"Wronged!" Chen Mazi began to wail at the top of his lungs again.
"Ever since the military officers raided the bandits in Dayi Mountain five years ago, I've quit that life! For the past few years, I've been an honest mountain - goods trader. I've never done anything immoral again! I came into the mountain today just to buy some mushrooms and..."
"You? Quit that life?" Wan Mo jabbed the butt of her rifle into his shoulder, making him grimace in pain. "How many basins do you have? Do you have copper or iron basins? Show them to me!"
"Chen Mazi..."
Li Wanming ignored his cries. She just leaned slightly forward in front of him, her voice as soft as a snowflake landing on a blade.
"Do you still recognize me?"
Chen Mazi's pupils constricted. His neck turned stiffly and awkwardly to the side like a rusty hinge. "I... I don't quite remember..."
Big drops of sweat rolled down his sallow cheeks, leaving dark marks on his coarse cloth robe.
"Oh?" A silent smile played on Li Wanming's lips. "How about I help you remember?"
"No no no no no... No need!"
Chen Mazi shrieked as if he'd been burned by a branding iron.
"Stop that racket!" Wan Mo jabbed him back with the rifle. "If it weren't for my sister's soft heart and her plea for you bandits back then, you'd have gone to see King Yama with your chief long ago! Why do you look at her as if you've seen a ghost now?"
Chen Mazi shrank his neck and mumbled, "She is a ghost. A vengeful spirit following me..."
"What did you say?!" Wan Mo's rifle tip quivered.
"Nothing! Nothing!" Chen Mazi turned ashen with fear. A smile uglier than a cry appeared on his sallow face. "I mean, Miss Li... No, Miss Li is heroic, smart and capable... She clearly has the look of great wealth and honor!"
Li Wanming looked at him, smiling enigmatically. "You just said you didn't recognize me, but now you know I'm Miss Li?"
"This... I was just scared by Miss Wan Mo just now. I didn't see clearly for a moment..."
Chen Mazi slumped to the ground in resignation. His two broom - like eyebrows drooped dejectedly into an inverted V.
"Not to mention our humble Black Wind Stronghold, but among all the dozens of strongholds in Dayi Mountain, who doesn't know your reputation, Miss?"
"Cut the crap." Li Wanming nudged him impatiently with her toe. "Tell me, why on earth did you come back to the Black Wind Stronghold?"
"I... I came in to gather mountain goods..." Chen Mazi stammered.
Smack!
Li Wanming's face darkened instantly. She kicked him over.
"Don't try to fool me!
"Mushrooms and black fungus are in Taiyang Gully in the north. Ganoderma and herbs are in Xiaotuoling in the east. Even the bamboo rats in the mountains are fatter in those two places.
"And you, you come all the way to this fog - shrouded Shuangya Ridge to gather mountain goods? If all the peddlers of mountain goods were as stupid as you, they'd have starved to death eight hundred times over!"
The rule in Dayi Mountain has always been that herbalists go east and outlaws go west. There's a reason for this. The east is sunny, with lush vegetation and plenty of birds and beasts.
Therefore, whether it's woodcutters or hunters, they all prefer to go to Taiyang Gully and Xiaotuoling in the east. Naturally, peddlers of mountain goods are no exception...
On the other hand, the western gully is shrouded in fog all year round, which is convenient for hiding one's tracks. Naturally, it's the best place for all sorts of evildoers.
Back then, bandit strongholds like the Black Wind Stronghold, Tiger Head Stronghold, Iron Horse Gang, and the Hall of Righteousness were all gathered in this foothill. They even had a rather fierce nickname, the Seventy - Two Fiends...
Over time, honest people were even more afraid to come to the west, and the bandits became even more rampant.
It wasn't until the great raid five years ago that uprooted the Seventy - Two Fiends and put them all in a big stew...
Chen Mazi hugged his aching arm from the kick and knelt on the ground, gasping for air. He didn't dare to get up. He could only shrink his neck and explain.
"You don't know. If you're gathering mushrooms, you do have to go to Taiyang Gully and Xiaotuoling. But the most popular mountain goods in the town now aren't mushrooms or bamboo - rat skins. It's the spotted - grass snakes. They say the snake gall can clear the liver and improve eyesight. The noblemen in the prefectural capital like them the most..."
"Spotted - grass snakes..."
Li Wanming murmured these words. Her eyebrows twitched imperceptibly.
She slowly leaned down. There was a smile on her face, but a cold glint appeared in her eyes. "Chen Mazi, when are you going to get rid of this habit of only telling half the story?"
Before her voice faded, she suddenly snatched the long rifle from Wan Mo's hand. With a flick of the rifle tip, she turned the gray cloth satchel on the ground upside down.
The reddish - brown vines inside rustled down. She crushed them with one foot, and the milky juice oozed out mixed with the soil.
"Just the gall of the spotted - grass snake can indeed clear the liver and improve eyesight..." Li Wanming twisted her boot sole hard. "But when combined with the juice of the thunder god vine, it becomes a deadly poison that kills on contact!"
The dagger at her waist sprang out. The snow - like cold light pressed against Chen Mazi's throat.
"I'll ask you one last time," Li Wanming leaned in close, her words as sharp as a knife. "Who are you making this poison for?"
Chen Mazi turned ashen with fear. His teeth chattered uncontrollably.
"Chief, spare my life! I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything!"
"Just... just half a year ago, at the site of the old Tiger Head Stronghold, a group of bandits somehow gathered again. They specifically buy spotted - grass snakes and thunder god vines... I saw that the price was good, so I... I delivered the goods twice..."
"Really! I'm telling the truth!"
Chen Mazi kept kowtowing. His forehead thudded on the muddy ground. "I'm just a mountain - runner now. I get up early and go to bed late just to make a living... I'm telling the whole truth. Chief, you must believe me!"
"Enough!" Li Wanming waved her hand impatiently. "Stop calling me 'Chief' all the time... I was only your nominal chief for one day. People who don't know might think I'm a bandit in Dayi Mountain like you!"
"Yes yes yes..." Chen Mazi nodded like a pounding garlic.
Hearing this, Wan Mo had an idea in mind. She pulled Li Wanming aside. "Sister, it's been five years since Mom and Dad raided the bandits. It's inevitable that these outlaws in the mountains will try to stage a comeback."
She stroked the rifle barrel. A fierce look flashed in her eyes. "Anyway, we're going to Lingxi Prefecture, and we'll pass by the Tiger Head Stronghold. Why don't we go there and clean up this so - called new Tiger Head Stronghold!"
Li Wanming nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking."
Actually, besides worrying about the resurgence of banditry in the mountains, she had another concern -
The gall of the spotted - grass snake combined with the thunder god vine can make a deadly poison. If it's smeared on arrowheads, it becomes a killing weapon. Now that Lingxi Prefecture is in turmoil, what if someone has evil intentions and sells this poison to Anluo Country...
Therefore, she had to go to the Tiger Head Stronghold no matter what.
"Get up!" Wan Mo kicked Chen Mazi on the shoulder. "Pick up your bag and follow us! I'd like to see which fool dares to become a mountain king in Dayi Mountain again!"
Chen Mazi had no choice. He could only pick up the scattered thunder god vines with a mournful face and pitifully follow behind them.