Chapter 34: The Wedding Hall in the Bandit Stronghold
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Yuan Mountain Stronghold was indeed holding a wedding celebration. The groom was Second Chief Han Lei, and Han Lei was marrying the daughter of a wealthy merchant family who had been captured along with the goods today.
The wooden house had been temporarily converted into a wedding hall. Several chairs were arranged at the front, with Flying Centipede and Mei Sanniang sitting above with their hands hanging down, while a trembling little old man sat to one side.
“In-law, what do you think of my second brother matching your family’s young lady? Aren’t they a match made in heaven?”
Liao Jiuming held up his wine bowl and laughed heartily. The little old man beside him answered tremblingly, “Chief… Chief, I’m just the Zhao family’s steward. I… I can’t make such decisions.”
With a bang, Liao Jiuming set down his wine bowl and said, “A steward is still part of the Zhao family. Since today is my second brother’s joyous day, you can act as a Zhao family elder for once.”
The old steward tried to explain further, but Liao Jiuming’s face darkened as he said, “I don’t particularly like killing, but if anyone dares to defy me, they’ll still have to die!”
Faced with the word “death,” the old steward shrank his neck and quickly nodded in agreement, not daring to say another word. When he looked at the girl in the center, his eyes showed unbearable pain, but more than that was fear and helplessness.
“Hahaha!” The Second Chief, draped in red silk, said in his booming voice, “Big Brother treats me the best! Hehe, today I, Han Lei, am getting married. From now on I’ll have a bandit wife too. Sister-in-law, you’ll have to help me manage this wild girl in the future.”
Han Lei, draped in red silk, was gripping the girl’s neck with one hand. The girl appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old, her hair disheveled, frantically clawing at him but unable to reach the tower-like Han Lei.
From the captured convoy, aside from a few guards who had killed their companions to join Yuan Mountain Stronghold, the only survivors were the girl in the center and that old steward.
This girl had been personally captured by Han Lei. He had taken a fancy to her and wanted to follow Liao Jiuming’s example by bringing back a bandit wife, which was why he had spared her life. Otherwise, under this Thunder Shaker’s blade, there would absolutely be no survivors.
When Xu Yan arrived near the wooden house, he witnessed this scene of the Second Chief’s wedding. The girl was being held by Han Lei, both of them draped in red silk from the carriage, bowing to heaven and earth in the wooden house.
After the simple ceremony, Third Chief Lu Hai also came forward to congratulate them, though he was obviously displeased, saying, “The Second Chief was quick with his hands, grabbing the person first. Unlike me, Lu Hai, who was busy slaughtering those guards the whole time. I should get such benefits in the future too. I can’t keep doing all the work without getting any rewards, or people will say I, Nine-Headed Snake, am just a stupid snake.”
Lu Hai’s sour words indicated that he had also taken a fancy to that Zhao family daughter. Liao Jiuming had seen this long ago. He picked up his wine bowl, took a sip, smiled secretly, but didn’t speak out.
Since this was a bandit stronghold, they were all the type to turn their backs on people without recognition. As a second-meridian innate martial artist, Liao Jiuming wasn’t afraid of the second and third chiefs who only had first-meridian strength. However, he wasn’t ignorant of the art of managing subordinates either. Flying Centipede, who came from a major evil sect in Qi Nation, definitely had considerable experience and cunning. He understood very clearly that if his subordinates were as close as brothers, it wouldn’t be good for him.
If the second and third chiefs became too close, who knew if they might plot against his position as the head chief.
“Third Brother, you want a bandit wife too? Next time I’ll catch one for you, hehe!” Han Lei said in his booming voice. He was indeed ruthless enough, but when it came to scheming, he was far inferior to Third Brother Lu Hai and Big Brother Liao Jiuming.
“No need. Women are just women – I can find my own,” Lu Hai sneered. “You robbed the Zhao family daughter, so at worst I’ll go rob a Zhang family daughter.”
“All this robbing back and forth – why make it so troublesome?”
At this moment, Mei Sanniang, sitting beside Liao Jiuming, laughed charmingly and spoke up: “It’s just a wife. When there’s a chance, sister-in-law will find you one. The women of our Mei family are all beautiful. Third Brother, how do you think sister-in-law looks? I’ll find you one who looks like me. Giggle giggle giggle.”
When Mei Sanniang spoke, her tone was full of teasing. Liao Jiuming also laughed along, though his smile carried a hint of coldness. Lu Hai below cupped his hands and didn’t dare look much at that alluring bandit wife. After thanking her, he directly retreated to one side.
This sister-in-law of his had teased him more than once.
Even when no one was around, Mei Sanniang had tried to seduce Lu Hai, but Lu Hai, fearing the head chief, had never dared to comply. Not only that, Lu Hai always felt that this bandit wife not only harbored ill intentions toward him, but seemed to harbor ill intentions toward the head chief as well.
Lu Hai knew very clearly that this woman’s younger brother had died at the head chief’s hands, so in his view, Mei Sanniang was a hot potato, a thorny rose – whoever got involved with her would be unlucky.
Though the wooden house was large, there were many bandits after all. Most of the bandits were watching the excitement from outside the door, and Xu Yan also stayed outside, observing through the crowd.
He saw the Zhao family daughter’s red and swollen eyes from crying, saw the hint of coldness in Liao Jiuming’s eyes, saw Han Lei’s dullness, and also saw Lu Hai’s resentment. He even saw Mei Sanniang’s plan to secretly provoke discord among the three chiefs, though it was just a trace of evidence.
Xu Yan was only fifteen years old this year, and hadn’t experienced much of human nature and worldly affairs. Logically, a half-grown child shouldn’t be able to see through such scheming and plotting, but his intelligence was something even Xu Daoyuan had to praise with amazement.
Xu Yan understood human warmth and coldness. As for the fickleness of human nature, when the Taiqing Sect’s Taoists occupied Riding Cloud Temple, he had also seen it clearly. When it came to scheming and intelligence, if he didn’t play the pig, in the words of old Taoist Xu Daoyuan, he was supremely intelligent!
Fifteen years old wasn’t young anymore. Some young men from wealthy families would already be married by sixteen or seventeen, and at fourteen or fifteen they would have personal maids serving them in bed. Many fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls had already married and become wives, even mothers. Among Pu Nation’s scholars and literati, there was even the saying “marry a good wife, take a young concubine.”
Actually, intelligence often had nothing to do with age.
Since he had seen the discord among the three stronghold chiefs, Xu Yan’s heavy mood improved slightly. Especially after seeing through Mei Sanniang’s intentions, Xu Yan was even more certain that this bandit wife had been playing false all these years.
Mei Sanniang’s heart was always set on avenging her brother – this was something Xu Yan had already determined that day during the salvation rites in the back mountain.
Where there was discord, there was opportunity.
Xu Yan’s goal was to be a pig without worries. He had practiced the ability to turn a blind eye, but that was only to the strange phenomena before his eyes. The scene before him now, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to.
Because that was a living person, a living girl not much older than himself.
Xu Yan began rapidly thinking of countermeasures in his mind – how could he help that lamb who had fallen into the tiger’s mouth? Though it seemed hopeless, he didn’t want to give up easily.
Just as Xu Yan was thinking about whether he could help the girl escape, loud laughter came from the wooden house. The tower-like strong man scooped up the girl in one motion and boomed, “After bowing to heaven and earth, it’s time for the bridal chamber! Hehe, Big Brother, I’m off!”
