The men huffed and puffed as they carried Xie Yongnian to the small shop.
Wanwan thoughtfully covered him with a blanket.
After doing all this, the four of them left the house one after another and carefully closed the door behind them.
"Who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause when he wakes up," Wan Yuechi said dejectedly. Even in the darkness, everyone could imagine his distressed appearance from his tone.
"Huh?" Wan Yuekui exclaimed in the darkness, "Wanwan, did you put fireflies in your pocket?"
Wanwan subconsciously reached into her pocket, and after a rustling sound, she pulled out a small purse containing her mermaid pearl.
At this moment, the pearl faintly glowed, illuminating a palm-sized area in the darkness, its light flickering like a candle flame being fluttered by butterflies.
Wanwan tugged at her little braid.
She didn't know why her mermaid pearl suddenly started to glow.
Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, several tall, dark figures suddenly emerged from the darkness.
They moved with incredible speed and agility, like ghosts darting through the night, surrounding the four before they could even escape.
They were all tall and strong, forming a black wall around the group.
Xiao Qi smelled the familiar scent on the group and recognized them as the bandits who had broken into the Xie family and looted and vandalized the place. He quickly stepped forward and instinctively shielded Wanwan behind him.
The Wan brothers followed closely behind, surrounding Wanwan in the center.
"Hey, in such a hurry to die?" a figure said. "At such a young age, you already know how to be a hero and save a damsel in distress."
"Don't rush," another figure chimed in, his hoarse voice tinged with barely concealed smugness. "Everyone gets a share; no one can escape."
Before he finished speaking, the others, as if given a command, pulled out ropes from their pockets and approached their friends.
"Don't you dare touch my sister!"
Wan Yuekui's fighting spirit flared up, and he fought back with both hands and feet, but he was grabbed and pinned to the ground. The dust that billowed up immediately entered his nostrils, causing him to cough violently.
"Behave yourself! Or I'll make an example of you!" The bandit used some force, and Wan Yuekui felt the pain, but he bit his lip and didn't cry out.
"Brother, Wanwan is alright, let's go with them." Wanwan comforted him, and even obediently offered her hands to be tied up.
When Wan Yuekui heard his younger sister speak like that, the blood rushing to his head immediately cooled down, and his resistance weakened accordingly.
Seeing how cooperative the two were, the bandit who was tying up Wan Yuekui couldn't help but reach out and pat the crescent-shaped head, grinning wickedly, "Little girl, you're so sensible. Uncle won't tie you up anymore. How about I blindfold you?"
Mixing pity with malice makes it even more nauseating.
Wanwan instinctively disliked these people and wanted to punch one of them in the face, but she had her brothers to protect, so she could only feign compliance and try her best to look fearful, saying, "Wanwan thanks Uncle..."
"Oh! Such a good boy!"
The man smiled and ruffled the curled-up hair a few more times, as if praising the rabbit's cuteness before skinning it for dinner.
Xiao Qi remained silent, like a clay sculpture, showing no fear or alarm, and did not budge an inch even when the kidnappers wrapped black cloth around his eyes.
His performance led the bandits to classify him as harmless and leave him with Wanwan.
In less than fifteen minutes, the four friends were strung together on a rope, their wrists were tied, and their eyes were all blindfolded with black cloth.
The leader tugged on the rope to make sure it was secure, then gestured to the others. The people behind him took the rope and pulled hard, shouting, "Go!"
The children lowered their heads and followed the kidnappers out of the Xie family home, stumbling along the muddy path.
However, this entire scene was observed by a pair of eyes in the darkness.
Hiding in the woodpile, Wan Qiusui carefully observed the whole process of her friends being kidnapped. She was both surprised and terrified. Her heart was pounding like a drum, and her legs were weak.
He had come here to steal things after the Xie family left, but he was unlucky and ran into a fight with some of his friends. Feeling guilty, he hurriedly hid in a pile of firewood. He finally managed to wait until the group entered the house, only to encounter bandits lingering there and kidnapping someone.
He squatted behind the woodpile for a long time, his legs were numb from the effort, and only after the kidnappers' footsteps could no longer be heard did he peek out to look.
The place is completely empty; it's the perfect opportunity to strike.
He wouldn't inform the other four adults that they had been kidnapped by the kidnappers; he hoped they would never come back!
Wan Qiusui cursed inwardly as she tiptoed into the courtyard.
"What are you doing here?" A loud shout from behind startled Wan Qiusui, who was already on edge, so much so that she almost lost control of her bladder.
He hurriedly turned around and saw Xie Yongnian, who had woken up at some point, glaring at him with a fierce look.
Seeing that they weren't kidnappers, Wan Qiusui felt much relieved. She then adopted the same sly and shameless manner as her family, and said with a grin, "I heard that something happened to your family and the adults all left, so I came to see if I could help."
Xie Yongnian had always disliked Wan Qiusui's family, and hearing him speak only fueled his disgust. "Stop pretending! I don't care how you ended up in my house, just tell me if you saw those Wan family kids?"
Xie Yongnian crossed his arms, looking like a king of children interrogating his underlings.
His neck was still throbbing, and he didn't know what had just happened. He had fainted while he was in a fit of emotion. When he woke up, there was no one inside or outside the house. He was the only one left in the huge house. Just as he was wondering what was going on, he finally met a living person. When he saw that it was Wan Qiu Sui, he became even more agitated.
Wan Qiusui's eyes darted around a few times, then she suddenly put on a pained expression and slapped her thigh, saying, "Oh dear! I just saw them leaving when I arrived! The Xiao family kid said they were going out to look for someone. Aren't you usually on good terms? Why didn't you go with them this time?"
Upon hearing this, Xie Yongnian's lips twitched involuntarily, and he subconsciously touched the back of his neck, which was still aching.
Seeing this, Wan Qiusui thought she had succeeded in sowing discord and continued, "Did they deliberately not take you? I thought they considered you a good friend! Don't give your sincerity to an ingrate!"
Xie Yongnian grew increasingly annoyed, strode up to him, and snapped, "What's it to you? I think you're just asking for a beating! You're deliberately trying to sow discord!"
Wan Qiusui, stung by the revelation, shrank back but still smiled: "But if they were taking you with them, they wouldn't have knocked you out on purpose, would they? Why would they have left you alone?"
His laughing and talking reminded Xie Yongnian of the cunning, hypocritical characters in shadow puppet shows, and a surge of anger rose within him. He threw a punch, yelling, "I'll teach you to shut up!"
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