Chapter 81
It was night.
The village was silent except for the lonely barking of dogs.
Occasionally, there were one or two barks.
There were no sounds of children crying.
It was very quiet.
The vast village became a bit eerie in its stillness.
Although it wasn't brightly lit, when everything was dark with no trace of light, it could still be a bit scary.
At Lord Liu's house, Sixth Aunt's old man sat outside the gate, smoking the poor quality cigarettes he rolled himself, looking at the dark village and thinking about sneaking into Second Jiang's house to see if he could find some treasures.
When escaping, he couldn't take everything with him, so he had to hide what he couldn't take. He wasn't sure where to hide them.
However, it was too dark now, and he felt too lazy to climb. He decided to wait until tomorrow. If they hadn't returned by then, he would bring his son to search, and they would definitely find something.
Lord Liu was also very frugal and didn't light many lamps at night.
At night, they increased the guards, who relied on the moonlight for illumination.
Wu, Cui's fiancé, was also there.
Landlord Liu was stingy and didn't give much monthly pay, but Wu's mother had been bedridden for years, so he needed the money and had to come.
Fortunately, he managed to deceive the young girl Cui with his skills (good-looking face, strong physique), and they were about to get married soon. His mother didn't like Cui's mother and thought that marrying Cui would bring more trouble, but given his circumstances, Cui not minding was already quite good.
He thought that after marriage, Cui would take care of his mother at home, while he worked hard at Landlord Liu's house. Ten years later, maybe he would save enough money to redeem their own land, plant it themselves, and live a comfortable life with Cui. They could have children, and the thought of the future seemed beautiful.
A feathered arrow shot in, narrowly grazing Wu's shoulder, and for a moment, his heart stopped in shock.
Then he shouted, "The bandits are here, the bandits are really here."
The arrows came in faster than his voice.
The fire lit up.
The old man outside the gate had already fallen to the ground, shot in the chest, bleeding. He lay twitching, thinking before he died that he should have gone to Second Jiang's house just now. He missed out on a good deal and died quickly.
Shouts, screams.
The villagers who hadn't run far, still harboring a sense of luck, hearing these cries, sweat broke out on their backs in the cold night, feeling deep gratitude towards Second Jiang. Luckily, he risked his life to come and report the news, otherwise they would not have escaped death.
The bandits had arrived.
If the villagers hadn't hidden, they might have noticed something.
But the villagers had all fled, leaving the bandits with a clear path straight to Lord Liu's house.
The bandits didn't dare to attack the county yamen because the constables were strong, ate well, and had better weapons than them. But these gentry, they weren't afraid of them.
The gentry's guards didn't fight to the death, if they could win, they fought, if not, they hid.
Lord Liu, who usually treated his servants harshly, was now reaping the fruits of his cruelty.
Wu initially shouted once, then tried to find a way to hide.
The bandits had come thinking of riches, but when they arrived at Lord Liu's house, they had to search for candles.
Except for Lord Liu's family dressed in luxury and eating well, the other servants looked even poorer than the bandits.
Facing a group of bandits with covered faces and fierce expressions.
Lord Liu angrily shouted, "My daughter is the favored concubine of the County Magistrate, aren't you afraid of death?"
A spear pierced through his heart.
Lord Liu pointed at the masked figure in front of him, his hand trembling, he recognized the person who threw the spear.
He recognized those eyes.
He had once wanted to take her as a concubine, back when she had big round eyes and a round face, a smiling young girl.
He looked down in horror at the spear in his chest, blood everywhere, he tried to speak but no sound came out, all the people heard was, "Please, please..."
The bandit leader spat and cursed, "Bad luck, who did it so fast, this old man is dead and still polite, asking for what, asking to come in?"
...
...
...
Qin Luoxia stumbled and ran into the forest.
Normally she could easily avoid thorns, but this time they pierced her feet.
She didn't care about the pain, she didn't even feel it.
She ran desperately.
Ran desperately.
Ran desperately.
The dense forest was filled with the scent of leaves.
Covering up the smell of blood, her mind gradually began to clear.
She couldn't run back to the cave.
She was covered in blood.
It would scare her husband and child.
She stumbled and ran towards the mountain stream.
She thought of her husband and child, and completely calmed down.
Cold winter.
The mountain stream had dried up, but there was still water in the pool.
She touched the water, icy cold.
Qin Luoxia had cleaned many prey here before.
And today, she was cleaning herself.
She had some wounds, but nothing serious, the people who hurt her were all dead.
She killed Lord Liu.
Later, seeing the bandits attacking women and children, she killed those bandits too.
Too many killings.
She realized, humans are more fragile than beasts.
Beasts have fur, which hinders the spear from going in, humans don't.
Beasts run fast, some can even fly, hard to catch.
Humans run slow, can't fly, easily caught.
Beasts resist, humans resist too.
Human resistance sometimes caused her injuries, because humans have weapons, humans know how to cooperate.
But it's not a big problem.
She dealt with it all.
The cold water quickly stopped the bleeding from her wounds.
She cleaned her wounds by the pool, her blood-soaked clothes soaking in the water, turning the water in the pool a dark red.
Her breath formed white mist in the air.
No birds or beasts dared to approach.
Not even the sound of insects chirping.
Quiet.
The sound of dripping water.
After cleaning herself, she changed her clothes and walked back.
At dawn.
The sky had a morning glow.
Qin Luoxia arrived at the entrance of the cave.
She saw a man standing at the entrance, his long hair fluttering in the cold wind, his robe rustling.
His nose was red from the cold.
But it didn't affect his handsome appearance.
The radiance of the dawn was nothing compared to the hem of her husband's garment.
"Husband, I'm back," Qin Luoxia smiled.
Jiang Changtian looked at Luoxia, at her appearance, he didn't ask anything, but embraced her.
He had waited for her for a long time, a very long time.
He was worried about her.
Seeing Luoxia come back, seeing her smile.
He felt relieved.
He held her in his arms, with the radiance of dawn before him.
Jiang Mianmian crawled out of the cave, seeing the two embracing at the entrance, neither of them noticed her. She grumbled to herself, turned around and climbed back, well, she would go play with Jiang Xiaoshu.
Ah Niang's body had a strong, bloody smell.
Jiang Mianmian didn't want to know what had happened, probably went to pick wild vegetables again.
In this chaotic world, who isn't like a vegetable.
Halfway up, she was grabbed back and lifted by Ah Niang.
Jiang Mianmian fell into her father's arms, the cold wind making her sneeze, "Achoo!"
Qin Luoxia looked at this father-daughter pair with similar features, both blushing, both exquisitely beautiful.
She chuckled.
As if she was still that round-faced little girl from years ago.
Smiling, with curved eyebrows and eyes.
...