Chapter 73

Chapter 73

By now, almost everyone in the stronghold had gone out on patrol to search for people, or else they were lying around groaning after being stung by hornets.

There were hardly any people in the kitchen either, which made things very convenient for Jiang Yunsui.

With the kitchen short-handed and relying on the fact that no one could see her, she found a basket and went to the place where they kept the steamed buns and mantou, grabbing a whole bunch and stuffing them inside.

Mm. She also swiped a little knife.

If she got discovered, she would strike first!

Two sweet potatoes.

Yay, eggs too. She should take a few more.

What was this thing wrapped in a ball of mud? Never mind, take it first.

Jiang Yunsui had just carried off the mud ball when the head cook walked in.

The first thing he did was check on the beggar’s chicken he had made for himself.

“Where’s my chicken?!”

“Which little bastard stole my chicken?!”

“Oh no, a bunch of buns and mantou are missing too, and eggs…”

“A thief got into our kitchen. It couldn’t be those people from last night, could it?”

The kitchen instantly descended into chaos. The people who had broken in last night had left quite an impact on them.

As for the culprit, Jiang Yunsui, she had already taken a pile of food and scurried away from the kitchen on her short little legs.

She stuffed a bun into her mouth and ate with relish, but after eating too much, she started getting thirsty and wanted water.

So she went to look for some.

When she saw a room, she first pressed herself to the door and listened. No sound. Time to go in and take a look.

She quietly opened a crack in the door and slipped inside.

“Who’s there?!”

It was a woman’s voice.

Oh no, oh no!

Jiang Yunsui froze, then turned around and tried to run.

“Stop.”

Jiang Yunsui stiffly turned her head and looked over. A woman walked out from inside.

“It’s actually a child.”

The woman pulled her in. “Whose family are you from? Why haven’t I seen you before?”

Jiang Yunsui lowered her head and said nothing.

“Forget it.”

She sat down. “Little one, if you can leave this place, find a way to leave as soon as possible. With that face of yours, if you stay in this bandit den, you’ll be in danger once you grow up.”

Jiang Yunsui secretly glanced at her. From the sound of that, she wasn’t one of the mountain bandits?

“Pretty big sister, who are you?”

“Me?”

She smiled sadly. “Just a pitiful woman, that’s all.”

“Then do you want to leave this place?”

The woman, Li Yunniang, smiled. “Who wouldn’t want to leave?”

“But compared to leaving, I have something more important to do.”

A bone-deep hatred surfaced in her eyes.

Jiang Yunsui thought for a moment, then told her, “People outside have already noticed this place. We just don’t know when they’ll come rescue you.”

At Jiang Yunsui’s words, light appeared in Li Yunniang’s eyes.

“Is what you’re saying true?”

Jiang Yunsui nodded. “I… I came in from outside.”

Li Yunniang looked suspiciously at the little girl before her. As far as she knew, after someone had broken in last night, security in the stronghold had been extremely strict today. How had this child gotten in?

Jiang Yunsui lifted her little chin. “I stole-uh… took all this from the kitchen, and nobody even noticed.”

Li Yunniang burst out laughing. Her slender fingers stroked Jiang Yunsui’s little face.

Her eyes reddened slightly.

“If I hadn’t fallen to this state, if my parents were still here, I might have married and had a child like you with my husband by now. I would surely have cherished her dearly.”

Unfortunately, fate was cruel.

“Little one, what’s your name?”

“My name is Jiang Yunsui. The Sui from Suisui Ping’an.”

“What a good name.”

Li Yunniang murmured, “Your mother must love you very much.”

“Can you still leave this place?”

Jiang Yunsui nodded. “I can.”

“Good. I have something for you. Take it out and give it to those people you mentioned.”
Li Yunniang had no other choice. She was watched too closely and had almost no contact with anyone outside.

Now, she could only rely on this child she had met once to get the information out.

She took a handkerchief from a hidden spot in the room.

Drawn on it in charcoal was the terrain of the entire stronghold, along with its defensive layout.

“This is what I managed to figure out while moving around the stronghold. It might be useful to those people.”

“Remember this. There are more than five hundred people in this mountain stronghold. Later, a Third Chief arrived and brought over a hundred more with him. I noticed some of them seemed to be from the grasslands. But a while ago, they sent some people elsewhere. I don’t know where.”

Jiang Yunsui carefully put the handkerchief away.

“I’ve got it.”

“Hurry and leave. I…”

Before she could finish, voices came from outside.

Something was stuffed into Li Yunniang’s hand. She was just about to tell Jiang Yunsui to hide, but when she turned her head, the girl was already gone.

Li Yunniang: ???

This little girl was quick on her feet.

She lowered her head and glanced at what was in her hand. It was actually a knife.

Li Yunniang’s eyes flickered. She hurriedly found a place to hide it.

The door was pushed open, and the Second Leader walked in.

“Yunniang.”

Li Yunniang simply sat by the table and poured tea, paying him no mind.

The Second Leader walked over. “Are you still angry? I had no choice back then. Now the Third Chief’s influence is growing stronger by the day. If I don’t win over the Chief Bandit, my own position will become more and more dangerous.”

Li Yunniang’s voice carried a trace of choking sobs. “So you sacrificed me, is that it? Are you even a man? I followed you for two years, and you just sent me to the Chief Bandit like that.”

“Yunniang, don’t be angry. You’ve suffered. I’m doing this for us…”

Jiang Yunsui glanced at Li Yunniang and quickly slipped out before the door could close.

She had to find Ji Yan’an as soon as possible.

With something important on her, she didn’t dare linger in the stronghold anymore. She ran straight out of the mountain stronghold.

At the gate, a minor leader was scolding the underlings on guard duty.

“Keep your eyes wide open, all of you! Don’t let so much as a fly get past us. Stay sharp, you hear me?!”

“Yes, sir!”

Jiang Yunsui zipped right past their feet.

What fly? Look at you acting so capable. Could you even stop something with wings?

Jiang Yunsui shook her head, then carried her basket of food and strutted down the mountain with her head held high.

Suddenly, one of the guards’ noses twitched.

“Why do I smell buns? Meat buns, too. Which one of you hid buns?”

“You’re imagining things. It’s still early in the morning, and the kitchen hasn’t handed out food yet. But I heard we’re getting white steamed buns and stuffed buns today. There was plenty of grain among the stuff we robbed yesterday.”

By then, Jiang Yunsui had already left the stronghold and plopped down on a rock.

“I’m exhausted.”

Looking at all the food, her little face scrunched up.

She had taken too much. It was too heavy.

Throw it away? She couldn’t bear to.

Jiang Yunsui pinched her own skinny little arm.

Suddenly, she spotted a few moose walking not far away.

Her eyes instantly lit up.

Such huge deer!

“Hello, hello! Don’t go! I’ll give you something yummy to eat~”

She was tiny, and her voice was soft and sweet, but coming from her at that moment, she sounded like a big bad wolf with ill intentions.

Of course, those moose, much larger than horses, were not the least bit afraid of this adorable little gray wolf.

Jiang Yunsui caught up with them, then used her buns as a trade and picked one moose to serve as her ride back.