Heading back!
"Waaaaah!"
Their leisurely time was interrupted by a sudden figure rushing towards them as they cried and screamed.
Yue Lang put down the kettle and frowned. "It's a little uncomfortable, but it will go away in a while. It's not life-threatening."
He glanced at the bandits who were fast asleep on the ground, then looked back into Meng Yan's eyes. After a moment, a smile appeared on his lips. "Those who are asleep are the same. They will wake up when the time comes."
Seeing the fleeting surprise in Meng Yan's eyes, he pulled her back, trying to hurry up and get a hot meal.
"Waaaah, waaaah!"
The younger bandit was clever and brave. He grabbed the legs of the two men with both arms and pulled them with his own weight, and all three of them were unable to move on the spot.
Meng Yan noticed his footing, tilted his head to look at Yue Lang, pulled the object out of his hand, and gestured, "What's wrong?"
Yue Lang understood that she wasn't asking him, so he took on the role of a dutiful messenger, squatting down to ask the bandit, "Is there anything else?"
"Waaah!"
It seems so.
After spending an extra moment exchanging glances with Meng Yan, Yue Lang pulled out a talisman from somewhere and stuck it on. Xiao Fei's embrace loosened considerably, and his sobs gradually subsided.
Meng Yan felt this scene was very familiar. She smiled and glanced at someone beside her. In the instant she turned her head, her gaze returned, just missing her.
"Um... well, if you have something to say, please say it quickly, we're in a hurry to eat," he said to the air.
The bandit on the ground twitched twice, struggled to his feet, and pointed at his unconscious brothers, pleading: "We were blind and didn't recognize your greatness. Young master and lady, please have mercy and let our boss go. We arranged the robbery; he knows nothing about it."
The eldest? Is it that not-so-bright one, or...?
As if understanding their confusion, and fearing they might misunderstand, the bandit silently clung back to their legs and continued to plead: "Boss, it's the one who brought you back, but didn't lay a finger on you or say another word. No, it's not the blind one."
"How so?"
Yue Lang suddenly asked a question, and Meng Yan looked at him before receiving an answer, not expecting the question to be directed at him.
She thought back on her experiences along the way. Apart from the initial encounter when this not-so-bright leader had interacted with them, they had always gone their separate ways on the way to be escorted. Even the ropes binding their hands were tied by the bandits' underlings. She had initially thought it was at the leader's behest, but now it seemed it was all due to their own initiative.
After a brief silence, Fei Xiaodi wasn't sure who the question had been posed to, so he decided to just give an honest explanation.
"The eldest brother may look fierce and be tall and strong, but he has a good heart. He wouldn't even kill a chicken."
Yue Lang caught a glimpse of Meng Yan glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.
“He has always lived with the help and care of us brothers. We all stayed on the mountain quietly. There weren’t many people, and there was not much to do. It wasn’t too difficult for him to survive.”
"Until recently, Baldy led a group of people to our door, saying that he wanted to take over this mountain territory from us. The loser would have to get out. We brothers discussed it privately and decided to just join him, on the condition that we keep our position as the boss. At worst, we'll treat him like the boss."
"Those guys do all sorts of things. I heard they were targeted because of their previous arson, murder, and looting, so they came up the mountain and ran into us. Later, those guys still didn't have clean hands, and fewer and fewer people came back after they came down the mountain, but Baldy found out about the boss's situation and started to make a move on him."
"So, you took him out under the pretense of ambushing and robbing him, and a bunch of you foolishly guarded the entrance to the forest, only to come back at night to eat and sleep, and then repeated the same thing the next day?"
After listening to his few words, Yue Lang guessed the gist of it: a group of flesh-and-blood friends wanted to protect the most innocent one and came up with a bad idea. Unexpectedly, they actually managed to catch Meng Yan and him who happened to be passing by. Worried that their little boss would let it slip when they got back, they brought the person back first and then figured out a solution.
The bandit nodded silently, tears still streaming down his face, dripping onto the hem of his clothes.
The drops were from Meng Yan and his own clothes.
"Don't cry yet. If you really can't, it's okay to cry, just let go of my hand first."
The bandit stood motionless with a look of grim determination on his face, and snot was about to start dripping from his nose. Yue Lang immediately lay down face to face with him, and after a moment pulled his other hand over and pressed them both onto his legs. "How about you just hug me and leave the girl's skirt alone?"
Yue Lang's eyes were filled with unconcealed grief. Meng Yan, whom he had rescued, stood to the side, a smile he couldn't suppress curving his lips.
Scanning through the crowd, the unlucky little boss had been hit by his own needle. He was currently breathing steadily and sleeping soundly. That was why his crying underlings felt it was dangerous, fearing that he might never wake up again.
Comparatively speaking, my needles are indeed more troublesome than Yue Lang's talismans. There is no immediate solution, and I can only wait for the effects of the medicine to wear off and for myself to wake up.
It's really not a good situation.
"Miss Yan, why don't I stay here and wait, and you go and eat first?" Yue Lang resignedly sat down next to the bandit.
After finishing his meal, he drifted away, leaving Meng Yan to deal with a band of bandits alone. Meng Yan knew he couldn't bring himself to do something so unrighteous.
"If we're going to leave, we'll leave together. If you can't pull him away, I'll do it."
Meng Yan made a move to roll up his sleeves, recalling how she shot a tiger with a few arrows and threw a snake with both hands. Out of respect for life, Yue Lang decided to try to protect the innocent bandit. He stood in front of the bandit, blocking their view. "Let's eat first, then we'll go together. I'm not leaving you behind alone."
Since it would take time for someone to wake up, Meng Yan agreed to his suggestion after thinking about it. He had only been gone a short while when he returned with two full bowls. The soup in the bowls was level with the rims, and not a drop had been spilled on the way there.
"Thanks?"
Yue Lang clearly hadn't expected to get a meal like this, but since the bowl was already brought to his mouth, there was no reason not to eat it, especially since Meng Yan had personally served him the food.
The bandit was right. They must live on the mountain every day, relying on wild game to survive. Otherwise, this soup, which looked rather unappetizing, wouldn't taste like this.
Although it can't compare to the skills of those who frequent our own kitchens, it's still better than the cooking that someone almost got to enjoy.
As one of the few people who were awake, Meng Yan picked up another bowl and brought food to the bandit.
After the meal, the three of them sat with their chins propped up on their hands, surrounding the eldest child in the center, silently hoping that he would wake up soon.
"Miss Yan, if you are sleepy, you should go to sleep first. He and I will keep watch over you here."
Yue Lang's drowsiness caused his tone of voice to shift several times, but the person in question did not notice, thinking he was full of energy.
.
A breeze swept through the woods, rustling the falling leaves and making the night feel a little cool.
A sudden weight on their left shoulders jolted Meng Yan and Xiao Fei awake. Lifting their eyelids, they saw Yue Lang, who had just said, "If you're sleepy, go to sleep first." He had kept his word.
Meng Yan's lips twitched slightly as he adjusted his posture to make himself more comfortable while sleeping.
Who would have thought that even with someone to rely on, this person would still be unruly, swaying and drifting away from Meng Yan's shoulder, heading straight for him.
Meng Yan snapped out of her daze and quickly grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him back.
The bandit also came to his senses and dragged his sleeping boss to the side.
The true culprit who caused everything, after a tumultuous journey, finally slowly awoke from his dream, gazing at the world with a dazed expression.
Once Meng Yan was sure he could sit up on his own, he let go of his hand, making room for the wind to wake him up, to prevent the man from causing trouble again while he was still dazed.
A talisman appeared out of nowhere and, by the time the tired group noticed it, it had already been quietly affixed to the young leader's face.
The three remained silent, unsure whether to reveal the truth or not.
With a chirp of an insect, a corner of the talisman was lifted.
The insects chirped twice, and the young leader's eyes twitched.
Three insect chirps, accompanied by tears and wailing, and the talisman paper, soaked with sweat, disappeared without a trace.
Just as he didn't understand why he suddenly fell asleep, the young master didn't understand why he suddenly wanted to cry. But he didn't have time to think anymore; tears had already begun to fall uncontrollably, bringing him the first autumn rain.
Yue Lang sluggishly searched for the antidote talisman, stuffed it into the bandit's hand, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Does this mean he's awake? Can we leave now?"
The young bandit cried even more bitterly than the leader. While comforting him, he pasted talismans on him. In the rare moment of peace, he turned his weary gaze back to the two of them. "It's alright, young master, but are you sure?"
After this sudden shock, Yue Lang was quite sober. He opened his bright eyes and asked, "Why are you unsure?"
“The girl has been sitting and watching over you for half an hour, and she hasn’t closed her eyes yet.”
Yue Lang exclaimed "Huh?" in confusion, before Meng Yan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up, with a small wooden bird dangling in front of him.
He reached out to grab it, but was slapped away without hesitation.
"Are you really not going to sleep, Miss Yan?"
The only response he received was Meng Yan's retreating figure as he walked towards the crowd, stopping to wait for him after taking a few steps.
"Isn't this open space bigger?"
Meng Yan turned to look at him, but the light was too dim and she was standing too far away, so Yue Lang couldn't see her expression.
After a moment, she sighed and raised her hand as if to add something, when she saw out of the corner of her eye a figure stumbling toward her.
"What are your orders, Miss Yan? I guarantee I will fulfill them!"
The person came so fast that they almost bumped into him.
.
The young bandit and the leader stood on the ground with bloodshot eyes, their brothers beside them, all of whom were slumped over but out of danger, watching together as the large bird they had never seen before took flight.
Above the giant bird, two guests who had come to freeload waved to them before taking flight into the clouds under the cover of night.
"Where did they go?" The young leader squinted, but no matter what he did, he couldn't find that shadow in the air.
The bandit stayed with him, pointing out a random star to him, "Look, over there, that twinkling star is it."
"And what about the old man?"
“He received the divine message and returned to heaven, leaving us here alone again.”
.
On his first experience of riding the wind, Yue Lang felt great. He had eaten and slept, and now, leaning against the railing of the mechanical kite, he displayed all the energy and spirit that a young man should have.
"Wow! So you always travel this fast? Could you take me with you next time you have such a good opportunity—"
Meng Yan, who hadn't slept all night, closed his eyes briefly, then a sharp turn threw him back into his seat.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes!"
Meng Yan: "..."
She gave Yue Lang a mechanical needle, a mechanical needle that had been stripped of its protective gear and could be used directly as a weapon.
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