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Old man Jiang calmly directed his two grandsons to draw their bows, aligning their arrows toward the direction where the bandits were about to appear.

“Hold your bows steady, and don’t let your arrows skew, beware not to mistakenly injure your second and third uncles.”

“Yes.” Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan responded, drawing their bows with a grim determination.

With the help of her eldest daughter-in-law, Jiang Liu finally managed to climb the steep slope, sitting on the ground, gasping for breath.

She saw her little granddaughter, Yingbao, untying the rope from around Wen Shu’s waist after dragging him up, and then she held onto the rope and smoothly slid down the hill.

“Baobao!” Chunniang exclaimed in shock, quickly looking downward, she saw that her daughter wrapped the rope around Youyou after descending the hill, instructing her mother and aunts above to pull up.

Youyou must not be left behind, it still had great use.

Chunniang, Yanru, and Mrs. Zhou all pulled hard on the rope, dragging it up. Combining their efforts with the intelligent Youyou who understood it needed to climb, they quickly pulled it up too.

“Baobao! It’s your turn now!” Chunniang called out.

Yingbao took the thrown down rope, quickly moved to tie up the mule.

“Baobao, hurry up and come up!” Chunniang was almost frantic, “Forget about the mule!”

Yingbao shook her head: “No way! Without the mule, we can’t take a lot of our stuff.”

“I’ll do it!” Jiang Cheng also slid down and took the rope from his younger cousin to tie up the mule.

The mule was carrying two large sacks of grain, which Jiang Cheng swiftly discarded.

The grain could be forsaken, but they surely couldn’t abandon this mule.

Though Chunniang and her sisters-in-law on the slope were irritated, they could not hesitate, and with great force, they pulled the mule up as well.

The only thing left now was the horse of the Wen family.

At this moment, Jiang Erlang and the others had already retreated from the bamboo forest, with the bandits closely emerging behind them.

The old man Jiang, who had already taken over his eldest grandson’s bow and arrows, fiercely loosed several arrows at the bandits, along with his second grandson’s arrows, forcing them back into the bamboo forest and making them dare not show their heads.

“Hurry and come up!” Chunniang shouted out.

Yingbao cast a reluctant look at the Wen family’s horse and the grain on the ground and held tightly onto the rope with her elder cousin, as they were pulled up by their mother and the others.

As soon as Jiang Cheng came up, he seized hold of the bow and arrows his grandfather had made last night and fired continuously at the bandits who showed their heads, buying time for his second uncle and third uncle to make their retreat.

Fortunately, old man Jiang and his sons had peeled a lot of bamboo arrows last night, otherwise, they really wouldn’t have been able to fend off those bandits.

In the end, when Jiang Erlang and Jiang Quan were pulled up, they still held onto the baskets that Dani, Erni, Yanru, and the others had discarded.

As for Wen Fu, he was more steady, he hastily dumped the things from the horse’s back, astonishingly tied the rope around the horse’s belly, and had the people above pull the horse up first.

Seeing that Jiang Erlang and Jiang Quan were continuously shooting arrows overhead, he again used the rope that was thrown down, tied up the hemp sacks, and let them pull up every single sack and bedding as well.

Finally, he carried his own stuff and climbed up the rope.

Chunniang and the others were exhausted, but also very relieved.

They managed to bring up all the food and bedding from both the Jiang family and Wen family, even the mule and big horse had been brought up.

After a few bandits were wounded by their arrows, they shrunk back into the bamboo forest and didn’t dare to show their heads again.

But the Jiang family never let their guard down and kept a close watch on the movement below.

Chunniang and the others untied the rope and took a short break, placed two sacks of grain back on the mule’s back for it to carry.

This steep slope was actually the ridge of South Slope, once they crossed it, they would descend to the other side, within view was a large wasteland.

The Jiang family worried that the bandits might climb up, and they could not stand a chance against them, so they did not linger and continued their journey downhill.

Seeing that her father, second uncle, and uncle Wen were all injured, Yingbao hurriedly took out some medicine she had prepared and handed them over and also took out some tablets to distribute to everyone else.

Their clothes were soaked through and if they didn’t take some medicine to ward off the cold, someone might fall ill soon.

In fact, besides being a bit exhausted, everyone in the Jiang family was in good health, with Jiang Liu also being robust and reliable, her steadiness in walking not losing out to her children or grandchildren.

But Mrs. Wen, her daughter and the nanny seemed to be reaching their limits, their pace became slower and slower, and they were almost unable to keep up with the group.

“Should we find a place to rest first?” Chunniang watched this, feeling quite worried.

Jiang Erlang looked back, seeing no bandits chasing after them from behind, he sighed a little bit of relief. “Once we reach the woods ahead, we can decide then.”

At the exposed area, it would become troublesome if the bandits caught up with them.

Despite all odds, the dense forest could conceal their traces and provide shelter from rain,

Yingbao led Youyou along at a quick pace, whilst Youyou carried both Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu on its back. The two boys also held their pets, Xiaohei and Dahuang, in their pouches.

Observing Wen Shu growing increasingly weaker, Yingbao handed her a few cooked water chestnuts, “Older sister Wen, if you eat something, you’ll regain some strength.”

After boiling, she had soaked these water chestnuts in Five-Tripod Mushroom soup for quite a while. Eating them should help alleviate exhaustion.

Wen Shu’s complexion was pale, she accepted the water chestnuts and muttered her thanks before slowly beginning to eat.

Yingbao also handed a few to Madame Wen and the nanny.

After eating the water chestnuts, it seemed like their legs became a bit stronger, and they managed to trudge into the woods ahead.

Encouragingly, there had been no bandits following them, which relieved everyone.

Upon entering the woods, Jiang Sanlang went for a look around and found an old tree.

The old tree had twisted branches, but it could shelter group from the rain underneath.

Hence, everyone took a break under the tree. Chunniang distributed steamed buns and pickles to everyone, and both Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan, carrying their gourds, poured a bit of water for everyone.

Jiang Quan shook his gourd and mumbled, “We’re almost out of water.”

Yingbao glanced at her second cousin brother and remained silent.

There was plenty of water in her hideout, so she didn’t worry about this problem.

What she worried about most was whether their house had been burned down by the bandits. After all, her father and the others had injured many bandits.

She walked over to Xiaolu and quietly fed it some dried golden ears, allowing it to slowly chew and regain its strength.

The mules and horses, laden with heavy loads, were nibbling at the grass and moss on the ground. Yingbao also gave them a handful of golden ears to eat.

Jiang Sanlang climbed to the top of the tree and started to peer into the distance.

There were no bandits’ silhouettes on the ridge of the mountain, perhaps they had genuinely retreated.

“Where are we heading next?” Jiang Dalang asked his younger brother.

Jiang Erlang also couldn’t make up his mind, “How about we ask Sanlang?”

Since they could not return to their village for the time being, they needed to find a safe place to stay.

They didn’t know that a large number of bandits had entered Chuanhe Town and were stationed there, preparing to attack Qinchuan County after gathering enough manpower.

With the increase in manpower, food became an issue. Hundreds to thousands of men would consume at least hundreds of kilos of grain a day, and thus, the bandits began to search for villagers who had fled with their grain and livestock.

Hundreds of bandits entered North Mountain along the mountain paths, and started combing through the area.

The villagers hiding in North Mountain panicked and ran further into the woods, abandoning the livestock they had brought with them.

Some elders who were too slow were caught by the bandits and killed on the spot.

After regaining some strength, they decided to head east, towards Jiang village, which was twenty miles away.

Jiang Village was situated in a remote area, far away from the official roads, the chances of being harassed by bandits were relatively low, so it seemed like a safe choice.

“Just follow me, I know the road to Jiang village well.” Old Man Jiang took the lead, “Back in the day, I used to roam around all the villages nearby.”

At dusk, they finally arrived near Jiang village.

Jiang Sanlang was cautious and suggested checking it out first.

“You be careful, if something’s wrong in the village, get out immediately.” Chunniang was quite worried about her husband.

“I know.” Jiang Sanlang tightened his belt and fastened his leg wraps again, then he headed towards Jiang village.

Before he reached the village, he could hear the dogs in the village barking.

Jiang Sanlang slowed his pace, walking while observing his surroundings.

Jiang village was a real mountain village, built alongside the mountain, covered with lush trees.

From afar, only trees could be seen and houses were invisible. The entire village was shrouded in trees. Only when the smoke rose from cooking, one could notice that there was a village here.

The rain had stopped by now, but the road was muddy. Thick mud soon stuck to the soles of Jiang Sanlang’s shoes, making walking difficult.

After scraping the mud off his shoes on a stone, Jiang Sanlang came to the entrance of his uncle’s house.