On the contrary, Chen Guang'an and Boss Qiu were not so calm.
The two ran frantically for an unknown amount of time, until they were completely exhausted.
The donkey's stamina was also nearing its limit. Even with the whip lashing its body, its head drooped down, and it could no longer walk!
Old Qiu was in a panic. There was no village or shop in sight, and if he were to spend the night here, it would be a death sentence!
But asking him to abandon the donkey and run on his own was out of the question! First, his physical strength was lacking; he was over forty and ate poorly, so how strong could he possibly be? Second, they had gone to great lengths to steal the donkey, and losing it would be incredibly painful! A donkey was worth at least five or six taels of silver; even selling it or killing it for meat would be better than losing it for nothing!
Seeing Qiu Laoda's anxiety, Chen Guang'an became even more anxious, and a hint of resentment crept in as well! If only he had knelt properly in the ancestral hall, or at least gone out to do odd jobs, he wouldn't have been hunted down!
Now things are really messed up. Not only have they not found work and are unlikely to make any big money, but they've also stirred up a hornet's nest with that shrew, Qin San Niang, and even alerted the government officials! Those are government officials! They can take lives in a heartbeat!
"Boss Qiu, what should we do now?" Chen Guang'an looked around and saw that the dark forest was like an invisible black curtain covering everything. The dense forest overhead had blocked out the starry sky and moonlight, and not a single ray of light could get in! It was as if he was standing in the mouth of a huge monster.
He suddenly felt a surge of fear, and his body trembled uncontrollably. Memories from his childhood flooded back; his mother had once said that countless people had died in this forest! Even the most skilled hunters had perished here, so it was absolutely forbidden to enter!
Now look what's happened! Not only did he get in, he went deep into the woods!
"Boss Qiu, have we taken the wrong road? Didn't you say we were going around the woods to the dock? How did we end up in the deep forest?!" Chen Guang'an asked in a trembling voice.
Just now, Boss Qiu clearly told him that if he went around the edge of the woods, he could reach Jiangzhou Wharf. Once at the wharf, they would hide their identities, wait for the right opportunity to board a ship, and come back in a year or two. By then, who would still remember them?
Old Qiu wanted to say, "What can I do about the path the donkey took?" Annoyed by his question, he said that he had only heard about this path from others and had never traveled it before. He said that even during the day, one could get lost, let alone at night.
Even so, he realized at this moment that they seemed to be going the wrong way. But now that there was no sun, they couldn't tell which way to go. How could they get out? The donkey was tired, and they themselves were exhausted!
However, Qiu Laoda quickly calmed down. If Qin Sanniang had found the child, she probably wouldn't have ventured into the deep forest to look for them! Thinking this, he felt a lot, so he gritted his teeth and sat down on the ground to rest.
"We're probably lost and can't go any further. Let's rest here. Quickly start a fire; if we encounter any wild animals, the fire will scare them away!" Old Qiu instructed Chen Guang'an to gather firewood, while he himself went to his bundle to get a tinderbox. Fortunately, he was experienced; a tinderbox, a common nighttime tool, was indispensable.
Chen Guang'an spat out of his sight, thinking to himself, "You old man, all you do is order people around, why don't you do it yourself?"
However, at this point they were in the same boat, so Chen Guang'an decided to endure it. Besides, he himself was not as experienced as Qiu Laoda. He just hoped to get out of the forest as soon as possible tomorrow and then go his separate ways. Even if he had to kneel in the ancestral hall in the village, he would never come out again!
When Qin San Niang found them, the two had already lit a fire. They were glad that they had eaten and drunk their fill with Zheng Mazi earlier, otherwise they would have been starving after an hour of running around!
"Boss, what should we do? If you ask me, why don't we go back tomorrow and apologize to that woman surnamed Qin? After all, she's a woman, and she's soft-hearted. Maybe she'll forgive us!" Chen Guang'an thought for a long time before speaking. Although he was a rogue who liked to eat, drink, and gamble, he had never actually done anything like human trafficking. Even if he gave Suotou's wife croton seeds, it was just to get her pregnant so that he could fill in when Suotou couldn't work, and if he was lucky, he could even extort some money!
Now, the thought of having to wander in a foreign land and possibly become a wanted criminal fills me with genuine regret!
Old Qiu glared at him fiercely, saying with a look of utter disappointment, "You coward! Now that you've kidnapped someone's child, do you think that woman is an ordinary person, that she'll be soft-hearted? She'll be lucky if she doesn't skin you alive! If we escape, we might still live, but if we go back, we're definitely going to die!"
Old Qiu was vicious. If someone plotted against him like that, he would never let them get away with it. Judging others by his own standards, he believed that Qin San Niang would be even more ruthless.
Chen Guang'an seemed to have been persuaded by him, and dared not utter another word.
Qin San Niang, who was behind the tree, didn't want to hide at all. She slowly walked out, followed by Xiao Bai.
When Boss Qiu and the others saw it, their eyes widened in horror!
Qin San Niang was dressed in black night clothes, her long black hair was all tied high on her head, and after a long journey, many strands of hair fell down, and her eyes were unusually bright.
A huge, snow-white wolfhound lazily followed beside her, the combination of the two of them eerily resembling a forest spirit!
No wonder Boss Qiu didn't recognize her at first glance. That day, Qin San Niang was a gentle woman dressed in an ordinary dress. Now that she had shed her disguise, she was no ordinary woman. She was like a demon from hell. If they hadn't recognized Qin San Niang's appearance, they would have thought she was a messenger from the underworld!
Seeing that she was alone, Qiu Laoda tried to calm himself down, took out his iron rod for self-defense, and raised it with both hands, pointing it at Qin Sanniang, "You woman, don't come any closer, or don't blame us for being impolite!"
But his trembling hands betrayed him. Qin San Niang wasn't afraid at all, and chuckled, "I'd like to see how impolite you are. Who gave you the audacity to mess with me? Anyone who dares to touch my child is doomed!"
"Hmph, you and your bastard deserve to die! You don't even have a man, what's the point of your wild child living in this world? What? Want a man? As long as you follow me, I'll spare you!" Boss Qiu probably didn't even know how he dared to say such things. He probably said them too often and couldn't stop now.
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