Book 21 Chapter 5 Held back in Reserve
Just to push this along ~~~~. A bit of quick and dirty translation, hope I didn't mess up too much.
I wouldn't be doing the rest of chapter or the rest of book at all, so please do pick up on this excellent novel where I left off or if you prefer the start of the chapter.
Book 21 Chapter 5 Held back in Reserve
Xiang Shaolong could no longer worried about exposing his identity and hurried towards the north gate.
If his guess was not off, the reason why those kids would call him a “bandit” was that they had seen his wanted poster somewhere and recognised his face.
Now he had been known as a public enemy in Wei, if those kids that had seen him, went home and told their parents. In no time at all, the whole of Daliang would be alarmed.
So if he missed the opportunity and did not escape now, he wouldn’t be able to do so even if he grown wings.
At this junction, he no longer had the time to blame his own negligence. Fortunately, dark clouds started to form and cover the sun. Within the sight of the gate, snowflakes were dancing in the sky, providing him with a little cover.
As he reached a position where he could clearly observe the gate, he hid behind a big tree by the roadside, waiting motionlessly for an opportunity to break out of the city.
The gate was observed to be staffed by around thirty guards who inspected both people and carts going in and out of the city in a routine manner and did not seem to be particularly cautious or strict.
Xiang Shaolong was relieved and looked for an opportunity. If he managed to chance upon the sort of mule team he entered the city in, he would easily get away.
Hatefully, despite waiting for nearly an hour, there were no carts traveling out of the city, even traders were scarce. During this freezing cold season, it was certainly not suitable to go on a journey, the absence of travelers was the most reasonable thing.
At this time, hurried hooves could be heard rumbling in, A large group of over 100 Wei cavalry came galloping at full speed towards the gate and swiftly dismounted. They seem to be preparing themselves to face a fierce and imminent enemy.
In the mist of the wind and snow, Xiang Shaolong faintly heard someone mentioned his name.
A heart sank straight down.
The scenario that he hoped to avoid most had just happened.
The Weis knew he was in the city before he could get away.
The snow was getting heavier and heavier.
After he bought some small tools from a blacksmith shop, Xiang Shaolong sneaked back into that warehouse and hid himself. He inserted a small but extremely sharp saw plus two fine iron rods into his hollowed-out soles and glued back the bottom layer. Unless his soles were stripped off, otherwise no one would expect anything unusual. At this moment, he did not know exactly how these would be put into use, so they were just preventive measures.
After quite sometime, Qiu Lin came back again.
Xiang Shaolong remained in hiding, hardening his heart to ignore her call.
After Qiu Lin left disappointedly, he waited patiently till dusk.before leaving the warehouse and returning to snow-filled streets.
The Wei troops were constantly patrolling the streets, check points were again setup at road junctions to question passerby.
Xiang Shaolong knew that the Weis had embarked on a rigorous and thorough search. So, he used the rope hook to mount over house by house. Only with great difficulties, he reached the Wei imperial district.
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