Chapter 251: Creating Chaos
Vicious scoundrels!
After hearing Shang Wan’s words, the same phrase popped into the minds of the three people simultaneously.
Who on earth uses murder to liven up a wedding?
“So, we have to rescue the people tonight.” Shang Wan said, “Excluding those who went out, there are currently four hundred and seventy-one people in the bandit stronghold.”
“That many?!” Zhou Gua almost couldn’t suppress his voice.
Even knowing that Shang Wan had superb martial arts, excluding the hostages, there were over three hundred ruthless murderers among the bandits. With their four people still carrying a baby, how were they supposed to deal with them?
“I’m not asking you to kill them all.” Shang Wan glanced at him, “Forgot the plan?”
Zhou Gua: “…”
Did they ever have a plan like that?
Shang Wan said: “I’ll go capture the bandit leader and her future husband. You all go rescue the hostages. Once I catch them, I’ll rendezvous with you, and then we make our move to kill the bandits.”
Taking them all on together would be hard to handle; picking them off one by one would do the trick, right?
Besides, weren’t there still people who could fight in the merchant caravan? Releasing them would make them allies.
Zhou Gua was going crazy. Don’t make it sound so simple!
The bandit stronghold was so big; how were they supposed to know where the hostages were being held?
At this moment, Xiao Huan also asked: “Sis, do you know where the people captured up the mountain are being held?”
“It will lead you there.” Shang Wan pointed to the wildcat that had been crouching on the branch nearby for who knows how long.
The wildcat let out a cry, its round beast pupils emitting a faint glow in the night.
Zhou Gua swallowed, so after the sparrow led the way, now it was the wildcat’s turn?
Shang Wan looked at the three people: “Any more questions? If not, let’s get moving…”
“Yes!” Zhou Gua, afraid that Shang Wan would make them act immediately, quickly spoke up and pointed to the brightly lit mountain stronghold not far away, “How do we get in?”
Don’t just forget the original problem while talking!
Shang Wan… had indeed forgotten it. She raised her hand to touch her chin, reviewing the stronghold’s defenses in her mind, looking for vulnerabilities.
Yuan Yuan tilted her little face up to look at her mother, also raising her hand to touch her chubby little chin, cheeks puffed out, thinking super seriously.
—Should she eat hawthorn strips or peanut crisp later?
“Got it.” Shang Wan carried the doll and walked to the side, lowering her head to whisper a couple of instructions into the little ear.
Yuan Yuan nodded her little head, climbed down from her mother’s arms, and with her little flower bundle on her back, walked into the mountain forest.
In no time, the short and stout little figure disappeared into the bushes.
Zhou Gua asked Shi Tou doubtfully: “Where is Miss going?”
Shi Tou shrugged; how was he supposed to know?
Zhou Gua: “You’re not worried?”
“Nah.” Not only was there no trace of worry on Shi Tou’s face, there was even a hint of anticipation.
Zhou Gua: “…”
Letting a baby not yet three years old run around in the mountain forest at night without worrying—what a huge heart this guy must have?
Catching sight of Shang Wan out of the corner of his eye, Zhou Gua fell silent again; this mother had an even bigger heart.
He immediately gave himself a slap in his mind: her own mother isn’t worried, so what business is it of yours as an outsider?
·
“Wolves, there are wolves!”
“So many wolves!”
“Quick, get the torches!”
“Get lost, you beasts!”
Shouts of alarm suddenly rang out in front of the bandit stronghold as the wolf pack blocked the stockade gate, their eerie beast pupils staring at the mountain bandits, as if they would attack at any moment.
The stronghold doorway was in chaos: some terrified bandits wanted to retreat, some ran to report, and others brandished sabres to kill the wolves.
With everyone’s attention focused on the wolf pack that had suddenly besieged the stronghold and was glaring menacingly, naturally no one noticed the few people who flew silently overhead.
The three people thrown by Shang Wan like sandbags: “…”
The bandit leader received the report and, unable to continue trying on the wedding dress, hurriedly grabbed her sabre and rushed out.
Wolves were vengeful animals; if you made an enemy of a wolf pack, you’d inevitably be targeted by them later.
By the time the bandit leader arrived, the wolf pack had already retreated.
They came suddenly and left just as suddenly.
There was some blood at the stronghold doorway—both wolf and human—but no corpses.
The bandit leader breathed a sigh of relief and sternly asked: “What did you do?”
It was still midsummer, with plenty of wild animals in the mountain forest; the wolf pack wouldn’t lack food. For them to come knocking suddenly, it must be that someone in the stronghold had provoked the wolves.
Could someone have stolen and eaten wolf cubs?
The mountain bandits looked at each other; they hadn’t done anything.
The bandit leader frowned; her subordinates wouldn’t dare deceive her. Could it really be that the wolf pack had just acted on a whim?
Or perhaps the smell of blood from the ten people killed during the day had been too strong and attracted the wolf pack?
Thinking of this, the bandit leader immediately ordered: “Dispose of all the corpses piled in the room, sprinkle some lime to prevent other bloodthirsty beasts from coming.”
She also instructed a few careful subordinates to search around the bandit stronghold for anything unusual.
Meanwhile, Shang Wan and the others had dodged the guards and hidden in an unoccupied room.
The room was unlit, pitch black.
Shang Wan said softly: “Split up and act.”
The three nodded, opened the door, and slipped out through the doorway crack.
Because of the commotion at the stockade gate, many mountain bandits had been drawn there, giving the three a chance to slip through.
A wildcat lightly jumped down from the rooftop and ran toward the corridor on the right.
The three hurriedly followed.
Inside the room, Shang Wan closed her eyes and listened to the movements throughout the entire mountain stronghold.
Curses, clamor, complaints, cries for help, sobbing… various sounds intertwined in her mind, but with superhuman patience, Shang Wan patiently unraveled them bit by bit, extracting the information.
So that’s where they are.
She suddenly opened her eyes, a dark gleam flashing in them, and Shang Wan went out the door.
·
In the room decorated with red silk ribbons, a pair of Double Happiness was pasted on the wall directly opposite the door.
Red candles flickered, and thin red gauze drifted lightly with the night breeze blowing in from the window, lifting to reveal a human-shaped object tied up like a caterpillar on the carved large bed.
“Mmph! Mmph mmph mmph!”
The youth lay sideways in the center of the large bed, his fair forehead covered in beads of sweat, his hands bound behind him struggling constantly, trying to break the ropes by brute force.
“Need some help?” A somewhat familiar female voice suddenly sounded, startling the youth.
He turned to look, and the first thing he saw was a crimson skirt hem.
His gaze moved up, meeting a pair of watery almond eyes.
“Mmph mmph!!” The youth’s eyes lit up, and in his excitement, he struggled and twisted even more fiercely.
“Don’t rush, let’s chat first.” Shang Wan removed the cloth towel blocking the youth’s mouth and casually sat on the edge of the bed, “How did you end up here?”
“Of course I was tied up and brought here.” Qiao Yu’an spat out the lint from his mouth, his tone full of embarrassment and anger mixed with frustration, “That bandit leader covets this young master’s beauty and wants this young master to marry her.”
Shang Wan raised an eyebrow: “Young Master Qiao is quite fortunate.”
Qiao Yu’an’s face immediately turned as ugly as if he had swallowed a fly.
Damn fortune!
“You still have the mood to chat idly with me here, but the real person that bandit leader has her eye on is Cheng Jing.” Qiao Yu’an glanced sideways at Shang Wan, “If I hadn’t mistakenly drunk that tea, the one tied up here right now would be Cheng Jing.”
Shang Wan: “…”
Tsk, that face really attracts people.
In her mind, she killed the bandit leader who dared to covet her own fox a hundred times over, then reached out and snapped the thick hemp rope binding Qiao Yu’an.
