Chapter 42: We Were Seen
“Stop complaining, Dad and Mom! Thankfully, the system warned me—if we’d waited for those bandits to rain arrows down on us from the mountain, we would’ve been turned into sieves!”
“Right, right, Xiao Luo is right! By the way, did the system issue a new mission this time? Is it to kill all the bandits again?”
Yu Haojie’s eyes were bright with excitement, showing no fear.
Hearing the excitement in his tone, Ye Jiamai turned around and slapped the back of his head with annoyance.
“You look quite happy, huh? Did killing people become a habit for you now?”
The henpecked Yu Haojie quickly grinned and rubbed the spot where his wife slapped him, shaking his head hastily.
“Of course not! We’re just using our golden finger to eliminate evil for the people—how could I be that kind of person?”
“Yeah, but this time, the system didn’t give any mission.”
Yu Luo was already used to her parents’ daily banter and paid it no mind, but she was puzzled by what Yu Haojie said.
Just as she murmured this, a series of screams came from outside the rock. The family of three stopped chatting and quickly peeked out, each finding a good spot and aiming their crossbows at the bandits rushing down the mountain!
Meanwhile, the others, who were slower to react, had no such luck.
Whenever they stopped to rest, Yu Luo would instinctively look for places to hide in case of danger.
At the foot of the mountain, the only cover was a large rock less than a meter high and about two meters long behind them. The others were on flat ground, with the officers on the outer perimeter.
So when Yu Luo’s family had already taken cover, the exhausted Yu family members and a few who couldn’t run fast enough were left exposed!
Like Old Madam Chen, who had already been grabbed by the collar by a bandit—probably because she was old, pampered, and not very agile.
By the time Yu Zhengqing managed to carry Old Master Yu into some bushes and looked back, he saw that Old Madam Chen had already been captured. The bandit was just about to strike her down.
No matter what, Yu Zhengqing was a seasoned warrior. If it weren’t for the chains on his feet and hands, his skills would have easily surpassed Commander Wu’s—probably the best among them all.
Seeing the bandit’s blade about to fall on Old Madam Chen, Yu Zhengqing immediately threw a stone at the bandit’s wrist.
But just at that moment, the bandit was suddenly thrown aside heavily, and before he could react, a knife was thrust into his stomach!
Old Madam Chen had already collapsed on the ground, wailing and crying. Before Yu Zhengqing could reach her to help, he was yanked to his feet by someone behind him!
“Sister-in-law, get up quickly!”
Hearing this familiar voice, Old Madam Chen turned back in surprise and disbelief. She had thought she’d been captured by another bandit, but it turned out to be her brother-in-law, Yu Liang, who had saved her!
Yu Zhengqing ran over, picked up the bandit’s dropped blade, and shielded Yu Liang and Old Madam Chen, leading them to a safer spot.
Meanwhile, Yu Luo’s family of three, hidden in the shadows, continuously pulled the triggers on their crossbows, aiming at the bandits while avoiding the officers and other innocent members of the Yu family.
“Grandpa, save me!”
A girl’s desperate voice pierced through the night. Yu Liang, who was fleeing, paused and instinctively wanted to look back, but Old Madam Chen yanked him forward, and he couldn’t afford to turn back to save her.
Just moments before, Yu Xiangxiang had been right behind her grandfather. But now, she could only watch in despair as her grandfather saved someone else, leaving her behind to be captured by the bandits.
The bandits’ filthy words rang in her ears. Helplessly dragged by a bandit, Yu Xiangxiang’s eyes were filled with tears of despair as she saw her grandfather fleeing without even a glance back.
The scene was chaotic, and with limited light, neither the Yu family nor the officers could tell friend from foe anymore.
Seeing Yu Xiangxiang being dragged by a bandit towards the rock where Yu Luo was hiding, the bandit clearly intending to do something vile, Yu Luo didn’t hesitate for a second. She aimed and fired the crossbow directly at the bandit’s chest!
“So it was you?!”
The short arrow from the crossbow pierced through the bandit’s chest with unerring accuracy. The bandit, hit in the chest, loosened his grip on Yu Xiangxiang in pain. In her frantic and shocked state, Yu Xiangxiang managed to push the bandit away and ran towards the rock.
Focused on aiming at the bandits, Yu Luo’s family of three failed to notice the three pairs of eyes widening in shock behind them.
When that exclamation rang out, the trio stiffened and turned around, only to find that at some point, Lady Lan, Yu Zhengqing’s concubine, had arrived with Yu Meiyao, who was carrying seven-year-old Yu Xiaoyun!
It was too late to put down the crossbows. Outside, there were still about fifty or sixty bandits left. Yu Luo glared at Yu Meiyao, then immediately turned back to aim at the bandits and pulled the trigger again!
“Meiyao, don’t say anything! Your second uncle and aunt are protecting us!”
Lady Lan, snapped out of her shock, quickly warned Yu Meiyao in a low voice.
Then, leaving the stunned Yu Xiaoyun behind, she rushed over to the stumbling Yu Xiangxiang. A stone struck Yu Xiangxiang, causing her to collapse unconscious on the ground before she could reach the rock.
Seeing Lady Lan knock out Yu Xiangxiang, Yu Luo’s eyes turned cold, but she quickly understood Lan Shi’s intention.
Ye Jiamai looked at Lan Shi with a complicated expression, then resumed aiming at the bandits.
“Mom, what are you doing?! Why did you knock out Yu Xiangxiang?!”
“Meiyao, lower your voice! Xiaoyun, listen to me carefully—if you don’t want the officers to find out that the ones secretly helping us are your second uncle, second aunt, and Xiao Luo, you must forget everything you saw tonight!”
“But why? How is this helping us? They’re just protecting themselves!”
Seeing the powerful weapons in Yu Luo’s hands, Yu Meiyao’s eyes were filled with a desire to possess them.
Looking at her impulsive and foolish daughter, Lady Lan was deeply anxious.
She couldn’t understand how she, who was always so smart, had given birth to such a brainless daughter!
“Meiyao, now’s not the time to hold a grudge against your second uncle’s family! Think about when we encountered mountain bandits before. If they hadn’t secretly helped us, with so many bandits—even Commander Wu was injured—do you think we would’ve survived?”
