Chapter 10: Convergence
Under the bright moonlight, the shadows of the trees were projected onto the official road. The night wind blew from time to time, causing the mottled shadows on the road to sway constantly, giving people a feeling of uneasiness.
Boss Zhu frowned and said to Yongzi, "Yongzi, you stay and watch them first. I'll go to the front to find out the situation."
"Boss, be careful." Yongzi responded.
Boss Zhu gave a quick instruction and then walked forward with his long knife in hand, holding his breath.
He bent over and hid in the woods, using the trees as cover and secretly observing the situation ahead.
Not long after he hid, Boss Zhu saw a dozen men in black besieging a middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was holding a spear and fighting against ten people alone, with amazing combat power.
Not far from the fight, a group of ragged women were hugging each other tightly, crying loudly in fear.
The middle-aged man obviously intended to lead away the men in black, and the place where they were fighting was gradually moving away from the group of women.
However, the men in black discovered the man's intention, and one of them suddenly made a gesture, and immediately three men in black went towards the group of women.
The long sword in the black-clothed man's hand flashed coldly in the moonlight, and the tip of the sword rubbed against the ground all the way, making a sharp hissing sound.
The sound was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart, making them feel even more terrified.
"Go ahead, leave no one behind!"
At a command given by a man in black, the others rushed forward with swords in hand. Just as the swords were about to pierce the woman on the outside, suddenly a young man jumped out from the crowd.
There were shackles on his hands, and the shackles made a rattling sound when he moved.
The young man thrust forward like a sword drawn from its sheath.
The man in black did not expect that someone would be lying in ambush among the women, and immediately began to panic in response to the boy's attack.
Every time their swords swung towards the boy, they were blocked by the shackles on his hands, and dazzling sparks immediately burst out, accompanied by the harsh sound of metal collision.
The young man was agile and kicked the three men in black to the ground one by one.
Taking advantage of the gap when the men in black fell to the ground, the young man quickly jumped up and stomped hard on the sword-holding hand of one of the men in black, causing his sword to fly out of his hand.
The young man quickly raised his toes and caught the sword in the air steadily, then turned around gorgeously with extremely smooth movements.
Holding a sharp sword in his hand, the young man decisively slashed the black-clothed man's throat with one blow.
The other two men in black were frightened when they saw this, but the young man's eyes flashed with a cold light like stars. He soared into the air and quickly came behind the two men.
He pierced the back of one of the men in black with his sword, while the other man in black took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the boy.
The young man quickly drew out his sword, with a streak of blood on the tip of the sword. He wielded the sword flexibly and successfully blocked the attack of the man in black.
Before the black-clad man's sword was about to stab the young man, his sword had already quickly slashed across the black-clad man's throat, subduing him.
"father!"
After the young man dealt with the three men in black, he immediately flew towards the middle-aged man.
With the joining of the young man, the man in black was quickly dealt with, but the middle-aged man was unable to get up from his knees, vomiting several mouthfuls of blood.
Just then, officers and soldiers came hurriedly from behind.
"What are you doing, a bunch of exiles?" an officer shouted.
When Boss Zhu, who was hiding in the forest, heard these words, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He realized that these should be the family of the Wan family's direct descendant general.
Boss Zhu didn't have time to go forward and say hello, and immediately turned back the same way. He wanted to quickly tell Yongzi the good news.
"Yongzi! Yongzi!"
Boss Zhu ran back panting, shouting Yongzi's name loudly.
"Boss Zhu, what's wrong? What happened? Are they really bandits?"
Yongzi suddenly felt a little nervous and walked forward to ask.
Boss Zhu finally ran to Yongzi, holding his knees and panting, "Yes - it's the Wan family from Beijing, we have joined them!"
When Yongzi heard this, he was overjoyed and quickly helped Boss Zhu sit on a rock to rest.
"Really? Are you sure you're not seeing things?" Yongzi still couldn't believe it.
Boss Zhu nodded and said, "You are right, I clearly heard the officials in the capital shouting that they are exiled prisoners.
Think about it, besides the Wan family, are there any other exiles at this time?"
Boss Zhu told Yongzi his analysis of what he heard and his own guesses.
"Well, the boss is right. Should we rush over and join them now?"
After hearing this, Yongzi became excited. They were finally free and could go back to report.
However, Boss Zhu stood up, looked at the Wan family and said, “You will soon meet the direct descendants of the Wan family in Beijing, and our mission is accomplished.
We two brothers were very tired after escorting you all the way. My brother was even bitten by a snake on the leg.
You should quickly take out all the dried fish you made yesterday and give them to our two brothers as travel expenses."
Yongzi did not expect that Mr. Zhu would make such a request at this time, and the Wan family was even more shocked.
Mrs. Wan San was in charge of the family's food. At this moment, she tightly grasped the sack in her hand, which contained food rations for the whole family.
Boss Zhu had been following them for a month and had already figured out the role each of them played in this family, so he walked towards Wan Sansao without hesitation.
Wan Laosan immediately stood in front of Wan Sansao and looked at Zhu Lao Da with wary eyes.
"Go away. I advise you to avoid physical pain. After all, the officials in the capital are not as easy to talk to as the two of us. If I beat you up, they will definitely throw you on the road to fend for yourself."
Boss Zhu did not take action immediately, but threatened with words first.
Old Lady Wan glanced at Little Fubao, who was sleeping soundly, and touched the big gold bracelet on her body, then said to Sister Wan San indifferently, "Old Third Wife, give the dried fish to the official."
Everyone in the Wan family looked at Old Mrs. Wan in disbelief, except Second Sister-in-law Wan.
"There will be food in the future, but you can't get hurt again. Your eldest brother's injury hasn't healed yet. Do you want to follow in his footsteps? If you are all injured, what will happen to us, the elderly, the weak, women and children?" Old Mrs. Wan explained slowly.
After hearing this, Wan Laosan lowered his head and slowly moved away, revealing Wan Sansao behind him.
Mrs. Wan San tightened the bag in her hand again and again, feeling mixed emotions. She almost twisted the bag into pieces, but finally she slowly handed it over.
Boss Zhu snorted coldly and snatched the bag away. "You guys are smart. Let's go now."
The Wan family was in a low mood, as all the food rations they had saved now fell into the hands of others.
If I had known this earlier, I would have just eaten it all.
Mrs. Wan took the opportunity to mock, "You are reluctant to eat it?
Now you can’t even eat it yourself, but you have to give it away.
I'm not saying anything bad about you, third sister-in-law, but you're holding a bag and rummaging around, and each person only gets a few pieces of dried fish, which is not even enough to fill their stomachs.
Now all the money we save goes to feed other people. Are you happy? Are you satisfied?
I asked you for two extra pieces of dried fish for dinner, just like eating your meat. Now no one needs to eat anymore, let’s all eat dirt together.”
Wan San's wife's eyes turned red after hearing what Wan Da's wife said. Wasn't it just for everyone to have more meals? Who knew that the official had this idea?
"Shut up, eat, eat, eat. All you do every day is eat. What else can you do besides eating?
You're eating dried fish? Eat shit! What does that dried fish have to do with you? Did you contribute a bit or lift a finger?
Giving you a few pieces is already a bargain for you, and you are still making sarcastic remarks. I think the stone didn't kill you because you are a nuisance.
As the old saying goes, good people don't live long, but bad people leave a legacy for thousands of years. You are just a piece of rat shit. If I don't divorce you when I die, I will be sorry to my ancestors."
Boss Wan angrily kicked Mrs. Wan in the butt, causing her to fall forward and fall flat on her face, with a mouthful of dirt in her mouth.
It took Mrs. Wan a long time to get up from the ground. Anger and pain made her glare at Boss Wan fiercely.
The officers and soldiers ate dried fish while watching the Wan family quarreling. When they had almost finished eating, they began to urge them to hurry up.
After walking for less than a quarter of an hour, they finally turned the corner, but the scene before them terrified everyone in the Wan family - there were more than a dozen corpses lying on the ground, and the air was filled with a faint smell of blood.
The officers and soldiers were whipping a middle-aged man.
The man was half-naked and his body was covered with wounds, but he clenched his teeth and said nothing.
Standing next to him was a young man with sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, red lips and white teeth. Even in such an embarrassing situation, he still looked heroic and proud.
The young man clenched his fists, his eyes were red, his lips were tightly closed, and his face was filled with murderous intent, but he stood there like a sculpture, not moving at all.
"Sir, please, please have mercy on me and stop hitting my master. He can't hold on any longer." A woman with disheveled hair suddenly rushed forward and knelt down to beg.
The soldier kicked the woman away. She was kicked several steps away and lay on the ground, holding her stomach, without moving for a long time.
"Mom!" The young man finally took action and ran over to help the woman up.
The officer wanted to continue swinging his whip, but was interrupted by a childish voice, and his raised hands froze in the air.
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