Chapter 294: Is He That Half‑Brother? Abandon Him or Save Him?

Li Jingchuan looked at the half‑sister before him and smiled slowly.

"I'm just a harmless sickly wretch. Miss Li, you needn't worry about my background."

"As for why I know you, actually, I don't know if you'll believe it… it's because I've also been locked in that Jingyun Shan Zhuang for quite a long time recently."

"Perhaps I'm a bit freer in movement than Miss Li, so I learned that Miss Li also happens to be confined in that manor."

"Just yesterday I found a chance to escape from Jingyun Shan Zhuang, and now that I've seen Miss Li, I wondered whether she too escaped."

He escaped just yesterday?

It took a day to get to this area?

Li Qingluo saw his frail body was truly weak and couldn't help clicking her tongue.

He probably hid in some grass for a night, I guess.

After another ten li, the horse let out a whinny and lifted its front hooves high.

Li Qingluo and the three others were tossed and rolled together.

Young Master Jingchuan's face instantly went pallid; clearly such jolting was hard for him to endure.

Dark silhouettes fluttered from the surrounding woods and landed.

A moment later, three or four dozen figures leapt forward.

"Miss Li, please come with us for a ride."

Li Qingluo shoved the carriage door open, feigning panic: "Who are you? I am a lady of the Xiuli Jiangjun Fu; you'd better weigh whether you should keep provoking me!"

The men in black laughed heartily at her words.

"Miss Li, you don't really think our Fragrant Master will actually let you go, do you?"

"It's just a little game to tease you; did you really take it seriously?"

Li Qingluo's face turned ashen: "What? It's you Lotus Sect again!"

"Zheng Lingzhou, why are you playing me like this?"

Li Qingluo didn't notice the sickly young master in the carriage slowly lowered his head after hearing this.

Granny Deng thought he was ill somewhere, looked concerned, but saw endless melancholy and bitterness in his eyes.

This…

"Enough chatter! Let's go quickly."

These people naturally thought sending so many to capture a little girl was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Just have the coachman drive the carriage back; that would be fine, right?

Why need so many hands for such a grand display to fetch someone?

The Fragrant Master overestimates this woman; even if she's the general's granddaughter, what can she do?

Could she possibly slaughter everyone and beat that old coachman?

Yet Li Qingluo suddenly looked up and smiled slowly at them: "If you want to take me back, it'll depend on your skill."

As soon as she finished, she pinched her fingertips, whistled loudly toward the sky, and a gust of wind rose in the forest, leaves swirling amid a rustling sound.

Every Lotus Sect follower looked around, none noticing that the carriage driver also lifted his head—where was that old coachman anyway?

A thick wave of killing intent spread over them silently.

Zheng Lingzhou waited left and right until night fell, still seeing no one return.

He finally realized something was wrong; when he personally led his men back to a spot twenty li away, he found corpses strewn everywhere, all of them Lotus Sect members.

Zheng Lingzhou's face went white; after turning over every body, he still found no sign of Li Qingluo or her master and servant.

"Who did this!?"

"Who—!"

But before his fury could fully settle, a subordinate hurried in: "Fragrant Master Zheng! Trouble! You just left, and already an inside‑out attack has struck Jingyun Shan Zhuang—please return quickly to support!"

What a coincidence?

He just left, and already someone came to attack the manor!?

Zheng Lingzhou thought for a moment, then his face filled with disbelief: "Could it be that Li Qingluo plotted this? But how could she? She's just a little girl returning from the mountains—how could she manage all this?"

But he no longer had time to ponder; he spurred his horse with a whip: "Everyone, return to Jingyun Shan Zhuang at once, drive—"

Li Qingluo had already turned back and reached another peak very close to Jingyun Shan Zhuang.

Listening to the faint sounds of fighting and the glow of torches from Jingyun Shan Zhuang, she let out a soft hum.

Since Li Qingluo has been reborn, she will never be easily bullied again!

Therefore, even though during these days of lying low she hadn't uncovered Zheng Lingzhou's true intentions before being forced out unexpectedly, she will not hold back in giving Jingyun Shan Zhuang a retaliatory strike.

"Cough, cough…"

A cough came from behind; Li Qingluo turned and walked back.

"Young Master Jingchuan, are you alright?"

Jingchuan leaned against a rock, weakly shaking his head: "No. My medicine, except what my attendant carries, was all left in Jingyun Shan Zhuang."

Li Qingluo: "Then how can we contact your attendant?"

Jingchuan looked up at her: "They are still in Jingyun Shan Zhuang."

He left alone.

He truly wanted to simply die outside, so he wouldn't harm her.

But he didn't expect that this outing would coincidentally reunite him with her.

However, after these two encounters, and even today seeing with his own eyes how she easily turned the Lotus Sect members against them and killed them cleanly, Li Jingchuan finally understood.

Her sister truly is not ordinary.

Although she is like a small weed growing in the wild mountains, her tenacious, unyielding nature has carried her this far on her own, and who knows how many hardships she has endured.

However, knowing she wouldn't be easily bullied, Li Jingchuan also finally put his mind at ease.

Thus it is good; only by being strong and scheming against others' schemes can one truly survive in this already difficult world.

"Cough, cough cough... Miss Li, you don't need to worry about me."

"I intend to go back to the manor once more."

"You all go..."

Li Qingluo: "Are you crazy? Jingyun Shan Zhuang is now a battlefield of slaughter; with your frail body, going back would be seeking death!"

Li Jingchuan gave a helpless smile: "But if I wait here, can I only wait to die?"

"Although it wouldn't be a pity if I, a lowly commoner, died, I still have relatives… my life and death are not something I can arbitrarily decide."

"Let's go, cough, cough cough..."

Li Qingluo hesitated.

She indeed should withdraw.

There's nothing worth continuing to watch in the bustle of Jingyun Shan Zhuang.

Zheng Lingzhou tonight, even if he cannot be killed, destroying their Jingyun Shan Zhuang is also like stripping them of a layer of skin.

Li Qingluo indeed felt relieved in her heart.

Deng Mama called to her: "Miss, a signal has come from down the mountain; we should leave."

Hudie, looking resentful, was being pulled by Deng Mama, still howling toward Li Jingchuan.

Li Qingluo turned decisively, and together with Deng Mama, the three of them quickly vanished into the darkness.

She knew that this person's identity and origins were unknown; it would be best for her to have no further dealings with them, and thus forget each other in the jianghu.

Moreover, he is called Jingchuan... Jingchuan...

Yet he never says what his surname is.

Li Kechuan.

Li Jingchuan?

Li Qingluo gazed at the mottled shadows in the woods, with wind whistling above her head.

This Master Jingchuan fears the cold.

Was it because he fell into an icy lake in childhood, leaving a lingering illness?

This Master Jingchuan's body is frail and prone to illness.

Was it because he narrowly escaped death at birth, rescued in peril, after which his body became frail and sickly?

This Master Jingchuan... really escaped from Jingyun Shan Zhuang?

"Granny, what do you think of this Master Jingchuan?"

Li Qingluo asked Deng Mama beside her, her eyes inevitably showing some bewilderment.

Deng Mama puzzled: "Miss, what's wrong? You rarely hesitate."

Li Qingluo: "Nothing. If I don't help him, he probably won't even make it out of this mountain tonight, let alone go back to fetch medicine."

After that fight, it was Po Feng who brought them here.

Indeed, going up the mountain is easy, coming down hard; Li Qingluo's sturdy constitution is fine, but this Master Jingchuan simply cannot endure any further hardship.

Li Qingluo knew that abandoning him here would undoubtedly let him wait for death.

On his own, he simply cannot get down the mountain.

But she wasn't sure whether he really was the person she had guessed...

But how could there be such a coincidence in this world?

Moreover, if he really is that person, then his dying here tonight would be exactly what she wants, wouldn't it?

That way, she and her grandmother would no longer be implicated in the future, allowing them to completely sever ties with the Lotus Sect.

Deng Mama: "Miss, we've only been together briefly, so I, the old servant, cannot yet tell what kind of person this master is."

"I just feel that he seems preoccupied."

"But this old servant can sense that he bears no ill will toward you."

Li Jingchuan struggled several times but couldn't rise, holding his chest as another fit of violent coughing overtook him.

Even blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He stared blankly at the speck of red wiped from his fingertips, lifted his gaze to the pale moonlight, and let out a low laugh.

"Then, that's fine..."

Since childhood his heart and lungs have been damaged; surviving that icy lake in winter was already a blessing from heaven.

Even if he carries this illness for life, he is not disabled; living twenty years to see the world, accompanying his mother and uncle for a few years, is actually not regrettable.

But... it's a pity he cannot be reunited with Luò'er.

"Mother, uncle... little Chuan has disappointed you..."

Li Jingchuan slowly closed his eyes, but suddenly a shadow loomed before him.

"Come on, I'll take you back to get medicine!"

Li Qingluo said this, then bent over, hoisted the tall and sturdy Li Jingchuan with one heave, pressing half of his weight against her.

Li Jingchuan was naturally greatly startled.

"You... you didn't leave? Miss Li, you don't need to worry about me..."

Li Qingluo: "No nonsense! Last time I was able to return and rescue you from the Pei family's dungeon; this time I won't abandon you to die."

"Go!"