From the moment the bandits entered the courtyard, the old lady lost her courage.
They allowed the bandits to take whatever they wanted.
Gu Mianmian's birth mother and concubine, Madam Wen, originally intended to serve the bandits herself in the hope that they would spare Gu Huanhuan and Gu Mianmian.
The bandits would never agree to that; they wouldn't even consider the old lady, but they certainly wouldn't let the young woman go.
Nowadays, houses typically have several large windows on the sunny side, while the shady side has only one small, high window.
Madam Lu called out to Gu Huanhuan in a split voice to her second concubine, "Quick, get out of here!"
Several people formed a human ladder and helped Gu Huanhuan up to the small window.
Gu Huanhuan climbed shakily to the window, and seeing that it was nearly two meters above the ground, she cried out in fright, "Mother, it's too high..."
Lu said fiercely, "Jump! It's better to fall to your death than to lose your innocence!"
He pushed Gu Huanhuan up, using his own body to block the bandits, and shouted at the top of his lungs to Gu Mianmian, "Quick, run away..."
In order to protect Gu Huanhuan and Gu Mianmian, Madam Lu was slashed three times by bandits, and her fate is unknown.
Unfortunately, the two young ladies jumped out of the window, broke their legs, and were afraid of the dark and too timid to escape.
Guan Yingying originally thought that the people Wei Bufan brought wouldn't harm her, but who knew that the bandits had no sense of martial ethics at all.
The people of the Earl's Mansion displayed their ugly faces as always, allowing Xie Zhaozhao to walk out of the courtyard that was about to descend into hell with righteous indignation, truly distancing herself from the matter and remaining aloof.
The bandits were indiscriminate in their pursuit of meat and vegetables. Apart from Xie Zhaozhao, who jumped off the cliff, and Lu Shi, whose fate was unknown after being hacked to pieces, all the masters and young masters of the Earl's mansion were defiled and none escaped.
After Yuanyuan sent the signal, Hongying and Hongshu arrived immediately with their men. When they learned that Xie Zhaozhao had jumped off the cliff, Hongying and Hongshu remembered the plan Yin Jinan had told them. They looked down from the cliff for a while before acting on the plan.
A group of people carried away the four guards and Yuanyuan, while Hongying and Hongshu led their men to attack the bandits.
One slash each, and dozens of bandits were gone before they could even pull up their pants.
He was chopped in half on the spot, and the remaining bandits begged for mercy, their brains almost spilling out.
The old lady recognized them as Xie Zhaozhao's female soldiers and immediately screamed hysterically, "Kill them all! Kill them all! Don't leave a single one alive!"
If they are all killed, no one will know that they have lost their innocence.
Hong Ying gave a wicked smile, waved her hand, and said to the female soldiers, "Stop!"
When the bandits saw that she had stopped, they immediately kowtowed, thanking their ancestors for sparing their lives.
Tu Shi and Xie Xiangxiang screamed, "Kill them! Kill them all! Kill them all..."
Hongying snorted, walked up to her, and looked down at her disheveled state: "Young Madam, are you scared? Do you want to kill all the bandits to save your reputation?"
Xie Xiangxiang glared at her fiercely: "You lowly servant, what do you want to do?"
“I don’t want to do anything…” Hongying stood up straight and said to the other female soldiers, “Tie up these bandits and send them to the government office…for a public trial!”
The women of the entire household were filled with despair.
The female soldiers tied them up one by one, and no matter how much they begged for mercy, they strung them together with hemp rope like grasshoppers.
The old woman shouted, "Kill them all! Kill them all! If you don't kill them all, I won't spare you..."
Hongying laughed loudly, walked up to the old lady, and said fiercely, "Kill them all? Why didn't you say that when you forced my master to jump off the cliff?"
You want us to kill all the thieves, then kill us all to silence us? That way no one will know you're dirty?
You wish!
"You, you wretched servant!"
Regardless of what the old lady and her group said, Hongying and the others just kept escorting the bandits down the mountain.
Yuan Yuan reported everything to Xie Zhaozhao, while Nan Xing listened to the gossip with great interest at the door.
At this moment, I couldn't help but interject, calling out, "Madam?"
Xie Zhaozhao: "Speak!"
"The Grand Secretary has arranged for Yunyang, Second Master Yin, Beichen, and others to raid the bandits' hideout."
When Grand Secretary Gu arrived at the mountain, they split into three groups: Yin Jin'an went to raid the bandits' hideout; Hongying and Hongshu lay in ambush in the mountains waiting for the signal; and Gu Shaoyu and Nanxing went to wait together on the cliff.
Xie Zhaozhao assured Yin Jin'an that she wouldn't jump off the cliff, but what if she did...?
Speaking of which, we should thank Guan Yingying and Xie Xiangxiang for their two shouts. Otherwise, Gu Shaoyu, Nan Xing, and the others, who did not receive the signal, would still not know that Xie Zhaozhao had come out of the courtyard and headed west.
Upon hearing this, Yuanyuan was furious: "Since you knew the bandits were coming, why didn't you kill them?"
Nanxing said, feeling wronged, "Your subordinate and the Grand Secretary traveled day and night to get here, but it was already night when we arrived..."
The nets at the foot of the mountain were actually made by Yin Jin'an in advance by having several iron chains strung up on the cliff face, with at least a dozen nets hanging there.
Master Yin said that if she really jumps, you must make sure there's a net in every spot...
Nanxing said that they originally didn't have time to come to Ouyang. The day before yesterday, Gu Shaoyu went to Yuehu Garden by chance, and several of the guards there mentioned that before the lady left, she received several groups of people in the garden.
Xie Zhaozhao is deploying troops.
Gu Shaoyu felt that Xie Zhaozhao must be doing something big, and it was quite dangerous, otherwise she wouldn't have mobilized so many people.
Furious and anxious, he asked His Majesty for leave, took a few men, rode a fine horse, and rushed to Pingyang Town day and night. He hadn't drunk a drop of water for two days, and by the time he arrived, it was already dark.
They secretly went to the old house to find the family, only to learn that the old lady had led the entire family of the Earl's Mansion up the mountain to guard the forest for the Second Grandmother.
Coincidentally, Bei Chen encountered Yin Jin'an...
Only then did I realize that Xie Zhaozhao was going to catch bandits.
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