Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Shengsheng was awakened early the next morning.
After she washed and dressed, San Zhang appeared before her wearing a face full of worry, fear, and unease.
“What happened?”
San faltered. “Ch-Chief… Something terrible happened.”
Shengsheng yawned and asked the beauty beside her to bring San a stool, signaling for him to take his time.
Her perfect composure only made him more frightened. He sat down gingerly.
“Chief, those traps you set a few days ago caught something.”
Delight flashed across Shengsheng’s face. “Did those thirty-three chiefs bring their ransom and get caught?”
San looked ready to weep. “No. It’s an army! Chief, the traps are full of soldiers in armor! They belong to the imperial court!”
Now Shengsheng was surprised.
She had nearly forgotten. A thief’s natural enemy was not another thief, but the government.
“Let’s see.”
She jumped down from her chair and ran outside, her hair still loose and uncombed.
At a glance, she resembled an innocent little girl hurrying down to the river to catch fish.
But San knew the truth.
This “innocent” little girl was going down the mountain to eat people.
* * *
Shengsheng’s traps had been exchanged from A-Pang.
Naturally, they came from her old friend, the magic world.
The legendary “man-eating” trap.
Praise magic!
Ordinarily, the traps disguised themselves as plain earth. The moment a person bearing malice stepped into the area, however, they judged that person an enemy, opened an enormous mouth, and swallowed them. The ground then returned to its original appearance.
Of course, the victims were not truly eaten. They were merely stored in a space beneath the earth.
After forcing the trap open, Shengsheng peered down.
Good heavens. It had swallowed horses and riders alike.
Yong Wu approached. “Chief, their general appears to have escaped.”
Unlike San, whose fear of the imperial court seemed instinctive, Yong showed little reaction. To him, the soldiers below might as well have been their fellow professionals from Feng Mountain.
Shengsheng gave him an approving look.
“However…” Yong seemed reluctant to continue.
She gestured for him to speak freely.
“There is a woman among these soldiers who appears to be their commanding officer.”
Shengsheng’s eyes lit up. Yong Kingdom employed female court officials. She had nearly forgotten.
“Bring her up. Let me have a look.”
Her subordinates were not gentle. In fact, they dragged up a human “cocoon” with remarkable brutality.
The technique was almost certainly San’s handiwork.
Standing behind Shengsheng, San rubbed his nose proudly. He was growing more practiced at binding people by the day. San Zhang truly was a genius.
The gagged woman stared at the people before her with intense hostility and hatred.
Yong pulled the cloth from her mouth. “Where is your general?”
The woman spat viciously. “Bah! Kill me or carve me up as you please. Spare me your damned questions!”
Yong stared.
Why did she have to swear? Could they not win people over through virtue?
Looking at the familiar face on the ground, Shengsheng fell silent.
Damn it.
Why was Rong Li here?
Before Shengsheng could recover, Rong noticed the little girl surrounded by hulking bandits.
Though the child looked faintly familiar, Rong did not dwell on it.
“Shameless scum! You even abduct children? Sooner or later, we’ll wipe out this entire nest!”
Bandits were particularly sensitive about threats to wipe out their entire nest. One man immediately drew a broad saber and swung at Rong Li.
Rong gave a cold laugh and stared straight up at the descending blade, utterly fearless.
Your Majesty, in my next life, I will still serve as your guard.
She closed her eyes and waited for death.
Then a childish, slightly slurred voice rang out.
“Don’t kill her.”
The voice was neither loud nor commanding, yet it miraculously stopped the bandit’s hand.
Rong opened her eyes and stared in disbelief at the little girl she had barely glanced at before.
Who was this child, that she could command a pack of ruthless bandits?
“Chief, what do you plan to do with these people?” Yong Wu bent respectfully toward the girl.
No one reacted more violently than Rong.
Her pupils practically shook.
What?
Chief?
Who?
Her?
Shengsheng naturally noticed Rong’s incredulous expression. Once she returned, she ought to ask Jian Zhang where Weiqing Song had enrolled him in expression-management classes. Perhaps Siran Ming could send Rong there too.
“Take this woman to my room. And no one is to touch the soldiers in the trap without my order!”
Her stern, decisive words formed a dramatic contrast with her innocent, pretty face and baby-soft cheeks. Clearly, however, the bandits were accustomed to it.
Only Rong stood alone in the wind with an expression that said, Have I gone mad? Then they dragged her away.
“Chief, the imperial court will be furious that we captured its people. They may send reinforcements to exterminate the one hundred and eight heroes of Mount Liang!” Yong warned as he walked beside Shengsheng.
“It’s fine,” she assured him calmly.
She was only here in Siran’s territory to catch a thief. She knew nothing about any of this.
Two milky words, brimming with limitless confidence, struck Yong’s heart and somehow filled him with reassurance.
As the feeling washed over him, he discerned another meaning.
It was fine?
Did she mean the imperial court was unworthy of fear?
What courage, to disregard the army of an entire kingdom!
Could it be that the Chief’s true objective–
Was to overthrow the court and usurp the throne?
Yong’s steps halted. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to recover.
Had he accidentally glimpsed his chief’s true ambition?
Feeling the fervent, worshipful stare burning into her back, Shengsheng’s mouth twitched.
Was he all right?
She had no idea that her strategist had already begun calling Yong “the former Yong Kingdom” and had even devised a new dynastic name.
* * *
“Siran Ming came too, didn’t he?”
Shengsheng spoke evenly as she regarded the wary, suspicious Rong.
Rong stared at that familiar face, her lips trembling. “Who exactly are you?”
How did she know? How dared she speak His Majesty’s name aloud? What sort of monster was she?
Shengsheng grinned.
She slowly and gracefully climbed onto the couch, crossed one leg over the other, propped her chin on a tiny hand, and fixed Rong with a steady gaze.
“Me? I’m only an ordinary five-year-old bodhisattva.”
Rong stared.
Shengsheng fell silent.
A slip of the tongue. She had meant “little girl.”