Chapter 64 Encouragement for Bandit Suppression

The winter night was bitterly cold, the wind howling through the bare trees of the western hills, like the low growls of wild beasts in the forest.

The bandit stronghold deep in the western mountains was hidden in a dim light and could not be found anywhere.

It wasn't until daylight that the village began to show some traces of its past under the sunlight.

Shen Linhui was in a sorry state and was thrown to the ground.

"ah!"

"...Hmm..."

His injured leg was crushed, and he couldn't help but scream. However, the next moment, his face was stepped on by a foot.

The screams were forced back down as he mumbled them.

The bandit stronghold was brightly lit by torches all around, and a scarred-faced man sat in the very center, looking fierce and menacing.

The man stepping on Shen Linhui was a fat man.

On the other side, there was a tall, thin man standing.

The tall, thin man spat at him, then turned to the scarred man and said respectfully, "Brother, all the valuables in this kid's carriage are here."

Scarface glanced at the loot his subordinates had looted, then glared coldly at Shen Linhui.

"Mmm..."

Shen Linhui struggled fiercely, but could not move. He wanted to speak, but could not open his mouth.

Scarface waved his hand, and the fat man released his foot, allowing Shen Linhui to breathe normally again.

The fat man said with disgust, "Brother, these people don't have much on them. Let's just kill them and save ourselves the trouble."

This is their consistent way of doing things: leave the money, kill the person.

"Don't kill me...don't kill me..."

Upon hearing that his life might be in danger, Shen Linhui quickly crawled over and begged for mercy.

"My heroes, I'll give you anything you want, just please don't kill me..."

He has never had much backbone, and at this moment he would do anything to survive.

"Give?"

The fat man scoffed and kicked him away, saying, "What are you going to give me?"

They searched the entire carriage inside and out, but found only a few things, not even enough to fill the mouths of the whole village.

"My father is the Marquis of Chengde...my father is the Marquis of Chengde, our family is wealthy, we can give money..."

"Or," he said, kneeling awkwardly again, his words tumbling out incoherently, "whatever kind of woman you want, I can find her for you..."

"Please, please don't kill me..."

"The Marquis of Chengde?"

Scarface, who had been sitting at the head of the table without saying a word, finally spoke.

Shen Linhui still thought there was a glimmer of hope, and continued to fawn with a smile, "Yes, I am the son of Marquis Chengde, Shen Yao, his only son!"

"My dad will definitely save me. As long as you let me go, he's willing to pay any amount of money!"

"Any price is fair?"

Scarface sized him up from head to toe, his fierce gaze filled with undisguised murderous intent. "Do you have ten thousand taels of gold?"

"This..." Shen Linhui didn't expect them to make such an outrageous demand. He himself didn't even know how much wealth Shen Yao actually had, but now, no matter what they said, he could only agree, "Yes!"

"My father has it! Just tell him I'm here, and he'll definitely pay the ransom!"

"Please, please don't kill me."

He dragged an injured leg, his once brocade robe was now filthy, and there was a footprint on half of his face.

Her hair was disheveled, she had lost one shoe, and she was completely naked and barefoot.

The tall, thin man, however, was skeptical of what he said. "Brother, this kid might be up to something. We can't trust him so easily."

"Why would the young master of the Marquis of Chengde's mansion go up the Western Hills in the middle of the night!"

“I came to Xishan…” Shen Linhui hurriedly explained, “to catch fighting crickets.”

When the topic of catching fighting crickets came up, the suspicion in Scarface's eyes lessened somewhat.

Xishan is known for its cricket fighting, and indeed, many people who are obsessed with cricket fighting know that there are bandits in the area, yet they still recklessly run here.

They had previously come to Xishan to catch fighting crickets.

"You're saying that as long as your father knows you're here, he'll come and ransom you for a high price?"

"Yes...yes..."

“Then let’s give it a try,” Scarface stood up and laughed a few times.

However, the next moment, his face suddenly turned gloomy. He jumped down from the steps, grabbed Shen Linhui by the neck, and said in a sinister tone, "Since your leg is already crippled, just cut it off and send it to the Chengde Marquis's mansion. That way, your father will believe you more."

"That's a great idea!"

"Brother is wise!"

Hahahaha.

The tall, thin man and the fat man next to him chimed in.

But Shen Linhui was so frightened that he trembled, "No, no..."

Although this leg will never be able to support me again, being lame and having an amputation are two completely different things.

He begged for mercy in a panic, tears and snot streaming down his face, "Hero, let's talk this over, please don't cut off my leg..."

"Don't cut off my leg..."

"I can give you anything you want!"

"Then tell me, what else can you give me?"

They naturally want as much money as possible, but judging from this cowardly behavior, even his father might not be able to scrape together ten thousand taels of gold.

Scarface laughed wildly, teasing him like he was a beast.

"I..." Shen Linhui was extremely nervous, but his eyes darted around as he tried to think of what leverage he still had to negotiate with the bandits.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "I have two older sisters!"

"They are as beautiful as flowers. If... if the hero would let me go, I can send them up the mountain."

Hahahahahaha.

As soon as he finished speaking, the three people around him burst into laughter.

"You, the young master of the Marquis of Chengde, are truly a coward."

He actually thought of using a woman to exchange for himself.

However, bandits wouldn't turn down a woman who offered herself up.

Scarface pulled a short blade from his boot and patted him on the face as if he were showing mercy. "In that case, your crippled leg will be saved."

Shen Linhui immediately kowtowed, "Thank you, hero, thank you, hero... Ah!!!"

However, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly screamed in agony.

Blood then spurted out like a jet.

A pinky finger fell to the ground.

Shen Linhui covered his hand and collapsed to the ground, wailing in pain.

The tall, thin man and the fat man stared at him coldly, as if he were an animal in a cage.

Meanwhile, Scarface wiped the blood off his short blade and said ruthlessly, "Your leg is saved, but that doesn't mean I won't chop off your fingers."

"Please be understanding, we should at least get your old man a small gift."

Shen Linhui lay on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, completely unable to speak.

This was a pain the pampered young master had never experienced in his previous fifteen years.

He was trembling all over, and both his hands were covered in blood.

On the ground beneath the hem of her dress, faint water stains were seeping out.

The pain was so intense that I lost control of my bladder.

The tall, thin man and the fat man glanced at him with disgust, then heard the scarred man say, "Lock him in the back, don't let him die."

"Then have someone deliver this severed finger to the gate of the Marquis of Chengde's residence in the city."

“Yes,” the two men acknowledged their orders and dragged Shen Linhui away.

Meanwhile, at this very moment, inside the Ruyi Embroidery Tower in Lin'an City—

In the side room on the second floor, there were only Shen You and Chu Xiao.

The young woman had just come in from outside, wearing a cloak and carrying a hot water bottle in her hand. The tip of her delicate nose was slightly red from the cold wind.

As soon as they entered the house, Chu Xiao pulled her to sit down next to the charcoal brazier, held her hand, and made sure it was warm before he felt relieved.

Shen You took off the hood of her cloak, looked up at him, and said, "Shen Linhui didn't come back all night."

They've most likely already been captured by the bandits of Xishan.

"Yes," Chu Xiao naturally knew about this.

His men guarded the west gate all night, only seeing Shen Linhui go out but not return, which gave them a rough idea of ​​Shen Linhui's current situation.

When he came to see Shen You today, he was wearing a dark-colored, fitted robe with tight sleeves, the waistband of which was tightly bound, as if to restrain all his burgeoning power.

Shen You paused for a moment before realizing, "Are we going to West Mountain?"

"Yes," Chu Xiao nodded, "We'll set off soon and prepare for a night raid."

Shen You turned around and looked at a small wooden box on the round table. "That was sent by the bandits from Xishan."

Chu Xiao raised an eyebrow, seemingly guessing what was inside, but still asked, "What's inside?"

"It's Shen Linhui's severed finger."

They disguised themselves and entered the city, only to bring Shen Linhui's severed finger so that Shen Yao could raise a large sum of money to ransom him.

But from the moment Shen Linhui left the Shen residence, Shen You had already guessed this possibility.

Therefore, he replaced the servants on duty at the entrance of the Marquis's mansion with his own men early on to stop the wooden box.

In this way, Shen Yao and Chen Qiurong would not be able to receive the news that Shen Linhui had been kidnapped, and thus would not be able to disrupt her plan.

The bandits of Xishan, instead of receiving a reply from the Marquis's residence, were met with a large-scale anti-bandit army from the Criminal Investigation Department. It's easy to imagine how they would deal with Shen Linhui.

Chu Xiao pushed the wooden box aside with disgust, "Don't bother with this kind of thing."

Shen You looked up at him and suddenly asked tentatively, "Chu Xiao, is my revenge on Shen Linhui too much?"

She orchestrated Shen Linhui's repeated losses at the cricket fighting arena, then lured him to Xishan to catch fighting crickets. Now, she has cut off his severed finger, effectively cutting off his only possible path to help.

Such a deadly act would be hard for ordinary people to accept.

But Chu Xiao is no ordinary person.

He held her hand and pressed it against his neck, warming it with the heat of his skin, and whispered, "If it were me, he probably wouldn't even be able to leave behind a complete corpse."

Chu Xiao had long harbored the desire to kill Shen Linhui. If he hadn't known that Shen You wanted him to deal with himself, he would never have kept Shen Linhui alive until now.

Shen You was of a quiet and aloof nature and never liked to compete with others.

But she was not a little girl who could only cry and was powerless to fight back.

Chu Xiao, on the contrary, thought this was a good thing; only by taking revenge could he protect himself and those around him.

However, at this moment, he clearly did not want to spend too much time discussing Shen Linhui's matter with Shen You.

He lowered his head, his high, straight nose gently brushing against her cheek, as if asking for a kiss.

However, the moment his hot breath touched him, Shen You swiftly pressed against his chest, looking at him and saying, "I'm like this with everyone, so..."

“I will not do such a stupid thing again,” Chu Xiao’s heart clenched. “If I disobey, you can do whatever you want with me.”

He should be grateful that Shen You was still willing to give him a chance to stay by her side.

She wasn't the type to drag things out; otherwise, she wouldn't have left Qingxi without looking back.

It was his relentless pursuit that finally gave her this opportunity when she was starting to waver.

The only right thing to do is to cherish it.

“Okay,” Shen You said, looking at him intently with clear and serious eyes.

The two embraced, their breaths mingling. The man's gaze lingered on her rosy lips, his desires raw and undisguised.

Shen You loosened her fingers slightly, letting him press down on her chest.

The warmth and moisture of their bodies caused her heart to tremble slightly. She then placed her hands on his shoulders, accepting his intrusion.

With her tacit consent, Chu Xiao exerted a little force with his lips and tongue, parting her teeth and kissing her deeply and forcefully, teasing her with patient licking and sucking again and again.

The charcoal stove inside burned brightly, making the space between the two even warmer.

In this matter, women and men have an innate difference.

Shen You found it difficult to gain the upper hand in such a kiss, and soon went limp and leaned against him.

Her waist was suddenly lifted up, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and in the next instant, she was sitting on his lap.

His strong, powerful hand gripped her waist through her clothes, kneading and pinching her hard as they felt the intense heat emanating from each other.

Shen You was kissed so hard that she couldn't help but lean back, her waist stretching into a beautiful arc. But the next moment, a hard chest followed, pressing down on her and kissing her passionately.

She was breathing heavily, her tongue was numb, and a few words of protest escaped from her throat.

Chu Xiao's breathing was frighteningly heavy, but he managed to maintain his composure. He slowly withdrew from her lips and said in a hoarse voice, "Consider it encouragement for the bandit suppression."

“Hmm,” Shen You’s voice was also a little hoarse. He was held by his arm and leaned on his shoulder. He whispered, “Waiting for the Duke of Zhenguo to return victorious from suppressing the bandits.”