"Sister, Ning'er's body hurts so much." Ning'er hugged his sister's neck, tears falling one by one, feeling extremely wronged.
Fu Xinci looked at her younger brother's tear-filled eyes and felt immense heartache, gently stroking his back.
After Ning'er finished crying, she remembered to ask, "Ning'er, how were you captured by them?"
"Xiao Niu and I were playing hide-and-seek outside the school. I don't know how, but we were caught by these two smelly bad guys."
"Oh."
After hearing her younger brother's account, Fu Xinci analyzed the time he was captured.
At this time, Father should have discovered Ning'er was missing, and the family would be in a frenzy.
Yes, she guessed correctly.
Fu Yu was the first to discover his younger son was missing and asked the townsfolk to help search.
Then he sent students to notify the family. Grandpa Meng, a strong man, was almost unable to hold himself together from worry upon learning his grandson was missing.
Fang Shi, with red-rimmed eyes, frantically searched all the places her younger son liked to go.
Fu Yu, being intelligent, quickly connected the Tatar invasion of this land with his son's disappearance at this critical juncture.
Could the Tatars be using his son as leverage?
The thought of this possibility felt like his heart was on fire.
Clinging to a sliver of hope, he sent people to search the coast, while he himself, armed with firearms, rode north.
Yu'er saw his father's actions and had the same thought. He called out to his father to stop, wanting to accompany him to rescue his brother.
Fu Yu looked at his elder son's determined gaze and nodded, agreeing. The father and son galloped north.
Suddenly, a crisp sound, like popping beans, exploded in the sky high above to the north, revealing three green fireworks. Yu'er saw them and cried out excitedly, "Dad, look! It's my sister's fireworks, green! Sister said green represents strong vitality and also signifies peace."
"Mm." Fu Yu also saw them, knowing his younger son had been rescued by his daughter. His frantic heart finally found some solace.
Grandpa Meng also saw them and immediately sent someone to inform Fang Shi: "Ning'er should be fine. Ci'er has found him."
Fang Shi also saw the fireworks in the sky, green ones. Her daughter had mentioned once that green was good.
After setting off the fireworks to signal her family's safety, Fu Xinci used her supernatural ability to secretly examine every one of Ning'er's injuries.
When she felt the multiple soft tissue injuries on Ning'er, she was so angry that she regretted letting those two scoundrels die too easily.
But now was not the time for anger. She used her supernatural ability to gently heal Ning'er's injuries as quickly as possible. After disposing of the bodies of the two Japanese pirates, she carried Ning'er towards Qilin Town.
Ning'er hadn't been carried by his sister to "fly" for a long time. As his sister carried him "flying" over the treetops, the little one immediately forgot his previous ordeal and chattered away.
"Sister, sister, a little bird flew past!"
"Haha, sister, I scared away the squirrel on the tree next to us."
"Sister, sister, a rabbit."
Fu Xinci felt a headache coming on. Fearing there might still be Tatar and Japanese pirate scouts hidden nearby, she patted Ning'er and said, "Ning'er, we don't know how many people are watching us along the way. If they are good people, it's fine. But if they are Tatar or Japanese pirate scouts, it will be bad."
Ning'er wasn't unreasonable, but he had been frightened and suffered before. Now that his sister was with him, he felt much better.
He also wanted to quickly forget the unpleasant memories, and in his haste, he became a bit noisy.
Now, with his sister's reminder, the little one immediately reacted. He quickly extended a small hand and covered his mouth.
The sudden silence was something both the siblings found a little unaccustomed to.
However, they both chose not to speak.
Especially Ning'er. He saw the birds in the forest chirping merrily, and little birds fluttering past them.
He was about to shout, but he remembered his sister's earlier warning and tightly closed his mouth.
Although Fu Xinci didn't look back, all of the little one's actions were perceived by her keen senses.
But she just smiled and said nothing.
They crossed another mountain. Ning'er was afraid his sister would get tired carrying him, but he dared not speak now, fearing there might be scouts nearby, as his sister had warned.
Fu Xinci's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. Her worries were not unfounded. Two or three li ahead, two short figures were peeking around stealthily.
Without asking, she knew they must be the accomplices of the two pirates who had kidnapped Ning'er.
Fu Xinci did not want her younger brother to witness her violent side, so she restrained herself from acting.
As her gaze swept over a dense patch of green, almost obscuring the sky, a good idea struck her.
Lan Tianyao, along with the town's residents, had repelled two attacks by the Tatars and Japanese pirates, relying on the defensive fortifications built along the mountains and water.
During a lull, he asked Uncle Chen to continue guarding the position while he personally went to check on Liu Ming, who was leading the defense on the other half.
However, before he could reach that area, he heard Liu Ming's voice.
"Heh heh, come on again if you dare! If I don't pierce you through, you're my grandpa."
The group of "yellow-haired brats" below, whether they understood Liu Ming's words or not, glared with puffed-up cheeks.
Lan Tianyao found it amusing and spoke with his usual flair.
"Hey, Liu Ming, what are you doing? Why are you getting mixed up with generations? Besides, if you had a grandson like that, you wouldn't be able to close your eyes even in death."
"Boss, I'm just pissing off these grandsons."
After speaking, Liu Ming inquired about the serious matters with Lan Tianyao, "Boss, how many days can we hold on?"
"One or two days should be fine."
"Boss, and after that?"
"When Xiang Tong and the others arrive, we'll attack from both inside and outside, and completely wipe them out."
"We..." Liu Ming wanted to ask if they, the people they had, could eliminate them all.
But he thought about it and didn't dare to say it, fearing his boss would call him "stupid."
Being able to withstand the two attacks from those brutes filled Lan Tianyao with mixed feelings of joy and worry.
He was happy that their fortifications were strong and the enemies couldn't do anything to them for now, but he was worried that the Tatars and Japanese pirates might have more tricks up their sleeves.
After all, before today, none of them had expected the Tatars to join forces with the Japanese pirates to attack Liaodong.
And their numbers must have been over ten thousand, while Qilin Town only had a few hundred people. Now, with the addition of a few newborn infants, they represented the hope of Qilin Town.
As the town mayor, he had to ensure the safety of the children.
With this thought, he squinted at the scoundrels below the ramparts and then raised his telescope to look in the direction of Longcheng.