Chapter 23.2

Pear Blossom stubbornly replied, “Even if my father is dead, I want to bring his body back. I just need to know where he went on the mission.”

Zuo Qi looked at the young girl in surprise. She was about fifteen or sixteen, tall but very thin, with dark skin. Her brow revealed a strong determination.

He was astonished by her resolve, though he still doubted her. He asked, “Can you ride a horse?”

Pear Blossom thought for a moment. His question indicated that her father’s mission must be far away. She had ridden cattle before, and from watching others, it didn’t seem too difficult. So, for the first time, she lied and nodded.

“Can you ride for four days, with only two hours of sleep each day?” Zuo Qi asked, trying to make her reconsider.

No matter how tough she was, who could handle riding non-stop for days like a man? Especially someone so young.

But Pear Blossom replied firmly, “I can.”

Zuo Qi, seeing the girl’s somewhat naive look, thought she might not realize how grueling the ride would be. She’d probably give up after a few miles, and then he’d have done his part with the token.

So Zuo Qi returned to the camp and soon brought out two horses, tossing one of the reins to her.

Pear Blossom carefully observed how he mounted and followed suit, swinging her leg over and mounting the horse.

She was light and nimble, so the horse didn’t get scared and stood steady.

The system also gave her a posture reminder, and Pear Blossom quickly adjusted, making it hard for Zuo Qi to notice it was her first time riding.

Seeing him urging his horse forward, she gently shook the reins, and the horse followed.

At first, Pear Blossom was nearly thrown off by the momentum, but she quickly adjusted. To her surprise, she found riding a horse was exhilarating. One word: refreshing.

As she ran, the wind raced by. There was a saddle, and her body was securely fastened, stable, and steady—safer than riding on the back of a cow.

Moreover, she could control the horse’s direction. If she wanted it to go faster, it did; if she wanted it to slow down, it did. It was truly amazing.

As long as she didn’t panic, she kept her body steady, hooked her feet into the stirrups, held the reins tightly, and most importantly, had courage—being in harmony with the horse, eyes fixed ahead, urging the horse forward.

The two of them ran, one ahead and one behind, just as Zuo Qi had said, needing to run for four days. During these four days, apart from dismounting to rest while eating, they were always on horseback. 

However, it wasn’t like Zuo Qi had said, that they would only sleep for two hours each night. Once it got dark and the road became unclear, they would stop and find shelter to rest.

After all, it was her first time riding a horse, and no matter how much she adapted, it would still be tiring, especially for a girl’s body.

But Pear Blossom didn’t dare complain of being tired. She felt that Zuo Qi was waiting for her to say she was exhausted, and then he would turn around and head back to the camp.

In truth, she didn’t know that before the first day, Zuo Qi might have had that thought, but after the second day, he was solely focused on taking her to their destination.

On the fourth day, when Pear Blossom felt her waist aching and nearly unable to continue, they arrived at a mountain pass, and Zuo Qi stopped the horse.

At the same time, the system’s voice sounded in her mind: “The location of Xiang Dagen and the others has been detected. These six people are tied up in a cave about nine miles away, guarded by six sentries.”

Pear Blossom tried to steady her expression and said, “Centurion, is my father’s mission site here?”

“Yes,” Zuo Qi replied. “This is the border area between the Kingdom of Wei and the Kingdom of Yan. It originally belonged to our Yan, but later it was taken by Wei. After that, there were decades of battles fought over this land. It became a buffer zone. 

Your father and the others were initially tasked with ambushing a merchant caravan passing through this pass. 

Though they called it a merchant caravan, it was actually a spy group from Wei. The few who escaped said that suddenly about thirty or forty people rushed out, and the two sides fought here. We’ve already sent three groups of people to check this area, but none of them found the remaining six.”

Pear Blossom roughly understood what was going on. Now she had confirmed the location of Xiang Dagen, but the difficult part was how to get there without arousing Zuo Qi’s suspicions and how to defeat the six guards to rescue the captives.

…
Beyond the mountain pass, there were small hills and slopes, none too high, with trees of various heights. Pear Blossom could only head in the direction indicated by the system.

Zuo Qi noticed her aimless search and furrowed his brows, but said nothing, instead searching in a different direction.

About two miles from the target point, the system notified Pear Blossom that she needed to dismount to avoid the sound of hooves alerting the enemy.

Pear Blossom quickly dismounted and tied the horse to a nearby tree.

“Host, the guards are cooking. The smoke indicates where they are preparing food.”

Pear Blossom looked in the direction indicated by the system and saw a small wisp of smoke rising. It was faint and barely visible, showing that the enemy was being very cautious.

It seemed these people had been hiding here for quite some time. Eating raw food couldn’t go on forever, and it was a stroke of luck that Pear Blossom had stumbled upon their rare opportunity to cook.

Knowing she couldn’t handle the guards alone, Pear Blossom led the horse back for a distance before getting back on and heading toward Zuo Qi.

When she reached Zuo Qi, she gasped for breath and said, “Over there, in the direction of the setting sun, there’s—there’s smoke—”

Zuo Qi immediately became alert. “Lead the way!”

Pear Blossom quickly urged her horse forward toward the direction where she had seen the smoke. When they reached the location, she quickly pulled on the reins to stop and dismount. 

Zuo Qi followed suit, dismounting and looking in the direction Pear Blossom had pointed out. Sure enough, a small wisp of smoke came into view.

“We’ve sent three groups of people here and never found this location. Turns out they were hiding in this remote spot.”

Without that wisp of smoke, they would have never been able to find the place. Moreover, the hiding spot was nearly ten miles away from the original location of the incident. The search parties never expected the captives to be taken so far.

“Centurion, what should we do?”

Zuo Qi furrowed his brows. “We don’t know how many people are there yet. Let’s lie in ambush first. I’ll go over and assess their situation, then we’ll make a plan.”

Pear Blossom wanted to tell him that there were six guards inside the cave, but if he asked how she knew, she wouldn’t have an explanation. She could only wait anxiously.

The two of them quietly advanced, crawling forward. They lay in ambush for the entire day and night. After the enemy cooked their meal, there was no further movement.

Zuo Qi was cautious. He didn’t dare act rashly without understanding the situation.

In the evening, Zuo Qi handed Pear Blossom half of the rations. After eating and drinking, Pear Blossom fell asleep. She didn’t know when she was woken up, but when she opened her eyes, everything around her was dark.

Zuo Qi lowered his voice and said, “I’ve already investigated. There are five guards inside, and your father and the others are being held in the cave. We’ll go now. I’ll distract them, and you go free your father and the other soldiers.”

He threw a dagger to Pear Blossom.

Pear Blossom picked up the dagger and stood up, ready to act with him.

She didn’t tell Zuo Qi that there were actually six guards.

Zuo Qi had planned to give her more instructions, but to his surprise, the young girl said nothing. 

She wasn’t scared when she heard they were about to act. She was completely different from the girls he had met before. He shook his head and didn’t say anything more, crawling forward.

When they were about two hundred meters from the cave entrance, Zuo Qi told Pear Blossom to hide first, then went off in another direction. He started a fire at a spot he had prepared earlier, then moved to another spot, setting three fires at different positions.

Then they touched the cave entrance, making a sound.

Sure enough, the people inside the cave quickly became alert. First, a guard stuck his head out and saw the other three places on fire, quickly retreating to inform his companions.

Immediately, five more people came out of the cave. Two crawled towards the fire to scout, while three crouched at the entrance to survey the surroundings.

Zuo Qi let out a loud shout and leapt forward. The three quickly grabbed their knives to meet him, and a fierce battle ensued.

Pear Blossom took the opportunity to appear and entered the cave. One of the guards saw her and tried to turn back to stop her but was entangled by Zuo Qi, unable to get free.

Inside the cave, there was another guard, likely watching over the prisoners, including Xiang Dagen and others. Zuo Qi thought all the guards had been lured out. He believed that as long as he held them off, this young girl could rescue everyone inside the cave.

Once they were rescued, there would be six helpers to fight the five enemy guards, which would be easy.

But unexpectedly, as Pear Blossom entered the cave, she ran into the last remaining guard.

Pear Blossom was no longer the naive girl she once was. With nine points in wisdom and seven in physical strength, and after being guided by Xiang Dagen, she had trained for quite some time. Seeing the large man in front of her, she wasn’t intimidated at all. With a dagger in hand, she charged forward.

Outside the cave, Zuo Qi heard the sounds of fighting and was alarmed. He cursed in his heart and became even more ruthless in his attacks.

The two other guards who had been scouting quickly realized it was a feint and turned back. One entered the cave, while the other stayed outside to entangle Zuo Qi.

For a moment, Zuo Qi was facing four opponents and was struggling, unable to pay attention to what was happening inside the cave.

Inside, Pear Blossom fought with the large man. Using her agility and the system’s assistance, she pummeled him, leaving him bruised and howling. But then, another enemy arrived.

Pear Blossom had never fought two opponents at once, but she wasn’t scared. She immediately snuffed out the cave’s candlelight, relying on the system to identify positions and enemy locations, striking with precision.

Meanwhile, the two guards, unable to see without the light, found it impossible to catch the slippery young girl, who darted around like an eel. They cursed, but soon, Pear Blossom struck one in the thigh, and within a few moves, the guard was immobilized.

When she noticed the guards had stopped moving, Pear Blossom relit the lamp and found six prisoners, including Xiang Dagen, locked in the adjacent cave.

Xiang Dagen, thinking he had entered the underworld, was overwhelmed with emotion when he saw his daughter. He burst into tears.

Pear Blossom said, “Father, why are you crying? We’re about to escape!”

Xiang Dagen banged his head against the nearby stone wall, trying to confirm whether he was hallucinating. Someone next to him stopped him, saying, “Dagen, what are you doing? Don’t die by your own hand after surviving the enemy’s attacks!”

Only then did Xiang Dagen believe his eyes. After being untied, he eagerly asked, “Daughter, how did you find us here?”

Pear Blossom replied, “Don’t talk now, Father. Zuo Baihu is still holding off the enemy outside. We need to help him!”

Everyone immediately rushed outside, one by one.

Outside the cave, Zuo Qi was struggling against four opponents. Worrying about Pear Blossom inside, he was distracted and got several cuts. He was anxious but soon saw his people emerge from the cave. 

He knew the situation was under control and took the opportunity to knock two opponents to the ground.

The others quickly joined in, and together they subdued the four enemies.

Zuo Qi wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling embarrassed. As a Baihu, well-trained and used to handling four enemies, he had never been in such a desperate situation. Meanwhile, this young girl easily took care of two inside the cave. It was rather humiliating.

Xiang Dagen then asked Zuo Qi how he had found the location.

Zuo Qi looked at Pear Blossom and said, “Originally, we sent three groups of people to search for your whereabouts but found nothing. It was your daughter who came to our camp, insisting she would find you. 

She said ‘Alive, show me the person; dead, show me the corpse.’ I couldn’t refuse her, so I thought I would take her on a trip to make her give up, but she really found you.”

Pear Blossom chuckled, “It just so happened they were cooking. I saw a wisp of smoke. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found this place.”

The prisoners tied up on the ground truly believed they had been discovered because of the cooking and complained to each other.

Xiang Dagen grinned and said, “My daughter is impressive.”

The others also patted his shoulder, expressing their recognition and thanks.

Pear Blossom then heard the system’s voice: “Host, there are food supplies buried in the cave, totaling 20,000 stone.”

At that moment, Zuo Qi called everyone to return immediately, but Pear Blossom quickly said, 
“Don’t rush—”

Everyone turned to look at her.

Pear Blossom pointed at the large man who had been tied up and said, “I just heard him say there are food supplies buried in this cave.”

The other Wei prisoners glared angrily at the large man.

The large man, terrified, immediately cried out, “I’m innocent! I didn’t say anything!”

“How does this little girl know?” someone asked.

“I don’t know. When she entered the cave, I cursed at her. When did I mention anything about supplies?”

“But she said it was you who revealed it.”

Zuo Qi and the others were overjoyed. “So the food we lost two months ago is hidden here. Quick, everyone, search around.”

Indeed, after a thorough search and with the system’s help, several officers quickly found the location of the hidden supplies.

Everyone was overjoyed.

Zuo Qi’s face became serious, though, as he said, “We need someone to return immediately to report and have the Qianhu send troops to transport the supplies. This place is closer to the Wei army camp. If the Wei people find out we’ve seized this cave, things won’t end well.”

In the end, it was decided that an old soldier would ride double horses and rush back to the camp to call for reinforcements, while the others would stay in the cave, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

After the old soldier left, everyone restored the surroundings to their original state and retreated into the cave to continue hiding.

It was only then that Xiang Dagen had time to speak with Pear Blossom.

Upon learning that the Xiang family had actually sent their 13-year-old son to the military camp for service, Xiang Dagen was so furious that his chest heaved and his eyes turned red.

“Imagine, I’ve spent twenty years working hard for the Xiang family, yet they’re so heartless to do this to me. My son is only 13, and they’re putting him through this kind of hardship. How could I have such parents and such brothers? This is a curse!”

The other comrades also felt sympathetic toward him.

“But we don’t accept anyone under 13 in the military camp,” one of them said.

Pear Blossom explained, “They used my father’s ten taels of funeral expenses to bribe someone at the local government to change Daniu’s official age to 17.”

“How could they! This is too much. What kind of parents and grandparents do such things?”

“Dalang, your parents are really too biased. In our family, there are four brothers, each with one or two sons. We each take turns serving three years in the army, and that’s enough for our lives. Unlike you, you’ll never have a break.”

“That’s right. Dalang, are you sure your parents didn’t just pick you up somewhere?”

“You’re right. Maybe because your family has military favor, your parents specifically picked someone else’s child to serve the family, like it’s a never-ending cycle. After the father serves, the son will take his turn, then he’ll get married, have a few sons, and the cycle continues, and the real sons of the family never have to serve.”

“That’s exactly it, otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Exactly. What kind of grandparents would treat their own children and grandchildren this way?”

Xiang Dagen’s head buzzed as he involuntarily thought back to when he was 17. Other kids had already started families and had children, but his parents never made any plans for him to marry. 

It was only after his second and third brothers married that, at the age of 20, he picked his wife, Xiong, on his own. Initially, his parents had refused, but then, overnight, their attitude completely changed. It was truly baffled.