Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Jiang Yunsui ran to the door and stared at it with wide eyes, trying to figure out how she was going to pry it open and escape, when the door suddenly swung open.
Jiang Yunsui: !!!
She hurriedly turned sideways and pressed herself against the wall, doing her best to make herself invisible.
It was the Second Leader again.
Still bothered by the sound he had heard earlier, he couldn’t shake the unease in his heart, so he had doubled back.
“Did I really hear wrong?”
His eyes swept around the storeroom. It was very quiet, without a single figure in sight.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yunsui was overjoyed. She quickly tiptoed out as stealthily as she could.
Once she left the storeroom, she hurriedly patted her chest.
That scared her to death. She’d thought she was going to be locked in there.
Go, go, go. Hurry up and leave.
Leaving was much easier this time.
The gate of the mountain stronghold was open, so she just slipped right out.
In the forest, Jiang Yunsui still had a strong sense of direction. Following the path she had taken here, she ran down the mountain much faster than when she had climbed up, and it wasn’t nearly as tiring.
She was just so hungry.
Jiang Yunsui rubbed her growling stomach.
“Stop growling. We’re almost there.”
Before she knew it, she had been out for an entire day, and the sky was nearly dark.
At the same time, Ji Yan’an, who was back in the village, was also worried about Jiang Yunsui.
“Young Master, it’s time for dinner. Please don’t worry. We’ll definitely find out.”
Ji Yan’an said, “I’m not worried about them.”
“Has Jiang Yunsui not returned yet?”
“Jiang Yunsui?”
Nanshu took a moment to react, then suddenly remembered and slapped his thigh. “That’s right! That little girl went out this morning and still hasn’t come back. Strange. I almost forgot about her.”
Ji Yan’an leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful.
He, however, had remembered the entire time.
In the past, if he didn’t see her for a while, it had been easy for him to overlook Jiang Yunsui’s situation. But now, he had actually remembered?
Why was that?
“I… I’m back…”
A soft, breathless voice, exhausted to the bone, sounded beside him. Jiang Yunsui plopped right down on the floor next to Ji Yan’an.
She was already filthy, so she didn’t care that the floor was dirty too.
Nanshu jumped in fright. “Good heavens, what did you go off and do? Don’t tell me you got into a fight with some animal in the mountains.”
Jiang Yunsui’s current appearance really couldn’t be called decent. Her clothes were torn in several places, her hair was a mess, and her face was dirty.
“You’re hurt?”
Ji Yan’an frowned as he looked at the small scratches on her face and arms.
“Get up. Let me see.”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes filled with tears as she began to complain, “Wuuu… I’m so unlucky! I don’t know what wicked, rotten person dug that trap. I was almost back, and then I stepped on nothing and fell right in.”
As she cried, she grabbed a pastry from the table and stuffed it into her mouth.
“I’m so mad! If I find out who dug that trap, I’ll bite them to death!”
Fortunately, it had only been a big pit with nothing sharp inside, but it had still made her suffer terribly.
“Dirty.”
Ji Yan’an glanced at her grimy little hands.
Jiang Yunsui’s tears fell pit-pat. “But I’m so hungry. I only ate some fruit and didn’t have any real food.”
With a sigh, Ji Yan’an picked up a pastry and fed it to her.
“If you’re this unlucky, don’t go out alone again.”
When he thought about it, Jiang Yunsui really was unlucky.
Throughout their journey, everyone else had been more or less fine. She was the only one who either bumped into things in the carriage or strained her waist.
Yesterday, she had only wanted to go out and play, yet she stepped on a rock, rolled onto the ground, and gave her little chubby waist a second injury.
But Jiang Yunsui absolutely refused to admit she was unlucky.
“I’m not unlucky! Someone is trying to hurt me!”
After eating two pastries, her growling stomach was finally somewhat appeased.
“Go wash up first, then come back for dinner. We’ll apply medicine to your wounds too.”
Jiang Yunsui gave a little oh, then went off to bathe with red-rimmed eyes.
Nanny Zhou wasn’t there, and neither were the maids, so she could only wash herself.
She casually rinsed the dirty mud off her body, while her hair was washed clean by Nanshu after she obediently sat still for him.
Before her hair was even dry, Jiang Yunsui was already itching to jump out and eat.
But Ji Yan’an held her down.
“Let me look at your injuries first.”
Some of the tiny scrapes had bled, though not much.
The wounds weren’t large, and she healed quickly on her own.
But there were still bruises from her fall.
Ji Yan’an ordered Nanmo to knead them out for her. Jiang Yunsui howled from the pain, flopping and thrashing like a fish that had just been hauled ashore.
Nanshu almost couldn’t hold her down.
“Aiyo, who’d have thought such a tiny little thing could have so much strength when she kicks up a fuss? You’re harder to pin down than a pig at New Year’s slaughter!”
Though it hurt, Jiang Yunsui’s little mouth did not stop moving.
“You’re the pig!”
Wuwuwu… It hurt so much.
“Can’t we just let it heal by itself? QAQ”
Ji Yan’an refused her coldly and mercilessly. “No. Let this teach you a lesson. Maybe next time you’ll watch where you’re walking.”
Jiang Yunsui pouted with tears in her eyes. It wasn’t as if she’d known there would be a trap.
At long last, she was allowed to eat. Jiang Yunsui immediately began stuffing food into her mouth.
“Ji Yan’an, I need to tell you-munch, munch-”
Ji Yan’an tapped the book in his hand against her forehead.
“No talking while you eat. Speak after you’re done.”
It wasn’t that he cared so much about rules. The main reason for not talking during meals was to avoid spraying saliva or bits of food into the dishes.
Jiang Yunsui gave an oh and began eating with utmost seriousness.
After she finished, she hugged her little belly and sprawled across the chair, feeling as though she had finally come back to life.
“Young Master, the people in that village should be a group of mountain bandits. We just don’t know why they targeted that village.”
Hearing his subordinate’s report, Ji Yan’an fell into thought.
Jiang Yunsui suddenly lurched up from her chair like a corpse springing back to life, startling everyone beside her.
Ji Yan’an’s brow twitched.
“I have something to say! I have something to say!”
She hurriedly raised her hand, and everyone’s gaze instantly fell on her.
Jiang Yunsui said, “I know where the bandits’ den is. I went there.”
Everyone: ??!!!
Jiang Yunsui continued, “That Chief Bandit looks like a bear, and the Second Leader looks like a rat. They also robbed a merchant caravan, and a lot of pretty big sisters were captured. Ji Yan’an, hurry and save them!”
No one had expected that, just as they had only managed to uncover a few clues, Jiang Yunsui-a child who had gone out to play-had actually wandered straight into the enemy’s lair, taken a stroll around, and come back safely.
The worst hardship she’d suffered had been falling into a trap when she was almost back at the village.
With luck like that, was she fortunate or unlucky?
“Oh, right, there’s also an iron mine. I heard them talking about it. Something about an iron mine, and working with barbarians.”
Everyone: !!!
Even Ji Yan’an sat up, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
“There really is an iron mine?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded with a little hum, scratching her cheek with her small hand.
“I think so. I don’t know. I didn’t see it.”
“But I know where they hide their silver and treasures.”
Jiang Yunsui planted her little hands on her hips, becoming proud at once.
“When they carried the treasures inside, I followed them in too. I even saw that rat-like Second Leader dig a hole in the storehouse. It was full of the treasures he’d hidden.”
Ji Yan’an raised a hand and patted her on the head. “Well done.”
Jiang Yunsui immediately grew so smug that her tail might as well have been sticking straight up.
“Then when are you going to save them? Those big sisters were crying so hard.”