"Yes, it's like this during the day, so you can imagine how it is at night," Chen Xiaobei immediately chimed in.
Liu Rumei understood that Chen Xiaobei was still worried about Liu Ce and his men searching for Zhu Meng's scattered stragglers in the mountains.
Of course, she had confidence in Liu Ce. Liu Ce was skilled in martial arts, resourceful, and had ample manpower, so there shouldn't be any accidents.
Chen Xiaobei was thinking about something else. He was still concerned about the large amount of supplies on the mountain.
Especially after Shen Qiang told him that a large quantity of supplies was hidden near the iron chain bridge. Now that both the iron chain and rope bridges were destroyed, there was no other way to cross but to rebuild them.
With this in mind, he turned to look at Liu Rumei behind him. "Miss Liu..."
As soon as he spoke, Liu Rumei interrupted him with a raised hand. "There are no outsiders, why be so formal? Didn't I say it before? Just call me Rumei."
Alright, Chen Xiaobei had to change his address. "Rumei, I'm thinking of going into the mountains in a couple of days to rebuild the iron chain bridge over the gorge. What do you think?"
Hearing this, Liu Rumei's heart skipped a beat. She immediately retorted, "You still want to go into the mountains?"
"Yes, didn't I meet Shen Qiang that night? He told me there were still a lot of supplies on the main peak."
"I was thinking, if these supplies aren't transported down, wouldn't it be a waste to leave them on the mountain?"
"Besides, transporting these supplies to the Prince can also solve his logistical problems."
After hearing Chen Xiaobei's words, Liu Rumei couldn't help but feel a jolt.
Chen Xiaobei's thinking was indeed more far-sighted than hers.
Then again, the supplies on the mountain were all accumulated by the people of Da Cang country bit by bit.
It would indeed be a pity to waste them.
"Yes, transporting them to the front lines can solve big problems. Let's wait for Liu Ce to return first. We'll see how many people he can gather, and then we'll allocate resources."
Chen Xiaobei shook his head. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll send people into the mountains tomorrow. Da Chun'er and Da Yong know the way, and the chains are still on the other side. We can just pull them over to fix it, which is relatively simple."
According to Chen Xiaobei's plan, Liu Ce had brought so many people that he must have left traces on the main path or set up camp along it. Therefore, Chen Da Yong and the others wouldn't be in too much danger entering the mountain.
"It's already so cold down here. I'm worried it will snow on the mountain soon, and it will be troublesome to transport them down then."
Chen Xiaobei's concern was not unfounded. Liu Rumei nodded in agreement.
"Alright, we'll arrange for people to go up tomorrow."
They walked and discussed, and soon arrived at the apple orchard.
About half of the vast orchard had already been picked.
Even so, there were still over a hundred trees with bright red fruit. Chen Xiaobei picked one and examined it carefully.
It was bright red and heavy, looking good. The leaves of the surrounding apple trees were already somewhat dry.
Liu Rumei didn't care about that and started picking herself.
As soon as she started, the more than a dozen guards accompanying her couldn't stand idly by.
The village guards rushed to pick the fruit even more eagerly. It was then that Chen Xiaobei spoke.
"Everyone, listen to me. Let's pick the big fruits first."
"Each person is responsible for two trees and picks the largest fruits first."
Liu Rumei's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Chen Xiaobei, confused. "Why pick the big ones first? Isn't it better to pick them all?"
Chen Xiaobei knew that the concept of "quality grading" might not exist in this era.
So, it was necessary to explain to Liu Rumei. "It's like this, I think if we pick the biggest ones first, we can bring more people tomorrow and try to pick all the small ones."
"Then, when we sell them in the county town, these high-quality large fruits can fetch a high price."
Liu Rumei seemed to understand, yet not entirely. However, she still felt that what Chen Xiaobei said was right.
Larger apples looked better and would surely sell for a higher price.
Everyone immediately dispersed and, according to Chen Xiaobei's instructions, only picked the large ones.
Just then, someone suddenly shouted, "Look, there are many signs of people having eaten here!"
Chen Xiaobei and Liu Rumei rushed over and indeed found a pile of cores on the ground.
And it looked like they had just been eaten and discarded.
Seeing this, Liu Rumei's heart tightened. Since they were just discarded, it was highly likely that someone had hidden because they saw them approaching.
Clearly, Chen Xiaobei had also thought of this. He lowered his voice and said to Liu Rumei, "Tell everyone to be vigilant. I think this person hasn't gone far."
Liu Rumei nodded and went to each guard, passing on the message. Chen Xiaobei also conveyed the message to each village guard.
Everyone continued picking fruit while vigilantly looking around. Finally, Chen Xiaobei discovered a clue.
Not far from the apple trees were some bushes.
Two sparrows flew over and landed in the bushes, but at the last moment, they suddenly chirped and flew away.
This indicated that something was wrong in the bushes.
And only one explanation could scare birds away: someone was hiding inside.
With this in mind, Chen Xiaobei pretended to pick fruit and walked to Liu Rumei's side.
"Did you see those two birds just now? They seemed to be heading for the bushes, but then flew away. This indicates something is going on in the bushes."
Liu Rumei nodded. She had also seen the two birds, and was surprised by Chen Xiaobei's keen observation.
"Okay, I'll take some people to check."
Chen Xiaobei shook his head. "What if he hurts you?"
The sudden concern warmed Liu Rumei's heart.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Liu Rumei beckoned, and with Liu Ziming and Liu Ziliang, who were closest to her, she crept towards the bushes.
Chen Xiaobei instinctively stopped moving, staring at them nervously.
When Liu Rumei was still about ten meters away from the bushes, the bushes suddenly rustled, followed by a few muffled thuds.
This was the sound of a repeating crossbow. Chen Xiaobei was too familiar with this sound.
Liu Rumei and the others were highly focused. Seeing the repeating crossbows being fired, they merely dodged slightly. In the next instant, all three of them leaped into the air like great birds and pounced into the bushes.
Then came two screams.
After the screams, two grey figures rushed out of the bushes.
Strictly speaking, they were thrown out.
Although it was a bit far, Chen Xiaobei could still see that the two were wearing plain clothes and were groaning on the ground, clearly having been beaten severely.
Immediately after, Liu Rumei emerged from the bushes with her hands behind her back, walking unhurriedly.
Seeing her emerge, the two on the ground seemed to have seen a terrifying beast. They used their hands to push off the ground, instinctively retreating a couple of steps.
"Tell me, who are you?" Liu Rumei asked.