Chapter 43: Bait
All the grain was put into the thatched hut. The silver chests were moved into Pei Qinghe’s house, then they disappeared without a trace.
The two mountain bandits who led the way had their hands and feet bound and were thrown into the house.
Pei Qinghe did not beat or mistreat them harshly; she just gave them half a steamed bun and half a bowl of water each day. After three days, the mountain bandits were so hungry that their limbs were weak and their hands and feet were limp.
On the fourth day, Pei Qinghe appeared before the mountain bandits.
The five mountain bandits, starved until stars danced before their eyes, felt despair surge in their hearts.
It’s over! They had confessed everything they could, and were now useless. The Female God of Slaughter had come to claim their lives!
“Drag them out,” Pei Qinghe instructed leisurely. “Hang them on the trees north of the village.”
Their hands and feet were still tightly bound, and the rags in their mouths were not removed. The five mountain bandits were dragged out like dead pigs and then hung under the trees.
The north side of Pei Family Village faced directly toward the mountain forest where Black Bear Stockade was located.
Under five large trees, the five mountain bandits were hung separately. When the mountain wind blew, the branches and leaves swayed, and the ropes swung back and forth. The mountain bandits hanging under the trees swayed back and forth, just like fishing bait.
Pei Yan crouched in the tree, carrying a bow and arrow on her back, holding a saber in her hand, and staring intently at the vast wilderness.
When hungry, she ate meat buns; when thirsty, there was warm water in the water pouch.
The hung mountain bandits did not have such treatment—no food or drink, exposed to the blazing sun all day. When night fell, the weather turned bitterly cold, and the night wind howled, but they continued to hang under the trees.
The person crouching in the tree had been replaced.
“Cousin Sister Qinghe, you’re personally keeping watch at night—it’s too tiring.” Pei Yan felt sorry for her cousin sister and puffed out her chest. “Let me do it!”
Pei Qinghe chuckled lightly and touched Pei Yan’s braided pigtail. “The mountain bandits didn’t come to rescue them during the day, so they will most likely come at midnight. I’ll keep watch. Go sleep quickly. Don’t sleep too soundly—when you hear the bamboo whistle, get up immediately. Act according to my previous deployment.”
After Pei Yan left, Pei Qinghe climbed the tree with both hands, ascending lightly and silently like an ape, and slipped into the dense branches and leaves. She quietly waited for the fish that would be drawn by the bait.
The mountain bandits, chilled to the bone and utterly exhausted, saw this scene and closed their eyes in despair, awaiting death.
Would the people from Black Bear Stockade come?
Of course they would.
Black Bear Boss led dozens of men down the mountain with menacing momentum. After several days with no news, they had to come down to investigate. When they approached Pei Family Village and saw their comrades hanging under the trees, they would surely be furious. Holding back until midnight was already their limit.
After the third watch, there was movement in the wilderness.
Pei Qinghe, who had been quietly lurking in the branches and leaves, twitched her ears slightly, swiftly stood up to peer into the distance, and unhesitatingly blew the bamboo whistle.
Quiet Pei Family Village stirred after the bamboo whistle sounded. Dozens of figures darted about, some climbing onto rooftops, some hiding in the shadows, all drawing their bows and arrows.
Swoosh!
An arrow shot from Pei Qinghe’s hand.
The long bow had an extremely long range, and the arrowhead forged from fine iron was exceptionally sharp. A black shadow hundreds of steps away was hit and fell straight to the ground.
Pei Qinghe did not hesitate and continued to draw her bow and shoot arrows. When she shot the third arrow, Pei Yan and the others also fired their arrows.
In the dark night, not everyone had Pei Qinghe’s eyesight and accuracy. Under one volley of arrows, only a few arrows truly hit the enemy.
But for the mountain bandits coming to rescue, it was already enough to terrify them.
The village shrouded in darkness was like a monster with a gaping maw. The five comrades swaying lifelessly under the trees seemed to foretell their own fate.
The person charging at the front had already reached the trees.
The mountain bandit at the very rear watched wide-eyed as someone jumped down from the tree—not tall or intimidating, clearly a girl who had not yet reached adulthood.
With one swing of her saber, the cunning and scheming Second Boss was cleaved in two.
The mountain bandit was terrified out of his wits and fled without a word.
Where there was one fleeing, there were two and three.
Pei Qinghe caught sight of someone fleeing from the corner of her eye but had no time to pursue, focusing intently on wielding her saber to kill the mountain bandits before her. Pei Yan wanted to rush out to chase, but Pei Qinghe sternly scolded her: “Do not pursue a beaten enemy!”
Pei Yan could not chase out, so she channeled her pent-up fury into the long saber in her hand, slashing down repeatedly and killing two in succession.
An hour later, more than twenty mountain bandits who came to rescue were almost all killed, leaving only three live captives, all wounded.
At Pei Qinghe’s command, three more swaying figures were added under the trees.
……
The several mountain bandits who fled into the mountain forest gathered together, pale-faced.
“That is the Female God of Slaughter!”
“The Boss must have been done in, and now Second Boss is dead too. What do we do next?”
“Let’s return to the stockade first and ask Third Boss what to do.”
“Right, we need to go back with the news. We can’t all foolishly go to our deaths.”
The mountain bandits chattered, quickly reaching a consensus. Returning to the stockade to deliver the message (save their lives) was urgent. They dared not stop for a moment, fleeing as if pursued by evil spirits, not even looking back once.
Third Boss, waiting in Black Bear Stockade, saw the few mountain bandits fleeing back in panic and darkened his face. “You lot actually ran back halfway! I’ll chop you all!”
The mountain bandits wailed plaintively and begged: “Third Boss! This really isn’t our fault!”
“You didn’t see it with your own eyes—that Female God of Slaughter shoots an arrow from afar, and it never misses!”
“Second Boss was hacked by her with one saber strike!”
“Great Chieftain must have died by her hand too. We lost more than half our men. Now only these few are left—better to divide the money and grain and women, and each flee for our lives!”
Third Boss was half-believing, half-doubting. He first bound all these returnees and questioned them separately; they all said the same thing.
Black Bear Stockade had over a hundred men; two trips down the mountain took a hundred, and only these few returned. In the stockade, all told, only about thirty men left who could fight.
Go down the mountain or not? Rescue (or send to death)?
Third Boss agonized half the night, then gritted his teeth: “No, I have to go down and see for myself. This time, don’t go at midnight—charge over in broad daylight.”
Third Boss led thirty men down the mountain.
Black Bear Stockade was left with only the few mountain bandits who returned with the message and refused to go down again, plus more than twenty women and thirty or forty children.
A day and a night passed.
Seven or eight men tumbled into the stockade, shouting hoarsely: “Quick! Close the stockade gate!”
“Third Boss was captured alive and hung under the tree.”
“That village has a Rakshasa woman who kills without blinking. Too, too terrifying!”
……
Clop clop clop!
Horse hooves shattered the tranquility of Pei Family Village.
Mao Hongling, busy digging a pit, trembled and her voice shook: “Qing, Qinghe! Listen quick! What sound is that!”
“Where did so many horses come from! Could it be all the mountain bandits got the news and came running!”
Pei Qinghe’s eyes flashed: “Don’t panic.”
“Not mountain bandits. Mountain bandits couldn’t have so many horses. From the horse hooves, they sound like warhorses.”
