Chapter 110: Wild Vegetable Porridge
Jiang Lin didn't deny it; he and Qin Xiangnuan had the same idea. These bandits looked honest and simple, their kidnapping methods clumsy and crude; they didn't look like the worst of the worst. The secret guards remained silent, wanting to see what their intentions were. Qin Xiangnuan strode towards the east courtyard, and from a distance, she heard Qin Feng shout, "Don't try to trick us!"
"As soon as they met us, they knocked us unconscious and tied us up without saying a word! Now they say they're going to treat us to delicious food and drinks! Who would believe that? The food might have been poisoned. Where's my little sister? Where did you take her?" Qin Feng was like a mad rhinoceros. Any bandit who tried to approach him was beaten aside. No one dared to approach again. They could only spread their hands, comforting and apologizing, saying, "I'm sorry, we were reckless just now."
Qin Feng's eyes were as big as copper bells. Qin Yi protected the old lady and looked at them vigilantly.
It was right to be on guard. Qin Xiangnuan had been worried about this, so she rushed over. Her presence saved the bandits. Qin Feng grabbed Qin Xiangnuan's wrist and pulled her to his side, looking her up and down. "Little sister, are you okay?" Qin Xiangnuan shook her head, turned to look at Qin Yi, and said, "Second Uncle, this is all a misunderstanding. I've already explained everything to their leader. We can follow them without worry..."
"Ah?" Qin Feng regained his stupid look the moment he saw Qin Xiangnuan. A light flashed in his eyes. He lowered his voice, covered his mouth with his hand and whispered in her ear: "Don't be fooled by them. I heard that bandits are very cunning. Maybe they are pretending to be reconciled with us, waiting for an opportunity to kill us all! Since you are back, let's fight our way out. There will always be a way to survive!"
Qin Feng was about to pull out the dagger from his waist after he finished speaking, and the bandit was so frightened that he quickly shook his hands, "Good man, we really don't dare."
"Our boss said that he hopes the young man can accompany us to the village to take a look and solve the problems on the land." Except for the black boss and the second in command, no one else knew Qin Xiangnuan's true identity. When Qin Feng asked her, his voice was not loud, so the bandits only saw Qin Xiangnuan as a thin and handsome young man and kept saying, "We are really not bad people."
How do we define good people and bad people?
They hadn't killed anyone without mercy, yet they still occupied the mountain as kings, engaging in acts of robbery. But if it weren't for the famine, who would want to live on the edge of a knife? Qin Xiangnuan lowered her eyes, her mind wandering. After figuring out what was going on, the Qin family finally followed the bandits to the backyard. They were all rough farmhands, unassuming, and they all squatted on the ground, holding their bowls.
Seeing Qin Xiangnuan coming, he immediately stood up and wiped his hands on his waist.
The Hei Boss came to meet them personally, taking Qin Xiangnuan to the head of a long wooden table. Jiang Lin sat beside her, and the Second in Command brought up a large bowl of wild vegetable porridge, steam rising from the iron pot. "We really don't have anything good to offer you. We didn't touch anything you brought." The Hei Boss looked at Qin Xiangnuan's puzzled expression with an embarrassed smile. "The mountains are closed for winter, and few people travel to Phoenix Mountain or this area. They're afraid of the steep and slippery roads. There's only a few wild vegetables and rice left in the village."
"Yes, we haven't sent anything to the village for a long time. I don't know how they are doing."
The second in command was worried about his mother at home, his face full of worry. Qin Xiangnuan looked at the bandits beside him in surprise. It was just a bowl of wild vegetable porridge, and they wished they had pulled the weeds directly from the ground and thrown them into the pot to stew together, but they devoured it greedily, swallowing it directly into their stomachs without chewing at all, with satisfied expressions on their faces.
"Is this what you usually eat?"
Jiang Lin frowned, not moving his chopsticks. He was more shocked than Qin Xiangnuan. Even though the princes in the capital knew that the people were having a hard time, they were still shocked to see it with their own eyes.
Hei Laoda shook his head, staring at the bowl of porridge in front of him in a daze. "How can we eat so well normally? We are entertaining our distinguished guests, so we took out all the food in the village. Usually, when we are hungry, we just drink a few sips of water to fill our stomachs. We are all strong men, so what's the harm in skipping a meal? We won't die of starvation anyway. If we really faint or collapse, we can just get some dry food."
Qin Xiangnuan followed the black boss's gaze and saw that the so-called dry food was only steamed buns and flatbreads covered with mold.
"We stole this from the escort team we robbed last month. Although we tried our best to keep it safe, it's still..." The second in command pushed the whole plate of pancakes in front of Qin Xiangnuan, and the black boss said apologetically, "See! We forgot. How can you nobles eat such things?" He remembered the rice, flour and meat that the Qin family carried with them, and raised his hand to pull the plate back.
Qin Xiangnuan reached out and held it, picked up the pancake, picked off the moldy spots on it, and took a big bite.
It was dry, hard, and had a slightly sour smell. The Hei Dad and the Second in Command stared at Qin Xiangnuan in amazement, anxiously handing her the bowl of water, their eyes filled with emotion. He had thought that the noble would disdain them. The Hei Dad's chest was vibrating, and he clutched the edge of the bowl in excitement, speechless. Qin Xiangnuan waved her hands, and Jiang Lin gently patted her back, using the natural movement to ease the discomfort of choking.
"You should remove the black mold spots before eating this thing, otherwise it will be harmful to your body."
Qin Xiangnuan reminded him, and Hei Lao Da couldn't think of anything else but nodded repeatedly. "I think meeting you today is a blessing for us and everyone in the village. Lao Hei would like to thank you..." Hei Lao Da stood up, holding a bowl of water, wanting to use it instead of wine. Qin Xiangnuan didn't hesitate and drank it all in one gulp. The group rested briefly in the village for the night, and when it was still dark and the moon was still hanging in the treetops, they set off down the mountain.
The gang had walked this road countless times and was very familiar with it.
They even knew exactly which trees had muddy pits, making their journey incredibly smooth. From afar, Qin Xiangnuan spotted the abandoned field, surrounded by gravel and mud. The village was silent, devoid of smoke, as if no one lived there. Families didn't even have winter clothing. Qin Xiangnuan paused, bent down, picked up a little dirt, rubbed it between her fingers, and sniffed it, feeling a little more confident.
"Uncle Black!"
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