Chapter One: Perplexity

  Gao Huaiyuan wiped the Longlin treasure knife in his hand, sitting under the lamp waiting for Huang Yan's news. Before long, Zhou Huan and Li Tong walked in from outside.

  Li Tong's face didn't look good, and Gao Huaiyuan didn't bother to comfort him. He directly asked Zhou Huan: "What are those people doing now?"

  Zhou Hao replied briefly: "Leave, leave two people outside the inn to guard, they plan to take action in the woods outside the town tomorrow!"

  It seems that these people are not good stuff, taking advantage of them, looking at their young age, only one adult, thinking of taking advantage of them, Gao Huaiyuan sneered in his heart, the more skilled a person is, the bolder they are, there's nothing to be afraid of!

  "Zhou Hao, go prepare our bows and arrows, put them in the back of the carriage and hide them well, so we can get to them at any time! Tomorrow, when we're done hunting!" Gao Huaiyuan said to Zhou Hao as he sheathed his polished dragon-scale dagger.

  Li Tong came in and saw the snow-bright steel knife in Gao Huaiyuan's hand, somewhat surprised. He had never heard of any treasured knives being passed down in the Gao family, so how did the young master have such a beautiful steel knife? Just by looking at the scabbard of this knife, you could tell it was worth a lot of money. Li Tong felt a bit more at ease, thinking that Gao Huaiyuan had said they were skilled and the young master had incredible strength, so maybe he wasn't afraid of those few thieves after all.

  "Li Tong, remember, you can see but not speak, or else..." Gao Huaiyuan put the Longlin treasure knife into a cloth bag and tied it up.

  "Don't worry, young master, I'd rather die than say it!" Before Gao Huaiyuan could finish his threatening words, Li Tong hastily intervened to guarantee.

  After putting away the treasure knife, Gao Huaiyuan nodded to Li Tong: "Very well, you just do your job well, I won't let you suffer a loss. If something happens tomorrow, hide behind the carriage and don't be afraid. Everything will be handled by us three people! I guarantee nothing will happen to you!"

  Looking at Gao Huaiyuan's confident and composed demeanor, Li Tong felt much more at ease. It turned out that he was lucky this time, as the Third Young Master he was following actually had some martial arts skills! Li Tong no longer dared to underestimate Gao Huaiyuan in any way, and nodded vigorously in agreement.

  After it got dark, after waiting for a long time, Gao Huaiyuan was worried about Huang Yan, and heard some noises coming from the back wall of the backyard. He immediately stood up, grabbed a long bench with his hand, walked out of the room to check, and Zhou Huan also found a long bench, picked it up and followed behind Gao Huaiyuan.

  A dark shadow muttered in a low voice: "Damn it, why dig a hole under the wall? Almost got me killed!"

  After hearing the man's voice, Gao Huaiyuan put down the long bench in his hand and almost laughed out loud. Zhou Hao's stiff face also couldn't help but reveal a hint of a smile.

  Huang Yan, with a stern expression and dusty face, walked into the house, looking somewhat embarrassed, saying: "I didn't manage to get a single knife, only got a white wax rod gun. This town's blacksmith shop is really hard to find, it took me half a day to find it! The old man didn't have any knives at all, said he needs to receive the deposit before making one on the spot! No choice, I had to buy two柴刀 (chopper knives), and also got two white wax rod wooden sticks! Make do with this for now, boss!" As he spoke, he dragged in a long gun, two wrist-thick white wax rods, and from his back waist, pulled out two black chopper knives, throwing them onto the table.

  Gao Huaiyuan took a look and thought, what can two柴 knives do? So he threw one to Li Tong for self-defense, gave another to Liu'er to put in the carriage for self-defense, and took a wooden stick himself. He weighed it and felt it was light but still handy, so he nodded his head in satisfaction.

  Zhou Hao himself picked up the long gun, shook it a bit, and nodded. Although the gun head was very rough, he had a handy guy after all, and didn't have any opinions.

  Gao Huaiyuan let Liu'er sleep first, then arranged for Li Tong and the other two to take turns keeping watch with him. The night passed without incident, and as soon as it dawned, they got up, washed their faces, ate their fill, inquired about the road, and set off on their mule cart towards the outskirts of town.

  Indeed, more than ten miles away from the town, a dense forest appeared by the roadside. Gao Huaiyuan and others became vigilant, according to the shopkeeper's words, this was where those bandits wanted to lay hands on them.

  Li Tong involuntarily started to get nervous, and his voice in shouting at the mule became a little shaky.

  "What's the big deal? Pretend nothing happened! Keep driving!" Gao Huaiyuan scolded Li Tong in a low voice.

  Huang Yan and Zhou Huan approached the large cart from both sides, Gao Huaiyuan also got close to the mule cart, none of them were holding anything in their hands, all the weapons were hidden behind the cart.

  The big car creaked and groaned as it approached the forest, at this time not a single figure could be seen on the road, looking very eerie. There was no bird chirping inside the forest edge, Gao Huaiyuan was certain that someone must be hiding in the forest.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, when they approached the forest, several figures darted out from within, blocking their path. Everyone had their mouths and noses covered with black cloth, revealing only a pair of eyes, standing in the middle of the road and shouting.

  "Halt, old man! Leave your carriage and donkey behind, get out of here quickly! We're taking this carriage!" The burly man at the front, holding a gleaming single-edged sword, shouted loudly.

  Li Tong was so frightened that he slipped down from the carriage and ran to the back of the cart, rolling and crawling.

  Gao Huaiyuan didn't need to look, he already knew who the leader was. He took a closer look at their numbers, and saw that there were nine people in total. Only three of them were holding single-edged swords, while the other six were holding long spears. Not a single person was holding a bow and arrow, which made things much easier!

  "Pull it out!" Gao Huaiyuan called out in a low voice.

  Huang Yan and Zhou Huan immediately rushed to the side of the vehicle, each taking out a gun rod from both sides, throwing one rod to Gao Huaiyuan, and quickly shaking out three bows and arrows from behind the car. They each held them in their hands, swiftly placing the arrows on the bowstrings, aiming at the several guys in front.

  The three of them moved quickly, and by the time they pulled out their stuff, the other side had only just reacted, and couldn't help but be shocked. They clearly hadn't expected that these three young men were also skilled fighters, equipped with specialized gear, and were all stunned for a moment.

  But these guys were stunned, and instead of being afraid, they burst out laughing. The leader laughed even harder, doubling over as if he had just seen the most hilarious joke in the world.

  "You little brats... Haha! You actually brought out your gear, thinking you can intimidate me? We're just missing this thing, and you're delivering it to our doorstep! Haha! ...Don't make me laugh, drop your gear and scram, I won't kill you if you do!" The leader sneered with his single-edged sword, taking a step forward as if to lead his men in surrounding Gao Huaiyuan. It's worth noting that bows and arrows were scarce among the common people of the Song Dynasty; while ordinary bandits could easily get their hands on knives and spears, it was much harder for them to obtain bows and arrows. Moreover, making a good bow required complex craftsmanship, which was beyond the capabilities of most people. Today, seeing Gao Huaiyuan and his companions bring out three sets of bows and arrows, these men were actually delighted.

  Gao Hua Yuan's face pulled out a black line, he was most annoyed when people looked at him like a kid, and Huang Yan and Zhou Hao's expressions were also somewhat tense. After all, they were only twelve or thirteen years old, although they held bows and arrows in their hands, but when facing a group of thugs, they were indeed a little scared, the hand holding the bow was shaking slightly.

  Gao Huaiyuan swept a glance with the corner of his eye, and knew what they were thinking. He whispered: "Don't be afraid, the more you fear, the worse it will be, steady! Listen to my command, aim at their legs, shoot down two first!"

  Gao Huaiyuan's words immediately took effect, and the two people were slightly calmed down by what he said. They then drew open the bowstrings in their hands, each aiming at the other person's thigh. The reason Gao Huaiyuan had them do this was very simple: because they were all children, and it would be too much to have them shoot and kill each other right away. Not to mention that they were afraid, but also because none of them had ever killed a person before!

  Gao Huaiyuan himself also drew his bow, calmed down and aimed at the leader in front.

  "Hold it! Stop! You've already injured me with your reckless shooting, be careful or I'll take you down!" As soon as the three of them drew their bows, the opposing guys got a bit flustered and hastily stopped in their tracks, not daring to advance any further.

  "If you're afraid, then don't rob! If you're scared, hurry up and get out of my way. I won't pursue you, and from now on, do whatever you want, I'm too lazy to care about you. But if you don't know what's good for you, come at me with all your might, arrows have no eyes, don't blame us for being impolite!" Gao Huaiyuan shouted in a low voice, hoping to intimidate them into retreating or fleeing, as he had no interest in killing anyone.

  After hearing Gao Huaiyuan's words, the group of people on the other side obviously hesitated. However, the leader thought for a moment and felt that this matter was somewhat ridiculous today. If they were scared away by three young whippersnappers, their prestige would be lost, and they wouldn't have any face left to mix in this place anymore!

  He took a closer look at the three of them, including Gao Huaiyuan, and determined that they were only around thirteen or fourteen years old. Although they had bows and arrows in their hands, what could such young boys possibly be capable of?

  He steeled himself, swung his single-edged sword and shouted at the several guys behind him: "Afraid of them? They're just three little brats, what can they do? Come on, let's get started today, slaughter them!"

  Several of them thought it made sense, so they steeled themselves and shouted in unison, raising the objects in their hands and charging towards Gao Huaiyuan and his two companions. They weren't wrong in thinking that at such a close distance, Gao Huaiyuan and the other two children would only have time to shoot one arrow before they were upon them. So, plucking up their courage, they followed their leader in a charge.

  Gao Huaiyuan furrowed his brow, knowing that today's matter was probably irreconcilable. He steeled himself and drew the bow taut, then shouted in a low voice: "Release!"