Chapter 28: Arrows Like Rainbows

  "I'm a country girl, I don't know much, but I do know what to say and what not to say. Today's events, I promise to forget as soon as I turn my head, just like nothing ever happened, and I won't mention it in front of anyone...not even a single word."

  Lian Man'er carefully sized up the man and said.

  The man looked at Lian Miao with a somewhat exploratory gaze. He was being pursued and killed, almost exhausted, but there was still another killer closely following behind him. He knew that if he continued to escape, he would die at the hands of the killer. So, he found this mound, sat down, and waited for the killer to come to his door. Lian Miao suddenly appeared, and at first, he thought she was another killer arranged by the opponent. The reason why he didn't kill Lian Miao right away was that her sudden appearance from the sky was too unlike a killer, she had no killing intent, and she exposed so many deadly weaknesses in front of him. And precisely, his strength could only cope with one more person.

  Even so, he did not relax.

  As long as Lian Man'er showed the slightest bit of discomfort, he would kill her without hesitation. However, she was one of the few who remained calm and devoted herself to treating her injuries.

  Then, the assassin finally caught up. He pretended to let Lian Man'er treat his wounds, intentionally revealing a weakness, and sure enough, he lured the assassin into making a move, and was solved by him with his last sleeve arrow.

  Lian Man'er did help him, but his matter cannot be known by anyone.

  He intended to kill Lian Man Er to silence her.

  But Lian Man'er's calmness had dispelled his murderous intentions. Not many words, intelligent, but absolutely not showing off intelligence, just being intelligently appropriate, this is quite rare.

  "I don't want to cause any trouble." Lian Man'er said directly to the man.

  "How old are you?" The man didn't answer but asked back instead.

  "Ten years old." Lian Man Er replied.

  "Why don't you wrap your feet?" the man asked in a low voice, and as soon as he spoke, he himself was somewhat surprised.

  "Not every girl has bound feet." Lian Man'er also found it strange, but still replied, "Someone in the family has to do chores. Besides, I don't like binding my feet either."

  As soon as she said this, Lian Man'er stopped talking. It was strange, why did she want to tell him this?

  "Better wrap your feet then." The man said again.

  She and he, in this situation, discussing this topic is too weird, even Man Er didn't make a sound this time.

  Lian Man'er had taken care of all the wounds for the young man.

  "Don't you need to find someone to help you? I mean, if you're hungry, I can go get some food for you." Lian Man'er said, this man shouldn't die, taking advantage of his seemingly good mood, she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

  The man looked at Lian Mian'er, his pupils were pitch black, as if he could see right through to her heart. This was not a gaze that ordinary people should have.

  "You go." said the man.

  "That's good." Lian Man'er hastily stood up, she was a little surprised that the man was so easy to talk to.

  "Wait a minute."

  Lian Man'er picked up the basket and had just walked a few steps when she heard the man calling her from behind.

  Lian Man'er's body stiffened suddenly, could this person have changed his mind? She thought of running away with her legs, but thinking of the man's method of dealing with the black-clothed man just now, who knows if there are still sleeve arrows in the man's sleeves, she didn't dare to take this risk.

  "What's wrong?" Lian Man'er slowly turned around and calmly asked.

  The man was still leaning against the slope, with sunlight shining on his face, and Lian Miao couldn't see his expression.

  "By the way, what's your name?" the man asked.

  "Oh, I..." Lian Man'er hesitated for a moment, thinking about whether to tell him a fake name. After some thought, she felt it wasn't necessary, "My name is Man'er, Lian Man'er."

  "Goodbye." The man softly spoke a sentence and nodded at Lian Man Er, "You can go now."

  "Take care." Lian Man'er replied, turning around and walking away. After estimating that she had walked out of the man's line of sight, Lian Man'er turned her head to take a look, and indeed could no longer see the man, so she started running lightly.

  It's safe! Only after running out of the mountain did Lianmeng stop to catch her breath, thinking that she should be safe now.

  "Second sister, where have you been? How come it's taken half a day?" Little Seven walked up to her and took the basket from Lian Miao's hand, only to find it empty. She asked in surprise, "Huh, didn't you say you were going to pick sour dates?"

  "I suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable, so I sat under that tree for a while." Lian Man'er replied. She didn't plan to tell anyone about what had just happened, not because she was keeping a promise, but simply because she didn't want to stir up trouble. It was better to forget such experiences as soon as possible.

  "Sister, you're okay now, right?" Xia Qi heard Lian Man Er say this and quickly grasped her hand.

  "It's nothing, really nothing." Lian Man'er didn't want Xiao Qi to worry about her, "Let's hurry back."

  The two returned to the creek at the foot of the mountain, where Gorō was setting up a makeshift fire to roast fish.

  "It's just in time, the fish will be cooked immediately." said Gorō.

  "This fish is definitely delicious." Little Seven put down the basket and sat down with Lian Mian'er by the fire, "Used a lot of pepper salt that."

  Lian Miao and his siblings often went to the fields and mountains these days, sometimes catching sparrows, sometimes digging up bird eggs and wild chicken eggs, and sometimes simply eating fresh wild vegetables. These things need some seasoning to taste good, but Lian's family only had coarse salt. Lian Miao took some coarse salt and made it into fine salt, then ground the Sichuan pepper into powder and stir-fried them together in an iron pot, making chili salt.

  The food that has been seasoned with pepper and salt is even more delicious.

  "Here you are." Gorō had finished grilling the fish and picked out a particularly plump one to hand to Ren Yan.

  Lian Man'er took the fish over, and it was covered in chili salt inside and out. The skin of the fish had already been roasted crispy, and before she even put it in her mouth, the aroma was already enticing enough. Lian Man'er brought the roasted fish to her lips, but suddenly remembered that man from the mountain. She could have escaped safely, which meant that the man didn't intend to kill her. It was just her thinking too much. Who knows how that man is doing now?

  …………

  The man saw Lian Mian'er's figure disappear, and then he lightly snapped his fingers. Immediately, more than a dozen sturdy men jumped out, as if they had emerged from the ground.

  The leader was a tall man who walked forward and knelt down on one knee in front of the man.

  "All assassins have been eliminated. I arrived late and let you be frightened, please punish me."

  The man simply waved his hand and this person quickly got up and helped the man up from the ground.

  "Sir, your wound..."

  "It doesn't matter for now, it's already been taken care of," the man said. "Let's return to the city first and talk about it later."

  "Yes, sir, the car is ready at the foot of the mountain."

  The man nodded.

  "Sir... is there anything else that needs to be taken care of?" The robust man hesitated for a moment before asking. What he meant by "taken care of" was not the corpse on the side, as he had already instructed his two brothers to move and dispose of it earlier. He was referring to Lian Man Er.

  "This trip is extremely confidential, if even a hint of it leaks out..." the man said cautiously. Normally, he wouldn't have needed to ask. The master's actions were always swift and decisive, never showing any mercy. Just now, when he saw the master send that little girl away, he thought it was because the master took pity on her for bandaging his wound and didn't want her to die in front of him. At that time, he had already decided which brother to send to take care of her. But unexpectedly, the master called out to the little girl again and asked for her name.

  Lotus root

  If adults wanted to kill the connected children, they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths.

  Although he thought so, he still asked aloud. Because an adult's whereabouts must never be known by anyone.

  "Secret......" A cold smile appeared on the man's lips. "If it were really a secret, where did these assassins come from?"

  "It's all due to my subordinates' negligence." The tall man hastily said.

  "It's not you, it's me... I underestimated them." The man said, beckoning to a small youth beside him, "Thirteen, come here."

  The one called Thirteen hastily walked up to the man.

  "The man whispered a few words in Shisan's ear."

  "Understood." Thirteen responded with a single word and disappeared into the bushes after just a few leaps.

  …………

  Wu Lang and Xiao Qi each held a fish and were eating with relish, when they looked up to see Lian Man'er staring blankly at the fish in her hand, without taking a single bite.

  "Man Er, what's wrong? Doesn't the fish taste good?" Wu Lang hastily asked.

  "No, I suddenly remembered something very important that I forgot," said Lian Man Er.

  "What's up?"

  "This morning when I came out, mother told me to pull two baskets of grass back, just from the grassland under our southern mountain." said Lian Wan'er.

  "Oh, it's just this matter, no need to rush, I'll go with Xiao Qi, and we can get two baskets in a while." said Wu Lang.

  Xiao Qi nodded repeatedly.

  "It's getting late, we should head back home too." Lian Man Er said.

  "Then I and Xiao Qi will go."

  "I'll stay here and wait for you to come back," said Lian Man Er.

  Wulang and Xiaoqi carried a basket, eating roasted fish while heading towards the fields.

  Lian Man'er watched as Wu Lang and Xiao Qi walked far away, until she could no longer see them. She then quickly wrapped the roasted fish in leaves and hurried towards the mountain valley behind.

  Lian Man'er walked while thinking, what was she doing? The sentence about finding food was just her excuse to get away, and at the time, she had no intention of going to deliver food to that man. After finally escaping and being safe, why did she run back to give him roasted fish? She loved eating fish the most, but since arriving here, she hadn't eaten fish yet.

  Lian Man'er's heart was tangled, but her feet didn't stop. She didn't know why, she just really wanted to see that man again, as long as he was safe it would be fine. If he was still there, then she would take him out. Lian Man'er told herself this.

  When they arrived at the place, Lian Man'er couldn't help but stare blankly.

  Under the slope, where the man was sitting just now, there is no one left, and even the bloodstains on the ground have disappeared. He's gone, but why can't I see any footprints?

  Lian Man'er thought for a moment, summoned up her courage and walked towards the place where that person who had launched a sneak attack had fallen. The corpse of that person was also gone, and there were no bloodstains around either.

  Was what just happened only a dream? No, of course not. If you look carefully again, there are signs of being trampled on the weeds, and on one or two leaves, you can vaguely see red water droplets, and the soil at the foot of the slope also has signs of being disturbed.

  That person left and was taken away by someone else.

  He wouldn't let her call for help, so he should be waiting here. So he should be safe. She ran back anxiously, was it unnecessary?

  The roasted fish in her hands had cooled down a bit, and as the gentle breeze blew by, Lian'er felt a little disheartened.

  …………

  Lian Man'er walked into the village with a basket, several girls were sitting under a large willow tree cooling off, chattering and laughing.

  "Isn't that Lian Mian'er?" one of them asked, looking up

  "Lianmian'er, come here."

  Lower your head and continue typing, strive for two updates.