CH 109

After bracing himself to get some food for Ruan Ning, Jun Hua was so tired that he collapsed on the ground and didn’t want to move again.

Ruan Ning sat beside him and took small bites of the roasted fish, asking as he ate, “Brother, are you really not hungry?”

Jun Hua shook his head and said weakly, “I’m really not hungry. Be careful with the fishbones, don’t get them stuck in your throat.” Seeing Ruan Ning nod obediently, he suddenly added, “Little Ning’er, you can’t call me Brother, you should call me…”

Ruan Ning looked up blankly, puzzled, “What should I call you?”

Jun Hua raised his hand in distress and ruffled the loose hair on his forehead. Counting from the Jun family’s side, Ruan Ning was right to call him Brother. One of them was the Empress Dowager’s great-grandson, and the other was the grandson of the Empress Dowager’s nephew, so they were indeed of the same generation.

But he was already married to Wei Chongrong, so if he counted his seniority now, he would have to follow the one of the Wei family. Little Ning’er called Wei Chongrong Uncle, so how could he call him Brother? In that case, wouldn’t he be a generation below Wei Chongrong?

When he thought of Wei Chongrong, Jun Hua’s expression couldn’t help but become melancholy. Wei Chongrong took Ruan Meng with him and Jun Hua didn’t know if he had gotten rid of Tuduo’s people.

Ruan Ning waited for a while; not getting Jun Hua’s answer, he asked, “Brother, if I don’t call you Brother, what should I call you?” 

Jun Hua raised his eyebrows and smiled: “Your Fourth Uncle and I are married, Little Ning’er, what do you think you should call me?”

Without thinking, Ruan Ning blurted out, “I see, Fourth Aunt…” His voice petered out slowly.

Jun Hua almost burst out laughing and after a long time said: “You’d better call me Youngest Uncle.”

Ruan Ning blinked, his expression a little puzzled, but he didn’t ask any more questions, lowered his head and continued to nibble on the fish.

Jun Hua remembered the agreement with Wei Chongrong and thought about whether he should take Ruan Ning over to the meeting place after dawn. It was just that his current physical condition was really bad, and it didn’t take long for him and Ruan Ning to snuggle up and fall asleep by the campfire.

Wei Chongrong was very confident in Jun Hua’s qinggong, but not in his martial arts, so when he ran to lead away the pursuers that day, he deliberately made a lot of noise, and Ruan Meng, who woke up at the same time, helped him by crying, so Wei Chongrong led away a lot of chasers.

After all, it was someone else’s turf. No matter how strong Wei Chongrong was in martial arts, he had no intention to fight one-on-one with others. Relying on his superb riding skills and excellent qinggong, he slowly divided his chasers along the way. In addition, like Jun Hua, he also had all kinds of poison needles at his disposal.

Working hard and using some underhanded tricks, by the end of the day Wei Chongrong finally got rid of the tails behind him. Little Ruan Meng, who was carried on his back, was so hungry that he almost ran out of strength to cry, and could only whimper like a poor kitten.

Wei Chongrong sneaked into a farmer’s house and found some rice porridge for Ruan Meng to drink before slowly coaxing him to sleep.

However, at this time, his location was hundreds of li away from the location he had previously agreed about with Jun Hua. If Wei Chongrong ignored their agreement and took Ruan Meng directly south, they would soon be able to return to Dongshan Town, otherwise they would be walking in a zigzag.

Wei Chongrong estimated the time and knew that he wouldn’t be able to arrive before dawn; but if Jun Hua didn’t find him, he would probably linger in place for a while and was unlikely to leave immediately. As long as he hurried overnight, the chance of the two of them meeting each other was still very high.

Thinking of this, Wei Chongrong didn’t hesitate anymore. He tied Ruan Meng to his back again and set off in the night.

Along the way, Ruan Meng cried twice, once when he peed in his pants, and once when he had a nightmare. Wei Chongrong had to change Ruan Meng’s clothes and had to soothe him, so he delayed for a while. When he arrived at the foot of Muyun Mountain, he didn’t see anyone.

Because the agreed time had passed, Wei Chongrong never thought about the possibility that Jun Hua had not arrived yet. He was sure that Jun Hua and Ruan Ning must have already left. He couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed; if he was a little faster, he might have caught up with them.

At this moment, Ruan Meng woke up and started crying when he opened his eyes and couldn’t see Wei Kou and Ruan Ning.

Initially, Wei Chongrong was very nervous when he heard Ruan Meng cry, mistakenly thinking that he was sick or hurt. Seeing him crying now, as long as he was not hungry, or cold, or wet, Wei Chongrong simply didn’t care. He couldn’t control it, so he let him cry.

Ruan Meng was a little sly demon. When he found that Wei Chongrong ignored him, he wouldn’t cry endlessly. He would howl without tears for a while and would call it a day.

When Ruan Meng calmed down, Wei Chongrong rubbed his head with a smile, and said approvingly: “That’s good!”

Ruan Meng raised his eyes to the sky, showing Wei Chongrong the whites. Wei Chongrong was a bad guy and hid his brother from him.

Wei Chongrong didn’t care and continued: “Meng’er, let’s go, let’s find your brother and the others.” Ruan Meng understood what he said and smiled a little. Somehow, Wei Chongrong suddenly thought of Jun Hua when he was a child, and the corners of his lips couldn’t help but turn up.

Wei Chongrong thought that Jun Hua was ahead of him with Ruan Ning and hurriedly accelerated his pace.

But in fact, Jun Hua didn’t wake up until dawn. The first thing he did when he woke up was to clutch his chest and retch non-stop.

Ruan Ning had never seen such a scene before, and asked timidly: “Youngest Uncle, are you sick?” 

Jun Hua shook his head gently, rubbing his forehead and unable to speak. He could feel that his current situation was very bad. He must have hurt the baby by running around for days, but he only had one foetus protection pill. Besides, Ruan Ning was still sick, and they were still hundreds of li away from Dongshan Town.

“Little Ning’er, let’s go.” Jun Hua decided; he had to get to Wei Chongrong, he needed his help.

Ruan Ning didn’t know where they were going but looked at Jun Hua with complete trust.

Jun Hua secretly used his qi, found that Ruan Ning was breathing smoothly, so he wrapped his arm around the child, and the two leapt up the cliff.

When he hurriedly rushed to the agreed place, Jun Hua unsurprisingly didn’t see Wei Chongrong there. He couldn’t figure out whether Wei Chongrong hadn’t come yet, or hadn’t seen him and left again. But Ruan Ning shouted excitedly: “Youngest Uncle, this is Meng’er’s!”

Jun Hua looked down and saw Ruan Ning picking up a colourful glass bead from the ground.

It turned out that Wei Chongrong had already been here; Jun Hua breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Wei Chongrong and Ruan Meng were safe, he had nothing to worry about. Jun Hua curled his lips in a smile and was about to take Ruan Ning to chase Wei Chongrong when he heard footsteps behind him.

“Master Lord Consort, how are you? I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon!”

Was it Li Jing? Jun Hua was stunned when he heard the voice. Why hadn’t he died of poisoning yet?

Meanwhile, Wei Chongrong hurried back to Dongshan Town and got there in the shortest possible time. His first question was if Jun Hua was back.

Ruan Meng was lying on his back, his ears pricked up. He hadn’t seen his brother for days, he missed him so much.

After hearing Wei Chongrong’s question, Dongfang had a surprised look on his face: “No way, Master Shizi, Master Lord Consort hasn’t come back with you?”

Wei Chongrong was stunned, and Ruan Meng blinked and cried loudly.

It took a long time before Wei Chongrong forced himself to calm down. He had to convince himself to accept such a terrible truth. He was the one who had lost Jun Hua while saving Ruan Meng, which made their trip to Nanyue practically meaningless. 

“Master Shizi, what do we do now?” Dongfang had followed Wei Chongrong for many years and knew his mind like the back of his hand. Apart from His Highness Wang Qin, the most important person in Wei Chongrong’s heart was Jun Hua. This was something Wei Kou couldn’t compare to, not to mention her child.

Wei Chongrong let out a long sigh and said quietly, “Little Dongzi, do you think it is possible that Huaixi wasn’t able to escape?” Many of the men Tuduo had sent after them had mediocre martial arts skills, and even the most powerful ones were never better than Jun Hua.

In terms of Jun Hua’s qinggong, let alone Tuduo’s subordinates, even if Tuduo went out in person, he wouldn’t be able to stop Jun Hua. With Wei Chongrong already leading away all the main chasers, there was no reason why Jun Hua wouldn’t be able to escape. Wei Chongrong couldn’t figure it out.

Dongfang frowned and hesitated for a long time: “Unless it’s for a physical reason…” If it weren’t for poisoning or injury, he couldn’t imagine who else could stop Jun Hua. At least he couldn’t stop him.

Thousands of li away in Yujing, Wei Zhao received the information compiled by Wei Chongrong and smiled in anger.

“Your Highness, is the war ahead not going well?” Huo Qingyang followed Wei Zhao for many years, how could he not notice that Wei Zhao was angry?

Wei Zhao shook his head gently and ordered: “Qingyang, send someone to deliver a message to Wang Yong’an and tell him that I will invite him to tea.”

“Wang Yong’an?!” Huo Qingyang’s expression suddenly became a little weird, “Didn’t he report being sick and recuperating at home?” 

How could Wei Zhao not understand Huo Qingyang’s thoughts? He tapped his fingers on the writing desk lightly and said with a smile: “That’s why I invite him to drink tea, not to discuss important matters.” It turned out that he still thought too highly of Wei Lan. Wei Lan’s ruthlessness was far above his imagination. He couldn’t sit still and wait for death anymore.

Huo Qingyang understood Wei Zhao’s intention, didn’t hesitate and immediately sent the invitation.

Jiang Che reported that he was sick at home, and the messages sent to Wang Yong’an’s residence naturally had to be seen by Wangfei Yong’an first. If it were from some casual person, Xie Xiu wouldn’t let Jiang Che see it at all. But it was Wei Zhao, he was different from the others. Xie Xiu hesitantly took the letter to the bedroom.

“My lord, His Highness Wang Qin ordered someone to send an invitation.” There was no lady in Wang Qin’s residence, and Xie Xiu and Wei Zhao hadn’t had anything to do with each other for many years. She didn’t understand why Wei Zhao suddenly wanted to invite Jiang Che to tea, but she could vaguely feel that this matter was not simple.

“Wang Qin?!” In fact, Jiang Che was also surprised. Except for meeting during the court sessions, he and Wei Zhao had no personal relationship for a long time.