Chapter 109 Stray Dog's Surprise Attack 3 Just say you're from out of town to meet your girlfriend...

Qiu Xiaoman dashed out like a gust of wind, which greatly worried Liu Xuezheng and Wu Shirong who remained behind.

They wanted to follow, but they were men in uniform. Even if they took off their uniforms, Liu Xuezheng, a righteous veteran, would easily arouse the robbers' vigilance and suspicion.

Wu Shirong, on the other hand, with his physique like a boiled chicken, could probably play the role of a lost out-of-town youth if he took off his uniform.

Having been trained in an elite military unit, Liu Xuezheng's mind worked quickly. He soon came up with an excuse: "Here's what you'll do: you say you're from out of town and came to meet your girlfriend's parents. Because the two families couldn't agree on the bride price, your girlfriend ran away from home in a fit of pique. You searched for her in the city for two days and heard that you saw a woman heading into the mountains, so you went to the mountains to look for your girlfriend."

Wu Shirong was stunned. This Liu Xuezheng must have a lot of melodramatic TV dramas on his mind, right?

Did you come up with a fake identity for him so quickly?

It's not that it's impossible, but wouldn't that mean Qiu Xiaoman is his girlfriend who ran away in a huff?

He's a guy, so there's no harm in him acting out a bit; he's just worried about making Comrade Xiao Qiu feel wronged.

However, Xiao Qiu's safety was the most urgent matter; everything else could take a backseat. So he took off his uniform and stuffed it into Liu Xuezheng's arms: "Okay, whatever you say. What should I say when I see her?"

“Just say you were wrong, and that you’re willing to go back to your parents to scrape together another 30,000 yuan for the bride price, to calm her down and get her to come back with you.” Liu Xuezheng thought for a moment and added, “To make this a real affair, you’d better go and hug her. She’s not armed, and if she finds the robbers’ headquarters, it’ll be like a lamb to the slaughter, very dangerous! You must protect her closely. Don’t worry, I’m a local, I know how efficient the local police are, and backup should be here in about ten minutes. Go ahead boldly, I’ll follow behind to protect you. If things get really bad, I’ll bark like a dog to distract them, then you grab Xiao Qiu and run to a place with caves and ravines, run as far as you can, and leave the rest to me and the backup.”

Wu Shirong had no objection and stood up, saying, "Okay, then be careful."

Liu Xuezheng grabbed him and said, "Wait, it's so cold, and you're so thin, you'll catch a cold easily! Wear mine inside, and you can put your open-front jacket on Xiao Qiu later."

As he spoke, Liu Xuezheng had already taken off his uniform and outermost cashmere sweater, and reassured him, "It's pure cashmere from Erdos, thick and warm. Don't worry about me. I've served in the field army and know how to maintain body temperature when supplies are scarce."

Wu Shirong nodded, took off his cardigan, put on Liu Xuezheng's cashmere pullover, and then draped the cardigan over his shoulders. He instructed, "I'm going now. Be careful. Judging from what those two men said, their men are divided into several groups. Watch out behind you."

"Don't worry, there are no bad soldiers in the field army. If I get ambushed in the back, I'll be letting down my company commander who has trained me." Liu Xuezheng gave Wu Shirong an encouraging look, then turned around and started fiddling with the dry grass around him.

When Wu Shirong ran a few steps and looked back, he found that the guy had already stuffed several clumps of dry grass into his uniform.

So this is the skill of field soldiers in using local materials. Perhaps the Red Army also used this trick when they were crossing grasslands and snow-capped mountains and were starving and cold.

In short, Wu Shirong entrusted his back to Liu Xuezheng, and he also brought a dog and two cats with him, and rushed out together.

Liu Xuezheng quickly stuffed the dry grass into the hole and continued to lie in ambush by the mountain path. Every now and then, he would move forward a little bit. During this time, he needed to make sure that there were no other bandits watching him, that he would not disturb any other animals, and that he would leave a mark for the support forces behind him. The difficulty level was indeed very high, but compared to his training in the army back then, it was nothing.

Soon, he heard voices ahead. He quickly pressed down on the two dogs beside him, and together they crouched down and lay prone in the dry grass.

At this moment, Qiu Xiaoman did not find the more humans and the various guns that Naihuangbao had mentioned, nor did she see the rabbit and the other dog. Instead, she was spotted by the two men from before.

It's possible that the people Naihuangbao mentioned were at another fork in the road, and that the two men didn't go with their accomplices.

In any case, she was a young girl not even twenty years old. Because her adoptive parents were struggling financially, she was very thin and posed no threat whatsoever, which is why those two scoundrels had wicked intentions as soon as they saw her.

Just as one of them was about to touch her face, Wu Shirong, her "boyfriend," appeared just in time. He hurriedly started talking about things like dowry, 30,000 yuan, and coming home with her, leaving the two robbers stunned.

Before the robber could react, he stepped forward, grabbed Qiu Xiaoman's hand, and pulled her into his arms, trying to drape his cardigan over her shoulders.

Although Qiu Xiaoman hadn't rehearsed her lines with him beforehand, she quickly understood his intention. She pretended to resist, ripped off the sweater he had forced on her, shoved it into his arms, and shouted, "Don't touch me! I don't want to go back with you. Just let me fend for myself! Anyway, if you can't afford the bride price, my parents will marry me off to that widowed coal mine owner and make me a stepmother to his child! Rather than that, I'd rather be like the White-Haired Girl and hide in the mountains. I'd rather die of old age in the mountains than be a stepmother to a divorced man's child!"

Wu Shirong was a little confused. Goodness, it turns out that not only Liu Xuezheng, but Xiao Qiu also had a lot of melodramatic TV dramas in his head.

Her outburst actually added a plausible element to the story, providing both a reasonable excuse to continue venturing into the mountains and giving the robbers leverage over her.

Sure enough, before Wu Shirong could speak, one of the tall, thin robbers laughed and said, "Oh, so it's just a young couple breaking up. Little sister, don't be afraid, I'll protect you. Come on, let's ignore him."

Qiu Xiaoman shoved Wu Shirong aside, stepped forward and followed the robber. She even squeezed out a few tears, pretending to be serious, and cried, "Big brother, you're so kind. I knew there was always a way out. I'm not destined to be someone's stepmother."

The man chuckled, "Absolutely! Little sister, you're naturally beautiful, you could have any man you want, no need to marry a divorced man. As for your boyfriend, well—"

The robbers brazenly sized up Wu Shirong, their disdain evident in their eyes—a tall, thin, and frail scholar, nothing to fear.

Even if a man like this gets married, he won't be able to keep his wife—he's boring, and his wife won't like him.

I might as well stay single.

So the robber said rudely, "Young man, if your family isn't well-off, don't take advantage of that young lady. Look at your skinny arms and legs, you probably don't even have the strength for a wedding night. Don't keep her waiting, go home now."

"What's it to you?" Wu Shirong couldn't just leave like that; he had to play the role of someone who would pester Qiu Xiaoman relentlessly.

At this moment, the robber's humiliation truly hurt his pride as a man, and he had a reason to continue the fight, so he stepped forward without hesitation, ready to fight the robber.

The robber didn't expect that a nobody would dare to challenge him. He was a beat slow to react and Wu Shirong grabbed him by the collar. Fortunately, his brother was quick to help and immediately punched Wu Shirong.

Although Wu Shirong had practiced shooting, his close combat skills were really not impressive. Even if he didn't pretend to be a weak scholar, he wasn't that strong. So, unsurprisingly, his dodge was a beat too slow, and he took a solid punch to the corner of his mouth, which immediately broke the skin and drew blood.

Qiu Xiaoman felt a little ashamed. She hadn't expected that acting would cause Wu Shirong to get hurt. But at this moment, she couldn't show any apology or heartache, otherwise the play would have to be abandoned.

She sneered, "Look at you, such a coward, you dare to fight with others?" As she spoke, she grabbed the tall robber's sleeve, "Big brother, let's go, ignore him."

“That’s right, he’s so weak. If you have a conflict with his parents in the future, he won’t be able to help you. Come on, hang out with me, I’ll treat you to a life of luxury.” The tall robber immediately followed with a smile, while the one who was about to strike behind him deliberately slowed down a couple of steps, preparing to give Wu Shirong a couple more blows.

Wu Shirong didn't want to continue being beaten, so he simply took a few steps back, neither explaining nor begging for peace, and just followed the two robbers and Qiu Xiaoman at a distance.

The shorter, fatter one still wanted to teach Wu Shirong a lesson and tell him to get lost, but unexpectedly, the robber walking in front suddenly raised his hand and made a shushing gesture.

Qiu Xiaoman also noticed that a man's groans came from the fork in the road on the right. He sounded very painful, but the injured man seemed to be holding back and did not dare to cry out loudly. He could only grit his teeth and let out some broken groans through his teeth.

Even just a few sounds were enough to tell that his injuries were serious.

Qiu Xiaoman suspected that the person was the victim who had lost her hand, but her current persona was that of a rebellious unmarried young woman who ran away from her family because she was unhappy with the dowry. In her anger, she shouldn't be overly compassionate, so she pretended not to hear and continued walking forward.

The robbers would definitely check the situation, and once they called for her to stop, she wouldn't arouse suspicion.

The tall robber called out to her, "Little sister, wait a minute."

Qiu Xiaoman stopped in her tracks: "What's wrong, brother?"

“There’s someone over there, probably one of our lost companions. You wait here.” He then winked at the short, fat robber behind him, leaving the other man to watch over Qiu Xiaoman, while he himself turned around and headed towards the fork in the road.

Qiu Xiaoman knew that his trip was definitely to silence him, and if she did nothing, the man with the severed hand would surely die.

She cried out in pain, clutching her stomach, and squatted down on the ground, exclaiming, "Wait a minute, brother, do you have any tissues? My mom is so stingy; she always reheats the food over and over again. Every time I come back, I get diarrhea. It's so annoying!"

The tall man immediately turned to look at his short, fat accomplice behind him: "Do you have any paper on you?"

His accomplice shook his head: "No."

"Then I'll take him to find the older brother and the others. You go and see what's going on over there." The tall man turned back, intending to have the short, fat man silence her. The reason was simple: he was afraid the young woman wouldn't be able to hold it in and would soil herself. Given his accomplice's hot temper, he figured he wouldn't be able to handle it and would punch her a couple of times.

That won't do. He's planning to win her over with his sweet talk. Maybe a few sweet words will be enough to get her to be with him, and then he'll make a fortune. After all, she's a real beauty.

It's like they've had a major falling out with their family again; it would be an injustice not to snag a bargain.

So he led Qiu Xiaoman away, not even bothering to glance at the white-skinned chicken behind him. Naturally, he didn't notice that the white-skinned chicken slowed down, turned around, and followed the short, fat man to the fork in the road on the right.

Behind them, from the withered grass, several cats and dogs lurked, each one full of energy and ready to start a big fight at any moment.