If someone were to pass by this mountain road at this moment, they would surely be startled by the scene.
But this place is too remote, so only the two confronting parties were present.
You sneered and cursed at me.
I sneered and mocked you in turn.
In any case, one side would never let the other go, and vice versa.
Liu'er had already been thrown aside by Eighteenth Jin, sitting on the ground without the strength to cry out anymore, only weeping silently.
"It's all because I slept too soundly, it's all my fault for sleeping so deeply," she repeated in a murmur.
Having said that, she lifted her head and looked at the still confronting parties; after crying for half a day, her mind had cleared, and she saw the anger in the still-confused parties rising rapidly.
"Do you really want to find Miss Jun or not?" she shouted, jumping up, "Hurry and search for her! What's the point of bickering here!"
Search for her?
Are you asking me to search for her?
Is this girl foolish?
The person was clearly captured by them (hidden by them), wasn't she?
Both parties turned to look at Liu'er.
"It's been delayed for so long, if Miss was caught by wolves she would have been devoured by now!" Liu'er shrieked, picking up a knife scabbard from the ground that belonged to someone unknown, and began to ferociously lash out at Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin, "You useless fools, you utter wastes, Miss has raised you for nothing! If anything happens to Miss, none of you shall live!"
Eighteenth Jin normally couldn't be approached by three or five men, and although Lei Zhonglian was handicapped, he hadn't given up practicing; his left-hand skills had become even more formidable, especially since no one dared to confront him after returning from the battle in Runan.
But at this moment, as Liu'er, the young girl, was swinging the knife scabbard wildly without any technique, neither of the two had the heart to strike back and instinctively dodged.
The other guards and escorts didn't dare to defy Liu'er, and the Jinyiwei on Eighteenth Jin's side also didn't dare to help without a signal from him.
Perhaps this was a conspiracy.
They became even more wary and watched the others closely.
Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin lost their combat stance after being beaten, momentarily stupefied.
"Search quickly!" Liu'er shouted shrilly again.
Her sharp voice almost pierced the eardrums of everyone present.
"Search, search," Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin shouted subconsciously, gesturing at the same time.
The guards, escorts, and Jinyiwei present quickly scattered, taking a while along the grass and mountain roads before gradually coming to their senses.
"We're actually searching?" A few escorts whispered to each other.
They looked simultaneously at the Jinyiwei who were also seriously inspecting the road, and at Lei Zhonglian, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Eighteenth Jin, rummaging through a patch of grass.
"Lord Lei said to search, and to keep an eye on them, not believing they would leave without a trace," one guard whispered Lei Zhonglian's orders, also glancing at the Jinyiwei, "Maybe they're trying to destroy evidence while pretending to search."
The escorts nodded understandingly, not only continuing the search but also drawing closer to the several Jinyiwei.
Meanwhile, the four Jinyiwei on the other side had evidently received their instructions, sneering at the approaching escorts.
"Master Jin said, if they want to perform a play, let's play along with them. They're just trying to delay us; don't worry, nothing done can occur without leaving some trace," one of them whispered quietly, "Search."
The others nodded, stopped talking, and observed the approaching escorts.
The scene once again turned into a tense standoff.
"Search faster!" Liu'er's screech rose again as she stood by the roadside, waving the scabbard in her hand, "No slacking off!"
The standstill was shattered, and people on the mountain road sprang into action again.
Soon after, the urgent sounds of horse hooves approached, and a troop of anxious government soldiers arrived.
"Miss Jun is in trouble!" the general at the lead shouted.
Before meeting with the Jinyiwei, Lei Zhonglian had already agreed to send a message to the government soldiers.
After all, they were unfamiliar with this area, and the government soldiers would handle matters more conveniently.
Lei Zhonglian glanced at Eighteenth Jin beside him.
"Someone harbors ill intentions, having followed us for a thousand miles," he said calmly, "It's expected they would make a move at this time."
Eighteenth Jin let out a scoff.
"Some people think they're clever enough to travel a thousand miles alone, careful not to be too clever for their own good," he said nonchalantly.
What does that mean? I don't understand.
The generals looked at them, and also, who is this man? He took a couple more glances at Eighteenth Jin.
But it doesn't matter, he can't remember all of Miss Jun's escort escorts.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, then waved his hand, "I mean Miss Jun has had an accident, this is truly infuriating, those thieves are really audacious. But rest assured, we will definitely rescue Miss Jun safely."
What does that mean? I don't understand.
Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin looked at this general.
"What the hell, they even wrote a ransom letter," the general continued cursing, "This is insanity, they even dared to kidnap Miss Jun."
Ransom letter? Kidnap?
"What are you saying? Do you know what happened to Miss Jun?" Lei Zhonglian asked.
It was then he remembered that the general's first sentence exclaimed that Miss Jun had an accident, not as a question but in an exclamatory tone.
Logically, the guards who went there, according to instructions, would not detail what happened here, only that they needed to make a visit, but the general directly said Miss Jun had an accident. One could indeed guess that something happened to Miss Jun, but without knowing the details, the first sentence asked should be a question, right?
So he knew what had happened?
"Yes, we received a ransom letter, a bunch of thieves wrote that they kidnapped Miss Jun, and we need to collect money to exchange for her," the general said, taking out a letter and shaking it open.
As he spoke and shook out the letter, Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin, who were originally shocked, regained their calm instead.
Framing and plotting, that's all the Jinyiwei are capable of, Lei Zhonglian thought as he glanced at Eighteenth Jin.
A cicada sheds its shell, played all the way here, and this time playing a big game indeed, Eighteenth Jin looked back at Lei Zhonglian.
The two exchanged looks and both sneered.
"What are you doing!"
Liu'er's shout came from behind.
Lei Zhonglian and Eighteenth Jin simultaneously ducked to one side and swayed, Liu'er's scabbard hit nothing but air.
"Miss Liu'er," the general was already shouting busily, dismounting and handing over the letter.
Liu'er, not too concerned about missing the shot at these two failures, threw down the scabbard and grabbed the letter.
"It's a kidnapping! It's a ransom!" She quickly glanced over the letter, shouting shrilly, and turned to the guards, "Hurry up and get the money to exchange for her!"
............….
The shaky cart came to a stop, the straw covering her was lifted off, and Miss Jun involuntarily closed her eyes, reopening them to see three faces looking at her.
She had no chance to see their faces clearly last night, but now seeing them clearly, they turned out to be two men in their thirties, and an eleven or twelve-year-old boy.
With no chance, these two words flashed by, and Miss Jun's heart sank once more.
Since her rebirth for so long, this was the first time the words 'no chance' appeared.
Even when facing Lu Yunqi's madness, it was only a matter of not having a solution.
No solution and no chance are entirely different; no solution means there isn't a profitable way to solve the problem, but in fact, it was not impossible for her to kill Lu Yunqi.
While no chance means she couldn't do anything at all, she could only watch as these people emerged from the night, jumping in front of her with the agility of the Fire Gold Lady.
Her strangle array that even she couldn't afford to take lightly was as if it were just for show, and when she opened her eyes, the cold dagger was already pressed against her throat while her hands and mouth were restrained.
Her mouth and hands both hid deadly Hidden Weapons, but she did not even have a chance to blink.
She was picked up, leapt over the Array set up in the room with ease, removed the hidden arrows from the door curtain, passed over the sleeping horses, and brushed past the patrolling escort guards, disappearing into the night like a ghost.
Her consciousness faded with the rocking and she fell asleep, waking up to find herself lying in a flat cart, with firewood stacked haphazardly yet methodically to form a space on top, covered with fresh grass.
It shielded the bright daylight and did not feel stuffy, instead, the scent of grass lingered, making her feel quite comfortable with the swaying of the cart.
The faces in front of her were not beautiful; they were rough, simple, honest, and childlike, but at this moment, they did not bring any pleasure.
"Who are you?" Miss Jun asked.