Chapter 9: A Prophecy Comes True
Tang Ying's words caused everyone present to have different expressions.
"I... I heard someone talking in the girls' tent, so I came in to take a look!" Geng Ming was beaten into a pig's head, but he also had moments of bright thinking.
The attendants around Boss Jiang are very familiar with the escort team. They have people on duty every night and they always have handovers with the escort team's rotating personnel. One of the honest attendants was very confused: "It's not Escort Captain Geng who is on duty tonight, so why is he in Miss Zhang's room?"
What doesn't Zhang Qing understand at this moment?
It must be the man named Geng who wanted to take advantage of the lady at night, but he didn't expect to be defeated by her, so he slandered the lady that there was a man in her tent.
He clenched his fists in anger and shouted, "Geng, you are too much of a bully, aren't you?"
Before Geng Ming entered the tent, he did have the intention of bullying Tang Ying, taking advantage of the darkness or something like that. Unexpectedly, he suffered a great loss instead. He pointed at his own pig-headed face and asked back: "I... I bully others? I'm beaten like this, and I'm still bullying others?" He told the lie twice and even he believed it. Besides, if there wasn't a wild man hiding in Miss Zhang's tent, he wouldn't have been beaten like this.
"Why don't you ask your sister which wild man is hiding in her tent? He's a coward who beats people up and runs away." He insisted that the wild man ran away after beating people up, but he refused to believe that this sickly girl could beat him into this state.
Tang Ying pulled Zhang Qing's sleeve and sobbed, "Brother, this man has slandered my innocence. I will not live any longer! Find a knife and let your sister slit her throat!"
She has been playful since she was young and is an expert at fighting and cheating others, but crying with tears in her eyes and acting like a little white flower is really a challenge for her acting skills. She has already tried her best to make her voice sound choked.
Zhang Qing lived up to Tang Ying's acting skills and said angrily, "My brother and I took shelter under the name of Chief Escort Mo because we heard that he was kind and chivalrous. But Geng slandered my sister's innocence and made her want to commit suicide. As her brother, I can't ignore my sister's life or death. The chief escort is righteous, and my brother and sister will definitely repay him when we have the chance. Please excuse us for leaving now!"
He insisted on taking his sister away. Boss Jiang showed sympathy and said, "There are thieves in the camp and it's not peaceful. Where can you go with your sister in the middle of the night? You'd better stay." He also discussed with Chief Escort Mo, "Since there are thieves sneaking into the camp, why don't we catch them first and then discuss other things?"
Zhang Qing was so angry: "Isn't it the thief crying thief?"
This sentence made Boss Jiang, who had been confused for a long time, suddenly understand. When they were out doing business, they were most afraid of encountering bandits, vagrants, and thieves . At the least, they would lose their property, and at the worst, they would lose their lives. They were woken up by a quarrel in the middle of the night, and they didn't expect it to be such a mess. He sympathized with Miss Zhang's experience, but also despised the surname Geng, so he said something fair: "Boss Mo, if Boss Geng is interested in Miss Zhang, he can wait until he gets back and ask a matchmaker to come to propose marriage. Why bother to harm someone innocent in the middle of the night and make everyone uneasy."
Although Chief Escort Mo has no scruples when it comes to women, he is still a reliable escort. Besides, he doesn't dare to take advantage of anyone. If Miss Zhang was a female member of Boss Jiang's family today, she would not dare to be so unscrupulous, and she probably wouldn't even have the guts to think about it.
Compared with women, he cares more about the reputation of the escort agency.
But who made the Zhang brothers and sisters so poor and humble?
After the Battle of Baicheng, the least valuable things were women, children and young children. A pretty young lady was worth only two dou of grain in the hands of human traffickers, which could be exchanged for food at home. However, if she was sold to more prosperous cities by human traffickers and sold to brothels, the profit could be more than ten times the amount.
The business of welcoming and seeing off guests is not easy to do. If she really follows him, it will be a blessing for Miss Zhang.
He had the idea of saving this poor girl in his heart. He could not only hold her beauty in his arms but also win her gratitude. When she became his woman, wouldn't it strengthen their friendship when they talked about their past encounter in the boudoir? Therefore, this time, Chief Escort Mo acted in a roundabout way and was able to maintain his dignity in front of Boss Jiang.
He kicked Geng Ming hard and said, "You bastard, why are you running around in the middle of the night? Are you sleepy? You hit your head over there and broke it. You are in such a bad state and you are blaming it on Miss Zhang. You are shameless. Don't you want Miss Zhang to behave herself? Why don't you go and apologize to Miss Zhang?"
Geng Ming staggered when he was kicked without any defense. He turned around and was about to say: "Didn't you, the chief escort, suggest that I sneak into Miss Zhang's tent to scare her?" But when he met the sinister eyes of the chief escort, Mo, he was so scared that he dared not say a word and quickly gave in.
"I'm sorry, Miss Zhang. I must have been confused because I was in a daze and walked into the wrong tent. I don't know whose tent I broke into and got beaten, but I went to your tent. I was blinded by greed and had thoughts about you that I shouldn't have. That's why I said such nonsense. Please don't commit suicide, it's all Geng's fault!"
Tang Ying held onto Zhang Qing's arm and refused to let go, saying timidly, "Brother, please don't leave. I'm scared."
After something like this happened, she, a little girl, was naturally scared to live alone in a tent.
Boss Jiang looked at the burly Geng Ming, then at the thin girl who was almost hidden behind her brother, and thought: When you are away from home, you should do good deeds.
He said, "If you don't mind, I have a bigger tent that can accommodate you two to spend the night."
"Thank you, Mr. Jiang. I'll take my sister there right away." He kept Tang Ying by his side and followed Boss Jiang. When he passed by Chief Escort Mo, he pointed out something: "Chief Escort Mo, please take care of Geng!"
Chief Escort Mo was so angry that his nose almost became crooked.
Geng Ming is wronged !
He was just sent by the chief escort to act as a vanguard and a bad guy. He thought that after the mission was accomplished, he might even be treated as a matchmaker by the chief escort. He didn't expect that not only would he be beaten into a fool, but he would also be so embarrassed in front of others that he wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
When everyone had dispersed and went back to sleep in their tents, he followed Chief Escort Mo back, still puzzled: "Chief Escort, who is hiding in Miss Zhang's tent?"
This was also the issue that Chief Escort Mo was concerned about. The dim light illuminated one side of his kind face, but the other side of his cheek was covered in a deep shadow. He said solemnly, "Keep an eye on that girl and see which wild man she gets together with." Suddenly he became annoyed, "She lives in the same tent with her brother now. How could that wild man go there again? I underestimated her. She turns out to be a slut!" He secretly hated that girl for being so blind.
"I will definitely keep a close eye on that girl for the chief escort!" Geng Ming smiled carefully, fearing that the chief escort would cause trouble for him.
Chief Escort Mo was attracted by the girl's beauty, but he didn't have to marry her. Since she already had a stranger, the idea of marrying her was abandoned. He smiled and said, "Keep an eye on her. After I have tasted her, I will let her serve you once. It will be worth the beating you received for her."
"Thank you, Chief Escort!" Geng Ming's head was as swollen as a pig's, but he couldn't help but be overjoyed and left happily.
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Boss Jiang asked his three followers to vacate a tent, which was right next to his tent, about three or five steps away.
Zhang Qing followed Tang Ying into the tent. When he heard no more noise outside, he spoke up, "Miss, what's going on?"
Tang Ying sat cross-legged under the quilt and took out her personal dagger to play with it: "It's just as you saw. Geng sneaked in in the middle of the night. This Chief Escort Mo really has the appearance of a bodhisattva, but the heart of a sword. Let's find a chance to leave when we find a bigger city. If we stay here any longer, we'll end up in a fight and there's no guarantee that there won't be bloodshed."
The dagger was captured by Tang Yao from the general of the Northern Barbarians. The blade was extremely sharp, a weapon that could cut hair with a single blow, and it could easily cut the skin if one was not careful.
"Everything is up to you, young lady." Zhang Qing was about to go out: "Young lady, please go to bed early. I will go outside to keep watch for you."
Although the two of them addressed each other as brother and sister to outsiders, when no one was around, Zhang Qing was still very respectful and kept his identity in mind.
"Zhang Qing, you and I have been through life and death together for a long time. We are no longer master and servant. I have been thinking these past two days, if...if my father were alive, I would tell him that I want to recognize you as my sworn brother, I am afraid he would also happily agree."
Zhang Qing turned his head in surprise: "Miss..."
Under the light, the cold eyes were filled with a little warmth, and the girl smiled faintly: "When we find a safe place, we can buy incense and offerings, and then we can perform the sworn brotherhood ceremony." She frowned in disdain: "It's too casual to use grass as incense."
How can we treat the relationship of living and dying together casually?
Zhang Qing was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to say: "Miss, you can't do this! You can't do this! The Marshal has saved my life and raised me up. I should do anything for you, young lady!" In name, he was Tang Jue's long-term attendant, but in fact he also followed the major general to learn literacy and martial arts, but he did not have military status.
"That's settled." Tang Ying pulled the quilt over her and fell asleep: "Brother, turn off the light. I'm so sleepy."
She has the style of Marshal Tang, who can't take back his words once they're spoken.
Zhang Qing was alone, and had never expected to encounter such a situation. He stood there for a moment, then choked up and said, "Okay."
Since the two had made up their minds to leave, they started hanging out with Boss Jiang's people day and night. The only difference was that Tang Ying still sat in the cart carrying goods, but whichever cart she sat in, Zhang Qing would walk beside it, following closely. His extremely worried look made Geng Ming, who had followed them for several days in a row, almost lose his patience.
He cursed inwardly: "I really want to find a place with high mountains and deep forests to intercept this pair of siblings, so as to avoid all this trouble."
Unexpectedly, their words came true. Within two days, they encountered a group of mountain bandits. The environment at that time was in line with what the escort leader Geng had imagined, a wilderness road with high mountains and dense trees. The difference was that when they ran into them, the bandits were surrounding a group of people and preparing to attack, and they were still in the stage of testing each other.
Geng Ming: “…” What bad luck!
