Chapter 184: The Bandits
The Auntie’s voice was full of worry, and she kept looking in one certain direction.
[Try to find out what’s there.] Xiao Qingya told the Ling siblings.
The Ling siblings disappeared for a while.
Zhou Wenzhi had a neutral look on his face. "How much is your rent per day?"
The woman pursed her lip, and she quoted a price that was neither too low nor high if her house were to be used to house so many of them.
Zhou Wenzhi secretly studied the woman’s expression, and determined it was rather genuine. The reason he had asked for her to say a price was because he wanted to see the look on her face.
So far, she didn’t seem to be lying.
Although she had a kind intention, based on her house’s condition, it was normal for her to charge a fee. She definitely would need it to fix some parts of her house.
So far, Zhou Wenzhi found her believable because she didn’t deliberately make it free or insisting they needed to stay at her house by exaggerating the danger.
"Near the other side of our village..." she lowered her voice. "There are always ghosts appearing... and also bandits."
Xiao Qingya’s curiosity was piqued when she heard about the ghosts.
Zhou Wenzhi paid for a day’s rent, letting his daughters and grandchildren enter the house first. He and Guo Tianliang immediately took care of the carriage and horses before they also joined with others.
Not long after, the Ling siblings also returned.
[Little Master!] They all had anxious expressions on their faces. [There is really a danger during the night as soon as someone passes by that place. They will rob whoever crosses the road!]
The little one’s expression turned incredibly grave.
[These people who lived in this village might be one of these bandits too.] Ling Yu added.
Xiao Qingya subconsciously turned to the middle-aged auntie who was giving them food and drink, already fussing over the dinner.
She had two sons around Xiao Jingran’s age who helped her bring things over.
[This Auntie...]
Fortunately, the Ling siblings shook their heads. [Master, most of the bandits are males. If it’s a female, it’s usually their wives or even a victim.]
They both still scanned the woman’s two sons and determined that the place was actually safe to stay.
[As long as we don’t catch these people’s attention, it should be safe.] The Ling siblings added.
However, they didn’t seem to know Xiao Qingya’s worries. Everything that the system made into a mission was determined it would happen.
So, no matter what, they would still be targeted by the bandits.
[We can’t know for sure.] Xiao Qingya shook her head. [It’s still better to be careful.]
She turned to Xiao Jingran and made sure that he had listened to the Ling siblings’ words. He nodded at her gently, as though he was reassuring her.
When it was late at night, the house owner and her sons had already gone to bed, so the family gathered.
Xiao Jingran told them the information he had gained from the Ling siblings, and didn’t forget to emphasize.
"These bandits might still target us, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Our other carriage is filled with a lot of our items, and it’s easily noticeable..."
They all had a grave expression, nodding in agreement at every word he uttered, especially Xiao Fenghao and Xiao Yuxi.
With the combination of Han Tingxun’s subordinate and their own brother’s teaching, it didn’t take long before their martial art skills improved by leaps and bounds.
Even Xiao Yuxi now could deal with one adult man.
She had restrained one before in the county’s market when a homeless man was stealing at the stall beside their Xiao family’s stall. The owner of that stall was an old woman with a head full of white hair.
Seeing a man stealing from such a helpless grandmother ignited her anger that she just beat up the thief until he cried for his mother.
"Do they possess any martial art skills?" Xiao Jingran asked the Ling siblings.
The Ling siblings shook their heads. [Master Jingran, they are the gathering of wicked people, only good at bullying people.]
[The bandits would always avoid groups of people with a heavy number of guards.]
So, they might be able to catch these people off guard and send them to the local authorities.
Xiao Qingya, who was sleeping in her mother’s lap, was awakened by the discussion. She rubbed her eyes sleepily.
At this moment, Xiao Qingya couldn’t help but ponder sleepily. [Is it really that simple? There is a task for such a thing and the difficulty is always not something to be brushed off lightly...]
After she said that, she went back dozing off to sleep.
However, her words successfully woke up her family members out of their fantasy. Just like she had said, things might not be so simple this time if the system deliberately assigned it as a mission.
"We still have to be careful." Zhou Wenzhi said sternly. "Protect your own safety first."
"Just in case, we will start travelling again after the sun rises high in the sky." He added.
Broad daylights might make the bandit think twice before they act, even though the possibility was too small.
In the next morning, the Zhou and Xiao family really waited for a while until the weather grew slightly hot before they set off.
The Auntie still kindly reminded them.
"After you pass this village, drive the carriage as fast as possible," she said as she sent them off.
They thanked each other before the two families rode in the carriage again.
The moment the families passed by the village, it was incredibly quiet, but... Xiao Jingran could feel that several people were lying in wait in the trees and bushes.
[Host, it’s bad. There are a lot of bandits here! We are severely outnumbered.]
A few moments later, they could feel that something was off. The carriage had toppled over.
Then, numerous bandits swarmed over.