Shen Li made her third visit to Panther Tiger Stronghold openly through the main gate, though she was bound hand and foot, blindfolded, and escorted.
"Go in!" Even with her eyes blindfolded, Shen Li had very sharp hearing. She immediately heard the bandit behind her who had just spoken. As she was about to enter the door, the bandit was about to reach out and push her. To make her act more convincing, she naturally didn't avoid it.
But unexpectedly, Xuan Yuanjue, who was standing beside her, suddenly tilted in her direction and just blocked behind her. The bandit's hand that was originally meant to push her landed on Xuan Yuanjue's back instead.
"Ouch! Big brother, slow down! My old bones can't stand your pushing like this." Xuan Yuanjue staggered forward.
The bandit didn't expect that he had pushed Xuan Yuanjue instead. He could only say impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense. Go in and stay there quietly!"
Then, he untied the black blindfolds and the hemp ropes on the hands of Li Erhua, impersonated by Shen Li, and Wang Laoda, impersonated by Xuan Yuanjue.
Only then could Wang Laoda and Li Erhua see clearly where they were. It was obviously a prison, and they were now locked in a separate "small room".
The other surrounding prison cells were empty, and there were only two bandits guarding the door. One of the bandits was tall and thin, while the other was muscular and strong.
Now, both of them were quite dissatisfied with being assigned to guard two "helpless" commoners. The tall and thin man disdainfully glanced at Wang Laoda and Li Erhua and said to the other bandit beside him, "Hey, these two are already locked up. Why did the captain still assign us two to guard here?"
"We'd better be more careful. After all, no living person has entered the territory of Panther Tiger Stronghold for three years! It's better to keep a close eye on these two."
"Alright! Alright!"
After they finished these two sentences, they each stood on one side of the prison cell and stared at Wang Laoda and Li Erhua boredly.
Shen Li had carefully observed the prison within her line of sight. After a while, she heard the sound of two footsteps approaching them.
"Open the door!" The person who came was the bearded captain who had decided to bring them back.
When Wang Laoda and Li Erhua saw him now, they couldn't help but tremble and kept shrinking back to reduce their presence, showing a look of extreme fear just like people who had just been robbed by bandits.
Seeing the two of them like this, the bearded captain stood in front of them and tried his best to make his voice "gentle" as he said, "Don't be afraid! I'll ask you a few questions later. As long as you answer them honestly, I guarantee I won't hurt a single hair on you!"
Wang Laoda and Li Erhua glanced at each other but neither of them said a word.
"Cough! Let me ask you first. What's your name? Where are you from? And where are you going?" Then he turned his gaze to Wang Laoda, who was hiding behind Li Erhua. "You're a big man, yet you're hiding behind a woman. Come on, you speak first!"
When Wang Laoda was called by name, his body trembled too. "I... My name is Wang Laoda. I live in Tongchuan Village. We... We're going to find my younger brother."
"Your younger brother? Where is your younger brother? And what's his name?"
"My younger brother is... Wang Laoda. He lives... in the capital now!"
After the bearded captain heard Wang Laoda's words, he frowned impatiently and interrupted, "Alright! Alright! You can't even speak clearly. Stop talking! Come on, it's your turn to speak!"
Although Li Erhua was also scared now that she had been captured by the bandits, she was braver than Wang Laoda after all. Immediately, she said clearly, "My name is Li Erhua. This Wang Laoda is my husband. We went out to find his heartless younger brother. I've never even been to our county town more than twice in my life, but now I've been walking for half a month on the way to the capital just because his younger brother still owes us silver!"
"Big brother, please judge for us. Isn't it only natural that a debt must be repaid?"
Under Li Erhua's "earnest" gaze, the bearded captain couldn't help but nod.
With his affirmative answer, Li Erhua seemed to have someone backing her up. Her voice became louder and more confident. "It's only right to repay a debt! Look at that Wang Laoda. Two years ago, he borrowed a hundred taels of silver from us, saying that he wanted to do a mountain goods business. If he made money from the business, then the hundred taels of silver would be our shares, and he would give us several times more in return."
"I never trusted that Wang Laoda. He's always been so unreliable. But my husband didn't listen. He insisted that they were brothers and wanted to lend him the silver. After I disagreed, he even dared to secretly take the silver from our family and give it to Wang Laoda. As a result, after Wang Laoda made money from the business, he turned his back on us and even wanted to renege on the debt."
At the end, Li Erhua said angrily and regretfully, "If I had known that we would be captured on our way to the capital to collect the debt, I should have stopped you no matter what. No! I shouldn't have married you in the first place! Wuwuwu!"
As Li Erhua was crying while talking, she pounded Wang Laoda a few times on the back with her hand.
Wang Laoda also hugged Li Erhua sadly. "Wife, it's all my fault! It's all my fault. I shouldn't have not listened to you!"
At the same time, Li Erhua, who was being held in his arms, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, but she quickly reacted and pinched Wang Laoda hard on the arm.
The bearded captain looked at the couple "crying in each other's arms" with a very impatient expression on his face. He wondered why he was so unlucky today. It was his turn to lead the team to patrol down the mountain. "Alright! Alright! Stop crying! I haven't finished asking my questions yet!"
"Did you bring your travel permit when you went on this long journey?"
Li Erhua wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said, "Yes, I did! It's in the bag I'm carrying."
Hearing this, a bandit went out and brought back their bag, and took out the travel permit from it by the way.
Now, the imperial court not only had strict management of household registrations, but ordinary commoners also had to get the seal and approval from the government for a travel permit before they could go on a long journey. If they left their registered residence without permission for a hundred miles or more, it would be considered as desertion and they would go to jail.
The bearded captain took the travel permit and looked at it repeatedly for several times. He didn't find anything wrong with it. Then he turned around dejectedly and said to the two guards at the door, "Keep a good watch here. I'll go and report this to the third boss!"