Chapter 411 Who Came to Suppress the Bandits?
"You two ran away secretly, didn't you? You eloped, didn't you?"
A sly glint flashed in Qi Peiyao's eyes as she observed them with great interest.
Ji Qingwu was slightly taken aback, his eyes flickered, and his tone carried a hint of probing.
"How...how did you figure that out?"
She subtly moved her wrist, signaling Sihai to remain still.
Qi Peiyao smiled confidently, leaned back on the couch, and said lazily, "I may not be good at anything else, but I'm always good at judging people."
Ji Qingwu said, "Madam has a good eye."
Qi Peiyao was half right—they did indeed sneak out, but their relationship wasn't what she thought.
Ji Qingwu said, "My husband and I ran away from home and wanted to go to Longzhou to stay with relatives."
With his mask gone, Si Hai blushed instantly upon hearing the words "elopement" and Ji Qingwu referring to him as "young master," and lowered his head, not daring to speak.
In Qi Peiyao's eyes, this was irrefutable evidence.
She gently patted her protruding belly, her tone soft.
"Actually, you don't need to hide it from me. I'm a woman too, I understand. I won't make things difficult for you."
She continued, "As long as you agree to stay, I can arrange some work for him in the village, and I will make sure he is not bullied."
Ji Qingwu shook his head and said, "But we have made an agreement with our relatives in Longzhou. If they don't wait for me, they will come looking for us."
Chi Pei-yao wanted to cross her legs, but had to give up because of her large belly.
She patted her bulging belly, looked up and asked with a smile, "You mean, your relatives will come to Black Wind Village to look for you?"
Ji Qingwu nodded.
The longer she delays, the more likely her secret guards will discover her whereabouts.
Qi Peiyao narrowed her eyes and said, "I advise you to give up this idea. Our village is not an ordinary bandit den. This time we robbed the princess's caravan, but no one dares to come looking for us now. Do you know why?"
Ji Qingwu's gaze was fixed on her.
Why is that?
She had long known that this bandit's den was unusual.
Because when the bandits around Hu Lie hijacked the carriage, they all held their knives and bows with their right hands, and the angles and heights at which they held them were almost the same.
This is an effect that only well-trained soldiers in a military camp can achieve, not something that ordinary bandits can do.
The appearance of such a group near the northern border makes it hard not to suspect that this is a trap set by Xijin.
The soldiers of Xijin will be disguised as bandits, and then a coordinated attack from within will be launched to gradually erode the forces of Beili.
Qi Peiyao realized she had let something slip and tried to brush it off, saying, "Don't worry about it, no one's coming to save you anyway."
"What's that saying again? 'Since we're already here...'"
She couldn't recall the second half of the sentence for a moment, so she simply stopped worrying about it and waved her hand, saying, "Just stay here with me, I won't let you..."
She pointed to Sihai and said, "And your young man is suffering too."
Ji Qingwu wanted to ask a couple more questions, but Qi Peiyao's stomach growled twice. She frowned and called out towards the door, "Hu Xiaosi! Is the food ready yet? Are you planning to starve me and the baby to death?"
There was complete silence outside the door; no one responded.
Qi Peiyao was stunned. Usually, when there was no robbery, Hu Si would just hang around her.
Ji Qingwu and Sihai exchanged a glance, a sense of unease creeping into their hearts.
Qi Peiyao was pregnant and had difficulty moving around, so Ji Qingwu said, "I'll go check at the door."
"I'll go instead." Sihai said quickly, pushing open the door and walking out.
Qi Peiyao winked at Ji Qingwu and teased, "You're young, but you know how to take care of people."
Sihai returned quickly and told him about the situation outside.
"It's very noisy outside, it sounds like there's a war going on up ahead."
Qi Peiyao pushed open the window and quickly glanced outside. The village was deserted, and the sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance.
Qi Peiyao bit her fingernail and whispered, "That shouldn't be the case. He told us that no one would cause us any trouble."
Ji Qingwu heard her murmur clearly. Who was this "he"? Who gave Black Wind Stronghold the confidence to do whatever it wanted?
Flames also shot up outside.
The three leaders, along with Hu Si, had all disappeared without a trace.
Qi Peiyao's expression changed, and she instantly became nervous. She jumped off the bed, slipped on her shoes, and turned to go into the inner room.
Ji Qingwu made no move. With such a large commotion, it was most likely that the imperial court had sent people. Otherwise, who could contend with a village of over a thousand people?
Qi Peiyao pushed open the hidden compartment behind the red plum blossom vase, revealing a secret room.
Turning around, he shouted, "You're coming in with me!"
Ji Qingwu glanced at Sihai and said, "Jiang Hai has to come with me too."
Qi Peiyao said urgently, "I don't trust him, so only you can come in."
Ji Qingwu knew that Qi Peiyao didn't actually trust her either.
It's just that she's pregnant and could give birth at any time, so she feels safer having me by her side.
But once you're inside, you don't know if you'll be able to get out.
Ji Qingwu insisted, "I want to stay with Jiang Hai."
Qi Peiyao stamped her feet anxiously and said, "You're safest with me. If you don't come in now, you'll miss your chance!"
Ji Qingwu remained standing in the same spot, motionless.
Soon, the door was kicked open, and seven or eight soldiers carrying knives rushed in.
Seeing this, Qi Peiyao immediately closed the door to the secret room and went in alone.
The officers and soldiers could only see the stone gate closing in front of them. They ran over to investigate, but they couldn't trigger the mechanism no matter what they did.
The remaining officers and soldiers took out their portraits, looked Ji Qingwu and Sihai up and down, then handcuffed their hands and took them away.
In the front courtyard of the village, in the large house where the bandits held their meetings.
"Sir, we just went to the backyard and caught these two people."
The officers bowed to the man in official robes in front of them and said, "There is also a pregnant woman who has entered the secret passage in the house, but we do not know how to open it."
The man said calmly, "The pregnant woman is Hu Feng's wife."
The officers and soldiers lowered their heads and said, "We were too late and failed to capture him."
The man paused for a moment before saying, "It's not your fault. The people of Black Wind Stronghold are no ordinary people."
But despite saying that, Hu Feng and his two brothers have already been captured and are being held in the dungeon.
Isn't he referring to himself, who is no ordinary person?
The officers and soldiers immediately flattered, "Sir, you were one step ahead. You deliberately sent Huang Er into Black Wind Stronghold so that he could send us back with messages, which is why things went so smoothly today."
Ji Qingwu's ears twitched. It turned out that Huang Er, the manager of the caravan, was just following orders. No wonder the thugs they hired were so useless; they were risking their lives for today's siege of the bandits.
The man said, "It's not entirely my doing."
The officers and soldiers exclaimed, "We never expected that after the lord sent a memorial to the northern border, he would so readily dispatch two thousand elite troops to suppress the bandits."
Ji Qingwu's eyes widened slightly.
The soldiers she encountered on the road were not government troops, but were transferred from the northern border military camps with the approval of Emperor Wusu.
But this is a time when we need to use troops. Wouldn't it be a waste of talent to mobilize them to suppress bandits?
Does he know he's here?
Ji Qingwu was feeling uneasy when the person turned around.
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