Chapter 366 My Big Brother Came To Save Me!

Magistrate Tian somehow suddenly found his strength. He lunged over, gritting his teeth through the pain, and clumsily ran his injured hand over himself from head to toe. When he discovered that it was only the outside of his thigh that had been cut open and there was no blood, he collapsed to the ground.

Liang Manshan pulled open the torn trouser leg and saw that the skin there was only scraped red. He let out a breath of relief.

Yan Xiangheng looked at the blade stuck in the ground outside the tunnel entrance, its edge pointing inward, and thought to himself how close it had been.

A false alarm.

Yan Lao’er realized he was fine, apart from the burning pain where the knife had scraped his thigh. He did not feel the least bit embarrassed; who had time for pride right now?

Rubbing his burning thigh, he shouted toward the tunnel entrance, “If you can crawl over, then crawl. If you can’t, run. Take the high ground and shake them off!”

Two more people crawled through. Those behind really could not get in anymore, so they listened to him and ran along the roof beams. At this point they no longer cared about making noise, so they ran and leapt, and the roof tiles clattered down all along their path.

Yan Huaiwen came riding and saw people running along the rooftops with Northern Rong in pursuit behind them. He raised his bow and shot.

Whoosh!

An arrow pierced one man’s throat, and he toppled from his horse.

The Northern Rong behind him hastily pulled their horses up. Seeing in the distance a group of men riding toward them, clearly Crouching Tiger reinforcements, they gave up the chase, turned their mounts, and headed for the west gate.

Yan Huaiwen spurred closer. Through the wall, he could already hear his younger brother shouting.

“Ouch, it still hurts. That blade, it missed by just a bit… that was close…” The next moment, that voice turned into a shriek: “Carry Magistrate Tian! Quick, they are coming this way. Not good, they saw us! Stop bickering and shove Magistrate Tian into the tunnel. Yes, shove him back in! Don’t dawdle, everyone on that side already ran. There’s no one here right now. Manshan, Heng’er, you go first, give him a pull…”

Yan Huaiwen’s face was as cold as frost.

His brother had almost died himself, and he was still thinking about others.

At a time like this, what was he trying to prove?

Everyone has those closer and those more distant. Magistrate Tian might be a good official, but to trade away Tianyou’s safety for him…

He left a few men to guard this spot, then wheeled his horse and rushed toward the nearest north gate.

Yan Xiangheng had just crawled through when he saw a dozen tall warhorses surrounding them, the men on horseback staring at him with bright, sharp eyes.

He almost jumped out of his skin.

Looking closely, he saw they wore Guanzhou army uniforms, and his eyes immediately reddened.

He turned, grabbing Uncle Liang as he called toward his other uncle, “Uncle, the reinforcements are here, right over here. Hurry up and come through! Once you are over, we are saved!”

As soon as Liang Manshan heard that, he gathered every ounce of strength he had and crawled out of the tunnel at the fastest speed of his life.

There was no time to rejoice. He hurried to grab Magistrate Tian by the arm and drag him over.

Yan Lao’er was on edge. Those Northern Rong with grain sacks piled on their horse backs were not hurrying off at all; instead, when they saw people here, they grinned viciously and waved their blades as they charged.

He had given his Bamboo Crossbow to the Zao Unit runner who had covered them earlier while they crawled into the tunnel. Now he only had a single knife in his hand, which did nothing to make him feel safe. He kept looking back toward the tunnel, cursing inwardly at how slow they were.

What? Magistrate Tian was stuck again?

Yan Lao’er hurriedly repeated the earlier steps, adjusted the angle, braced his foot…

Just as he finished busying about and turned around, the Northern Rong were already on top of him.

The two sides were in close quarters now.

There was no time left for him to crawl into the tunnel.

Yan Lao’er’s adrenaline spiked to the limit.

Gripping his knife in both hands, he swung down with all the strength he had.

He was not aiming at the Northern Rong, but at the horse.

The blade bit into the horse’s neck. The animal let out a long, shrill scream and lashed out with its hooves, aiming a kick at him.

Yan Lao’er twisted his body and rolled to the side. He almost wrenched his lower back, but he managed to dodge by a hair.

He did not get the knife back. As the horse went crazy, bucking and kicking, blood sprayed everywhere.

The Northern Rong formation fell into chaos. He wanted desperately to turn and crawl into the tunnel, but his legs had gone weak.

If he could not stand, he would crawl. Using both hands and feet, he clawed his way toward the tunnel entrance.

“Uncle, faster… watch your back!”

From his Eldest Nephew’s face inside the tunnel, Yan Lao’er saw panic, saw fear. Those eyes were opened so wide…

In that instant, time seemed to slow down.

All the hairs on his body stood on end, as if they sensed the danger even before he did.

The pain he had imagined did not arrive.

Instead, a warm wetness splashed over the back of his neck, sticky and uncomfortable…

Was it blood?

He wiped at it and, sure enough, his hand came away bloody.

“Tianyou! Tianyou!”

Old Yan’s voice sounded by his ear. No, it was his own big brother.

Strangely, he wondered why, at the point of death, the voices he heard were not his wife’s or his daughter’s.

Yan Lao’er was still dazed when someone rolled him over and hauled him into an embrace.

“Tianyou, how are you? Look at me, look at your brother!”

Yan Lao’er thought: Big Brother is crying…

Tears were falling on his face, hot and wet.

No, why did it feel so real?

His hand trembled as he reached up to touch his brother’s face.

Huh? He could feel it. The texture…

I am not dead?

“Brother?”

“Brother!”

In an instant, all his pent-up grievance and bitterness surged to the surface.

Yan Lao’er’s tear ducts were far more active than his brother’s.

Huge teardrops streamed down his cheeks in torrents.

“Brother! My dear brother! Why are you only here now! Waaah! I was scared half to death! Brother…” He howled at the top of his lungs, as if he wanted to cry out all the terror of this day.

“Those bastards are everywhere, they kill anyone they see! I was scared! I still had to drag Magistrate Tian, drag him… Eldest Nephew is fine, Manshan is fine… They all listened to me, ran with me, did what I said to kill Northern Rong. I killed some too. I… a lot of people died, Brother. One batch after another. I did not even dare look, Brother! Uuuuu… The Northern Rong are not human, they are not human, it was too horrible, too horrible…”

Yan Lao’er babbled incoherently for a long time, as if he had a bellyful of words he wanted to pour out to his brother, but could not get them out. He only clung to his brother with all his strength, afraid that if he loosened his grip, his brother would disappear.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the Northern Rong lying on the ground, an arrow through his neck. He kicked at the corpse with his foot, sobbing and wailing without pause.

Yan Huaiwen could feel his younger brother teetering on the brink of collapse. He soothed him over and over. “It’s over now, Tianyou, it is all over. Your big brother is here. Don’t be afraid…”

His gaze swept inch by inch over his brother’s body. Only when he saw that Tianyou was unhurt did he finally relax a little.

He himself did not know how he had managed to loose that arrow.

His hands were still shaking even now.

Yan Huaiwen was stiff with tension, afraid to move, afraid to touch Tianyou, afraid that Tianyou would notice.

That the big brother he relied on and trusted could also feel fear, could also be terrified…

He had lost someone before…

He did not want to go through it again.

…

The Northern Rong withdrew, and Crouching Tiger returned to peace.

But this peace was steeped in desolation and grief, heavy with helplessness and hate…

The common folk finally dared to cry out loud, and the wails of the whole city did not cease for a long time.

Crouching Tiger had suffered grievously.

The granary was seized. In the households within the city, eight or nine out of ten were draped in white^[1].

The city garrison was almost entirely wiped out. There were hardly any sound men left who could still stand.

The five hundred men Gufeng had sent as reinforcements had no choice but to temporarily take over the military affairs within the city, patrol the streets, and assist the Government Office in cleaning up the aftermath.

(End of chapter)