Chapter 39

Chapter 39

“Officer, we can’t clash with them head-on. Someone is clearly targeting us.”

Xiao Che had not thought so at first. But just now, he had seen the way Yang Xianwen looked at them. Something was wrong.

Zhu Laosan was growing anxious.

“But the weather doesn’t look right. The sky is covered in dark clouds, and the air is so heavy it’s hard to breathe. There may be a heavy rain tonight. If we can’t enter the city, not only will everyone be drenched outside, but we’ve also run out of food. The old madam has only just recovered. She can’t be caught in the rain.”

Hearing Zhu Laosan consider his family so carefully, Xiao Che felt deeply comforted. Zhu Laosan was indeed a loyal and righteous man. He had not saved the wrong person.

“Mo’er bought a lot of oilcloth. We’ll set up a few temporary tents here and make do for the night. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Zhu Laosan glanced again at the city gate that was about to close, then sighed. That was all they could do.

Zou Yong had injured his ankle, and Cui Jin had been supporting him the whole way. Because of that, the two of them had behaved themselves quite a bit, with no extra energy to stir up trouble.

Now Cui Jin was also exhausted. He sat by the roadside, too lazy to move.

He looked at the city gate that was about to close, then suddenly got up and walked toward it. No one knew what he said to the guards, but he actually took Zou Yong with him into the city.

Seeing this, Zhu Laosan gave a cold snort. “Looks like he’s found himself someone higher up. Brother Xiao, what are you thinking?

“Personally, I don’t think Cui Jin and Zou Yong should be left alive. Those two have impure intentions. Why don’t you get rid of them?

“Li Si and I definitely won’t say a word. When the time comes, we can just make a note in the register saying that while protecting the prisoners, they were eaten by wolves.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Officer. But with those two under our noses, we can see every move they make.

“If we kill them, someone else will surely come to assassinate us, and we’ll have no way to guard against it. With those two tying things up, we can buy ourselves one more day at a time.”

What Xiao Che said made sense. Zhu Laosan simply could not understand who exactly wanted the Xiao Family dead. But that was not something a low-ranking constable like him could investigate.

The group busied themselves setting up tents, and before long, the temporary shelters were finished.

Xiao Che took Xiao Jinghao into the woods to hunt.

Pei Wanqing set Jin Bao down on the ground.

At present, the two youngest children in the Xiao Family were Jin Bao and Xiao Jingyu.

They had both been carried the entire way and had not taken a single step. Now that the adults were busy working, the two little ones were finally allowed to roam free and run around.

“Brother Yu, let’s go play over there, okay?”

Xiao Jingyu glanced at his mother. Only when he saw Lu Shuangshuang nod did he take Jin Bao’s little hand and run off to the side to catch grasshoppers.

As soon as the two children left, Madam Chen quietly followed Jin Bao.

Over the past few days, she had noticed something strange about Jin Bao. She had seen with her own eyes how Jin Bao had led Xiao Jingmo to find wild pheasant eggs yesterday.

And that wretched girl ran absurdly fast. She definitely had some kind of special ability.

As long as Madam Chen kept a close eye on Jin Bao, perhaps she could also find wild pheasant eggs. If that did not work, she could always snatch them.

Jin Bao had no idea she was being followed.

“Brother Yu, look! Baby caught a grasshopper. Later, I’ll ask Mother to roast it for us, okay?”

Xiao Jingyu’s little face turned pale at once, and he quickly waved his hands.

“Sister Jin Bao, grasshoppers can’t be eaten. They’re all pests.”

“Brother Yu, grasshoppers smell so good. When Baby was in Sanjiacun, Baby often caught grasshoppers and roasted them to eat. Is Brother Yu scared?”

Jin Bao had hit the nail on the head. Xiao Jingyu’s small face flushed with shame. He lowered his head and clenched the hem of his clothes, looking as if he had made some great decision. Only after a long while did he look up with an expression like he was marching to his death.

“I’m not scared. I’ll eat it!”

He could not let Sister Jin Bao look down on him. If Sister Jin Bao said it could be eaten, then he could eat it too.

Mother said Sister Jin Bao was the family’s treasure, and he had to listen to her. It was only eating a grasshopper. He could not be afraid.

Seeing Xiao Jingyu look as though he were facing a terrifying enemy, Jin Bao deliberately put the grasshopper on his clothes.

Who would have thought Xiao Jingyu would burst into tears with a loud wail?

Jin Bao realized she had caused trouble and hurriedly dragged Xiao Jingyu toward the mountain.

“Brother Yu, don’t cry. Baby won’t scare you anymore. Baby will take you to find crickets to play with.”

Xiao Jingyu nodded with tears in his eyes. He felt he had truly embarrassed himself just now. His courage was not even as great as his little sister’s.

“Brother Yu, look, crickets! You go over there, and I’ll go over here. Let’s catch them together.”

Xiao Jingyu was not afraid of crickets. He nodded, then bent down with Jin Bao and gently parted the grass with careful hands.
Seeing this, Madam Chen assumed the two children had found wild pheasant eggs. She hurried forward, intending to shove them aside and claim the eggs for herself, then say she had been the one to discover them.

After all, two little children couldn’t outargue her. With no witnesses around, whoever got their hands on them first would own them.

“Brother Yu, get away! There’s a snake!”

Jin Bao grabbed Xiao Jingyu and darted to the side. Madam Chen happened to lunge forward at that exact moment, and when the two children dodged away, she landed face-first in the grass.

“Oww!”

Madam Chen let out a shriek. Two bloody puncture marks appeared on her lips.

Xiao Jingyu still hadn’t fully reacted. He stared at Madam Chen lying motionless in the grass for a long while, then remembered Jin Bao had shouted that there was a snake. Could Madam Chen have been bitten to death?

“Sister Jin Bao, is she dead?”

Jin Bao grabbed Xiao Jingyu and ran.

The snake just now wasn’t venomous, but if it bit someone, they would still suffer for several days. If they didn’t run now, once that bad woman got up, she would definitely catch the two of them.

Madam Chen lay on the ground, not daring to move for a long time. Only after the snake slithered away did she finally climb up. By then, her lips looked as if two fat sausages were hanging from them.

“You widdle bwats! You’re dead!”

Madam Chen’s lips were so swollen she couldn’t even speak clearly. She chased Jin Bao and Xiao Jingyu all the way back to camp.

From a distance, Pei Wanqing saw her daughter sprinting back, with Madam Chen following behind, and immediately knew something was wrong.

“Madam Chen! What are you trying to do now?”

Pei Wanqing picked Jin Bao up and shielded Xiao Jingyu behind her, watching Madam Chen warily.

But once she got a clear look at Madam Chen’s face, she couldn’t hold it in. She burst out laughing with a pfft. Had those lips been deep-fried? How had she turned into Zhu Bajie?

Madam Chen was both ashamed and furious. She immediately covered her mouth with one hand while raising the other to hit Jin Bao.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Zhu Laosan appeared at just the right moment.

Madam Chen knew Zhu Laosan was now very protective of the Main Branch family, so she didn’t dare act arrogantly. She glared resentfully at Pei Wanqing and Jin Bao, then ran off.

Jin Bao covered her little mouth and giggled.

Then she chattered away, telling Pei Wanqing everything that had just happened.

“Good girl, you’re not allowed to go play in the woods next time. There are poisonous insects everywhere right now. If you two got bitten, Mother would be heartbroken.”

Jin Bao quickly nodded. “Won’t go, Baby won’t go. Mother won’t hurt.”

Jin Bao placed her little hand over Pei Wanqing’s chest and gently rubbed it.

Looking at such an obedient daughter, Pei Wanqing planted a loud kiss on her adorable little face.

Jin Bao’s eyes curved with laughter. Then, suddenly, another scene appeared before her eyes.

[Yang Xianwen’s study.

Yang Xianwen said, “Someone, send this to Xiong Er by carrier pigeon.”

Shadow Guard: “General, will there be an operation tonight?”

Yang Xianwen: “That’s right. Cai Hong is ridiculously lucky to have made it back alive, but from the looks of it, he’ll have to lie in bed for ten days to half a month before he can get up. Since we couldn’t kill him outside, we’ll pin a crime on him instead.”

“Have the brothers prepare tonight. We’ll use leaving the city to suppress bandits as an excuse, then take advantage of the chaos to kill that group of exiles. After that, send out the Border Defense Map. When the time comes, Cai Hong will have lost the Border Defense Map, and he will certainly be held accountable. Then Shanhai Pass will fall right into our hands.”

Shadow Guard: “General, what if Xiong Er refuses to cooperate?”

Yang Xianwen: “He won’t. This general is giving him a chance to redeem himself.”

“After he failed to massacre that town last time, he must be desperate for a chance to put on this act with us.”

“If he doesn’t come, then tomorrow, this general will send men to Black Bear Ridge to suppress the bandits.”

“If he does come, then we can use bandit suppression as our excuse and slaughter them all.”

“He knows too much about us, and he isn’t of much use anymore. He can even hand us the merit of suppressing bandits, and we can kill Xiao Che in the chaos as well. Two birds with one stone. Let them make the most of their final value.”]

When Pei Wanqing saw Jin Bao’s eyes go blank, she knew her daughter must have received some new information again, so she didn’t dare disturb her.

Only when Jin Bao opened her mouth to look for Second Brother did Pei Wanqing quickly take her to Xiao Jingmo.

“Second Brother, someone is coming to kill us tonight.”

Xiao Jingmo carried Jin Bao to the side and questioned her slowly. In the end, he learned that there really was a traitor inside Shanhai Pass.

It was just that Jin Bao was too young and couldn’t describe the person’s appearance in detail. She only said there was a black mole the size of a grain of rice on the left side of his forehead.

With that mark, and with the man being a general, things would be much easier.

A plan immediately took shape in Xiao Jingmo’s mind. All that remained was to wait for Xiao Che and Xiao Jinghao to return so they could fill in the details.