Chapter 309: Chapter 311 - Menghu Mountain (4)

Two women came out from the side of the Menghu Mountain. These two women were pretty good-looking. Even though they wore coarse clothes, they were still very clean.

Zijin was full of anger and had nowhere to vent. She could only look coldly at Zisu and said, “You should go up first. Don’t let them damage the things inside the carriage.”

The shorter one of the two women glared at Zijin when she heard this, but Zijin glanced coldly at her back. “If you damage the things inside, don’t blame me for being rude.” This time, he would hate to cut off the hands and feet of these two female bandits as it would only dirty their carriage.

The short woman was somewhat scared of Zijin’s skill. Hence, she gingerly climbed into the carriage. When she looked at the contents of the carriage, her eyes were full of awe.

The two women fumbled around in the carriage for a while, knocking east and west, and finally, the taller woman called out, “Great Leader, this carriage has a hidden compartment!” If these people placed things inside the hidden compartment, then the items must be something good.

As soon as the taller woman uttered these words, Luo Shuigui’s group raised their weapons. In response, the Menghu Mountain’s side was also ready to fight. At this moment, the situation went back to an emergency state.

Lu Kai looked at Yuxi and said with a smile, “Miss Han, if you don’t keep your promise, then don’t blame us for not keeping our word.”

Yuxi looked at Lu Kai and asked, “Who are you?” This person not only had a deep mind but also seemed to be eager to capture her to be a hostage. It appeared that this person either had a grudge against the Han family or Yun Qing.

Lu Kai said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter who I am, Miss Han. Do you give us all the things inside this carriage or not? If not, then don’t blame us for not being polite.”

Yuxi looked back at Great Leader Yi and saw that the other party did not say anything. Then she changed her sight towards the Menghu Mountain people rubbing their fists and wiping their palms. She knew that it was impossible not to give them those things. “Zijin, carry out the chests.”

Zijin was reluctant as she argued, “No, Miss. Didn’t the Lady have saved these things for you for more than ten years? If you give them to these people, wouldn’t that be a waste of the Lady’s efforts?” If they just gave away the things, these people would be suspicious.

Yuxi clutched the hem of her dress tightly, showing that she was struggling inside.

Zisu was also full of tears as she begged, “Miss, this dowry is the foundation of your life. Without these things, what will you do in the future, Miss?”

When Han Ji heard this, he shouted, “Miss, you can’t just give it to them for nothing. If the worst comes to worst, let’s fight them to the death. If they kill one of us, we will kill two of them to show them that we’re not joking.” To others and people like him who did not know the truth, they thought the hidden compartment inside the carriage had the most valuable things, while the other carts were just to confuse the public. If those thieves took these things, there would be nothing left for his Miss.

In response, Chief Huang said, “Great Leader Yi, a woman’s marriage life depends on her dowry. Isn’t it too unkind for you to take away all the things that Miss Han has to rely on in the future?”

Lu Kai coldly snorted. “This is what she just promised herself.”

When Yuxi heard these words, she knew that this person did not want to let her go at all. Yuxi closed her eyes, opened them again after a while, and said to Zijin in an unquestionable tone, “People are more important than things. Just give them those things.” Luckily, they had changed the stuff inside the compartment. Otherwise, it would have been a significant loss.

Zijin looked at Great Leader Yi and Lu Kai with her eyes full of killing intent. For them to force her Miss like this, she would surely kill them one day.

Zijin took one small and two large chests out of the carriage.

As soon as the chests came out, they caught everyone’s attention, and these people didn’t know what rare treasures were in them.

The two women came out of the carriage towards Great Leader Yi, and Lu Kai reported, “Great Leader, Military Counsellor, there is no more stuff inside.”

Yuxi looked at the burning heat in the eyes of the Menghu Mountain people, and then she looked at Lu Kai. Her mind turned for a moment and then said, “Mama Qu, please come over and take out all the things from inside the chests.”

Lu Kai’s intuition told him that Yuxi was up to no good, so he immediately put a stop to it. “Qin Gu, bring the things over.” After saying that, he said to Yuxi, “Miss Han, give us all the things, and we will let you go.”

Yuxi did not take his words for it, as she tried to reason out, “I just want to take one last look, and after that, I will give them all to you guys.”

Zijin used the knife in her hand to break the key of the small chest. This thing would not be theirs anymore anyway, and if it were already damaged, then she would just let it stay damaged.

Mama Qu, Mama Xi and the others took out the jewellery boxes from the first chest. After they opened them up, they put them on the ground—several small jewellery boxes laid in a row.

Under the sunlight, jewellery pieces inside the eight small jewellery boxes emitted a blinding light. In particular, the exquisite head ornament bestowed by Yuchen, produced by the Imperial Household Department and the pair of jade ruyi from Song Guifei. Not to mention women, even the men’s eyes were shining. No matter how illiterate people were, when they saw these kinds of things, they also knew that they were worth old money.

The crowd looked at the bigger chests, eager to know what was inside. Yuxi did not let them down as she looked at Zijin.

Zijin opened one of the big chests with a cold face. The second chest was not filled with gold or silver jewellery but a blueish-green phoenix crown Yuxi would use for her wedding. When Yuxi said to fill the chest with inks and inkstones that day, she was merely joking. Anyone knew that one would place only precious items in a sandwiched compartment. If she put one or two pieces of inks and inkstones, that would be normal. However, if she put too much, that would not be normal.

When the woman called Qin Gu looked at such a gorgeous and rich phoenix crown, her eyes couldn’t stay focused. There were so many thumb-sized pearls on it. Just one was enough for her family to chew for a year. These rich people deserved to die. As the wealthy families enjoyed exotic food from mountains and seas every day while dressed in gold and silver, the poor ones did not even have enough food to eat. They were also exploited and oppressed by the riches.

But all the cynicism in her heart dissipated at once under Zijin’s eyes that were full of murderous intent.

However, Lu Kai wasn’t blinded by these things and said, “Miss Han is Duke Han’s most beloved sister. How can Miss only have this much dowry?” It was much less than he had expected. Yuxi must have hidden the rest elsewhere.

Yuxi looked at Lu Kai, with the corners of her mouth full of mockery. “Naturally, there are more than this. Half of them have been left at home. If you have the ability, you can go to my house to grab them.”

Great Leader Yi felt that to take all these were already good enough. Just when he wanted to open his mouth, Lu Kai spoke first before he could. “Everyone, check everything. If you have no private stash, then we will let you pass.”

Chief Huang took his stand as he questioned, “Great Leader Yi, when did the rules of Menghu Mountain become like this? Also, I would like to ask, are you the Great Leader, or is it this man?” It seemed that the change in the Menghu Mountain happened because of this person.

Heizi looked at Lu Kai and warned, “Don’t look for an excuse to snatch those herbs. Since I promised to let them take the herbs away, I will stick to my words.” He couldn’t tolerate this sinister gentleman, but the Great Leader had special trust in him. When Heizi thought about it, he felt depressed.

Great Leader Yi finally spoke, “Just put those things down, and let them go.”

Finally, the things were left behind. Except for two large carts of medicinal herbs, Yuxi’s wedding clothes and books, and the daily clothes worn by everyone, everything else was robbed by the Menghu Mountain people.

With them losing so many things, Zisu felt so distressed that she started to weep. It seemed like her tears streamed down as much as the money they had lost. “If the Lady knows about this, how sad will she be!”

In Yuxi’s heart, she believed it was fortunate that she did not listen to her mother. Otherwise, the loss would have been even greater. “Since those things are gone, let them be gone, as long as everyone is safe and sound.” Although it was a little more thrilling, no one was injured. [+]

Zisu wiped her tears and complained, “Forget about the others; they even took the phoenix crown away. These people are too hateful.”

Yuxi responded helplessly, “How could they let go of the gold, silver and pearls inlaid on the phoenix crown?” She knew that these bandits would not give it up and did not even bother to talk more about it. If it was gone, then it was gone. She still had her wedding dress, head covering and the wedding quilt.

When Zijin saw Zisu kept on crying, she became a little cranky and coldly scolded her, “What’s the use of crying? Can you snatch those things back by just crying?” This feeling of powerlessness truly made her feel terrible.

Yuxi knew why Zijin was angry and consoled, “The enemy is strong while I am weak. We have to endure it.” The other side had come with hundreds of people, and these people also had archers. Fighting with them could only result in heavy death and injury on their side.

Zijin said, “I know. I just feel so useless.” She was depressed that she couldn’t protect Yuxi.

Hearing this, Yuxi couldn’t help laughing as she said afterwards, “If you are useless, then I won’t have no one else to rely on. Alright, don’t think much about it. Right now, you have to cheer up. It does not mean that the danger is over even after we passed through the Menghu Mountain.”

When Zijin heard this, her whole body went cold. She asked, “Miss, is it possible that these bandits are still not willing to let us go?” If the bandits dared to come at them again, they would have to kill them all.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “No. I just think that the scholar-like man is the only one unwilling. I’m suspicious of him, and that man is bent on capturing me to the mountain fortress as a hostage.” As for why he wanted to do so, the reason was not apparent for the time being.

When Zijin thought about it, she also had the same feeling for that man. “The man called the Great Leader Yi seems to be very convinced of him. If Miss hadn’t pushed with Miss’ death and said that Yun Qing would avenge Miss, he wouldn’t have given up the idea of catching Miss.”

Yuxi thought for a moment and called for Chief Huang. “Who is that white-faced scholar-like man? Why do I feel that he has full of malice towards me.”

Chief Huang shook his head and said, “I don’t think this man has been here long. I passed by here in the fourth lunar month last year, and there had not been such a person then.” Thus, Chief Huang didn’t have any details on this person.

Yuxi’s face was a bit gloomy as she urged, “Let’s speed up and get out of here.” She always had a feeling that something else would happen next.

A group of people from Menghu Mountain returned to the mountain fortress and moved everything they had robbed into the hall. Lu Kai looked at the food and clothing that filled half of the hall. Unfortunately, they were all of little value. Lu Kai wondered, “Great Leader, I always feel that these pieces of jewellery are too little. How can a young miss from the state residence only bring these much to her wedding? She should have at least brought along 20 to 30 boxes?”

Great Leader Yi asked, “Do you mean they had placed the other jewellery inside the medicinal herbs carts?” At that time, because of Heizi’s disapproval in taking the medicinal herbs, he felt it was not good to force them to leave the herbs carts behind.

Lu Kai nodded and said, “Great Leader, let me bring a hundred brothers and make sure to get those gold and silver jewellery.”

Great Leader Yi shook his head and said, “These things are already enough to support the mountain fortress for a while, so there is no need to kill them for them.” Great Leader Yi did not want to have a feud with Yun Qing. The so-called God of Killing, not to mention bringing a few thousand people with him, just by bringing 700 or 800 people over would be enough to destroy them. Moreover, Great Leader Yi always felt that they should not do anything else to those people. Otherwise, there would not even be a way back for themselves.

Lu Kai’s eyes showed hostility, but he could not continue to persuade the Great Leader since he had already made up his mind. At that time, he said with a smile, “Since Great Leader has said so, then we can just let them go!” If they couldn’t do it in the open, they could still do it in the dark!