After deciding to rescue Mr. Qi,
two swift individuals from the village were sent to follow the horse tracks and scout near the bandits' lair.
That evening, they finalized their plan, gathered their respective 'weapons,' and set off for the bandit stronghold.
Although the elders and women of the village offered to take the lead,
after deliberation, they decided to have the elders and women stay behind.
Their roles would be to throw stones, sprinkle chili powder, and itching powder.
This approach was both safe and effective,
requiring neither great strength nor speed.
The village had a total of four elders.
Excluding Mr. Qi, there were seven able-bodied young men.
There were six women aged 25 and above.
However, as they finalized their plan and prepared to depart, one woman did not move.
"Chunhua, let's go," Aunt Li called out.
Chunhua looked at the table before her, her gaze distant, and mumbled,
"Actually... I'm still three months shy of twenty-five..."
"Huh? But I remember you saying before that you were older than me and told me to call you 'sister'..." blurted out one woman.
She hadn't thought much of it when she spoke, looking puzzled, as if she might have misremembered.
Only after speaking did she realize the implication.
"Hey, you...!"
Before the woman could finish, Aunt Li, standing beside her, pulled her back.
Aunt Li shook her head.
Chunhua lowered her head, not looking at anyone's expression, "I was just joking before..."
Aunt Li didn't say much more, calling out, "Alright, let's go."
The matter of rescuing Mr. Qi was entirely voluntary.
If someone didn't wish to go, they would likely be a hindrance.
As long as... her conscience was clear, she didn't have to go.
"Bah!"
The woman who knew Chunhua spat, disdainfully,
"Mr. Qi saved your life, and you turn out to be an ungrateful wretch!"
Though the others remained silent, their thoughts were largely the same.
While some could understand Chunhua's thinking, they were somewhat displeased.
Everyone wants to live, and that's not wrong.
But in the face of loyalty, it lacked a certain something.
...
Glancing at the group leaving with their makeshift weapons, Chunhua finally raised her head and muttered softly,
"I already said, anyone over 25 who's willing can go... I'm not even 25 yet..."
She touched her face, perhaps she just looked older than her years.
Recalling the other woman's words, her eyes darted left and right.
"Fine, I'm leaving! Anyway, my illness is cured, and Mr. Qi is gone. Who cares about staying here?"
Seeing that no one was around, she quickly packed some things in her room, slung her bundle over her shoulder, and quietly headed out of the village.
Her original home was in the village next door, not far from here.
It would be convenient to return.
However, that village was now deserted.
There were only corpses everywhere.
It was Mr. Qi who had said that the bodies should be burned, otherwise, there would be serious problems.
It was then that the villagers spent several days clearing out the surrounding villages.
They had disposed of the corpses and brought back some food, enough to last them for some time.
Thinking of her own desolate village,
Chunhua looked back at Xiangshui Village, where a few oil lamps glowed faintly in the darkness.
In the houses with lights on, all the young women and children of the village had gathered.
Unable to sleep, and with nothing else to do, the young women brought the children to the room where Jiang Xiaoyue was staying, doing some handicrafts.
If Mr. Qi hadn't been abducted, this scene might have been somewhat heartwarming.
But now...
Chunhua gritted her teeth, tightened her grip on her black bundle, and walked cautiously in the darkness.
...
"Oh my, I was just thinking how nice it is that this entire village is united and working together in these chaotic times."
"People like this exist everywhere, it's quite realistic."
"No need to repay a life-saving debt??"
The viewers in the live stream had watched Chunhua's reaction from beginning to end.
Some were cursing, while others felt... it was understandable.
"Actually, if we have to talk about right or wrong, she's not wrong. To survive... who would seek death?"
"Those bandits look very formidable, their strength is evident."
"How to say it... Before encountering such a situation, I don't know if I would act the same way she did. Sigh."
Moreover, this was a chaotic era.
When faced with the same situation, everyone's thoughts differ, and their circumstances vary, making it difficult to simply judge right or wrong.
"I'm not talking about right or wrong, I just simply don't like people like that."
"If Mr. Qi returns safely in the end, won't she regret it immensely?"
"I bet Mr. Qi is that wise ruler, and wise rulers have protagonist's halo, they won't die so easily."
...
On the mountain where the bandit lair was located—
Around four in the morning, according to modern time.
The sky was dark, with only faint moonlight illuminating the ground.
The bandits on guard duty outside suddenly smelled a strange, pungent, yet familiar scent.
It made them involuntarily...
"Ahhh ahhh ahhh... Ah-CHOO!"
The bandits couldn't help but sneeze.
One after another.
"Where's the chili smell? Is someone making chili powder nearby?"
"This is a bandit's lair, who dares to cook anything nearby?"
As he spoke, two bandits on guard suddenly realized something was wrong.
They instinctively scratched their faces and arms...
The more they scratched, the more comfortable it felt, the more they wanted to scratch.
"Strange, why am I so itchy?"
"Could it be that we haven't bathed in too long? I should tell the third in command someday to let us wash up."
"You're right... Hiss~ I've scratched myself until I'm bleeding, why is it so itchy! Damn it!"
The two men spoke while scratching their fronts and backs.
At first, they didn't pay it much mind, only realizing they couldn't keep scratching when they saw blood on their bodies.
Just then, four men rushed forward and struck the two bandits with clubs.
The villagers' original plan was to advance from the edges and knock out the sentries.
Without alerting anyone, they would sneak into the bandit lair.
For two opponents, they sent four people, surely that would work?
But reality always differed from the plan.
Perhaps due to nervousness, one of the villagers holding a club slipped, and the club hit a bandit on the shoulder.
"Ouch!"
The bandit who was still standing cried out in pain, and seeing the surrounding figures about to shout,
another villager next to him quickly delivered a follow-up blow.
*Bang!*
The bandit fell.
A close call.
All four villagers wiped cold sweat from their brows and dragged the two bandits into the nearby woods.
Aunt Li and the others, hiding in the rear, all breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it was not yet time to relax.
The bandit had cried out, which might attract others.
They had to act quickly!
...
"This is too dangerous, it's like a spy thriller from a TV show."
"It's indeed thrilling. One wrong move and it's total annihilation."
Seeing this, the viewers in the live stream involuntarily let out a sigh of relief.
It was hard to imagine that this group of grassroots fighters had actually dealt with two bandits.
But the process was too nerve-wracking.
"Why do I feel... this is so unreliable? Shouldn't there be patrolling bandits later?"
"Are they planning to put the medicine in the bandits' food?"
"In chaotic times, kitchens are usually heavily guarded, not that easy to get into. My grandma's era, they even had to use locks to secure cabinets."
...