In the early summer of the 19th year of Wanli (1591), the imperial court received a report that some local officials in Zhejiang and other places colluded with the salt gang to sell illicit salt for profit. The imperial court immediately sent Jinyi Wei Qianhu Shi Lang to Zhejiang to investigate the case.

In order to effectively monitor the actions of the officials and the people, the Ming government not only set up a Jinyi guard command yamen in the capital, but also stationed a large number of Jinyi guards throughout the country. There is a branch of Jinyiwei in Zhejiang. Shi Lang went out to handle the case this time and did not bring his entourage. According to his status as a five-product and a thousand households, he can dispatch local Jinyiwei to assist in the investigation of the case at any time.

Shi Lang is originally from Huizhou, Zhejiang, and he plans to take the opportunity of this case to go home to visit his elderly mother.

After several days of trekking, Shi Lang came to the only way to Zhejiang and Hangzhou - Bailu Mountain Pantuo Road.

Shi Lang walked alone along the winding mountain road. Several days of rainy weather made the trail slippery.

It seems that it will be difficult to get out of this Bailu Mountain before dark! Shi Lang simply slowed down, and leisurely watched the beautiful scenery after the rain in the mountains as he walked.

At this time, it was the beginning of the unitary time, the rain had passed, and the colored clouds in the western sky were shining red under the reflection of the setting sun. The surrounding mountains rise and fall, all covered in a forest of lush trees. The sound of gurgling water could be heard clearly in the ravines below the mountain road.

Suddenly, the crisp sound of water flowing in the mountain stream was replaced by a loud "boom" sound. At first, Shi Lang thought it was a flash flood in a mountain stream, so he walked to the side of the mountain road and looked into the mountain stream below, but did not find any torrent pouring down. Next, Shi Lang rushed to his feet and shook, which came from not far behind him. He quickly turned around. In an instant, Shi Lang was stunned by the scene behind him, and on the hillside more than ten meters behind him, trees and grass were rapidly pouring down towards the mountain road he had just walked.

"Not good, landslide!" Shi Lang exclaimed.

The mountain road that had just been walked had been muffled by a mixture of mud, gravel, trees, weeds, etc., which had slid down. What's even more terrifying is that the landslide is spreading at a very fast speed in the direction where Shi Lang is located.

Shi Lang didn't have time to think, so he rushed forward.

As the sound of "boom" got closer and closer, Shi Lang clearly felt that the landslide behind him was gradually approaching him.

At this critical moment, Shi Lang saw a red horse galloping not far in front of him, and immediately sat a young woman dressed in black. Obviously, the woman in black found Shi Lang running for his life and the mud and rocks that kept pouring down behind Shi Lang. The woman barely hesitated, and spurred her horse towards Shi Lang.

"Quick, get on board!" The woman in black rode up to Shi Lang, pulled the reins of the horse with one hand and turned the mount 180 degrees in place, and then stretched out her other hand to Shi Lang.

Shi Lang quickly grasped the outstretched hand of the woman in black, jumped on the horse, and sat behind the woman.

"Hold me tight! Drive! The woman shouted, and then slammed her legs into the horse's belly. The horses beneath him neighed and galloped forward along the mountain road.

Shi Lang hugged the woman's waist tightly, only to hear the wind whistling, the sound of horses' hooves, and the roar behind him fading away.

"Thank you girl for saving your life!" Shi Lang, who calmed down a little, said loudly to the woman in front of him.

"With a gesture, the son doesn't have to be polite. However, we are not yet in the time to relax. There are many landslides on this mountain road during the rainy season, and if you don't get ahead, you have to rush out of this mountain road to avoid getting stuck inside. The woman replied to Shi Lang as she held the reins tightly with both hands, her eyes fixed on the mountain road in front of her, and she did not dare to relax in the slightest.

Sure enough, the two of them had just turned a bend in their horses when the mud and rocks on the hillside crashed down in front of their eyes.

The horse beneath him screamed, and his two front legs rose into the air. Shi Lang and the woman sat unsteadily, and they were both thrown under their horses, and the great inertia caused the two of them to fall off the cliff together with the mount.

Shi Lang, who was falling quickly, instinctively grabbed a protruding pine branch on the cliff with one hand, and with the other hand, quickly hugged the woman who fell at the same time as him. The mud and rocks tumbling down the cliff poured down, and Shi Lang had to take the woman into his arms and protect her with his own body to prevent the falling mud and rocks from hurting her.

"Hold on to the pine branches and put your feet on the crevices." After the mud and stones, Shi Lang carefully reminded the woman in his arms so that she would not fall down due to nervousness.

The woman seemed to have a super psychological quality, and the fall off the cliff and hanging in the air did not seem to make her panic, she calmly followed Shi Lang's instructions, grabbed the pine branch tightly with both hands, and found a suitable rock crevice with both feet to kick firmly.

Seeing that the woman was no longer in danger, Shi Lang turned his head to look down, and found that he and the woman were hanging on a cliff dozens of feet high, and at the bottom of the cliff, a small river meandered through the dense woods in the direction of the left side of his body.

"Girl, we must find a way to go down, there are many pine branches and rock crevices on this cliff, do you think you can do it?" Shi Lang asked the woman.

"Give it a try." The woman looked down at her feet and said.

"Okay, you hold on to the pine branches first. I'll go down first, and when I've found my way, you can go down my line. Don't be nervous, I'll pick you up below, and there will be no danger. May I? ”

"Okay." The woman replied, grabbing the pine branch with both hands, allowing Shi Lang to climb down with both hands.

Shi Lang grabbed the lower pine branch or vine with both hands, and tried to find the stone crevice on the cliff rock with his feet downward. After moving down, Shi Lang encouraged the woman to follow his downward line. The woman's skills were very light, and it didn't take much effort to go down to Shi Lang's side.

"Childe, is that so?"

"Yes, good. I didn't expect the girl to be so agile. ”

"With Childe protecting me below, I'm much more relaxed." The woman smiled at Shi Lang.

"Okay, let's follow this method and go down slowly." Seeing that the woman was not afraid, Shi Lang's mood also relaxed.

Since it was early summer, the cliff was covered with pine branches, vines and other plants, which undoubtedly reduced the difficulty of descending for Shi Lang and the woman. The two looked after each other and finally descended safely to the bottom of the cliff before dark.

"It's finally down!" Under Shi Lang's escort, the woman who jumped to the ground lightly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I'm relieved to be able to come down safely." Shi Lang's words sounded like he was glad that the two of them had landed safely, but deep down, he was relieved that the woman who was his life-saving benefactor had landed safely. With the skills of Shi Lang, the "Iron Arm Divine Ape", climbing a cliff of this difficulty is like walking on flat ground, and what he is really worried about is the safety of that woman. I don't know why, after just a few dozen minutes of contact, Shi Lang had an inexplicable good impression of this woman with a bit of heroic charm in his heart.

"Thank you Childe for your help, if Childe hadn't caught me in the air, I'm afraid I would have fallen below and broken bones. So, I want to thank Childe for saving his life! The woman said, bowing her hand to Shi Lang and thanking him.

The other party's rather manly way of giving gifts further deepened Shi Lang's good impression of the woman in front of him, and he found that the woman opposite not only had the delicate face and smart eyes of ordinary Jiangnan women, but also had a rare heroic spirit between his eyebrows.

"The girl is so polite! I should be the one who should really be thanked. If the girl hadn't arrived in time to save me, I'm afraid I would have been buried under the mud and rocks by now. I also want to thank you, girl, for saving your life! Shi Lang also bowed in the same way.

"In that case, then we'll settle it."

"The girl's life-saving grace, I will keep it in my heart."

"Childe, don't be polite. Let's go to the river and wash your face. ”

Shi Lang realized that he had been disgraced by the pouring mud and rocks when he was on the cliff, and he hurried to the river to wash his face.

When he stood in front of the woman again, Shi Lang's face had returned to its previous handsome and handsome appearance.

Looking at the handsome young man standing in front of him, the woman's eyes stopped instantly, and an inexplicable excitement quietly rose from the bottom of her heart.

"Girl, ......" Looking at the woman's eyes looking at him, Shi Lang wanted to speak and stopped.

"Oh...... I'm sorry I ...... It's just that I look at Childe a little familiar, I don't know where Childe's home is? The woman suddenly realized her gaffe, her face suddenly flushed, and she quickly dodged to take her eyes off Shi Lang.

"Oh...... I live in Beijing. Freedom to do business with his father, this time he was going to Hangzhou to urge a batch of payments, but he didn't expect to meet the girl here. Shi Lang didn't want to reveal his true identity.

"That may be that I recognized the wrong person, Childe is far away in Beijing, how could I have seen Childe."

"Looks like the girl is a local, right?"

"Yes. I'm a native of Zhejiang. ”

"The appearance of the talented girl galloping on a horse is indeed unique, presumably the girl is not the kind of woman from an ordinary family."

"Childe praised me, I was just trained as a boy by my family since I was a child, so I learned some self-defense skills of archery and horse archery, which is really nothing. I'm going to pick up a friend on the other side of the mountain today, and I don't want to meet my son by chance. Alas, by the way, I patronized and talked to my son, and I haven't seen how my horse is doing. The woman seemed reluctant to talk about her identity and family, so she turned the conversation to the mount that had fallen off the cliff.

"yes, let's find out." Shi Lang said.