Chapter 1159 A strange combination of circumstances
In order to avoid being discovered by her family, Ma Yuling didn't even dare to take a servant with her when she left. Only when she came out did she realize that things were not as simple as she thought. Although she was not the kind of boudoir lady who stayed away from home, she did not have many opportunities to travel far away alone, and she never thought about how difficult it would be to carry several large bags of luggage alone for a long distance.
When I was leaving, I felt that I couldn't bear to part with this piece of clothing. I had to take that piece of clothing with me, and I couldn't leave behind any of the rouge, pink hairpin, earrings, and bracelets. Jiang Dongmei also stuffed fifty taels of silver into her bag before she left. Half of the copper coins were in the bag, which was about the same weight as adding two bricks. Originally, she was afraid that she would need money when she went out, but these messy things are now... It became a burden that she wanted to throw away.
Both mother and daughter really lacked social experience. It would be a suicide for Ma Yuling, a little girl, to travel alone with so many things. If Haihan had not wiped out all the bandit forces in Fushan County in the past few months, Ma Yuling would have been robbed of her people and belongings soon after she walked out of Majiazhuang.
Although it only took half a day to walk, and it was still a relatively flat road, Ma Yuling's energy was already exhausted. When she sat on the roadside and finished eating her dry food, she found that the bag of water she had brought with her when she went out was almost finished, but she didn't know where there was a water source nearby to replenish it. Seeing that the weather was gloomy, it was likely to snow again soon, but Ma Yuling was not even the slightest bit confident whether she could reach her scheduled destination, Guxian Town, before dark.
Ma Yuling's original plan was to reach Dengzhou in two to three days, but now it seems that she is afraid that she will have to travel for six or seven days. She planned to go to her eldest brother's house to avoid the limelight, and to show her family her determination not to marry until her father agreed to her request before returning to Majiazhuang. But based on his actual journey, his family might have chased him out of Majiazhuang and intercepted him before he even reached Dengzhou. She believed that her mother would definitely keep secrets for her, but this kind of confidentiality must be time-limited. At most, she would have about a day to run away. If she could not run far enough during this safe period, she would stay in He was stopped by his family members when he went home, so his run away from home would become a joke.
The real situation will always be worse than expected. Ma Yuling estimated that she would have one day to run away, but in fact her sneaky actions only bought herself half a day. She sat on the roadside to rest, thinking hard about what to do. When the trip down was completed, her father, Ma Dongqiang, was already packing his bags in the village, preparing to set off to catch her and take her home.
There is only one official road to go from near Fushan County to the west to Guxian Town. After passing Guxian Town, you can choose to take the north official road or take a shortcut to the west when going to Dengzhou City. It's a country road. If Ma Yuling wanted to avoid being chased by her family on the way, she had to at least get to the west of Guxian Town before then. But she felt that with her current situation, she would have to wait at least until noon tomorrow before she could reach Guxian Town - or she might never reach Guxian Town, and her family had stopped her before that.
If you want to escape smoothly, you can either throw away these heavy luggage and travel lightly, or you can only change the planned escape route and go somewhere else to hide from the limelight for a few days before deciding whether to go to Dengzhou City or return to Majiazhuang. . But the problem is that not many people in Fushan County know her, but many people know her father. If someone discovers her identity, most of them will go to Majiazhuang to report to her family and ask her family to take her back. It is really not easy for her to hide incognito for a few days.
Ma Yuling thought for a long time and decided to see if there were any villages or towns nearby that could provide some drinking water. She stopped at a three-way intersection. One was the way she came, one was heading west to Guxian Town, and the other was heading towards Turn south towards the mountains. In Ma Yuling's memory, there seemed to be no big villages or towns in the south, but this road was wider than the official road, and judging from the signs of groundbreaking here, it was probably a new road that had just been built.
Ma Yuling also heard that the local bandits had been completely wiped out, so she was not worried that this road led to a bandit's den. Before the Denglai Rebellion broke out, she had gone to Dengzhou with her father and brother, and also stayed one night in Guxian Town. It was at least ten miles away from here to Guxian Town, and the newly built road to the south showed that Obviously there is a population center nearby, and someone has organized road construction to connect to the official road. This place should be much closer than Guxian Town. Maybe we can try our luck there and find an inn to hide and stay for ten and a half days. It's better than being escorted home by his father and brother after arriving in Dengzhou.
The more Ma Yuling thought about it, the more she thought it was feasible. She stood up immediately, gritted her teeth, put the large and small bags on her back, and slowly headed south. More than an hour later, Ma Dongqiang and his entourage drove through here. They did not hesitate for too long at the three-way intersection. They took a brief look at the new road to the south and continued westward.
Ma Yuling, who had no idea about this, was very excited at this time, because she had seen that there was indeed a village on the hillside in front of the road. The wooden village wall built on the outside surrounded the village, and the buildings inside were still The terrain is built one after another, and it seems that the scale is not much larger than the Majiazhuang where I live. This avenue from north to south leads to the entrance of this village. At this time, snow finally began to fall in the sky. Ma Yuling struggled to drag her luggage and gritted her teeth to finish the last part of the journey.
Outside the village, there were several young men with eyebrow-high sticks. They seemed to be responsible for keeping watch outside. They stopped her from a distance: "Little girl, what are you doing here? Are you looking for someone?"< br>
Ma Yuling said: "The little girl is going out to visit relatives and wants to take shelter from the snow. I wonder if there is an inn here?"
Several young students looked at each other and couldn't help laughing. One of them asked: "Little girl, do you know where this is? You'd better go home early. This place does not accept passers-by."< br>
Ma Yuling didn't understand what she meant, but seeing that these people were talking quite friendly and they didn't look like bad people, she boldly said: "My little girl's home is a bit far away from here. I can't make it back today. Please do me a favor, big brothers." , can you help the little girl find a place to stay here to avoid the wind and snow?”
When several young students heard this, they felt it was hard to drive the little girl out, but the rules in this place were strict and they did not dare to make decisions without authorization. At that moment, one of them said: "Then you wait here until I go in and ask for instructions."
Ma Yuling didn't realize there was anything wrong with the other party's actions. During the chaos in Dengzhou in the first two years, all the villages behaved like this to prevent traitors from sneaking into the village. There was a time when Majiazhuang was much stricter than here. If outsiders wanted to enter the village, they not only had to show the way, but also had someone from the village as a guarantee. Although there are no rebels or bandits in Fushan County now, it is not a fault for people to be cautious.
After a while, the young man brought out another person. He looked like he was only in his twenties, but he was not dressed like ordinary people. He was wearing a gray cardigan, straight trousers, and black mid-length cloth boots on his calves. He also wore leggings, a gray hat with a brim on his head, and a leather belt about an inch wide around his waist. The clothes this man was wearing were not as wide as Akito's and had large sleeves. The style was quite docile. In addition, he was tall and strong. With this outfit on his body, he looked very energetic.
"Master Sun, this is the little girl!" The young man who brought him out was quite polite. Even though they were about the same age, he called the man in gray "Master Sun", which showed the difference in their status.
The man in gray clothes surnamed Sun looked Ma Yuling up and down, and asked calmly: "Where is the girl from, and where are you going?" Ma Yuling heard that the other party's accent was that of a native of Dengzhou, and she felt relieved at that moment. Some, but she was afraid of revealing her identity and did not dare to tell her true origin. She immediately made up: "The little girl's surname is Lin, from Qixia County, Dengzhou. She came to Fushan County to visit relatives and was going home. It was getting late. It’s snowing again, so I wanted to come to Guizhuang to take shelter from the snow.”
Qixia County is located in the southwest of Fushan County. There are tens of miles of continuous mountainous areas between the two places. From here to the county seat of Qixia County, there is at least seventy or eighty miles. There is nothing wrong with what Ma Yuling said.
"It turns out to be Miss Lin." The big man in gray nodded and said, "Do you have any fire starters or weapons on you? If you have any, take them out first and let us keep them for you and return them when you leave here. To you.”
Ma Yuling shook her head in denial. Originally, her mother Jiang Dongmei tried to put a self-defense knife in the bag for her, but Ma Yuling felt that the luggage was too heavy and the knife was useless in her opinion, so she didn't take it with her when she left. As for fire starters, she had no intention of camping in the wild, so she didn't bring any of these unused items.
The other party only asked a question, but did not actually search her luggage. She asked a young man to carry her luggage for her and took her into the village.
Ma Yuling quickly noticed that the appearance and size of the houses in this village were exactly the same, and there were also new houses under construction. These houses have adobe walls and gabled roofs, and they all look like new houses that have just been built. As far as the eye can see in the village, there are no old people or children, almost all are young people. Many people are wearing the same style of clothes as the man in gray who is leading the way, which looks quite strange.
Although Ma Yuling thought the clothes of these people were a bit weird, she didn't realize what it meant until she was taken to an open area and watched hundreds of uniformly dressed people in gray lined up neatly in this place. After practicing in the phalanx, I suddenly realized that this place was not a village, but a military camp!
After discovering the truth, Ma Yuling's expression immediately changed. Although she didn't know the true identities of these people, she had heard that the military camp was definitely not a place where women could come and go at will. Ma Yuling suddenly thought of some rumors she had heard before. During the Denglai Rebellion, the rebels and the Ming army who came to quell the rebellion had committed many evil deeds in the local area. There were also instances of relatives of the Ma family being persecuted during this period. Anyone who is a soldier is not a good person in Miss Ma's eyes. The other party brought her in like this, I'm afraid they don't have any good intentions.
Ma Yuling was panicking, but she didn't dare to ask out loud, for fear that the other party would see through her guilty conscience. But in her mind, she was thinking about why she was so confused, and why she wanted to come to this ghost place to seek shelter despite being official. Even if I want to leave now, I am afraid that the other party will not let me go easily. I don't know if the other party will let me go for the sake of my father, Ma Daguanren, if I reveal my identity.
But then she thought, if these unidentified soldiers knew that her family was well-off, they might threaten her family to use a sum of money to redeem their identity on the condition of her own safety. It’s better not to rush to reveal your identity first, and let’s look at the situation first.
"Sun Zhen, who is this girl you are bringing? Is it your family or a fellow villager?"
When Ma Yuling was distracted, the big man in gray who was leading the way suddenly stopped and she almost hit the wall of flesh. When she came back to her senses, she noticed that someone had stopped the big man leading the way.
Ma Yuling couldn't see the situation in front of her, so she tilted her body and poked her head out from the side of the big man. She saw that the person in front of her who asked the question was also a young man in gray, but the fabric of his clothes was obviously much higher quality. , not cotton but a material that looks thick and stiff. In addition to the cardigan, he is also wearing a gray coat, leather boots that cover his calves, and a pair of black leather gloves on his hands. What best reveals this person's identity are the several cold-eyed armed guards behind him.
When Ma Yuling stuck her head out, she found that the other person's eyes were fixed on her face. She stuck out her tongue and quickly retracted her head, thinking that this might be the end of her life. She would be raped by this big boss. Caught a current situation. She had heard her uncle Jiang Sheng say before that the rules in the army were very strict and she was afraid that she would not be able to escape punishment. She wondered if she would be given a military stick for breaking the rules later.
Sun Zhen stood upright and saluted a military salute, and then responded: "Report to the leader, this Miss Lin is returning to Qixia County via this place to visit relatives, and wants to stay one night to escape the wind and snow. Seeing her pity, my subordinates wanted to take her in. , let her live with Mother Zhao and Sister Liu in the kitchen, and then send her away when the weather improves.”
"A little girl, traveling with so much luggage? Qixia County is dozens of miles away from here, and there is no one to send you off?" The young officer seemed to have discovered some blind spots immediately: "Sun Zhen, have you checked her luggage? ”
Sun Zhen scratched his head and said: "This little girl's luggage... it's not easy for my subordinates to go through it, right?"
But the young officer did not intend to let this matter go: "Just let the female soldiers come to check. Someone, please inform Squad Leader Feng of the medical class to come here immediately."
After a while, a female soldier also dressed in gray came, took several pieces of Ma Yuling's luggage aside and began to look through them. Although Ma Yuling wanted to stop the other party's rude behavior, she couldn't say a word because of fear. Tears were rolling back and forth in her eyes, and she didn't know how to deal with the current situation.
(End of chapter)