Phi-Fic Chapter 176 A look of joy
Chapter 176 A look of joy
The dirty boots stomped hard on Xiao Zhijie's hand, which was caught in the animal trap.
The sharp serrations dug deep into Xiao Zhijie's flesh once more, causing rashes to appear on his forehead and turning his face deathly pale with pain.
"Brother, I hope you can do me a favor. I made a bet with a friend that I could kill a tiger. I drank two ounces of wine and came down the mountain. If I can bring a tiger skin down the mountain by dawn, I will get five hundred taels of silver."
Xiao Zhijie raised his head, endured the pain, and smiled at the bearded man.
"Brother, do me a favor. If you can help me save face, I'm willing to give you that hundred taels."
The men behind him couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"Oh, brother, he's just a show-off fool!"
"Yes, we have plenty of tiger skins in our village. Why not give him one? We can earn five hundred taels of silver!"
"Yes! We don't need to look for that woman anymore. Making a deal with this young master is the same thing!"
The bearded man turned and slapped the nearest man across the face, shouting angrily.
"You're the boss, I'm the boss!"
All the men behind them shut their mouths and dared not utter another sound.
The man who had been slapped lowered his head and covered his face, not daring to utter another fart.
The bearded man squinted at Xiao Zhijie and sneered.
"I recognize you. You're the third young master of the Xiao family. You're engaged to that Miss Qiao. You're probably here to see her, aren't you?"
Having said that, the bearded man drew a short knife from his pocket and pressed it against Xiao Zhijie's neck.
"You're still putting on airs with me? You think you're still alive?!"
With that, he slashed the dagger fiercely at the neck!
"what!!!"
The crowd immediately screamed, and several men behind them fell to the ground, staggering.
The burly man with the thick beard turned around to look and saw that a sword was also pressed against his neck.
Who is this person?
It was Qiao Qingshu, the eldest daughter of the Qiao family, whom they were looking for!
At this moment, only the bearded bandit with his back to the group had not inhaled the drug; the rest of the bandits had all been knocked down.
Qiao Qingshu's sword was pressed against the bearded man's neck, while the bearded man's knife was pressed against Xiao Zhijie's neck.
The bearded man sneered.
"I knew you were together, and it seems I was right."
Qiao Qingshu stood there with narrowed eyes, her gaze filled with ruthlessness and determination.
"If you don't want to die, let him go."
The bearded man laughed again.
"Let him go? Miss Qiao, that's easy, but you have to exchange yourself for him, otherwise we'll fight to the death."
Qiao Qingshu suddenly smiled, a mocking smile playing on her lips.
"Who on earth is so capable that you, a bandit leader, would risk your life to capture me?"
The bearded man said with a crooked mouth.
"Then you don't need to worry about that. You just need to know that today is your death day!"
After saying that, the bearded man suddenly launched a hidden weapon from the fingertips of his other hand, a silver needle shooting straight towards Qiao Qingshu's forehead.
Xiao Zhijie suddenly leaped forward and blocked Qiao Qingshu's path.
The silver coin landed steadily on Xiao Zhijie's neck.
Qiao Qingshu screamed almost frantically, raised her long sword and slashed wildly at the bearded man. The bearded man was caught off guard and was actually slashed in the thigh by Qiao Qingshu's sword.
Qiao Qingshu was not a martial artist, and he didn't know the weight of the swords in his hands. He only knew to swing and slash wildly with all his might.
The cut was extremely deep, and blood gushed out. The bearded man was almost howling in pain.
He charged toward Qiao Qingshu, limping as he brandished a large knife that had fallen to the ground.
The man's eyes were filled with rage, as if he hated Qiao Qingshu as if he had a personal grudge against her, and he used all his strength to try to kill her.
Qiao Qingshu had only made a random slash with her knife earlier, but now that she saw the bearded man was serious, she panicked.
She stepped back, but tripped over a bush and fell to the ground.
The large knife was coming straight for her head. Qiao Qingshu closed her eyes in despair, but the next second she heard the other person scream.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Xiao Zhijie dragging her injured leg, biting the man's ankle.
The man, already stabbed and now bitten, went completely out of control, wildly swinging his machete and charging at Xiao Zhijie.
Xiao Zhijie climbed quickly, and accidentally reached the edge of the cliff.
The place was dark and shrouded in shadow, so Xiao Zhijie didn't notice the danger.
It was Qiao Qingshu, who was standing by the torch, who saw his location clearly and screamed in fright as she rushed towards Xiao Zhijie.
Unexpectedly, the bearded man kicked Xiao Zhijie, the force of which pushed Xiao Zhijie into the abyss.
Qiao Qingshu rushed forward, and the two fell off the cliff together.
In the pitch-black night, a scream echoed through the valley.
The bearded man lay on the ground, letting out a triumphant howl.
Wanqiu and Lindong rushed to the yamen to report the news almost without stopping. Wanqiu went into the mountains with the soldiers, while Lindong went home to report the news.
When Lin Dong knelt down in front of Qiao Jizhou and tearfully recounted their ordeal, Qiao Jizhou was so frightened that he almost jumped up.
They immediately prepared horses and headed to Longevity Mountain.
The Qiao family was extremely anxious. Qiao Qingqiao was so frightened that she couldn't sleep at all, so she pulled Qiao Qingle to sit in her grandmother's room and wait for news.
Qiao Qingle yawned repeatedly, sounding quite impatient.
"Big sister is so arrogant all the time, I don't know how many people she has offended. Now look what happened, she's been tricked, and I don't even know if she can keep her life!"
Qiao Qingqiao usually wouldn't stoop to her third younger sister's level, but hearing her make such sarcastic remarks, she unusually lost her temper.
"Qiao Qingle! Shut your mouth! If you dare say another unpleasant word, I'll tear your mouth apart!"
Qiao Qingle was stunned; her second sister had never spoken so harshly before.
Anger surged within her in an instant. What right did her sister, who was married to a poor scholar, have to lecture her?
She's a potential candidate to become the Crown Prince's concubine!
She stood with her legs crossed, showing no signs of restraint; instead, she became even more arrogant.
"I misspoke! If she hadn't offended someone, why would she have been kidnapped? Why didn't they kidnap me instead!"
Qiao Qingqiao was already anxious and worried about her eldest sister, and now that her third sister had spoken rudely, she was so angry that she didn't care about anything else and went up and really tore Qiao Qingle's mouth apart.
When Qiao Qingle saw that her second sister had actually hit her, she was furious and jumped up to rush to Old Madam Qiao's bedside.
The two of them had been arguing in the outer room and had not entered the inner room where their grandmother was resting.
As soon as the two rushed in, they were surprised to see Old Madam Qiao sitting on the edge of the bed eating bird's nest porridge with a happy expression.