Chapter 686: Brothers in Distress (I)

"You are a bunch of bastards. How dare you surround and kill the imperial officials in Lin'an City? Are you guys rebelling?"

At this critical moment, Qin Wei had no time to greet Liu Xunyi. He held the short knife across his body, stared at the people with different thoughts with cold eyes, and shouted: "I have dispatched 2,000 soldiers, and today I will catch all of you ignorant bandits in one fell swoop!"

"what?"

Qin Wei's words made Tang Yu and others look even uglier.

There was a cold arrow attack in front, and Qin Wei led his army to rescue from the back. Everything happened too suddenly, leaving the heroes of Jianghu no time to think. They subconsciously believed that everything that happened today was a death trap deliberately set by Liu Xunyi, intending to lure them out and catch them all in one fell swoop.

"I used to suspect that Liu Xunyi had been hiding since returning to Lin'an City. Why did he show up today for no reason? Now it seems that everything was a trap designed by him."

Huiqiu's words made the anxious people feel even more depressed.

"What should we do?" Xun Zaishan asked in a deep voice, "Should we kill Liu Xunyi?"

"There are government troops in the open and sneak attacks in the dark. Do you think we still have a chance to kill him today?" Ning Luo said in annoyance. "If we force our way in, we will only suffer heavy casualties. Right now, we can only protect ourselves and get out as soon as possible."

"That's right!" Xu Zhun agreed, "If we wait until the government troops surround this place, it will be too late for us to leave..."

"As long as there is life, there is hope! Although Liu Xunyi was lucky enough to survive today, as long as he is alive, we will be able to kill him sooner or later." Lu Yao urged anxiously, "As the saying goes, 'A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.' The most urgent thing is to stay away from danger and find another opportunity in the future."

"Everyone, I see a lot of noise and people at the end of West Street. It seems that a large number of people are rushing here." The Tang Sect disciple hiding by the window peeked out and immediately shouted in panic, "The government troops are coming!"

"Without further ado, let's go!"

After saying that, Tang Yu cast a fierce look at the frowning Liu Xunyi and shouted angrily: "You are lucky today, but the blood feud you owe to the Central Plains martial arts world will never be easily settled. Sooner or later, we will take your life and avenge Luo!"

Accompanied by a burst of cursing, threats and complaints, everyone dared not delay any longer. Fearing the cold arrows from outside the window, they swarmed to the stairs, filed down one after another, rushed out of the restaurant in a hurry and fled in all directions.

Although these people in the martial arts world keep saying that they want revenge for Luo Tianjin and seem to be righteous, in fact, they all come for the reward. They all want to win this great credit and become famous and soar to the sky.

However, even a great reward requires a life to enjoy. Therefore, none of these people would be willing to risk their lives to fight Liu Xunyi. The advantage of rushing in together is that they can get rid of Liu Xunyi and avoid their own deaths to the greatest extent. Everyone wants to pay the least price and get the biggest reward. With each of them having their own thoughts and hidden intentions, how can they really be united against the enemy?

Because of this, when they thought Liu Xunyi was weak and could bully the weak, they all rushed here. But when they found that the situation suddenly changed and they went from advantage to disadvantage, they scattered like birds and beasts in an instant without any hesitation.

The evil of human nature, laziness, cunningness and selfishness, can be seen from this.

"call!"

As the gang left the restaurant, the tense atmosphere gradually eased. Qin Wei's back was already soaked with sweat. He sheathed his dagger and let out a breath of relief.

"Finally gone!"

Qin Wei leaned on the window and watched again and again. Seeing that there was no threat around, he showed a bitter smile to Liu Xunyi and said jokingly: "I thought that the heroes of the Jianghu were all desperate people who put righteousness first and were not afraid of life and death, but I didn't expect them to be so greedy for life and afraid of death."

"They are not afraid of death, they just don't want to risk their lives for Lord Luo." Liu Xunyi murmured, "In fact, there are not many people who really want to avenge Lord Luo. Among the group of people just now, the Sanyi Gang is considered to be loyal and righteous, but they know themselves well and know that they can't compete with the government army with their own strength, let alone get rid of me in a short time, so they can only avoid the sharp edge temporarily and leave in a hurry."

"I see." Qin Wei wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "I don't know if these people are afraid of death, but they are indeed a group of reckless men with courage but no strategy."

"Why?"

"I was just trying to scare them. Actually, I don't have 2,000 soldiers behind me." Qin Wei said proudly, "Just now I ran into the little prince who was fleeing in panic on the street. After asking him, I learned about the situation here. The situation is so urgent, how can I have the time to go back to Tianji Pavilion for help? The little prince wanted to go back to ask for reinforcements, but the Rong Palace is very far away. The round trip, plus the time for mobilizing troops, I am afraid that distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Fortunately, God blessed us and let us meet a group of fools. I just used a little trick to scare them all away. Interesting! Really interesting! Haha..."

Looking at the complacent Qin Wei, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but recall the scene just now.

Qin Wei rushed up to the second floor alone, and stood in front of him to confront the heroes of Jianghu without caring about his life. Liu Xunyi originally thought that Qin Wei must be fearless when he led the crowd. Even if he didn't have two thousand soldiers behind him, there should be at least dozens of golden sword lieutenants.

The result surprised him greatly. Qin Wei had no soldiers behind him and was completely alone.

Coming here rashly, even if he had used a "little trick", it was still extremely dangerous. What if the Jianghu heroes were not intimidated by him? What if everyone decided to fight to the death? What if Qin Wei's words and actions revealed the slightest flaw... the consequences would be disastrous.

By then, Liu Xunyi will not be the only one imprisoned, and he will not be the only one attacked by many and in danger of death.

Qin Wei's move was undoubtedly a gamble of his own life to give Liu Xunyi a chance of survival. Thinking of this, Liu Xunyi felt mixed emotions and felt even worse.

Because of Zhao Xin's matter, Liu Xunyi was determined to draw a line between himself and Qin Wei. Even if he didn't kill him, he would not forgive him.

But everything that had just happened shocked Liu Xunyi deeply.

In an instant, they seemed to have returned to the past, sharing life and death, trusting each other, and even entrusting their lives to each other.

People are all made of flesh and blood. It would be a lie to say that he was not moved by Qin Wei's risking his own life to come to his rescue.

However, the more moved he was, the more entangled he became. At this moment, Liu Xunyi could no longer tell whether his feelings towards Qin Wei were "hate" or "love"? Was it "anger" or "sadness"?
As if he had noticed the change in Liu Xunyi's mood, the smile on Qin Wei's face gradually froze, and his expression showed a hint of embarrassment, a hint of anxiety, a hint of guilt, and even a hint of embarrassment. He seemed to be neither crying nor laughing, and his expression was extremely unnatural and quite strange.

"Thank you for today's event!"

After a long silence, Liu Xunyi uttered a reluctant thank you, then suddenly stood up, walked towards the stairs, and said perfunctorily: "If there is nothing else, I will leave first."

"Wait!" Qin Wei's eyes changed, and he spoke resolutely as if he had made up his mind, "Brother Liu, I... have something to say to you."

"What else is there to talk about between you and me?"

"Yes!" Qin Wei took two steps forward, his tone very firm, "No matter what, please give me a chance to explain! If you still hold a grudge against me after listening to my explanation, then... I will give up!"

Qin Wei spoke from the bottom of his heart, and the last sentence was full of disappointment and loneliness, even with a hint of crying, which made Liu Xunyi's heart tremble. The feet that wanted to run away seemed to have taken root in the place and could no longer be lifted.

How can we just break off the friendship of more than twenty years since we were little?
Liu Xunyi is not a heartless person, on the contrary, he is actually very emotional. Often, his emotions will replace his rationality, causing him to do some incredible and surprising things.

After struggling for a while, Liu Xunyi finally couldn't harden his heart, so he said without turning his head: "What do you want to say?"

"I want to tell you about Princess Xinde. I want to tell you everything that happened during the time you were away from Lin'an. Including... why I kept it from you and alienated your relationship."

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi's heart suddenly tightened. Thinking of Zhao Xin's situation, he couldn't help but get angry, and his tone became more and more indifferent: "What do you mean?"

"Actually...actually, everything I did..." Qin Wei hesitated, as if he couldn't bear it, "Everything was the Marquis's intention. I was just following his orders. I had to..."

Following Zhao Yuan's instructions, Qin Wei put all the blame for alienating Liu Xunyi and Zhao Xin on Zhao Yuan. In his explanation, Zhao Yuan was the culprit of the whole thing, and he was a "poor man" who endured humiliation and acted against his conscience.

"Brother Liu, you are also the young guard of Tianji Pavilion. You should understand that our identities are destined to be helpless and we have no choice. How dare I disobey the order of the Marquis? How can I not obey?" Qin Wei knelt on the ground with a plop, crying and complaining, "I know that doing this will hurt you and Princess Xinde, but I have no choice but to follow orders. Afterwards, I really regretted it and felt very sad! I hated myself for framing my brother against my conscience? I hated myself for not being able to contradict the Marquis and just die? I hate it! I resent it! I am angry! But I am powerless and cannot change anything... I know that even if I don't do this, the Marquis will send someone else to do it, such as... Brother Qiu. I am your brother. Instead of letting others go, I might as well go. At least... I can try my best to preserve your reputation and future in this matter... Brother Liu, please forgive me!"

Qin Wei cried and spoke earnestly, which made Liu Xunyi feel heartbroken.

"So... So everything was the Marquis's idea..." Liu Xunyi's lips and teeth trembled as he muttered to himself, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I don't want you to hate the Marquis, and I don't want you to become enemies because of this..."

"If that's the case, why are you telling me now?"

"Because I found out... I can't lose you as a brother!" Qin Wei said sadly, "You are my only relative in the world, the only friend worth risking my life for... Brother Liu, please believe me! I really don't want to alienate you and Princess Xinde, but the Marquis issued a strict order and made the whole thing sound very serious, even endangering your life. After thinking it over again and again, I had to..."

"do not talk!"

Liu Xunyi turned around slowly, looked at Qin Wei with tears on his face, hesitated for a moment, then sighed, went forward and helped him up.

"Brother Qin, I am also a member of the Tianji Pavilion. I have been ordered to do many things against my will, especially setting up an ambush in the Xianwang Mansion... This is the biggest mistake I have made in my life. As the saying goes, 'No one is perfect.' Since you are acting on orders, I don't blame you for this matter."

"Brother Liu!"

Qin Wei got Liu Xunyi's forgiveness, half out of show and half out of sincerity, tears flowed down like the Yellow River bursting its banks, he was so happy that he suddenly opened his arms and hugged the dazed Liu Xunyi tightly to show his excitement and comfort.

"Brother Liu, we will always be good brothers! Good brothers who share weal and woe, good brothers who will never leave each other!"

……

(End of this chapter)