Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 31 - 0 The Youth

There were other disaster victims ahead of them, becoming their cover. Gu Jinli made a split-second decision: "Hurry up, we can’t go to the village chief’s resting place anymore."

With the current chaos everywhere, strangers were murdering the disaster victims. They should be fleeing for their lives, not gathering at the village chief’s resting place.

Gu Dashan and the others were already panicking, utterly clueless about what to do.

"Follow Xiao Yu’s lead, don’t go to gather with the villagers, let’s escape by ourselves," Third Grandpa said conclusively.

Father Luo had been observing the terrain and upon hearing Third Grandpa’s words, he immediately pointed to the right: "Run to the right, there are no strangers killing over there."

Upon hearing this, several families immediately supported each other and fled to the right.

Behind them, a succession of heart-wrenching screams followed.

Gu Jinli looked back and saw disaster victims falling one after another under the knives and hoes of those strangers.

In the dim firelight, those strangers didn’t show any guilt for killing, their faces instead lit with excitement as if what they were slaughtering were not humans, but a herd of livestock.

"Move quickly, the boss said, as long as we kill them, their food will be ours."

"First kill the able-bodied men, don’t kill the women and children." The end of this sentence was accompanied by a repulsive snicker.

Thump!

Some surrounded victims knelt on the ground, pleading with those people: "Spare us, fierce men, we have food, water, and silver. Spare our family, and our food, water, and silver coins will be yours."

The response they got was a sharp spade slapping down.

Those strangers quickly killed off the men in that family of victims.

"Pah, you think you can bribe me, big brother? Killing you—your belongings naturally become ours."

"Brothers, don’t listen to their deceit, kill all the able-bodied men without exception. Once they’re dead, the belongings and women will all belong to us!"

Upon hearing these words, Gu Jinli and the others ran even more desperately to the right, no one uttering a word. The smallest one, Brother Cheng, was immensely frightened, but he only dared to silently shed tears, not daring to cry out loud.

Still, those evil men discovered them, and one shouted: "There are a few families over there, and they have quite a bit of belongings. Old Qi, take a few men and go slaughter them."

Old Qi responded with a shout and led seven blood-covered men with hoes in their hands chasing after them.

Gu Jinli looked back at the advancing firelight with great alarm, dragging Mrs. Cui and Gu Jinxiu, and shouting to Third Grandpa and the others: "They are catching up, let’s hide in the thorny woods."

Not far from them was a withered thorny wood, filled with sharp thorns and bushes, very prickly. If they escaped into it, those people would likely not bother chasing after them.

But the families had both old and young, and were moving too slowly. They hadn’t reached the thorny woods when Old Qi and his men caught up.

Old Qi, with eyes red with bloodlust, surrounded them with seven men and sneered: "Yo, our luck isn’t bad, these families have many fine-looking women."

While speaking, his gaze brazenly swept over the bodies of Mrs. Cui and the others.

Gu Jinli was furious, knowing that to survive this time, bloodshed was inevitable. Her wrist turned, drawing out the dagger given by Qi Yi, and she said to Father Luo, Luo Wu, Gu Dashan, and Gu Jin’an: "We fight them with all we’ve got!"

These words coming from the mouth of a child enraged Seventh Son Chen and the others to burst into laughter: "Ha ha, such a brat still acting so tough! Alright, kiddo, I’ll let you see what it means to fight for your life!"

Hearing Seventh Son Chen’s words, the other seven brandish their sharp spades, lunging at Father Luo, Gu Dashan, and the other able-bodied adults.

Seventh Son Chen, with his large sword, was chopping towards Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli crouched down, sliding close to ground level, dodging Seventh Son Chen’s big sword. With a swoosh, her dagger sliced at Seventh Son Chen’s Achilles tendon, severing it and eliciting a scream of pain from him.

With a push of her hand against the ground, Gu Jinli sprung up, spinning around as her dagger stabbed toward the back of Seventh Son Chen’s neck. But before her dagger could hit, a large rock smashed into Seventh Son Chen’s head.

With a thud, Seventh Son Chen’s skull cracked open, blood pouring out, and he fell to the ground, life and death unknown.

Gu Jinli turned her head and saw a teenaged boy, about thirteen or fourteen, standing by her side, his hands still in the motion of having thrown the rock. As she looked at him, he offered her a bashful smile before running off in another direction. He kicked down someone attacking Gu Dashan, twisted the assailant’s hand, snatched the hoe from his grip, and used the handle to strike the man’s neck, knocking him unconscious.

Gu Jinli frowned at the youth; he was a practitioner, with swift and decisive movements, each attack brought an evildoer to the ground with a single strike.

With the addition of this youth, joined by Father Luo and Luo Wu, two other martial practitioners, they quickly defeated all the evildoers surrounding them.

"Quick, we have to go. They have many men; they will catch up with us soon." The youth said, taking the lead and rushing into the thorny woods.

The outside was too dangerous. After hesitating for a moment, several families followed him.

By the time they caught up with the youth, two more people were at his side. One old, one young; the older one, over sixty, his face fraught with urgency, while the younger one, about sixteen or seventeen, had a brooding expression, watching them with an unfriendly gaze.

Having just survived a bloody ordeal, the sight of the youth’s eyes made them stop in their tracks, not daring to approach. They looked on warily at the three, fearing they might be malefactors.

The older man said, "Don’t be afraid. Er Lang means no harm; he just doesn’t like strangers coming close. My family name is Qin, and we’re not with those people. Hurry, it will be bad if those people catch up."

"Who are you?" demanded Gu Jinli, looking at the boy who had first helped them. "Why help us?"

With the chaos of the night, someone suddenly charging in to help them was too mysterious, too inexplicable. Without clarifying, if they followed these people, she feared they might leave with their lives, but not return with them.

Qin Er Lang’s expression darkened upon hearing Gu Jinli’s words. He glared at the youth who had helped them and scolded, "I’ve already told you not to meddle in other people’s business, yet you never listen."

Instead of getting angry at being scolded, the youth smiled and said, "Don’t be mad, big brother."

Hearing this, Qin Er Lang grew even angrier, "I’m not your big brother." He turned and walked away.

Elder Qin seemed to care a lot about Qin Er Lang; seeing him leave, he hurriedly followed, then turned back to Gu Jinli and the others, saying, "If you trust us, follow us. If not, you find a place to hide."

The youth who wanted to help said, "Don’t be afraid. We know a place to hide where those people won’t find us. Follow us, and after we get through tonight, you can leave."

Third Grandpa looked back at the approaching fires, surely the evildoers were on their way. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Let’s follow them."

Everyone followed the youth and the two Qins through the thorny woods to a cliff. Elder Qin said to the youth who helped Gu Jinli and the others, "San Lang, lead them down first. Er Lang and I will cover the rear."

"Okay." Qin San Lang responded, removing a rope from around his waist, handing it to Elder Qin, who, together with Qin Er Lang, held on to it. Then he said to Luo Wu, "Brother, I will take you down first. There’s a cave beneath the cliff where we can hide."

Qin San Lang knew these families were terrified by those who had attacked them, so he chose Luo Wu, who was brave and knew how to fight, to go down first.

Luo Wu glanced at Father Luo, and after seeing him nod in approval, took the rope from Elder Qin, tied it around himself, and followed Qin San Lang down to the cave beneath the cliff.