Chapter 51: Determinedly Heading Up the Mountain

“Oh, looks like we’ve encountered a few tough nuts today!”

The group of bandits laughed, their eyes showing disdain as they looked at the Shen family and their knives.

“Just in time for our new recruits who don’t have suitable weapons. Let’s kill them and take their weapons back to give to the boss.”

After speaking, their greedy eyes turned towards the car full of food behind the Shen family and the villagers following them.

Lizheng remained calm, even though there were eight of these people.

The Shen family’s daughter alone could handle more than ten of them, so dealing with these eight shouldn’t be a big problem.

“Go ahead and tie them up,” the leader of the bandits kicked his companion next to him and ordered.

The companion who was kicked didn’t feel angry.

He approached with a smile with a rope in his hand, not thinking for a moment that they would actually resist.

However, before the enthusiastic companion could even touch Shen Rong, he was thrown over the shoulder and slammed onto the ground.

“Ah! My arm!” he cried out in pain.

The other bandits quickly picked up their knives and moved defensively towards the Shen family.

The leader of the bandits glared at Shen Rong, who had just acted, and threatened, “Hand over my brother, or I’ll break your hand later!”

 Shen Rong snorted and sneered, “Since you want him so badly, I’ll give him back to you.”

Bang!

The man who had just been trampled under Shen Rong’s foot was kicked out and landed directly on top of the leader who had just been shouting.

Both of them were groaning in pain, with the one on the top kicking the other one in the bottom in anger.

“You fool! Get up quickly!”

The person on top quickly got up.

“Attack! Kill all the men and bring back the food and women.”

After giving the order, the leader charged forward.

However, before Shen Yu’an could even react, Shen Rong and his the others quickly took care of them.

Shen Yu’an understood the principle of releasing a tiger back to the mountain, so he ordered Shen Rong to kill them all.

These bandits had been causing trouble for a while now, and they must have harmed many innocent people. They didn’t deserve forgiveness.

After Shen Rong and his companions dealt with the bandits, the people who had come seeking help and the panicked villagers behind them breathed a sigh of relief.

However, they didn’t notice a pair of unfriendly eyes flashing nearby before quickly running off into the distance.

Those people walked up to the Shen family and expressed their gratitude, “Thanks to you for saving our lives just now, thank you kind people.”

Someone else said, “You should take a different path, there are many bandits ahead.”

After saying their goodbyes, they took a small path and left.

The Shen family hesitated at their current location.

If they wanted to search for something ahead on the mountain, they would have to keep moving forward or go around and over the mountain.

Since they had very little water left, Shen Yu’an decisively chose to take the path up the mountain from their current location.

Shen Rong took out a topographic map and said, “Let’s climb up the mountain from the corner ahead and see if we can bypass it.”

“We should be careful and hopefully we won’t encounter any bandits.”

No one objected, and they started following him. However, they had only taken a few steps when they were stopped by the Shen villagers behind them.

“Hey, where are you guys going? Didn’t you hear that person say there are bandits up ahead?”

The person who stopped them was Wu, an elderly woman with triangular eyes and loose skin due to her age, which made her seem difficult to get along with.

“We’re not deaf, of course, we’re going to keep going,” said grandma Shen, pushing her aside with one hand.

Wu blocked their path again and said, “No, you can’t go. What if you run into bandits if you go that way?”

The Shen family members looked at each other with confusion. What was wrong with this woman? When did their two families have such a good relationship that she would actively care about them like this?

Grandma Shen said, “Even if we encounter bandits, it’s our problem. You don’t have to worry about it. If you’re afraid, you can follow the small path with those people from earlier.”

Wu stumbled from being pushed and angrily slapped her thigh, saying, “That’s unacceptable. Your whole family is ungrateful. I tried to help, but you don’t appreciate it.”

Grandma Shen sneered, not believing that the old woman was really being so kind.

“What are you pretending to be a good person for? We’ve been neighbors for decades. Who believes that you’re really so kind? Move aside and don’t delay our journey,” said Grandma Shen.

Wu refused to give in and stood in the middle of the road, shouting, “No, you have to follow us and take the small path together. Otherwise, if we run into bandits again, no one would protect us”

In the past few days, the Shen family had already seen how shameless some people could be, but they still found themselves shocked every time.

Grandma Shen slapped Wu, who quickly retreated back to the rear of the group in fear.

“I knew it. Where did you get such a kind heart from, old woman? You thought we were free bodyguards!” said grandma Shen with a sneer.

After a dismissive snort, grandma Shen urged her family to continue their journey.

 Lizheng glared at the returning Wu, who had promised not to provoke the Shen family, but never seemed to learn her lesson.

He quickly put on a smiling face and hurried a few steps to catch up with the Shen family.

“Brothers Shen and Sister Shen, Wu doesn’t know how to speak properly. Let me apologize on her behalf.”

“However, the people who just escaped back said there were bandits ahead, so it might not be safe for us to keep going. Do you want to turn back and take the small path?”

Although they disapproved of Lizheng’s usual behavior, his family did not embarrass him too much.

“We don’t have much water left, let’s try our luck up the mountain.”

 Lizheng’s eyes lit up when he heard that they didn’t have much water left.

Even though Shen’s family was powerful, it might still be risky to go forward. However, they could probably safely pass by if they followed behind the Shen family.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind and spoke politely, “The villagers also have limited water supplies. How about we all go together to look for water?”

Grandpa Shen gave him a straight look and said, “We are no longer traveling together. You don’t need to ask us for our opinions on which path to take.”

Lizheng’s forced smile disappeared, and he quickly returned to the back of the group.

They hadn’t gone far when they saw a winding path that led uphill. The path was relatively flat, and they could even take their cart up it; otherwise, they would have had to leave some people behind to watch their belongings.

Looking around, they still saw vast areas of barren land.

However, there were no dry cracks on the ground, which was much better than where they had come from.

After searching for a while, they still had no luck, and they couldn’t even find a trace of water.

Zhang Xiangyang began to feel disheartened, wondering if they would ever find water.

Shen Yu’an looked around and noticed that the Shen family members who had been following them were now frowning.

She had water in her spatial storage, but with Zhang’s uncle and the Shen family members following them closely, she had no chance to take it out.

It seemed that they needed to find a way to distract them.