Chapter 19 Chapter Fifteen

"Does the marshal have to kill Nurhachi?" The second lady's eyes were full of anxiety, and her voice was even more urgent. Li Runan didn't dare to meet her eyes, and lowered her head to answer her words, her voice was low and murmured: "Yes——father-in-law has ordered Nikan Wailan to come immediately—— Time, he can arrive before dawn—so—as soon as dawn, just, just..." He hesitated and hesitated to say the word "execution", but the second wife would not understand the meaning of his words, so she couldn't help but gnashed her teeth and cursed: "It's Nikan Wailan again! No bad thing can happen without him—" - But the marshal wants to reuse him!"

Li Runan didn't dare to answer these words, the only thing he could do was to focus on the tip of his shoes, rubbing his hands together, hearing Xue'er's crying, he couldn't bear to look at it—— Just listening to it already made him very sad. "Now there are only a few hours left before dawn - oh my god! What crime did Nurhachi commit? What's wrong? He's going to be executed..." Xue'er was already in tears, and her few words were even more sad After crying for a while, she said to the two of them again: "Ganniang, brother Jiu, let's think of a way to save him!"

Li Runan didn't dare to respond to these words, but he always loved Xue'er like his own younger sister, so he couldn't bear it, so he mumbled to persuade: "Little sister, don't cry first..." The second lady looked at Xue'er, pondered for a while, let out a long sigh, and then asked Li Runan: "What is the marshal doing now?" Li Runan answered her: "My father told us to break up, and he was the only one who was still drinking..." The second lady thought about it for a while, and still let out a long sigh; then, she said to Li Runan: "I'll talk about it after I think about it—you should go back to your room first!"

"yes." After Li Runan withdrew from the second wife's room, the second lady ordered to the maids and servants in the room: "You all go down too! The young lady is in a restless mood, so let her be alone for a while!" After all the people in the room had retreated, the second lady let out another long sigh, stretched out her hand to pat Xue'er's convulsive back from crying, and said softly: "Don't cry! Be careful of hurting the fetus! You I will depend on him for the rest of my life!" Of course Xue'er could hear her overtones, she raised her head suddenly, opened her teary eyes and said, "Godmother, you mean——ah, no, Nurhachi will not die, and he He didn't make any mistakes! Let's talk to godfather together, and godfather will let him go! Maybe, godfather was just trying to scare him!"

The second lady frowned deeply, looking at her eyes full of pity, but she still let out a helpless sigh and shook her head in despair: "No one can say anything about this--I guessed what you did just now!" The reason why Dad wants to kill Nurhachi, but it’s not easy to say in front of Ru Nan——ah! I don’t know if it’s because the heavens are playing tricks on people, and things will turn out like this!” "Godmother, why did godfather kill Nurhachi?" "Do you still remember the massacre of Gule City?" the second lady asked. Xue'er nodded, and the second lady continued, "At that time, Nurhachi's grandfather and father were both in Gule City!"

Upon hearing this, Xue'er let out an exclamation of "Ah", and after a long while of dumbfounded, she struggled to make a trembling voice: "So, the godfather wants to join him..." After speaking, her whole body trembled, Shu jumped up and said: "Then he can't die here unjustly—too wronged! No matter what, he can't die here unjustly!" As she said that, she was about to rush out the door, but the second lady grabbed her and asked, "Where are you going?" Xue'er said: "I'll let him escape - before it's too late! He should go back to Jianzhou Zuowei! His grandfather and father are dead, he is the eldest son, he should go back to the position of commander - the commander is the imperial court Commander, without an imperial edict, godfather has no right to kill him!"

She repeated incessantly, even though she was being held by the second lady, she was still trying to rush out; while the second lady was holding her with all her strength, she said, "Don't be impulsive, otherwise , not only can’t let him go, but it’s going to be a waste of time—you don’t even know where he’s locked up if you run out like this, the mansion is so big, where are you going to let him go?” One sentence reminded Xue'er, and her senses returned; she turned around, faced the second lady, and knelt down on her knees with a thud: "Godmother, please save Nurhachi—help him go back to Jianzhou , he will never forget your great kindness forever!"

The second lady said with tears in the corners of her eyes: "Nurhachi usually calls me godmother, why don't I treat him like a son or a son-in-law?" As she said that, she wiped away her tears with one hand, and helped Xue'er up with the other: "I also know that he has always had great ambitions and an extraordinary bearing, and he will have great achievements in the future—I hope that when he becomes famous in the future, he will not forget that you saved him today." The affection of escape!" Xue'er said with tears, "If he ever becomes famous, you will be his mother!"

The second lady sighed and said: "Your words are enough..." She said, she thought about it carefully and said: "Where the person is locked up, let me ask Ru Nan! About releasing him Just leave it to me; as for you, first go find some dry food and bring it to him on the road to satisfy his hunger; then steal a horse and lead it to the north side gate and wait outside, I will tell him to go to the north side gate to find you !" "Yes..." After hearing what she said, Xue'er couldn't help admiring her thoughtfulness; but after thinking about it again, she found another layer of worry, she subconsciously held the second lady's hand, After hesitating for a while, he said, "Godmother—you go and let Nurhachi go—Godfather knows about it, so he must blame—that's not it, it hurts you too much..."

The second lady stared at her for a while with tears in her eyes, and said with a bleak wry smile on her face: "The matter has come to this point, can you still focus on 'blame'?" Her smile was more sad than crying, but instead she pushed Xue'er and said, "Let's go! If you are late or disturb your godfather, it will cause trouble!" Hearing this, Xue'er of course stopped thinking about the consequences, followed closely behind the second lady, put on a cloak, and pushed the door out of the house; but unexpectedly, the two of them had just stepped out of the threshold and turned out to be curled up. The little black dog Qiuqiu, lying in the corner of the room, suddenly leaped to the feet of the two of them, looked up at the two of them, kept wagging its tail, and barked softly a few times.

Xueer said to it: "Qiaoqiu, we have to do something, you can't follow, go back to the house!" How do you know that this time Qiuqiu is disobedient, with a begging look in his eyes, wagging his tail, but he refuses to move his feet back to the house, making Xueer unable to do anything with it; the second lady said: " Let it go! Don't let it get you down to business!" So, the two of them walked out of the second lady's room together with a dog, and went to work separately; the second lady went to Li Runan's room to inquire about where Nurhachi was imprisoned, and Xue'er went to the kitchen to get dry food, followed closely by Qiuqiu. Follow her, never one step behind. When she was about to walk to the kitchen, Xueer suddenly became alert, stopped, wiped off the tears on her face, then forced a smile on her face, and walked into the kitchen with a relaxed and happy expression go. The kitchen in Li Chengliang's mansion was on duty day and night, in case of summons, and at the moment Li Chengliang was still drinking in the living room, the kitchen staff dared not withdraw, the cooks and servants filled the whole room; A sharp-eyed servant saw Xue'er push the door in, and immediately yelled: "Ouch! Miss! Why did you come in person? If you want something, just send a girl to say it. In the middle of the night, it's cold It’s cold, why go there yourself?” Xue'er smiled at her kindly and said: "I didn't come to you specially!" She pointed to Qiuqiu and said: "This little guy has been bored in the house all day, he is restless, he wants to come out for a walk! I also thought about taking it to hunt after dawn, so that it can relax its muscles and bones—so I just wandered over to your side, first take two bags of dry food, and set off as soon as the sun rises!" "Yes, yes, yes..." Hearing Xue Er's words, a cook immediately rushed over and said, "I'll pack two bags for you right away, sliced ​​cooked meat? A bag of big bread? Add a pot of wine, good on the way Quench your thirst!" "Thank you!" After receiving two bags of food and a gourd of wine, Xue'er smiled sweetly at the people in the room and said, "I'm leaving first——I'll show you your skills when I come back from hunting a few hares." !" Then, amidst the laughter of everyone, she walked out of the kitchen with Qiuqiu; as soon as she left the kitchen, a gust of biting cold wind hit her face like a knife, which made her shiver involuntarily, and felt a shudder in her heart. Sour, she couldn't help but shed tears again, but reason told her that Nurhachi was at the critical point of life and death, and she had to hold on no matter what to save him from danger... She gritted her teeth, straightened her spine, and walked towards the stable step by step, thinking of ways to steal the horse while walking. It is much more difficult to steal a horse than to obtain food; especially in the middle of the night, there is no reason to ask the stable master for a horse-the only "hunting" that can be used as an excuse has to wait until after dawn , by then it will be too late! She was anxious and anxious at the same time, while thinking hard, her heart was twisted into a twist of thousands of twists; when her thoughts touched Nurhachi by chance, and when she thought that his life and death were tied at this critical point, she immediately Turning back to her thoughts again, she didn't dare to let the time fly by for a moment, forcing herself to think of a good plan - she was so anxious that a flash of light flashed in her mind; thus, she secretly called out "Yes!" ’” and hurried to the stables. When she arrived at the head of the stable, she secretly took a few deep breaths, tried her best to restrain her emotions, and tried to maintain the most ordinary attitude, voice and tone and said to the head of the stable: "The marshal thinks Nikan Wai-lan is late. No, he is angry and cursing! He ordered Ru Nan Jiuge to ride his Daqing, and quickly chase after him——Ninth brother drank too much wine, his head is a little dizzy, and he wants me to run for him!" "Oh, miss, why did you let a big girl like you run into the Jurchen's lair in the middle of the night? What about the other young marshals? Where's Master Nurhachi? Let someone else go!" The stable manager smiled. Said to Cher. "Nurhachi just made the marshal angry, and he is being punished! Mynah and the others are all drinking with the marshal, who dares to work for the ninth brother? How many heads do you have? Ninth brother will only ask me for help, so he won't let the marshal know!" Xue'er put on a relaxed expression, and blinked playfully a few times when she spoke; she was confident that she had made up the words seamlessly, but she couldn't feel as relaxed as she looked on the outside, sweating coldly. Mimi flowed all over the body. Fortunately, the stable manager didn't have any other intentions, but was just a little worried that Xue'er was "in danger alone", so he said to her: "Do you want me to ask some people to accompany you on a trip? You are running alone at night, and you feel scared not afraid?" "It's useless to ask someone to accompany you!" Xue'er smiled and answered him: "Daqing's footsteps are so fast that the person accompanying him can't keep up. It's not for nothing! You don't have to worry about me. Going out to hunt, haven’t you been there? Tigers have been shot to death, so you’re afraid that the pustules in Nikanwailan are hiding wild dogs!?” "Hey, you're joking, who doesn't know that the young lady runs out to hunt every day or two, has she never been there before? But—oh! Don't drive Daqing too fast at this moment!" The stable manager told Xue'er : "Daqing doesn't know what's going on, and he refuses to eat grass all day today. Several veterinarians and I have gone to see it in person, and there is nothing special about it. There are no other symptoms, except that I have been hungry for a whole day; I plan to wait until dawn to take a closer look—you can ride there first, don’t make it too tired; I’ll take a look when you come back!” "OK!" As Xueer said, she took the reins from the groom, and led Daqing out of the mansion through the side door beside the stable. Then, she picked up the ball and jumped onto the horse's back. After she sat down, she let out a long mouthful. She was so angry that she almost fainted, so she had to grit her teeth, force herself to gather the strength of her will, support her body, and slap her whip on the road—of course she wasn't running in the direction of Tulum City, but According to the second wife's plan, they went around the wall of Li's mansion and rode their horses to the north side gate to meet Nurhachi. This night the moon was particularly large, round and bright, reflecting on the snow, and overlapping with the snow light, formed a bleak blue light; the horseshoes stepped on the snow, splashing little bits of slush, which looked even colder under the blue light ... Relying on a wave of spiritual strength, Xue'er supported herself by riding her horse to the north door, got off the horse, and looked around, but she couldn't help feeling tense, and became anxious again; not only was there no one around, but the door was still open. Closed and locked from the inside, she suddenly thought that not only were there many guards and strict defenses in Li's residence, but also twice as many people were sent to each door; this thought made her worry; her mission was finally completed , but I don't know if the second wife can successfully rescue Nurhachi?Can the rescued Nurha reach the north gate smoothly under heavy security? Her heart was so anxious that she was breaking out in cold sweat, holding the ball in her arms, she was trembling for no reason; fortunately, when she was in a state of anxiety, she suddenly heard a slight sound in her ear, and she quickly raised her hand. Looking at it, in an instant, tears almost welled up in her eyes - what she saw was Nurhachi, and he was jumping off the wall!It turned out that in order to avoid the guards in the mansion, after the second wife found the place where he was imprisoned and untied him from the ropes that bound him, he climbed up the house and walked along the roof and wall to the north door. The guards in the mansion were not alarmed. "Thank God..." Xue'er murmured in her heart. When Nurhachi jumped off the ground, she rushed forward in three steps at a time, but she couldn't say a thousand words, so she just lowered her voice. Said to him: "You go quickly! I guess, the godfather will find out soon, don't delay on the way, the sooner you can get back to Jianzhou Zuowei, the better - there is a bag of cooked meat and a bag of dried meat on horseback. Grain and a gourd of wine are enough to satisfy your hunger on the road!" When she was talking, the ball in her arms was also the same as usual. After twisting her body twice, she ran into Nurhachi's arms, and Nurhachi stretched out her arms to hug it as usual; Sighed: "Forget it! Let it go with you!" "Godmother wants me to take you with me..." Nurhachi said to her, "You are my wife, you want to go with me!" With tears in her eyes, Xue'er shook her head vigorously twice and said, "I can't go with you - firstly, I'm pregnant and it's inconvenient to travel long distances; secondly, I can't leave my godmother alone; she let her go You will definitely be blamed by your godfather, how can I leave her alone and be punished?" As she spoke, she urged Nurhachi: "Go away quickly! Otherwise, if someone finds out, you won't be able to leave!" Nurhachi hesitated for a moment and said, "Then you—take good care of yourself!" "Don't worry about me!" Xue'er gritted her teeth secretly, held back her tears, and urged Nurhachi to get on her horse: "You are already the commander of the left guard in Jianzhou, and you have a lot to do!" Hearing this, Nurhachi's blood boiled in his chest: "Yes, I must avenge the first revenge of my grandfather and father!" In the excitement of his blood, he jumped on the horse, then bent down and said to Xue'er: "I'm leaving, and I will take you back to Jianzhou after I avenge myself!" Then, as soon as he raised his whip, the big green horse ran wildly and disappeared immediately. Xue'er stared at the black sky that engulfed Nurhachi's back in front of her, the cold wind was blowing mercilessly, and the two lines of tears on her face had already formed popsicles; the snow fell again, falling On her hair, but she didn't have the slightest sense of coldness in her heart, on the contrary, it was a kind of feeling from time immemorial that filled her heart, as if she was about to break out of her body, flutter her wings, follow Nurhachi seemed to leave.