Chapter 19: Cooperation
Although Jin Sui said this, her guard didn’t drop. The bandit had tied the two of them together earlier, and he hadn’t stopped him.
This person had clearly escaped several times and been caught, so he wouldn’t give up so quickly.
The reason he didn’t stop it was either because he had a way to unlock the chain, or…
Jin Sui looked at her own ankle, recalling movies she’d watched in her past life.
If this man was truly a notorious criminal, he would either kill her when escaping or chop off his own foot.
Jin Sui silently prayed that this handsome man wasn’t a bloodthirsty villain.
Before long, a strong wind arose, followed by lightning and thunder, and the sky turned as dark as night.
Gong sounds rang out, and the supervisor shouted, “Everyone go back.”
A flicker of light flashed in the eyes of the numb-looking commoners, who dropped their stones and hurried back into the mountain cave.
So they all lived in mountain caves. Jin Sui specifically observed where the bandits went; some went to the caves, and some went to the wooden huts.
She and Gu Changxiao continued back to the woodshed. Grandpa Ling and Jin An hadn’t returned yet. Soon, someone brought food.
There were only two bamboo tubes of clear water and two flatbreads. Jin Sui busily asked the person delivering the food when the Taoist who was taken away would return.
The person ignored her and ran off.
Gu Changxiao took his portion and said, “She’s mute. All workers who can go out of the mountain stronghold to get supplies are poisoned and made mute.”
Jin Sui’s heart leaped, and she increasingly felt that this mountain stronghold was not simple.
She silently ate her share of the unappetizing food. To prevent Gu Changxiao from noticing anything, she didn’t take any food from her space.
The rain kept falling, making it impossible to even tell the time.
She and Gu Changxiao leaned back-to-back on the haystack, neither speaking. Both were sore and tired, only wanting to rest.
After a long while, Gu Changxiao spoke first, “Daoist Ji, do you still have that medicine?”
Jin Sui took a moment to react, then realized Daoist Ji was calling her!
Since she had already given him the medicine twice, she didn’t mind giving it one more time. She took out a portion from her waist pouch and handed it to him.
Seeing him tear his ragged clothes to wrap his ankle, Jin Sui felt a pang of sympathy. Such dirty cloth would make infection more likely when bandaging.
She gave him two pieces of gauze from her space, “Use this.”
Gu Changxiao looked at the clean, snow-white gauze in his hand, then glanced at the dirty Jin Sui. He thanked her and took it.
Although his bandaging technique was rugged, it was very skilled. Jin Sui deduced that he was either experienced from long illness or had assisted a doctor.
She tried to probe, “Young Master Gu, how were you captured by the bandits?”
Gu Changxiao said softly, “The same as you, I fell into a trap in the mountains.”
Jin Sui leaned in and asked in a low voice, “Young Master, were you beaten like this because you tried to escape many times? Did you find a way to escape?”
Gu Changxiao’s brow furrowed slightly, the corners of his eyes lifting, and he said calmly, “No. If I had found one, I would have escaped long ago.”
He even advised Jin Sui in return, “There are spies for the bandits everywhere in this valley. You can’t escape. Daoist, it’s best to give up this idea.”
Just then, the door was pushed open, and Jin An, dripping wet, darted in. He handed Jin Sui a flatbread with greens stuffed inside and said quickly:
“Grandpa is being kept by the head of the mountain stronghold to stay in the stronghold.”
“He asked me to tell you that tomorrow he will beg the head of the stronghold to bring Elder Brother along too.”
Jin Sui was overjoyed. It seemed Grandpa had completely fooled the head of the mountain stronghold.
Whether they could escape or not, as long as she didn’t have to do hard labor anymore.
Besides, going to the mountain stronghold where the head resided would make it easier to find a way to escape.
Jin Sui quickly showed Jin An her foot, “Remember to ask that dark-skinned bandit for the key.”
After Jin An left, Jin Sui felt a bit embarrassed to look at Gu Changxiao, as he had taken care of her today, but tomorrow he would be doing hard labor alone.
She lay down behind the haystack, covered herself with her clothes, and prepared to sleep.
She couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. Her whole body ached, her hands felt like they were dipped in chili water, her breathing still carried the smell of stone dust, her lower back was numb, and every bone in her body hurt when she moved.
The rain outside hadn’t stopped, and the woodshed had leaks in several places. She kept moving to avoid the rain dripping on her.
On the other hand, Gu Changxiao, on the other side, hadn’t moved since applying the medicine. She didn’t know if he was asleep.
Jin Sui moved cautiously, afraid the chain on her foot would make a sound and disturb Gu Changxiao.
They endured like this until midnight when suddenly, a dog barked from outside, followed by hurried footsteps and the shouts of bandits:
“Everyone up, come out!”
Gu Changxiao leaped up swiftly and peered through the crack in the door to assess the situation. Perhaps he had forgotten about his ankle chain, and it dragged Jin Sui’s leg along.
Anxious, Jin Sui shouted, “Hey, hey, slow down!”
Jin Sui, dragging the iron chain, also looked through the crack in the door. The rain had lessened. She saw a group of bandits patting doors along the road and shouting towards the mountain caves.
Just as they were about to reach the woodshed door, several men in black suddenly appeared behind the bandits. Although their clothes had changed, two of them looked very familiar.
Jin Sui instantly recognized them as the two constables who had asked her for a travel permit in the small town and caused her to lose her Big Green Donkey.
Among them were several others who were constables who had fought with the group of bandits that captured Grandpa Ling in the ruined temple!
Damn it, are they still chasing me after so long for a travel permit?
But Jin Sui quickly realized that she didn’t have that much influence to make the constables chase her for several prefectures!
These people were clearly looking for someone else. As for who, she glanced at Gu Changxiao; it should be this notorious criminal.
Just as the men in black were following the bandits and about to reach the woodshed door, Gu Changxiao suddenly lifted his ankle chain, swiftly moved behind Jin Sui, and wrapped it around her neck.
Jin Sui was greatly alarmed and said urgently, “I have no enmity with you, why are you repaying kindness with enmity?”
Gu Changxiao’s lips were almost touching her ear, his breath audible, and his voice was extremely cold as he said:
“As soon as you entered the mountain stronghold, these constables found their way here. Weren’t you the ones who led them?”
Jin Sui was speechless:
“If we had that ability, would we be captured by bandits and forced to do hard labor? Big Brother, get it straight. To be honest, we are also wanted by the constables.”
Gu Changxiao snorted coldly, “So you have indeed seen my portrait.”
Jin Sui said urgently:
“Now is not the time to talk about this. You can’t kill me. If you kill me, you won’t escape either. Why don’t we cooperate and find a way to escape together.”
Gu Changxiao glanced at her ankle, and the iron chain on his hand pressed tighter around her neck:
“You have two choices: one, escape with me; two, I’ll cut off your foot.”
Jin Sui cursed inwardly. As expected, he was a notorious criminal. Just as she had predicted, he planned to either kill her or chop off her foot when escaping.
Is this a choice between two? This is a single-choice question! Even if she agreed to have her foot cut off, he would still silence her.
She quickly said, “I’ll escape with you.”
Gu Changxiao slowly loosened his grip, “You’d better behave, or I’ll kill you at any time.”
Jin Sui nodded repeatedly, promising to be obedient and well-behaved.
However, her hand rested on her palm, ready to retrieve the anesthetic at any moment to knock out this arrogant fellow.
If it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t know the route to escape the mountain stronghold, I would seek revenge for you threatening me like this.
Gu Changxiao pushed aside the haystack, revealing a hole at the base of the wall, barely large enough for one person to crawl out.
No wonder he had been leaning there without moving; he was afraid Jin Sui would discover this hole!
