The Choice Queen's

TCQ 37: The Village on the Mountain

Somehow the one-eyed bandit who became the leader of the bandits agreed with Li Fengran's words. Food was halved, half of which will still be sent to Jinchuan to help disaster victims.

Li Fengran told the Social Minister to have him continue the journey and asked him to make a good excuse regarding the loss of half the amount of aid. Meanwhile, Mo Wei was asked to return to the capital and report the situation to the King, so that if the King was angry, Mo Wei would not be affected because it was Li Fengran who would bear it.

Mo Wei initially insisted on refusing to leave because after all this was her duty, but Li Fengran still forced her and gave her no other choice. After deliberating, the bandits then brought Li Fengran and half the amount of food aid, while Mo Wei and the Social Minister complied with Li Fengran's request.

“Sister bandits, slow down! I don't have long legs that can catch up with your big moves!” exclaimed Li Fengran.

To secure it, the one-eyed bandit tied Li Fengran's hand with a rope from a piece of cloth. Li Fengran was automatically like a hostage offering himself. Upon hearing the exclamation of the complaint, the one-eyed bandit then instructed his brothers not to walk too fast.

“Well, so good. I'm not too troubled.”

“Basic stupid woman. Why do you want to be a hostage?”

“Because I'm worth more than half the food you take.”

One-eyed bandits did not respond. He himself was at a loss as to why he agreed with Li Fengran's ridiculous words. Throughout his career as a bandit who loved to loot and rob people's property, he had never met someone so bold and thoughtless as that.

For the rest of her life, most of her victims immediately went to save lives, but this woman instead offered herself to be a hostage. Perhaps because Li Fengran said that ‘ini was the fault of your king’ to Mo Wei, he felt a little touched.

The road then starts to become sloping. A few meters ahead, there is a gate made of wood, just like the entrance to a village. The bandits herded him in and the sight before Li Fengran's eyes had shocked him.

This place is a village full of residents. A few small children ran around hugging the legs of the one-eyed bandit the moment the troupe arrived, their faces laden with happiness. They wrestle the legs of one-eyed bandits like little stealth clinging to the bark of a tree, cute and adorable.

“Uncle Chen, why did you bring a beautiful sister here?” one of the boys asked the bandit. “Will he also be displaced and found by you?”

“Xiao Shi, go first meet Aunt Xu. Uncle has business with this beautiful sister.”

After that, the children disbanded. Li Fengran was aware of the situation, then he realized something. This village, is the village of the bandits. It was very much different from the description of the village of the slums and dark criminals.

Here, he could see a cheerful real life. The children played in the spacious courtyard, while the women became housewives. Li Fengran suspected that these bandits were husbands and citizens of this unknown village, who hung their lives by robbing other people's belongings.

“The boy named Xiao Shi is calling you Uncle Chen. It seems, you are a respected and respected person here,” Li Fengran said. He was taken to a fairly large wooden house, the largest among the other houses he saw.

The one-eyed bandit did not respond. He untied in Li Fengran's hands and made him free. “If you are interested, just go.”

“Sister bandit, what's your name?”

“Chen Ping.”

“Chen Ping? What is your relationship with Chen Pang from Zichuan?”

Chen Ping was stunned. He was silent for a moment before his facial expression slowly turned ugly. Li Fengran also did not know why he had suddenly asked that. Hearing someone mention the Chen clan, he so remembered that the brash fat Chen Pang from Zichuan.

“Is he your brother?” li Fengran asked again after the previous question went unanswered.

“Ah, so you're half-brothers. He became the bodyguard of the Zichuan ruler, you became a mountain bandit. Let me guess, did he bully you and kick you out?”

Chen Ping looked uncomfortable. It was unexpected that this woman knew Chen Pang. Chen Ping and Chen Pang were indeed half-brothers, but that was many years ago. His mother Chen Ping was just a comfort woman from a brothel who accidentally became pregnant with the child of their father, while Chen Pang's mother was his father's legal wife.

Shamed of her husband impregnating the entertainer, Chen Ping could only become an illegitimate child after his mother died. He had always been bullied by Chen Pang who was two years older than him.

It was Chen Pang's repression that made him lose one eye. Heartbroken and unable to accept, Chen Ping then left the Chen family home and chose to travel in the outside world and become the bandit he was today.

“You're a hostage, what right do you have to talk about my family?”

“Do you know, your brother once almost harassed me? Good thing I managed to beat him to pieces!” li Fengran said as soon as he remembered the infuriating fight of the day. “I did not expect that that perverted bastard actually had a brother of a mountain bandit.”

“I told you he's not my brother!”

“Alright, alright, I won't talk about it anymore. By the way, are you the leader of this village?”

Chen Ping did not reply. Li Fengran looked at him fixedly, looking at the change in expression and emotion on his face. Although only one-eyed, Chen Ping is actually quite handsome. If only his face was not covered in dust and was not exposed to the radiant light of the sun, he could be one of the youths that many women liked.

“I see them respect you. Tell me, did you guys rob people to support the village?” asked Li Fengran.

“This mountain looks lush, but the plant does not always grow well. Most of the villagers are converted criminals and homeless people who have no place to live. Since its establishment, this village has accommodated many poor and orphaned people,” Chen Pang said softly.

“The king will certainly not pay attention to small people like us. We only take a portion that should be our right without any intention of killing anyone.”

“Who said he didn't care? The king just doesn't know it.”

Chen Ping chuckled. Everyone knows that King Nangong is also being pushed by the three state powers. He has no time to pay attention to the people like him, who live by eating once and must think about tomorrow. Chen Ping and his villagers could only rely on themselves in order not to die.

“You live comfortably from birth, where may feel the worry of not being able to eat tomorrow.”

Li Fengran then plucked out the jade Nangong Zirui gave him that was draped around his waist and gave it to Chen Ping. “Take it, this jade is at least worth up to three thousand taels. But if you keep it, it will be more useful and its value so priceless.”

Chen Ping took a quick look at the jade in his hand. The carving pattern is unique and very smooth. This Li Fengran's words seemed to be honest. With a hint of suspicion on his face, he sucked the jade into his shirt and sighed. Just this time he saw a strange woman like Li Fengran.

“Because you chose to be a hostage, then be content to go around until the King comes to pick you up.”

“Do you not know that he came looking for me, your village will be destroyed and you can die?”

“Didn't you tell me to trust him once?” said Chen Ping. That jade, it was clearly a King-given jade. Chen Ping knew that Li Fengran intended to ask him to trust him and the King this time alone.

“Hehe. Is it that clear?”

Chen Ping did not answer.