At this moment, Ruan Jiu had already silently cursed the ancestors of that person up to the eighteenth generation in her heart. If cursing could have offensive power, he would probably have been cut into a thousand pieces.
However, this remark piqued the interest of the bandit leader. Recently, a plague had been raging in Shuozhou City. He hadn't visited the brothel for a long time and was already extremely pent - up. After hearing his subordinate's suggestion, a glint of lust suddenly flashed in his eyes. He sized up the little girl in front of him up and down non - stop. She was as tender as if water could be squeezed out of her. His lecherous expression was simply disgusting.
Ruan Jiu watched as these bandits slowly approached her. Panic welled up in her heart immediately. What should she do? How could she save herself? Chuntao beside her was also extremely frightened. The two of them huddled closely together. Some of the servants, the brave ones, wanted to step forward to protect Ruan Jiu, but unexpectedly, they were knocked down by the bandits in just a few moves.
Seeing this, Ruan Jiu took off the hairpin on her head, pointed it at the bandit leader, and shouted, "Are you crazy? I was sent by the Emperor!"
Hearing this, the bandit leader burst into laughter, looking up at the sky. "Hahaha, you're just an out - of - favor person. As long as the medicinal materials are delivered to Shuozhou, who will care about your life or death!" As he spoke, he approached Ruan Jiu step by step.
Looking at the panic on Ruan Jiu's face, she realized that the story she had made up randomly had actually dug a big hole for herself. The bandit leader slowed down his steps and approached Ruan Jiu, enjoying the panicked expression on her face.
Ruan Jiu clenched the hairpin tightly, and her hands couldn't stop trembling. "If you come any closer, I'll kill you!"
"Hahaha!" This remark caused a burst of laughter.
"I just like girls with a fiery temper like you." The bandit leader squinted his eyes.
In the eyes of these bandits, a young miss like Ruan Jiu would be extremely scared at the sight of a little blood on normal days. Even if she was given ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare to kill someone. The bandit leader simply ignored the hairpin in Ruan Jiu's hand. He continued to grin and approached Ruan Jiu.
But the next moment, the smile on the bandit leader's face suddenly froze. As soon as the bandit leader got close, Ruan Jiu raised her hand and stabbed the hairpin hard at the bandit leader's neck. Veins bulged on Ruan Jiu's forehead as if she had used all her strength. In the blink of an eye, even though the bandit leader reacted quickly, his neck was still stabbed.
The bandit leader covered his neck in pain, burning with anger. He kicked Ruan Jiu hard in the abdomen. Ruan Jiu was instantly kicked three meters away. The intense pain made her frown tightly, and her whole body curled up into a ball.
Looking at the blood on his hand, the bandit leader roared angrily, "Damn it, you dare to hurt me!" After saying that, he immediately rushed over and grabbed Ruan Jiu's hair tightly. It seemed that he still wasn't satisfied. With a "pop", a resounding slap landed heavily on Ruan Jiu's face. Her cheek immediately swelled up, and there were even flecks of red on the corner of her lips. Pain rushed towards her like a tide, and her ears buzzed.
But now was not the time to cry out in pain. She had known since she was a child that if she couldn't knock down the enemy, she would only face double the pain. So, Ruan Jiu propped up her willpower, tightened her grip on the hairpin, and once again used all her strength to attack the bandit leader.
However, this time the bandit leader was already on guard. He grabbed Ruan Jiu's wrist and twisted it hard.
"Ah!" Ruan Jiu let out a shrill scream. Vaguely, she seemed to hear the sound of her bones breaking. It hurt so much!
"You little bitch, I'll beat you to death!" After saying that, the bandit leader's fists landed on her one after another. How could her delicate body withstand the heavy punches of the bandit leader? All her bones seemed to be broken apart. A stream of blood welled up in her throat, and her vision gradually became blurred.
Am I going to die? The feeling of being on the verge of death instantly swept through her mind.
Just then, the punches that had been falling on her suddenly stopped. Then, the bandit leader fell straight to the ground, his eyes wide open, but they no longer moved. An arrow was stuck in his forehead unexpectedly.
Ruan Jiu lifted her heavy eyelids. In a daze, she seemed to see a familiar figure walking towards her. She slightly parted her lips.
"A Jing..." Is that you? Before she could finish speaking, she completely fainted.
Little did she know that there was also a person rushing over not far away. Seeing Ruan Jiu in such a sorry state, his eyes instantly turned scarlet. But after seeing Ruan Jiu being taken away, he clenched his fists tightly and stopped in his tracks. He gritted his teeth, and a monstrous killing intent overflowed from his eyes.
-
Ruan Jiu slowly opened her eyes. The intense pain all over her body told her what had happened. Thinking of the person she had seen before she passed out, the pain on her body seemed to lessen a lot. It was A Jing who had saved her!
She immediately propped up her body and wanted to look for the person she had been longing for. Unexpectedly, she didn't have the strength in her hands and fell back onto the bed again.
Just then, the door of the room was pushed open.
"Why is it you?" Ruan Jiu exclaimed when she saw clearly the person in front of her.
"Who else did you think it would be?"
"Did you save me?"
Seeing the person in front of her nodding in response, a look of disappointment flashed in Ruan Jiu's eyes. It turned out that the person who had saved her wasn't Xie Jingchu. It was Crown Prince Xiao Wang.
"You seem quite disappointed to see me?"
"This commoner girl wouldn't dare."
Xiao Wang stepped forward. Seeing Ruan Jiu lying on the bed with a pale face and not even having the strength to speak.
"This commoner girl thanks Your Highness the Crown Prince for saving me."
After hearing this, Xiao Wang put his hands behind his back and turned his face to the side. A look of guilt flashed in his eyes.
"It was just a casual thing."
"I wonder why Your Highness the Crown Prince is here?"
"I was ordered by Father Emperor to go to Shuozhou to relieve the disaster."
It made sense. As the crown prince, when there was a plague in Shuozhou, Xiao Wang should naturally go there in person.
Just when Ruan Jiu was sighing that she was lucky to meet the Crown Prince. Xiao Wang didn't think so. Since the Shen family's convoy set off, the Emperor had immediately ordered him to lead people to escort the medicinal materials together. So he had been following behind Ruan Jiu all the time. He could have intervened earlier, but he just wanted to see how far Ruan Jiu would go. He originally thought he would see a delicate young miss panicked and kneeling on the ground begging for mercy. Unexpectedly, Ruan Jiu didn't even grunt until she was almost beaten to death.
"Where's Chuntao?" Ruan Jiu asked anxiously. "The little girl who was always by my side!" Thinking that Chuntao had also been captured by the bandits just now, Ruan Jiu immediately became nervous. She didn't know if she had been hurt.
Xiao Wang snorted. "You're so badly injured yourself, but you still have the heart to worry about a servant."
"Chuntao is not a servant!" Although her body was weak, her voice was quite loud.
Xiao Wang's pupils froze for a moment. He cleared his throat. "Don't worry, she's fine."
Hearing this, Ruan Jiu finally felt relieved and let out a long sigh. Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she exclaimed, "What about the medicinal materials?"
Xiao Wang frowned. She really had endless things to worry about. He then replied, "We've already arrived in Shuozhou. You should just recuperate in peace."
Ruan Jiu didn't expect that they had already arrived in Shuozhou. Didn't that mean she would be able to see Xie Jingchu soon? She must recover quickly and appear in front of Xie Jingchu.