mysterious

“Ding-dang——”

He regained consciousness and took a deep breath, "Who?"

He drank it with a bad temper.

Xiao Cui's mind went blank for a moment, and after a while, she stammered, "I'm Xiao... Xiao Cui. The village chief has been captured by bandits."

"Hold on."

He got out of bed, put on his coat, opened the door, and looked a little cold.

Xiao Cui hurriedly said, "Brother Yuan, the village chief has been imprisoned in the ancestral hall by bandits. Only you can save him."

He thought for a moment, then turned around and said, "You..."

"I...I'm going too." Lin Yuan lowered her head so that no one could see her expression.

She should have stayed away from him to sort out her chaotic thoughts, but a feeling of uneasiness spread, making her follow Yuan Xuanlang.

While he was confused, he made up his mind that no matter what, he would not let her escape.

Xiao Cui thanked them gratefully, then led them to the ancestral hall and explained.

"The bandits are demanding annual tribute from us. This is customary, but this year's harvest is poor, and they're demanding more than usual. Since we can't pay, the bandits are waiting for us to gather enough food before releasing the village chief. But if we pay it all, what will we eat?"

"Brother," Lin Yuan asked him in a low voice, feeling a little guilty, "Have you recovered your martial arts?"

Yuan Xuanlang stroked Lin Yuan's head and whispered in her ear, "My dear sister, your brother is just like an ordinary person now. He almost died in his bed."

Lin Yuan took a few steps away, his face flushed. "I'm sorry—the bandits are outnumbered, and the villagers are unarmed. We don't have the upper hand."

"Just adapt to the situation." Yuan Xuanlang returned to his composure.

The gate of the ancestral hall was tightly shut. About twenty bandits were guarding outside, holding gleaming swords. The old and young, women and children stood in a circle, not daring to utter a word.

The bronze tripod was filled with a mountain of rice.

A tall, middle-aged man grabbed a handful of rice and said, "If there's not enough food, we can get chickens and ducks. I won't make it difficult for you. As long as you can get enough food soon, I can go to bed early."

Yuan Xuanlang and three others squatted behind a large rock not far away.

Yuan: "To capture a thief, first capture the leader."

Lin: "I'll lure the guards over here, and you go capture the king?"

"Okay, better to be careful."

"Oh." Lin Yuan thought to himself: He agreed quite readily.

Yuan Xuanlang secretly held Lin Yuan's hand and gently scratched her palm: "Brother, believe in Xiao Yuan. This little thing won't be difficult for you."

The itch reached the tip of her heart. Lin Yuan saw from the corner of her eye that Xiao Cui didn't see their "secret operation", so she pinched his dirty hand calmly and then pulled her hand back.

She realized later that she shouldn't have been so ambiguous with him.

Yuan Xuanlang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth and rubbed his hand that was pinched and hurt.

Junior sister has made progress!

Lin Yuan, holding an ordinary Jinghu Sect longsword, appeared in front of everyone and shouted, "Hand over the village chief!"

The villagers kneeling around looked at Lin Yuan in surprise, feeling hopeful but also disappointed.

"Girl, you can't beat them, so leave quickly." The kind villagers reminded her.

Ah! So many people! Three pairs of eyes, six pairs of eyes… eighteen pairs of eyes… round, square, big, small. Lin Yuan swallowed his saliva, and his previous heroic spirit was half gone.

The bandits laughed loudly. How dare a young girl come here and shout?

"You little girl, get out of here if you want to live!" the thief who came forward shouted ferociously.

Lin Yuan closed her eyes and said nothing. At this moment, I must get their attention and go all out!

Lin Yuan wiped the sweat off his palms, clenched his sword and attacked.

The thief's sword chopped down, and Lin Yuan turned around and stabbed three poisonous needles into the thief's neck.

The two bandits' legs went limp and they fell down like noodles.

Then, during the fight, Lin Yuan fired three poison needles and a poison gas bomb, killing six of them.

"Run quickly if you want to live!" Lin Yuan shouted to the villagers.

The villagers dispersed immediately.

Article 17 of "36 Stratagems of Evil": It is easy to dodge an open attack but difficult to guard against an arrow from the dark. No matter whether it is a conspiracy or a hidden weapon, as long as you achieve your goal.

Lin Yuan decided to quit while he was ahead. He threw down one or two poison gas bombs and said, "If you are poisoned by my poison, don't even think about surviving!" before walking away.

She ran desperately, like a deer fleeing for its life. This was probably the fastest she had ever run.

The wind was whistling in her ears, and she finally stopped for a long time. She leaned against the tree, panting, her hands still shaking unconsciously. She was both excited and scared, and she couldn't stand or sit.

Later, she realized that no bandits were chasing her. Was it because she ran too fast?

She stamped her feet in an attempt to calm herself down.

There was white smoke everywhere, no one was there, not a single bird, nothing was left but empty and silent.

She turned around and looked at the misty forest... It's over, I'm lost!

Lin Yuan once again experienced the distress of being directionally challenged and could only shout as he walked: "Is anyone there?"

There wasn't even an echo, and if I screamed I might attract a ghost, so I kept quiet.

Lin Yuan stopped in front of a cave. Generally, there were no good things in caves.

She turned and tried to leave, but her foot was tripped by a vine on the ground and she came into close contact with the earth.

"Hiss... What is this? It's so painful?"

She touched a stick, held it up to her eyes and took a look, her breath stagnating.

"Ah!" She threw the stick far away.

It was a long, pale bone.

She rubbed her hands vigorously with her clothes until they turned red and numb.

Suddenly, she was hit by a stone.

She looked around alertly and saw a young man walking out of the dark woods.

He was wearing linen and gauze, his two big eyes showed some timidity, and there was a red mole on his chin.

Lin Yuan recognized him as Aunt Wang's second son. She asked tentatively, "Erzhu? What are you doing here?"

Erzhu calmly picked up the bones that Lin Yuan had thrown away and said in a deep voice, "Come back to see Ah Hua."

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment, "Ahua? Where is she?" It couldn't be a ghost.

Erzhu held the bones up to the moonlight. The pale bones emitted a cold light. "This is Ah Hua."

Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly shrank. She instinctively felt something was amiss. She walked forward, squatted down, and gently asked him, "Tell me, who is Ah Hua to you? Why did she turn into bones?"

A few tears glistened in Erzhu's gray eyes. "My name is not Erzhu, my name is Dazhuang, and Ah Hua is my playmate..."

Lin Yuan grabbed his arm and said, "So, you were abducted, and Aunt Wang is not your mother."

Erzhu responded and then covered his mouth, "I..."

"Erzhu!" Aunt Wang came out of the woods with a gloomy face.

Erzhu was frozen motionless, his lips pale.

Aunt Wang pulled Erzhu over and patted his back. "Your leg injury hasn't healed yet, why are you running around again?!"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I couldn't sleep, so I asked Erzhu to hang out for a while."

Aunt Wang gave an awkward smile: "This child isn't talking nonsense, is he?"

"He's just a kid, he's always daydreaming, saying there are fairies in the cave. Haha, it's such a dangerous place, Aunt Wang, please take him back quickly." Lin Yuan didn't know what mechanism was triggered, and he made up lies without hesitation.

Aunt Wang: "Yes, this child fell into the water when he was six years old. After he was rescued, he had all sorts of crazy thoughts all day long. He just wanted to run away, cried at the slightest provocation, and even after crying he wouldn't say a word... He was so sensible before, but alas, this is fate."

They talked as they walked.

"This child has been weak since childhood, and his father and I have protected him like a treasure. On his birthday, the village chief divined for Erzhu and said he had bad luck in his life! Thanks to our village chief, he placed a red mole on Erzhu to pray for blessings and ward off disasters. It's a great blessing that he didn't die after falling into the water!"

"Those who survive a great disaster will be blessed in the future. Erzhu is a blessed child." Lin Yuan glanced at Erzhu, who just lowered his head and remained silent.

"Aunt Wang, have you ever been out of the village?" Lin Yuan walked into the village, but was thinking about the outside world.

"Never. The village chief said that people outside are treacherous, and there are wars and famines. It's not as good as our village—eh? Aren't you from outside? You should know better."

"Yes, that's right." Lin Yuan couldn't bear to destroy their paradise.

She followed them out of the forest and then went to the ancestral hall to find Yuan Xuanlang.

In front of the solemn and dignified ancestral hall, the sycamore tree is silent, leaving only a hint of indigo, and traces of fighting are still visible on the ground.

"Where have you been? Are you lost again?" Yuan Xuanlang asked while leaning against a sycamore tree in front of the ancestral hall.

Lin Yuan nodded without saying anything, then suddenly hugged him, "Brother, let's go home."

Her voice was muffled and sounded a little aggrieved and lost.

Yuan Xuanlang paused, then hugged her back without hesitation, "Okay."