Chapter 9: In the Tiger's Jaws

  Zhou Tianhao reported to his father Zhou Shiming about the encounter with Jiang Keyue and her family situation, hoping that his father could take in and treat Keyue well. Master Zhou praised his son's kindness and reminded him to be extra careful when going out, telling him not to worry about things at home.

  Zhou Tianhao and Ah Qi rested for a night, and the next morning they bid farewell to their families again and rushed to Longtan City. The two of them whipped their horses and sped up their journey. Sometimes they also chatted and laughed, and the road wasn't extremely dull.

  That afternoon, they galloped to a valley called Maple Tree Mouth, which was the only way to Dragon Pool City. The two sides were steep and treacherous, with reeds and weeds along the road, and dense trees. In the middle, there was only one relatively wide horse path that wound its way forward. The two of them, one in front of the other, wanted to quickly pass through this rarely visited place. Just as they had galloped into the middle of the valley, a shout suddenly rang out, and ambushers emerged from both sides, with long hooks and ropes, all raised at once. The horses let out a loud whinny "thud" "thud" and fell to the ground. Zhou Tianhao and A Kui also fell off their horses. Zhou Tianhao saw that things were not going well, someone was plotting against them, and just as he was about to get up with a fish-like movement, a large net suddenly descended from the sky, tightly wrapping around his whole body, making him unable to move. Several big men quickly emerged from the roadside, tying him up firmly. Tianhao turned around to see that A Kui had already been bound up.

  Two men were hooded and pushed onto a small wooden cart. The small cart was pulled by a small donkey, "gulu gulu......" walked on the mountain road for nearly half an hour before stopping.

  "Come down, quickly..." The two were pushed off the small wooden cart and had their hoods removed. Tian Hao looked around and saw that they were in a large courtyard surrounded by people who looked like mountain bandits, wearing clothes of various colors. One of the bandits walked up to a man with a thick beard and his chest exposed, saying "Second Master, this is the kid who took away the wife of the village head. This kid is very fierce, you must be careful!" Tian Hao took one look and saw that the speaker was one of the three kids who had kidnapped Ke Yue's daughter that day. He suddenly understood that it was still the same group of bandits who had caught them this time.

  The second master of the house walked up to Tian Hao and examined him carefully, seeing that he was a pale-faced scholar, and didn't take him seriously at all.

  "You stinky brat, dare to snatch my woman? You must have eaten leopard's gall...!" As he spoke, he lifted his leg and kicked Tianhao's butt.

  Tian Hao dodged lightly, and the second master's butt suddenly disappeared. He wanted to pull his foot back, but unfortunately used too much force, lost his balance, and with a "thud" sat down on the ground with a thump. The people around him burst out laughing.

  "What are you laughing at? Get out of here...!" The second master's face turned red with rage, and he ordered his men, "Tie up their legs as well!"

  He finished speaking and, seeing no one come up, couldn't help but turn his head to look back. Everyone had been driven down by him. He raised his voice, "Those who aren't dead, come up a few of you, and tie these two little bastards up for me too!"

  A few little rascals came up and tied the two men's legs tightly. At this time, the two masters went up and aimed at Tianhao with a series of punches and kicks. While beating him, he said: "I told you to hide, I told you to hide, hide again, hide again... still dare to compete with me for women, are you eating leopard's gall?"

  He halted his fists and feet, panting heavily, "Tell me, where is my woman now?"

  "I'm a bit lost here, where is your woman? How am I supposed to know? Did she run off with me or something?" Tian Hao still had a humorous expression on his face.

  "It's just that you... are leading the way..." Erda said intermittently, but it was clear that he felt a bit guilty when speaking.

  "So tell me, what's your woman's name?" Zhou Tianhao asked.

  "Call, call... that little girl, that figure, that small face, looks very pretty. Where is she now?" Er Dan's words were not to the point.

  "You don't even know her name, nor whether she's willing or not, and yet you claim she's your woman, isn't that a bit far-fetched?"

  "I won't waste words with you, speak quickly, where is that little beauty now? If you tell me and help me find that little girl, I'll spare your life. Otherwise, tonight next year will be your memorial day." The second master said viciously.

  At this time, a little servant ran up to report: "Second Master, the master of the house asks you to go immediately and prepare your men. After dark, escort the treasure to the Temple of Heaven."

  "Damn it... not the right time, can't you see I'm busy?! The second master was in a bad mood, he thought for a moment, "Let this kid live for a few more hours, I'll deal with him when I get back. If he's still stubborn, I'll send them to meet King Yan. Feed them dinner first, so they won't come back to haunt me from the underworld." With that, he waved his hand and shouted: "Get out..."

  Zhou Tianhao was taken to a dark and damp room. The room was filled with hay, and some areas were so wet that water was seeping out. "Young master, it seems our lives will end here today! You too, always meddling in other people's business, now disaster has befallen us. Alas..." Ah Gui muttered to himself, extremely disheartened.

  "What's the use of losing face? Can't you think of a way?" Zhou Tianhao retorted.

  "What else can be done at this point?"

  "I don't want to be helpless forever," Zhou Tianhao said, jumping around on his feet and searching everywhere.

  "What are you looking for?" Aqui asked.

  "See if there's anything sharper." Zhou Tianhao said as he carefully searched.

  Aqui also learned from Tianhao's example, jumping around to find something. However, the whole room was filled with hay, and there wasn't even a hard object in sight. "Why don't you try using your teeth to untie my rope?" Tianhao suggested to Aqui. "Okay, I'll give it a shot!" Aqui said, opening his mouth wide and jumping over to Tianhao's side to try and use his teeth to untie the rope. However, in the dark, he couldn't even find the knot. Before long, he was panting heavily, covered in sweat. "Take a break, go slowly," Zhou Tianhao advised Aqui.

  Two people were thinking of a solution when they heard two people talking outside, "The master will definitely be able to exchange for a lot of silver this time."

  "Who knows, maybe this time it's the turn of the tobacco. Haven't you seen how our two masters have been sniffling and looking lackluster these past few days? Unpredictable..."

  "We who are just small followers, every day following the master to dig graves, in the end, we can't even get a bowl of soup." Then comes the sighs...