After Rebirth, My Aloof Husband Can Hear My Inner Thoughts [Transmigration & Rebirth] - Chapter 58

The sound of the coachman urging the horses came from outside the carriage. The vehicle picked up speed, jolting incessantly inside. Lin Shengshen felt dizzy and nauseous, on the verge of vomiting.

Such haste likely meant they had passed through an unsafe area.

Lin Shengshen lifted the curtain again to check. They had emerged from the trees, and an expanse of open farmland lay before them, dotted with a few rustic cottages.

The time had come!

Lin Shengshen shoved the porcelain vial into Xie Zhenhuan’s hand and said quickly, “Later, you must run for your life. Don’t look back—looking back will make you stumble!”

As she spoke, she gathered Xie Zhenhuan’s skirt and tied it at the knees. “This vial contains a burning poison. It won’t kill, but it’s very painful. Later, run and knock on the doors of the cottages one by one. If you can get someone to open the door, hide inside. If anyone tries to harm you, use this medicine!”

Lin Shengshen tied up the hem of her skirt and removed the hairpins and jewelry from both their heads.

Xie Zhenhuan trembled violently, “Sister-in-law, what about you?”

“I have a dagger, don’t worry about me.”

“Why don’t we just kill him now!”

“No! If he reacts faster than me, we’ll lose our last resort! We must strike only when success is guaranteed!”

Tears streamed down Xie Zhenhuan’s face as she shook her head repeatedly, “Sister-in-law, I’m scared…”

Lin Shengshen lifted the curtain for another quick glance, “Time is running out. No fear allowed!”

Lin Shengshen first picked up the incense burner, weighed it in her hand before setting it down, then grabbed the small stool in the corner – heavy and just right.

She signaled to Xie Zhenhuan with her eyes. Xie Zhenhuan quietly opened the wooden carriage door as Lin Shengshen mustered all her strength and hurled the stool hard at the coachman’s head.

With a pained cry, the coachman tumbled off the carriage.

“Hold tight!” Lin Shengshen shouted, then tightly embraced Xie Zhenhuan as they rolled off the carriage. The two tumbled across a patch of gravel before coming to rest in a farmland.

Excruciating pain tore through her back – without looking, she knew she must be bleeding heavily. Suppressing the tears welling in her eyes, Lin Shengshen gave Xie Zhenhuan a hard shove.

“Run!”

Simultaneously, the coachman’s furious roars and curses erupted from the other side of the gravel path.

Dizzy and disoriented, Xie Zhenhuan was jolted awake by Lin Shengshen’s shout. Clutching the porcelain bottle tightly, she sprinted toward the farmhouses.

Help! She needed to beg those farmers for help! Someone please save sister-in-law!!

Lin Shengshen staggered a few steps before breaking into a run, but her limping gait forced her to endure the trembling and wildly pounding heartbeat as she listened to the footsteps gradually closing in behind her.

“Bitch! Bitch! I’ll kill you!!” The coachman roared like a beast from the abyss, his sheer rage alone enough to burn someone to ashes.

“Run! Let’s see how you run with that lame leg!”

The footsteps behind her drew nearer, the man’s roars nearly deafening. At this critical moment, Lin Shengshen took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the drawn dagger.

This was her only chance!

Neither the poison nor the dagger were meant for impulsive use. She had deliberately slowed her pace, waiting for the coachman to close in – all for this single opportunity!

If they had simply fled headlong, how could two women possibly outrun a strong coachman? He had to be killed!

She spun around abruptly and slashed the dagger toward the heart of the person behind her.

Sshhhk—

The sound of fabric tearing and flesh splitting echoed as the coachman cried out in pain, then his hands clamped around Lin Shengshen’s neck like iron vices.

“Bitch! How dare you ambush me!”

She had missed!

The coachman was agile, clearly trained, instinctively dodging the fatal blow with only a superficial wound.

In that suffocating moment, countless images flashed through Lin Shengshen’s mind: During the Drunken Qiong Rui incident, Xie Zhizhou could definitely have dodged that strike, yet he hadn’t…

If only she had listened to him and practiced knife skills properly.

The coachman’s fury manifested in terrifying strength that seemed ready to crush Lin Shengshen’s windpipe piece by piece.

Tears she had been holding back finally fell as Lin Shengshen mustered all her strength for another strike, this time aiming for the man’s vulnerable neck.

However, breathless and weakened, her arm was caught by the coachman and slammed against a scattered farm stone. The sharp rock dug into Lin Shengshen’s flesh.

Ignoring the searing pain in her arm, Lin Shengshen lifted her leg and kicked mercilessly with all her might at the man’s crotch.

The coachman howled in agony, the hand gripping her throat tightening further. “How dare you pretend to be crippled to deceive me! I’ll break both your legs!”

Xie Zhenhuan gasped for breath as she sprinted toward the farmhouse. Lin Shengshen had told her not to look back, to hide inside the farmhouse, but… but what about Lin Shengshen?

What if she couldn’t handle the coachman?! Xie Zhenhuan abruptly halted and turned back.

Not far away, she saw Lin Shengshen pinned beneath the coachman, her throat constricted, the arm holding the dagger covered in blood and hanging limply at her side. The coachman’s silhouette resembled a beast devouring the moon.

Lin Shengshen!

Abandoning all fear, Xie Zhenhuan raced back at the fastest speed she had ever mustered in her life.

Rather than seeking help from farmers to save Lin Shengshen, she would find a way herself! Lin Shengshen absolutely could not die!

Tears drying on her cheeks from the frantic run, she pulled the stopper from the porcelain vial in her hand and hastily sprinkled the poison onto her palm. A bitter scent instantly filled the air.

It burned! Like venomous snakes biting every inch of her hand.

The wind during her sprint felt like blades of dismemberment scraping fiercely across Xie Zhenhuan’s palms and fingers.

Lin Shengshen’s leg was brutally crushed under the coachman’s foot, the bone taut as a drawn bowstring, ready to snap at any moment. She could no longer distinguish which hurt more—her neck, her arm, or her calf.

The pain was unbearable… she had always feared pain the most.

But she refused to accept death!

Having been granted a second life, there were still countless sights unseen, unresolved matters weighing on her heart, and her parents and brother at home awaiting rare reunion.

How could she resign herself to dying at the hands of such filth?

In an instant, a brilliant light flashed before her eyes, dazzling, like a divine power surging into her body. Suddenly, a burst of vigorous strength erupted within her. She clenched the dagger in her hand fiercely, the three hard rubies imprinting patterns against the web of her thumb.

Was this a final rally before death?

But her arm was pinned down relentlessly by the coachman. Even with the dagger firmly gripped, she couldn’t lift her arm.

Help… me…

In that split second, as if a deity had heard her plea, the pressure on her arm and throat loosened. Immediately after, the coachman’s agonized scream pierced the air.

Lin Shengshen’s vision flickered between light and darkness, unable to discern what was happening, but she knew—

Another chance had arrived!

Almost simultaneously, without a moment for thought, Lin Shengshen cleanly and decisively plunged the dagger deep into the coachman’s heart.

It struck true!

With the last of her strength, Lin Shengshen twisted the blade violently in his chest and then sliced downward. Blood gushed out like scalding broth from the filthy cavity.

“You… bitch…” The coachman’s pained roar finally ceased as he collapsed to the ground like a heap of rotten flesh.

Lin Shengshen’s mind went blank at first. Dazedly lifting her head, she realized—

Xie Zhenhuan, her hands drenched in blood, was frantically clawing at the coachman’s eyes from behind, screaming and cursing in a chaotic frenzy. Even though the coachman had already stopped breathing, she continued to gouge his eyes and slap his face in a maddened state.

It wasn’t a deity who had answered the call—it was her brave sister who had come.

“Zhenhuan…”

Xie Zhenhuan’s face was streaked with tears, seemingly unaware of her surroundings.

Lin Shengshen forced herself to stand and moved forward to embrace Xie Zhenhuan, pressing the top of her head against her chin while gently stroking her violently trembling arms.

“Well done, Zhenhuan!”

Xie Zhenhuan finally snapped out of her frenzied state. Regaining her senses, she wrapped her arms around Lin Shengshen’s waist and buried her face in her embrace, weeping uncontrollably.

“Sister-in-law!”

Having narrowly escaped death, Lin Shengshen also wanted to break down and weep, but now was not the time.

The person coordinating with the carriage driver would surely send search parties when they failed to arrive, and those pursuers wouldn’t be as easily dealt with as the driver had been!

They needed to hide quickly.

In the dim twilight, several farmhouses in the distance had already lit their lamps. The commotion had drawn curious onlookers peering in their direction from less than a hundred yards away. Though the details were unclear from that distance, they would certainly know lives had been lost here.

Gritting her teeth against the pain in her leg and arm, Lin Shengshen tore soft fabric from her inner sleeve and hastily bandaged Xie Zhenhuan’s nearly mangled hand.

“Let’s go! Into the woods.”

“Sister-in-law, there are many farmers over there. Let’s seek their help!”

Lin Shengshen gripped Xie Zhenhuan’s arm as they stumbled toward the forest.

“No. After all that commotion, none of them came to help. Do you think anyone would assist two blood-soaked women begging for aid?”

Xie Zhenhuan supported Lin Shengshen. “We could offer them gold and silver. Even just a place to hide would suffice.”

The sky darkened further, moonlight floating like white gauze upon water, hazy and indistinct.

Lin Shengshen’s usually smiling face was now deadly serious. “Zhenhuan, you must remember—never underestimate the malice in others.”

“Our poison is gone, we’re both injured, and I can barely wield this dagger. With no trump cards left, how dare we expose our backs to strangers?”

A chill shot up Xie Zhenhuan’s spine. When she glanced again at the peering figures in the distance, they suddenly resembled lurking ghosts.

“Rather than gambling our lives on strangers’ kindness, we must keep our fate in our own hands.”

Lin Shengshen led Zhenhuan into the woods. Moonlight pierced through the foliage onto the grass, and even the air entering their lungs with each breath carried the chill of frost and snow.

Xie Zhenhuan’s voice trembled with tears. “Sister-in-law… will Elder Brother really come save us?”

Lin Shengshen met her gaze steadily. “Yes.”

But she had already prepared for his absence.

Herself—that was the ultimate trump card.

She guided Zhenhuan deeper into the forest. As full darkness fell, Lin Shengshen wiped the dagger with her sleeve and sheathed it.

After walking awhile, Xie Zhenhuan suddenly spotted a gravel path—had they reached the forest’s edge? How could they hide here?

Lin Shengshen patted her hand reassuringly and led her across the path into riverside reeds. The slippery mudflats slowed their progress.

She had already surveyed the terrain earlier. If bloodstained women entered the woods, those watching farmers would grow suspicious. When searchers questioned them, their location would be betrayed within three sentences.

Though the forest was vast, with enough manpower, finding them would be like catching turtles in a jar. They had to leave the woods and find another escape route.

These reeds appeared lush and dense along the riverbank in daylight, making nighttime searches inconvenient. By the time pursuers finished scouring the woods and suspected this area, she and Zhenhuan could endure and travel far enough. At least here, with water sources, they could survive!

In the farmland, several burly men in black clothes raised torches to examine the corpse on the ground.

Gouged-out eyes, a face mutilated beyond recognition, chest split open by a sharp blade, the heart area churned to pulp by knife wounds.

This was a brutal death.

I never expected the targets our master ordered us to kill would be so troublesome. Weren’t they supposed to be… just two defenseless women?

One of the men grabbed two farmers and threw them to the ground. “Have you seen two women?”

The two men in coarse clothing trembled as they pointed toward the nearby forest. “They went in there!”

“Call Lü San and the others! Search the area for me!”

A group of men holding torches swarmed into the forest.

“Damn it, two girls have kept us busy until midnight! You’re all useless!”

A man with a scar running across his face chewed on a blade of grass, then spat it out with a contemptuous sound. “Just wait until I catch those bitches. I’ll teach them a lesson!”

The torchlights moved rapidly through the forest, while outside, several men’s eyes reflected the flickering flames as they burst into lewd laughter.

“I heard one of them is a famous beauty. I wonder if the beauty will beg us for mercy before she dies!” A thin man said with animated excitement.

The scarred man picked up the thread, “When she’s crying like a pear blossom bathed in rain, we brothers can have some fun! Let her taste what it’s like to soar to heaven—”

Whoosh!

A cold gleam flashed before anyone could see clearly. The scarred man fell to the ground with a thud. The crowd gasped in shock, raising their torches to illuminate the scene. A dagger was embedded right in the middle of the scar on his face, the hilt firmly lodged in the flesh of his nose bridge, showing the tremendous force behind the throw.

The men immediately scattered, drawing their swords in alert. In the chaos, they saw a man rein in his horse before them. Mounted on a black steed and dressed in dark robes, he looked down on them with a handsome yet sinister face that sent chills down their spines.

“Capture them.” In less than half an hour, everyone present was apprehended, while more subordinates entered the forest to search for the targets.

Xie Zhizhou scanned the area by the torchlight but didn’t see the two figures. His heart tightened. Looking behind them, he spotted a corpse lying on the ground. Yuan Qing stepped forward with a torch, revealing a gruesome, bloody mess—the death was extremely brutal.

Xie Zhizhou glanced at it, his brow furrowing deeply.

It wasn’t a single fatal strike, indicating a struggle before success… Has Lin Shengshen been injured?

She fears pain the most. Who knows how she’s faring this time…

Suppressing the surging urge to kill, he turned his gaze to the thin man who had been spouting arrogant remarks earlier.

Yuan Zhen stepped forward, kicked the thin man’s leg bone until it snapped, and dragged him before Xie Zhizhou.

“Where are they?”

“Wh-what people?” The thin man grimaced in pain, nearly rolling on the ground, still playing dumb.

Xie Zhizhou shot a glance at Yuan Zhen.

Yuan Zhen drew his blade, thrust it into the man’s back without hitting the bones, then slowly angled the edge downward as if intending to slice open his flesh.

The thin man couldn’t endure the pain, trembling with fear as he begged for mercy repeatedly, “The forest! They went into the forest! Spare me, please spare me!”

Xie Zhizhou nodded, turned his horse toward the gravel path, and coldly tossed back a command, “Kill him.”

Screams echoed behind him as Xie Zhizhou urged his horse into a gallop toward the reeds he had seen earlier.

Lin Shengshen isn’t reckless; she wouldn’t charge into the forest like a headless fly waiting to be found.

Those reeds are the best hiding place.