Chapter Eighteen: Sudden Kidnapping

  Li Guoting looked out again and saw the person who had fallen off the horse earlier, clutching his arm and struggling to get up from the ground. Blood was flowing from the arm he was holding.

  The white horse lying on the ground was still neighing incessantly, kicking its legs, making its final dying struggles.

  Under the trampled earth, where the white horse struggled, a patch of blood seeped out.

  Looking further towards the small river, a group of people vaguely emerged from the misty woods and chased after them.

  Li Guoting didn't have time to think much, his body leaned forward, his two hands grasped the edge of the soil ridge, and with a burst of strength, he climbed up. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the injured person's arm, saying: "Come quickly, there are people chasing behind."

  The injured person was caught off guard and was suddenly pulled by Li Guoting, who jumped out of the pit, and was frightened. He quickly turned his face back, and his gaze met Li Guoting's, both of them were shocked. Li Guoting saw that the injured person was also a young man about his age. The young man also looked clearly at Li Guoting, who had come to help him from the pit, and said "thank you" before turning over and jumping into the pit as well.

  Zhao Erhuo, who had buried his head in the pit and covered his ears with his hands, didn't understand what was happening when he saw Li Guoting suddenly jump out. He was about to shout when he saw Li Guoting jump back into the pit from the mound of earth. Following that, another person also jumped into the pit from the mound of earth. Zhao Erhuo lifted his head and took a look, and found that this newcomer was also around their age, with a thin face like a doll's. He had eight-shaped eyebrows, a high nose bridge, and hair that was combed to the sides, black and thick. Under the fringe that parted in the middle of his forehead, a pair of vigilant eyes were revealed.

  "Who is he?" Zhao Erhu asked Li Guoting, looking at the young man who had jumped into the pit with Li Guoting.

  "My name is Ma Fei. There's a group of people chasing me." Before Li Guoting could respond, the person who jumped into the pit said to Zhao Erhu and Li Guoting.

  "Bang bang." As soon as Ma Fei's words fell, another row of bullets flew over the mound they were hiding behind.

  "We can't stay here anymore. If we stay, they'll catch us. Brother, let's run together." Li Guoting raised his head and glanced at the bullets flying over his head, saying to Zhao Erhu.

  "Hmm, what's he going to do?" Zhao Erhu pointed at the injured Ma Fei and said.

  "We can't just abandon him, he's injured. Come on, Second Tiger, let's support him and crawl out, run towards that grove of trees behind us. Once we're in the woods, the village is not far ahead, we'll be able to find a place to hide."

  "Alright, big brother, I'll listen to you." Zhao Erhu said, stretching out his hand and lifting up Ma Fei's other arm. The three of them carefully crawled along the embankment, looking towards the opposite bank of the river.

  On the other side of the river, there were about a dozen people, several of whom were still holding guns in their hands and running towards the riverbank, apparently preparing to cross the river and chase after us.

  Li Guoting said in a low voice: "Brother, hold on, I and Erhu will help you. We'll run to that grove of trees behind us. When I shout 'run', we'll all run together."

  "Alright, I'll listen to you." Ma Fei covered his injured arm and said to Li Guoting.

  "Go on, big brother, you can shout now. Everyone will listen to you." Zhao Erhu also said.

  On the riverbank, those who were chasing Ma Fei probably thought they had hit him and put their guns on their shoulders, preparing to cross the river and continue the chase.

  Just at this moment, Li Guoting shouted: "One, two, three! We run."

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu helped the injured Ma Fei up from the ground, and they ran to the back.

  "Hurry up and chase him! That little guy is still alive and ran in that direction!" A person who was crossing the river looked up, saw Ma Fei, and shouted loudly.

  The rest of the people raised their heads and looked forward. They all saw Li Guoting, Zhao Erhu and Ma Fei.

  "That little guy has companions. Everyone quickly chase after them." Another person shouted out.

  Those who had just climbed onto the guns took them down from their shoulders and pulled the bolts with a "click-clack" sound. They raised their guns and fired at Li Guoting and his men from behind.

  "Bang bang." The quiet riverbank rang out with gunfire again, bullets flying past Li Guoting and the others, hitting the grass in front of them.

  Several frightened wild rabbits jumped out of the grass and ran forward in a panic.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhuo carried Ma Fei and also rushed into the small forest in a state of panic.

  Ran into a small forest, three people ran forward along the small path in the forest. As they ran, they ran out of this small forest.

  Before me lies a paddy field with winding paths, and at the end of the paddy field is a village hidden behind a large area of bamboo forest.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhuo rode their horses together, but they didn't dare to enter the village in front of them. Instead, they ran southwest from the ridges of the rice fields.

  Behind them, the group of people who had crossed the small river followed closely in their footsteps and chased after them. Perhaps because they had delayed crossing the river earlier, by the time these people entered the small woods, they could no longer find any trace of the three of them.

  Standing at the edge of a small forest, gazing out at the paddy fields and the village hidden behind the bamboo grove on the other side, a burly man holding a rifle box said to the group of people standing behind him: "We can't go into that village ahead. That's Peng Ye's turf."

  "Why? Maybe those three kids are hiding in the village ahead?" said a man with a gun behind him. "You don't understand anything. Peng Ye and our master have had dealings before. His men aren't ones to be trifled with. We're outnumbered, if we run into them by chance, it'll be troublesome." said the burly man who was in charge.

  "Second Master, is it just going to end like this? Let that little brat get away?" said another man holding a gun.

  The leader of the group, a sturdy Han man, gazed at the village ahead and thought for a moment before waving his hand and saying: "He's injured and can't run. Let's go back and report to Master. He'll have to show up in person to see Master Peng. I think Master Peng won't refuse this courtesy. By then, will this little guy still be able to run?"

  "Second Master, what shall we do now?"

  "Let's go back." The sturdy man spat towards the village in front of him, turned around and led this group of people to leave the small forest.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu accompanied Ma Fei, panting and running southwest all the way to the bamboo forest behind the village before stopping. At this time, they found that the group of people who were desperately chasing after them did not catch up. The three of them were stunned.

  Li Guoting loosened his grip on Ma Fei's arm and said to Zhao Erhu, "Erhu, you keep an eye on things here for a moment, I'll go take a look in the back, see if those people are following us, we don't want to fall into their ambush."

  "Alright, big brother, you go. I'll take care of this Ma Fei brother. Be careful, they have guns." Zhao Erhu said.

  "I know. Don't run around. I'll be back soon."

  As he spoke, Li Guoting turned around and walked away on the same road he had come from.

  Li Guoting, who had returned quietly, carefully made his way through the rice fields and walked to the edge of the small woods, looking around cautiously for a while, but did not find those people in the woods.

  "It's strange, they were chasing us just now, how come after chasing for a while, there's no one left? Could it be that they really gave up?"

  Li Guoting thought to himself. He didn't dare go forward again, but instead carefully searched the woods for a while, confirming that no one was there, and then walked back along the original path. When he arrived at where the three of them had stood earlier, the scene in front of him shocked Li Guoting. Zhao Erhu and Ma Fei were nowhere to be seen.

  "Hey, weren't they just here a moment ago? Where did they go? Didn't I tell them not to run around? Ugh, that Zhao Erhu, he's really asking for a scolding." Li Guoting couldn't help but complain about Zhao Erhu in his heart.

  He didn't know where those two had run off to. In the quiet bamboo forest, apart from a few bird calls, no other sounds could be heard.

  "Second Tiger. Second Tiger. Where are you?" Li Guoting dared not shout loudly, and could only call out softly a few times.

  There is no echo in the bamboo forest.

  "Damn it, what the hell is going on. This Zhao Erhu, won't he be taking Ma Fei to steal from someone's house again?" Li Guoting cursed in his heart.

  He had no choice but to search inside the bamboo forest. He thought to himself, maybe they ran into the bamboo forest. It's also possible.

  Just as Li Guoting was searching for Zhao Erhu in the bamboo forest, he walked deep into the forest and suddenly heard a shout from the front.

  Li Guoting hurriedly ran forward for a while, and suddenly found that the bamboo forest had become a wide road, which led to a paddy field in front. And just at the exit of the bamboo forest, five or six strong men were pushing Zhao Erhu and Ma Fei, punching and kicking them to move forward.

  "Get out, damn it, get out! Stop pretending to be foreigners. If you don't leave, I'll shoot you all on the spot."

  There came a wave of intimidation and curses from beside them.

  Li Guoting was shocked. What's going on? What happened? He had just left for a while, and the two tigers were caught by someone?

  Li Guoting was at a loss. He had no choice but to quietly hide behind the thick bamboo, slowly following that group of people as they walked forward.

  I'll take a look at the situation and find an opportunity to rescue them." Li Guoting secretly made up his mind.