Chapter 150 - 146: Nightmare_1
Jiang Sanlang looked at his younger daughter when he heard this. He sat down to eat with an unperturbed countenance.
He took a bite of a piece of melon, it was extremely sweet, the best melon he had ever eaten.
Dani also took a piece of melon and asked Yingbao, “Will you go and look for more tomorrow?”
She still remembers the experience of looking for arrowheads with her younger cousin. She and her second sister didn’t find any, whereas her little cousin could always find one or two wherever she looked. It was very strange.
Yingbao nodded: “I will!”
She has a field of these melons. Most of them are ripe and if not picked in time, they will probably rot in the field.
Upon hearing this, the second sister’s eyes sparkled, “I will look for them too tomorrow.”
These melons are too delicious, even better than arrowheads. She wanted to eat them every day.
Jiang Wu picked up another piece of melon and mumbled, “Hmph! None of you can find the melons. Only my sister can!”
Yingbao turned to look at her brother.
Strange, how did this little guy know that only she could find them?
By the time they finished dinner, it was already dark. Yingbao crawled into her quilt and closed her eyes to enter her sanctuary.
It had been a while since she had checked on that book. Today, she suddenly had a whim to find that little door, to see if it had appeared.
She arrived next to the luminous object on her Gourd Boat, circled around the giant sphere, but the small door did not appear.
Yingbao didn’t give up, she put her hand on the sphere and muttered: I want to go in! I want to go in!
After a few attempts, she got nothing.
Yingbao exhaled in frustration, prepared to leave when suddenly a small door slowly appeared.
Excited, Yingbao quickly reached out and touched it.
A flash of light and she again appeared in a dense fog.
The giant book turned a page on its own as per the agreement.
Yingbao hurriedly went over to read it.
[…On a storm-ridden night, bandits swung their broadswords at the villagers. Blood sprayed, limbs flew, and although some villagers tried to resist, it was in vain as they all ended up decapitated.]
[…The bandits laughed crazily, pursuing and killing villagers, setting fire to the village houses, the scattered rain was unable to put out the flames of sin, all the houses were burnt to the ground.]
[…Refugees temporarily settled on East Mountain weren’t able to escape their fate either, hundreds of bandits surrounded the forest, slashing anyone they saw. Jiang Family members protected Madam Wen San and Wen Tian, Wen Jiao while fighting, retreating to a cave deep in the forest. At this point, only Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan were left by their side, and Jiang Yingbao, the adopted daughter of the Jiang Family…]
After reading one chapter, the book disappeared as a paper butterfly.
In the blink of an eye, Yingbao was back on her Gourd Boat.
Her mind kept replaying the plot from the book, causing the hairs on her back to stand up.
Yingbao quickly paddled the Gourd Boat to the shore and left the sanctuary.
She opened her eyes suddenly. Everything around her was pitch dark, she couldn’t even see her hand.
She could hear her parents’ soft snores, the sound of the wind outside, and the sound of rain hitting the shed.
The words from the book suddenly flashed in her mind: … On a storm-ridden night…
“Dad! Mom!” She yelled.
Spring Lady and Jiang Sanlang sat up straight in the dark, fumbling, “Baobao, what’s wrong?”
Yingbao didn’t care whether the description in the book was true or whether the event would happen tonight, she shouted, “Dad, Mom, get up quickly! Bandits are attacking the village! They are about to storm the mountain!”
“What?” Upon hearing his daughter’s words, Jiang Sanlang didn’t hesitate, he quickly got up, put on his coat, and instructed Spring Woman, “Call the children to get up! I’m going to warn others!”
With that said, he had already crawled out of the bamboo shed, rushing to wake up his elder and second brothers and their parents. “Get up! Get up everyone! Bandits are coming!”
In no time, everyone was awake, coming out to see what was happening.
Chen Yin, while putting on his coat, ran over asking, “Third brother, what’s going on?”
“Bandits are attacking the village. They’ll be up the mountain soon! Get your children up quickly!”
Upon hearing this, Chen Yin also panicked and called out to the bamboo huts, “Get up! The bandits are here!”
Xiu Zhenniang and her daughter Wen Shu were also startled awake and quickly got dressed and began gathering their things.
Fortunately, she was mindful and always tidied things up before sleeping each night, to be prepared for any sudden incidents.
The nanny, asleep by their side, quickly got up and lit a candle with a matchstick.
Woken up on the other side, Mrs. Lin was not pleased.
But she knew this was no small matter, hurriedly got dressed, and peeked out of the bamboo hut. Outside was utter darkness, only sporadically lit by a few torches.
“It’s still raining outside, how could there be bandits at this hour?” Mrs. Lin complained discontentedly.
“Then you can continue sleeping,” Xiu Zhenniang said, unwilling to indulge her. She helped her daughter into some short clothes suitable for walking, and tightly fastened her shoelaces.
She then rolled up their bedding to carry on her back. Her daughter Wen Shu and the nanny each packed a bundle, and the three of them put on their bamboo hats, left the bamboo hut, and rushed to meet up with the others at the Jiang Family’s bamboo hut.
Seeing that Xiu Zhenniang and her daughters had left, Mrs. Lin became flustered and hastily ordered her maids to get her own daughters dressed.
Wen Tian, who was sleeping soundly, was agitated by the abrupt awakening and refused to get dressed.
Mrs. Lin coaxed, “The bandits are here. We have to hurry.”
“There aren’t any bandits!” Wen Tian, irritated, shrugged off the maid’s hand and burrowed back under her blanket. “I’m not getting up!”
Wen Jiao was sleepy too, but her fear of bandits was stronger. She quickly persuaded, “Sis, get up. If we don’t get moving, the bandits will come and kill us.”
Frustrated with her elder daughter’s disobedience, Mrs. Lin snapped, “Then sleep, we’ll just leave you here alone to sleep. Xiao Hong, Xiao Cui, forget about her. Quickly find clothes for Jiao.”
Her two maids complied, found easy-to-walk-in clothes for Wen Jiao, and helped her dress.
While Mrs. Lin and her daughters were still getting dressed, Yingbao, along with her parents and brothers, had already packed up. Each held their dogs gently, and Youyou carried a lot of items that Yingbao had placed on her back.
Yingbao even took advantage of the surrounding darkness and everyone busily packing to collect two large iron pots and some grain and bedding.
These items were too cumbersome and would only slow them down.
Amid the chaos, nobody noticed what was missing and just assumed others had taken it.
Suddenly, her father, Mr. Jiang, came over and asked in a low voice, “Yingbao, which direction will be safe for us?”
Yingbao blinked, pointed towards the depths of the forest, “That way, there’s a cave.”
Mr. Jiang patted his daughter, “Alright, we’ll go there then.”
He then signaled everyone to head deeper into the forest.
Fortunately, they had explored these woods yesterday and knew the terrain airily well, so they could figure out the direction.
Halfway there, Mr. Jiang left everyone with Yingbao and went down the mountain with a group of young men, armed with weapons and carrying bows and arrows.
Yingbao rushed over and gave her father a packet of pills, telling him to keep it safe.
“Dad, you must be careful. There are many bandits, don’t fight them if you can’t win. Run immediately.”
“Alright.” Mr. Jiang patted his daughter’s head, turned around resolutely, and left.
The rain wasn’t heavy, but the wind was strong. Wearing her little bamboo hat, Yingbao quickly walked into the woods, her heart filled with sadness.
She didn’t know if her father and others were in danger, nor whether the events in the book would occur.
But she couldn’t gamble with the lives of her family.
“Wait! Wait a minute!” Mrs. Wen’s voice could be heard from the rear.
Chunniang wanted to turn back, but Yingbao firmly grasped her sleeve, not giving her a chance to stop.
However, that voice kept calling from behind, which was quite grating in the silent night.
“We should go back and check. It’s not right for her to keep trailing and calling from behind,” Mr. Jiang said, his brow furrowed.