"Ouch!"
Wan Qiusui was beaten to the ground and couldn't get up. His right cheek quickly swelled up like a bun. Just as he was about to raise his hand to cover it, Xie Yongnian grabbed his wrist.
"Don't hit me! Don't hit me!" Wan Qiusui cried out, two bright tear tracks streaming down her dark face.
"Thank you, Young Master! Thank you, Brother!"
Wan Qiu Sui sobbed incoherently, "Stop hitting me, I'll tell you where they went, okay?"
Upon hearing this, Xie Yongnian lowered his fist, which he was about to throw, grabbed Wan Qiusui by the collar, and lifted him up like a chick. "I knew you were making things up! You might as well tell the truth!"
Wan Qiusui, standing on tiptoe and sniffling in a disheveled state, said, "They were captured by those bandits. It looks like they've been taken to Kongji Mountain."
"Why didn't you say something so important sooner!" Xie Yongnian threw Wan Qiusui on the ground like trash, then ran outside. There was no time to lose; he had to tell the adults in the village as soon as possible.
He moved with lightning speed, going from house to house to inform the adults still in the village. Once they heard the news, the adults quickly lit torches and led Xie Yongnian toward the desolate mountains.
Meanwhile, the group led by Wan Suizhou had already traveled halfway.
The longer time goes on, the more suspicious points gradually emerge.
It was already past the time of Frost's Descent. The weeds ahead were covered with thick dew, the green completely covered by white. The clues were becoming fewer and fewer, the road was becoming narrower and narrower, and the torches were becoming dimmer and dimmer.
A bad feeling gradually welled up in Wan Suizhou's mind, and his gray eyebrows furrowed more and more tightly.
"Father, is something wrong?" Wan Kongshan approached him, holding a torch that was almost dying. Seeing his father's increasingly grim face, he finally couldn't help but ask.
“Look at these clues.” Wan Suizhou untied a red rope. “They’re getting fewer and fewer. At first, we could find one every few feet, but now we have to walk almost a mile before we find one.”
"Maybe that girl has lost everything she could?" Wan Kongshan tried to think positively, but his face darkened.
“That’s possible,” Wan Suizhou stroked his beard. “But it’s late at night and the roads are narrow. How could those bandits, riding tall horses, not have swept away a drop of dew? Look at the road we’ve traveled behind us.”
Everyone turned around and saw a string of green marks left on the grass along the path, glistening with dew. These were the marks left by the people sweeping the dew off the grass.
But ahead, all that remained was a sea of white.
After realizing what was happening, everyone shared the same ominous feeling as Wan Suizhou.
"So these thugs deliberately left clues for us to lure us into a trap!"
The magistrate of Cao County blurted out his words, and the crowd behind him immediately stirred up a commotion.
"This is bad." Wan Suizhou frowned and exclaimed, suddenly understanding the cause and effect.
This is a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain!
"What's wrong?" Magistrate Cao asked along with the crowd, their expressions a mixture of confusion and fear.
Before Wan Suizhou could explain, he waved his hand and shouted, "Everyone, head back immediately! We've most likely fallen for the bandits' diversionary tactic!"
Upon hearing this, everyone tensed up and quickly turned around and walked back.
The descent was much faster than the ascent. Without needing to reconfirm their direction, the group had already reached the mountainside in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
"Hey! Isn't that Xie family kid up ahead?" In the crowd, a sharp-eyed person spotted Xie Yongnian leading people up the mountain.
Both groups spotted each other at the same time and quickened their pace in unison, soon coming face to face.
"Grandpa Wan, something bad has happened!" Xie Yongnian's face was flushed, whether from anxiety or exhaustion. The temperature in the mountains was bone-chillingly low, and his nose was red and running from the cold.
Wan Suizhou pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to Xie Yongnian, who wiped his face haphazardly. He continued, panting, "Wan, Wanwan, Xiao Qi, Wan Yuekui... Wan Yuechi and the others have all been kidnapped by those bandits!"
He finally finished speaking, stammering.
"What?!"
Wan Kongshan's emotions, which he had barely managed to calm down, suddenly surged, and his face instantly turned as red as Xie Yongnian's. "Where did they go?"
"Empty, desolate mountain."
Xie Yongnian felt his blood rush to his head, and a sharp pain shot through his ribs. He quickly covered his ribs with one hand and leaned against the stone wall to explain with difficulty.
"Father, Wanwan and the others have also been taken to Kongji Mountain. Should we go back and look for them?" Wan Kongshan was so anxious that a row of fine sweat appeared on his forehead, reflecting a shimmering light in the firelight.
"Yeah yeah!"
His proposal quickly garnered support from the crowd behind him.
“That’s not a good idea.” Wan Suizhou sighed and shook his head in refusal. “We can’t be sure we’ve gone to Kongji Mountain right now. Weren’t we just tricked by those bandits? They’re very cunning and could very well use the same trick again.”
Wan Kongshan's throat tightened, and he opened his mouth as if to refute, but not a single word came out.
After a moment, he seemed to have figured something out and asked, "So what should we do now?"
Wan Suizhou seemed stumped by the question and lowered his head in deep thought.
The crowd quieted down, seemingly waiting for Wan Suizhou's command. The only sounds in the silent mountains were Xie Yongnian's rapid breathing and the wind whistling through the mountain pass.
"Let's head back home."
Wan Suizhou broke the silence, "The kidnappers took Xie's daughter away, and then took Wanwan and the others away when we left. It must be more than just kidnapping people. We have a very high chance of getting information from the kidnappers when we get back."
“Alright.” Magistrate Cao was the first to agree, and then waved to the crowd behind him, “Everyone, come back to the village with us. We will definitely rescue the person, so please don’t panic.”
After a brief murmur and discussion, the crowd followed Wan Suizhou and Magistrate Cao's group on their way back.
Along the way, everyone had their own worries, and they all held their torches in silence, the gradually dimming light illuminating their serious and silent faces.
The Xie family, in particular, who had lost their new daughter-in-law, felt as if an invisible lock was on their foreheads.
When the group reached the foot of the mountain, the first light of dawn was already appearing in the east. They extinguished the torches that had finally died of old age and returned to the village in the morning light, ending the chaotic night.
Upon returning to the village, everyone naturally went back to their own homes.
Wan Suizhou and Wan Kongshan returned to the Wan family home. Before they could even sit down, Zhang Xiu told them that a child had come to see Wan Suizhou.
The father and son quickly got up to respond.
Sure enough, a dusty-faced child was standing at the doorway.
He was clutching a piece of paper without an envelope. When he saw Wan Suizhou, he hurriedly went up to him and said, "Grandpa Wan, an uncle with a veiled face asked me to give this to you."
A sense of unease flashed through Wan Suizhou's mind, and he quickly opened the package after receiving it.
There were a few crooked words written on the white paper. Wan Suizhou held the small lens and it took him a while to make out the words.
"Prepare 100,000 taels of silver within three days, or face execution!"
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