As Ji Yunshu moved towards him, Lang Po grabbed her, “Don’t go over there, Teacher Ji.”
Ji Yunshu felt her insides churning as she looked at Wei Yi being held by that bandit. Despite her worry however, she managed to pretend to be calm as she spoke. “He’s only a boy, a kid – there’s no use holding him hostage. If you let him go, I promise you’ll all leave safely.”
“Let him go?”
“I can, no- I will give you anything as long as you let him go.”
“I want your lives and all your valuables!”
Ji Yunshu did not answer.
“Shu’er, it hurts!” Wei Yi screeched.
Jing Rong had already left the sedan, his stoic expression betraying absolutely nothing. His natural charisma was already enough to draw everyone’s attention towards him; leaving even those bandits trembling in fear. They watched as he walked to Ji Yunshu, whispering softly, “Go to the back.”
“But Wei Yi…”
“Leave it to me!” Ji Yunshu trusted Jing Rong enough to let Ji Wanxin pull her to the back.
Lang Po walked to Jing Rong, inquiring, “What should we do, Your Highness?”
What should we do? Of course we solve this bloody situation!
He waved a hand, indicating for Lang Po to step aside. Jing Rong then strode towards those bandits with confident, steely eyes, arching one eyebrow maliciously.
The bandits were frightened, “Who… who are you?”
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Let me tell you, our leader is the ruler of Shanhuai County; with how many of our brothers you’ve killed today, we’ll definitely come for your lives!
Jing Rong laughed, “Fine, I’ll wait for your leader’s revenge. Before that though, none of you… should even think about leaving.”
“Then I’ll kill him!” That bandit tightened his grip on his knife, cutting deeper into Wei Yi’s neck.
Wei Yi screamed at Jing Rong in pain, “Big Brother, he’s going to kill me. You need to save me!”
“Weren’t you going to ignore me?”
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I’m not angry anymore, Big Brother, I’m not angry with you anymore, not angry…”
Jing Rong did not know whether to laugh or cry. Instead, he shouted coldly at those bandits, “If you think that you’re safe by holding him hostage, then think again. Go ahead and kill him since there’s no point in keeping that idiot alive anyways. If we can capture you and send you to the Shanhuai yamen, maybe the county magistrate will even reward us.”
The already struggling bandit knew that he was done for good this time, but he attempted a last-ditch effort, “Fine, since this idiot is of no use to you, then I’ll kill him now – at least we can die together.”
Before he could make the final cut, Wei Yi began to cry, cursing Jing Rong, “Punching Bag! You’re so bad, I hate you, I don’t like you anymore! If I die, I’ll turn into a ghost and visit you every night, then scare you to death…” He chattered on and on incessantly.
That bandit’s head began to throb, “Enough, I’ll send you to hell now.” The bandit’s hand was already raised high by the time Ji Yunshu screamed, though she was prevented from running over by Ji Wanxin’s tight grip.
When the knife was only a few centimeters away, something flew out from inside the sedan, hitting that bandit’s wrist. It was strong enough to knock that bandit’s knife out of his hand as he cried out in pain. Jing Rong took that opportunity to grab Wei Yi, sending a blow right onto that bandit’s chest.
Seeing that, Lang Po and his men rounded up the remaining ten or so bandits, killing all those who resisted capture. Only two were left – they were forced to kneel, tied up securely with their hands behind their backs.
As soon as Jing Rong pulled Wei Yi back, he immediately headed for Ji Yunshu, who hugged him and brought him up to the sedan. She found some medicine and applied some onto his neck before blowing on the wound gently, “Once this medicine’s applied, don’t go touching it with your hands.”
“Mm!”
“It cannot get wet.”
“Mm!”
“When you’re sleeping at night, try to sleep on the other side, understand?”
“Mm!”
Wei Yi thoroughly enjoyed this whole process, answering obediently to Ji Yunshu’s directions. Of course, he didn’t forget to rat out Jing Rong while his large eyes filled with unshed tears, “Shu’er, Brother Jing Rong told that man just now to kill me – why did he do that? Has he become bad? Evil?”
Ji Yunshu ruffled his hair, “That’s not true. Don’t think too much about it.”
“Mm!” He nodded, continuing, “Shu’er, I’m tired.”
“Then rest.”
“Okay!” Wei Yi then grabbed firmly onto Ji Yunshu’s wrist, resting his head on her shoulder, rubbing against her. Ji Yunshu was sore for quite some time after.
As Wei Yi fell asleep, Ji Wanxin finally nudged her gently, asking, “Have you ever considered, if His Highness really didn’t care about Young Master Wei’s life, then…”
“He’s not that kind of person!”
“But just now…”
Ji Yunshu cut her off sharply, “He only said that because he knew that Mo Ruo would make his move. Everyone else may misunderstand him, but I never will.”
Ji Wanxin could only keep her mouth shut uncomfortably.
Outside.
Lang Po and his men cleaned up the corpses on laying about, tying those two captives onto one of their horses. He then confirmed with Jing Rong, “Your Highness, are we really sending these two to Shanhuai County? But that man said earlier that their leader…”
Jing Rong shot him an icy glare before he could finish, “Are all our officials good-for-nothings? The fact is that a county is now controlled by a mere bandit – this Prince will pull that incompetent magistrate off his high horse.”
“Yes, this servant understands.”
“Then let’s leave. Hopefully, we can get to the inn in front before it gets dark.”
Lang Po asked, “Then, what about Young Master Wei?”
Jing Rong glanced towards Ji Yunshu’s sedan. He flicked his sleeve, saying, “Let him sit with Teacher Ji.”
“Understood!”
Jing Rong entered his own sedan only to discover Mo Ruo lying on the soft mat with his hands crossed in front of his chest, every bit the alcoholic he was. Jing Rong sat down beside him, saying nothing as the sedan trudged forwards.
Mo Ruo finally turned over. He muttered indistinctly, his eyes still shut, “If I hadn’t made my move then, did you really intend for those men to kill Wei Yi?”
Jing Rong stared straight ahead, “But you did!”
“What if I was really asleep?”
“Truth is, you were never asleep.”
Mo Ruo gave a short laugh as he flipped over. His eyes snapped shut and he became still.
