Chapter 143 Xiao Nanchen is here

Li Yushi woke up after daybreak. The four of them split into two groups and went to the nearby woods to relieve themselves. Pei Yuanzhou took Shen Qingbai with him, while Chen Ning accompanied Li Yushi to avoid any danger if they acted alone.

Shen Ning came out quickly, and after a while, Li Yushi came out from the woods, holding the hem of her outer skirt.

Seeing Shen Ning, Li Yushi quickened her pace and whispered, "I found a vole nest."

When the family was not well off, Li Yushi had dug wild vegetables. Later, she often went to the wilderness to collect herbs, so she was quite familiar with the wild.

She opened it a little, and Shen Ning saw a large handful of soybeans in her skirt.

"It was a big field mouse's nest. I cleaned it out completely. I was afraid someone else might steal it, so I didn't have time to come out and call you."

Li Yushi's face was covered in dirt, and she lowered her voice cautiously. It was hard to imagine that she was sitting elegantly at the banquet of a high-ranking official not long ago. At this moment, Shen Ning's attitude towards her suddenly changed. She smiled and said, "Then go back and roast soybeans."

Li Yushi nodded and said subconsciously, "It's just that eating too much makes you fart, which is quite embarrassing."

After she finished speaking, she realized that she had actually said such an impolite thing in front of Shen Ning. Li Yushi was a little embarrassed and secretly looked at Shen Ning. When she saw the look of Shen Ning trying to hold back a smile, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

It seems that sometimes, being awkward together can actually bring people closer together.

Returning to the fire, Li Yushi poured all the soybeans in her bag into the fire. Not long after, the aroma of the soybeans wafted out.

It is normal for refugees to suffer from hunger on the way to escape, especially in the wilderness at this time of year, it is extremely difficult to find food. Many refugees here have not eaten for two days, and can only occasionally grab some wild vegetables and grass roots to fill their stomachs and survive.

Smelling the aroma of soybeans, many people looked over here, swallowing their saliva.

While Shen Ning was checking Shen Qingbai's leg, she thought to herself that the Golden Eagle had found her and must have gone to inform Xiao Nanchen. She didn't know how long it would take for his people to arrive.

That stupid bird didn't even bother throwing her some prey or something to fill her stomach.

Well, she was overthinking it. It was good enough that the guy didn't steal the food. He even peeled off the fox fur she gave to Xiao Nanchen to taste it. How could he give her food?

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Kind girl, please give me something to eat. My old bones haven't eaten for two days and I really can't stand it anymore."

The trembling old woman was skinny and looked sad.

Shen Ning recognized that this was the old woman who was wearing another woman's jacket and was robbed last night.

At this time, Li Yushi had already hesitantly grabbed a handful of soybeans that she had just pulled out of the fire and handed them over. Shen Ning did not say a word, watching the old woman grab the soybeans from Li Yushi's hand.

Then, the old woman who had just been trembling and saying she couldn't hold on any longer hurried back with the soybeans and poured them all into the hands of the man who had robbed her clothes the night before: "Gou Wa, eat quickly, eat quickly, fill your stomach, and then I'll go get more."

After saying that, the old woman turned back and stretched out her hand towards Li Yushi with a sad face...

Li Yushi's face turned cold: "That's all I have. Give it to your son and then you don't have to eat it."

The old woman kept saying, "Miss, it's really because I, an old woman, can only survive because of my son. If my son starves to death, I will not be able to live either. There is no other way. Miss, please be kind and give me some more."

Li Yushi could no longer fail to see that this old woman was treating her like a fool and taking advantage of her.

"No more, go away."

There were already quite a few refugees watching them. If they were really caught by this old woman, those people would eat them up.

But what Li Yushi didn't expect was that when the old woman saw that she was determined not to give it to her, she pounced on her without any warning and snatched it away.

The stinking body pounced on her, and the skinny claws reached out to grab the soybeans. Li Yushi screamed in shock, and Pei Yuanzhou quickly pushed the old woman away.

The old woman was pushed to the ground and immediately burst into tears: "It's so unfair! They're bullying me! Do you have any humanity at all?"

"Who told you to bully my mother?"

The man who had eaten a handful of soybeans stood up and walked towards this side with a fierce look on his face.

Li Yushi's face turned grim as she realized that the mother and son were the two who had snatched the clothes last night.

If she had recognized him just now, she would never have let such a nice person get away and gotten into trouble for no reason.

The man didn't seem to have suffered much while fleeing the famine. He was big and strong, completely different from the other thin and weak refugees. He walked over like a bear, stretched out his hand to grab Li Yushi, with an obscene look on his face.

Pei Yuanzhou immediately blocked Li Yushi behind him. At this moment, Chen Ning suddenly stretched out her legs without warning. The man was caught off guard and fell to the ground with a thud. He immediately yelled in anger: "You..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw Shen Ning took out a dagger and looked at him expressionlessly: “If you don’t get out of here, I’ll kill you.”

The man hesitated for a moment, wondering if the little girl was bluffing, and then he saw the dagger in her hand stab down without warning... directly through the man's palm.

Pulling out the dagger with a splash of blood, Shen Ning said: "This is my last warning to you, get out!"

The man then realized that he had met a tough guy. He hurriedly got up and turned around and staggered away without saying a word.

The old woman cried out in a terrifying voice: "Gou Wa, your hand... Damn it, it's so cruel, it pierced my son's palm, God..."

Shen Ning turned around, and the old woman's crying stopped abruptly.

"Let's go," Shen Ning stood up and helped Shen Qingbai up. The four of them divided the roasted soybeans and ate them while they were on the road.

Li Yushi walked away with a helpless smile: "It's really hard to be a good person. I was careless."

Pei Yuanzhou hummed, "When one is hungry and cold, one's heart is most tested. It's important to take care of yourself first."

Li Yushi nodded, then looked at Shen Ning, somewhat impressed: "Mrs. Shen's skills are so amazing."

Shen Ning's movements just now were so fast that she almost couldn't react. It was obvious that she had practiced.

Shen Ning smiled and said, "I got this from doing farm work before."

She was just making up an excuse to get by, but Pei Yuanzhou's expression beside her suddenly froze.

Shen Ning had worked in his house for more than two years, almost three years...

He looked away trying to hide his embarrassment.

Shen Ning didn't really think much about it, so she didn't notice Pei Yuanzhou's embarrassment. Instead, Shen Qingbai asked, "Isn't Aunt Fan going to Beijing with you?"

Li Yushi shook her head: "It's a blessing that Auntie didn't come. If she had come, I'm afraid it would have been dangerous this time."

Although such extreme weather is rare, for those who encounter it, it is a life-threatening situation.

Shen Qingbai said "oh" and said nothing more.

Pei Yuanzhou finally couldn't help but explain and apologize: "My mother lost her father when she was young, and grew up with great difficulty, but she also lost her husband when I was young... That's why she became like that. I hope Madam Shen will forgive me for any offense I may have caused you in the past."

Shen Ning just said in a calm voice: "Let's not talk about the past."

It's not forgiveness, I'm just too lazy to argue with such an ignorant old woman.

Shen Qingbai changed the subject: "I wonder if we can find a town tonight... There are mountains not far ahead, and it would be even more dangerous to spend the night in the wild."

Sure enough, they found no food for the whole day except some grass roots and wild vegetables. They were all exhausted. When the sun set in the evening, they had to stop with the large group of refugees.

If you get too close to the mountains, you might be afraid of wild animals; if there are more people, it will be safer.

However, the beast did not come, and just as dusk fell, the sound of chaotic horse hooves was heard.

At the first moment, Chen Ning almost thought that it was Xiao Nanchen who came. She was about to say that I, Wang Binggui, was so fast that he came so quickly. However, a few breaths later, she saw that it was a group of bandits with messy clothes and messy horses...?

Seeing the various weapons behind those people, Shen Ning immediately took a deep breath.

Pei Yuanzhou and Li Yushi also noticed something was wrong. Pei Yuanzhou stepped forward and together with Shen Qingbai, blocked the two women behind him.

Shen Ning did not show her head, not wanting to cause trouble because of her face.

Before leaving in the morning, she and Li Yushi deliberately applied some wood ash on their faces, but it had been almost washed away by the sweat from traveling all day.

The two of them hid behind Pei Yuanzhou and Shen Qingbai very tactfully.

Those bandits did not take action directly, but instead promoted their stronghold. One person shouted that their Feiyun stronghold was a chivalrous stronghold. Unlike ordinary bandits, they did not rob poor people, but only killed the rich and unkind. Their ultimate goal was to recruit people.

"Once we get to the mountain, brothers, we'll be one family. We'll share happiness and hardship, eat meat and drink wine with our mouths full, and no longer have to endure hunger and hardship... Come, those who want to go with us, stand over here."

No one among the refugees moved. Everyone looked at the bandits in numbness and horror.

What kind of heroes are they? They are still bandits. Being a bandit means death sooner or later. They flee just to survive. How could they be so desperate as to become bandits?

Seeing that no one moved, the bandits gradually revealed their true colors, baring their teeth and sneering: "No one is willing? This is not giving face to the brothers. If that's the case, then don't blame me..."

"I! I'll go!"

A voice interrupted the bandit's words. It was the man whose palm had been pierced by Shen Ning just now. The man's face was pale with pain. He walked and stopped, and unexpectedly ran into Shen Ning and the others again.

The man staggered to the front: "I'll go!"

"Haha, good, good brother, come, equip my brother with a weapon."

Someone threw a knife over and the man picked it up with one hand, looking a little nervous, but more ferocious.

"Go, kill three people as a token of your loyalty, and from now on we will be brothers."

This doesn't give him a chance to regret.

The strong man became ruthless and turned around to look around.

He was fed up with this life of hunger and starvation, and he still had to support his elderly mother. What's more, he had actually killed someone on the way... Going up the mountain might be a good place for him.

At this moment, the man's gaze suddenly fell on Pei Yuanzhou and Shen Qingbai, and his eyes lit up in an instant.

This is really a narrow encounter!

"So you're here too!"

The old woman also saw Chen Ning and the other three, and immediately screamed and cursed: "Son, kill them, those two bitches, first raped the woman and then killed her, dared to hurt my son, peel off their skin..."

The man laughed sinisterly and walked towards them, knife in hand. His expression gradually became cruel and obscene. "That's perfect. I'll kill you two. I've had my eye on those two beautiful women for a long time. I'll just take them up the mountain and see if that bitch dares to act arrogantly again."

Shen Qingbai stood up with the help of a crutch, raised one crutch, and stared at the other party with cold eyes, as if he was ready to fight to the death.

The man raised his long knife with a fierce grin... then suddenly fell forward to the ground.

An arrow pierced through the back of his neck, and his tail feathers were still trembling slightly.

A sharp cry was heard in the air, and a huge bird of prey flapped its wings and swooped down, knocking a bandit on horseback to the ground.

The bandit's back was instantly torn apart, with his bones and tendons exposed, and he screamed miserably.

At the same time, the sound of horse hooves came from afar. Amidst a burst of exclamations, they approached. Once they were close, they drew their swords and, without a word, immediately dealt with the bandits on horseback like chopping melons and vegetables...

Xiao Nanchen was covered in dust. He threw off his cloak and dismounted. He walked a few steps to Shen Ning and stretched out his hand to press her into his arms.

Shen Ning was strangled very tightly, and then she heard Xiao Nanchen let out a long sigh...