"Don't you think I wanted to intercept him? I was afraid of offending people we couldn't afford to offend. You see, even though we rob and pillage here every day, the county magistrate and the city garrison turn a blind eye. It's simply because our interests haven't been encroached upon. If he were the son of some important family, you'd see how diligently they'd act." To the bandit leader, Wu Caiwei was just a bag of silver. Honestly, letting him go made his heart ache with greed. But some people were untouchable.
"For so many years, we've squeezed the nearby villagers dry. If we continue like this, they'll starve, and we'll have no income. Our reputation must have spread by now, or why else would no one pass through here lately except for large escorts? My brothers haven't eaten meat in months. This can't go on. We might as well pull off one big score, kidnap him, and get a ransom to move elsewhere." He kept coming back to the same point; the man just wouldn't let him go.
The bandit leader hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and nodded. The next moment, the burly man with the fierce face signaled his brothers, and they appeared before Wu Caiwei.
"Who are you? You're not… you're not bandits from the mountains around here, are you? Is what they told me true? I thought they were just trying to scare me into not leaving home. If I'd known, I wouldn't have run away from home." Wu Caiwei slapped her forehead with a look of regret.
"Since you know who we are, you'll have to come with us." The burly man with the fierce face was the second-in-command of this stronghold. He said to her without any courtesy.
"Where… where are we going?" Her whole body trembled visibly, then she brightened. "You're not going to send me home, are you? Yes, that must be it! If you send me home safely, I'll have my father give you a reward. My father is Liu Banci of Huzhou. Do you know what Banci means? It means half the shops in Huzhou belong to our Liu family. Just think how much the reward will be!" Su Dan's novel website.
Hearing this, the men couldn't help but swallow. Although Huzhou was a bit far from here, as long as there was money, anything was negotiable.
The men exchanged glances. A young man stepped forward and shouted, "Get down quickly and come to our stronghold to stay for a while. As long as your father pays the ransom obediently, we'll guarantee your safety. If you tell a single lie, your head will be forfeit!"
"You… you're kidnapping me? I'm the eldest young master of the Liu family! You can't treat me like this." Wu Caiwei was anxious.
The second-in-command felt that this young master from a wealthy family was troublesome, whining like a woman. He quickly stepped forward, yanked her off the horse. Because he used too much force, she didn't stand when she landed and sat down on the ground with a thud. She gasped in pain, looking at them with tear-filled eyes as if they had bullied him.
The second-in-command suddenly felt a pang of guilt, thinking he must be crazy. He slapped his face hard, ignored the strange looks from the others, and grabbed a rope to tie her up.
"It hurts… it hurts… be gentler." Wu Caiwei gasped and struggled.
Although the man looked impatient, he felt more at ease. It made him more convinced of her identity. In this era, only rich young masters were so pampered.
Thus, the bandits' ears suffered all the way. They could always hear Wu Caiwei complaining, either about the difficult road or about her legs being sore and unable to walk, wanting to rest. If it weren't for the promise of money, they would have really wanted to beat him soundly.
They walked and stopped along the way. The journey that usually took them an hour took a full two hours. This little ancestor, who had started by complaining about being tired, was now constantly complaining about being hungry. They were going back in the afternoon, and everyone was starving. If they hadn't been escorting him, how could they have ended up in this predicament? He looked at them resentfully, as if they were deliberately withholding food from him.
The group felt a surge of frustration. Fortunately, the walls of the stronghold were already in sight. They would be free soon. Wu Caiwei was pushed and shoved by them as she entered the mountain stronghold.
Back in their territory, everyone subconsciously relaxed their vigilance, and smiles of contentment appeared on their faces. "Quickly bring out the food; we're starving."
As quick as lightning, a sudden change occurred. Wu Caiwei, who had just been bound hand and foot, somehow had a small dagger in her hand. She quickly cut through the ropes, grabbed a bamboo pole nearby, and knocked them all down one by one.
The bandits were filled with fear. This was the first time they had encountered such a terrifying opponent. Although they had encountered tough opponents before, at least there had been a fierce battle, and the opponent hadn't come out unscathed. They didn't know how this young master had attacked, but they all ended up on the ground, unable to get up for a long time. It was too bizarre.
Walking for two hours had indeed been tiring. Wu Caiwei spotted a stool not far away. As she stepped forward, the women looked at her warily and slowly retreated.
Wu Caiwei brought the stool over and admired their pained expressions up close. When she attacked earlier, she had been very skillful, knowing exactly where to hit to cause extreme pain without leaving visible wounds. She had tested it on them, and the results were very satisfactory.
"Young master, you followed us all the way to the stronghold with great effort. What is your purpose?" By this point, the bandit leader knew that everything had been an act. His goal was to get here. Otherwise, when they had blocked him earlier, he could have escaped. Why had he lingered with them for so long?
"Naturally, I cannot stand your oppression of the common people and wish to teach you a lesson." Wu Caiwei sat on the stool, looking down at them disdainfully.
"If we could live a decent life, who would choose to be a bandit? It's just that the world doesn't allow us to survive." The bandit leader spoke with some sadness. He had once been a镖头 (escort leader). While he was on the road, his family lived in the countryside. Escorting was a dangerous profession, and he could have lost his life at any moment. After his last escort job, he happily returned home, intending to live a peaceful life with his wife and no longer worry her.
To his surprise, when he returned to his hometown, his family was destroyed. He learned from the villagers that a minor official in the county had taken a fancy to his wife. His wife refused him to the death, and in a fit of rage, the official fabricated an excuse and beat them to death.
That night, filled with fury, he took his great saber and severed the small official's head. But there was nowhere left in the world for him to go.
Fleeing to the vicinity of these mountains, he encountered this group of bandits robbing him. He decided to subdue them and become the bandit leader himself.