tears be enough?"
Haitang heard Mei Yuanchen's whispers and felt his palms caressing her face gently, feeling warm in her heart. She nodded slowly and said with a smile through her tears: "Brother Yuanchen, I'm hungry! "
The sound of "Brother Yuanchen" made Mei Yuanchen's heart flutter, and he fed a spoonful of sweet pear porridge into Haitang's mouth. This sweetness flows from the coating of the tongue to the heart, leaving an imprint on Haitang's memory that will never fade away.
"Brother Yuanchen, I'm so full! Don't stop serving me." After two bowls of pear porridge, Haitang was already full. Seeing that Mei Yuanchen wanted to serve more, she hurriedly held his hand to stop him.
Mei Yuanchen thought for a while, and it seemed that two bowls of food was the limit of Haitang's appetite, so he gave up and put the bowl on the table and returned to the edge of the bed to hold Haitang's hand. "Haitang, let's take a day off tomorrow so that you can rest well. When you recover from your illness, we can go on our way again." Mei Yuanchen said to Haitang with a forced smile.
Haitang shook his head gently and said softly: "Brother Yuanchen, how come I don't know what you are thinking. Now that the master and madam don't know what is going on, how can you feel at ease? Haitang's health is not up to par today, and she has missed it. It’s half a day’s journey. I, I can’t hold you back anymore. You and the Taoist priests of Zhenwu Temple go ahead. Go to Anxian earlier, and your heart will be at peace earlier. I’ll be behind you. If you follow, there is nothing important."
The day before yesterday, Mei Yuanchen met with all his fellow disciples. Zhan Ming told all the fellow disciples in the audience what happened at the foot of the mountain. Although Taoist teachings do not promote chivalry, Taoists never lack chivalry. All the Taoist priests were so angry that they gnashed their teeth after hearing what the villains of Jue State had done in the capital. When Taoist Zhan Ming proposed to send his disciples down the mountain to protect Mei Siyuan, everyone agreed with both hands. After some final deliberation, they agreed to send this group of twenty-four direct disciples of Zhenwu Temple down the mountain to protect Mei Siyuan. Among the twenty-four people, there are six people of the "Zhan" generation and 18 people of the "Zhi" generation, led by the 54-year-old Zhantong man.
During the day, when Haitang was sleeping, several senior brothers from the "Zhan" generation came to Mei Yuanchen to discuss:
"Junior brother, I've been on the road for three consecutive days. I'm afraid this Haitang girl won't be able to hold on anymore. I saw that she was already declining yesterday. If she hadn't been supported by her tenacious will, she might have fallen earlier. But anyway, this It's not possible to endure it like this. Once something happens to this girl, I'm afraid it will be very bad."
"Senior Brother Zhantong, I am also worried about this matter. Do you have any good ideas?"
"Hey, it's not really a good idea, it's just that there's no other solution. I'll just tell you how to deal with it. It's still up to you."
"Senior brother, just tell me!"
"Your father is in danger. You must know better than me. It can be said that the earlier you arrive, the earlier you will feel better. With our horse power, we can still travel three hundred and fifty or sixty miles in one day. Yes, if we take this girl with us, we have to travel an extra hour a day but have to travel a hundred miles less. The capital is 2,100 miles away from Jinzhou. In these three days, we have only traveled more than 700 miles, and there is still one more mile. It’s a journey of fourteen hundred miles. According to the current situation, it is better for us to march in two groups. Miss Haitang will follow Junior Brother Zhanru and the twelve others, and the thirteen of us will go ahead day and night. I think we will arrive in four days. "
Haitang gently grabbed Mei Yuanchen's hands and persuaded softly: "Brother Yuanchen, after all, I have no foundation in martial arts. Carrying me along will definitely hinder your schedule. You and the Taoist priests go ahead, I arrived three or two days late. Maybe we are resting now while those bad guys are on their way!"
Mei Yuanchen's body trembled unexpectedly, "Are these bad guys really going to harm my parents?" Thinking of this, Mei Yuanchen felt a stagnation in his heart, making it difficult for him to breathe smoothly.
Haitang persuaded again: "Brother Yuanchen, this is what we have agreed upon. I see that the full moon is very bright outside. Why don't you leave tonight at night to make up for the delay in your schedule today."
Mei Yuanchen didn't insist anymore and nodded slightly and said: "Good Haitang, I will let the twelve senior brothers and nephews go with you, and I will go ahead with the other twelve senior brothers and nephews. You guys go slower along the way, don't I have to catch up again. I will go find Senior Brother Zhantong and pack up and set off soon."
Haitang smiled slightly and said, "Yes, that's how it should be!"
Mei Yuanchen helped Haitang lie down, extinguished the oil lamp and closed the door before leaving.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" It was already two o'clock in the morning, and three knocks on the door rang out.
"Junior brother, are you here?" Zhan Tong opened the door and said.
Mei Yuanchen was a little surprised to see that he was still wearing the Taoist robe he wore during the day, but he ignored it and asked with a somewhat embarrassed look: "Senior brother, are you feeling tired?"
"Haha, little junior brother, there is no need to say more, let's just do it!" After saying that, Zhan Tong took off the sword from the hanging nail at the door and knocked on the door three times. Suddenly, the doors of the four guest rooms next door opened at the same time. The twelve Taoist priests, old and young, had packed up, walked to the corridor, and looked towards this room.
Mei Yuanchen's heart was agitated, and he bowed deeply to everyone, turned around and walked quickly downstairs. "Swish!", "swish!", "swish!" A sound like the wind sounded.
Under the bright moon, a group of thirteen riders rode westward
