Chapter 299: Chapter 275: Red Beans Grow in the Southern Country

Chen Bai stood in front of Chu Yu.

Chu Yu looked at Hua Cuo, whose eyebrows expressed a chilling murderous intent. After a moment of silence, Chu Yu slowly said, “Hua Cuo, have I ever treated you unfairly?” There had been some minor conflicts between the two before, mainly because of Rong Zhi, but now, the bloodiness before him was chilling to the heart.

Hua Cuo said indifferently, “Your biggest mistake lies in having caught Rong Zhi’s heart.” Feng Ting, Tian Rujing, and he each had their roles, led by Feng Ting, with Tian Rujing as the shield and last resort, and himself as the sword. Feng Ting had sacrificed her male concubine, Tian Rujing had forsaken his love, and he was to abandon his conscience at this moment.

Hatred and fury, the venomous fire, burned within Hua Cuo, growing ever more intense over the years. Achieving this was not a very difficult task; hatred could blind everything, including one’s mind.

Chen Bai shouted harshly, “Block him!” Those accompanying drew their weapons and confronted Hua Cuo, blocking his path; blood splattered constantly amidst shouts, but Chen Bai didn’t even glance at it as he escorted Chu Yu back to the carriage and ordered a swift retreat.

Chen Bai took the coachman’s seat directly, whipped the horses, and seized a moment to pull out a palm-sized paper packet from his bosom. He yanked the string on the side and threw it out the window. After doing these, he said to Chu Yu and the others inside the carriage, “Since Hua Cuo has turned against us, we can no longer stay in Luoyang; we must leave at once.”

The paper packet tumbled to the corner of the street and exploded with a bang. Soon after, black smoke billowed into the sky, resembling the desolate beacons of ancient battlefields, silently proclaiming the imminent slaughter in the chilling cold wind.

When preparing to bring Chu Yu here for temporary refuge, Chen Bai had also arranged for a part of his men to prepare for another contingency. What Rong Zhi valued was his meticulousness, which never relaxed even a bit. In case of emergencies, he could quickly make the best and worst plans and develop corresponding strategies.

The situation was undoubtedly at its worst, but Chen Bai remained calm, reacting accordingly. It was agreed that if there was no issue, he would report back after the fact; however, if there was an emergency, they would resort to the last move, where escape was the best strategy.

This was his last preparation within Luoyang City. All of Rong Zhi’s hidden assets in Luoyang were deployed for the same goal at this moment: a traveling merchant, the owner of a coffin shop, and the women of the music house each used different methods to facilitate Chen Bai’s departure and obstruct the pursuers behind them.

The pursuers were not only Hua Cuo but also a trained group of operatives.

The carriage raced along the road, almost as if flying like lightning. Chen Bai’s brow was marked by visible worry, his whip continuously lashing on the horses’ backs. The agile horses, in pain, neighed crazily and ran wildly, causing the carriage to jolt across the cobbled road, shaking the occupants violently.

But at this moment, no one complained. Chu Yu leaned against Huan Yuan, trying hard to keep from being tossed around. The latter’s back rested tightly against the carriage wall, one hand on Chu Yu’s shoulder and the other clenched into a fist.

The carriage soon left Luoyang City, and by then they had finally shaken off their pursuers. Chen Bai forcefully reined in the horses and quickly jumped down to help Chu Yu out of the carriage.

With Huan Yuan’s support, Chu Yu got down from the carriage feeling dizzy and disoriented. As soon as he stepped onto the ground, he felt the world spinning, and it took him a while to recover slightly. He found they were standing by the Luoshui river, about sixty or seventy meters away from a dock.

At the moment, a few people stood on the dock by a medium-sized boat moored at the edge. Chen Bai quickly said, “Please follow me, let’s take the water route.” He led everyone straight to the dock.

As they disembarked from the carriage, someone rapidly approached them on the dock, passing by Chen Bai. They nodded briefly at each other, and Chen Bai quickly said, “I leave it to you.”

Leave what to him?

Chu Yu’s mind was still somewhat fuzzy, curious, he instinctively turned his head following the man’s retreating figure. He saw the man heading towards the carriage they had arrived in, sat in the driver’s seat, and drove it a distance upstream. Luoyang had snowed the previous day and this morning, leaving an inch-thick layer of white on the ground. Now in the snow, a clear trail of carriage tracks was left.

Seeing this, though Chu Yu’s mind was still somewhat muddled, he understood Chen Bai’s plan. He intended to use the carriage to draw the attention of Hua Cuo and the others, while they would escape in another direction by boat.

This was the arrangement Chen Bai made the moment he realized something was amiss. He also took advantage of the day’s weather conditions; it had snowed yesterday and today. Although the river had not frozen over, the icy conditions and floating ice were not conducive to boating. However, Chen Bai deliberately did the opposite, using the weather and people’s habitual thinking to create an illusion.

Chu Yu hardly had time to think before he was forcibly carried and escorted onto the boat. Chen Bai and three or four others on the dock joined them, except for the person who had driven the carriage away decoy. Another person remained on the dock; he lifted a bamboo basket filled with snow from the edge of the dock. As the boat began to move, the man also scooped up snow from the basket, carefully stepping back while covering the messy footprints near the dock.

After a while, it appeared as if no one had ever been there.

The man continued to scatter the snow while stepping back, until he reached the spot where the carriage had stopped. He then pulled a branch from behind him. Since the carriage had made its brief stop there, some distinct traces were inevitably left behind, so he made sure to be more meticulous.

While cleaning, he saw two brightly colored red beans lying in the pure white snow, looking like droplets of blood from a heart, frozen in the cold snow.

He picked up the red beans, pursed his lips, feeling somewhat uneasy.

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Originally, a few people at the dock were responsible for rowing. The harsh wind reddened their rough hands, and nobody spared effort since the boat was moving downstream. It sailed smoothly, and after about half a mile, Chen Bai’s tense expression slightly relaxed. He walked to the bow of the boat, sat down facing away from the direction of the biting cold wind, and then had leisure to carefully think through the pros and cons of the previous arrangement.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching. Turning his head, he saw Chu Yu coming out of the cabin. He quickly stood up and bowed. Chu Yu gestured, breathing out a sigh, and said, “You don’t need to be so formal; logically, I should be thanking you for saving my life.”

Chen Bai replied solemnly, “Master mustn’t say that, I cannot take such credit. All this was cleverly organized by the young master.” His strategies were almost all taught by Rong Zhi. Now, employing them for Rong Zhi’s sake was perfect.

Chu Yu laughed lightly and said, “I know that, but he is him, and I am me. You saved me, and I must thank you.”

Chen Bai didn’t dare to take credit and said, “This situation is still not entirely safe. We need a few more days to settle down somewhere else and make plans.”

Chu Yu, aware that he was far less skillful than Chen Bai in this regard, humbly asked, “Where do you think we should head to?”

Chen Bai thought for a moment, then said with a bitter smile, “I have no definite answer on where to go, but I fear that just using a trick won’t fool them.”

Midway through the morning, Chen Bai instructed Chu Yu to abandon the boat and switch to land, while the boat was handled by two people to keep moving forward. Only after using the Golden Silkworm Shedding trick twice did he feel slightly relieved. He and Chu Yu then reached the nearest town, bought horses and a carriage, and resumed their journey.

Even if they realized his first Golden Silkworm Shedding trick and relaxed their vigilance as a result, they would probably follow along the water route to the southeast, never suspecting that they had changed course again.

They subsisted on plain food and barely rested, but Chu Yu endured silently, keeping any discomfort to himself to avoid slowing the others down.

As they trekked towards the warmer south to avoid being pursued by Feng Ting on the main roads, they stick to mountainous paths. Yet, about two days later, that nightmarish red figure appeared before them again.

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