Chapter 38 Bandits
A sweet night.
The morning sun cast long shadows on the snow. Jiang Ran stretched and went to wake up his second brother for breakfast.
Her second brother always laughed at her for being lazy, but she finally caught him.
"Brother, are you there?"
Jiang Ran looked around the house, but there was no one anywhere.
"Miss, oh my god, the young master has run away from home!"
Tao Li saw an envelope on the desk and quickly held it up to show Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran quickly opened the letter, which contained only one sentence.
Today at midnight, at Wushan Stronghold, southwest of the city, use your life to exchange for his.
Taoli looked out and shouted loudly: "Oh my God, the young master has been kidnapped!"
Jiang Ran quickly covered his ears and was almost deafened by her shouting.
"What? Young Master had a fight with someone again?" Nanny Yue poked her head out from outside, looking worried.
"That's not true, Taoli, you're just yelling nonsense."
Fortunately, the nanny was hard of hearing, so Jiang Ran brushed it off with a few words.
Since the second brother was captured, Shen Que was probably in danger.
Jiang Ran wasn't too panicked at this point. His second brother was a skilled martial artist, and those bandits clearly couldn't abduct him without alerting the rest of the family.
From this perspective, it seems like the second brother pretended to be defeated and allowed himself to be captured on purpose. He must have his own plans.
Jiang Ran ordered his men to prepare their horses, changed into a bright red riding suit, and was about to set out to look for Lu Weiqing.
"Miss, let's report to the police. You can't go alone!" Taoli saw that the young lady really wanted to go to Wushan, and tried to persuade her.
Eleven came down from the sky and reported, "Madam."
"Master Jiang and Master Shen have been captured by the bandits of Wushan. The master is waiting for you in the carriage. Please do not worry."
Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow, thinking about it. He arrived so quickly. She had just heard the news when Lu Weiqing came to pick her up.
When they got on the carriage, Lu Weiqing actually prepared pear blossom cake from Zhiweixuan and her favorite osmanthus dew for her, and the carriage was filled with the fragrance of flowers.
While having breakfast, Jiang Ran listened to Lu Weiqing analyzing the situation for her.
Wushan is surrounded by mountains on three sides and a river on one side, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. This is why the Wushan bandits have not been eliminated for so long. Reporting them to the authorities is unrealistic.
He and Shen Que agreed on a secret code, and he could confirm that Shen Que and Jiang Huan were together, and both of them were fine. Before Jiang Ran went up the mountain, the bandits would not attack them.
When Jiang Ran heard his second brother's name, he paused chewing for a moment, then felt it was natural.
She didn't think that Jiang Huan's disguise could fool Lu Weiqing. As expected, he already knew it, but he just didn't point it out.
Since he had already seen through it, Jiang Ran told Lu Weiqing the whole reason why his second brother came to Beijing.
"My judgment agrees with yours. They were abducted this time because they were investigating Lingxi and the investigation led them to the prince."
"But we have no evidence."
"So we have to make these bandits admit that the mastermind behind this is the Marquis' Mansion."
Jiang Ran nodded. This was exactly what she was thinking, but she wasn't sure if she could get away with it. Now that Lu Weiqing was by her side, she felt more confident.
Only then did she realize that she had come to trust Lu Weiqing so much without knowing when.
Wushan was more than fifty miles away from Chang'an. They traveled all the way in a carriage and then took a water route. Finally, they arrived at the foot of Wushan just as the sun was setting.
"Be careful on your way, I'm always behind you." Lu Weiqing gave the instruction and then disappeared.
Jiang Ran took a deep breath, holding a torch in his left hand and a straight bamboo stick in his right hand, and started heading towards the top of the mountain.
This mountain is indeed a bit strange.
Thick clouds obscured the moon, and the mountain was terribly dark. For such a vast mountain, there was no sound, not even a bird's cry, let alone the howling of animals.
Jiang Ran sang softly to encourage himself and groped his way to the middle of the mountain.
Several times she was frightened by the shadows of the trees and screamed, but when she remembered that Lu Weiqing was still following her, she was afraid of being laughed at, so she just kept walking forward.
Jiang Ran hummed a song while dancing with the bamboo stick he picked up at random, and he danced with it vigorously, which made him feel much braver.
Because of the rumor that if he looked back that night, he would be enchanted by the "Ghost Blows Out the Light", Jiang Ran kept moving forward and did not dare to look back.
Eleven hid on a tree branch, restrained his breath, tried his best to reduce his presence, and pretended that he saw nothing.
They secretly dealt with the bandits patrolling the mountains along the way, and the master even had the mind to entertain them.
On several occasions, the tree shadows that frightened the lady were deliberately shaken by the master.
The lady's scolding just now was so frightening that he was trembling with fear. However, the master was not angry at all, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards.
He didn't understand. He really couldn't understand the interest between this young couple.
As they were about to walk out of the pine forest and reach Wushan Village, the torch was about to burn out, so Jiang Ran quickened his pace.
"Who is coming——"
The bandits in the watchtower waved their torches in warning.
"Zhennan General's Mansion, Jiang Ran. You captured my brother, I'm here to exchange him."
The minion looked at her and ran off to report.
After a while, the second in command of the village, a thin and dark middle-aged man, came out with a group of people.
"Oh my, such a pretty girl! How could you find your way to Wushan Village by yourself?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Where is my brother?" Jiang Ran threw the torch away and pointed the whip at him.
"Little Pepper, you're exactly my type. Now, I can't bear to kill you."
The skinny black monkey looked at her with a lewd expression, his eyes wandering over her upper body.
Jiang Ran saw that he was not the one in charge, and was too lazy to deal with him, so he quickly dodged him and went into the village.
The skinny black monkey naturally would not miss the opportunity to take advantage of her. He stretched out his dark hand towards her, but before he could touch even the corner of her clothes, a stone flew over from somewhere and hit him hard in the face, making him scream in pain.
"Who!? Who dares to plot against me?" The skinny black monkey looked around but saw no trace of anyone.
Jiang Ran took advantage of the chaos to enter the room and headed straight inside.
The Wushan stronghold is quite large, and even has a special martial arts training area where more than a dozen bandits are still training late at night.
Jiang Ran took a curious look and immediately saw the clue.
Although their movements were coordinated, their tactics were disorganized. They might be able to rob people on the road and loot houses, but even with the help of the rugged terrain, they would not be able to resist the imperial court's encirclement and suppression.
There is a problem in Wushan Village.
As soon as I entered the main hall, I saw a tall man with a handsome appearance, about thirty years old, sitting in the main seat. Jiang Huan and Shen Que sat at the lower seat, with tea cups at their hands. They did not look like prisoners, but rather like guests.
"Miss Jiang, I apologize for the inconvenience. I will correct you next week."
The village chief Zhou Zheng stood up to greet her and ordered tea to be served to her.
Jiang Ran picked up the teacup and skimmed off the foam. "If I remember correctly, our Jiang family and Village Master Zhou don't have any grudges, right?"
"Miss Jiang, what you said is true. Zhou is also taking money to help others get rid of disasters, otherwise how dare he dare to tamper with the general's mansion."
"Zhou Zheng, stop beating around the bush. My sister is here, just tell me what's the matter." Jiang Huan couldn't stand this kind of man who only spoke politely. He had been dealing with him for a whole day and just wanted to end it quickly.
"If you're a straightforward person, then Zhou will speak frankly. Miss Jiang, do you know anything about the incident at Tianxianglou?"
Jiang Ran narrowed her eyes into slits, and a look of happiness appeared on her face.
"Are you asking about the dethronement of the Crown Prince?"
"More than just knowing? I did it."
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