After an unknown amount of time, Su Xiaoning finally woke up from the darkness.
She struggled to open her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar forest. The forest was dense with trees, their canopies blocking out the sky, and the sparse moonlight dappled the ground, adding to the eeriness of the scene.
Her brain, which had been shut down for a long time, started working at high speed. Su Xiaoning felt a tremor in her heart as the memories in her mind gradually came back to life.
She remembered that not long ago she was shopping with Ruxing and Xiaolian when she was suddenly knocked unconscious. Now they had been kidnapped and brought here?!
Su Xiaoning was immediately covered in cold sweat. Remembering the two women beside her, she hurriedly turned around and saw Ruxing and Xiaolian lying on the ground not far away.
Ru Xing and Xiao Lian lay unconscious on the ground, their fate unknown.
Ignoring the intense pain in the back of her head, Su Xiaoning rushed over to help Ruxing and Xiaolian up, calling their names and patting their cheeks repeatedly.
Fortunately, neither of them was seriously injured, and they both woke up a few minutes later.
As soon as Ru Xing woke up, she threw herself into Su Xiaoning's arms, trembling and looking pitiful. "Miss Su, please save me, I want to go home!"
"Where is this? How did we get brought here?" Xiaolian shrank closer to Su Xiaoning with fear in her eyes, her unease growing stronger.
"It looks like we've been kidnapped. We don't know their purpose, but staying here any longer is definitely dangerous." Su Xiaoning forced herself to calm down. She carefully observed her surroundings, pointed in a certain direction, and said, "We need to get out of here now!"
Su Xiaoning pulled Ruxing and Xiaolian forward and ran, but they were stopped by a group of people before they had gone a few steps.
"Girls, where are you headed?"
The leader of the group revealed a cruel smile, which changed drastically the next second. "I originally thought that you women wouldn't be able to escape, so I didn't bother tying you up. I didn't expect you to have the ability to run away! Men, arrest them!"
Unexpectedly, they ran into a group of robbers. Su Xiaoning was terrified and tried her best to resist, but the women were no match for the muscular men and were eventually captured.
The burly men dragged the three of them to the leader, who looked them over for a moment before asking, "Now that you're awake, answer me one question: which of you is Xiao Lian?"
Upon hearing this absurd question, Su Xiaoning instinctively looked in Xiaolian's direction, only to see that Xiaolian's face was deathly pale and she didn't dare to utter a sound.
The man before him was clearly no good. Although he didn't know why he wanted to see Xiaolian, Xiaolian was sure to suffer a terrible fate in his hands. If something happened to Xiaolian, what would become of A-Liang...?
Su Xiaoning gritted her teeth, mustered her courage, and shouted loudly, "It's me, I am Xiaolian!"
Her identity was different from Xiaolian's; she was an orphan in this world, with no relatives and therefore fewer attachments. It's just unknown what Su Qingcai would think after learning of her death…
Thinking of Su Qingcai, whom she hadn't even seen one last time, Su Xiaoning gave a bitter smile to her heart. But she still mustered her courage to look directly at the man and said firmly, "I am Xiaolian. If you have any grudges or grievances, come at me. These two are my friends. I hope you can let them go."
"Really? How could someone not be afraid of death? Are you really Xiaolian?" The man raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing Su Xiaoning's words.
Su Xiaoning looked into the man's eyes and said earnestly, "I only admitted it so readily because I didn't want you to implicate others. I am Xiaolian, I am from Carp Village, and in the end I got married to someone from Sunset Village, he..."
"You! Don't talk nonsense!" Before Su Xiaoning could finish speaking, Ru Xing's sharp voice interrupted her.
"You are clearly Su Xiaoning, not Xiaolian! Even if you are kind-hearted, you can't risk your own life to save someone else!"
Upon hearing this, everyone present changed their expressions.
Su Xiaoning's heart skipped a beat, and she glared angrily at Ru Xing, "You're the one talking nonsense! I am Xiao Lian! I would never let anyone else take the blame for me!"
"You're not some Xiao Lian! I don't care, you have to come back with me today, safe and sound. Don't worry about other people's business!" Ru Xing's eyes reddened. In her heart, Su Xiao Ning was much more important than this woman of unknown origin. She couldn't watch Su Xiao Ning die for someone else.
The two started arguing, and the noise of their argument gave the man a headache.
The man grew impatient and waved his hand dismissively, saying coldly, "Since I can't tell which of you is Xiaolian, then I'll kill you all!"
Better to kill a thousand innocent people than let a hundred guilty people go free.
The men pinned the three men to the ground. The man held a machete and was about to chop off Su Xiaoning's head when his stomach growled at an inopportune moment as he raised the machete high.
"Gurgle—"
The man suddenly felt hungry for some reason. His stomach felt empty, as if a fire was burning inside, and the discomfort made him drop his weapon to the ground.
Su Xiaoning jolted awake, noticing the man's strange behavior. She immediately cried out, "Sir, please have mercy and let us eat our fill before we continue our journey! I'm a great cook, and we can share what I make. If we can eat our fill and not starve to death, we'll have no complaints!"
The man hesitated for a moment, thinking that Su Xiaoning couldn't escape under his watchful eye, so he reluctantly nodded, "Alright then, hurry up and cook now."
"Okay!" Su Xiaoning agreed and started a fire to make fish soup after being freed from her restraints.
Her intention was to stall for time, but somehow she felt that her luck was not limited to that.
The fragrant fish soup was ready, and Su Xiaoning handed the bowl to the man with a smile. He took it cautiously and took a small sip. Instantly, he felt lightheaded, and his tongue was practically melting from the deliciousness of the soup. He drank several bowls of soup in a row and also devoured the fish meat inside.
Halfway through his meal, the man suddenly felt an itch and pain in his throat. He tried to speak, but could only manage a wheezing sound.
He got a fishbone stuck in his throat!
Seizing the opportunity, Su Xiaoning kicked the soup pot in front of her, grabbed Ruxing and Xiaolian, and ran out of the woods.
The man's expression changed. He was about to get up and chase after it, but he couldn't say a word. The fishbone stuck in his throat made him fall to the ground in pain.
In the midst of the robbers' confusion, Su Xiaoning had already run a considerable distance. The three of them rushed forward as if their lives depended on it, when suddenly they saw a burst of light ahead, and a familiar figure was standing in the light.
It's Su Qingcai!
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