Unparalleled Duo

Sun Yixie, despite his mediocre kung fu, exuded an aura of an elder street brother, a disposition that seriously did not match his age or strength.

With his bold declaration, he actually managed to intimidate those two underlings.

Plus, considering this was an official road, and it wasn't even dark yet, with the possibility of carriages passing by at any moment, the two bandits were also scared out of their wits. After considering their options, they genuinely backed down.

"Fine... Very well, Sun Yixie, there will be a time when our paths will cross again! Just you don't regret it!" Underlings will be underlings, as they threatened but were already retreating, afraid the other party would become enraged and chase after them.

No sooner had their voices faded than the two bandits had retreated into the woods and then turned tail and ran.

Upon seeing them go, Sun Yixie also heaved a sigh of relief, but he didn't immediately go to help the woman who had fallen to the ground, as he wasn't sure whether the whole scene was a setup—with the three of them in cahoots to stage a play just for him to watch. In case this was some kind of scam or trick, where the woman would pull out poisoned needles or lime powder as soon as he got close, that was something he could not handle.

"Miss... are you alright?" Sun Yixie cautiously stood over a meter away from her and asked.

"Thank... Thank you, young hero, for the rescue," the woman was gradually catching her breath, and she slowly sat up from the ground.

Just then, Huang Donglai also hurriedly appeared from the woods on the other side of the road.

He looked around and quickly spotted the situation on Sun Yixie's side. He strode over and asked without delay, "Brother Sun is impressive, I stepped away for five minutes to take a dump, and you couldn't resist starting to abduct a girl, huh?"

"Get lost! I was being a righteous hero!" Sun Yixie knew the other was joking and arrogantly replied, "You didn't see how brave I was just now, just a little display of an overlord's might and I scared away two muscular villains."

"What overlord's might? I heard those shouts of yours from afar, okay." Huang Donglai had indeed heard because Brother Sun had shouted loudly and shrilly, and also because Huang Donglai's ear skills were quite good, "It's just that their own strength was poor, so they chickened out."

"Cut the crap." Sun Yixie said, "What were you doing when I was risking my life and roaring against injustice here?"

"Fine, fine, Brother Sun is awesome." It wasn't that Huang Donglai had nothing to say, but seeing that the young woman's gaze towards the two of them was becoming more and more peculiar, he stopped the impromptu comic dialogue with Sun Yixie.

With things having come to this point, they couldn't possibly leave the young woman behind and go chasing the carriage. Instead, they simply helped her sit on a boulder by the roadside and began to inquire about her experiences.

Upon asking, they learned that the woman was indeed a village girl named Ms. Wang, who was already a mother of two children. Of course, in the Great Ming, it was quite common for girls to get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and it was very common to have children in their twenties.

In the vicinity, there was a village called Nanyuan Village, and Ms. Wang was one of its villagers. This village was located in the mountains of Baiji Ridge, right at the intersection of several provinces, a lawless land, so it often suffered from bandit raids.

Zouma Village was the most rampant bandit stronghold in this region.

The bandits of Zouma Village would harass Nanyuan Village every now and then, but these small-scale harassments didn't involve many people, usually just five or six, and the things they stole were nothing more than chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and old wine, which five or six people couldn't carry off much by hand. The villagers dared not offend these bandits and just put up with it.

However, among the bandits who harassed the village today, two were particularly lecherous, precisely the ones Sun Yixie had scared away earlier... Earlier that day, after these two underlings ate their fill of unpaid meals in the village and were about to head back to their stronghold, they happened to see Ms. Wang at the entrance of the village. At that moment, they became lustful and wanted to snatch her back to their stronghold.

Ms. Wang was also astute. Seeing the two men approaching with lecherous smiles, she knew trouble was brewing, turned, and ran. The women in these mountains, unlike the sheltered, foot-bound ladies of the cities who hardly ever stepped outside their homes, were different: they did not bind their feet, and they often helped with the farm work. Hence, she was fast on her feet. Plus, Ms. Wang was very familiar with the paths and terrain of the ridge, so the two bandits couldn't catch her easily.

Ms. Wang was well aware that if she fell into the clutches of those two vile men, her fate would be sealed. She was prepared to die by smashing her head against a tree if worst came to worst. With such determination, she dashed towards the official road without fear, and after running desperately to the brink of exhaustion, she finally reached the roadside, where she just happened to encounter Sun Yixie.

"For the young hero to save me, this woman is eternally grateful." Ms. Wang spoke with tears in her voice, "But after this ordeal, I fear the bandits won't let things be. Whether tomorrow or even tonight, they might gather their men and come to the village for revenge. My entire family might suffer... What am I to do?" As she spoke, the tears fell from her eyes.

After hearing her story, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were also indignant, but as indignant as they were, it seemed they couldn't really do anything.

Not to mention that they were currently on a journey, even if they could spare half a day to meddle in this matter, just the two of them, they definitely wouldn't be a match for an entire stronghold of bandits.

"Damn it, this is really tricky." Sun Yixie cursed as he added, "Or else…" He thought for a moment, "We rush back to Hangzhou Prefecture to report this to the authorities? I can't speak for other places, but the Hangzhou Prefect should give some face to the Sun family. Asking him to dispatch some troops to wipe out a bandit stronghold shouldn't be too difficult."