The people at the foot of the mountain did indeed stand still, but the actual situation was not as Ma Shan had imagined.
Although Xu Genshan had been a businessman for over ten years, he had also been a hunter for over ten years before that, so he was familiar with the situation in the mountains.
After calming down for a moment, he immediately ordered his men to take action. A small team circled around to the back, found a new path up the mountain, and continued searching for the bandits' hiding place.
Now that we're here, we can't let these bandits escape again.
To prevent anyone from escaping deeper into the mountains, Xu Genshan took another risky step, finding some skilled individuals to go up the mountainside ahead of him and create a greater noise.
These noises would startle the wild animals in the mountains, so the bandits would not dare to go in and would have to retreat down the mountain, where they would only need to wait for the enemy to come to them.
After making these arrangements, Xu Genshan sent someone down the mountain to tell the county magistrate guarding the area that he must send more people to keep a close watch on the roads down the mountain and absolutely not allow a single bandit to escape.
Everyone else had taken their tasks and left, but Fu Man'er was still waiting in the same spot. However, Xu Genshan had already made all the arrangements, and it was still not her turn.
"Father, I want to go up and see if those people really captured my brother."
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Upon hearing this, Xu Genshan immediately refused, "Man'er, regardless of whether they have really captured Yi'er or not, we cannot go up any further."
He has already sent people to scare away the wild animals in the mountains, and now he is telling everyone to stay put so that they can descend the mountain later.
Fu Man'er understood his intention. "I don't need to bring anyone with me. One person can go up alone."
"The bandits at the crossroads can see our movements. If I just extinguish the torch and go alone, they won't see me in this darkness." (Reading)
"And if I'm alone, I won't attract the attention of wild animals, which will make it much easier to escape."
After all, the fewer people there are, the smaller the target becomes.
“We don’t know what the situation is on the mountain, which puts us in a very passive position. If my brother is in their hands, I can find a chance to rescue him if I go up there.”
“If my brother isn’t here, we don’t need to wait any longer. We should arrest people if we need to, and look for people if we need to.”
“At times like this, my brother can’t wait any longer.”
Fu Man'er felt a strong sense of unease, a feeling that told her she would regret it if she didn't go up now.
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So no matter how much Xu Genshan refused, she still insisted on going up the mountain.
Xu Genshan truly had no way to deal with her, and he couldn't have her tied up and taken back, so he had no choice but to let Lu Sheng accompany her. With their combined martial arts skills, the bandits shouldn't be able to harm them.
Without the light of torches, walking in the mountains became extremely difficult. Fu Man'er was usually so delicate that even the smallest scratch on her hand required Xu Yi to coax her for a long time.
Now, anxious and in a hurry, unable to walk along the mountain path, she passed through the woods, unaware that the thorns had scratched her skin.
"Man'er, be careful." Lu Sheng, who was behind her, almost couldn't keep up with Fu Man'er's pace. The little girl usually walked slowly and leisurely, as if she didn't know how to be in a hurry, but today she was so fast that he couldn't keep up with her.
Fu Man'er pushed aside the withered branches blocking her way with both hands and tried to regulate her breathing.
"Sister Lu Sheng, we have to hurry. I've felt this way before."
"It was the time your house collapsed when you were a child."
Lu Sheng remembered that if it weren't for Fu Man'er's intuition, he might have died in that heavy rain.
After many years, Fu Man'er's feeling returned. Lu Sheng dared not think too much and took a deep breath to keep up with Fu Man'er's pace.
The two quickly reached the crossroads. It was pitch black on the mountainside, and they could only hold their breath and rely on their ears to hear the sounds to determine the location of the bandits.
This didn't take much effort, because Ma Shan and the others hiding at the intersection never expected anyone to come up, so they spoke without any restraint.
"Brother, the people down the mountain aren't moving, but they're not coming down." The henchman had been watching for a long time, but the group of people down the mountain were still in the same place.
Ma Shan was at his wit's end. He had made his threats, but his subordinates didn't seem to be buying it. Some even asked him to bring Xu Yi out.
Of course, he had no one to take him along; he just made up an excuse that Xu Yi was locked up.
"They won't come down the mountain until they see Xu Yi and the others." Ma Shan only regretted that his subordinates were incompetent, and that they had managed to ruin what should have been a sure thing.
"Go ask again, see if the people we sent out have found Xu Yi. He's so badly injured, how far could he have gone? Tell everyone to search carefully."
When Fu Man'er heard this, she felt no joy at all; instead, she became even more worried.
"Sister Lusheng, go and tell Father to bring his men up here and capture these bandits."
Now that Xu Yi is no longer in their hands, there's nothing left to worry about.
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“Okay.” Lu Sheng was about to get up and leave when he suddenly realized something was wrong. “You wait here. I’ll go over a little further to deliver a message to everyone.”
Before they arrived, everyone had agreed that if they were to fight, Lu Sheng would give a long whistle.
Now that they were too close to the bandits, and fearing that the whistle would alert them and cause them to escape, Lu Sheng had no choice but to retreat some distance.
"I know, you can go without worry." Only after receiving Fu Man'er's assurance did Lu Sheng get up and leave.
Soon, whistling sounds echoed through the forest. Ma Shan poked his head out to listen. "Who's whistling?" The henchmen around him shook their heads, saying they didn't know.
Ma Shan stood up and looked down. The group of people holding torches were still in the same place. He looked closely for a few moments and said, "Something's not right. I feel like there are fewer of them."
At first glance, the crowd was dense, but now it's visibly smaller on both sides.
Ma Shan immediately became alert. "Could they have gone up the mountain?"
The henchman next to him craned his neck to look down, "Boss, I see them, their people are coming down."
Looking in the direction the henchman pointed, you could see people walking down the mountain.
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Just then, shouts came from down the mountain again, "Our people have already retreated down. We beg the heroes up the mountain to keep their word and not harm Commander Xu."
Ma Shan's last remaining doubts vanished upon hearing this, and he grinned, "Heh, I thought they really didn't care about Xu Yi's life or death, but now they're obediently coming down the mountain for me."
"We'll just stay here and watch until they all come down the mountain before making any plans."
Ma Shan thought that Chunniang would receive news by then, but unfortunately, he didn't know that he would never receive news from Chunniang.
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