Chapter 456 - 455: The Ordeal

Chapter 456: Chapter 455: The Ordeal

Du Yunluo, half-asleep and half-awake, wasn’t sure if she had truly fallen asleep.

When she opened her eyes, it was already getting light outside. She quickly got up, put on her shoes, and went to the east room.

Pulling aside the curtain and entering, Jiuxi, who was lying on the table, raised his head alertly. Seeing it was Du Yunluo, he grinned and made a shushing gesture.

Du Yunluo looked at the bed. Mu Lianxiao was still fast asleep, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved.

When Mu Lianxiao awoke, Du Yunluo asked Jiuxi to fetch the military doctor.

The military doctor came over and asked Mu Lianxiao a few questions. Mu Lianxiao nodded or shook his head slightly in response, but he was exhausted and soon fell asleep again.

By nightfall, Mu Lianxiao woke up once more. Du Yunluo again fed him porridge and medicine.

"Brother Yan is with Sister-in-law, Jiuxi has already informed them, and knowing you’ve returned, Sister-in-law is relieved," Du Yunluo spoke softly to him, "Elder Uncle has gone to Ancient Meili to deliver a message, preventing Mr. Huang from sending people to look for you again.

Did you get all those knife wounds? How did it happen? I’m asking now, but you probably don’t have the strength to tell me in detail, do you?

..."

Du Yunluo spoke for a long time, almost as if to herself, her voice gentle until Mu Lianxiao fell asleep, then she stopped.

She was worried about Mu Lianxiao’s injuries, but it wasn’t until Mu Lianxiao needed his bandages changed that Du Yunluo first saw the condition of his wounds clearly.

The wounds were extremely terrifying, in various sizes, many of them still oozing blood, not appearing as if they had been healing for half a month.

With the military doctors busy, Du Yunluo couldn’t interject, so she had to ask Jiuxi.

Jiuxi smiled bitterly; he really didn’t want to say, fearing it would scare Du Yunluo, but seeing her concern, he made up his mind and said, "When the military doctors treated the wounds before, they opened them all up again.

The lord was wounded in the desert, and when Ming Liu found him, he had already handled the wounds once. But the desert is all sand, so it couldn’t be cleaned properly, just made do.

When the military doctors treated him again a couple of days ago, they had to clean out all the sand, so that’s why the wounds look so new to you, madam."

Du Yunluo couldn’t help but gasp at the cold truth.

To reopen the wounds that had begun to close, no wonder Mu Lianxiao had groaned from the pain that night.

Just imagining the scene made Du Yunluo’s legs go weak.

No wonder Mu Liankang wouldn’t allow her to go in and see.

The military doctors, after rebandaging Mu Lianxiao, said to Du Yunluo, "Madam, the Princely Heir’s wounds are healing well, not much bleeding, just change the medicine every two days, and in over half a month, it should be fine."

By "fine" they only meant the wounds; for Mu Lianxiao to regain his energy, he’d likely need some time to recuperate.

Thus, they wouldn’t be able to reach the Capital before the new year.

Du Yunluo expressed her gratitude.

Mu Lianxiao woke up before dinner. His constitution was solid, and after a few days of rest, he wasn’t falling into comatose sleeps anymore.

Besides plain congee, he could eat a few other things too.

He could lift his hand to touch Du Yunluo’s face, but Du Yunluo still wouldn’t let him move freely, personally feeding him his meals and medicine.

Mu Liankang returned to Shanyu Pass, visited Mu Lianxiao, and seeing he was much better than a few days before, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Luckily, we found you; otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to return to the Capital," Mu Liankang sighed.

Having found him after his eight-year disappearance, yet having to lose Mu Lianxiao, how could the family elders endure?

Mu Lianxiao laughed, "All thanks to big brother."

If not for Mu Liankang’s horse being injured earlier, and borrowing Mu Lianxiao’s horse to explore the desert, how would that horse have known to find its way back to Shanyu Pass?

Even if Ming Liu had found Mu Lianxiao, the two of them would’ve been lost deep in the Great Desert.

Mu Liankang also laughed, saying, "Seems our brotherly fate wasn’t meant to end."

Before Mu Lianxiao was severely injured, Mu Liankang hadn’t asked about his disappearance; seeing him in good spirits now, he started to inquire.

Du Yunluo looked up, instinctively pricking up her ears.

Mu Lianxiao slowly recounted the events.

That day, outside Ancient Meili City, they were fighting the returning Dazi from the Northern Border, the battle was intense.

Those Dazi, upon discovering the fall of Ancient Meili City, had their morale shaken and quickly broke ranks.

Mu Lianxiao naturally couldn’t let them withdraw from the battlefield, find another oasis, and regroup, so he led the troops to pursue them.

This part matched Mu Liankang’s memory. At that time, the Dazi scattered, Huang Yun, Mu Lianxiao, and several deputy generals, and vanguards each led their men in chase.

Mu Liankang was following Mu Lianxiao, but as they pursued, the fleeing Dazi grew fewer, and Mu Lianxiao’s figure vanished.

He didn’t give it much thought at the time, as he was surrounded by many soldiers, so not seeing at a glance wasn’t unusual.

It wasn’t until they regrouped to return to Ancient Meili that they realized Mu Lianxiao was missing.

Ming Liu immediately wanted to search but was pulled back to Ancient Meili by Mu Liankang. After confirming Mu Lianxiao was truly missing, they asked Huang Yun for a small troop, took dry food and water, and entered the desert to search.

Mu Lianxiao recounted his situation.

During the chase, he was slashed in the back, the force was strong enough to cut through his silver armor.

He spun his silver spear around to strike down the person behind him, but a Dazi flipped onto his horse.

That Dazi seemed to have fallen from his horse, uninjured but lacking a mount.

Originally intending to steal Mu Lianxiao’s horse, upon recognizing his identity, the plan shifted to using him as leverage for some gain for the Dazi.

After all, given Dingyuan Marquis Mansion’s reputation and Mu Lianxiao’s status as Princely Heir, even as a corpse, the court would demand his body back.

Even if they couldn’t trade him for Ancient Meili, they might still barter for some winter supplies.

Thus, the Dazi didn’t throw Mu Lianxiao off the horse.

Mu Lianxiao, heavily bleeding and dazed, didn’t know where he was in the Great Desert when he managed to awaken.

That Dazi hadn’t met up with his escapee companions yet and was warming himself by a fire he had made.

Mu Lianxiao continued to pretend to be unconscious until the Dazi nodded off before opening his eyes.

Originally planning to just hop on the horse and leave, the long spear being in the Dazi’s hands deterred Mu Lianxiao from leaving behind the spear his father left him, so he endured the pain and approached first to have the upper hand.

If he hadn’t been injured, ambushing the Dazi would’ve been clean, but due to his weakness, it became a struggle, adding more wounds to his body after the skirmish.

Taking all the Dazi’s water and food, Mu Lianxiao clenched his teeth and climbed onto the horse.

He was clear-headed for the first few days and then more muddled, driven by stubborn will.

Until he met Ming Liu.

Mu Lianxiao recounted haltingly, with great effort to finish his story.

The events afterwards, Mu Liankang and Du Yunluo already knew. Ming Liu took care of Mu Liankang, the two relying on the horse to find their way until they met up with Mu Liankang and Shuying.

As for the wounds on Shuying, it seemed he encountered some fleeing Dazi on the Gobi Desert.

Shuying wanted to ask for Mu Lianxiao’s whereabouts and got into a fight with the Dazi.