72 Challenging
Seeing that it was almost noon, Zhou Jia said to Li Yu, “After turning around the hill in front, there’s a pass in front of us. If you climb up from the pass, you’ll reach Clear Wind Ridge. I heard that there are many caves on it. The stone pillars in the caves are in all shapes and sizes. The scenery is very strange.”
When Li Yu heard this, she felt that there must be a group of karst caves below Clear Wind Ridge.
Li Yu asked Zhou Jia to stop the cart. After Ji Xiang and Chen Yaohui arrived, Li Yu said to Ji Xiang and the others, “Ruyi and I will go and scout for information first. You guys follow behind us. Everyone, act according to the situation.”
After Ji Xiang and Chen Yaohui remembered it and nodded in agreement, Li Yu took out a red headscarf she had taken from Zhaodi and said to Zhou Jia, “Zhou Jia, after we leave, get everyone to split the old people and children into a few carts. You guys can slowly follow behind us. When we can safely pass, I’ll wave the headscarf and you can quickly bring everyone over.”
Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and the others and repeatedly instructed, “Alright, you must be careful.”
Li Yu agreed solemnly. “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.” Ji Xiang and the others also nodded.
Li Yu called Ruyi and walked towards the pass. Ji Xiang slowly followed with Chen Yaohui and the others.
Hu San led more than a dozen people down the mountain. When they were about to reach the pass, Hu San instructed his two subordinates, “When we reach the pass later, the two of you will go up and check on the rolling logs and stones on the pass first. I’ll wait for you at the pass with everyone else before going to the forest to gather information.”
His trusted aide immediately replied ingratiatingly, “Alright, Second-in-charge. As soon as we arrive, we’ll go to the pass to take a look.”
Hu San led his men towards the pass proudly.
Li Yu and Ruyi looked around as they walked. After the two of them went up a gentle slope, they saw hills stretching up on both sides of the road. The hills got higher and higher, and the mountain road above became narrower and narrower.
Ji Xiang, Chen Yaohui, and the others also followed the two of them towards the pass. Li Yu looked at the pass in front and estimated that only one ox cart could pass.
Ruyi whispered to Li Yu, “Miss Li, the pass Young Master mentioned is ahead.”
Li Yu nodded. The two of them walked to the foot of the pass. Li Yu looked up at the top of the pass and whispered to Ruyi, “Ruyi, go up and take a look.”
“Yes,” Ruyi whispered, climbing up the stone wall of the pass.
Hu San led more than ten people down the mountain and walked to the pass. Hu San said to his two trusted aides, “The two of you, hurry up. I’ll go first.”
Li Yu had just covered her body when she heard Hu San’s instructions to the bandits. She looked up at Ruyi and saw that he was almost at the top of the pass.
Li Yu lay there quietly and listened to the sound of feet stepping on withered grass. She picked up the crossbow and jumped up. She took aim and the crossbow arrow flew towards the source of the sound. With a scream, a bandit clutched his chest and fell down beside Li Yu.
“There’s an ambush.” Hu San heard a scream and panicked. In the blink of an eye, he saw his subordinate fall from the pass. Then, he discovered Li Yu in the grass and rushed up with his men. He raised his waist knife and slashed at Li Yu. Li Yu released the arrows and shot down a few bandits.
“Quick, shoot them with arrows.” Before Ji Xiang could finish his sentence, the arrows had already left the bow and shot at the bandits. Chen Yaohui and Chen Gui also raised their bows and began to shoot. The three of them shot down the few bandits in front of them. Butcher He also raised his butcher knife and rushed toward the bandits.
After Ruyi finished off the bandits who went up the pass with an arrow, he jumped down from the pass and joined the battle.
Hu San rushed in front of Li Yu and raised his waist knife to slash at her. Li Yu waved the crossbow in one hand and pulled out the dagger under her skirt in the other. There was a clang when the crossbow blocked the waist knife. The knife in Hu San’s hand was sent flying by the crossbow.
Li Yu leaned forward with her dagger. With a silver flash, the long and narrow blade cut Hu San’s throat. Hu San widened his eyes and did not have time to cover his neck before blood sprayed out. He fell to the ground like a slaughtered pig, raising a cloud of dust.
Ji Xiang swung his saber and killed a few bandits. When the remaining bandits saw that the situation was bad, they turned around and fled. But they were injured by Chen Yaohui and Chen Gui, who chased after them. Finally, Ruyi caught up and killed all of them.
A bandit fled towards Clear Wind Ridge. Li Yu raised her arm and triggered the sleeve arrow. The sleeve arrow flew out and hit the back of his neck. The bandit fell to the ground.
Li Yu looked around and saw that Ruyi and Ji Xiang had dealt with the last two bandits. She quickly climbed to the pass and shook the red scarf at Zhou Jia.
Zhou Jia stood on the mule cart and saw the red headscarf waving. He turned around and waved his arms at the people behind him. He shouted, “Run! Everyone, use your fastest speed. Let’s rush over.”
The village chief shouted at everyone, “Hurry up, villagers. Let’s rush over.”
At this moment, regardless of age or gender, they only had one thought. They used all their strength to rush forward.
Zhou Jia drove the mule quickly towards the pass. Someone fell and the people behind hurriedly lifted her up. Everyone supported each other and rushed through the pass behind the car.
When Ruyi and the others saw the large group rushing over, they immediately fell behind the group and escorted everyone forward.
Li Yu stood on the pass. Seeing that everyone had passed safely, she leaped down and caught up to the team.
When the villagers saw that everyone had caught up, they were overjoyed. Some of them were tired from running and wanted to stop to see if their relatives who had participated in the battle were injured. Li Yu waved her hand and shouted to everyone, “Everyone, don’t stop. It’s not safe here. Hurry up and leave.”
The folks gritted their teeth again, pushed the wheelbarrow, and rushed recklessly forward.
Li Yu caught up to Zhou Jia’s mule cart and jumped onto it. Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and smiled as brightly as the sun. Li Yu pointed at Zhou Jia. “You’re not allowed to smile like this at others in the future.”
Zhou Jia smiled and replied, “Yes, I’ll only smile at my Yu’er in the future.”
Li Yu smiled angrily. “Who’s yours?”
Zhou Jia hurriedly said, “I belong to your family.”
The few children who were squeezed into the carriage laughed out loud,
“Oh! Oh! Mr. Zhou said that he will only smile at Sister Xiaoyu in the future.”
Li Yu blushed and threatened the child. “Don’t say it. If you say anything else, Mr. Zhou will chase you out of the cart!”
The children covered their mouths and nodded, looking at Li Yu with smiles.
A fair and chubby little boy crawled in front of Li Yu and said to her in a childish voice, “Sister Xiaoyu is so beautiful! When I grow up, I’ll marry you and make you my wife.”
Zhou Jia smiled and glared at him. “Little fatty, don’t snatch my wife.”
The little fatty looked at Zhou Jia and said unhurriedly, “Mr. Zhou, my mother said that I’m still young and can’t get a wife. When I grow up, I’ll marry Sister Xiaoyu.”
Li Yu smiled and asked him, “What’s your name? Whose baby are you?”
The fatty looked at Li Yu. “My mother calls me Little Bean. My father is Brother Zhong. My mother is Sister Yan.”
Li Yu, Zhou Jia, and the children all laughed. A young lady smiled and said to Li Yu, “Sister Li, he’s the youngest son of Uncle Zhong’s family.”
“Oh! Sit down obediently. Be careful not to fall.” Li Yu surrounded the children with a rope and made them sit down obediently. Looking at the withered weeds by the roadside and the withered tree trunks in the forest, she was secretly worried. This drought was more serious than she had expected. It would probably be difficult to have a stable life.
Everyone rushed for more than two hours before the team slowed down.
Zhou Jia looked at the drought along the way and looked at Li Yu. “It seems that we have to save water in the future. Along the way, the water everywhere has dried up.”
Li Yu frowned and said, “Is that so? The situation is even more serious than we expected. With the drought and the locust plague continuing, the refugees will finish their food reserves. If the Imperial Court doesn’t help them, the refugees will have no food and no way to obtain food. Great Yong is not far from chaos.”
After Zhou Jia heard Li Yu’s words, he was even more certain of his previous guess that Li Yu had a fortuitous encounter. This was because these insights were not something an ordinary woman could have.
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