Chapter 84: Chicken Feast in the Mountain Village

San Tie only realized today that Yan Family’s Second Girl—no, Yan Xiao’er—was small but sharp.

As expected of a scholar’s child, she was different from the other village kids.

Just now, he had taken Yan Xiao’er over.

The little one straightened her back, kept a serious face, and, after solemnly greeting everyone, said, “Uncle, Father, my elder brother sent me to ask whether we will be settling here for the night.”

Yan Huaiwen was slightly surprised.

His niece had indeed performed the proper greeting for elders, but he had never known that she had learned it, let alone used it so naturally.

Glancing at the sky, he said, “We’ll rest here for the night.”

“Yes!” The little girl bowed her head and withdrew, pulling San Tie along. She casually informed one of the other children before returning.

The two of them stood to the side. When the scholar asked, they promptly replied, “We have informed my brother.”

Yan Huaiwen: …

Second Uncle Yan: …

San Tie: …

Then, the two of them shamelessly eavesdropped.

Yan Xiao’er winked at him, signaling for him to follow suit. So, San Tie imitated her stance—standing upright, head slightly lowered, eyes cast down…

At first, Second Uncle Yan was distracted by his daughter, thinking, That’s my girl, all right—thick-skinned as ever. Since sneaking around to eavesdrop wouldn’t work, she just dragged San Tie along and made it an open affair.

Since there were outsiders present, no one would expose that she was actually a little girl.

And those words she used—they were quite something. Even he, her own father, wouldn’t have phrased it so well.

If it were just her, they could shoo her away easily. But bringing San Tie along made it tricky.

After all, San Tie was from the Luo family. Maybe his grandfather, Village Chief Luo, thought it wouldn’t be appropriate to show up himself, so he sent his grandson to gather information instead.

When the conversation turned to the bandits in the area, Second Uncle Yan quickly focused.

“…We don’t know about places further away, but nearby, three or four groups of bandits have taken over the mountains. About twenty miles ahead is a high mountain we call Cloud-Piercing Mountain, and the bandit stronghold there is called Cloud-Piercing Stronghold. There are dozens of them, all with blood on their hands. They don’t come here often since we’re farther away, but the mountain villagers closer to them suffer terribly. They barely have enough to eat themselves, yet they’re still forced to hand over grain as tribute.”

“This year’s drought is worse, so there are more refugees. The bandits have even gone to blockade the main road. If you’re heading north, whether by mountain path or main road, it won’t be easy.”

Uncle An sighed. “Of all the groups, Cloud-Piercing Stronghold is the most ruthless. If you run into them…”

He was about to say “drop your belongings and run,” but then realized—this group in front of him was quite formidable. It wasn’t necessarily impossible for them to put up a fight.

So instead, he said, “Just be careful. I’ve heard they’ve even dug traps in the mountains.”

Second Uncle Yan asked, “So all the bandits have gone to the main road?”

“Some of them, at least. We don’t know how many, but people have seen them bringing loot back.”

That direction had a small path leading to the main road.

“Hmm… In that case, taking the mountain path seems like a good idea. If we go by the main road, we’ll have to deal with wave after wave of bandits. Better to move now while they’re shorthanded. If we don’t run into them, good; if we do, we’ll fight.” Second Uncle Yan said seriously.

Yan Yu nodded in agreement.

Father is right. If we do encounter them, we’re not powerless.

The best thing about crossbows is that they allow for long-range combat. As long as they keep the bandits at a distance and have good aim, those thugs will be nothing more than moving targets.

But there was one problem—

The village uncles were all honest farmers. Did they have the guts to shoot at bandits?

This was different from hunting wild boars.

Yan Yu made a mental note to discuss this with Father later. They needed to prepare the villagers psychologically, give them some training.

Yan Huaiwen said, “Tianyou, where’s the route map?”

Second Uncle Yan carried it with him. “Right here.”

“Uncle An, could you describe the terrain around here for us?”

“Ah, of course,” Uncle An agreed immediately.

As Second Uncle Yan pulled out his charcoal pen, Uncle An straightened his posture.

He hadn’t expected this one to be a scholar as well.

Yan Huaiwen took San Tie to find his grandfather.

Meanwhile, Second Uncle Yan and Yan Yu stayed behind, sketching a map based on the mountain folk’s descriptions.

Uncle An praised, “I didn’t expect the young master to be such a skilled artist.”

In truth, Yan Yu simply outlined the general shape of the mountains and drew concentric circles to indicate elevation—the higher the mountain, the more rings. Once everyone understood the logic, they found it quite intuitive.

Second Uncle Yan, ever the people person, humbly accepted the praise and smoothly steered the conversation towards household matters—family sizes, the weather, harvests, complaints about the heartless bandits…

Before long, he had blended right in with the villagers.

By the time Yan Yu finished sketching, the mountain folk were already grinning and inviting her father to visit their village, even saying they would slaughter a chicken to host him properly.

Yan Yu: I must go! Tonight, we feast on chicken!

…

“Father, are you taking me with you?” Yan Yu asked expectantly.

“Yes, yes, of course! How could I leave my precious Dabao behind?” Second Uncle Yan had no way to refuse. His daughter had been chattering non-stop along the journey, even threatening to rope Old Yan into coming if she wasn’t taken along.

If Old Yan went, how was he supposed to carry out his secret—er, his negotiation plans with the villagers?

“We should bring more people—not just the two of us. Uncle Qi, Fourth Uncle Qi, Fifth Uncle Qi, Uncle Luo…”

Yan Yu started naming more names, but Second Uncle Yan quickly stopped her.

Chuckling, he said, “My dear daughter, are we planning to eat them out of house and home? The three Qi brothers alone can eat a ton. They might think we’re here for revenge instead of a visit!”

“Then we’ll eat our fill before we go! I feel safer with Uncle Qi and the others around.” Yan Yu was firm.

Second Uncle Yan thought: Me too!

“Alright, I’ll go find your Fourth and Fifth Uncles Qi. Let’s skip Qi Da this time. I’ll also bring along Uncle Hu.”

They couldn’t always rely on the Qi brothers. They had their own families to take care of.

As for Hu Er’s legendary arrow that had stunned everyone—he wasn’t the best choice this time. But Hu Da? Now that was a solid second-best marksman.

“And Brother San Tie—can’t be just me as the only kid.” Yan Yu thought for a moment and added, “Father, we should bring something with us. Showing up empty-handed doesn’t feel right.”

They had only met these villagers briefly, and while there had been some friction, there were no lasting grudges. It wouldn’t be right to just show up and eat for free—especially in a time of hardship.

Father and daughter each went off to gather people.

When Yan Yu found San Tie, he was listening to his older brother, Er Tie, talk about Second Uncle Yan—how surprised he had been by Yan Xiao’er and how he now planned to stick close to Second Uncle Yan in the future.

Why not the scholar? Well… the scholar barely spoke, unlike Second Uncle Yan, who was full of stories.

(Not that he would ever admit he got nervous around the scholar, unlike that little fearless Yan Xiao’er.)

“Brother San Tie, the villagers invited my father to their village. Come with me!” Yan Yu said brightly, running over.

“Okay!” San Tie agreed immediately, looking delighted.

—End of Chapter—