Ding! Ding! Ding!
The man by the river was working up a sweat when suddenly, the urgent sound of gongs echoed from the village.
"Damn bandits! How did they get here?!"
The men immediately grabbed their hoes and firewood knives, rushing frantically back to the village.
Jin Feng, who was squatting on the kiln roof checking the fire, felt a chill run down his spine. His first thought was that the bandits from Cat Cat Mountain had arrived!
What should he do?
Jin Feng instinctively glanced toward the back mountain.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
If he ran away, what would happen to Guan Xiaorou and Tang Dongdong?
What about Run Niang and Xiao E?
No, even if he had to escape, he had to take them with him!
With this thought, Jin Feng turned and sprinted toward the village.
His home wasn't near the village entrance, so it would take the bandits some time to find it.
He had to get to his house before the bandits did and take Guan Xiaorou and the others away!
With this determination, he gritted his teeth and ran as fast as he could.
"Why are they here so fast? Didn't Brother Liang say his men were watching Cat Cat Mountain?"
Jin Feng felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.
The distance from the brick kiln to his home wasn't short. By the time Jin Feng rushed into the courtyard, the workshop was already empty.
Bandits had a habit of killing people to establish their authority when they raided villages. The men were all at the brick kiln, and the women were working in the workshop, leaving only the children in the village.
So, as soon as they heard the gongs, the women had wailed and run out to find their children.
Zhang Mancang was in the blacksmith shop, hurriedly loading arrows into a quiver.
Tang Dongdong and Run Niang were busy burying a money bag in the stove, while Guan Xiaorou held Xiao E, trembling.
Xiao E's face was pale with fear, but she kept her mouth tightly shut, not daring to make a sound.
All the children in the village knew that crying kids would have their heads cut off by the bandits.
"Husband, it's still far from harvest season. Why are the bandits here?"
Seeing Jin Feng return, Guan Xiaorou immediately found her anchor and asked anxiously, "Could it be that the bandits have changed?"
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Life was already hard for the villagers, and usually, bandits only came once a year to collect grain. Coming twice would push the villagers to fight back.
Last autumn, the bandits from Iron Jar Mountain had already come to collect their annual grain. Unless something unexpected had happened, they wouldn't return until this autumn.
If bandits came in the spring to collect grain, the most likely explanation was that the Iron Jar Mountain bandits had been overthrown by another group, and the new bandits were here to establish their authority.
They were informing the villages that the people collecting the annual grain had changed.
"It's not that the bandits have changed… Everyone, grab your crossbows. We're heading to the back mountain now."
Jin Feng didn't have time to explain the situation with the bald man to Guan Xiaorou. He rushed into the workshop and grabbed his crossbow.
Only when he had the crossbow in his hands did Jin Feng feel slightly more at ease.
If they really couldn't escape, at least they could fight back.
There were a few more crossbows on the table, which Zhang Mancang had made for Guan Xiaorou, Tang Dongdong, and the others during his spare time. They were modeled after Jin Feng's.
At Jin Feng's insistence, the girls had been training relentlessly, though they had moved the training ground to Zhang Mancang's house.
The training had paid off. Tang Dongdong's accuracy at twenty paces was already over 95%.
What surprised Jin Feng the most was Run Niang. Although she spent most of her time cooking and had the least training time, she was naturally gifted. Despite her delicate appearance, her accuracy at twenty paces was just behind Tang Dongdong's, at over 90%.
More importantly, her shooting speed was 30% faster than Tang Dongdong's.
Zhang Liang had said that with proper training, Run Niang's archery skills would soon surpass his.
In contrast, Guan Xiaorou and Xiao E's performance was mediocre, often missing the target even at ten paces.
"Mancang, let's go to the back mountain."
Jin Feng loaded his crossbow and shouted to Zhang Mancang, who was still busy.
"Brother Feng, my brother went to deliver goods to the county. My mother and sister are at home. I can't leave."
Zhang Mancang shook his head and grabbed a crossbow. "You all go ahead. If the bandits come, you won't be able to escape."
Without waiting for Jin Feng's response, he limped out of the courtyard with the crossbow in his arms.
Jin Feng knew that Zhang Mancang was planning to draw the bandits' attention to buy them time.
"Stubborn fool!"
Jin Feng cursed under his breath, but he was also touched. "Xiaorou, I'm going to help Mancang. You all run to the mountains."
With that, he grabbed his crossbow and chased after Zhang Mancang.
Tang Dongdong seemed to realize something. She gritted her teeth, rushed into the blacksmith shop, and picked up a crossbow. "Sister Xiaorou, you all go ahead. I'll help Brother Feng."
"Sister Xiaorou, if the bandits have changed, we just need to pay the grain tax. Why are we going to the back mountain?"
Run Niang asked, confused. "Why is Brother Feng carrying a crossbow? The bandits will kill people if they see weapons."
For her, the bandits' grain tax had always been a crushing burden. But now that she was in charge of cooking, she knew exactly how much grain Jin Feng's family had.
Paying the tax for a few people would be easy.
Why was Jin Feng acting like he was ready to fight the bandits to the death?
"I don't know either."
Guan Xiaorou was just as puzzled as Run Niang.
"What should we do?" Run Niang asked.
"A wife should follow her husband. If my husband is going to fight the bandits, I'll follow him."
Guan Xiaorou also rushed into the blacksmith shop. "Xiao E, you and Run Niang go to the back mountain. If your brother and I don't come for you, go back to Guan Family Bay and find your parents, understand?"
"Sister Xiaorou, I'm not going to the back mountain. I want to stay with you."
Run Niang, who was usually so determined, also shook her head.
"I'm not going to the back mountain either. There are wolves there. They'll eat Xiao E."
Xiao E cried and shook her head. "I'm not going back to Guan Family Bay either. Sister-in-law won't feed me. I'll starve to death."
"You…"
Guan Xiaorou stamped her foot. "Forget it. If my husband dies, none of us will survive. It's better to be killed by bandits than to starve to death. If you don't want to go, then stay together."
…
Jin Feng and Zhang Mancang ran to the village entrance and saw from a distance that the villagers had surrounded a few men on horseback.
But there was no conflict. In fact, the village chief seemed to be smiling.
The young man in the green robe at the front of the group on horseback was also smiling.
"Since when are bandits so friendly?"
Jin Feng felt that something was off.
Shouldn't a bandit raid be filled with wailing and fighting?
Why was everything so peaceful?
It was downright eerie.
Had the host's memory malfunctioned?
Were the bandits not here to rob but to bring warmth to the countryside?
Jin Feng glanced at Zhang Mancang and saw that the man was equally confused.
Ah, so it wasn't the host's memory that was faulty. It was these bandits who were acting strange.
Wait a minute!
Since when did bandits have such fine warhorses and such neat armor?
"Ahem, Jin Feng, you're finally here."
The village chief spotted the confused Jin Feng from a distance and called out, "The village children mistook these distinguished guests for bandits. Put down your bows and arrows. We mustn't harm our guests."