Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the door. Then the door was kicked open with a bang.
A red - clad woman stood at the door, brandishing a pair of knives. Her almond eyes widened as she shouted, "You little thieves! How dare you come and cause trouble in my stronghold? Are you tired of living?"
However, the moment she saw Li Wanming, her eyes instantly sparkled with surprise. "Sister Li?!"
She sheathed her knives and rushed forward in three quick steps. Her voice, which had been full of killing intent just now, was now as soft as honey. "It's really you!"
Li Wanming stared intently. The woman in front of her was full of vigor, with a cinnabar mole above her left eyebrow being particularly eye - catching. A memory of a thin little girl suddenly overlapped with the woman in front of her.
"Xiaohuan? You're Xiaohuan!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, Sister Li, it's me!" Jiang Xiaohuan grabbed her hands excitedly. "Sister, weren't you and General Li going to the capital? Why are you here?"
Li Wanming had once rescued a group of abducted women in Tiger Head Stronghold, and Jiang Xiaohuan was one of them.
But at that time, Jiang Xiaohuan was only twelve years old. So, when they met suddenly, Li Wanming didn't recognize her at first.
"Xiaohuan... Have you become a bandit in Tiger Head Stronghold?!" Li Wanming's voice trembled as she asked in disbelief.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaohuan glared angrily. "Who said I'm a bandit?"
"Which son of a bitch has been spreading rumors about me? If I find out, I'll definitely pull out his tongue!"
Ah...?
Li Wanming was even more shocked. She felt as if her mind was in a complete mess and couldn't figure things out.
"Didn't he say... collecting herbs, snake gallbladders... and taking a 'lady of the stronghold'..."
Everyone's gazes turned to Chen Mazi in unison.
Chen Mazi trembled all over and stammered, "Th - th - this... Didn't you, the leader, say you wanted to collect snake gallbladders, herbs and thunder god vines? I've brought them here several times before..."
"Your mother's bullshit!" Jiang Xiaohuan swung her arm and gave Chen Mazi a resounding slap, sending him spinning on the spot. "Collecting snake gallbladders and thunder god vines makes me a bandit? When did I ever say I was going to be a bandit by collecting those things?!"
Chen Mazi covered his rapidly swelling cheek, tears welling up in his eyes, not daring to say a word.
"Everyone has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the country. Don't you understand!"
Jiang Xiaohuan slapped her pair of knives on the table with a clang. "Now the dogs from Anluo Kingdom have invaded our Lingxi County. Are we going to be cowards? Defending the country is not just the responsibility of the soldiers. We ordinary people should also do our part!"
"The recruitment notice is posted on the city gate. We originally wanted to enlist, but those shortsighted soldiers said they didn't want women and told us to just stay at home and weave cloth and farm. Bah! Most of the rice fields in the south have been burned. What's the point of farming?"
"I thought that since they won't let us go to the battlefield, fine. But they must need weapons and bows and arrows, right? If we can make a batch of arrows that can kill on contact, we'll surely be able to help a great deal!"
"So I gathered a group of sisters with the same idea. We've been working day and night in this Tiger Head Stronghold and finally made more than three hundred poison arrows that can kill on contact!"
She stepped on a bench with one foot and slapped her chest boldly. "We'll make more. When General Feng arrives, we'll present these arrows to him. Let's see if those snobs still dare to look down on us women!"
Her words were full of heroism and... very reasonable.
Only then did Li Wanming notice that the so - called "bandits" behind Jiang Xiaohuan were actually all girls with long braids.
Perhaps they had really been working hard on making the arrows recently. Each of them was dirty - faced, their clothes were tattered and filthy, and their long hair was casually braided into a bun on top of their heads. At first glance, they really looked no different from men. Coupled with the dim light and their eagerness to save people, none of them had recognized them...
"She... They..."
Li Wanming stammered, staring at the girls behind her.
"Sister Li, don't you recognize her?" Jiang Xiaohuan pulled a thin girl beside her and said eagerly. "Take a good look. She's Xiaohe, the one you rescued from Tiger Head Stronghold back then! And her, her... These girls are all the same!"
She pointed out several girls in a row, and each of them was looking at Li Wanming expectantly.
"Later, when General Li and Lady Yuan destroyed the bandit stronghold in Dayi Mountain, I gathered all the girls who had been abducted by the bandits... Their original families thought they were no longer pure after being abducted into the mountains..."
Jiang Xiaohuan's voice lowered, but soon she straightened her back and raised her head high. "It doesn't matter! From then on, we've been family to each other!"
Speaking of this, Jiang Xiaohuan's eyes lit up. "By the way, Sister Li, I haven't forgotten the skills you taught me!"
"Over the years, I've made a lot of silver with your brewing recipe and... and..." Her eyes flickered, and she glossed over the rest of the words. "Anyway, I've earned enough to support these girls!"
Li Wanming let out a soft "ah" and raised her eyebrows imperceptibly.
The skills she taught?
What decent skills could she teach?
It was nothing more than brewing, gambling, and some shady tricks of the Jianghu...
She never expected that these unseemly tricks would finally become the means of survival for these girls.
"I see!" Li Wanming picked up the conversation knowingly and pretended to be naive. "No wonder Yiyi said that Danli Wine has become popular again in Fujian in recent years, but it's much stronger than the one I brewed before... So it was you, little girl!"
"Sure enough!" Jiang Xiaohuan puffed out her chest proudly. "I haven't forgotten anything you taught me!"
Indeed, she hadn't forgotten and had learned quite well - she even learned how to kidnap a "husband".
The master and the apprentice had similar methods. They could understand each other's minds even though they were thousands of miles apart. She was really a good disciple taught by Li Wanming.
Wanmo looked at the scene in front of her and felt it was strange and absurd. She couldn't help but point at Xiao Jingnan in confusion and ask, "Since you're not bandits... Then what's the deal with this 'lady of the stronghold'?"
The dark - faced little girl named Xiaohe rushed to say, "He was rescued by Sister Xiaohuan from the bottom of the cliff!"
Xiao Jingnan bowed and said politely, "Yes. I was being chased and killed by villains at that time and accidentally fell off the cliff. Fortunately, Miss Jiang rescued me..."
"It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!" Xiaohe waved her hand. "You can't repay the kindness of saving your life. Just marry her!"
Xiao Jingnan smiled helplessly. "But I've said countless times that I already have a wife in the capital..."
"So what?"
Xiaohe didn't think there was any problem at all. She tilted her head and said reasonably.
"You can just call her to Dayi Mountain. Sister Xiaohuan will be the main wife, and she can be the secondary wife. We have beautiful mountains and clear waters here. It's much more pleasant than the capital. Besides, would we sisters ever treat her badly?"