Chapter 13: At the Crucial Moment

They no longer needed to go to Xingrong County town and turned south at the fork in the road. It was already past midnight, and they really could not hold on any longer, so they stopped to rest.

Build the fire, spread the blankets, feed the livestock — everyone worked together, and after eating steamed buns, men and women lay down separately and fell asleep. Xu Feiyan and Chen Miaomiao were next to Tian Mi.

Tonight, the night watchmen were Tian Dabiao and Uncle Chen.

“Sister Tian Mi, luckily we found you,” Tian Mi heard Xu Feiyan softly talking to herself in a daze.

“Otherwise, it would be so pitiful for Dad. Grandpa is gone, and Uncle has also passed; he cried quietly all by himself.”

If they couldn’t find Tian Dabiao again, he truly would have had no way back, and only had the path home left.

So when Uncle Xu was determined to split the family and left with most of the belongings with the people from the town, he said nothing when he took almost everything away. This parting was likely a forever goodbye.

Ah! The two brothers, harsh and especially unforgiving.

The attachment was deep and especially profound.

Tian Mi felt that she was becoming more and more immersed in this world, truly feeling the emotions of the people around her.

They had traveled smoothly for two days, and on the third day, after resting at noon, they had only set off for not even two miles in the evening when suddenly a group of refugees came running back in a frenzy, crying and shouting that the bandits were coming!

Everyone immediately got tense. Tian Dabiao and Uncle Xu quickly reacted, leading the group to run back. They didn’t run back in one direction but headed toward the foot of the mountain where they had rested at noon. Since they had families to take care of, they couldn’t run fast; hiding was relatively safer, and Tian Mi was responsible for covering the rear.

Uncle Xu urged them to drive the cart faster, saying, “Everyone must not speak; don’t make any noise.”

The women, while reminding their children, nervously started to jog along.

A wave of refugees surged in, blocking the road so that the carts couldn’t move. Tian Dabiao was getting anxious and shouted at the rushing refugees with a big knife in hand, “If you block my way, I will cut you down first!”

Those who couldn’t run quickly all got on the carts. Uncle Chen and a few others drove the carts toward the foot of the mountain, while Cui Dahu and several others urgently pulled the livestock and lean horses to run.

In fact, it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t tied; the animals would follow Tian Mi because they could drink from the spiritual spring only when following her.

Right now, it was not only them trying to hide, but also other refugees were trying to escape there, and the target was just too big.

But there was no way around it. You could urge others to run faster, not to block the way, but you couldn’t make it impossible for them to hide here. When they were here, a whole bunch of trembling disaster victims had already hidden away.

They were like startled birds, kneeling and saying, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!” upon seeing them holding big knives.

Uncle Xu said, “Don’t speak; we are from the escort agency and have come to hide from the bandits.”

Now, this was the only option: hiding first and assessing the situation later.

The women and children were placed at the back, while all the men, including Tian Mi and Xu Feiyan, held their big knives, ready for anything. Even the disaster victims nearby felt a bit safer seeing them like this.

Tian Mi looked at Xu Feiyan beside her and said, “You go back!”

In her memory, Xu Feiyan had only the skills of an amateur.

Xu Feiyan stubbornly replied, “I’ll fight alongside you!”

Tian Mi helplessly said, “I still need to protect you!”

Xu Feiyan hesitated for a moment, then took two steps back, but still held her knife tightly.

At that moment, the sound of hooves echoed outside, and more and more refugees frantically rushed this way. However, they came empty-handed, bringing only themselves. They didn’t know if this would attract the bandits or if the bandits might let them go since they carried nothing.

Unfortunately, they were overthinking! Hearing the increasingly loud sound of hooves, Tian Mi knew they couldn’t escape. There were even cries coming from behind them.

At such a life-and-death moment, there was no room for hesitation!

Tian Dabiao whispered, “Let’s catch them off guard!”

More than twenty bandits on horseback came galloping over, laughing loudly. Instead of the terrified cries from the victims they had expected, they saw the disaster victims charging at them with knives, and before they could react, three of their men fell off their horses, struggling to hold onto the reins and nearly falling off.

Tian Dabiao, Tian Mi, and Uncle Xu chopped at the horse legs and then charged toward the enemies. The ones who fell off their horses, Uncle Cui, Uncle Chen, and Second Uncle Cui, immediately moved to attack.

The remaining men took the opportunity to strike with their knives as the bandits had just stopped and were unsteady.

In an instant, eight people were either killed or injured, causing the others to panic and quickly raise their knives in resistance. Tian Dabiao attacked, and they had the advantage of height. Meanwhile, Tian Mi secretly took out her electric baton and turned it to the maximum. With a jab at the horse, both the horse and its rider trembled, giving Tian Dabiao the opportunity to strike.

Quickly regaining space, they moved on to the next target. They were just bandits, a bunch of cowardly thugs easily frightened by their intimidating stance. The bandits behind, terrified, attempted to turn back but were quickly caught up and repeatedly slashed.

Looking at the fallen bandits, either dead or wounded, and the horses standing or lying down, Uncle Xu said, “First, secure the horses!”

Tian Mi noticed that only her cousin and Xu Yunpeng were injured on their side. Xu Yunpeng had a shoulder injury, but fortunately, it wasn’t serious. Uncle Gong was currently stopping the bleeding and bandaging him.

Cousin was injured in the chest. Although the wound was not deep and did not hit any vital organs, it was quite long, extending from his shoulder to his chest, making it serious. Uncle Da was attending to his bleeding.

External wounds are prone to reopening with any movement, which is dangerous.

Especially since Cousin’s injury was on his chest, stopping the bleeding was difficult; it could only be stitched to heal.

Grandma, Aunt, and Cousin’s wife were all gathered around him, anxiously crying.

“Huaian, Huaian, you must be okay!”

Cousin had never experienced such pain before, and he was sweating profusely.

“I’m fine, don’t be afraid. Go take care of the children, don’t look at the wound,” he gritted his teeth and calmly said.

Tian Mi pretended to take out needle and thread for stitching from her small bag. Then, using the spiritual water from her water pouch to wash her hands, she said to Uncle Da, who was anxiously trying to stop the bleeding, “Uncle, my mother used to stitch wounds for injured people to help stop the bleeding, and it doesn’t open easily. She taught me how.”

At such a time, she could only mention her mother.

All Uncle Da could do was apply medicine and cover it; the location made it challenging to bandage.

Having studied medicine since he was young, Uncle Da knew that further blood loss could be serious. He was sweating profusely, his hands shaking, and he looked at Tian Mi with watery eyes.

“Really?”

Tian Mi nodded firmly. At such a critical moment, she couldn’t back down. Everyone here was her family, especially her maternal grandparents and Uncle Xu, Uncle Cui, and the others.

Uncle Da continued to press firmly on Cousin’s wound, making room for Tian Mi.

Tian Mi first used the spiritual water to clean the wound, then applied the hemostatic powder. Uncle Da used both hands to gently press on the other side of the wound to reduce the bleeding.

Tian Mi was quite skilled at stitching; her father had personally guided her in learning. What could she use to relieve the pain? She had some pain relief spray, but that couldn’t be used here; they weren’t fools, after all, and she couldn’t use it openly while stitching.

“It will hurt a bit when stitching. How about giving Cousin some anesthetic powder?”

Uncle Da brought over a handkerchief to cover Cousin’s nose, and before long, he was asleep.

Quick and efficient!

She stitched him up carefully, and sure enough, the wound stopped bleeding. Her grandmother and the others had forgotten to cry and were focused on watching her work. It wasn’t until she finished stitching that Uncle Da awoke from his shock, amazed by how skilled she was.

As Uncle Da examined the stitched wound, he said, “Mi’er, this skill of yours is life-saving! The effect is really good!”

He even wanted to pry open the wound to see inside, but was slapped by Aunt Da, who gave him a stern look.

Hahaha!

“Uncle, once we settle down in a safe place, I’ll teach you. With more practice, you’ll master it quickly.”

Uncle Da happily replied, “Great! Thank you so much!”

“What’s there to say in a family?”

Seeing that Chen Huaian was no longer injured, Tian Dabiao felt relieved and said, “Exactly, family doesn’t say these things; after all, his mother is a girl from the Chen family.”

Xu Yunpeng pouted, feeling wronged, and said, “Shouldn’t we stitch up the lightly injured ones too?”

This drew laughter from the crowd!