The groom let out a shrill cry, followed by a violent concussion, and the contents of the carriage tumbled and fell to one side.

Fengchen sat up like a spring, he didn't understand what was happening, and looked around blankly. He had just sat opposite a beautiful girl in a dream, and he was about to fall in love with each other, and it was about to be a mouth-to-mouth moment.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. ”

It was Mu Xi who answered him, who had just been hit in the head by a tumbling teacup on the table, and was now grinning in pain. The two of them were obviously inexperienced in the face of emergencies, and until now they were not ready to escape.

A hole was made in the roof of the carriage, as if it had been split with a sword, and a fiery red sky light poured in. Fengchen, who had just woken up, couldn't accept the dazzling light for a while, and stopped it with his hand, and the next second he felt someone grab his shoulder, lead him to jump high, and then fall to the ground.

The carriage continued to rush forward for more than ten meters, and then rolled over. The carriage didn't look very sturdy, for at the moment it had turned into a pile of wood, and it fell apart almost the moment it touched the ground. The load-bearing timber mounted on the bottom of the carriage was broken in two, and it seemed impossible to reassemble the carriage.

They were in the wilderness, overgrown with weeds on both sides of the road, uninhabited, and a long way from their destination. Perhaps the only use of this pile of wood was to burn it as firewood to light the way to Daiyuan City at night.

The groom stumbled past them and ran towards the carriage.

He had jumped out of the car earlier, but luckily the dirt was soaked by the rain, and he rolled on it several times without any injuries. At this moment, he was holding the Red Flame Spirit Horse lying in the mud, foaming at the mouth, crying loudly.

It could be seen that he had a lot of affection for this Red Flame Spirit Horse.

"Shall we comfort him?" said Mu Xi. He knew what it was like to lose his beloved things, and when he grew up, his brothers would always snatch away the things he liked, sometimes snatching a gnats he found all over the garden, sometimes snatching the sachets that his mother embroidered for him, and after being robbed, he always cried so much that his eyes were red.

"There you go. Fengchen pointed at the groom with his chin, then turned and walked backwards, not knowing what to do.

Mu Xi walked over to the groom and muttered, "This is a person without sympathy. ”

He walked up to the groom, and the man's cry filled his ears like a wolf's howl. He saw that the Red Flame Spirit Horse's mane, which should have been shiny, was covered in a layer of mud, and it was dull. The slender leg has a twist forward, limp on its stomach. He really wanted to comfort him, but he didn't know what to say, because no one had ever comforted him, so he just froze in place.

"There's a rope here. Fengchen bent down and picked up the rope. He knew that Shao Xuechen had a habit of cleanliness, so he could only get started in person, and as a noble son, he didn't lift his fingers.

"It's a tripping rope. Shao Xuechen could see at a glance that he had used this kind of rope - in one mission, he used it to trip over a rampaging third-order spirit beast, and before it could get up, he cleanly stabbed the sword into its neck, and then the blood flowed out.

Fengchen threw away the rope, took out a white towel from the storage ring to wipe his hands, and said, "Then only mountain bandits should do this, but there should be no signs of mountain bandits here." Maybe someone is blocking us from carrying out our mission, or maybe the unscrupulous teachers in the school palace think that this mission is too easy and make us stumble. ”

"They won't do that, they won't leave the palace easily without a major event. Shao Xuechen shook his head.

"Okay. Fengchen said, "Let's believe that this incident is accidental, maybe some brain-dead did it to see the joke of the overturned car." ”

The groom's cries grew weak, leaving only a low grunt.

The one-man tall reeds on the side of the road were crushed by the autumn wind, and the trunks of the trees became bare and empty when the leaves had almost fallen. The sun was setting, and only half a wheel was left, and it would not be long before it would disappear from their vision, and they watched the last rays of the sunset.

The moon had appeared high in the sky, with a pale white outline, as if it had been covered with a veil of tulle. The night began to spread silently from the sky, like a black tide crashing on the beach, rolling, and surging up little by little.

They didn't leave, but stood quietly beside the groom, as if to sympathize with his misfortune and express a moment of silence for the Red Flame Spirit Horse, which had been breathing for the first few minutes.

The late autumn wind was whining, with a thick humidity, Mu Xi involuntarily wrapped his clothes tightly, and he was only wearing a single coat. It wasn't so cold at this time of the year, and it was enough for him to wear a single coat, but now it seems that this year it must be snowing heavily. He couldn't help but rub his hands together, thinking to himself, there was not even a place to shelter from the wind in this wilderness.

"This place should not be far from Dai Yuan City, follow this road, and you will be there in a few hours. The poor man's voice was still choked, and his eyes could be seen swollen by the fact that it was not yet completely dark.

Mu Xi handed him a handkerchief and said kindly, "I'm sorry, we didn't expect this either." ”

"I have to fulfill the lord's orders. He wiped his snot vigorously with a handkerchief, "I have to go back overnight to get back to the city lord." ”

"But I found a rope of stumbling horses, and maybe there were robbers around here. Fengchen deliberately spoke very slowly, staring at his face carefully, trying to find out the clues from his expression.

This trick has been tried and tested many times in the school palace, when the caught student refuses to admit that he has violated the school rules, he will use his eyes and words to put pressure on him and break through the opponent's psychological defense. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys did not build high walls in their hearts, and they did not build so-called psychological defenses, this is an era that happens to be innocent. What protects them inside is only the brittle shell that they think they build strongly, but in fact they break when they are poked.

"Ah...... Maybe it's possible, after all, in the wilderness. "But I can't disobey the lord's orders." ”

Maybe it's because of the mud on his face, Fengchen doesn't see anything, maybe he really doesn't know anything, he's just an errand runner.

The three of them walked on the sparse dirt road, and Feng Chen and Mu Xi took very small steps, for fear of splashing mud on their bodies, and no one would like to wash clothes. But despite walking cautiously, it is still inevitable that there will be a little bit of a star. As the mud on the clothes increased, the two of them walked and let go, no longer like walking on thin ice, so they simply let go.

The clouds are blown away by the wind, and the morning star hanging in the night is like a guide, guiding them ahead and illuminating the journey.

Shining stars.

The three of them followed the road, turned a corner, and Mu Xi, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, and Fengchen, who was following him, almost bumped into it, and as soon as he opened his mouth to ask Mu Xi what nerves he had, he saw the other party turn around, and the joy on his face could be seen through the torch.

"We're here!" Mu Xi pointed ahead.

The blackened walls stretched across the eyes, with torches glowing in the cold wind, and it looked very warm. The city is brightly lit, and you can hear the sounds of people frolicking.

The lower part of Mu Xi's clothes has been soaked in sludge, clinging tightly to his body, and he can't help but shiver when the wind blows, Fengchen's situation is similar to him. As for Shao Xuechen, it is really incomprehensible, he is still so spotless, and he is wearing like a new dress.

Daiyuan City is the largest city in the south of the empire, the most prosperous city in Qi Province, and also the residence of the highest executor in Qi Province. It is the center of commerce, transportation, and politics in Qi Province, and the roads that extend like cobwebs extend to all corners of Qi Province, compared to Wending City, which can only be a poor rural area. So, it's brightly lit, it's full of people, it's noisy everywhere, and at night, the night market in the south is even more revelry.

The three men entered the city, and the sloppiness of the two men was despised by the soldiers defending the city, and they were let into the city after a quick glance at their identification documents.

As far as the eye can see, the whole road is lit up, and lanterns swaying in the wind hang in front of the houses. It is a city shrouded in light, and these flames have existed since they rose from the ground, as if they were burning forever, and have become incomparably large over time.

Shao Xuechen was born in a mountain nest since he was a child, every night comes, people just build a fire, around the parents to talk briefly, only every festival will be in the threshing floor to build a bunch of bonfires, people dance around the bonfire, men drink and brag, women around the husband and children how not to make people worry, but smiles, children also have their own entertainment, scurrying around the crowd, a crazy run, at that time, he felt that this small mountain village is the center of the world. Dad told him that it would be enough for a man to have a wife, a son, and a house in this generation. Son, don't be too greedy, people should know how to be content. My mother will say, don't say these frustrating words to my son, you have no ambition and can only hunt in the mountains, my son is very ambitious, he will move out of this ravine in the future, go to live in the city, be a rich man, marry a rich lady as a wife. At this time, Dad could only stare dryly, looking at his wife who didn't leave him a face at all.

His mother will instill in him the idea of leaving this ravine at every opportunity, Shao Xuechen knows, in fact, there are people living another life outside this mountain, their houses are magnificent, they can't see the edge at a glance, the golden splendor can make people can't open their eyes, they don't have to walk by themselves when they go out, they take a car, and they pull the cart with a tall horse. What makes him most envious is to listen to his mother say that the children outside are not like them, running here and there every day, climbing up and down like wild monkeys, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, playing all kinds of strange little toys, and never touching them again when they are tired of playing. He had never been out of the ravine, and the farthest he had been to hunt a pheasant with his father not far from the mountain village.

He is so fascinated by the world beyond the mountains that every time after dinner, he will sit alone on the hill bag in the village, looking up at the stars, imagining the world outside the mountain and his future life. I probably developed the habit of looking at the starry sky, and that's how it came quietly. He will also paint and tell his friends how the outside world is doing, how it is better than our small mountain village, and so on.

When his friend asked him if he really wanted to get out of the ravine and live outside in the future. He raised his hair very stinky and said, "Of course, my mother said that I will definitely be a rich man in the future, and I will go out in a carriage!"

Later, he came to Fengyuan School Palace and went to Wending City, but it was not as his mother said, there were still poor people here, their houses were not big, they were not magnificent, and there was no carriage to pick them up when they went out. Although it was a bit disappointing, it was still much better than the ravine, at least people didn't have to save too much on the fire, and there was always a bright light every dozens of steps in the middle of the night to light the way. He thinks that this is what his mother calls "outside", as a child who came out of the ravine, simplicity was cultivated since childhood, and he naively thought that this was the center of the world. According to my mother, the people who live here are ambitious, that is, rich people, and even walk with a straight waist.

Later, I learned from others in the book that Wending City was just a barren small city under the territory of the Longhua Empire, and those who could live in a big city like Daiyuan City and live an infinite life were the best people. He was greatly disappointed, and laughed at his previous thoughts, why was his gaze so narrow? he had never even left the boundary of Wending City, so he thought that the center of the world was here.

Although he knew that the imperial city of the empire was magnificent in the true sense, he saw the lights and fireworks shining like stars, and once again thought that this was the center of the world. When I came back, I realized that I was still a child who came out of the ravine and had never seen the world, and I always wanted to go to the outside world to see. But he just wants to fulfill what his mother said, but he can only look at it, he is destined to not be a rich man, and he can't marry a rich lady, even if they are thin and white-skinned.

On the surface, he appears to be the leader of the squad, which is the default, even if no one says it. But he knew better than anyone that he wasn't fit to be a leader, and that it was all because of his talent that no one could match. Fengchen and Mu Xi are a little calmer than him, and they are more reliable than him, although the latter is a waste of firewood, but he is a good hand at dealing with people, very good at talking, and has a positive and optimistic personality. Needless to say, the former is naturally a leader, and of course he has the temperament of a leader to be the minister of the student union, and he is always followed by a group of younger brothers, who are also handsome, and he is an absolutely great nobleman. And what about him? He's only fit to be a loner swordsman. His heart is really terrible, this is the first time he has carried out a mission with other people, he doesn't know how to command, he can't be stupid like a dumb fool and talk about what he has and what he doesn't have, right? Just like the morale-boosting pre-war mobilization when he went to the battlefield last time, if there was no Yu, it is estimated that the situation would not be much better, maybe some people will see him laugh.

In such a comparison, Shao Xuechen felt that in addition to his own talent, it seemed that nothing could compare to them. And this talent is not innate, except for this, then he is really useless, and no one can compare.