Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Xiao Jingmo was not familiar with the layout of the town, so he had no idea which area the local gentry lived in.
If he wanted to learn about the town quickly, the best way was to ask the locals.
And the ones who knew the most were undoubtedly the beggars.
“Little Sister, when you left the relay station, did you see any beggars?”
Jin Bao shook her head, but quickly replied, “Second Brother, put Baby down. Baby can find them.”
Xiao Jingmo set Jin Bao on the ground.
Right under Xiao Jingmo’s eyes, Jin Bao climbed up the high wall in the courtyard, then nimbly scrambled onto the roof.
Xiao Jingmo followed right after her. He took a running start, kicked off the wall, and pulled himself up in one smooth motion.
He could barely keep up behind Jin Bao.
The moment the two of them climbed onto the roof, the sound of the Horse Bandits battering at the gate came from below.
Xiao Jingmo was a little worried about the people in the secret chamber, but if they did not wipe out this group of Horse Bandits, everyone here would die.
Xiao Jingmo buried his worry deep in his eyes. When he turned back again, he saw that Jin Bao had already climbed onto the neighbor’s roof.
Using both hands and feet, Jin Bao moved across the steep rooftops as if she were walking on level ground.
By the time they reached the mouth of the alley, Jin Bao still had not seen a single beggar. She stood on the rooftop. All around her was pitch-black darkness, while cries and screams echoed in her ears from every direction. Who knew how many more people would die under the Horse Bandits’ blades tonight?
Jin Bao looked toward an alley with no torches. She immediately changed direction and ran that way.
A quarter of an hour later, in an area full of shacks, they finally found a few beggars.
Xiao Jingmo was breathing a little heavily. As soon as he came down from the roof, he saw Jin Bao looking at him.
“Second Brother, found them. Beggars.”
Jin Bao pointed at the people in the shacks and spoke with quite a sense of achievement.
“Little Sister, you’re amazing!”
Jin Bao received the praise she wanted, so happy that her little tail was practically about to lift into the sky.
Xiao Jingmo crouched down, took the only gold bean from his robe, and weighed it in his hand a few times.
“Whoever can tell me about the situation in our town will get this gold bean.”
When the beggars saw the gold bean, their eyes went straight. If they used it sparingly, this gold bean would be enough to last them a year. They would no longer have to fight people for food every day or live at others’ mercy.
The beggars nearly swarmed over, pushing forward in a rush to be first.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! I’m a famous Know-it-all in this town. Even nobles come to me for information.”
“Young Master, let me speak. I was born in this town and have been begging here for over thirty years. Nothing that happens in any household in this town escapes my ears. I can even tell you how many piglets a family’s sow gave birth to, or how many times Wang the Rich spent the night with his concubine.”
Xiao Jingmo immediately pointed at that man. “You. You talk.”
The beggar quickly squeezed out from the crowd and crouched in front of Xiao Jingmo, his eyes never leaving the gold bean for even a moment.
A quarter of an hour later, Xiao Jingmo took Jin Bao straight toward the east side of town.
That was where all the wealthy households in town gathered. The gentry had all built fortified residences there, and every household kept more than a dozen guards.
At the same time, Xiao Jingmo was also somewhat worried. These Horse Bandits must have scouted the place beforehand. He just did not know whether those wealthy households had the ability to hold out until now.
No matter what, Xiao Jingmo still decided to go take a look.
One big and one small skillfully avoided the Horse Bandits’ line of sight and arrived on the east side of town.
They had just crossed a street when Xiao Jingmo realized something was terribly wrong. From far away, he could already see flames soaring into the sky in the east.
“Not good. It’s on fire. It looks like those wealthy households have already been taken by the Horse Bandits.”
Xiao Jingmo told Jin Bao to get onto the roof.
The two of them climbed up, and the situation in the east came fully into view.
They saw that the residence at the farthest eastern end had already turned into a sea of fire. As the night wind blew, crackling sounds rang out, and the raging flames dyed half the sky red.
“Second Brother, people! There are people over there.”
Jin Bao excitedly tugged on the hem of Xiao Jingmo’s robe, her little hand pointing toward the residence closest to them.
Xiao Jingmo focused his gaze. Sure enough, under the glow of the firelight, a group of men holding clubs were protecting several men, women, young, and old as they fled in panic from a rear side gate of the residence.
But the moment they showed themselves, the people chasing from behind caught up and entangled them.
Those men fought the Horse Bandits while protecting their masters’ family as they left.
But they were no match for the Horse Bandits, and one after another, they fell.
“Second Brother, what do we do? Are they going to die?”
Xiao Jingmo had all the intelligence in the world, but at this moment, he had no strength with which to use it. In such a desperate situation, what was needed was absolute power to stand against them. His own martial ability could not solve the problem; it would only cost him his life as well.
Xiao Jingmo’s mind was very clear. This was not the time to act on impulse. But watching these people be cut down by the Horse Bandits right before his eyes, he could not accept it either.
“Little Sister, come with Brother.”
In such a short span of time, Xiao Jingmo could think of only one method that might help this family escape from the Horse Bandits.
Jin Bao immediately followed Xiao Jingmo. Right now, she was both excited and nervous, like a green recruit stepping onto a battlefield for the first time: curious, uneasy, her heart pounding wildly. Scrambling along on hands and feet, she even ran ahead of Xiao Jingmo.
All the Horse Bandits’ horses were stopped at the front courtyard gate.
Xiao Jingmo went to lead the horses away and told Jin Bao to go inside to find bedsheets and soybean oil.
Given a task, Jin Bao was overjoyed. She scampered off and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Jingmo drove all the Horse Bandits’ horses into the courtyard.
The courtyard was littered with servants’ corpses. Blood had splattered everywhere. Not a single person had survived.
“Second Brother, Baby found the bedsheets!”
Tiny Jin Bao was carrying a huge pile of bedsheets in her arms. Half the path under her feet was blocked from sight, and she staggered as she ran out, not noticing the steps below at all.
Her foot came down on empty air, and her little body tumbled to the ground together with the sheets, sinking right into the soft pile.
“Little Sister, did that hurt?”
Xiao Jingmo dropped the reins and strode over.
Jin Bao crawled out from the bedsheets, still grinning. “Second Brother, it doesn’t hurt. It’s soft. Baby is fine.”
Xiao Jingmo let out a breath of relief and picked up the bedsheets.
“Second Brother, the kitchen is over there.”
Jin Bao ran like the wind. She had already figured out the entire layout of the residence, but a little thing like her couldn’t possibly move the soybean oil by herself.
Xiao Jingmo followed Jin Bao to the kitchen, poured all the soybean oil stored there onto the bedsheets, then picked up a fire striker. Carrying the oil-soaked sheets, he quickly headed for the front courtyard.
“Little Sister, go wait for Second Brother on the roof. Don’t come down unless Second Brother calls you.”
“Okay, Second Brother. Baby is very good.”
Jin Bao knew she couldn’t hold Second Brother back at a time like this. In just a few moves, she climbed onto the roof and crouched on the ridge, propping her chin in her little hands, staring unblinkingly at Xiao Jingmo.
Xiao Jingmo swung onto a horse. With his hand still holding the reins of several other horses, he rode all the way toward the side gate.
At the rear side gate, the fighting was nearly over.
Only the last two guards were still resisting with all their might. Wang the Rich and his family were so terrified they scattered in every direction with their heads covered, only to be blocked by several Horse Bandits and forced back.
The Horse Bandits hadn’t found anything useful in the residence. They knew Wang the Rich was loaded, so he must have hidden his valuables somewhere. That was the only reason they hadn’t cut him down with one slash.
But Wang the Rich’s family members weren’t nearly so valuable.
One of the Horse Bandits directly stabbed a concubine to death.
Wang the Rich was so frightened his legs went limp as noodles, and he collapsed to the ground.
“Wang the Rich, you’d better hand over every bit of your family fortune. Otherwise, I can’t say where the next cut will land. I also can’t promise which part of you I’ll chop off.”
Wang the Rich knew that if he told them, he would die even faster. If he didn’t, at most he would suffer some torture, but they wouldn’t beat him to death just yet. As long as he could stall for time, he could be saved. An hour ago, his servant had gone to the county town to report this. Judging by the time, help should be back by now.
“Still not talking? Then…”
Seeing that Wang the Rich did nothing but beg for mercy and refused to speak, the Horse Bandits raised a blade and chopped off Wang the Rich’s ear.
Wang the Rich screamed, clutched his ear, and fell to the ground, sweating from the pain as his entire body convulsed.
“If you still won’t talk, I’ll make sure your line ends with you.”
The Horse Bandits had always been vicious, and their attacks were even more unpredictable.
Wang the Rich was in too much pain to speak. When had he ever suffered like this?
But the Horse Bandits gave him no chance to recover. The man suddenly raised his blade again and chopped toward Wang the Rich’s crotch.
Just then, a rider burst out through the side gate. Behind him, several horses came leaping out one after another, each draped in a piece of flaming cloth. They let out piercing neighs and charged wildly at the Horse Bandits, trampling wherever they went.
The bedsheet in Xiao Jingmo’s hand had been wrapped around a long pole. Now it was like an enormous ball of fire. Wherever he went, a casual swing sent the Horse Bandits recoiling in terror.
Xiao Jingmo flipped down from the horse. While protecting Wang the Rich and his family as they fled the alley, he swung the fireball in his hand so tightly that not even water could pass through. The Horse Bandits had no chance to get close.
In less than fifteen minutes, five or six of the Horse Bandits had been trampled down by the rampaging horses.
Watching from the rooftop, Jin Bao grew so excited that she sprang to her feet, clapping and shouting, “Good! Second Brother is amazing!”
Only then did the Horse Bandits notice there was a little child on the roof.
“Who is that? Hurry up and get up there! Catch her for me!”
But Jin Bao casually tossed a roof tile down at the Horse Bandits and made a face. The tile happened to hit one of the Horse Bandits right on the head, and his eyes rolled back as he passed out cold.
“I’ll smash you to death, you old geezer! Bleh, bleh, bleh! Come catch me if you can!”
Jin Bao patted her little bottom and made her nimble escape.