This is terrible! My future prime minister keeps trying to kiss me forcibly.

Chapter 188 Your Fate

Upon hearing this, the villagers turned around and gave Li Shanhai a strange look, rolled their eyes, and then scurried away even faster.

Each person leads a bandit back? Is the village chief serious?

Did he get his brain injured by bandits today? Are you playing house?

"He Jing, wait! You...you're the most capable, so stay here tonight to guard against the bandits!" Village Chief Li called out to He Jing as if he had grasped at the last straw when he saw Ye Xiaoxiao and the others walking at the back.

Ye Xiaoxiao exchanged a glance with the man beside her, then turned to look at Li Shanhai, who was as frightened as a startled bird. She then glanced at the bandits, who were all tied up like dumplings, and said sarcastically:

“Village chief, our Jing has worked hard catching thieves, he needs to rest. Besides, even if those bandits have great skills, they can't escape. You can rest assured.”

Cold sweat began to bead on Li Shanhai's forehead: "What if...they break free of the ropes—"

It's not hard to guess that he didn't finish his sentence.

"What if?" Ye Xiaoxiao's lips curled into a sarcastic smile. She paused for a moment, then continued, "That would be your fate, Village Chief."

Li Shanhai watched as the last group of people walked further and further away, sweat dripping from his forehead to his neck. He glanced back at the group of bandits behind him, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

In all his years as village chief, this was the first time he had ever seen such a scene, and his legs were a little weak.

Then, he took a knife from the kitchen and stood tremblingly by the table in the yard, watching the bandits with trepidation. The suffocating feeling he had when his neck was strangled earlier returned.

On the other side, Zhao Chunxiu waited until everyone had left before coming out of the house.

He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a fire poker, and pounced on the bandits, beating them mercilessly.

"Give me back my daughter's life! Give me back my daughter's life!"

The bandit who was hit by the stick grimaced in pain, his eyes wide open as if he wanted to eat someone.

"What's wrong with this crazy woman?"

"Who knows your daughter?"

"That's right, even though we bandits rob money, food, and women, we haven't managed to steal anything since we fled here! Let alone your daughter!"

Seeing that the other party wouldn't admit it, Zhao Chunxiu hit even harder, her face turning red, and she gradually began to roar.

“My daughter was in the house you set on fire yesterday!” she gasped for breath, her hands clenching the fire poker so tightly they cracked.

"Bullshit! That family of four was already dead when we went in."

"Absolutely! It was a terrible sight! Every single one of them was bleeding from all seven orifices."

"That's right! Although we bandits have committed many evils, we dare to take responsibility for our actions. If we say it's not true, then it's not true!"

Having lost her mind, Zhao Chunxiu could no longer listen to the bandits' words, taking them all as mere sophistry. She then struck them even harder, and the bandits screamed in pain as they were beaten.

Li Shanhai hadn't expected his worries to be unnecessary. His wife had almost killed those bandits.

The next day, before dawn, He Jing went to the town to report to the authorities.

When the officials arrived in the village, they were quite startled by the appearance of the bandits.

These bandits must be the most miserable in history. They were all beaten black and blue, and their faces were so swollen that they were unrecognizable.

This was the first time the bandits had ever been so eager to see government troops. Their eyes were filled with fanaticism, as if they had seen a savior: "Take us away quickly, or we'll lose our lives!"

The villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle were puzzled when they saw the bandits looking so miserable.

They weren't this rough last night, were they? Maybe it was because the lighting was bad?

The people of Dongyuan Village subdued the bandits, and the yamen rewarded them with a lot of silver and posted notices in the street praising them.

The townspeople stood in front of the notice, whispering amongst themselves.

"Wow, catching bandits is so profitable! Look, you can get five hundred coins for subduing just one bandit!"

"That's something people risked their lives for, so tell me, isn't it worth a lot of money?"

"If only another band of bandits came, I'd like to make a few taels of silver from them."

"Come on, I heard there was a village where an entire family was killed by bandits!"

"That's right, don't expect to make money catching bandits. With a government office in our town that's so dilapidated it doesn't even have a signboard, where would we get the money? I heard that these are all rewards from higher-ups."

Everyone pricked up their ears, eager to hear more inside information.

It turns out that this band of mountain bandits had fled from somewhere else, while the people who chased them were said to be from the capital.

The man who led the troops was a deputy general surnamed Wu.

At this moment, the deputy general surnamed Wu, whom they were talking about, was leading his men to Dongyuan Village.

When Deputy General Wu heard that the vicious bandits had been captured in an inconspicuous little mountain village, he led his men to visit this hero.

Li Shanhai saw a group of soldiers in armor approaching the village entrance from afar and quickly ran up to greet them.

With a fawning expression, he bowed and scraped, saying, "Gentlemen, my surname is Li, and I am the village chief of this village. What business do you have with me?"

Deputy General Wu asked with a serious expression, "Village Chief Li, we've come to find the hero who captured the mountain bandits a few days ago."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanhai assumed they had come to bestow rewards upon him again, and he was overjoyed.

"Um... Sir, don't laugh at me, but it was I who captured the bandits a few days ago."

Deputy General Wu looked at the person in front of him who was hunched over and awkwardly rubbing his hands, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes: "Really?"

"Really! Really! Hehe!"

Deputy General Wu was half-believing and half-doubting. He looked at the old man standing in front of him, who was swaying unsteadily, and then gestured to a soldier to step forward.

The soldier effortlessly swept his leg across the ground, knocking Li Shanhai to the ground.

"Ouch--"

Li Shanhai grimaced in pain, turning to the side and clutching his buttocks as he cried out.

Deputy General Wu knew perfectly well what the man in front of him was thinking; he simply wanted to claim credit for the achievement and receive the reward.

That little incident was just a small lesson for him.

"Village Chief Li, you can't just claim credit for something like that!"

Afterwards, Deputy General Wu led his entourage forward with an imposing air. On the way, they asked a villager for directions and learned that the person he was looking for was a man named He Jing.

The kind villager led the other person to He Jing's doorstep.

Several children, with their backs to the courtyard gate, are playing a game of fighting grass.

Seeing several people approaching, Lu Shi'an turned around curiously to look.

My goodness!

You wouldn't have known if you hadn't looked, but what you saw shocked you!

Why is Deputy General Wu here? Is he looking for me? He certainly doesn't want to go back with them!

"You guys play! I suddenly have an upset stomach." Lu Shi'an threw down the grass in his hand and ran to the outhouse in a flash.