The girls fell silent again because of the sudden arrival of the villagers. After seeing clearly how Boss Jiang and his group were dressed, an older girl walked out.
"May I ask what your relationship is with this little sister?"
Boss Jiang took back the hay that had stained Jiang Huaixu's back and replied, "This is my little girl. Who are you?"
"My name is Li Qiao'er. We were kidnapped by bandits and brought to this mountain. Thanks to my little sister's reminder, otherwise we would have hidden in the house until dark and would not have dared to go out."
Knowing that the visitor was Jiang Huaixu's relative, the girls relaxed and nodded, saying, "Thank you so much! We never thought we'd be able to escape!"
"We also want to thank your son for helping to bring our loved ones back."
The series of words of gratitude made the villagers, who were already stunned by the corpses scattered all over the mountain, even more confused. They could only wave their hands and kept saying "I don't deserve it".
At the end of her speech, Li Qiaoer knelt on the ground and kowtowed. As soon as she knelt, the others followed suit, and soon the ground was filled with people kneeling.
The villagers were even more at a loss. Since all those who came were men from the village, they did not dare to stop them and looked at Jiang Huaixu anxiously.
"Sisters, please get up quickly. My dad is so anxious that he wants to rub my head into a mess." Jiang Huaixu said helplessly.
Boss Jiang's hands froze instantly, and he reacted quickly to help Jiang Huaixu tidy up his hair.
Everyone burst into laughter, and the girls stood up embarrassedly.
Jiang Zhengmao, panting from the climb, arrived late. Jiang Huaixu asked him a few simple questions. Knowing that they had a pretty good understanding of the situation in the mountain village, he said, "The surviving bandits have all fled deep into the mountains. You've seen the rest. I see a lot of chickens and ducks in the back, and there's also food and weapons in the back mountain. What do you think, village chief?"
Jiang Zhengmao lowered his head and looked at Jiang Huaixu, understood her thoughts, and immediately gave her a look to indicate that she should relax.
"We've carried away Sister Xu's body on the road. Take these girls down the mountain first, and leave the matters on the mountain to us."
Jiang Huaixu didn't ask how to deal with it. If we talk about the sharpest one, Jiang Zhengmao is still the sharpest. If he were to take over, most of the tables, chairs and benches in the room would be lost.
She smiled at the girls and said, "Sisters, take a look and see if there is anything you need to pack. How about coming down the mountain with me later?"
Li Qiaoer glanced at the sisters, then turned to Jiang Huaixu and said, "There's nothing to pack. We'll go with you."
Seeing their firm attitude, Jiang Huaixu said nothing more.
What she meant was that these girls must have a hard time here, so it was understandable that they collected some items from the village as compensation. Who knew they hated it so much?
On the way down the mountain, Jiang Huaixu almost knew the family situation of all of them.
Li Qiaoer and the others were all good-looking girls from the nearby mountain village. There were originally more girls with them, but some of them were dragged away by bandits and never came back.
Normally, the bandits would only lock them up in the backyard, where they were relatively free to move around. However, if anyone escaped and was caught, the bandits would lock everyone up together and whip them.
After experiencing this once, the girls no longer dared to dream of escaping, for fear that others would suffer as well.
If it weren't for the oldest Li Qiao'er and the most lively Xia Shuanghua encouraging them, many people might have committed suicide and never waited for the day to be rescued.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, the girls, whose eyes were red again, saw so many villagers standing far away and did not dare to approach.
Jiang Huaixu, who was about to explain the situation to the villagers, had just taken two steps when Qian Xiuzhu, who was jogging over, pulled him over.
Qian Xiuzhu first checked to see if the little girl was injured, then asked about Jiang Erlang. After knowing that the two were safe, she asked about the women.
Jiang Huaixu spoke briefly, and many women wiped away tears after listening to him.
"Alas! Poor thing!"
"These damn bandits, even if they're dead, they should go to hell and be cooked in fire and fried in oil!"
"Xu Jie'er, are there any bandits left alive? I'll kill them all with my needle!"
Jiang Huaixu couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Those who are still alive have all fled to the mountains. The wolves, tigers and leopards can't let them go. Don't worry, auntie."
She pointed at the group of girls again and said, "We don't know if their relatives are still alive. How about we take them in and wait for news?"
Qian Xiuzhu patted Jiang Huaixu's hand and said, "Mom, go check on them."
"Sister Qian, I'm with you!"
The Second Grandma held the daughter-in-law back and said, "Let Xiuzhu go alone. She's shy and embarrassed to go with so many people."
Jiang Huaixu agreed, "Second Madam is right!"
As the women gradually dispersed, the children who had been watching eagerly gathered around again, vying with each other to take credit.
Jiang Dalang, who wanted to go up the mountain but was overtaken by his father, rescued Jiang Huaixu from the group of children and asked what was going on on the mountain.
Jiang Huaixu then realized that Yun Qi hadn't explained clearly at all. He only said, "The village chief is dead, the bandits are fighting among themselves, and there are a lot of valuables on the mountain that can be moved."
Afterwards, Jiang Zhengmao took the people he had selected early in the morning up the mountain. Qian Xiuzhu didn't even have time to ask about her second brother and her situation, so the people at the foot of the mountain were always worried about the safety of Jiang Erlang and Jiang Huaixu on the mountain.
Jiang Huaixu, who was a little thirsty, first found some water to drink before he recounted the whole story in detail.
"This..." Jiang Dalang worried, "Could it be that those two bandit leaders have contracted a contagious madness? Why does it sound so strange?"
Jiang Huaixu whispered, "I put some medicine on the crossbow arrows. The disease started very quickly after they hit him. This second-in-command must have been smelling it for a long time before he got sick. It's not some plague."
Jiang Dalang knew that Jiang Huaixu would tinker with medicinal herbs in the carriage from time to time. He did not suspect anything and only sighed that there was such a medicine in the world.
Jiang Huaixu took another sip of water, and in his heart he sighed that knowing medical skills was really convenient, as he could handle even the most bizarre things.
On the other side, after the girls knew that Qian Xiuzhu was Jiang Huaixu's mother, they gradually let down their guard, and Qian Xiuzhu pulled them to the villagers to greet them.
"Girls, are you hungry? How about each of us add some food and cook some porridge for them?" a woman suggested.
The girls blushed and kept refusing, and both sides kept giving in, which made Jiang Huaixu, Jiang Wei, Jiang Fu and Liu Ye'er who were sitting in a row dazzled.
In the end, it was Second Grandma who made the final decision: "Don't worry, girls. We are refugees too. All we can make is some thin porridge. It can only keep you from starving, but it won't fill you up. At least it will make your stomachs feel better. What do you think?"
It not only expresses the good intentions, but also makes people feel relieved and explains the situation of the villagers.
Jiang Huaixu gave his second grandmother a thumbs up in his heart.
At this point, the girls no longer refused. Li Qiaoer stepped forward and said, "Thank you so much, aunts. If there is a future, we sisters will definitely repay you."
The women were busy working while waiting for news from the men who had gone up the mountain.
After waiting for a long time, there was a noise on the mountain trail.
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