A trace of difficulty appeared on the girl's face, and her delicate brows drew together slightly-the man before her had fiercely told her to "answer one question at a time," yet now he had asked so many at once. How was she supposed to answer?
Only after a long while did she speak timidly, her voice soft and sweet, carrying the distinctive lilting Wu accent of the southern waterways. "My name is Bai Susu.
"I came from Yangzhou, and I'm going to the Capital.
"I originally had two senior brothers traveling with me, but... but those men killed them."
At the mention of her senior brothers, her eyes reddened slightly, and her voice dropped. "The two men hunting me are... are from the Queue Army.
"They suddenly burst into our compartment. They were terribly formidable, and both my senior brothers died on the spot as soon as they encountered them.
"Fortunately, they saw that I was a frail woman and let their guard down for a moment. That let me catch them off guard with a spell and escape by sheer luck, but they still wounded my leg."
She extended a finger and lightly touched the blood-soaked hem of her qipao, a trace of lingering fear appearing on her face.
"The Queue Army?" Cui Jiuyang frowned slightly.
He was not particularly familiar with the history of these early years of the Republic of China. After all, he had never studied what his textbooks had not covered.
But he had been traveling for over half a year and had heard a little about current affairs-the Queue Army should belong to the forces of that warlord named Zhang He.
He had heard that Zhang He was exceptionally obstinate and wholeheartedly loyal to the long-fallen Qing court. Even after the Republic of China