pjbooks Chapter 224 Li Shaodian
Chapter 224 Li Shaodian
Chapter 224 Li Shaodian
Lin Ziping reacted quickly, grabbing Fan Ji and holding tightly to the reins behind him.
“Yu Yu—”
The horse reared up, neighing loudly.
Lin Ziping and his companion were pulled so hard they stumbled and nearly fell.
"Pull hard!" Lin Ziping shouted, pulling hard on the reins, the rope rubbing against his hands for a long distance.
Fan Ji pulled backwards with both hands, grimacing.
The horse suddenly went berserk for some unknown reason.
No matter how hard they tried, it was no use; they were still being pulled forward.
"Get out of the way! Quickly—get out of the way!"
Lin Ziping shouted, his voice cracking.
The two men gripped the reins tightly. In a daze, Lin Ziping seemed to see Wu Xudong and his group running towards them, and many terrified faces flashed by.
"Quick, stop him! He's about to run towards the tent!"
Someone shouted.
Lin Ziping looked closely and realized that he had lost his mind.
This dead horse is actually running towards the tents of the emperor, his concubines, and his ministers!
"Old Fan, pull him tight!" Lin Ziping shouted. "Old Xu, Xiao Wei, come help!"
Fan Ji gritted his teeth and quickened his pace, trying his best to catch up.
"Get out of the way!" With a loud shout, a dark figure darted out and ran quickly alongside the horse.
"Release the reins!" came another voice from the side.
Lin Ziping subconsciously let go.
Fan Ji probably didn't hear him and, due to inertia, rushed forward a few steps.
"Old Fan, let go!" Wu Xudong shouted from the side.
Fan Ji must have heard the sound, because he quickly let go.
The two men rested their hands on their knees, panting heavily, too exhausted to speak.
Before long, shouts came from ahead.
Lin Ziping gradually recovered and stepped forward to help Fan Ji up: "Old Fan, are you alright?"
Wu Xudong, Pu Santong, and Tang Jiawei also came over.
Fan Ji waved his hand: "It's nothing."
"What's wrong with that horse? Why did it suddenly go berserk?" Lin Ziping shook his hand; he hadn't felt it before, but now his palm was burning with pain.
"I don't know, when I got there the coachman was kicked to the ground." Fan Ji straightened up. "The horse should be under control now, right?"
"I tried my best, but I accept that I couldn't control it," Lin Ziping said.
As they were talking, the sound of horses' hooves came from ahead.
Lin Ziping looked up and saw a young man in black riding a horse against the light.
He walked up to Lin Ziping and the others, dismounted, and handed the reins to Lin Ziping: "Keep an eye on your horses."
The horse snorted twice at Lin Ziping.
Lin Ziping gripped the reins tightly, rolled his eyes at the horse when no one was looking, and cursed inwardly: Disobedient dead horse!
"Thank you, young brother." Fan Ji clasped his hands in greeting to the young man in black, and then introduced them one by one, "I am Fan Ji from the Prefectural Guard Battalion. These are Lin Ziping, Pu Santong, Wu Xudong, and Tang Jiawei. May I ask your honorable name and which prefecture you are from?"
Lin Ziping and the others also clasped their hands in a salute to the boy in black.
"Brother Fan, you're too kind. I am Li Shaodian from Tengxiang Guard." The young man in black clasped his hands in a fist salute.
The group exchanged greetings.
At that moment, the coachman who had been kicked to the ground also ran over.
"Second Young Master." The coachman knelt down with a thud when he saw Li Shaodian.
The young man's handsome brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "From the Li family?"
"Young Master, this servant is... a stable boy for the Eldest Young Master," the coachman stammered.
"Is this Brother's horse?" Li Shaodian shouted. "With so many people here, why aren't you keeping a close watch on it? What if someone gets hurt?"
Lin Ziping looked at the horse next to him and realized it belonged to Li Qiongying.
Looking at the black-clad youth in front of her, she realized he must be Li Qiongying's younger brother.
The coachman huddled in a ball, begging for mercy: "Second Young Master, spare my life! This horse is usually so gentle, I don't know what happened today, it suddenly went berserk and injured me..."
"Shaodian, how is it?"
Lin Ziping looked at the speaker; it was Zhou Chaofeng.
Zhou Chaofeng put his arm around Li Shaodian's shoulder: "Why are you taking so long to return just a horse?"
Li Shaodian pulled Zhou Chaofeng's hand away: "Why did you come here?"
“Lin Ziping, it’s you.” Zhou Chaofeng greeted Lin Ziping, then said, “Fang Youxing said you tamed a horse and came to return it.”
Li Shaodian looked at Lin Ziping: "You're Lin Ziping?"
Lin Ziping clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Young Master Li."
“I’ve heard my sister talk about you.” Li Shaodian looked Lin Ziping up and down. “Now that I see you, you’re not bad. It’s just a pity that you’re dark-skinned, thin, and a bit short.”
……
Lin Ziping was furious but dared not speak out. He was about to speak when he was interrupted.
"What's going on?" Zhou Chaofeng asked, looking at the coachman kneeling on the ground.
Li Shaodian said to the coachman, "Get up, take the horse back and take good care of it."
"Yes." The driver quickly stood up.
Lin Ziping handed him the reins.
The coachman bowed to the group and then led the horse away.
Li Shaodian and Zhou Chaofeng clearly had something to do, and Lin Ziping, with great tact, offered his farewell: "Young Master Zhou, Young Master Li, we still need to arrange the carriages for the various households, so we'll be leaving now."
Fan Ji also clasped his hands and said, "Thank you very much, Young Master Li, for today's matter."
"Brother Fan, you're too kind. It's quite a coincidence that we've met today. Let's get together again another day," Li Shaodian said, clasping his hands in greeting.
After exchanging greetings, the group departed.
Lin Ziping, Fan Ji, Wu Xudong, Pu Santong, and Tang Jiawei did not separate this time; they walked together and inspected the stables on both sides.
"Old Lin, how do you know that man's sister?" Tang Jiawei, being younger, asked curiously, winking, "Are you two...?"
Lin Ziping smacked Tang Jiawei on the head: "What is it? You're so young and you're already learning bad habits. Who taught you to wink and gossip behind people's backs!"
Tang Jiawei scratched his head, muttering aggrievedly, "That's what they all say, 'A talented man and a beautiful woman, under the flowers and the moon, perfectly in love...'"
"What are you saying!" Lin Ziping smacked Tang Jiawei on the head again. "How can you fabricate a woman's reputation like that! And what have you been learning all day!"
"I was just saying, there's no one else here." Tang Jiawei covered his head.
“You can’t say that even if there’s no one else around,” Lin Ziping said seriously. “Have you forgotten what those two people’s last names were?”
“Zhou…” Tang Jiawei’s eyes widened.
Lin Ziping nodded: "It's exactly what you're thinking of. Walls have ears, especially in broad daylight!"
Fan Ji agreed, "Xiao Lin is right. Xiao Wei can't be so outspoken. If someone overhears what you just said, you'll be in big trouble!"
Wu Xudong and Pu Santong also looked at Tang Jiawei in disagreement.
"I understand, I won't talk about her anymore," Tang Jiawei said.
Lin Ziping repeated, "No one else is allowed either. Think about what you just said."
Tang Jiawei glanced at the group of people who were bowing their heads and said, "Okay, I understand."
A few days ago, the five of them lined up according to their ages and became sworn brothers.
Lin Ziping recalled how she and her roommates had sworn sisterhood in their university dormitory, so she joined them in a blood oath ceremony and, based on her current age, secured the position of the third oldest.
Wu Xudong is the eldest, Fan Ji is the second, Pu Santong is a few months younger than Lin Ziping and is the fourth, and Tang Jiawei is the youngest, so he is naturally the youngest.
After the group became sworn brothers, Tang Jiawei seemed to have unlocked his full potential, becoming very unrestrained and gossipy. Taking advantage of his young age, he would say anything, but it was of no use no matter how many times he said it.
Lin Ziping was very worried about this.