Chapter 26: The Rebellious Female Slave

  Although Li Mazi died, this big victory was like a shot of chicken blood for Xiao Tianjian and his men, and they were jubilant for a while.

  They didn't expect that by just following Xiao Tianjian's training for such a short period of time, they would become so powerful and be able to defeat more than 20 government soldiers with fewer people, while only two of their own were lightly injured. This undoubtedly greatly boosted their confidence and made them even more admire Xiao Tianjian, the mastermind behind this.

  If they were just a little afraid of Xiao Tianjian before, now they can be said to admire him with all their hearts, so Xiao Tianjian's position among them is also much more solid.

  This time they went out, not only did they bring back a lot of grain, but also brought back a lot of money. The two wealthy households in Zhaojiapu, although not considered big landlords, had some savings, and the government soldiers confiscated several hundred taels of silver and many copper coins from their homes, as well as some gold and silver jewelry.

  Now, except for a woman, all the people in those two wealthy families were slaughtered by the bandits. So these properties naturally belonged to Xiao Tianjian. This time, compared to their raid on Liu's village, they got much more booty.

  Apart from the money, they also brought back over a hundred stones of grain from Zhaojia Fort, and even managed to get their hands on over a dozen cows and more than twenty pigs and sheep. They also got quite a few laying hens, making it a truly bountiful harvest.

  Although some of these cattle and sheep belonged to the Zhao family and others, they had all followed Xiao Tianjian up the mountain as their leader, so naturally these things were also under Xiao Tianjian's control. As soon as they returned to their temporary lair, Xiao Tianjian immediately ordered someone to slaughter a pig, cooked it in a large pot, and treated his subordinates.

  Although Zhao's family was still grieving for their relatives who were killed, the dead are dead and gone, they had to consider the problem of survival.

  Moreover, these people are also very fearful of Xiao Tianjian, because they have all seen Xiao Tianjian's ruthlessness and the ferocity with which he kills. In addition, Xiao Tianjian has indeed avenged them and saved their wives and daughters, so in their hearts, they still harbor gratitude towards him.

  After arriving at the old nest, Xiao Tianjian also treated them well, arranged their accommodation and distributed food to them. These people were poor before, and every day they couldn't eat enough. On the contrary, after following Xiao Tianjian here, they all ate until they were full, and even when killing pigs and eating meat, he gave each of them a share. This made them feel that following Xiao Tianjian was indeed following the right person.

  After these people arrived here, they quickly settled down and stayed, anyway the world forced them to live, when doing so as bandits was also a way out.

  But the crowd didn't have much time to rejoice, as Xiao Tianjian returned to his old nest and let them rest for only one day before starting his training activities again.

  This time, they brought back a total of fourteen men and seven women from Zhaojiapu, which suddenly made their hiding place lively. The age of these fourteen men ranged from teenagers to over thirty years old, all of whom were in their prime, just right to strengthen their forces.

  As for those women, Xiao Tianjian directly handed them over to Jing Fuzi for management, letting them help Jing Fuzi with some tasks within their capabilities. Fortunately, Zhaojiabao was located in a remote area, and although foot-binding had already begun among Ming dynasty women, these women all still had natural feet due to needing to work in the fields, and while they couldn't compare to strong laborers, at least they could do some physically demanding tasks.

  Xiao Tianjian then let them dig some wild vegetables when they had nothing to do, to supplement their diet. Not eating vegetables for a long time can cause many diseases. Now it's already spring, although Shaanxi is experiencing a severe drought, there are still many wild vegetables that can be dug up around the river. This place is also relatively remote, so digging some wild vegetables shouldn't be a problem. Adding them to their meals can effectively supplement some vitamins and prevent those messy diseases like constipation or mouth ulcers.

  However, there was a bit of trouble in this, that is, a young woman from a wealthy family in the village who survived, and now she has become a lone person. This woman is the second wife of a wealthy Zhao family in the village, and now her family has been killed by bandits, leaving only her alone. In everyone's opinion, such a woman would naturally be given to Xiao Tianjian as his concubine.

  To be honest, this woman is after all a concubine from a wealthy family, compared to those women from poor families, she has some elegance, at least her skin is much finer and her complexion is better.

  The woman's name was Hu Yue'e, and she was just over twenty years old. She had a certain charm in her eyes and eyebrows, and she was also considered an intelligent person. She knew that at this time, the only one she could rely on was Xiao Tianjian, so on the first night after returning to her hometown, under the suggestion of Zhao Erdui and Jing Fuzi, she took the initiative to find Xiao Tianjian and begged him to take her in.

  After Xiao Tianjian returned this time, his subordinates took the initiative to separate an independent residence for him in the cave, showing respect for Xiao Tianjian's status. Xiao Tianjian did not refuse their kindness and moved into this independent residence.

  When Hu Yue'e took the initiative to enter his residence and expressed her intentions, Xiao Tianjian was indeed somewhat embarrassed.

  Looking at Hu Yue'e who was crying, Xiao Tianjian still rejected her devotion. This wasn't because he looked down on her for being ravaged by bandits, nor was it because of her unattractive appearance.

  Although this woman is already considered not bad in the eyes of many people, for Xiao Tianjian, who has taken care of various beauties from later generations, he still can't help but look down on her. Moreover, as a modern person at heart, facing such an actively approaching woman, he still can't accept it. This kind of behavior is indeed a bit like taking advantage of someone's vulnerability for someone with his temperament. So Xiao Tianjian rejected her proposal and let Jing Fuzi arrange a separate residence for her to live in.

  As soon as Xiao Tianjian refused to accept her, Hu Yue'e immediately burst into tears. Now she has no relatives to turn to, and her late husband had a reputation for being stingy in Zhaojiabao, so the people of Zhaojiabao didn't treat her very well either. Originally, she took the initiative to stick with Xiao Tianjian just to curry favor with him and find a way out for herself. Now that Xiao Tianjian has rejected her, she suddenly felt lost.

  She's also a pitiful person, her family was very poor in the past and she was married off to her deceased husband by a matchmaker. She became a concubine in the Zhao family village, but two years ago her family was killed by bandits and she had no choice but to rely on her husband. Now that her husband's family has also been killed by bandits, it's become a problem for this weak woman to survive. Although she's now following Xiao Tianjian's group up the mountain, she's thinking of currying favor with him so that at least her life will be better in the future.

  Now that the palm of her hand had also indicated that she was not wanted, this suddenly threw Hu Yue'e into a state of confusion, and she didn't know what to do. So she knelt down in front of Xiao Tianjian, covering her face and bursting into tears.

  "Is the master dissatisfied with my family's background? But I'm not willing to be like this either, I hope the master will take pity on me, even if it means letting me serve as a cow or horse for the master, I'm willing! Master, don't drive me away! Now all of my relatives are dead, and I have no one left to rely on! Please, master, have mercy on me! Take me in!" Hu Yue'e clung to Xiao Tianjian's leg, crying as if her life depended on it, refusing to let go until Xiao Tianjian agreed to take her in.

  Xiao Tianjian was really suffering! What a mess this is! When he rescued people, the ones he saved were those men from Zhaojia Village (this isn't about Xiao Tianjian having any issues with his sexual orientation, don't get it wrong!), and he never even thought of taking advantage of the situation to bring back a woman as some kind of female slave. But now, Hu Yue'e was clearly determined to follow him around like a servant girl, which left Xiao Tianjian somewhat at a loss.

  To be honest, he also felt very sympathetic towards women like Hu Yuehua. In a chaotic world, there were many women like her who often suffered at the hands of rogue soldiers, and their endings were usually tragic. However, even so, it was still hard for Xiao Tianjian to accept taking in Hu Yuehua just because of this.

  "Don't cry anymore! Since I've saved you, I, Xiao Mou, won't just ignore you. Just stay for now and do what you can. Whoever follows me, I won't treat them unfairly. Don't think too much about it! I didn't mean to look down on you, it's just that right now, I'm not in the mood to take in any women. You should go rest first!" Xiao Tianjian finally said gently to Hu Yue'e.

  Although Hu Yuejiao couldn't follow Xiao Tianjian, after hearing his words, she felt a little more at ease. She didn't dare to bother Xiao Tianjian again and could only thank him before following Jing Fuzi out, who arranged a temporary place for her to stay.

  After this incident, others didn't dare to have any ill intentions towards Hu Yue'e. After all, Xiao Tianjian said he wasn't in the mood to take in women now, but what if one day Xiao Tianjian had such thoughts? If they were to provoke Hu Yue'e, wouldn't that be a big mistake? Thus, Hu Yue'e was also temporarily at ease.

  The next morning, Xiao Tianjian made rules for the old hands, requiring that no one bully these women, and those who violate this rule will be severely punished. As a result, after the arrival of the women, there were no more internal conflicts among them. They naturally took Xiao Tianjian's order seriously and did not dare to disobey, as Li Mazi's example was still fresh in their minds.

  So after arriving here, those people from Zhaojiabao soon calmed down as well.

  (Today's second update is here, collect and smash votes! There's still one more this afternoon! I'm going all out with my old waist!)