Chapter 607.1: Recognition
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At this moment, the two truly recognized each other.
Marquis Xuanping was in a good mood, his lips stayed upturned, "I need to kill someone. Are you coming with me or do I drop you off at the next village?"
Xiao Heng’s body shook violently, thinking, you're going to die ahead, and you want to drag me into it! What kind of grudge do you have with your own son!
"Can’t go." Xiao Heng said seriously.
"We won't let anyone know I did it." Marquis Xuanping didn't explicitly mention whom he was going to kill, but he guessed that his son knew since he had followed him into Liang Wang's territory.
Xiao Heng said, "It's not that. There's going to be a landslide ahead soon, which will cause mudslides. The entire official road ahead and the village below will be buried by the collapsing mountain and mudslides."
Marquis Xuanping asked, "Who told you that?"
Xiao Heng replied calmly, "I'm a Hanlin official; I'm well-versed in geography and skilled in observing celestial phenomena."
Marquis Xuanping smirked, "Observing celestial phenomena? Isn't that the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's job?"
"I can do it too." Xiao Heng boasted shamelessly.
Marquis Xuanping chuckled, "My son is indeed impressive."
He clearly spoke in a patronizing tone.
Xiao Heng understood that he wasn't taking it seriously. It wasn't that he truly doubted his son, but rather that he believed even more in his own ability to get through it.
The severity of this natural disaster lay in its almost complete lack of warning. When the landslide began, half of the mountain had already collapsed internally.
Xiao Heng said sternly, "I said no, so you can't go!"
Marquis Xuanping glanced back slightly, saying helplessly, "Ah Heng, don't make a fuss."
Xiao Heng persisted, "I'm injured; I can't ride or get rained on!"
Marquis Xuanping looked towards the village below. Immediately, Xiao Heng added, "The villagers have already evacuated, there's no physician there."
In the end, Marquis Xuanping gave in, "Fine, I'll take you to the post station first."
He remembered there was a small post station ten miles back.
In his mind, Xiao Heng calculated the speed and distance. If they delayed a bit there, they might avoid the landslide.
He didn't object.
Marquis Xuanping rode back with his son.
It was truly worthy of being a steed of a first-class military marquis. While other horses were too scared to move, this one frolicked happily, not minding an extra passenger.
The last time Xiao Heng rode with Marquis Xuanping was when he was a child, sitting in front while his small body was held tightly by his father.
Marquis Xuanping always believed that a tiger would not give birth to a dog; if he was a tiger, his son must also be a tiger!
The horse was taller than a person, and poor little Xiao Heng's first ride left him questioning life and wailing!
It was Princess Xinyang who arrived just in time to rescue Xiao Heng from the horse. After that, he never dared to ride again.
"When did you learn to ride? During those years living among the commoners?" Marquis Xuanping asked.
This was the first time the father and son talked about those years. Marquis Xuanping had asked before, but Xiao Heng had never responded.
Tonight, he answered, "Yes, I learned from my eldest brother."
Marquis Xuanping said, "Your eldest brother..."
At this point, he paused.
Xiao Heng whispered, "His name is Xiao Su."
Marquis Xuanping frowned, "Wasn't his surname Cheng? And he was called... Cheng Goudan or something?"
"Goudan is his nickname." Xiao Heng explained, "My eldest brother changed his surname."
It was Chen Yunniang who changed it. After Xiao Su's father died, the Cheng Family came to take him away to be raised by his uncle, as they had no son.
Chen Yunniang couldn't bear it, and Xiao Su didn't want to leave his mother. So, they cut ties with the family.
After riding a while longer, Marquis Xuanping suddenly spoke, "About what happened years ago... I'm sorry."
Marquis Xuanping was the ancestor of shamelessness, but that didn’t mean he could always say everything he wished to say out loud.
There was an awkward side to his temper, but ordinary things couldn’t trigger his awkwardness.
Xiao Heng didn't ask which 'years ago' Marquis Xuanping was referring to, whether it was the year he was born or the year Xiao Liulang had his accident.
Some paper windows could be pierced, but some did not need to be; understanding each other was enough.
Marquis Xuanping said, "Hold on tight, I'm going to speed up. Don't fall off."
"I won't—— ahh——"
Before Xiao Heng could finish, Marquis Xuanping suddenly clamped the horse's belly, and sensing the cue, the horse swiftly dashed forward.
Xiao Heng was thrown backward, almost getting thrown out. Almost instinctively, he grabbed hold of Marquis Xuanping's waist and abdomen.
Out of Xiao Heng's view, Marquis Xuanping raised an eyebrow and smiled!
"Wait." His smile vanished as he pulled the reins, and the horse stopped abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Heng asked.
"Didn't you hear?" Marquis Xuanping furrowed his brows.
"Hear what——" Xiao Heng's voice stopped abruptly, "It sounds like a child crying."
Marquis Xuanping looked back, "In that village!"
Wasn't the village evacuated?
He hadn't heard a cry when he ran past it.
"It's a child." Marquis Xuanping listened again and confirmed, "You go ahead."
He dismounted from his horse.
Venturing onto the official road himself, he didn't pay any mind to natural disasters or whatnot, but as soon as his son was involved, he started believing in their power.
"Riding is faster!" Xiao Heng said.
"Do we have time?" Marquis Xuanping asked.
"If we search quickly, yes." Xiao Heng replied.
"Alright, hold on tight." Marquis Xuanping's eyes sharpened. He mounted again and tightened the reins, changed direction, and sped towards the village below.
Unexpectedly, when they entered the village, the crying had stopped.
Xiao Heng said seriously, "That child must have cried until exhausted, crying for a while and then stopping. When I passed by the village earlier, I didn't hear anything at all.
Marquis Xuanping got off the horse.
The father and son searched house by house. When Marquis Xuanping reached the 18th household's bedroom, Xiao Heng loudly called from the backyard, "Over here!"
Marquis Xuanping hurried to the backyard.
It was a low, dry well with a cover on top. However, it wasn’t sealed and could be flipped open. It seemed a child climbed onto the well and accidentally fell in.
The cover blocked most of the rainwater, but some had flowed into the well.
Xiao Heng fetched an oil-paper umbrella from the house and placed it over the well. Marquis Xuanping tried to move the cover to rescue the child but found the well was too narrow for him to fit.
But Xiao Heng, still youthful and slender, could squeeze in.
"I'll go down." Xiao Heng said.
Marquis Xuanping took a rope from his saddle, tying one end around his son's waist and the other around his own.
Xiao Heng opened his mouth and hesitantly said, "Your waist injury..."
"Just go down." Marquis Xuanping insisted.
The child's cries and breaths were already faint. No one knew how long he'd been at the bottom of the well, especially after falling from such a height.
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