Episode 29

  "Everyone inside, listen up! Hand over your valuables and spare your lives. Anyone who disobeys will be treated the same as this person. Left and right, go up and search thoroughly!"

  "Yes!"

  A group of robbers shouted in response. Immediately, several robbers rushed up the stairs. The staircase was splattered with blood, and one of them slipped and slid all the way down, his body also covered in blood. The leader held a sword and gazed coldly for a moment before scanning the merchants inside the store with his eyes. Wherever his gaze fell, people lowered their heads and dared not look up straight. From upstairs came the sound of rummaging, accompanied by the clattering of objects falling to the ground, the shattering of porcelain, and the cracking of furniture. The crowd downstairs didn't dare say a word, all lowering their heads in silence. After a while, the robbers from upstairs jumped down, each carrying large bundles. They tossed them to the men holding big knives and long spears in the main hall, then quickly searched the people downstairs. Their movements were swift and skilled, finishing in no time. One of them searched Dian'er and smiled slyly, pressing his hands on her chest before stopping. Of course, they found nothing. Only a few silver coins that she had with her were taken away. Later, the robbers packed up their loot and left, also taking several carts of valuable goods. However, they discovered that the horses to pull the carts were missing. It turned out that when the robbers arrived, a guest had just reached the stable, panicked, opened the stable door, mounted a horse, and escaped. The other horses followed him in a stampede.

  "Go into the store and grab a few young men to pull the cart!"

  "Yes!"

  Several thieves rushed into the store again. A tall, burly man pointed at several people with a knife and shouted loudly:

  "Come out, all of you."

  Those who were pointed at were all frightened and dared not go out, but they also did not dare to stay inside. They were in a state of panic and hesitation. The big man saw this and became furious, with one knife he chopped down the person next to him. That poor guy only managed to cry out half a sound before his head fell to the ground, fresh blood suddenly spraying out, while his headless corpse still stood upright without falling, the scene was eerily strange. Everyone was shocked, hastily rushing out to await their fate.

  "Pull out a few more people and act quickly!"

  "Yes!"

  Dahan replied to everyone in the shop:

  "You all come here!"

  That Chang'e was extremely worried, she looked up at the sky, and just as she was hesitating, Yu Bu said:

  "Chang'er, don't move from this place, wait for me to come back."

  Less than a dozen people were forced to pull carts and follow this group of strong men.

  A crowd of guests dare not speak out, each one silent as a cicada in winter, only lowering their heads, those pulling carts pulling carts, those pushing carts pushing carts, being surrounded by such strong men heading towards the outskirts of town. Having left the town and gone about two miles, suddenly one of the strong men said:

  "Huh? The Third Master, the little girl from the shop behind is following us!"

  Insufficiently heard of great shock, turned head to look, but wasn't it Jin Chan'er! Secretly thought:

  "What's wrong with this little girl? She doesn't know how to live or die, what can be done about it?"

  "Hmph, little wench! Come, I'll take you in and fill the void of women in my tent!"

  "Got it!"

  Those several men galloped away on horseback. Before long, Jin Chan'er was caught and brought back on horseback!

  "Speed up!"

  "Yes!"

  A few strong bandits rushed forward, their faces twisted with malice:

  "Hurry up! Hurry up! If you keep dawdling like this, I'll just chop you down with one slash and we brothers will come to pull it ourselves!"

  Everyone had to add a bit of strength. Insufficient to see the sweat dripping from other people's backs, while he himself was relaxed and at ease, his heart still wondering in doubt, and several people on the carriage also looked at him in surprise. Insufficient thought:

  "Is it not that my family has innate divine power?"

  At this time, those strong robbers urged again, adding a bit of force, and the cart actually sped up a lot. Insufficiently, he secretly marveled in his heart, fearing that being too outstanding would ruin things, so he just kept pace with the carts ahead. Not advancing or falling behind, not rushing or slowing down, just following along. Insufficiently's heart remembered Qing'er, and he stole a glance, only to see that the girl was like a cloth bag on the horseback, raising her head to secretly smile at him.

  "This foolish woman, looking like this, can still smile!"

  However, at this time, the heart was slightly relieved. Looking at the darkening sky, it suddenly became dark in no time. Everyone was both hungry and thirsty, and had not drunk a drop of water, making it difficult to endure, so the speed of progress was very slow. Fortunately, those strong men did not urge them on again, but just followed them forward. The time had reached midnight, and they were pulling carts around the mountain road, turning here and there, who still knew east, west, south, and north? Where could they still tell direction? Along the way, two or three cart-pulling people wanted to escape but were caught, all of whom were killed by those bandits. The rest of the people did not dare to take such a risk, so they just pulled carts forward obediently.

  But then someone said:

  "Alright, lock them up in the dungeon for now and wait for Master to come and deal with them tomorrow."

  "What's to be done with this little girl?"

  "Also lock it up in one place. Brothers, take stock of things and have a good rest, let's have fun again tomorrow!"

  A loud shout from the strong men, driving away the curses of the weak, the joyful unloading of the carts, and a few people followed the three masters into a high gate courtyard. One of the bandits lifted his foot and kicked it onto Insufficient's buttocks, shouting:

  "Grandma's, we've worked hard for so long, but the beauty of unloading the car has been cheapened by those close to us."

  "Chen San and his men are hiding the good stuff on the cargo truck! Hmph! We're all in this together, yet we can't even get a sip of thief's soup!"

  "Never mind, just keep your voice down! Don't stir up trouble for no reason!"

  "What's there to fear? What they've done, we can't even mention!"

  "Never mind, never mind. It's not just our mountain stronghold that's like this, other families are the same too. To put it broadly, all things under heaven are the same, not just us who occupy the mountains and become kings, even imperial courts and officialdom are all the same! For in all matters, people are involved, and people all have their own private interests!"

  "Haha, Liu Shifu has a good point! But if one understands this principle, why become an outlaw?"

  "You, you're really hateful!"

  "Hahaha..."

  Insufficiently frowning, he pulled the crescent moon and followed the crowd. Relying on the torches in the hands of the thieves beside him to illuminate the road, Insufficient was rushed into a side door, from a long corridor, and walked for about an hour, until they reached a stone platform. The platform was not very high or large, but it was made of bluestone and was very solid. On top of the platform was a room also built with bluestone, except that the roof was made of large wooden beams, with a door but no windows. The door was actually a single huge stone, weighing over 1,000 catties. Only the sound of creaking could be heard, as several people were using their strength to open this door. After that, Insufficient and the others were all rushed into this room.

  Inside the room, a large oil lamp was lit, shining very brightly. The smoke from the oil rose straight up through the wooden ceiling and disappeared. In the middle of the stone room, a huge stone slab was placed flat on the ground, with several iron pestles on top, connected to an iron chain, which was linked to a rotating disk-shaped device. Several people were exerting themselves to turn the device, making creaking sounds, and the huge stone slab slowly opened, revealing a hole below, not very large. A flight of stone steps led straight down into the darkness, disappearing from view.

  "Get out! If you continue to drag your feet, I'll finish you off with one stroke!"

  Insufficient in the dark pulled Jin Chan'er, tightly protected Chan'er down the stairs of the dark passage. Before long, only the sound of clanging iron chains was heard, and several thieves stood on one side of a wooden railing, one holding a torch and the other lifting a knife, while another person opened a thick wooden prison door.

  "Come on in! Must we invite you formally?"

  The crowd surged in, and then those few strong men locked the door again, leaving only a few torches behind.

  It was not enough to take a rough measurement of the place, which was over ten zhang wide. The ground was slightly damp, with only a small amount of hay that wasn't quite dry, but there was nothing else. Looking around again, I saw a slightly darker area in the distance and took Xing'er there. It must be because Xing'er's face was too beautiful, so she couldn't help but think this way.

  The crowd fell silent for a while, and seeing that there was no one else outside the prison, they began to talk in hushed tones.

  "I wonder if those bandits will kill us?"

  One middle-aged man muttered in a low and disheartened tone.

  "No!"

  "But why?"

  "This... I think it won't work!"

  "Perhaps they think it's useful to leave us behind. Otherwise, they would have killed us halfway and wouldn't have gone through so much trouble, watching over us and locking us up!"

  "Halt! Humph! At that time, they still needed us to pull our goods!"

  A young man said with an air of discontent.

  "Will they put on a show?"

  "You don't know, their horses are warhorses, they haven't been trained to pull carts, how can they pull carts?!"

  "War horses? Aren't those only for government soldiers? How did they get them?"

  "Only ghosts know!"

  "Since ancient times, officials and bandits have been one family; whatever the officials have, the bandits will surely get."