"What do you want to eat?" Fu Yueli looked at Shi Mingyue and asked.
Shi Mingyue said, "Let's have something lighter."
Lu Lingyan couldn't stand Fu Yueli's constant attention to Shi Mingyue, so he didn't bother to care anymore and said to the middle-aged woman, "What's there to eat?"
The woman said, "We have fried rice, noodles, and steamed buns. What would you like to order?"
"Give me a bowl of vegetarian noodles." It was hot and tiring in the middle of the day, and he just wanted to eat something light.
"We'd also like two bowls of vegetarian noodles and a pot of tea," Fu Yueli said to the woman.
The woman quickly took note and turned to go into the inner room.
Tea was served first. The woman poured tea for the three of them and then stepped aside.
The tea wasn't freshly brewed, as it wasn't steaming. Fu Yueli sniffed it and it smelled of inferior tea, but besides that, there was also a faint musty odor. This smell was quite familiar. Where had he smelled it before?
"There seems to be a bug in the tea." Fu Yueli suddenly said.
Shi Mingyue and Lu Lingyan stopped what they were doing and almost drank the tea.
The woman came over immediately after hearing this and asked, "Excuse me, where is the bug?"
Fu Yueli casually poured the tea onto the ground and frowned, saying, "What a big flying insect! Don't you pay attention to hygiene when making tea?" Then he put down a few coins and said to the two of them, "Let's go. We won't eat here anymore."
Shi Mingyue and Lu Lingyan had already realized what he meant, and thought that since he said that, there must be something wrong with this store.
The woman was annoyed when she saw Fu Yueli spill the tea everywhere, but she still said to the three people with a smile: "If you are not satisfied, we will make you a new pot of tea for free."
"No need." Fu Yueli interrupted her coldly, and pulled Shi Mingyue to leave the tea shop.
Unexpectedly, a sickle flew out from the inner room of the shop at this moment. Fu Yueli quickly pulled Shi Mingyue to avoid the sickle.
Then several people came out of the house, and several big men who were still sitting under the straw shed also stood up with fierce eyes.
"You are the ones who killed our brothers?" a dark-skinned man said viciously.
A little old man came out from behind him. Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan recognized at a glance that the old man was the ragged old man they met on the road to Jinsha River. It seemed that he was also a member of the bandits, responsible for inquiring about the situation of passers-by on the Jinsha River at the junction of Xinqing States.
The old man pointed at Lu Lingyan and shouted excitedly: "It's him! It was him who killed Qiangzi and the others!"
Lu Lingyan looked unconcerned: "I paid for my life."
The bandits in the tea shop were so angry that they rushed forward immediately.
Fu Yueli was concerned about Shi Mingyue, so he grabbed her wrist tightly with one hand and dragged her behind him, while blocking the bandits who were rushing towards him.
Lu Lingyan and Fu Yueli were both top-tier martial artists, but with Shi Mingyue by their side, they were inevitably wary of using their weapons when engaging the bandits. As more and more bandits lay dormant inside and outside the shop, they thought they were finally safe, until a large figure came running over from a distance.
The ground practically shook as the large man ran, sending dust flying. The large man was nearly two meters tall, about the size of three ordinary people. Lu Lingyan could tell he was dangerous, so he kicked one of the bandits towards him.
Unexpectedly, the big guy punched the bandit in the chest. The bandit flew backwards for more than ten meters before stopping and hitting the pillar of the tea shed. He was spitting blood, his eyes were wide open, and he was already dead.
The other bandits all stopped at the same time, and even hid away. It seemed that they were both respectful and afraid of this big guy.
Lu Lingyan turned around and winked at Fu Yueli, asking him to take Shi Mingyue away, and then he looked up and down at the big guy.
The big guy suddenly broke into a silly grin and rushed towards him.
Lu Lingyan originally thought that although this big guy was strong, he would not be very agile, so he tried to use some tricks, such as wrestling. But when the big guy rushed over, no matter whether he wrapped his legs, hooked his feet, lifted his legs, or hugged his neck, the big guy stood firm like a mountain.
The big guy didn't attack him at first. When Lu Lingyan hit him in the stomach with several heavy punches in a row, he frowned slightly, as if he was not seriously hurt. However, he lost his patience, grabbed Lu Lingyan's collar, and lifted him up easily.
Lu Lingyan then realized that in the face of absolute strength, no skills would work. Fu Yueli rushed forward to save Lu Lingyan, but several other bandits had already stopped him and Shi Mingyue.
At night, the three were escorted to an underground cell. When the blindfolds were removed, they could see clearly what was happening. It was a dim cell, with the only light coming from a weak oil lamp outside.
Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan both had their hands and feet tied with hemp ropes. The bandits probably thought that Shi Mingyue was a weak woman and could not cause any trouble, so they only tied her hands.
As they left, the bandits kicked Fu Yueli and Lu Lingyan several times before leaving with laughter. Lu Lingyan struggled to sit up and leaned against the wall. Even then, he could still laugh: "I really don't know what that big guy ate to grow up."
Fu Yueli couldn't laugh. He failed to protect Shi Mingyue and instead caused them all to fall into this situation.
Shi Mingyue felt guilty. If she hadn't asked them to send her back to Xinzhou, things wouldn't have turned out like this.
"I'm sorry," she said to them.
The two were silent for a moment. Just when Shi Mingyue thought they would not respond, Lu Lingyan was the first to speak: "You don't have to tell me that the person you feel most sorry for should be Yue Li."
Shi Mingyue knew that she was very sorry to Fu Yueli, but apart from saying sorry casually, she didn't know what else she could do to make it up to him.
"I'm not sorry, I did this all voluntarily." Fu Yueli said in a deep voice.
If he scolded her, it would be better than saying he did it voluntarily to make her feel better. Shi Mingyue thought about blaming others, but where was the root of all this? Did it start from the moment she chose to run away from the marriage? So she was the biggest culprit...
Lu Lingyan was almost amused by Fu Yueli's anger: "Yes, you volunteered. You are really the best person in the world!"
The atmosphere grew colder, and no one spoke again until a sound of footsteps was heard outside the cell. The footsteps were a bit chaotic, and there must be more than one or two people, but a lot of people.
Lu Lingyan suddenly smiled and said, "Okay, we can die together. This is what they call sharing the same bed in death, even if we can't live together."
The other two did not respond, but a cold female voice came from outside the cell: "I won't let you die so easily, don't worry."
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