Chapter 104: The male protagonist was kidnapped?
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Once the two horses had finished grazing, Li Shiyue also called Li Wangshui, Ma Ziweizi, Yangzai, Erdan's mother, and Wang Shisan, who had also contributed to the ambush of the barbarians last time, to her house.
Everyone gathered around to look at the two horses with curiosity; they were horses!
For ordinary families, owning a large animal like a donkey or ox meant they were living a good life.
Ordinary people would never dare to dream of owning a horse.
But right now, right in front of you, two living horses are grazing. Who wouldn't find that strange and amazing?
"How much will this one sell for?"
Zhou Lanhua stood to the side watching the two horses, "This life is really... I don't even know how to describe it."
"We just got a mule, and now there's a horse right in front of us—something I would never have even considered before?"
"This is a good horse that can go to the battlefield. I went to the cattle and horse market in the county last time and saw that a good horse of this age should cost at least this much."
Li Shiyue held up four fingers with her palm facing outwards to the crowd.
Forty taels!
Zhou Lanhua exclaimed in surprise!
"It's worth more than a barbarian's head!"
Li Shiyue paused for a moment before nodding. She really hadn't expected Zhou Lanhua to compare it to the price of a barbarian's head.
“Yesterday, my sisters and I scouted the way. There’s still some distance between the foot of the mountain behind Daheishan and the barbarian grasslands. We’re just going to find horses and bring them back; we won’t go any deeper into that area.”
We'll go up the mountain before dawn tomorrow, and it will be light when we get there. We'll spend the day looking for horses, and we'll find as many as we can.
Just like last time, the money from selling the horse will be distributed among those who contributed more and less!
Don't worry, take the whistles we used when we patrolled the mountains. If you encounter any trouble while searching for the horse, just blow the whistle, and I, Li Shiyue, will definitely come to the rescue!
As long as I have breath in my body, I will never abandon any of you!
"Let's do it!"
It was Pockmarked who was the first to respond to Li Shiyue's words!
"October, you think highly of me!"
Don't worry, the wound on my arm has already scabbed over. As long as I'm not facing barbarians, I won't delay anything!
Once one person agreed, the rest followed suit one after another.
Without further ado, Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang prepared to make pancakes in the kitchen. The flour they had used was what Li had bought when he went to Sanshan County to buy grain last time.
The five pounds of flour were all made into pancakes, which were prepared for Li Shiyue and the others to eat on their journey.
Li Shiyue and the others went to prepare hemp rope, sharpen knives, and so on. Li Shiyue thought that if they could bring the horse back, they would; if they couldn't, they would just kill it on the spot, tear off its leather strap, take a leg home, and eat it.
And so, just as it got dark, the Li sisters, Li Shiyue, Li Qiutian, and Li Xiatian, went to bed on the kang (a heated brick bed).
At the fourth watch of the night, the earth was still shrouded in darkness, and the air was filled with a chill.
Li Shiyue and his group had already left.
Erdan's mother entrusted Erdan and a basin of grain to Li's mother. Zhou Lanhua also brought Dazhuang and Xiaozhuang to Li's house. The lamb was followed by his cousin's husband. Finally, Shitou was called by Li Shiyue, making a team of eleven people.
Li Shiyue and his group embarked on their journey to Daheishan Mountain.
At the same time, Liu Tan, who had returned to the military garrison, sent out all his personal guards and scouts of the Xuanjia Army after several days of investigation, and finally found Liu Shu's whereabouts!
Or rather, they found Liu Shu's pageboy and learned news about Liu Shu from the dying pageboy.
The story goes that Liu Shu and her page stole the horses from the stable, left the palace, and rode directly out of Liaocheng Prefecture, heading towards Sanshan County.
At a post station outside Sanshan County, Liu Shu and her page dismounted and went to check on the young woman who had fainted by the roadside. The young woman, who was pretending to faint, suddenly sat up and sprinkled some medicine powder on them, knocking them unconscious.
When the master and servant woke up, they were in an unknown, dilapidated temple.
The two of them naturally wanted to shout for help, but they were tied to a pillar and had cloths stuffed in their mouths, so they could only make muffled noises.
Then came a disheveled old man, four or five men who looked fierce, and the little girl who pretended to faint by the roadside.
Even the willful Liu Shu knew he had been tricked. Fortunately, after the gag was removed from his mouth, he did not shout that he was the son of the Prince of Zhenbei or even the heir apparent.
If he says that, he definitely won't live past tonight.
He pretended to be the youngest son of a wealthy merchant, hoping the bandits would let him go. He promised to offer them plenty of gold and silver if they did.
The bandits certainly knew that Liu Shu was the son of a wealthy family.
After all, the horse they were riding must have been worth at least a hundred or eighty taels of silver, not to mention Liu Shu's clothes. While Liu Shu was unconscious, they also took his purse.
There were gold ingots inside!
The old man found a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone and asked Liu Shu to write a letter home. This letter was a notice of kidnapping and demanding a ransom.
Liu Shu agreed to write a letter, but requested clean drinking water.
The old bandit leader naturally agreed, even promising, "As long as we get the gold, we'll make sure to send you home safely!"
How can you trust the words of bandits?
Having written a letter and left a mark in it, Liu Shu finally found a chance to escape on the third night. He discovered that these people had taken the horse he and his page had ridden to sell. With the money, they bought wine and meat, lit a fire outside the dilapidated temple, and went off to boast to each other.
Liu Shu coaxed the young woman into talking to him, telling her about the prosperity of the prefectural city, and coaxing her to untie the ropes for him, saying that he would teach her the hairstyles that the young women in the prefectural city liked the most.
Whether it was his good looks that made the young woman believe him, or the beautiful hairstyles he described that aroused her longing for beauty, in any case, after glancing at the people outside the dilapidated temple who were drunk and staggering, the young woman mustered up her courage and untied Liu Shu's ropes.
As soon as he gained the ability to move freely, Liu Shu immediately stepped forward and covered the little girl's mouth. No matter how much the little girl struggled, he did not let go. Even though the little girl's fingernails scratched his face and caused him great pain, he endured it.
After the little girl stopped struggling, Liu Shu still covered her for a while before letting go.
He let go, not daring to look at the little girl lying motionless on the ground. He looked directly at the page who was staring at him with wide eyes.
After untying the rope from the pageboy, the two of them helped each other and moved step by step to the back door of the dilapidated temple. They couldn't see anything in the darkness, but no matter what, they just ran in one direction.
But they were unlucky. An old man outside the dilapidated temple brought a chicken leg into the temple, intending to give it to the young girl. However, instead of the girl sweetly calling him "Grandpa," he was greeted by a suffocated corpse.
The old bandit leader has gone mad!
They gathered those men, lit torches, and searched all over the mountains and fields for Liu Shu and her page!
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