The woman scrambled to the cart in a panic, crying out in a hoarse voice:
"Girl, please save me! They're not human! Killing my whole family wasn't enough, they also... they also..."
Sanyuan and Siwang felt sorry for her because she was in such a pitiful state.
They had just experienced something similar, almost falling victim to evildoers, and knew how helpless and desperate they felt when faced with such a situation.
The two hesitated for a moment, just about to plead with their mother, when the goose swatted them in the face with its wing.
Da Zhuang shoved the two men to warn them: "Don't believe it!"
Before the woman could continue to coax the children, Ye Wenxue kicked a stone, which struck her wrist.
With a clang, a dagger fell out.
The woman's expression changed, and she picked up the dagger and ran towards the cart, attempting to take a child hostage to blackmail Ye Wenxue.
The leader of the group, along with several of his wounded brothers, rushed forward to help restrain Ye Wenxue.
Sanyuan and Siwang were startled, and their hands holding the wooden sticks trembled involuntarily.
Dazhuang stuffed Yuanyuan into Shuangshuang's arms, gripped the kitchen knife tightly, and was about to step forward.
Unexpectedly, the goose quacked and leaped up, its two large feet landing on the woman's face while simultaneously stabbing hard at her eyes.
"Ugh! Damn goose!"
Da Zhuang seized the opportunity to step forward, slashed her wrist with a kitchen knife, and quickly snatched the dagger and retreated.
Upon seeing this, Ye Wenxue dodged and countered while retreating to the front of the cart, and with a few moves, she seized the woman and used her to shield her from the attacks.
The leader didn't care about anything else. He led his two other brothers, who were not seriously injured, to surround the enemy and slash wildly with their knives.
However, Ye Wenxue's parries were too cunning, and each strike hit the woman who was being used as a shield.
Ye Wenxue threw the corpse aside, dodged the attack to the side, punched the leader's nose and twisted it, then snatched the machete and slashed him, seriously injuring him.
She kicked the leader hard in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel down.
With a wood-chopping knife pressed against his neck, the leading man trembled and dared not move.
The two remaining people with minor injuries panicked and ran away without looking back.
Dazhuang quickly exclaimed, "Mom! Two people have run away!"
He was educated, but he knew what it meant to have endless troubles!
Ye Wenxue stood still.
The two who had fled turned around and were immediately overjoyed.
Unexpectedly, he tripped over a tree root that suddenly burst out of the ground and fell flat on his face.
The children didn't understand what was happening and just assumed that the two thugs had tripped in their panic.
Upon closer inspection, Ye Wenxue dragged back the two who had escaped, then casually picked up the rope used to tie up the goose and bound the group together tightly.
Once the crisis passed, Ye Wenxue's meager wood-type abilities were exhausted, and her body, which she had been holding on to, could no longer sustain her.
He sat down on the spot, trembling, his fingers almost dropping the wood-chopping knife.
Da Zhuang quickly took the water pouch and handed it to Ye Wenxue:
"Mom, have some water first."
Ye Wenxue looked back wearily at the three little ones plus Xiao Yuanyuan who had gathered around with concerned expressions, as well as the goose that kept quacking. She smiled wearily, took the water pouch, and drank a couple of mouthfuls.
The spiritual spring water was quite effective; after just two sips, Ye Wenxue felt her strength return.
Ignoring the hatred in the eyes of the group, she softly asked the children:
"Are you alright? Were you scared?"
The oldest of the five children is not even ten years old.
It would be hard to accept to witness her fighting and drawing blood.
Da Zhuang was confiscating the weapons brought by the troublemakers when he heard this and asked blankly:
"I'm fine. Mom, your arm is bleeding, let's treat the wound first."
They both released their hands from their round eyes, their bright eyes filled with admiration:
"Mom is amazing! I knew Mom was the best!"
Siwang nodded excitedly.
Sanyuan looked worried and quickly tore off a strip of cloth to carefully and gently bandage Ye Wenxue's wound.
Ye Wenxue breathed a sigh of relief, raised her hand to touch Shuangshuang and Siwang's heads, and let Sanyuan bandage the knife wound on her arm.
After a short while, my strength was fully restored.
Ye Wenxue stood up, holding her wood-chopping knife, and looked at the men who were tied together with their arms half-closed:
"Hand over all the silver you have on you."
The men were covered in wounds, bleeding profusely like gourds of blood.
Those whose injuries were too severe had already fainted.
The leading man was just thinking of pleading with the widow, who possessed extraordinary fighting skills, to take him along as a laborer when he heard this and looked up in astonishment:
"ah?!"
No... who exactly are the robbers who stole from along the way?
How come this woman speaks of robbery so skillfully and expertly?
Could it be that he's blind and mistaken, and this woman isn't an ordinary peasant woman, but rather a bandit leader from the nearby mountains?
Ye Wenxue impatiently held a wood-chopping knife to his neck:
"I'll say it again, hand over the silver."
The leading man's eyes darted around twice:
"We were really poor, we really couldn't afford to eat, that's why we mustered up the courage to take this risk..."
"Please, since the children aren't hurt, have mercy and let us go?"
He simply didn't believe it.
This one big guy leading five little guys couldn't possibly be a bandit from the mountains!
Ordinary people wouldn't dare to kill someone.
As long as she softens her heart and lets him go... he will have a way to get back the money he owed for being slashed, with interest!
Ye Wenxue scoffed: "Take a risk? I don't think so."
These people reeked of blood, something that ordinary people wouldn't have.
Or perhaps they were a group of outlaws.
Or...
Along their journey from famine to safety, they committed numerous despicable acts of murder and plunder.
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