Chapter 36: Catching Chickens or Catching People?
"There has always been a rumor among the people that the ancient tomb of the Qingyou King, who lived a thousand years ago, is buried at the foot of Qinglong Mountain. It contains countless gold and silver treasures, so people have been secretly going up the mountain to try to rob the tomb."
The seventh prince recalled the situation a few years ago and said, "But ever since Father sent people to guard Qinglong Mountain, very few people have dared to come up here. I never expected that someone would dare to come up the mountain during the spring hunting season."
And they actually did find something.
Xie Mianmian popped another wild fruit into her mouth. "Then we definitely can't leave. What if they take the treasure and run away and we can't catch them?"
The seventh prince thought about it and agreed. Since the thieves were able to enter silently, it meant they might have a secret passage into the mountains. If they escaped, they would indeed be difficult to catch.
"Let's go back first." He felt that his own safety was more important.
“Let’s go catch the thieves.” The child’s eyes were determined. “We can’t let them escape, and we can’t let the Third Prince catch them and gain merit.”
Then she told the Seventh Prince about the conversation between the Third Prince and Lin Ruoxue that she had overheard earlier.
Xie Mianmian came up with a plan: "We'll let the wolves scare the thieves out, then hide behind them and knock them unconscious!"
Seventh Prince: He overestimated his own strength. Sigh.
He pondered for a long time, then said, "We can set a trap, lure them there, and then tie them up."
The child looked at him with admiration and said that the idea was fantastic.
Without further ado, Xie Mianmian ordered the wolf to secretly retrieve a bundle of rope that the thief had left nearby.
The seventh prince held the rope and twisted it left and right, making a loop on the ground. He stroked his chin and thought for a moment. This should be the chicken trap that his master taught him. That's right.
He clapped his hands, stood up, looped the rope around a thick tree branch, lowered it behind the tree, and then picked up fallen leaves to cover the rope until it was completely invisible.
Such a large-scale trap for catching chickens—no, a large-scale trap for ensnaring people—is now complete.
The Seventh Prince, holding Xie Mianmian's hand, hid behind her and practiced.
“Once they get into that rope loop, we'll pull, and they'll be hoisted up from the tree.”
"Okay!" the child nodded. "Shouldn't there be bait in the trap?"
Xie Mianmian suddenly had a bright idea. She grabbed a handful of wild fruits and placed them next to the rope circle. "When they get hungry, they'll find the wild fruits and come over to eat them."
Seventh Prince: No, who would be so stupid!
The seventh prince realized this wouldn't work. Suddenly, he heard rustling sounds nearby. Someone was coming. He quickly pulled the child behind a big tree and hid him.
He was thinking to himself, "Before we've even officially started anything, the wolves have already lured us here?"
"Seriously, if you won't let me pee in the ditch, then I'll just go into the wild woods, okay?"
As he spoke, the man walked up to a tree and placed his hand on his belt.
The Seventh Prince quickly covered Xie Mianmian's eyes.
"Huh? Did I just drop some fruit on the ground?"
The man stopped unbuckling his belt, scratched his head, and looked at the bright red, tempting wild berries on the ground.
Remembering the burst of sweet juice in his mouth, he swallowed hard. "I can't waste it."
The man began to walk toward the wild fruit beside the trap.
The two children watched the man's footsteps nervously.
One step, two steps, and it seemed the person was about to step into the trap. The Seventh Prince nodded to Xie Mianmian, and the two children pulled hard.
"Ah!" came a scream.
"Hmm?" Then came a muffled groan.
In the blink of an eye, the two children were about to lose their strength and could no longer hold on when a strong force came from the end of the rope. They looked back and found that it was a wild wolf.
"How did you end up here?" the Seventh Prince asked, somewhat surprised.
Wolf: It's always been there, they just didn't look behind them.
With the help of the wolves, they tied the remaining ropes around the tree, one loop at a time.
Then Xie Mianmian looked up at the tree excitedly and exclaimed, "Ah?"
After tying the knot, the Seventh Prince looked over and his pupils contracted sharply. How could it be his Third Brother?!
The foolish thief was lying on the ground, while the one hanging from the tree with his head flushed red with blood was the Third Prince.
It turned out that news of Xie Mianmian's disappearance had spread throughout the camp, and many people went up the mountain to search for the child. The Third Prince was unwilling to just stay by the Emperor's side.
With so many people going up the mountain, the enemy has probably already been alerted. He was worried that the thieves wouldn't come down to assassinate him, and he was also afraid that others might discover the thieves during the process.
So the third prince went up the mountain himself, intending to personally capture the thief and claim credit with the emperor.
As soon as he arrived at the place, he saw this suspicious-looking person and rushed over, kicking the man to the ground.
But how did he end up hanging up like that? The Third Prince wondered, completely bewildered.
"Help! Cough cough!" he shouted.
The guards who were not far away quickly ran up.
Realizing something was wrong, Xie Mianmian grabbed the Seventh Prince, called to the wolves, and quickly ran away.
Both children knew that the Third Prince was not as gentle as he appeared; he was a hypocrite and held grudges. It was best to run away.
Hearing the sound of footsteps fading away behind the tree, the Third Prince, still hanging there, pointed in that direction and roared, "Go after him! Anyone who dares to hang me is dead! Cough cough cough!"
"Yes!" The two men went to untie the rope, and the rest of them went after them.
"Huff huff~" Xie Mianmian was out of breath from running.
The Seventh Prince thought to himself, "Forget it, don't run away. I'll go tell my Third Brother that I did it all by myself. At worst, I'll just avoid my Third Brother from now on."
But the next second, the wolf grabbed Xie Mianmian by the back of her collar, threw her onto its back, and the child sat steadily on the wolf's back.
Seeing Xie Mianmian hug his neck, the wolf ran off quickly and almost disappeared from sight.
The seventh prince felt a sense of relief at first, then sighed and resignedly followed the wolf.
The Third Prince was finally put down. His face was dark as he walked up to the thief. Seeing that he was still unconscious on the ground, he kicked him hard. "You deserve to die for trying to ambush me."
The third prince beckoned to his two subordinates, signaling them to take the man away.
Just as the two guards bent down, "poof!" a cloud of white powder was thrown at them without warning.
"Ah!" The burning white powder got into their eyes, and they cried out in pain, covering their faces with their hands and kneeling on the ground.
It turned out that the thief had pretended to be unconscious and, taking advantage of a moment when no one was looking, threw a handful of lime powder at them.
Seeing this, the Third Prince twisted his neck and wrist, and walked toward the thief with a sinister look. "Useless trash, I have to take action myself."
Before I could even take two steps closer, another cloud of quicklime was thrown at me. "Go to hell!"
The Third Prince was prepared and quickly blocked with his sleeve. When he felt it was about time, he lowered his hand.
"Bang!" A heavy fist came crashing down.
The third prince suddenly saw stars, and blood gushed from his nose. He wiped it under his nose and then fainted.
The clumsy thief yelled "Ahhh!" and ran away, shouting, "Someone's coming to get us! Run, bro!"
On the other side, the group of guards chased after them, but came to a steep slope. They peered down and saw rocks rolling down.
One person said, "Let's go back. If they fall, they'll be crippled even if they don't die."
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