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“Ah—”
A scream, as if from a slaughtered pig, echoed through the mountains.
It came from Old Madam Feng, while her grandson Feng Da Qiang, whose right hand had been broken, had already rolled his eyes and fainted.
“They’ve killed him, they’ve killed him!”
Old Madam Feng’s scream startled the birds in the forest. “The Wei family killed my grandson! Sir, you must seek justice for us!”
She grabbed Xie Guan by the pant leg, but he irritably shook her off.
Old Madam Feng stumbled back, falling to the ground, and before she could shout again, her second son quickly spoke up.
“Mother, Da Qiang isn’t dead, he just fainted.”
Old Madam Feng scrambled to her feet, still furious. “Even so, they shouldn’t have broken Da Qiang’s hand!”
Wei Yunlan glanced indifferently at Old Madam Feng and then turned her gaze to the other Feng boys, who were bound up.
The Feng boys immediately trembled, like leaves in the wind.
Wei Yunlan acted as though she hadn’t seen them. Just as she was about to speak and instruct Suihe to act, the Feng boys nervously trembled and spoke up in a hurried voice: “Don’t, don’t break our hands, we know we were wrong!”
Wei Yunlan ignored them entirely. “Suihe.”
At her command, Suihe, who had just broken Feng Da Qiang’s right hand, stepped forward.
The sound of water dripping echoed, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant stench coming from beneath several of the Feng family’s young men. Seeing that Suihe was about to act, they quickly screamed in unison, “Grandmother, Grandmother! Save us!”
Just moments ago, Old Madam Feng had been shouting arrogantly, but now, the last shred of her pride finally crumbled in the face of their desperate cries for help.
Her knees buckled, and with a loud thud, she knelt before Wei Yunlan.
“Miss Wei… Please spare them!”
“Why should I?” Wei Yunlan finally shifted her gaze to Old Madam Feng.
“They’re still young, they were just being mischievous. Their crime isn’t severe…”
Wei Yunlan coldly averted her gaze once more, and Old Madam Feng slapped her thigh in frustration, changing her plea. “It’s their fault, they shouldn’t have stolen. It’s all my fault for not teaching them properly. I swear, they won’t do it again! They won’t dare anymore, Miss Wei, please spare them this time!”
The Feng boys quickly joined in, pleading, “We won’t dare, we really won’t dare!”
Wei Yunlan remained silent, watching until she saw Master Feng, with the wooden cangue still on him, walking toward her. Only then did she let out a breath. Her eyes skipped over the collapsed Old Madam Feng and the young Feng men, landing on Master Feng as he approached.
“Just this once. I hope Master Feng will manage his family better in the future and make sure they don’t provoke the Wei family again. Otherwise, my family… isn’t as easy to deal with as I am.”
Master Feng’s expression tightened, a hint of shame appearing in his eyes. He cupped his fists toward Wei Yunlan and said, “Thank you, Miss Wei, for your leniency. I will certainly discipline them properly from now on.”
After speaking, Master Feng shot a glance at the scattered relatives on the ground, his expression full of frustration, as though he could not bear the sight of them. He turned to the Feng family members beside him and ordered, “Quickly, take them away. Don’t make a scene here and embarrass yourselves.”
Wei Yunlan didn’t stop them.
In fact, Suihe had been very precise in the force she used. She had only dislocated Feng Da Qiang’s wrist. If he behaved himself and didn’t make trouble again, a reliable physician could set the bone properly in the future.
But if he didn’t behave… then any lingering health issues were his own fault. There would be no one to blame but himself, and all she could say was, “You brought it on yourself.”
“Master Feng seems like a sensible man, but how can his family be like this…” Tingxue muttered quietly.
Wei Yunlan glanced at Master Feng’s retreating figure, a sense of caution rising in her heart. “This Master Feng is not as simple as he seems.”
Compared to the rest of the Feng family, she actually found him to be the most formidable one.
If he were truly as reasonable and gentle as he appeared, how could he allow his family to behave in such a manner?
When the Feng family members took advantage of the situation earlier, he didn’t speak up, and now, when it was clear that his side was in the wrong, he stepped forward only because he had no other choice but to intervene.
With such a performance, Master Feng was able to smoothly extract himself from the situation, using the crude behavior of his family to highlight his own reasonableness. Wei Yunlan couldn’t help but feel that this man was not as he appeared.
Even if the Feng family was subdued this time, she would have to be wary of him in the future.
The group already had one suspicious figure from the Liang family, and now with this scheming Master Feng, Wei Yunlan grew increasingly concerned. The thought that had crossed her mind earlier resurfaced once more.
At this moment, a breeze rustled through the trees, causing the leaves to shake softly.
On the mountainside, a group of people hid behind the rocks.
“Second Boss, we’ve got it figured out. There’s a convoy of exiled officials and their families below.”
Looking down from the mountainside, a long convoy stretched out, with horse-drawn carts at the front and mule-drawn carts at the back. At first glance, it looked like a merchant caravan.
But it turned out to be a group of exiled officials.
The burly man with a thick beard and a curved sword sneered, “Exiled and still bringing so many things? Could they be nobles from the capital?”
“How many guards are with them?”
“Less than thirty.”
“Tell the brothers to get ready. When night falls, we’ll take action!”
A lascivious grin spread beneath the man’s wild beard. “Gold, silver, treasures, and the women in the convoy, we’ll take whatever we like. As long as we don’t touch the guards or the exiled officials, they won’t dare to come up the mountain and chase us!”
“……”
As the sky darkened, the convoy’s progress became increasingly difficult under the dimming light.
They had originally hoped to make it out of Yueheng Mountain before nightfall, but upon reaching two-thirds of the way, a series of boulders blocked their path.
The officer in charge had no choice but to instruct each family to send people to help clear the road.
After nearly half an hour of hard work, most of the stones blocking the path were cleared, but the remaining ones still needed some time to be removed before the road would be passable.
In the mountain, there was a rustling sound, and in that brief moment, Wei Yunlan had already noticed several small animals hiding in the forest, running away in fear, as if startled by the group. Whether they had been frightened by their presence or if something else was causing them to flee, it was unclear.
The gloomy atmosphere made Wei Yunlan feel uneasy, and as she looked up toward the mountain, her eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
“Yunlan, what’s wrong?” Madam Gao was the first to notice her daughter’s unease.
“Mother, I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong, like something’s about to happen,” Wei Yunlan admitted openly.
Following her daughter’s gaze toward the mountain, Madam Gao saw nothing unusual but didn’t dismiss her daughter’s words lightly.
Madam Gao always remembered her grandfather’s words: one must trust their instincts.
And right now, her instinct was to trust her daughter’s intuition.
“Yue’e, keep Jiayan close to you, don’t let him out of your sight.”
“Mingxuan, move closer, the convoy will be departing soon. Stay close, don’t wander off.”
“Yunlan, take care of yourself. Suihe, protect your young miss.”
With a series of commands, the convoy resumed its journey, and the Wei family members gathered near the two mule-drawn carts, now much more alert.
Wei Yunlan tightened her grip on the dagger hidden in her sleeve and turned to look behind.
By the roadside, a particularly dense tree stood. Wrapped in black, Seventh Lady Yu suddenly appeared before her eyes, his expression serious.
Wei Yunlan’s heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong. This was it—trouble had truly arrived!