“Sang Luo! A-Luo! Where are you?!”
Ciren’s anxious voice echoed through the valley.
Yangjin, who had been searching for Sang Luo alongside him, suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her face instantly turned pale.
“It’s Ciren! He must have come looking for that woman! If he finds us, we’ll be in trouble. We have to go!”
The bald man spat, his face full of unwillingness.
“Damn it! We were this close to getting her. How can we leave now?”
“Then stay here and wait to die!” Yangjin stomped her feet anxiously. “I’m warning you, Ciren is the best hunter in our village. He’ll definitely be able to follow the traces and find this place. If he sees you, you’re finished!”
Hearing this, the man hesitated.
Then he remembered that before they left, his boss had specifically warned him never to expose their whereabouts. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and give up.
He shot one vicious look toward the snow hollow before following Yangjin and fleeing in a panic.
Inside the snow hollow, Sang Luo was delighted when she heard Ciren’s voice and hurriedly tried to stand up and call out.
But at that moment, a cold hand suddenly grabbed her sleeve.
“Don’t… go…”
Dündup murmured weakly.
Even while unconscious, his hand remained clamped around the Tibetan-blue fabric like an iron vise.
Sang Luo tried to pull herself free, only to discover that even though the man was still unconscious, his strength was astonishing.
Ciren’s voice was getting closer and closer.
Sang Luo pulled harder.
“Let go! I have to go!”
She gave the fabric a hard tug.
Riiip!
The sound of tearing cloth was especially loud in the silent snow hollow.
A piece of Sang Luo’s sleeve was ripped off by Dündup and remained tightly clenched in his palm.
Sang Luo had no time to worry about it. She took one deep look at the unfamiliar man before enduring the excruciating pain in her ankle and stumbling toward Ciren’s voice.
“Ciren A-Bu! I’m here!”
The moment Ciren spotted Sang Luo in the distance, his heart nearly stopped.
He leaped off his horse and rushed toward her in several strides, pulling her tightly into his arms.
“A-Luo! You scared me to death! When Dad and I got home, A-Jia said you still hadn’t returned. What happened?”
His voice trembled slightly with fear as he carefully checked Sang Luo for injuries.
Still shaken from the ordeal, Sang Luo told Ciren what had happened. The moment he heard that Yangjin had been involved, his expression became terrifying.
“Yangjin.”
Ciren gritted out the name, the veins at his temples bulging.
He suppressed his anger and carefully lifted Sang Luo onto the horse.
“Hold on tight. We’ll go home first, then talk. I’ll make sure she pays for this!”
Sitting on the horse, Sang Luo was surrounded from behind by Ciren’s warm embrace, which shielded her from the howling cold wind.
Perhaps because the day had been too frightening and exhausting, or perhaps because Ciren’s embrace was simply too comforting, Sang Luo slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
When they returned to the village, Ciren carefully carried Sang Luo home and settled her on the bed.
Then, like an enraged lion, he stormed into Duojie’s home.
Yangzong was holding her newborn and feeding him. Seeing Ciren approaching with such murderous intent, she was startled.
“Ciren, what happened?”
“Your sister Yangjin did this!”
Ciren’s voice was icy.
“She conspired with an outsider from the Han Chinese areas and tried to harm Sang Luo. Do you know what that is? Kidnapping!”
“What?!”
The tea bowl in Yangzong’s hand crashed to the floor.
She suddenly stood up, her face deathly pale.
“That foolish girl! Mamba Sang Luo just saved the lives of me and my child, and she actually…”
She trembled with rage. She did not even care that she was still in postpartum confinement. She threw on her outer robe and prepared to return to her parents’ home.
Duojie hurriedly stopped his wife.
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle this!”
Yangzong was utterly ashamed. She repeatedly apologized to Ciren.
“Ciren, I’m sorry. I failed to keep Yangjin under control…”
“Ciren, you said there was another Han Chinese man involved, right? I’ll have my brothers go look for him immediately!”
To prevent his wife from being implicated, Duojie quickly changed the subject and took responsibility for tracking down the kidnapper.
“Even if we have to turn all of Gongjue Mountain upside down, we’ll find him!”
Ciren also knew that this matter was actually unrelated to Yangzong’s family.
“Your father isn’t home. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go there alone. Duojie, come with me.”
“Okay!”
Duojie quickly put on his outer robe and hurried outside. Ciren followed silently behind him.
When they arrived at Yangjin’s house, she was pacing restlessly inside.
The moment she heard footsteps outside, she jumped in fright.
Duojie kicked the door open.
“You… What are you doing?!”
Yangjin forced herself to remain calm.
“You’re trespassing on my home!”
“What are we doing?”
Duojie looked at her with a mixture of anger and disappointment.
“I should be asking what you were doing! You actually tried to harm Mamba Sang Luo!”
“I… I didn’t!”
Yangjin reacted as though someone had stepped on her foot, her voice rising several pitches.
“What evidence do you have?!”
“You…”
“Yangjin! It’s not too late to admit your mistake!”
Ciren stood at the doorway. As the two argued, his sharp gaze swept across the room like an eagle’s.
Suddenly, a faint glimmer from an inconspicuous corner caught his attention.
He strode over, but Yangjin suddenly blocked his path.
“What are you doing?!”
Yangjin spread her arms in panic.
The money she had extorted from that man was hidden there. She absolutely could not let them find it!
Ciren shoved her aside without hesitation and pulled a cloth bundle from a crack in the wall.
Duojie leaned over for a look.
Inside was a thick stack of banknotes.
“Where did this money come from?”
Ciren questioned coldly, picking up the banknotes and throwing them in front of Yangjin.
“Your father’s rheumatism flared up this month, and he’s been in the hospital. He hasn’t even gone up the mountain to herd livestock. Where did you get this money?”
Yangjin’s face turned deathly pale. She stammered, unable to answer.
“Yangjin!”
Duojie looked at her in anguish.
“Do you know that aiding a kidnapping and intentional murder can get you sent to prison? At least ten years!”
“Ten… ten years?”
Yangjin’s legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor.
“No… I didn’t know… He said he was only going to take that woman away… No… That doesn’t count as kidnapping!”
“Doesn’t count?”
Ciren’s dark eyes were filled with icy menace.
“Then what does count? Breaking into someone’s home and dragging them away? Or covering their mouth, stuffing them into a sack, and carrying them off?”
“Yangjin, you don’t actually think we’re all idiots, do you?”
Yangjin was rendered speechless. She could only sit on the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
Just then, a young man hurried inside.
“Brother Ciren, we caught that man at the pasture!”
Everyone immediately became alert and rushed to the pasture with Yangjin in custody.
The bald man was there with his hands tied behind his back, being held down by several herders. His face was bruised and injured, clearly showing that he had put up quite a fight.
“Talk! Who ordered you to do this?”
Ciren planted one foot firmly on the man’s back.
The man spat out a mouthful of blood and stubbornly turned his face away.
A cruel smile curled across Ciren’s lips.
“That’s fine. If you won’t talk, I have plenty of ways and means to make you.”