Chapter 13: A Pack of Little Wolves
Yang Zhengshan swept his gaze over the wounded Liu with a scar on his face, then retracted his long spear and prepared to face the mountain bandits who were charging towards him.
Yang’s family had passed down its gunnery skills for generations, and his foundation lay in his feet. As he moved his feet, his body followed, his arms followed his body, and his wrists followed his arms, merging into a single, cohesive force.
As he advanced, he was swift; as he retreated, he was quick. His momentum was fierce, and his節 was short. He was as still as a mountain, yet as swift as a thunderstorm.
With Yang Zhengshan’s formidable power and mastery of the Yang family’s gunnery skills, he was as sharp as a drawn sword, and his aura of strength was intimidating. In just a brief moment, more than a dozen bandits lay dead on the ground, letting out mournful cries.
At that moment, no one dared to charge into the door anymore. Even the remaining bandits, like startled birds, scattered in all directions.
Liu with a scar on his face was on the verge of death, and more than a dozen bandits had been slaughtered. Faced with Yang Zhengshan’s overwhelming strength, those cowardly bandits didn’t dare to stay any longer.
“Jiang He, bandage!”
Yang Zhengshan threw out a sentence, then rushed out with his long spear.
Why wait any longer to pursue and attack?
As he sought to eliminate evil, Yang Zhengshan’s killing intent had already been roused.
Inside the courtyard, Jiang He and a group of young men were all stunned by Yang Zhengshan’s display of martial prowess.
“Too strong!”
“Terrifying!”
“Uncle Yang has killed the bandit leader!”
The group was shocked into silence, each muttering to themselves.
Even Jiang Cheng, who had lived for half his life, was left gasping for breath.
Although Jiang Cheng was an old hunter, his endurance was stronger than that of the younger ones.
He took a few frantic steps towards the barely breathing Liu with a scar on his face, raised his hatchet, and struck it down fiercely onto Liu’s neck.
Actually, he shouldn’t have approached, even if Liu was already on the brink of death. He shouldn’t have gotten close.
What if Liu still had some strength left? Jiang Cheng might have lost his life.
Luckily, that didn’t happen. The hatchet fell, and the blade sank into Liu’s neck, but it didn’t sever his head.
“Father!”
Jiang He reacted, quickly rushing forward to grab Jiang Cheng.
“Be careful; they might be faking death!”
Jiang He reminded him, simultaneously drawing his bow and arrow to shoot at the bandits on the ground.
Yang Zhengshan rushed towards the Jiang family’s main gate, only to see the bandits who had gathered earlier fleeing towards the east of the village.
“Too late to escape!”
Yang Zhengshan inserted his long spear into the ground, drew out two short guns from behind, and charged into the smoke and fog.
Whooshing sounds echoed as the short guns flew, each one taking a life.
“We’re done for, run!”
“That person is here!”
“Brothers, escape quickly!”
The remaining bandits were thoroughly terrified, scattering in panic.
The smoke and fog obscured Yang Zhengshan’s vision, and after firing all ten short guns, he had no choice but to stop and retrieve two more long guns.
As he paused, the remaining bandits had already escaped into the Jiang family village.
The bandits rushed into the foggy Jiang family village, looking around at the misty sky and feeling relieved to have escaped with their lives. Unfortunately, this relief didn’t last long.
“There are bandits over there!”
A shout went up.
Followed by the sound of footsteps and yelling, the villagers rose up to attack the bandits who had just escaped.
As Yang Zhengshan emerged from the village, he saw Yang Zhengxiang leading the young men of the Yang family to slaughter the bandits.
With weapons in hand, their killing intent was roused.
Although the young men of the Yang family hadn’t been on the battlefield before, they had all learned martial arts and fantasized about fighting on the battlefield.
Therefore, facing the current situation, their mental state was different from the young men of the Jiang family village.
They were enthusiastic and charged forward like little wolves, as if they would rush to the frontline if Yang Zhengxiang hadn’t restrained them.
The escaped bandits were quickly pierced with holes all over their bodies.
“I killed one! Haha! Cough…!” Yang Chengyu held up his bloody long spear, laughing excitedly, but seemed to have forgotten about the surrounding smoke and was choked into coughing.
“Zhengshan!” Yang Zhengxiang, who was relatively calm, observed the surroundings and saw a figure emerging from the smoke and fog, holding two short guns. He called out uncertainly.
“Tribe leader, it’s me!”
The smoke and fog were dense, obstructing his vision. To avoid misunderstandings, Yang Zhengshan hurriedly responded.
“Uncle Yang!”
The young men of the Yang family were even more excited upon seeing Yang Zhengshan.
“Are you hurt?” Yang Zhengxiang quickly approached, sizing Yang Zhengshan up.
“No.” Yang Zhengshan shook his head.
Seeing his normal expression, Yang Zhengxiang finally felt relieved, “What’s the situation?”
Yang Zhengshan’s expression turned heavy, “Let’s talk about it later.”
He had rescued Jiang Cheng’s family, but many people in the Jiang family village had died at the hands of the bandits.
A group of people followed Yang Zhengshan into the Jiang family village.
The big fire was still raging, and the smoke and fog were still spreading.
“Uncle Jiang!”
Yang Zhengshan and Yang Zhengxiang didn’t say much, simply telling Jiang Cheng to rescue the villagers and put out the fire.
The big fire continued for a whole day and night, finally extinguishing only at dawn the next day.
Most of the Jiang family village had been consumed by the flames, leaving only a few intact houses around Jiang Cheng’s home.
When the morning sun rose, the entire Jiang family village seemed to be weighed down by a heavy mountain, making it difficult to breathe.
At the village entrance, rows of corpses lay on the ground, including the elderly with white hair, children with double braids, and many more whose spirits had been extinguished in the ashes.
Next to them, more than thirty bandit corpses lay disordered, piled together.
“Too tragic! Ah…” Looking at the numerous corpses, Yang Zhengxiang sighed sorrowfully.
Yang Zhengshan took a deep breath, not knowing what to say or do in this situation.
Any comforting words would be pale and powerless at this moment.
He could only stand quietly beside the villagers, who were immersed in grief.
Later, the Jiang family village held a simple funeral, burying the villagers’ corpses in the rear mountain.
As for the bandits’ corpses, Jiang Cheng had already sent someone to report to the authorities, and the county government would send people to handle it.
Especially Liu with a scar on his face, who was on the wanted list and had a bounty of three hundred silver taels on his head, which was supposed to belong to Yang Zhengshan.
However, Yang Zhengshan didn’t stay in the Jiang family village to wait for the county government’s officials, leaving Yang Zhengxiang and Jiang Cheng to handle it. He wouldn’t be shortchanged, unless the county government refused to give him the reward.
After saying a few words to Yang Zhengxiang and Jiang Cheng, Yang Zhengshan brought Yang Yunyan back to the Yang family village.
Although the bandits had been eliminated, the Jiang family village was still in disarray, and Yang Yunyan was pregnant. Yang Zhengshan didn’t feel at ease leaving her behind, so he took her back to the Yang family village.
With Wang Shi, Li Shi, and Little Girl taking care of her, Yang Yunyan could live more peacefully in the Yang family village.
Sitting on the cow cart, Yang Yunyan’s face was pale, still frightened and traumatized from the past day and night, and she hadn’t fully recovered yet.
Yang Mingcheng drove the cow cart, while Yang Zhengshan walked behind, looking at Yang Yunyan’s face and trying to comfort her, “It’s all right, you’re pregnant, don’t worry too much. Just rest well when we get back.”
He wasn’t very good at comforting people, and his target was his stepdaughter, but seeing Yang Yunyan’s pitiful expression, he couldn’t help but try to comfort her.
After all, Yang Yunyan was only sixteen years old, equivalent to a middle school student in his previous life.
At twenty-eight, Yang Zhengshan felt somewhat guilty being her father, but being her uncle was still manageable.
“Dad, I’m fine!” Yang Yunyan forced a smile and said.
“Yeah, by the way, did you finish the cotton jacket I told you to make?” Yang Zhengshan didn’t know how to comfort her, so he changed the subject.
“I finished it, I brought it with me!” Yang Yunyan pointed to the package beside her.
“That’s great, in these two days, the weather has been getting colder. I’ll send it to your grandparents’ place tomorrow.”
Yang Yunyan’s attention shifted, worrying about her natal family’s affairs.
Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, “The winter clothes for our family members are all prepared, but I recently took in two apprentices, and they don’t have winter clothes yet.”
“The day after tomorrow, let your brother go to the county town and buy some cotton and cloth. You can stay at home for a few days and make two sets of winter clothes for them.”
“Dad took in apprentices?” Yang Yunyan looked surprised.
“Yeah, I took in two apprentices.”
The two of them chatted idly, soon arriving at the Yang family village.
Compared to the grief-stricken Jiang family village, the Yang family village was peaceful and quiet as usual.
After returning home, Yang Yunyan received the care and attention of the whole family, which calmed her frightened heart.
However, the Yang family’s houses were too small, and there was no spare room for Yang Yunyan to stay in alone, so she had to share with Yang Yunxue and Wang Dajie.
Looking at the bustling and lively family, Yang Zhengshan’s heart was filled with peace.
However, his two grandsons seemed to be afraid of him, and even the usually lively Yang Chengye didn’t dare approach him, as if he wasn’t their grandfather, but a fierce beast instead.
Children were most sensitive, and Yang Zhengshan, who had just killed people, still had a faint killing aura around him. Although his heart had calmed down, the residual killing intent hadn’t completely dispersed.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t mind; he couldn’t control his killing intent yet, and could only slowly dissipate it with time.
(The chapter is complete)
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