Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Zhu Laosan had already prepared himself for death. In the next instant, all the broadswords slashing toward him were sent flying backward.
Then a solid arm caught and steadied him. The newcomer said nothing.
He helped Zhu Laosan to the side and sat him down against the wall.
Zhu Laosan only felt that the man before him looked somewhat familiar, yet he could not remember where he had seen him before. His eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and the Horse Bandits’ clamoring voices by his ear gradually grew distant and hazy.
Xiao Che stood tall in the center of the alley, one hand clasped behind his back. The bright moonlight spilled over him, as if draping him in a suit of silver armor.
The Horse Bandits had already lost their nerve after Xiao Che’s rapid barrage of kicks. Now, one by one, they gripped their broadswords, their steps hesitant as they surrounded him but did not dare advance.
Xiao Che was encircled by the Horse Bandits, yet his posture did not shift in the slightest. His eyes blazed like torches, filled with killing intent.
“All of you, attack! He’s bare-handed. What are we afraid of?”
At the Horse Bandits’ small leader’s shout, several figures charged straight at Xiao Che.
“Bang!”
“Ah!”
“Crack!”
“Pfft!”
In less than fifteen minutes, the alley was littered with Horse Bandit corpses.
Xiao Che tucked the broadsword he had snatched from one of the Horse Bandits at his waist, then picked up several more weapons from the ground before going to help Zhu Laosan up.
When he passed Li Si, he crouched down again and checked Li Si’s pulse. He found that Li Si was still alive. His pulse was very weak, but it had not stopped.
He brought both of them back to the residence and entered the secret chamber.
“Father, what is this?”
Hearing movement, Xiao Jingmo immediately came forward. When he saw Xiao Che carrying one man over his shoulder and supporting another with his hand, he looked closer and realized both men were yamen runners.
“Mo’er, hurry and call your Aunt Lu over.”
Before Xiao Jingmo could call her, Lu Shuangshuang had already heard the commotion and come out with everyone else.
“Marquis, Second Young Master, quickly lay them flat.”
Xiao Jingmo helped Zhu Laosan lie down on the low couch, while Xiao Che placed Li Si on another bed.
“Sister-in-law, check him first. He’s too badly injured.”
Xiao Che pointed at Li Si on the bed.
Lu Shuangshuang glanced at Li Si. His entire body was stained red with blood, but she showed no panic. Her steps were steady as she immediately went over to examine his wounds.
“The external wounds are all superficial and not serious. The fatal injury is this stab wound to the chest. Logically, this strike should have pierced straight through his heart. The wound is right between the fourth and fifth ribs. It should have killed him instantly, yet this yamen runner somehow survived.”
As Lu Shuangshuang spoke of her findings, her hands did not stop moving. The more she examined him, the more astonished she became. With a ripping sound, she tore open Li Si’s clothes.
Only after carefully checking did she reach a conclusion. “This yamen runner has a mirror-image heart meridian. His heart is positioned differently from ours. It is an extremely rare right-sided heart. I only ever saw it mentioned in my father’s handwritten notes.”
Xiao Che had fought in the army for years and had seen more than most people, so his expression did not change much at this. The women of the Xiao Family, however, were all stunned.
“Sister-in-law, tell me whatever you need. I’ll find a way to get it for you.”
With Xiao Che’s assurance, Lu Shuangshuang did not stand on ceremony.
She also examined Zhu Laosan in passing and found that he had no internal injuries. He had merely lost too much blood, but none of his vital points had been hurt.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Shuangshuang used the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in the secret chamber to write out a prescription.
“Marquis, for the medicines on this list, get as many doses as you can. Judging from their conditions, if they want to recover, it will probably take at least a month.”
Xiao Che took the prescription and gave it a quick look. To buy all the herbs on it would cost at least twenty taels of silver no matter how he figured it.
“Mo’er, how much silver do you still have on you?”
Over the past few days, the family had spent more than a dozen gold beans on food, drink, and lodging.
Xiao Jingmo had secretly counted the gold beans they had dug up last time. There had been exactly two hundred of them, which amounted to two hundred taels of silver.
After deducting what they had spent, there was still quite a bit left.
“Father, I still have more than thirty taels here.”
Xiao Jingmo took a pouch from his robe. Madam Liu had sorted it out from her own family’s luggage and given it to the Main Branch.
Xiao Jingmo had divided the gold beans into several portions, placing some on Nanny Chen and some on Pei Wanqing.
Xiao Che took the money pouch and turned to leave.
Jin Bao was curled up in Pei Wanqing’s arms, dozing. The scene that had not appeared for several days emerged once more.
[When Xiao Che arrived at a pharmacy, the shopkeeper and physician inside had all been killed.
Blood splattered everywhere. Following the ingredients on the prescription, Xiao Che prepared to fetch the medicine from the cabinets himself.
Only to discover that the Horse Bandits had already looted the cabinets clean.
Without hesitation, Xiao Che turned and headed for the next pharmacy.
This pharmacy was tucked away in a quiet alley, and it took Xiao Che quite some time to find it. No sooner had he obtained the medicine than the sounds of the Horse Bandits attacking rang out from outside.
Xiao Che looked back at the pharmacy owner and his entire family. His steps faltered.
The whole alley had already been taken over by the Horse Bandits. They were breaking down doors house by house.
Xiao Che protected the shopkeeper’s family as they fled. Because he had to fight the Horse Bandits while shielding them, the wound on his calf reopened. A Horse Bandit took the chance to ambush him and sliced off his arm with one stroke.
Xiao Che was captured. The Horse Bandits tied him with rope and dragged him behind a horse through the streets.
The Horse Bandits slaughtered the entire town, then set everything ablaze before leaving with their loot.
They remained in the secret chamber, completely unaware, until thick smoke poured in and trapped them all inside. Not a single person survived.]
“Daddy, Baby wants to go too.”
Jin Bao was startled, her eyes widening into perfect circles. She hurriedly climbed down from Pei Wanqing’s arms, but because the shoes on her feet did not fit, she tripped over herself and fell flat on the ground.
Xiao Che had not gone far. Hearing her, he turned back, bent down, and scooped Jin Bao up.
Xiao Jingmo’s gaze shifted. Looking at Jin Bao’s little face, it was not hard to guess that the little girl must have seen something again.
“Little Sister, did you see something?”
There were no outsiders here, only Madam Liu’s family of three. Ever since they had learned in the cave that Jin Bao was different from ordinary people, they had never pried or asked unnecessary questions, which showed they knew what mattered.
So Xiao Jingmo did not avoid the topic and asked directly.
Jin Bao nodded. “Second Brother, lots and lots of people are going to die. The bad people will set a fire, and everyone will die. Baby wants to beat up the big bad guys and stop them from hurting people. Second Brother is the strongest, help them, okay?”
Jin Bao clasped her little fists together and looked pitifully at Xiao Jingmo, her eyes filled with pleading.
Xiao Jingmo frowned. Those beasts; not only were they robbing people, they were setting fires and killing them too.
Xiao Che’s fury surged straight to the top of his head.
The Xiao Family could withstand invasions by hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and protect the common people’s peace, yet he had never imagined that less than two hundred li from Shanhai Pass, the Horse Bandits would be this rampant.
If someone told him these bandits had no backing, he would never believe it.
Xiao Jingmo looked at Xiao Che.
“Father, why don’t we…”
Before Xiao Jingmo could finish, Xiao Che understood what he meant.
“We can. Today, let the sons of the Xiao Family protect the people one last time.”
After Xiao Che spoke, he looked at the women and children in the secret chamber.
“Mother, my wife, if we do not return, you must not go out.”
Old Madam Xiao looked at the resolute determination in her son’s eyes, as if that brave and battle-hardened son of the Xiao Family had returned. She suppressed the bitterness in her heart and replied in a deep voice, “Don’t worry. We will all survive.”
“Third Brother, Nanny, I’ll have to trouble you to take good care of Grandmother and Mother.”
Xiao Jingmo looked at the two of them, cupped his hands in a salute, then turned and left.
The three of them had just left the secret chamber when they heard hoofbeats coming from the entrance of the alley. From the sound of it, the Horse Bandits had already found their way here.
“Father, what do we do now?”
When it came to schemes and strategy, Xiao Jingmo was not lacking. But when it came to commanding troops and winning against greater numbers with fewer men, he was certainly no match for his battle-tested father.
Xiao Che handed Jin Bao to Xiao Jingmo.
“Take care of your sister first. I’ll scout the terrain of the entire town. We have few people. If we want to contain those Horse Bandits and rescue the townspeople safely, we’ll have to use the terrain to our advantage, divide them up, and take them down one by one.”
Xiao Jingmo held Jin Bao securely and looked at Xiao Che. “Father, I want to take my sister and secretly rally the townspeople so we can resist the Horse Bandits together.”
Xiao Che felt this was a good plan as well.
An hour had already passed since the Horse Bandits entered the town. Many of the townspeople had probably recovered somewhat from their initial terror by now. At the moment, they were like scattered sand, a swarm of headless flies. As for the local gentry, their households had guards, but each was fighting alone. What they needed now was a leader, someone to be their backbone.
Xiao Che was the most suitable candidate.
“Then be careful, both of you.”
After giving that instruction, Xiao Che and his son split up and acted separately.