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She stroked Youyou’s neck and asked, “Youyou, will you help me find dad?”

Youyou seemed to silently agree, blinking his large eyes towards her.

Yingbao fetched a saddle from the cave dwelling and fastened it onto Youyou. She climbed onto his back using a railing, “Let’s go! Let’s find dad.”

Youyou seemed to understand her words and galloped off.

Youyou had grown considerably bigger, nearly the size of a mule, but carrying the now ten-year-old Yingbao was still a lot of work.

Despite keeping a keen lookout while avoiding villagers, she found no sign of her father or Jiang Wu, which made her even more anxious.

Two hours later, Yingbao stopped to feed and water Youyou.

Seeing that Youyou was very tired, she decided to put him back into the cave dwelling. She changed into her plain short hemp clothes, put on a straw hat, and started walking briskly.

After an hour, she let Youyou out again and mounted him to resume their journey.

By evening, they finally arrived at a dock outside the county town.

There was a small boat about to set sail at the dock.

Yingbao, with her sharp eyes, saw two figures on the boat – her younger brother, Jiang Wu, and Huzi.

Without any considerations, she put Youyou back into the cave dwelling and ran toward the boat as fast as she could.

While running, she yelled, “Jiang Wu! Jiang Wu! Stop!”

Jiang Wu ducked into the boat’s cabin as soon as he saw his sister.

Furious, Yingbao, undeterred by the drifting boat, lunged and clung onto the railing.

“Hey, little lady, you’re quite reckless!” one of the boatmen came over to help her.

Ignoring the pain from the rough handling, she urgently spoke to the boatman, “Quick, dock the boat, let them off!”

Huzi and Jiang Wu peered out and shouted in unison, “Don’t dock the boat, boatman, set sail quickly. We have already paid.”

The boatman, in a dilemma, was forced to continue sailing.

Yingbao was really angry now. She rushed over and tugged at the ears of Huzi and Jiang Wu, “Do you know what you’re doing? Going to Jingzhou? On this tiny boat? One gust of wind and you’ll capsize!”

The boatman wasn’t happy and argued, “What are you saying, young lady? I make several trips to Jingzhou every year. How can you speak such ill-omened words?”

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.” Zhang Min crawled out of the cabin, “I originally planned to go to Jingzhou alone, but then Jiang Wu and Huzi insisted on coming with me.”

He then said to Huzi and Jiang Wu, “Jiang Wu, Huzi, why don’t you go back with Yingbao?”

“I’m not going back!” Huzi flatly refused.

“A real man keeps his word! I’m not going back either!” Jiang Wu covered his ears and stepped back to distance himself from his sister.

Yingbao was so frustrated that she laughed, “Fine, since you’re not going back, I’m coming with you.”

She remembered the events in a book. Jingzhou had been under siege. The Jingzhou Governor held out for two months leading over a thousand loyal men and tens of thousands of civilians. They ran out of arrows and reinforcements, the city fell. They then fought with the bandits for three days and nights and all died.

The Jingzhou Governor should be Zhang Min’s father.

The book also mentioned that after the Jurchens overran Jingzhou City, they slaughtered everyone.

Jingzhou Governor died without seeing any reinforcements, and afterwards the Zhang Family was purged by the Emperor.

What a sad thought.

Yingbao glanced at Zhang Min sympathetically and sighed.

Never mind, she would go with them. If anything seemed off, she would put them back into the cave dwelling.

Yes, put them back into the newly made bamboo cage in her father’s cave dwelling.

After the last incident, her father had built a windowless bamboo cage in the dwelling. If any bad guy showed up, he’d put them into the cage, cover it, and no matter how strong, they could only be caged animals.

The bamboo cage was strong, made from thick bamboo and wrapped with reed mats. Once someone went inside, it was pitch dark, and they couldn’t see anything.

“You’re going too? That’s not right,” Zhang Min scratched his head.

Two little troublemakers were troublesome enough, let alone adding Yingbao…

“If you don’t go back, I’m coming with you,” Without any hesitation, Yingbao sat down on the boat’s deck.

Zhang Min looked guiltily at his little sister and finally fell silent.

He’d originally gone to the county town to find his master, but the master wasn’t there, and no one at the medical station knew where he and his eldest brother had gone.

With no alternatives, Zhang Min decided to go to Jingzhou alone to investigate the situation, but Huzi and Jiang Wu insisted on following him.

Before leaving the town, he’d already given the Jiang family’s carriage to Jiang Ji Techan’s shop. After which, they hired a donkey cart to the city’s outer docks on the outskirts.

It was fortunate that they found a large fishing boat docked there. Hence, Zhang Min rented the fishing boat to go to Jingzhou.

Seeing the children stop making a fuss, the boatman finally started rowing the boat upstream with his wife and son.

Seven or eight days later, the big fishing boat entered Jingzhou territory.

Yingbao noticed something wrong when looking towards the shore.

Many civilians with families were heading south. Seeing a boat on the river, they waved their hands desperately.

The boatman also noticed the problem, his face solemn.

“Young master, we cannot proceed anymore. Look what’s happening over there. Why do they all look like refugees?” The boatman, refusing to dock, shouted from the boat to ask the people on shore, “What happened? Are the barbarians attacking?”

When they were docked earlier, they’d overheard talk about the Jurchens attacking the Imperial Court, which was yet to send soldiers.

They didn’t anticipate large numbers of refugees this far from Jingzhou City.

A civilian responded, “Yeah, now the Governor has ordered the city gates to be sealed. We can only go south.”

“Seal the city gates?” Zhang Min became even more anxious and urged the boatman to set sail.

The boatman had no choice, so he sailed a bit further but firmly refused to go any further.

Zhang Min thought for a while, he paid him and disembarked with Yingbao and the others.

The four walked in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd and soon arrived at the city gate of Jingzhou.

The city gate was tightly shut, and many civilians outside were trying to get in.

Zhang Min pushed through the crowd and shouted, “I have urgent matters to report to the Governor. Please, open the door and let me in!”

The soldiers guarding the city ignored him and even shot arrows at him.

Knowing this wouldn’t work, Yingbao called out to Zhang Min, “Second senior brother, let’s find somewhere to rest first, and come back later.”

Zhang Min had the same idea, so the four retreated several miles and sat down to rest in a dense forest.

Yingbao took out some dry food and shared it with her brother and Huzi, and also with Zhang Min.

The four had something to eat, and by then it was already night.

“Let’s rest first, and we can go back early in the morning.” Yingbao took out some plants from her bag and handed them to her brother and Huzi.

Given the hot weather, there were many mosquitoes in the wild. A minor lapse in concentration could result in their faces being covered in bites.

Jiang Wu took the peppermint leaves, chewed them in his mouth, then spat them out and rubbed them onto his arms and legs.

Yingbao also shook out a cloak. She then had the three men squeeze under it to sleep.

She took out another black cloak for herself, covered her head with it and curled up next to Jiang Wu.

Once they fell asleep, Yingbao quietly entered the cave dwelling to sort things out.

There were two bows, but the arrows were all made of bamboo with limited damage potential, and thus not of much use.