Chapter 70
Chapter 70
“But the barbarians…”
“Shh! Do you have a death wish? Besides, you think you’ve got what it takes to make the Chief Bandit and the others change their minds?”
“We’re just small fry. All we have to do is obey orders. Hurry up and patrol the mountain.”
Jiang Yunsui watched the two men walk away, her eyes wide.
Had she just overheard something incredible?
An iron mine, mountain bandits, and barbarians.
Rubbing her chin, she summed it up in her head…
These people were exactly who Ji Yan’an was looking for.
Well, since she was already here…
After letting the fox go and giving it a little farewell, Jiang Yunsui sneakily followed the two men.
She didn’t dare get too close.
Although the two of them would ignore her, if she got tired, or stepped on something and made too much noise, it would still be easy to draw their attention.
“Huff, huff…”
“How much farther are they going? Huff… Where on earth are they going?”
Jiang Yunsui rolled her eyes like a dead fish and no longer wanted to keep following them.
She was exhausted.
The water she’d brought was almost gone.
But that was fine. She could drink dew.
The two men Jiang Yunsui was tailing also found a place to sit down and rest, gnawing on dry, hard flatbread.
“What could possibly happen in these mountains? Let’s rest here a while longer, then head straight back to the stronghold. It’s about time the next group came out to patrol anyway.”
“Didn’t they say the stronghold traded for a batch of mutton? When is the Chief Bandit going to slaughter a sheep for us to eat?”
“Keep dreaming. Sure, they traded for sheep, but whether we’ll get any is another question. Anyway, when I passed by the Chief Bandit’s room yesterday, I could smell meat coming from inside.”
“We’ve really got miserable lives.”
The two of them grumbled about their boss for a while, then stopped taking their patrol seriously.
They were only given that little bit of food, and their silver wages weren’t much either. How serious did they expect them to be?
Back they went. Back they went.
Jiang Yunsui followed them all the way to a hidden mountain stronghold deep in the hills.
The stronghold gate was actually quite impressive. There were watchtowers on both sides of the entrance, with men standing inside to keep an eye on the surroundings.
Jiang Yunsui strutted right in after the two patrolling bandits.
With her little hands clasped behind her back, she looked as if she had come here on a sightseeing tour.
And yet not a single person noticed her.
Even the dogs in the stronghold ignored her completely.
After entering the stronghold, Jiang Yunsui stopped following those two men and instead wandered around, looking here and there.
She searched for where the Chief Bandit was staying and, while she was at it, listened in on some gossip.
“Our Second Leader sure is generous. He actually sent his own woman to the Chief Bandit’s bed.”
“Hiss… No way. Isn’t the Second Leader being way too spineless?”
“Tch, he’s anxious, that’s all. Ever since the Third Chief came to our stronghold, he’s had less and less power in his hands. These days, all he’s got left is the title of Second Leader. If he doesn’t do something soon, he might even have to give up that title too.”
“Besides, with the way our Second Leader is, if he loses one woman, he’ll just go snatch another. That’s his favorite thing to do, and the men under him love snatching women too.”
“What, you don’t like it?”
“Don’t drag me into this. I only like my own wife.”
“Hahaha… You’re just afraid your wife will find out and skin you alive.”
After listening for a while, Jiang Yunsui strolled off and changed positions.
She would look somewhere else.
All of a sudden, the stronghold grew lively.
Jiang Yunsui followed the crowd, but she was too short and couldn’t squeeze her way in at all, so she couldn’t see what was happening up ahead.
“The Chief Bandit and the Second Leader are back!”
“They robbed another haul! There’s quite a lot of goods this time, and several pretty women too.”
Hearing the chatter around her, Jiang Yunsui finally understood.
It turned out the Chief Bandit and the Second Leader of the mountain stronghold had gone out to rob someone.
“Move, all of you! What are you crowding around for? A few of you, come carry these chests into the storeroom.”
Most of the people dispersed, and only then did Jiang Yunsui get a clear look at the situation.
There was a man built like a bear.
Tall, burly, covered head to toe in exaggerated muscles. The beard on his face was thicker than the hair on his head, and it looked just as wild and unkempt.
This was the Chief Bandit of the stronghold.
He had managed to become Chief Bandit entirely because of his freakish strength and the broad axe he carried.
The Second Leader, on the other hand, was a shifty-eyed middle-aged man with a wisp of beard on his chin and a calculating gleam in his eyes.
As for the Third Chief, he was nowhere to be seen.
Their haul consisted of five horse carts. From the looks of it, the carts were loaded with a traveling merchant’s goods.
There were also some women they had captured.
No men, though. But bloodstains were splattered all over the carts, making it easy to imagine what had happened.
Jiang Yunsui memorized the faces of the two bandit leaders, then followed behind the men carrying the chests.
The women were shoved forward as well.
Jiang Yunsui clenched her fists. Once I find out where they hide the valuables and where they lock up the women, I’ll go back and find Ji Yan’an right away!
She had to admit, when it came to gathering information, her ability was practically a gift from heaven.
First, she followed the women and saw where they were being imprisoned. Then she went after the men carrying the chests to see where they were taking them.
The place was quite well hidden, and the Second Leader was personally supervising.
“All right, the rest of you can leave for now.”
After driving off the small fry, the Second Leader did not leave. Instead, he looked around for a moment, then locked the storeroom door from the inside.
Next, he furtively moved a large vat aside and scraped away a layer of soil from where the vat had been sitting.
Underneath was an unexpectedly small wooden door.
When he opened it, a pitch-black entrance was revealed.
The Second Leader went over to the pile of treasures and picked up a small wooden chest.
He opened it and saw that it was filled entirely with gold ingots.
He picked up one of the gold ingots and kissed it, an especially lecherous smile spreading across his face.
“My precious darlings, Master Hu is going to hide you away properly today.”
With that, he hugged the chest of gold ingots to his chest and jumped into the dark secret passage.
Jiang Yunsui waited a few minutes, then softened her breathing and footsteps as she crept over to take a look.
It was a little dark inside, but she could still make out some of it.
Below was a hidden chamber. It was not large, but there were already quite a few things stored inside.
At that moment, the Second Leader was setting down the chest of gold ingots.
Jiang Yunsui let out a silent wow in her heart.
Was this Second Leader a rat? He had actually dug a little hidden chamber inside the treasure storeroom!
The Second Leader did not stay down there for long and soon came back up.
Jiang Yunsui hurriedly ran off.
There were too many things piled up in the storeroom, and she tripped over something and fell.
She even knocked into something and made a noise.
Jiang Yunsui: …
Damn it. Did I really have to fall right now of all times?
“Who’s there?!”
The Second Leader, who had already climbed halfway out, instantly grew alert when he heard the noise. There was killing intent in his eyes.
Jiang Yunsui covered her mouth and crouched in a corner.
In her heart, she cursed again. What kind of rotten luck was this?
The Second Leader held a dagger and carefully searched the surrounding area.
“Second Leader, the Chief Bandit is looking for you! Where are you?”
A shout came from outside the door, and the Second Leader answered, “Got it. I’ll be right there.”
He quickly restored the entrance to the hidden chamber to its original state.
Then he hurriedly opened the door and left.
Jiang Yunsui grew anxious. She still had not gotten out yet!