Xie Xianyu led the imperial guards to chase after her along the dark alleys. Sure enough, at every important intersection, he would see Xu Wanruo dropping hairpins and jewelry. Some of them belonged to her, and some to Xie Xiuzhu.
As they walked along, Xie Xianyu vaguely guessed where the bandits had kidnapped them.
Jiuchuan Mountain is a very remote mountain in the suburbs of Beijing. If you follow this direction, this is the only place that is most suitable for killing people and disposing of bodies.
Xie Xianyu immediately rushed to Jiuchuan Mountain.
At this time, in the forest on Jiuchuan Mountain, the night was already deep. It was pitch dark in the deep mountains, but a few torches could be vaguely seen, illuminating the area and searching everywhere.
"Fuck, where did she hide? I really underestimated this woman!"
"There's no way to escape this mountain. Even if we have to turn the mountain upside down, we must find him!"
"Go search the valley again!"
Wanruo and Xie Xiuzhu had been hiding in the forest for almost an hour, but the bandits were still searching for them.
Seeing that they began to search in the direction of where they were hiding, Xie Xiuzhu was also trembling with fear and held Wanruo's hand tightly.
"What should I do? They seem to be coming here."
Wan Ruo said in a deep voice, "We can't stay here any longer. Once they come searching, we'll just be waiting to be killed. Let's go into the valley."
Xie Xiuzhu's legs were weak and her whole body was trembling, but she still forced herself to nod and held Wanruo's hand tightly.
Wanruo pulled her up quietly, and seeing that the bandits were still searching a little further away, they immediately ran deep into the forest.
"There seems to be some movement!" The bandit suddenly became alert.
They immediately searched the bushes where they had been hiding. "I think they're probably around here. Find them right away!"
Wanruo pulled Xie Xiuzhu along the way and did not dare to stop. The horse bandits seemed to have noticed something and they were not sure if they would catch up. They had to run faster and find a more secluded place to hide.
But who knew that Xie Xiuzhu suddenly stepped on a stone, twisted her ankle and fell to the ground.
The noise was quite loud, and the horse bandits who were searching also noticed it: "Did he run over there?!"
Xie Xiuzhu was so scared that her face turned pale. She tried desperately to stand up, but she couldn't stand at all. She rarely walked when she went out on weekdays. She either took a carriage or a sedan chair. She had never walked such a long mountain road. She was already exhausted, not to mention that she sprained her ankle and couldn't move at all.
Wanruo immediately pulled her to hide behind a large rock nearby: "You hide here."
"What about you?" Xie Xiuzhu didn't dare to let go of her hand.
"I'll go and distract them."
Xie Xiuzhu's pupils shrank suddenly with fear, and she tightly grasped her hand: "Then you..."
"I'll be fine." Wanruo pried her hands apart. "You have to hide well and don't make any noise, understand?"
Xie Xiuzhu bit her lip tightly and nodded with tears in her eyes.
Wanruo then stood up and immediately ran in another direction. This time she did not run at a slow pace, but instead kicked the stones deliberately, making some noise and attracting the attention of the horse bandits.
"This woman is running this way, go chase her!"
The horse bandits swarmed up and chased after Wanruo in the direction she fled. More than ten horse bandits ran past the big rock where Xie Xiuzhu was hiding. Xie Xiuzhu felt numb all over and hid stiffly behind the rock, not daring to even breathe.
Wanruo ran to a fork in the road and kicked a stone. The noise attracted the attention of the horse bandits, and she turned back and ran another way.
As expected, the bandits were confused for a moment and first swarmed along the road where the movement occurred, but halfway through they realized something was wrong.
"That girl can't run that fast. I haven't even seen her shadow yet even after chasing her here. I think she's probably running another way!"
"How dare this bitch play tricks on me!"
"You two, continue searching this way. The rest of you, follow me to search the other way!"
The bandits turned back and took another road.
Wanruo knew that she couldn't run away, and her strength was almost exhausted, so she found a secluded spot behind some bushes and hid there.
Soon, the noise of the horse bandits reached her ears. Her heart tightened. She didn't expect them to come so soon.
The sky was already turning pale, and a ray of sunlight shone through the dense leaves. Wanruo looked up at the sky, feeling anxious. It was almost dawn, and it would be even more difficult to hide in the forest.
Xie Xianyu had already reached Jiuchuan Mountain and ordered the imperial guards to immediately begin searching the mountain. As they climbed up, they first saw the bodies of several horse bandits, and then an abandoned blue-gray carriage.
He was certain that they were currently on this mountain, but it was not easy to climb the huge Jiuchuan Mountain. What made him even more uneasy was whether they were dead or alive.
"Sir! We found it! It's in the forest ahead!" A leader of the imperial guards came excitedly to report the good news.
Xie Xianyu's breathing stagnated, and he immediately spurred his horse into the forest.
"Big brother!" Xie Xiuzhu staggered out from behind the big rock, trembling. The moment she saw Xie Xianyu, tears streamed down her face.
She almost thought she was dreaming. She thought there was no way she could get out of the mountain alive.
Xie Xianyu just breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced around and saw nothing behind her. He then asked sharply, "Where's Xu Wanruo?!"
Xie Xiuzhu shuddered at the shouting, her face pale again: "Wanruo, Wanruo said she would help me lead away the bandits, and she ran in that direction."
Xie Xianyu's face suddenly changed, and he immediately jumped on his horse and galloped into the depths of the forest.
The imperial army's search also alarmed the horse bandits.
"Oh no! The Imperial Guards are here! We can't escape!"
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