Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

Chapter 141 Bandits

Although Meng Liyun said so, she could still tell from Xiao's expression that he didn't quite believe it.

But Xiao didn't ask again, and she didn't say anything else. The two of them sat opposite each other in silence for a moment. Finally, the old lady spoke up to break the deadlock and asked them if they were leaving.

Meng Liyun looked at her, then looked at Xiao, and nodded.

On the way, Li Heng, for some unknown reason, always approached her carriage and talked to her from time to time.

"By the way, what is Miss Meng doing there?" Li Heng looked ahead and seemed to be asking the question unintentionally.

"Didn't I tell you? It's just on the way." Meng Liyun glanced at him, then glanced at his taciturn wife beside him.

"Oh..." Li Heng nodded thoughtfully and glanced at Xiao who remained silent. "Come to think of it, are you and him old acquaintances?"

Meng Liyun was a little surprised: "Why do you ask?"

"We have been with him for several days, but he has not shown any signs of relenting. Miss, you have only seen him for one short night, and yet you have allowed him to go with you..."

Li Heng didn't finish his words, he squinted his eyes and smiled, leaving enough space.

"Oh...I see." Meng Liyun smiled and squinted her eyes. She didn't answer. She glanced at his luggage and asked casually, "What are you two going to do in Lishan?"

"It's like this. I'm a doctor. I heard there's a monster that looks like a cow over there. It's very similar to what's recorded in ancient books. It's said to have a body like a cow, sounds like a baby, and eats people."

Li Heng smiled and blinked, "Ancient books say this monster is called Xiqu, and its skin can be used as medicine, so I wanted to go and take a look."

Meng Liyun nodded, thinking: "But doesn't that monster eat people? And you brought your wife with you."

"Well, my wife has been practicing martial arts since she was young. She is very skilled. Not to mention me, sometimes she can even subdue an eight-foot-tall strong man." Li Heng's eyes lit up and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise when he talked about his wife.

"Really?" Meng Liyun glanced at Ran Ran. Ran Ran was also looking at her, and they looked at each other and then looked away.

He is lying.

Meng Liyun can basically confirm it.

Judging from his wife's reaction last night when she was fast asleep, she should not be on high alert. When he passed by her this morning, he did not see any calluses on her hands, and her steps were slow and unsteady. He did not know if she was pretending, but it was highly unlikely. Even if she was, she was definitely not practicing martial arts since childhood as Li Heng said.

Meng Liyun recalled what the escort had said to her just now.

At that time, they had just arrived at the city gate and met up with the escort. There were only four of them. When the escort saw her, he first glanced at Xiao with taboo, waved his hand for her to come closer alone, and then spoke to her.

"Is there anything strange about you walking with that man?" The escort looked at Xiao not far away again and asked softly.

"Strange? No." Meng Liyun said without hesitation, with a puzzled look in her eyes, "Do you know something?"

The escort frowned, seeming a little hesitant, but still told her: "Don't get too close to that man, he is in the same group with Li Heng."

Meng Liyun was a little surprised: "Don't you like Li Heng?"

"...He is not a decent person." The escort mentioned this with some disgust, and lowered his voice a lot, "He is a farmer who turns over rice dumplings."

Meng Liyun was stunned, her heart skipped a beat, but her expression remained puzzled: "Turning over zongzi? What is that? Making zongzi for people? It's not even Dragon Boat Festival yet?"

After hearing her words, the escort's expression changed three times. Meng Liyun could feel the suspicion and sharpness in his eyes, but she still stared at him calmly, as if waiting for his answer.

The escort's expression gradually became complicated. He lowered his eyes slightly to collect his thoughts and turned away: "If you don't understand, forget it. It's not good for a little girl like you to know about this..."

Meng Liyun was puzzled: "What's going on? You're so mysterious, how about I go and ask——"

"Are you stupid?!" The escort looked at her inexplicably, "It's not an easy job anyway, just stay away from them."

"I don't." Unexpectedly, Meng Liyun showed an attitude that she must get to the bottom of the matter. "If you don't tell me, I'll go and ask. Anyway, you're playing tricks on me..."

Having said that, he turned around and was about to leave.

The escort quickly pulled her back and pointed at her, seeming to be disappointed with her: "I told you this with good intentions, and you treat me like this?"

"What's wrong with me?" Meng Liyun was puzzled. "I really don't know. Don't worry, I won't tell him that you told me..."

It would be a miracle if the escort believed this. He held the hand even tighter: "I'm telling you, don't spread it around!"

Meng Liyun stopped struggling after hearing this and said with a grin, "Go ahead."

The escort glanced at her unhappily and said, "Tomb raiding means digging out the burial objects from underground and selling them."

"...Ah?" Meng Liyun was shocked. "What? This...this is so immoral."

Seeing her expression, the escort seemed to finally believe that she knew nothing about this, and his brows relaxed a little: "So stay away from them, they are a group of people who only care about money and not their lives. If they find out that you know about this, you will definitely suffer the consequences!"

"Then...what should we do?" Meng Liyun looked completely panicked and looked at him in dismay, "Should we report them?"

"No, no, no!" The escort hurriedly stopped them. "They concealed this matter because they obviously didn't want others to know about it. If you report it again, if they give up, we might have to face this trouble before we even encounter the bandits."

"Oh, oh..." Meng Liyun finally calmed down and took a few deep breaths, "Then, then we should just pretend we don't know?"

Escort: “Yes.”

Meng Liyun looked at the escort, hesitated for a moment, and asked: "But...how did you know that?"

"Their luggage is not right." The escort said briefly, "Also, Li Heng has a rope hanging around his neck. If I'm not mistaken, the thing hanging under the rope should be the tomb-grabbing talisman."

Meng Liyun nodded as if she suddenly understood something, then turned around and asked, "What is the tomb-touching talisman?"

Escort: ...

The escort seemed a little speechless. He looked at Meng Liyun's puzzled eyes and completely believed that she knew nothing: "...It's nothing. Just stay away from them."

Seeing that he really didn't want to say it, Meng Liyun nodded somewhat disappointedly, indicating that she understood.

……

Meng Liyun glanced at the red rope around Li Heng's neck. From her angle, she could vaguely see the pendant on the red rope.

It is indeed a tomb-grabbing talisman.

Meng Liyun retracted her gaze and looked at Ranran again, thinking of the last job she had done before she went out. Indeed, someone in her industry had said that it had been raining heavily in Tianli Mountain these days, and the terrain was unstable, revealing some clues, and there might be a large tomb.

If he really wanted to go to Lishan to rob tombs, then why would he bring his wife who doesn't know martial arts with him?

Meng Liyun frowned slightly. The people she met usually brought about ten people to set up a pot and go underground. Although she had heard that there were always few people in the tomb raiding area, only two was too few.

Meng Liyun's mind moved, and she looked at the owl who was resting with his eyes closed beside her.

I don't know if he knows this...

Just as my thoughts were wandering, the carriage in front suddenly stopped, and the two horses neighed at the same time and stopped.

Meng Liyun was stunned, then stopped the horse and looked forward.

"what happened?"

Before I could wait for a reply, I saw a flash of white light ahead and the sound of weapons clashing could be heard.

"Not good." Li Heng's face changed, and he quickly said to her, "Hide quickly, it's bandits——"

Before they could finish their words, bandits riding tall and handsome horses appeared before them and surrounded them from all sides.

"Everyone get off your horses!" the bandit shouted in a hoarse voice, holding his gleaming steel knife above his head. The sound of fighting in front stopped.

In front of us were the three people and the escort. Judging from the noise, the escort was probably fighting with them, but now there was no sound and we were not sure what was going on.

Meng Liyun thought about it and got out of the car as she was told. She caught a glimpse of Xiao following suit.

When the old lady heard the noise, she tremblingly lifted the curtain, and carefully helped Meng Liyun get out of the car by the arm.

"Put all the luggage on the ground!" the bandit shouted again.

Meng Liyun didn't bring much with her, so she put the package on the ground and glanced at Xiao.

Xiao didn't move, after all, he didn't bring anything with him.

As for the family of three, they found a lot of precious jewels from the car.

It really deserves to be called a trading place.

Meng Liyun said in her heart.

The woman held the crying child in her arms. Perhaps she was afraid that the bandits would find her annoying, so even though she was extremely frightened, she still used trembling hands to comfort the child softly and slowly.

Fortunately, these bandits did not care about these things and only focused their attention on the jewels. When they saw the exposed gold bars, their eyes lit up and they were drooling.

The bandits drove them all together and counted their luggage to see if there were any treasures. Meng Liyun noticed that the escort had scars from fighting, and it seemed that he was the one who attacked, but he just didn't fight. When they turned to Li Heng and his group, Li Heng suddenly came forward and started to discuss with them with a smile.

At first the bandits didn't want to pay attention to him, but it seemed that he said something to them, the bandits' faces changed, they looked at him carefully, and returned the luggage to him.

In exchange, Li Heng stuffed something into their hands.

Meng Liyun had sharp eyes and saw that what was stuffed was jade.

I guess it was a bribe.

Meng Liyun thought about it, but felt a little confused.

If they don't accept this little bribe, then all this stuff will belong to them. Why should they let him go?

Meng Liyun felt that Li Heng was not as simple as they thought.

The bandits casually looted some valuables during their visit. They looked at the three large boxes of jewels, but only took away two of them. When they learned that the jewels in the escort's hands had to be delivered, they even said that they understood and only charged a few taels of toll.

Meng Liyun's luggage contained nothing valuable except some change for travel expenses and food. The bandit glanced at it and returned it to her.

This group doesn't seem to be as vicious as the legend says...

Meng Liyun thought about it, picked up the meat pie in the bag and started eating.

Feeling the surprised gazes of the people around her, Meng Liyun explained with a dry laugh: "I'm hungry, hungry..."

"You're so nervous, it's a pity that a girl like you can even eat it." The old lady poked her forehead in disappointment.

Meng Liyun chuckled twice and whispered to her, "So these are the bandits from Xiong'er Mountain. We've arrived."

"Yes." The old lady nodded, thinking, "That means after crossing this hill, we will reach my daughter's home."

Meng Liyun nodded in response and was about to say something.

"Don't mutter so softly!" The bandit suddenly waved his big knife in front of them threateningly, and then shouted, "Anything else?"

"Gone, boss." The people who were counting the looters replied.

The bandit glanced at them and waved his hand: "Let them go!"

……

"...We said we were traveling together, but why was I the only one resisting just now?!" the escort said angrily. He looked at the crying child in the woman's arms and became even angrier. "Forget about the women, but you two men didn't move at all. Oh, you, Li Heng, took care of them, but what about us?"

The escort master became angrier and angrier: "Fortunately they are willing to release the dart, otherwise how would I explain myself..."

"That's right, three men are useless." Ran Ran said, glancing at Xiao who was sitting next to Meng Liyun, and emphasized her tone with a bit of disgust in her eyes, "I don't know where those horrific rumors came from, but now it seems nothing more than that."

"Who are you talking about?" the escort asked sensitively.

Ran Ran snorted: "What do you care about me?"

"Now that it's over, there's no need to quarrel among yourselves..." The old lady tried to mediate, "As long as everyone is safe, that's all that matters—"

"So much of our treasure was stolen. How can we survive?!" The woman burst into tears. "I thought we could avoid this disaster by gathering more people..."

"Isn't she still alive?" Meng Liyun glanced at her and suddenly said, "You can earn money and property again, but if she is gone, everything is gone."

"Without money, what's the point of living?" The woman continued to cry, "My child is still young, what will I do in the future——"

"Didn't I leave a box for you?" The escort also glanced at her.

"That's just—"

"Alright, alright!" Li Heng stopped them from arguing and said, "Now that the bandits have passed, why don't we just separate? I'm sorry, I was only concerned about myself just now, and mainly--"

"Forget it. I understand." The old lady shook her head and sighed.

"Do you understand? What was that thing you just took out? What did you say to the bandits that made them let you go?" The woman suddenly pointed the finger at Li Heng and said angrily, "You obviously have a way, but you concealed it. What on earth is—"

"If I were to mention it, didn't you guys hide it?" Li Heng was obviously not someone to be trifled with. He raised his lips and shot back, "I asked you to borrow some money before, and you said you didn't bring much treasure...Besides, even if the bandit took two boxes, your remaining box must be worth a lot of money, right? At least it should be enough to buy a house deed."

"you--"

Meng Liyun didn't want to listen to their quarrel, so she moved closer to Xiao and whispered to him, "By the way, why didn't I see your knife? Did you hide it?"

Xiao didn't seem to expect that she would suddenly talk to him. He was stunned for a moment, looked at her, and nodded slightly.

Meng Liyun nodded, stared at him thoughtfully, thought for a moment and asked: "Why don't you come with me? I think this Li Heng is not simple."

She still hadn't forgotten the scene when they were deceived by that princess and had to fight against hundreds of soldiers.

What if Li Heng lied to him?

To be honest, Meng Liyun was a little worried about Xiao, and it seemed that Ranran had some ill will towards him, so she was a little worried about him.

But Xiao obviously didn't understand her decision and shook his head, "No, I promised him."

Meng Liyun looked at him, feeling a little worried. Although her mind told her that Xiao could handle it alone, she was still worried. She frowned and thought for a while: "How about this, you wait for me, I'll send the old lady to the city and then come find you, okay?"