The other two immediately shut their mouths upon hearing this, not daring to say another word.
Li Zhen and Zhao Dashu, who were behind the bushes, exchanged a surprised glance.
So these people got lost; no wonder no outsiders were seen wandering into the small depression.
Fortunately, they came out; otherwise, they probably wouldn't have run into these people.
Zhao Dashu was both relieved and a little nervous. He whispered, "Let's rush up and knock them out first, and then..."
Before he could finish speaking, a shout suddenly came from outside.
Zhao Dashu and his companion were startled. As soon as they peeked out from the bushes, they saw one of them being forcefully shoved away by Mimi.
He fell to the ground with a thud and immediately lost consciousness.
The other two screamed in fright and scrambled away.
Mimi, however, had no intention of letting the two go. With a howl, she charged straight at one of them.
Zhao Dashu and Li Zhen quickly followed the other person who had escaped.
The two men, one in front and one behind, completely surrounded the other.
The tall, thin man glared at the two men, his teeth itching with hatred. He picked up a rock and was about to throw it at Li Zhen, shouting, "I'll kill you both! You don't want to live anymore, do you?"
Didn't you see he was running for his life? That's a huge worm; the rest of them wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth.
Li Zhen ignored the other person's words and kicked him away.
The tall, thin man fell to the ground with a thud, and before he could get up, Zhao Dashu pinned him down.
The tall, thin man was so frightened that he hurriedly begged for mercy, "Brother, please have mercy and let me go so we can all run away. Otherwise, we'll all die soon."
After saying that, he began to struggle, but the two people in front of him seemed to be unaffected and remained calm and composed.
He was so frightened he almost lost his soul. Was he hallucinating? How could these two not be afraid of even a tiger? Was he seeing things, or were they completely insane?
He didn't want to die!
"Didn't you see that? There's such a big tiger! Run, run!" the tall, thin man said in terror.
Zhao Dashu merely frowned, his eyes fierce, and said, "Shut up, don't make a sound."
"Tell me, besides the three of you, who else went up the mountain? If you dare lie, I'll kill you right now and feed you to the tigers."
As he spoke, he swung the sickle in his hand forcefully.
The tall, thin man trembled with fear and stammered, "It's just the three of us, really, we're gone, brother, we just got lost by accident, please don't hurt us!"
"Yes, or you could send us to see the officials, yes, yes, to see the officials."
If they go to the yamen (government office), they might be spared. If they stay on the mountain, they'll be eaten by tigers sooner or later. It's better to go see the officials.
Zhao Dashu was taken aback, clearly not expecting that this person would be so eager for him to send them to see the authorities, and he just frowned.
Although he was suspicious, he ultimately did not take any further action. He asked some more detailed questions and confirmed that they were in cahoots with the villagers. He then tied the three of them up with vines.
Mimi looked at the three people who were still a little dazed and didn't know how they had suddenly been tied up, and shouted in dissatisfaction.
The three men were so frightened that they immediately came to their senses and hurriedly hid behind Zhao Dashu and his companion, shouting repeatedly, "Brother, brother, quick, quick, take us to see the officials!"
"Yes, yes, we need to see the officials."
Last night, when they went up the mountain, they probably encountered this same tiger. They had managed to escape under the cover of darkness and finally got away from it, but unexpectedly, they ran into it again.
Seeing that the others were quite frightened, Zhao Dashu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling extremely fortunate that Mimi was on the mountain.
He reached out and touched Mimi, smiling as he said, "Thanks to you, I'll treat you to something delicious when we get back today."
Mimi shook off the hand on her head in dissatisfaction, let out a howl, and darted into the woods.
The three men were so frightened that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They dared to touch a tiger! These people on the mountain are truly insane.
They want to report this to the authorities.
Zhao Dashu ignored the three men's astonishment and told Li Zhen to continue wandering around the area.
He then led the three men down the mountain, intending to take them to the government office.
*
It was already afternoon when Jiang Yimian and the other person returned to Qingshi Village.
As soon as the mule cart entered the village, many people saw it and immediately dropped what they were doing to come over.
"Jiang girl, how is it? Who are those people? Is our village being targeted by some thugs? Should we send people to patrol every night from now on?"
"Yeah, that was terrifying. If the fire hadn't been controlled last night, we would all be dead!"
Seeing the panicked and worried looks in everyone's eyes, Jiang Yimian simply explained and reassured them, "It's alright, those people have been arrested, so don't worry about it anymore."
Li Yishi had just squeezed through the crowd when he heard this, and the huge weight in his heart finally lifted, but he still worriedly said, "Jiang girl, what are you going to do? Since those people came for you, will there be a next time? From now on, let's take turns patrolling the village at night."
What happened last night was truly horrifying. Although he didn't go to the yamen today, he and the others had been thinking about countermeasures. They couldn't come up with any good solutions all morning, only realizing that the villagers couldn't all go to sleep at night.
If it happens again and the Jiang family doesn't react in time, the entire village will suffer.
Seeing that everyone was truly frightened by what happened last night, Jiang Yimian said earnestly, "Don't worry, the mastermind behind this has been arrested. It was someone hired by my cousin to take our lives."
The magistrate is very discerning, and those people have already been brought to justice. No one will ever set fires or kill people again.
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