EBE Chapter 429 The Playboy's Divorced Woman 25
Chapter 429 The Playboy's Divorced Woman 25
People have to bow their heads under the eaves.
Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu were both behaving themselves at this moment.
The people here are generally very relaxed. This house was probably built by previous residents and used immediately after they arrived. It must have been here for some time now, and there's a strong sense of daily life.
In this short time, many bandits had already turned their gazes toward Xie Qingyu.
Especially after the bandit leader left for a while, those people practically stuck to Xie Qingyu.
Realizing this, Gu Shenbai tried to shift his position to shield Xie Qingyu, but it was to no avail.
His hands and feet were tied, leaving him in a very passive position.
"They've already left the city gate, and they're definitely heading north, with dozens of soldiers following behind them..." someone reported back.
"The garrison soldiers are fine, so we won't show up. We'll just send a horse to deliver the message. You all need to be smart too. You don't need to go, just follow along. Once the person is released, just leave." They discussed these things so casually in front of Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu.
Hearing that they were still planning to release the people put my mind at ease.
But this peace of mind didn't last long.
"Boss, it seems like people are coming from the mountain!" someone rushed back to report.
"What's going on? Where did they come from? Didn't those people just leave the city?" The bandit leader asked anxiously.
"I didn't see anyone, but the messenger just said that the two traps down the mountain were stepped on."
"Are you sure it's a person?" the gang leader asked, then realized what he meant and said, "Pack them up."
Then he turned around and glared at Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu, "Tie them up!"
Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu were tied to the horse in a very rough manner. They were simply thrown onto the horse and tied up. Xie Qingyu's feet were not tied, so she could sit on the horse with her legs apart, maintaining some dignity. Gu Shenbai, on the other hand, was lying on the horse with the rope tied to his back.
This posture would be extremely uncomfortable for a horse to run in, but clearly no one cared about his treatment at this moment.
Upon hearing that someone was coming, these people reacted swiftly, almost instantly becoming alert.
They couldn't ride horses and had to walk down the mountain. Horses were difficult to traverse on the mountain and were only used to transport Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu.
However, they didn't see the horse they had ridden when they arrived. The horses here must have been trained by them; they were very obedient.
They led the two down the mountain from the other side, and soon they encountered another messenger. This time, the messenger was not reporting on the situation at the foot of the mountain, but rather that someone had indeed come from the mountain.
We cannot determine the purpose of the visitor, nor whether it is related to Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu.
For the time being, no one was pointing the finger at them, and the bandit leader was thinking about how to deal with the current situation.
"I'm not sure how many there are, but it shouldn't be as many as us. I reckon it's only a small group, and I don't know what they're looking for up the mountain," the messenger said.
The bandit leader slapped him. "What can you possibly be looking for up the mountain? This godforsaken place, where else would you find anyone but us? They're definitely here to find us!"
"I think we can fight," one person said.
“Yeah, there are plenty of us, why should we hide?” someone chimed in.
"Are you stupid? We could exchange some money and run away, why would we do something like this?" The bandit leader pointed at Gu Shenbai and said to Xie Qingyu.
They had previously taken two hundred taels from Gu Shenbai, which was more than they had robbed several merchants. If they could get the two thousand taels ransom, they wouldn't have to worry about anything and could live like lords in a secluded place.
The bandit leader was unwilling to let anything else disrupt his plans; he only wanted to take Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu there to exchange money for goods.
"Could they be people who came to rescue them?" Someone pointed at Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu.
"Impossible. We have brothers all along the road from the city to here. If someone were to come, they would naturally know."
"Hurry up and go!" the bandit leader urged.
He had no attachment to this place whatsoever.
Gu Shenbai was uncomfortable being tied up on the horse, and Xie Qingyu, with her hands tied, couldn't maintain her balance and had to crawl forward on the horse. Neither of them could communicate.
He listened to everything they said and knew the situation on this side.
"Someone!"
"who!"
"Bandits!"
"......"
"Get 'em!"
The way down the mountain was not smooth, so they took a different route and happened to run into people going up the mountain by chance.
Gu Shenbai had to tilt his head to see what was happening over there. He saw a group of people coming up and running into them, and they immediately started fighting.
"Brother Gu, hang in there!" someone shouted from the other side!
Xie Qingyu could see the face of the person who had come over; the one fighting with someone was Cai Kun.
He brought about a dozen or so other men with him, all dressed in similar clothes; they were probably all bodyguards from the Cai family.
They are currently locked in combat with the bandits.
The Cai family members were all skilled bodyguards who had traveled all over the country. They were not just for show; they had encountered many bandits like this on their escort routes and were never at a disadvantage in a fight.
These bandits became even more ruthless.
People like them are doomed if they're caught; they're willing to risk their lives for anything.
For a moment, it was impossible to tell who would win.
Once the fighting started, no one paid any attention to the two people still tied to their horses.
Gu Shenbai straightened up and tried to see the current situation.
In the midst of the chaos, fireworks suddenly went off from somewhere.
"Fuck you!"
Fireworks signal the news.
Whether it was placed by the Cai family or the bandits, it was all meant to entice people to this side.
There should still be half of these bandits scouting ahead. If they had come this way first, the situation would have changed drastically.
The Cai family has no idea if they have any backup plans, or if they have divided their forces into several groups.
However, it is possible that someone might see the signal and rush over, or even that the First Madam might see the fireworks and realize that something is going on here.
So the situation is quite dangerous now, it all depends on which side can get someone over first.
Although Cai Kun was strong enough to fight two people at once, he couldn't keep up with the bandits' reckless fighting style, so he could only fight them together and couldn't spare any attention to Gu Shenbai's situation or get close enough to untie the ropes.
The bandits were ruthless, and soon some of the Cai family's bodyguards fell to the ground. However, some of the bodyguards on this side were experienced and managed to subdue some of the bandits.
Upon closer inspection, it's astonishing how evenly matched the two groups were going at it.
However, the situation soon changed.
Two scouts heard the signal and rushed over to join the melee.
The Cai family members fell down at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Just when it seemed like things were about to collapse, other footsteps finally appeared.
The sound of hurried footsteps approached, and anyone would know that so many people weren't bandits, but rather...
Almost the instant the footsteps were heard, someone had already set their sights on Gu Shenbai and Xie Qingyu.
The bandit leader lunged forward, mounted his horse, and rode away.
The remaining bandits only had two horses to ride, so they mounted them and tried to escape.
One horse and one person, three horses galloped out.
The bandit sat directly on Gu Shenbai's back and spurred the horse.
With the hostages in our hands, there is still hope.
However, the weight of three people is simply too much for one horse to bear.
The bandit leader untied Xie Qingyu's ropes with his bare hands and threw her onto a horse. The rider caught Xie Qingyu and climbed onto the horse's back, just like Gu Shenbai, except that she was no longer bound.
"Brother Gu!" Upon seeing this, Cai Kun immediately tried to rush over to snatch the horse, but he was too late and couldn't catch up at all. Moreover, in that moment of hesitation, he was poked by the person next to him. Even though he reacted quickly and dodged, he was still injured.
From Gu Shenbai's angle, he could only see the scene of his injury, but he didn't know the specific extent of the injury.
Although they managed to break through the encirclement on horseback, the horses couldn't run fast on the mountain; they were only slightly faster than the people.
After throwing Xie Qingyu out, the bandit leader sat on the horse, with Gu Shenbai behind him.
He rode his horse to find a way out.
But they couldn't find them; the ones who had just arrived near them were the garrison soldiers.
They could avoid the local soldiers, but they couldn't avoid the densely packed government troops at the foot of the mountain. No matter where they went, government troops would come.
"Boss, there are people here too!"
"Can't leave."
"Pull back!!! There's a cliff ahead!"
With the sound of two horses neighing, they finally arrived at a cliff.
Below was a bottomless cliff. Looking around, government troops were already approaching. Their military armor and weapons clearly indicated that they were a well-trained force. The bandits' weapons were simply ineffective at this point.
"Everyone back off, or I'll kill him!" The bandit leader immediately dismounted and placed his knife against Gu Shenbai's neck.
His words successfully stopped the soldiers who were approaching.
"Bring the person in charge here. You give us the money, we'll give you the people, and we'll settle things immediately!" the bandit leader said gruffly.
Xie Qingyu was also pulled off her horse, and a knife was placed against her neck as well.
Not long after, Lord Gu arrived.
He calmly observed the scene before him and said loudly, "We brought silver with us. How much silver do you want?"
"Two thousand taels, not a penny less!"
“Alright!” Lord Gu agreed immediately. “But you’ll have to wait a bit. The money is with my wife. She was going to the north of the city to collect the money, and she’ll be there soon.”
"Fifteen minutes. Don't try any tricks. If you don't see the money in fifteen minutes, I'll push one of you down," the bandit leader threatened directly.
"Okay, no problem, we'll definitely see the money." Lord Gu's tone was confident, as if two thousand taels was just a small amount and there was absolutely no problem with it.
The bandit leader's emotions were calmed down, and Gu Shenbai was even taken off his horse so that he could finally stand up.
The jolting on horseback made every bone in Gu Shenbai's body ache, and he could barely stand.
Before the First Madam arrived, the atmosphere here was relatively safe.
But an unexpected event occurred just as the First Madam arrived.
An arrow whistled out of the woods, missing the man but striking a horse nearby.
The horse, wounded, galloped wildly. The bandit, enraged, drew blood from the knife he held to Gu Shenbai's neck. "Damn it!"