In the early summer of the 19th year of Wanli (1591), the court received a report that some local officials in Zhejiang and other places colluded with the salt gang and sold private salt for profit. The court immediately sent Shi Lang, a Jinyiwei Qianhu, to investigate the case in Zhejiang.

In order to effectively monitor the officials and the people, the Ming government not only set up a commanding yamen in the capital, but also dispatched a large number of Jinyiwei to various parts of the country. There were branches of Jinyiwei in Zhejiang. Shi Lang went out to handle the case this time and did not bring his entourage. According to his status as a fifth-rank thousand household in the Jinyiwei, he could send local Jinyiwei to assist in investigating the case at any time.

Shi Lang was originally from Huizhou, Zhejiang. He planned to take this opportunity to handle the case and go home to visit his elderly mother.

After several days of trekking, Shi Lang came to the only way to Zhejiang and Hangzhou - Bailu Mountain Pantuo Road.

Shi Lang walked along the winding mountain road alone with difficulty. The rainy weather for several days made the mountain road slippery and difficult to walk.

It seems that it is difficult to get out of Bailu Mountain before dark! Shi Lang simply slowed down and leisurely watched the beautiful scenery after the rain in the mountains while walking.

It was already the beginning of You hour. After the rain passed, the sky was clear. The colorful clouds in the west shone red clouds under the sunset. The surrounding mountains were one after another, all covered by the lush forest of trees. The gurgling sound of water flow was clearly heard from the gully gurgling gully in the gully under the mountain road.

Suddenly, the crisp sound of water flowing in the mountain stream was replaced by a huge "rumbling" sound. At first, Shi Lang thought it was a sound caused by a mountain torrent in the mountain stream. He walked to the mountain road and looked into the mountain stream below, but did not find any mountain torrents pouring down. Next, Shi Lang rushed to his feet and was shocked, and the vibration came from not far behind him. He quickly turned around. In an instant, Shi Lang was stunned by the scene behind him. On the hillside more than ten meters behind him, trees and grass were pouring down quickly towards the mountain road he had just walked.

"No, a landslide!" Shi Lang screamed.

The mountain road I just walked was covered by a mixture of slid down by gravel, trees, weeds, etc. What's even more terrifying is that the landslide is spreading towards Shi Lang at an extremely fast speed.

Shi Lang had no time to think and ran forward.

As the "rumbling" sound became closer, Shi Lang clearly felt the landslide behind him gradually approaching him.

At this critical moment, Shi Lang saw a red horse running towards him not far ahead, and immediately a young woman in black was sitting. It was obvious that the woman in black discovered Shi Lang running wildly and the mud and stones pouring down behind Shi Lang. The woman had almost no hesitation and whipped the horse and rushed towards Shi Lang.

"Hurry up, get on the horse!" The woman in black rode her horse to Shi Lang, pulled the reins with one hand and turned the mount one hundred and eighty degrees, and then extended her other hand to Shi Lang.

Shi Lang quickly held the woman in black's outstretched hand, jumped onto the horse's back, and sat behind the woman.

"Hug me tightly!" the woman shouted, then squeezed her legs into the horse's belly. The horse under her neighed and ran forward along the mountain road.

Shi Lang hugged the woman's waist tightly, and only the sound of wind roaring, horse hooves, and the roar behind him gradually drifted away.

"Thank you for helping me!" Shi Lang said loudly to the woman in front of him after his mood calmed down.

"Young Master, don't be polite. However, it's not time for us to relax. There will be many landslides on this mountain road every rainy season. If it doesn't work well, it will happen. We must quickly rush out of this mountain road to avoid being blocked inside." The woman answered Shi Lang, holding the reins with both hands, staring at the mountain road in front of her, and not daring to relax at all.

Sure enough, just as the two of them rode their horses, the mud and stones on the hillside thundered in front of them.

The horse under him screamed in surprise, and his front legs stood up in the air. Shi Lang and the woman were unsteady and were thrown under the horse. The huge inertia caused the two and the mount to fall off the cliff together.

Shi Lang, who was falling quickly, instinctively grabbed a protruding pine branch on the cliff with one hand, and quickly hugged the woman who was falling at the same time with his other hand. The rolling mud and stones on the cliff poured down, and Shi Lang had to suddenly take the woman into his arms and protect her with his body to prevent the rolling mud and stones from hurting her.

"Catch the pine branches and hold the cracks of the rocks with both feet." After the mud and stones, Shi Lang carefully reminded the woman in her arms to prevent her from falling down due to nervousness.

The woman seemed to have super psychological qualities. It seemed that she had fallen off the cliff and hung up in the air. She calmly followed Shi Lang's instructions, clutching the pine branches tightly with both hands, and finding a suitable rock crack to rush.

Seeing that the woman was not in danger for the time being, Shi Lang turned his head and looked down, and found himself and the woman hanging on a cliff dozens of feet high. At the bottom of the cliff, a small river flowed through dense forests and winding towards the left side of the body.

"Girl, we must find a way to go. There are many pine branches and rock cracks on this cliff. Do you think you can do it?" Shi Lang asked the woman.

"Try it." The woman looked down at her feet and said.

"Okay, you can hold on to the pine branches first. I'll go down first. After I've explored the way, you can go down along my line. Don't be nervous. If I'm following you, there will be no danger. I can do it?"

"Okay." The woman answered, grabbed the loose branches with both hands, allowing Shi Lang to free up his hands and climb down.

Shi Lang grabbed the lower pine branches or vines with both hands, and tentatively searched for the cracks on the cliff rocks. After thrusting his feet in a solid position, he used his hands to find the lower pine branches or vines with his lower position. After moving down, Shi Lang encouraged the woman to follow the route he was going down. The woman's skill was actually very light and she went down to Shi Lang without much effort.

"Young Master, is that true?"

"Not bad, very good. I didn't expect the girl to be so agile."

"I will relax a lot if I have the young master below to protect me." The woman smiled at Shi Lang.

"Okay, let's follow this method and go slowly." Seeing that the woman was not afraid, Shi Lang relaxed.

Since it was early summer, the cliff rocks were covered with pine branches, vines and other plants, which undoubtedly reduced the difficulty of going downward for Shi Lang and the woman. The two of them took care of each other and finally safely went down to the bottom of the cliff before dark.

"Finally come down!" The woman who jumped to the ground lightly breathed a sigh of relief under Shi Lang's protection.

"Yes, I'll be relieved if I can get safe." Shi Lang's words sounded like a blessing for the safety of the two of them. In fact, deep down he was comforting the safe landing of the woman who was his savior. With the skills of "Iron-armed God Ape", climbing a cliff of such difficulty was like walking on the ground. What he really worried about was the safety of the woman. For some reason, after these short dozens of minutes of contact, Shi Lang developed an inexplicable favor for this woman who was quite heroic in his heart.

"Thank you for your help. If you hadn't caught me in the air, I'd probably have fallen to pieces. So, I want to thank you for your life-saving grace!" The woman said, bowing and thanking Shi Lang.

The other party's masculine way of celebrating further deepened Shi Lang's favor for the woman in front of him. Only then did he realize that the woman opposite not only had the pretty face and agile look that ordinary Jiangnan women had, but also had a rare heroic spirit between his eyebrows.

"Girl is so polite! I should really thank you. If the girl hadn't been to the timely rescue me, I would have been buried under the mud and stones. I would also like to thank you for your life-saving grace!" Shi Lang bowed the same way.

"Since that's the case, we'll be even."

"I will keep my life-saving grace in my heart."

"Young master, don't be polite. Hurry up and wash your face by the river."

Shi Lang realized that he was covered in dust when he was on the cliff just now, and he hurried to the river to wash his face.

When he stood in front of the woman again, Shi Lang's face had returned to his usual handsomeness.

Looking at the handsome boy standing in front of him, the woman's eyes paused instantly, and an inexplicable excitement quietly rose from the bottom of her heart.

"Girl, you..." Looking at the woman's eyes that looked at her, Shi Lang wanted to speak but stopped.

"Oh... I'm sorry I... I just looked at the young master with a familiar look. I don't know where the young master's home?" The woman suddenly realized her loss of composure, and her face suddenly turned her eyes away. She quickly dodged and moved her eyes away from Shi Lang.

"Oh... I live in Beijing. I do business with my father freely. This time I am going to Hangzhou to urge a batch of payments. I didn't expect to meet the girl here." Shi Lang didn't want to reveal his true identity.

"That may be because I recognized the wrong person. The young master is far away in Beijing. How could I meet the young master?"

"It seems that the girl is a local, right?"

"Yes. I'm from Zhejiang."

"The girl's appearance of riding on a horse just now is indeed unique. I guess the girl is not the kind of woman from ordinary people."

"Young Master praised me. I was just trained as a boy by my family since I was a child, so I learned some self-defense techniques of archery, horse riding and shooting. It's really nothing. Today, I went to the other side of the mountain to pick up a friend, and I didn't want to meet the young master by chance. Oh, by the way, I'm just talking to the young master, and I haven't seen how my horse is." The woman seemed unwilling to talk about her identity and family affairs, so she turned the topic to the mount that fell off the cliff.

"Yes, let's look for it quickly." Shi Lang said.
Chapter completed!