The moment Lin Yueru saw his fury, she knew there was no avoiding disaster today!
Decisive and swift, she shouted, “Eldest Brother, Second Brother, do it!”
Han Laoda and Han Er’er had already been on edge, bracing themselves to strike at any second. Hearing Lin Yueru’s call, they drew their blades without a word and slashed at the mountain bandits!
The sudden assault caught the mountain bandits completely off guard!
Lin Yueru was by no means idle either. The instant her shout left her mouth, she bent low and unleashed a vicious kick straight into the leg of Scarface’s mount!
Taken entirely by surprise, the horse took the brutal blow and reared up with an enraged whinny.
Scarface was thrown clean off!
This chaotic moment of overturned horse and rider was precisely what Lin Yueru had been waiting for!
As soon as Scarface hit the ground, she bounded forward and stomped savagely onto his face and chest!
Han Yanqing rushed over right behind her, raining several more brutal kicks upon the man.
After knocking Scarface unconscious, Han Yanqing grabbed the bandit’s fallen blade and finished him off on the spot!
The entire clash ed with lightning speed.
Before the onlookers could even process how Scarface had died, Han Yanqing was already clutching the short blade and throwing himself into the fray alongside Han Laoda!
Six bandits had come today. With Scarface dead, the remaining five glared with eyes practically splitting in rage, concentrating all their fury to surround and attack Han Laoda and his brother.
It was five against three. Even with a freak of nature like Han Yanqing on their side, they could barely keep from being overwhelmed!
In broad daylight, it was inconvenient for Lin Yueru to use her needles, so she could only hover nearby, launching occasional sneak attacks to harass and distract them.
Though it sounds slow in the telling, the chaos unfolded in mere breaths!
Seeing the battle escalate into a fierce melee in the blink of an eye, the surrounding refugees abandoned their belongings, shielded their elderly and children, and fled in frantic panic!
Only the old man who had spoken earlier hurriedly commanded the young men beside him:
“Qian Wen, Qian Wu, what are you waiting for? Go help!”
Without the slightest hesitation, the two young men settled the elder, women, and children safely to the side, seized their woodchopping blades, and charged into the fight!
In an instant, it became five against five, easing the pressure on Han Yanqing and the others considerably.
Seeing this, Lin Yueru breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Fortunately, they were blessed to run into such chivalrous and courageous people; otherwise, she would have had to expose her secrets to take action today!
Clenching her fists, Old Madame Han watched anxiously from the sidelines. Seeing Lin Yueru still lingering near the fight, she cried out in distress:
“Ru, come back quickly!”
It would have been fine had Old Madame Han kept quiet, but her shout immediately caught the bandits’ attention.
Hearing Old Madame Han’s voice, the mountain bandit who looked like a Skinny Monkey darted his eyes around and pulled back from Han Laoda’s side of the battlefield, pivoting to charge straight toward Old Madame Han!
The Han family had slain his brothers time and again; how could he be satisfied without seeing Han blood spilled!
Skinny Monkey had a clear objective, lunging straight for the defenseless old woman, Sanbao, and Sibao!
“Mother, run!”
“Mother, look out!!”
Liu Qiumei and Zhao Shuangtao were frightened out of their wits. Their minds went completely blank, yet their bodies threw themselves in front of the old woman without hesitation!
How could Skinny Monkey care about a few women? He swung his blade and hacked downward, slicing into Zhao Shuangtao’s arm. Blood spurted forth instantly!
Old Madame Han’s eyes widened in horror. “Shuangtao!!”
Still unsatisfied, the bandit seized the advantage and lunged forward another big step, thrusting his blade straight at the old woman’s chest!
“Mother!!”
The anguished, furious cries of the three Han brothers echoed across the valley, tears bursting from their eyes.
They hated only that they had no wings to fly to Old Madame Han and take the blow for her!
Buzz—
At the critical juncture, a stone struck the bandit’s blade with lethal precision and force!
The blade hummed with a ringing vibration that numbed the bandit’s hand!
At the exact same time, a sler silver needle shot straight toward his face.
The moment the tip of the blade pierced into Old Madame Han’s chest, the silver needle buried itself into his temple. Lin Yueru arrived simultaneously, kicking the man squarely onto the ground.
Even so, the blade had already penetrated an inch into the old woman’s chest, and trickles of blood seeped out!
The mountain bandit was dead without a doubt. Lin Yueru leapt past him and caught Old Madame Han’s collapsing body.
With great effort, the old woman turned her head to look at the three men in the distance, then glanced at the wounded Zhao Shuangtao beside her, before weakly closing her eyes.
Anxious, Lin Yueru checked her breath. Only after confirming she was still breathing did she let out a breath of relief.
Farther away, the three Han men did not know the extent of Old Madame Han’s injuries, and a roaring fire seemed to blaze in their chests.
Lin Yueru shouted, “Mother is fine! Eldest Brother, Second Brother, remember to leave one alive!”
Today’s incident was definitely no coincidence.
She had to find out who was plotting against the Han family behind their backs!
Hearing Lin Yueru’s words, the men breathed a sigh of relief and channeled all their strength into hacking at the bandits.
It was already five against four, and with a freak of nature like Han Yanqing, the battle was over in no time.
Han Yanqing, in particular, wielded his short blade with miraculous skill, leaving Qian Wen and Qian Wu gaping in astonishment again and again.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Yanqing dragged two mountain bandits over.
Forcing the two bandits down beside his wife and Old Madame Han, he said, “Wife, captives. How is Mother?”
His brow was furrowed, his face brimming with concern.
Fearing he would be scared, Lin Yueru comforted him, “Don’t worry, Mother is fine. She was just frightened; she’ll recover in a while.”
Lin Yueru had already cleaned the wounds of Old Madame Han and Zhao Shuangtao with spiritual water, and fed them both some spiritual water along with hemostatic medicine.
Zhao Shuangtao’s arm was severely wounded, but fortunately, it was not life-threatening.
“Mother, your unfilial sons failed to protect you!”
Han Laoda and Han Er’er knelt before Old Madame Han, tears streaming down their faces.
If only they had been more mindful and left someone to guard Old Madame Han, perhaps this would never have happened!
Lin Yueru comforted them softly, “Eldest Brother, Second Brother, you can’t blame yourselves for this. And rest assured, Mother’s wound isn’t fatal; she only fainted from the fright. With some rest, she will recover.”
She continued in a solemn voice, “Right now, the priority is to quickly interrogate them and find out if someone set the mountain bandits on our Han family, and then leave this place immediately before more bandits catch up.”
Hearing Lin Yueru’s words, Han Laoda and Han Er’er immediately realized that now was not the time for self-reproach; the matter was far from over!
The two brothers wiped the tears from their faces, stood up, and went to interrogate the two surviving mountain bandits.
Meanwhile, Lin Yueru, along with Han Yanqing and Liu Qiumei, settled Old Madame Han onto the handcart.
Zhao Shuangtao was very weak after being wounded, but with Old Madame Han lying down, the handcart was already full, leaving her to barely sit on one side of it.
Before long, Han Laoda and Han Er’er finished their questioning and slit the throats of the two bandits.
“Sister-in-law, you guessed right. Someone really did plot against us behind our backs!”
Han Laoda’s expression was grim. “According to those two bandits, they first followed the hoofprints and found the families who had bought the horses from us. Those families confessed everything about that night down to the last detail! After that, the bandits followed the trail, asking around as they tracked us down…”