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Chapter 95: Danger

After leaving Qinghe County, Wen Ruyu and her group traveled by land for a few days.

Once they passed a mountain and entered the next county town, they planned to switch to water transport. At that point, they’d need to rent boats and rest for a couple of days in town.

Lu Jinnian’s servant, Huan’er, was also traveling with them.

But the master was melancholy and love-struck, sighing all day long, and that made Huan’er lose interest in everything too.

One day, Huan’er stepped away from the carriage and went to chat with Iron Hammer.

“This back-and-forth travel seems pointless. Why not just keep going by land? Why take land and then switch to water? I heard there are river bandits nowadays, and they’re great swimmers. If we run into them and can’t fight back, and we’re outnumbered, being trapped on water is basically a death sentence, isn’t it?”

Iron Hammer turned his head to look at him but said nothing.

Seeing Iron Hammer give him a “you silly fool” kind of look, Huan’er asked, “What?”

Iron Hammer sighed and asked in return, “Do you have Wu Song’s strength?”

Huan’er didn’t answer, still confused about what Iron Hammer meant.

Iron Hammer’s wife walked over and handed him a pancake. She explained, “A few days ago, the bodyguards we hired said there’s a mountain near the next county that’s known to have tigers. Over the past few years, several travelers have been eaten there. People who know about it all avoid that route.”

Iron Hammer added, “So tell me—what’s scarier? River bandits or man-eating tigers?”

Besides, this water route was one Lu Songnian had taken before when heading north. It wasn’t considered that dangerous.

And think about it—bandits just want money, maybe a bit of lust. If you run into ruthless ones and give them what they want, they might spare your life.

But a tiger? It’ll eat you whole—you won’t even get a chance to argue.

Hearing that, Huan’er pouted a bit. “So what if there’s a tiger? Why bring up Wu Song?”

Iron Hammer took a bite of his pancake and laughed. “Everyone’s been talking about this for days. You just haven’t been paying attention, always zoning out, so I had to tease you a bit.”

Huan’er couldn’t help thinking that maybe he had been out of it. But wasn’t it just because his master was acting weird?

Iron Hammer’s wife lightly slapped his back. “Be nice to your brother, don’t tease him too much. I’ll scold you later.”

Iron Hammer then said, rubbing his shoulder, “Driving the carriage these past days has really made my shoulders sore.”

His wife replied, “I’ll get you that herbal patch later.”

“What patch?” he asked.

“That one from the Tianli sect—the miracle cure-all.”

“Oh, please. We only bought a few patches, and your brother hasn’t even used his. That stuff can’t even cure hemorrhoids, let alone everything else.”

She laughed at that too. Thankfully, her brother hadn’t spent too much on it.

“But hey, while it might not fix hemorrhoids, it works wonders for back pain. I’ll bring it later and let you try it. You’ll see.”

It was noon, the sun was blazing, and after lunch, Wen Ruyu ordered the group to rest before continuing their journey.

Not long after they got back on the road, they saw a group of over a hundred people ahead. About ten on horseback stood in two rows, with the rest forming a line to block the path.

The number was just an estimate—it could’ve been more or fewer.

These people came down from the mountain, didn’t even bother with dramatic lines like “This road is mine!” They simply said, “If you want to pass, pay your life-buying fee!”

Wen Ruyu’s group froze on hearing that.

Her daughter, Lu Mingzhu, wanted to go outside, but Wen Ruyu pulled her back.

Lu Mingzhu asked in confusion, “Mother, let me take a look. I know martial arts—I can escape easily.”

Wen Ruyu’s panic only lasted a moment. She quickly steadied herself.

“No matter how good your skills are, they’re no match for a kitchen knife. Those outside are desperate criminals. Don’t act recklessly. Let the bodyguards handle the negotiation. They know the lingo. If you show yourself, being a woman, they’ll likely underestimate you and make things difficult.”

Then she discreetly opened the carriage window a bit wider.

The weather was still stuffy, and they usually kept the windows open while traveling anyway.

Sure enough, the bodyguards quickly stepped up. They were experienced and had dealt with bandits before.

But this group was unfamiliar—they needed to negotiate from scratch.

The bodyguards knew the Lu family were county-level wealthy landowners. They had plenty of grain and silver. As long as they could stay alive, they were willing to pay.

They tried some standard lines from the road-trade, but the bandits didn’t respond.

The guard captain realized this was a new gang with no real organization.

The chaotic times had bred countless such pop-up bandit groups.

The captain tried again: “Brother, let’s be reasonable. We’ll offer you a whole cart of grain as toll.”

Wen Ruyu’s group brought several carts of grain—she disliked dry food and preferred freshly cooked meals, so she came well-prepared.

One cart’s worth would feed the bandits for days.

But they were greedy. They wanted all of the grain and silver before allowing them to pass.

These bandits might have been new, but they weren’t stupid. Seeing how many carts and people Wen Ruyu’s group had, they knew it was a rich target.

The guard captain then offered, “Alright then, how about we leave you half the grain? The rest we need for our journey. We’re refugees ourselves—help us out.”

He didn’t mention that the Lu family had officials in the government, worried the bandits might resent that.

To win their favor, he even said they were refugees fleeing from the south.

This was already a big concession.

But the bandit leader, seeing they were so polite, drew his sword to threaten them.

For escorts and guards, seeing someone draw a blade was a red flag—they immediately fought back.

The Lu family had only hired about ten guards. Even if each could handle three enemies, they could only take out a few dozen.

Luckily, they also brought along twenty to thirty strong servants. The maids and older women hid inside the carriages.

The temporary servants had been dismissed before the trip.

Besides Chuntao’s family and a few gardeners who stayed at home, most of the usual servants came along.

These familiar servants, trained for a few months by Lu Mingzhu in martial arts, were more reliable.

Whenever someone broke through the guard line toward the women’s carriages, the maids took them down easily.

Wen Ruyu and the others didn’t even have to leave the carriage—the danger was handled.

The bandits weren’t seasoned. They probably hadn’t robbed many people before and were skinny from hunger. They couldn’t compare to the well-fed, well-equipped Lu family guards.

Iron Hammer alone was worth ten of them.

After about 30–45 minutes of fighting, the bandits surrendered.

Iron Hammer checked that everyone was safe before reporting to Wen Ruyu.

She opened the carriage door and looked over the captured bandits, asking, “Did we lose anyone on our side?”

Iron Hammer gave a thorough report: “Two of the escorts died. One of ours is severely injured and may not make it. The steward is getting medicine. Many others were hurt, but not fatally. The enemy lost quite a few.”

Hearing of the escort deaths, Wen Ruyu looked solemn and regretful.

They’d only been trying to make a living—and now their lives were gone.

She knew that guards usually had insurance—when they died, the agency paid compensation.

After all, just one trip from Wen Ruyu’s group brought dozens of taels of silver to the agency. A few trips could bring hundreds or even thousands in profit.

Still, she told Iron Hammer, “Go to Lu Cheng and tell him—each of those who died should be given an extra 50 taels from us, to be delivered to their families as compensation.”

“And if any of our people die, they also get 50 taels. That severely injured one—do everything we can to treat him.”

They hadn’t brought a doctor, but they had plenty of medicine and treatments.

Iron Hammer then asked, “What should we do with the captured bandits?”

Wen Ruyu replied calmly, “Behead the ringleaders. The rest, tie them up, give them no food or water, and escort them to the next county to hand over to the authorities.”

The leaders were clearly the smart ones.

If left alive, they might regroup. So they had to go.

The rest, lacking initiative, would be easier to control.

It was just half a day’s journey. If they were late, they’d rest for the night and enter town the next day. No need to feed the prisoners—they wouldn’t die of hunger so quickly, and feeding them would only give them strength to run.

Once her orders were clear, Iron Hammer went off to carry them out.

The escort guards had similar thoughts as Wen Ruyu.

With little time left in the scorching afternoon, everyone acted quickly.

They looted the dead bandits and tossed their bodies aside.

But the fallen guards were buried respectfully. No one wanted to carry corpses in this heat.

They marked the graves. When returning, if they could, they’d retrieve the bodies and place them temporarily in a temple or shrine.

Later, if the families came looking, they could bring the remains back home.

For now, they cut a lock of hair and collected their personal items and silver, so it could all be returned to the families later.

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