He Yuan watched as Cao Luomei raised the curtain and then after seeing the soldiers, her eyes widened. She seemed to have remembered what day it was.
She raised her chin and stepped down from the carriage.
The attendant's eyes widened. "Eldest miss, what are you doing? This place is crowded and you could come to harm if you're not careful. What if you get kidnapped?"
Cao Luomei rolled her eyes at the attendant. "I'm not going far. I just want to get a better view of the soldiers." And then she continued on her way with the attendant following after.
He Yuan also stepped down from the carriage. Before the second attendant could talk, he said. "I'm just following after Cao Luomei. It's better if they're two of us, that way it would be harder for somebody to kidnap her." And then he continued on his way.
The second attendant twisted her wrists in worry and nervousness as she followed after her two young misses. If anything happened to them, especially the eldest miss, then the left prime minister was going to have her head.
Why was she so unlucky to be one of the people attending to them today? Why won't the misses just behave themselves and sit quietly in the carriage? It was just a procession of soldiers, they came in every year. If they wanted to see, why didn't they choose a day when she wasn't the one accompanying them?
He Yuan and Cao Luomei managed to squeeze their way to the front of the crowd where the screams were loudest. Cao Luomei gave He Yuan a dissatisfied frown for following after her and He Yuan tried his best to block his ears. The screams were making his head throb.
The soldiers marched on steadily, unfazed by the screams although they sent the people grateful smiles. When they got close enough, He Yuan had a clearer view of the young general.
The general was nineteen and although he was handsome, his face was stern and his aura was very imposing. Something you would expect from someone who was coming from bathing in the blood of his enemies.
He wore a black robe and rode gallantly on his mighty steed. As he rode on, his eyes swept across the faces of the people present and, by will of fate, he was about to lock eyes with Cao Luomei.
He Yuan's eyes widened and he didn't hesitate to drag Cao Luomei into the crowd. Shang Wu's eyes finally reached their spot and moved on easily.
Cao Luomei shoved He Yuan angrily. "Cao Yuemei, what is your problem? What did you drag me for?!"
He Yuan scratched his nose and said the first thing that came to his mind. "I didn't mean to, a man just now was looking like a kidnapper so I had to drag you from his sight before you fell into his radar."
Cao Luomei looked at him as if he was crazy. It was obvious she didn't believe his lie but he didn't care. If he had been a little slower, then she and Shang Wu would have locked eyes and next thing you know, they were falling in love at first sight.
He couldn't let that happen!
As Shang Wu got close to where they were standing, a child's toy suddenly rolled across the street and came to a stop in front of his horse. The general held the reins of his horse and the surrounding turned quiet.
Next, the imposing general got down from his horse and lifted the stick toy. He walked over to squat in front of the wide eyed child and placed the toy in his palm.
The ladies around started swooning to the point of fainting. An imposing general was handsome but a gentle general was worth dying for!
Shang Wu was walking back to his horse when he suddenly paused as if he felt something and pulled out his sword. Soon after, three arrows from three different directions in the crowd came at him. He quickly cut down the arrows but more and more arrows came at him. And then,
Chaos ensued.
The people who were once screaming in joy were now screaming in fear as they scrambled and trampled on each other in their desperation to get out of harm's way.
"Misses!" The two attendants called out when they got separated from He Yuan and Cao Luomei.
The soldiers tried to calm the people as they chased after the assassins and also tried to get to their general.
He Yuan to lowered his head as arrows flew about just as he watched Cao Luomei dash forward and rushed after her. This was too dangerous! What was Cao Luomei thinking, diving into this mess like this?
He soon reached her and dragged her back. "Cao Luomei, what are you thinking?! Get back!"
She pushed him away. "The general is in danger, I have to help him."
He Yuan was dumbfounded. Was this girl mad? She didn't know any martial arts, why did she think she would be able to help a man who was besieged by arrows?
Just then, He Yuan and Cao Luomei watched as an arrow flew towards the general's chest. He was too preoccupied with cutting down the other arrows to notice.
The both of them dashed forward at the same time.
Cao Luomei felt a sudden urge to save the general. She already knew how this went down in her past life. She absolutely could not let this man, who was fighting for the people to be harmed like that!
He Yuan was pissed beyond proportion. If Cao Luomei blocked that arrow for Shang Wu then she would bag herself the second harem member and that would mean more trouble for him!
The both of them reached Shang Wu at the same time.
Cao Luomei did the heroic act of standing before the general to take the arrow in his place whilst He Yuan did the sensible act of pulling Shang Wu towards himself and lifting his leg to kick Cao Luomei out of the way.
The arrow grazed Cao Luomei's shoulder and lodged itself into a food cart just as the girl landed on the ground with wide eyes.
Shang Wu was confused. He was suddenly pulled to the side by a girl and another girl suddenly fell to the ground the other way. What was going on?
The soldiers managed to catch the assassins and calm the crowd at that moment.
Cao Luomei held her bleeding shoulder and glared at He Yuan. "Cao Yuemei, what is the meaning of this? Why did you push me, what if something bad had happened to the general?!"
He Yuan pushed the general out of his sight and walked over to Cao Luomei, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her up. "Cao Luomei, is something wrong with your brain?! What if something had happened to you? How do you expect the general to explain himself to our Cao family?"
The surrounding soldiers and even the general gave Cao Luomei looks of dissatisfaction. Just now, they were too busy to notice the arrow so all they saw was a girl who suddenly hopped out of nowhere and put herself in danger for no reason.
When He Yuan saw the general's look, he smiled inwardly. Mission succeeded. He always wondered why Cao Luomei chose to block the arrow for the general with her body.
To him, that was a very stupid move. The girl was aware of the arrow, wouldn't the reasonable thing to do be, pushing the general out of harm's way and staying safe herself?
But no, she decided to be so fancy and act out 'the beauty willing to die for the hero.' Was there any need to risk your own life to save someone when you could do it in a way that kept everyone safe?
"Isn't that the first miss of the Cao household? Why did she suddenly jump in front of the general?" Someone spoke up.
"The general was so busy cutting the arrows, what if he mistakenly cut her as she suddenly jumped before him?" Another person spoke.
"I saw the arrow coming too, why didn't she just drag the general away like the other lady? Instead she chose to stupidly stand there." Yet another person spoke.
Soon enough, it was a mixture of several voices.
"How could a noble lady act so unbridled, I thought they were high class?"
"How could a noble lady be so dumb, I thought they received the best education?"
"She was clearly trying to get the general in trouble for no reason. The civil officials and military officials are always at each other's throats. She must have done this to get the general in trouble in court!"
"The general is so strong. I'm pretty sure he would have cut down that arrow without any help. Tsk! So showy."
"BAH! I'm sure she was just doing this to gain the general's attention. Too bad she ended up making a fool of herself."
Cao Luomei felt the urge to puke blood when she heard the words the people were saying all around her. She looked to the general for help but the young man only stared at her coldly.
He must have believed them when they said she was trying to get him in trouble. That was not her intention at all! She was only trying to save him!
"Miss, while I appreciate you stepping forward, you should not have done something so unnecessary. I really cannot afford the debt of your life." Shang Wu said sternly and Cao Luomei ran away in tears.
The general turned to He Yuan. "Miss, thank you for saving me from that arrow just now. Which family do you come from so I may know where to send my thanks?"
He Yuan waved. "It's fine. As long as the general is safe and fit to win more battles for the nation." And then he turned to walk away. He was in a very good mood.
"Wait!" Shang Wu called out. "Even if you can't tell me which family you belong to, at least accept this. If you don't want to use it, you can still sell it for a sizable sum."
He Yuan was about to refuse but then he looked down and saw that it was a book. Once he read the name, he quickly accepted it. No need to be polite, it was really hard to come across martial arts manuals!
One of these cost 3,500,000 exp points in the system marketplace and as for anywhere else, who would be willing to give out their martial arts manuals so arbitrarily?
Shang Wu was a general so he must have many different techniques. This one must be nothing to him so it was easy to give away.
"Thank you," He Yuan said and walked away whilst Shang Wu stared after him thoughtfully.
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