The moment that man recognized Lin Yueru, joy and hatred flared in his eyes.
He turned back and shouted through gritted teeth, “Brothers, I found them! Both those bastards are right here!”
In the blink of an eye, three more figures crawled out from a cave in the distance.
Han Yanqing’s smile vanished instantly. Raising an arm, he shielded Lin Yueru behind him.
Inside their own cave, the Han family heard the yell and was scared out of their wits!
Without waiting for Old Madame Han to speak, Han Laoda and Han Er’er grabbed their blades and rushed outside.
Han Er’er’s eyes gleamed with fierce resolve.
Han Laoda looked equally determined. Turning his head, he instructed Liu Qiumei, “Watch over Mother and the children!”
Summoning all her strength, Old Madame Han forced two words through her teeth: “Be careful!”
As the two mountain bandits approached, Han Laoda and Han Er’er emerged from the cave.
The moment the two sides faced each other, both wore ruthless expressions of men ready to fight to the death!
Lin Yueru had not expected the Han brothers to come out.
After all, going up against several vicious mountain bandits was clearly striking a stone with an egg!
Yet they gripped their harvesting scythes tightly, refusing to take even half a step back.
The mountain bandits had not expected anyone else to follow them out either.
They had snuck out on their own and did not want to cause unnecessary trouble, so their leader tried to negotiate with Han Laoda and Han Er’er.
“That broad cudgeled my brother to death! A life for a life—that’s how this works! We don’t want to make things complicated either. As long as you hand her over, this matter is settled!”
While Lin Yueru searched her Space for any usable weapons, she fully prepared herself to be given up.
After all, when all was said and done, she was an outsider.
Handing her over to spare their own family’s lives would be the most sensible trade imaginable!
To her surprise, Han Yanqing shielded her fiercely behind his back.
“No one touches my wife!”
His usually clear, gentle eyes burned with unprecedented fury.
The bandit in the lead narrowed his eyes.
“Kid, you can always find another wife, but once you lose your life, that’s it!”
He then looked toward the two Han brothers. “You still have women and children in that cave, don’t you? Even if you don’t care about yourselves, haven’t you thought about them?!”
“How do you know it’ll be us who lose our lives? Who’s to say all of you won’t be staying behind today to be buried with that hot-headed brother of yours!”
Han Laoda sneered without blinking an eye.
Han Er’er immediately chimed in, “Exactly!”
“You sons of bitches rob innocent folks and commit every evil deed under the sun! My sister-in-law beating your brother to death was acting on behalf of Heaven! And you expect us to hand her over to save our own skins? Bah! Do you think everyone in this world is as wolf-hearted and dog-lunged, as heartless and shameless as you?!”
They might not be men of great ability, but ever since they were young, their parents had taught them that no matter what happened, a family must share honor and disgrace!
Han Er’er’s barrage of curses practically threw the bandits’ pride onto the ground and stomped on it!
Sure enough, the bandits’ faces twisted with fury, until they snapped in humiliated rage.
“Since you’re so bent on playing the hero, I’ll grant your wish! I’ll s you all down to the underworld to apologize to my brother in person!”
The four mountain bandits exchanged glances and nodded.
All at once, they hurled down their torches, raised their broadswords, and charged!
Han Laoda and Han Er’er gripped their scythe and wood-chopping cleaver, stepping forward to take on two men each and block their advance.
But how could the bandits let them have their way?
A bandit wielding a swift broadsword was enough to tie them down in a prolonged clash!
Had Han Laoda and Han Er’er not practiced martial arts with Han Yanqing for two years in the past, they would have been overpowered immediately!
The other two bandits broke free, lunging respectively toward Lin Yueru and Han Yanqing.
Han Yanqing had always been gentle and kind to others, but today these men had come aggressively to drag his wife away and hurt his two brothers!
He had no room left for kindness. Drawing his short blade, he stood firmly in front of Lin Yueru!
Lin Yueru dodged to the side, closely watching the battle and ready to intervene at any moment.
Yet the more she watched, the more astonished she became!
The two bandits coming for them had assumed it would be an easy catch. Who could have foreseen that Han Yanqing, wielding only a short blade, would weave between them like a slippery loach? They couldn’t find a single opening to strike!
Instead, out of fear of accidentally cutting their own man, they hesitated—and he slashed two deep gashes into their arms!
Among the three skirmishes, Han Laoda was the first to fall into a disadvantage.
He had little martial arts training to begin with, and his makeshift weapon was no match for a proper blade.
His opponent happened to be exceptionally ruthless. With a single lapse in defense, the bandit’s broadsword swept right toward his face!
Lin Yueru’s heart jumped into her throat. Disregarding the risk of exposing herself, she sprinted forward and delivered a vicious kick straight to the crook of the man’s arm!
Though her strength was lacking, her aim was precise. The kick threw the bandit’s swing completely off course.
In combat, victory or defeat often hung on a single fleeting moment.
Han Laoda didn’t have time to process what had happened. Seeing the bandit stumble and miss, he raised his blade and brought it crashing down onto the man’s back!
The bandit, who had just tried to push himself back up, instantly collapsed to the ground, immobilized by agonizing pain.
Without hesitation, Han Laoda stepped forward and delivered a finishing blow!
Before he could even register what he had done, he had killed a man!
Seeing Han Laoda frozen in a daze, Lin Yueru urgently shouted, “Eldest Brother, go help Yanqing, quick!”
Snapping out of his stupor, Han Laoda snatched up the dead bandit’s broadsword and rushed to assist Han Yanqing, who was still fighting one against two.
Just as he joined the fray, a father and son emerged from an adjacent cave.
Lin Yueru had noticed them peeking out earlier, but having no idea what their intentions were, she hadn’t had the luxury to pay them any mind.
“Damn it, hack these bastards to pieces!”
“Kill the mountain bandits!”
To her surprise, the two of them each brandished a broadsword now. Shouting battle cries to bolster their courage, they charged forward and threw themselves into the fight against the bandits!
The Han brothers spared them only a brief glance; they had no time to speak, their blades swinging relentlessly without pause.
Seeing the tide turn against them, the remaining three mountain bandits instantly had thoughts of fleeing.
They had only come because they couldn’t swallow the indignity of their close companion being beaten to death by a woman.
Who could have guessed they would kick such an iron plate?
Now that another brother had fallen, their resolve crumbled completely!
Yet, since they wanted to run, would the Han brothers give them the chance?
Especially Han Yanqing—he scooped up the dead bandit’s broadsword from the ground and swung it with effortless familiarity, as naturally as eating a meal, forcing the bandits back step by step!
It wasn’t just Lin Yueru; even the Han brothers found this Han Yanqing completely unfamiliar.
Brandishing a broadsword to cut men down, Han Yanqing wore a cold, expressionless face. The sheer aura radiating from him was rivaled only by a general in full armor!
Lin Yueru found herself growing increasingly curious about what Han Yanqing had been like before he lost his memories.
And so, half an hour later.
The final mountain bandit collapsed to the ground, eyes wide open, unable to close his eyes in death!
The Han brothers and the father and son who had joined later collapsed to the ground in utter exhaustion, panting heavily as they tried to recover their strength.
The older man was broad-shouldered and burly, with dark, weather-beaten skin. When he smiled, he showed a mouthful of teeth, giving him a hearty and honest appearance.
The youth beside him was tall and straight-backed, with exceptionally handsome features.
Han Laoda forced himself up, sat down beside the man, and patted him on the shoulder. “Brother, thank you so much for today!”
“Don’t mention it!” The man shook his head with an honest smile.
“Those mountain bandits do nothing but evil all the time. I’ve wanted to vent my rage on them for ages! We only managed it thanks to you folks; if it were just the two of us, father and son, I wouldn’t have dared take them on!”
While they caught their breath outside, the people inside the cave were beside themselves with worry.
The sounds of fighting had suddenly ceased—had they won or lost?!
Zhao Shuangtao placed Sibao into Old Madame Han’s arms, gathered her courage, and poked half her head out from the cave entrance, quietly surveying the scene outside.
The battle had raged from dusk until dawn. The blood-soaked ground and the scattered corpses of the mountain bandits were now plain to see in the morning light!
Zhao Shuangtao turned pale with shock, yet a surge of uncontrollable excitement bubbled up from deep within her heart.
She shouted back into the cave, “We won! We won! Mother, Eldest Brother and the others killed all the bandits!”
Inside the cave, Old Madame Han clutched her chest and let out a long, heavy breath of relief.