Border Cook

Lu Qiyan threw away the reins, squeezed the horse's belly, and the horse lifted its feet and moved forward.

Before leaving Xinghua Lane, Lu Qiyan heard a series of "Woof woof" shouts coming from behind. When he turned around, Wu Jin was already in front of him, shouting "Woof woof woof" at him again.

"Wu Jin, go back." Lu Qi Yan shouted.

"Woof woof woof woof." Wu Jin barked again and then turned around and ran back. After a short while, he came back with a handkerchief in his mouth.

Lu Qiyan recognized the handkerchief; it belonged to Xia Mingyue. There was a golden full moon embroidered on it, and light auspicious clouds underneath.

At this time, Wu Jin took Xia Mingyue's handkerchief...

Lu Qiyan frowned, "You mean you can help find it?"

"Woof!" Wu Jin responded solemnly.

A dog's sense of smell is indeed the most sensitive, especially for the scent of its owner, which is the easiest to distinguish. Wu Jin is smarter than ordinary dogs, so I think his ability in this area is extraordinary.

Taking Wu Jin with me to look for Xia Mingyue might actually be faster.

only……

Although the dog is agile and has a certain degree of endurance, it is unknown how far it will have to run, so efficiency is even more important. Wu Jin may not be able to withstand such a rapid run.

Lu Qiyan jumped off the horse, looked at the saddle, and thought about how to put the black gold on the horse's back for easy carrying.

Wu Jin barked twice, went around Lu Qiyan's back, and jumped directly onto Lu Qiyan's back.

Lu Qiyan subconsciously reached out and actually picked up Wu Jin on his back.

Wu Jin, who was lying on Lu Qiyan's back, placed his front paws on Lu Qiyan's shoulders, "Woof woof woof woof!"

Lu Qiyan, "..."

That seems to be a solution.

Lu Qiyan directly carried Wu Jin on his back and got back on the horse, "Then you need to sit tight!"

Then he swung the whip in his hand to urge the horse forward.

A man, a dog and a horse were galloping through Jinqiu County, scaring the pedestrians on the street to avoid them. But when they saw that there was a man riding on the horse and a dog riding on the man, they almost dropped their jaws in shock.

Is this a popular way of traveling nowadays?
Most of the bandits were rioting and gathered in the west. The few bandit hideouts he knew were all in the mountains in the west. The people who kidnapped Xia Mingyue used the excuse of going to the military camp, so they would definitely go west.

Lu Qiyan made this guess as he carried Wu Jin out of the city gate and headed west.

It rained a few days ago. Although the rain was not heavy, it lasted for two full days. The ground absorbed enough rain water and became slightly soft. Even after being dried for a few days, vehicles and pedestrians still left obvious traces on the road.

When we first left the city gate, the traces were complicated and difficult to discern, but the further we went, the fewer footprints and ruts there were, until only the last two were left.

The two ruts were smooth and flat, without any pauses, which showed that the carriage was running very fast and with a clear purpose.

This is most likely the carriage that Xia Mingyue and Zhuang Cui were riding in.

Lu Qiyan continued to chase along the wheel tracks, and the traces on the ground also changed.

There were two more ruts on the ground, as if a carriage had gone there and returned, and there were also more messy horse hoof prints.

And these traces, at the fork in the road, go to another way.

Lu Qiyan frowned, and after thinking for a moment, he turned his horse around and chased after the enemy in another fork in the road.

Going forward along this road, not far from a stone bridge, Lu Qiyan saw a parked carriage and a horse lying on the ground.

There was a deep wound on the horse's buttocks, and the blood had already coagulated. It seemed that the horse had died of blood loss. There was no one in the carriage, but there was some scattered powder in the carriage. Lu Qiyan put the powder on his finger, put it under his nose and smelled it, and found it familiar...

It's fried noodles!
He had liked this fried flour very much before, and Xia Mingyue made a lot of it for him. The fried flour that appeared in the carriage was probably because Xia Mingyue heard that he would not live long, so she brought some of his favorite food.

This carriage is probably the one that Xia Mingyue and Zhuang Cui rode in!

Wu Jin also jumped onto the carriage, sniffed, and then barked twice at Lu Qiyan.

Lu Qiyan touched Wu Jin's forehead and said, "This carriage is for Mingyue to ride in, right?"

"Woof woof!" Wu Jin gave a definite answer.

After getting the affirmation, Lu Qiyan felt more confident and continued to observe the situation around him.

Unlike the previous horseshoe prints which were numerous but regular, the horseshoe prints here were numerous and messy, mixed with many people's footprints. After staying here for a while, these footprints dispersed everywhere.

It looked like the horse had been stabbed and was running forward madly, so those people chased it all the way here and then split up to look for it.

Based on this inference, Xia Mingyue and Zhuang Cui have already abandoned the car and fled.

But there were almost no signs of the carriage stopping along the way. How did they manage to escape without being noticed while being chased?

After thinking for a moment, Lu Qiyan asked Wu Jin to lie on his back, then he mounted the horse again and rushed back to the stone bridge they had just passed.

This stone bridge is a common stone beam bridge. Its characteristic is that it is flat and convenient for carriages to pass through. It is level with the ground. Although the river is not particularly wide, it seems to have a certain depth, and the water flows gently, so ordinary small boats can pass through it.

In a river like this, if you jump off the bridge, you can swim to another place smoothly and avoid being tracked by those people.

However, this river runs from north to south, and you can go both upstream and downstream...

Lu Qiyan raised his eyes and looked around, and saw that the sun was setting in the west. Not far from the river bank downstream, wisps of green smoke were rising.

"This way." Lu Qiyan led the horse and walked downstream along the river.

Wu Jin followed behind, head lowered, sniffing around, hoping to quickly detect any trace of Xia Mingyue's scent.

The man, the horse and the dog walked like this for a long time, until the sun set completely and night gradually fell.

Lu Qiyan narrowed his eyes, an anxious look appearing on his face.

After walking along the river for such a long time, there was no sign of Xia Mingyue and Zhuang Cui coming ashore. I thought that the two of them must have been swimming in the river for a long time, so they must have been exhausted when they came ashore.

if……

A bad thought emerged in Lu Qiyan's mind, and then he shook his head hurriedly.

No, she will be fine!
Just as Lu Qiyan was daydreaming, Wu Jin suddenly started barking "Woof woof woof".

Lu Qiyan went to take a look hurriedly, and saw that a patch of weeds on the shore had indeed been trampled extremely badly, and the ground was also a little wetter than the surrounding areas.

Wu Jin then sniffed and continued to bark at Lu Qiyan.

"This way?"

"Wang!"

Lu Qiyan followed, leading the horse.

The original situation of one man, one horse and one dog now became one man, one dog and one horse, and they continued to walk forward slowly.

When it was completely dark, Lu Qiyan and Wu Jin arrived at a village. (End of this chapter)