"Lu! Ah! Mian! Lu Ah Mian!"

Yuan Hua cupped her hands into a megaphone shape and placed them near her mouth, shouting as she walked.

Beside him stood Meng Chijian, his clothes covered in blood.

This all started after A-Mian was carried away by the donkey. At that moment, as Meng Chijian turned his head to look, a bandit opposite him saw what was happening and slashed at his left shoulder. He had no choice but to continue fighting.

In his desperation, he became extremely ruthless—previously he would have just cut off hands, but now he was killing them one by one!

His moves were devoid of any fancy techniques; every strike was aimed directly at taking a life.

After slashing the three men, the bandit who had shouted earlier yelled, "Hero, if you have such skill, why not join us! Gold, silver, treasures, and fine silks are all yours to choose from!"

Meng Chijian has a family and a business; only someone insane would join them in robbing and plundering.

A flash of cold light, and now only two bandits remained standing. Seeing that the situation was bad and they had met their match, the two simply turned and ran.

Some of the guards wanted to give chase, but they were stopped. As the saying goes, don't pursue a desperate enemy. After all, they didn't know how many people were in their main camp, and they didn't want to lose their lives for nothing.

Meng Chijian had no time for anything else; he was determined to go into the mountains to find his companion. The minor official and the guards discussed the matter briefly, then pulled out the carriage, collected their companion's body, and decided to return to the main road and rush to the neighboring county without stopping.

Before he could finish speaking, Meng Chijian, his face ashen, grabbed Yuan Hua and ordered him to immediately search for footprints.

He then tore open the hem of his clothes and hastily bandaged the wound on his shoulder.

The two followed the footprints, and Yuan Hua desperately called out A Mian's name, but there was no response.

As darkness fell and Yuan Hua's voice grew hoarse, he took a deep breath and said, "Could it be that she stopped running after a while and returned to the main road by another route?"

Meng Chijian's face was somewhat pale, and he glanced at him silently.

“The footprints are still here; she must have gone to a deeper place.”

Yuan Hua rubbed his forehead. "The main problem is that it will get dark soon, and we don't have any torches or anything. How are we supposed to search in the dark? It's better to go back to the main road, gather some people, light torches, and then search the mountain..."

Upon hearing this, Meng Chijian said, "We're unfamiliar with this place, and not many people will come into the mountains with us at night. If you want to go back, just turn around and leave."

"What are you talking about? How could I leave A-Mian alone in the mountains?" Yuan Hua thought about walking away all alone and suddenly felt that it would be better to go with him.

Meanwhile, Ah Mian had painstakingly scraped off the fish scales with a knife.

She picked a lot of wild onions and stuffed them into the fish's belly. Then she stuffed the fish and wild vegetables into a fresh bamboo tube, filled it with bamboo leaves and sealed it tightly. Finally, she strung it together with a twig and placed it above the fire.

This is a bamboo tube baked fish dish that she created herself, adapting the recipe to local conditions.

"There are cattail shoots!" While waiting, she discovered another familiar aquatic plant, the rhizome of cattail, which is very sweet and crisp when eaten raw.

She picked and ate as she went, gathering a large handful each time. She cut the pieces into small sections with a dagger, put them into another bamboo tube, filled it with some stream water, and roasted it over the fire.

By the time everything was almost cooked, it was already dark.

The mountain forest at night is not like the daytime. There is no moon tonight, and everything is pitch black, which is quite frightening.

Amian belatedly realized this and felt a bit timid.

All she could do was add more branches to the fire to make the flames bigger, in order to dispel the cold and fear.

“Ah Dou, if no one comes to find us by tomorrow morning, we’ll have to go down the mountain ourselves.”

Since things have come to this, let's eat grilled fish first.

Amian pulled up the branches that were stuck in the ground and placed them on the ground on the other side away from the fire.

After letting them air dry for a while, we took the bamboo tubes off one by one by hand.

The bamboo tube containing the fish was split in half with a dagger. Without utensils, Ah Mian washed her hands and ate directly with them. She tore off a piece of fish and put it in her mouth; surprisingly, it tasted alright.

It doesn't have a fishy smell; instead, it has a faint bamboo fragrance.

Fish meat is very tender when grilled this way.

As we ate, we could hear a rustling sound coming from the woods behind us.

A-Mian immediately felt a chill run down her spine and shuddered all over.

There are wild beasts in the mountains.

Moreover, the eyes of wild beasts are different from those of humans; they can see even at night.

Then a deer's head popped out, and Ah Mian breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed to have been attracted by the scent.

She quickly finished eating the two fish, threw the fish bones on the ground, and drank the boiled cattail sprout water in one gulp.

rustle.

Ah Mian put down the bamboo tube.

rustle……

She took the dagger and slowly turned around.

The faces of the two bandits were right in front of him.

"Who do we have here? It smells so good... Isn't that the pageboy?"

One of them grinned maliciously, "Your master is quite capable, killing so many of our brothers, it's just a pity..."

Ah Mian's voice trembled, "What?"

"Humans are made of flesh and blood; one cut and they're split in two."

Amian staggered back several steps, her limbs numb and her mind blank, until she bumped into Adou and suddenly gripped the dagger tightly.

"You're really unlucky. You're lucky to have your life spared..." one of the bandits said, sitting by the fire. "We're starving and want to eat donkey meat!"

Another bandit approached, initially glancing at A-Mian with some suspicion. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that "he" seemed to lack an Adam's apple and was rather pale, unlike a typical man. However, the darkness made it difficult to see clearly, so he continued walking towards A-Dou.

“This donkey is quite big; it should yield a lot of meat. You hold it over there and hold its head down.”

How could A-Mian agree?

In a moment of quick thinking, she said, "This is too troublesome to deal with, and it will make a mess of blood everywhere. If it attracts any wild animals like tigers or wolves at night, we won't be able to survive! I just made bamboo tube baked fish, it won't take long, I'll go make it for you right now!"

After she said that, the two bandits, knowing the dangers of the mountains, exchanged a glance.

The man sitting by the fire said, "That's fine. Mountain Spirit, you keep an eye on him while he catches the fish, don't let him get away."

Under the pressure of the mountain demon, A-Mian had no choice but to go down into the river to catch fish.

Nighttime is different from daytime; the stream water is a bit cold, and visibility is often poor, so she has to try again and again to catch the fish.

In that brief moment, the bandit's words echoed in his mind...

Was Meng Chijian really killed by them?

Thinking about it, my eyes immediately welled up with tears, and I felt like bursting into tears.

Although he is usually fierce and talkative, he is just like Ah Dou, hardworking and capable, and has never done anything bad!

Why is God so unfair?

However, on the other hand, another thought popped into her mind:

Listen carefully to what others say, but also think critically and consider why they are saying it. Furthermore, imagine yourself in their shoes—what would you think, and what would you want?

Life is unpredictable; no matter what the circumstances, you must rely on your own mind.

Splash—

She finally caught another fish.