Episode 31

  "Who is singing?"

  One of the robbers asked:

  "It seems to be coming from below. Eldest brother, let me go take a look?"

  A dark and thin man listened carefully for a while and said.

  "Enough! You think you can still deceive us with your little secrets? That little girl down there may be lovely, but is she worth risking your life?"

  "Boss, that little girl is absolutely stunning, a beauty beyond compare. Damn! She's so beautiful it's making me drool."

  "Who dares to move against the third young master's fiancée?"

  "Can't you finish writing after exercising?"

  One of them sneered.

  "This..."

  The "big brother" hesitated for a moment and said:

  "Whatever, just forget it! Where else can we have fun? Let's drink, brothers!"

  Insufficiently sticking his ear to the stone slab seam to listen to their words, he slightly frowned and said:

  "Chang'er, keep singing!"

  Jin Chan'er secretly used her Xuan Gong to infuse a thread of flirtatious intent into the song, which flew directly into the ears of the bandits guarding outside. The bandits all blushed and couldn't help themselves, while the people in the secret passage remained calm and composed, unaware of the secret behind it.

  "Big brother, we're born to be prison guards. The pay is low and the good women are all taken by those few tyrants in charge. Today, that charming little girl has fallen into our trap, let's have some fun! Who knows if she's still a virgin? Hahaha..."

  "This, this is terrible! The third master......"

  "Big brother, by rights you should be the master of the house! But because you won't fawn and flatter, to this day you're still just a small leader. What's the point of him being the master of the house? He comes to our brothers' place and orders us around! Our brothers will take that young whelp and..."

  "This, brothers, brothers......"

  "Big brother, you are deeply worried and concerned. What you're worried about is nothing more than the difficulty of handling things when they happen. In fact, turning this matter over isn't that difficult!"

  "Oh! How?"

  "After playing with the brothers, he was killed with one knife, and those people were also..."

  The scoundrel made a slashing motion with his hand and then smiled slyly and repeated:

  "They came to investigate and said that they wanted to take the knife and escape, so I had no choice but to kill them all. What can the three masters do to me now?"

  "Brother, you are absolutely right! Come on! Open the stone gate and go down to have fun! Haha..."

  "Big brother! It's better to be careful. Someone should stay here and keep watch, in case the night patrol brothers come by."

  "Hmm, Xiao Sanzi, you stay here and guard this place. If anyone comes to ask, just say that there's a disturbance downstairs and we've gone down to take a look."

  "Yes, big brother."

  That young fellow was not very old, but his face was full of unyielding color. He had to answer the bandit leader's lustful and domineering words, while still muttering to himself:

  "You all have fun, but I'm the one who has to keep watch at night! It's always like this, it's really infuriating!"

  The three thieves' faces turned red with excitement, and they actually used a pulley to pry open the stone gate, creating an opening just wide enough for one person. The three of them took torches and were about to go down. The tall, thin thief said:

  "Big brother, I'll go down first and light the way, you come slowly!"

  He finished speaking, one hand holding a knife and the other raising a torch, then turned around and entered that dark cave entrance.

  "Oh no!"

  A loud cry of agony was immediately followed by the sound of clashing steel and the thud of bodies hitting the ground.

  "What's going on? What's going on?"

  "Oh no, oh no! I've got one foot in the air... Ahh, it's killing me!"

  "Damn it, you scared me! Alright, let's go."

  "Big brother, open the stone gate a bit more!"

  Another fat thief said nervously.

  "Hmm! Alright then!"

  The stone gate was creaked open again for more than half.

  The two thieves exchanged a glance and simultaneously jumped into the dark passageway. The two thieves held their torches high and their steel knives horizontally, sweeping them out to both sides in a swift motion as they landed. This was merely a habitual precaution for thieves. But in the next instant, the two thieves felt a sudden darkness in their chests, and their bodies were sent flying out of the passageway. The two thieves stared at each other with eyes wide with terror, incredulity, and bewilderment, their faces contorted in pain as they crashed into the stone wall of the chamber and rebounded to the ground. However, this group of thieves had killed countless people, and their reaction was incredibly swift. The thief called Little Three, though shocked by what he saw, did not panic. His gaze swept towards the massive stone gate, then turned back to swing his knife at the insufficiently prepared newcomer. Insufficient saw the ghostly head's knife coming down on him, but before he could even touch the ground, he was already tumbling forward and couldn't stop himself. Unable to dodge to either side, he had no choice but to punch at the ghostly head's knife with his fist. "Clang!" The knife flew off in a horizontal direction, striking the stone wall several meters away before falling to the ground with a series of clatters. Insufficient muttered to himself in surprise:

  "It doesn't hurt! How strange!"

  That thieving little mountain saw his knife fly, and was greatly frightened in his heart. He opened his mouth to call for help, but before he could even get the words out, Iron Fist had already sent him tumbling to the ground with a single punch, spitting blood from his mouth and losing consciousness. It wasn't until then that the people from the hidden passage rushed out of the cave entrance.

  "Bind these three and take them down into the cave."

  Several brave men quickly stepped forward, using the clothes on the three people's bodies to tear them into strips and bind them, sending them into the cave. Later, the crowd pulled up the stone gate, extinguished the torches, leaving only a large oil lamp burning.

  This story is long in the telling, but actually took less than a hundred breaths! How could such a thief be so foolish? No! It was all thanks to Chang'er's efforts!

  But it turned out that the thief who had entered the secret passage earlier was not enough to be pulled by the hand, and with just one push, he fell down the stairs. The poor man's head was smashed with a force of over 10 times its original size, hitting the stone steps and shattering his skull, even splashing out brain matter. He let out only a groan before dying an unjust death. At that time, the two thieves outside were suspiciously asking questions, but just then, Qinger beside him replied in the dead thief's voice, resolving the difficulty. Although he was shocked, he was also greatly delighted and relieved. If it weren't for Qinger's ability, he wouldn't have been able to kill the dark and thin thief, and they would have closed the stone gate, guarding the entrance of the secret passage with knives and swords. How could a small group of merchants possibly break out of this desperate situation?

  "From here on out, walk along the long corridor and exit through a side door to get outside. Everyone scatter and run for your lives!"

  "Otherwise, let's all stay together, with more people we can deal with the robbers."

  A guest said

  "The bandits are familiar with this place, while we are not. We will definitely be killed if we are chased! Everyone scatter and run for their lives, the bandits won't dare to chase each one of us individually, they can only gang up on a few people! The rest of you may be able to escape with your lives!"

  The Confucian scholar's way of life.

  Everyone listened and made sense, so they quietly rushed away. Three people were quick to grab the ghost head knife of those thieves. Just as the long corridor was about to end, when they were about to reach the side door, a person suddenly stuck out half of his body from the high wall and shouted:

  "Who?"

  "I am Xiaosanzi."

  Another instance of Chang'e learning by heart.

  "Oh? What's wrong?"

  "The woman who was caught today has a sudden illness and needs to go to the hospital for a check-up."

  "What a big deal! A woman, either way she's going to die, why bother with a doctor? Just one knife cut and it's all over, why make such a fuss?"

  "You don't know, this is a woman favored by the three masters of the house, how dare we!"

  "Who are those people behind?"

  "He is a guest who has come to pull carts, and he took this girl away."

  "Ah, watch out, don't let him escape!"

  "Hum! Escaping? One slash and it's gone!"

  The patrolman on the high wall had stopped making a sound; he must have fallen asleep again.

  Insufficient and the crowd arrived at the side door, saw two thieves sitting on a wooden chair with knives asleep, so quietly approached, left and right fists came out together, only one muffled sound, and the two thieves were knocked unconscious at the same time. A guest searched for the key on the door, opened it after shaking and searching for a while. Everyone did not dare to make a sound, tiptoed out of the door, and scattered to escape. Insufficient and Yue'er saw this helplessly, so she herself carried those two thieves, tied their hands and feet, stuffed cloth socks in their mouths, and hid them in a dark corner before leaving. After walking for only two steps, suddenly caught sight of the lock and key on the door, turned back to re-lock the side door, and then continued on her way. Yue'er saw this and smiled lightly:

  "Insufficient elder brother, what a profound and subtle mind you have!"

  "Little girl, if it weren't for this, we would all be dead! Hurry up and go! Don't delay any longer!"