Chapter 614: Chapter 614: Hard-to-Lead Team
After all, Qin Yao had just mercilessly thrown him off the horse without hesitation.
But this man in front of him was different. He said he would deal with him but didn’t actually hit him, just pretended to be fierce to scare him.
The most significant point was that Qin Yao’s iron grip on the horseback had exerted such an overwhelming pressure that the child felt terrified.
So now, he eagerly looked at Liu Ji, pointed in the direction of Wildcat Village, knelt down, and while kowtowing to Liu Ji, cried and pleaded:
"Sir, please have mercy. My mother and grandmother will go mad with worry knowing I’m lost. My home is in this village, just half an hour away. Please take me back to see my mother and grandmother first, I beg you..."
Liu Ji slapped his forehead, feeling overwhelmed by this.
He quickly went up to pull the child up, "Poor thing, let me do a good deed to the end, send the Buddha to the west, you’re in luck, kid."
Gouwa’s eyes widened in surprise, and Liu Ji sighed, asking him again if the journey was indeed only half an hour. Gouwa nodded vigorously, saying yes, and added:
"Sir, if you ride a horse, it won’t even take half an hour. When you see my mother and grandmother, have them prepare a good meal for you benefactors."
Liu Ji swore he wasn’t after the chicken; he just thought the child was pitiful. Looking at him, about the same age as Second Lang, yet he suffered such misfortune.
He signaled Gouwa to wait, then approached Qin Yao’s horse with a concerned look, first asking, "Madam, are you all right? Did Gouwa hurt you?"
Qin Yao snorted coldly, staring at the boy with a mix of skepticism and mockery, "Could it be that you used the same trick earlier to escape from those thugs?"
That thug must have a truly good temperament, not to have killed such a disobedient asset with a single blow.
As if guessing what Liu Ji wanted to say, Qin Yao said, "If you want to be kind, then go. We’ll meet you in the county town."
"Anyway, he runs so fast that even if he encounters returning thugs, he can run back to the village. By then, with so many villagers, he’ll be saved."
Liu Ji was stunned; she also understood Yin and Yang.
But sending Gouwa alone still scared him!
Shielding his face with his hand, he whispered: "Madam, I could send him alone, but you know, as a scholar, I’m not very strong. If I happen to encounter those thugs with their accomplices, I might be doomed."
Qin Yao gazed down at him coldly and curled her lips without a word. If he wanted to risk his life, how was it her business!
Liu Ji coughed awkwardly twice, then walked over to Gouwa, "Gouwa, I think it might be better to go to the city first and report to the authorities. With the government involved, they will certainly stand up for you..."
Before he finished speaking, Gouwa was already kneeling and kowtowing with such force that even on a muddy ground, it might cause a concussion.
Indeed, after a few knocks, blood started flowing from Gouwa’s head, shocking Liu Ji, who quickly pulled him up fiercely, "All right, all right, no more kowtowing, I’ll send you home first!"
He finally stopped, weakly saying: "Thank you for your great kindness, sir, thank you——"
"Mother!" The four Da Lang siblings watching from the carriage couldn’t bear to look at the blood on Gouwa’s face, their eyes imploringly looking at Qin Yao.
Da Lang volunteered, "Mother, how about I go with Father? It takes only about an hour round trip, we should still have time to return to the city and meet everyone."
Yin Le shot a look at Da Lang, "No, how could a child deal with those thugs? Better safe than sorry; what if you really encounter them, how would your master not worry?"
"If anyone should go, it’s me." Yin Le looked at Qin Yao, "Master, why don’t you drive the carriage while I ride with Master to take him home and then hurry back, it will be faster this way."
Qin Yao squinted and looked down at her arm. The clothing covering the bite mark had long faded, but she hadn’t forgotten the determination when Gouwa bit her just now.
Returning good for evil was just like this.
"Clearly, there is a better option, but you insist on choosing a worse one!" Qin Yao frowned unhappily, "I’ll ask again, are you planning to take him to the city to report to the authorities together, or leave him here to return on his own?"
Gouwa was shocked. Leaving him here—both he and his brother would die!
"Sir, Madam, please show mercy. My grandmother is in poor health and is probably already sick with worry, wailing..."
Gouwa was about to start kowtowing again, bloody and all, making it truly fearful that he might die here from it.
Qin Yao didn’t want to bear this life and death responsibility.
Liu Ji, soft-hearted, was about to coax him when Qin Yao sternly interrupted, "If you dare kneel again, believe me, I’ll kill you on the spot and throw your corpse in the wild, letting wild beasts devour you until not even a bone is left!"
Perhaps Qin Yao had always maintained a noble image in front of the children, so when she said this, the four Da Lang siblings gasped.
They knew their mother could be ruthless, but never imagined she’d be so heartless as to threaten to kill even such a pitiful child.
Sweeping over their wide-open, astonished mouths, Qin Yao thought, did I maintain a too gentle image in the past?
No matter, let’s deal with this troublesome dirty child first and then talk.
Qin Yao was indeed annoyed, such a small matter had delayed her so much time.
With this free time, she should have been comfortably lying in a county town inn already.
However, none of the two adults and four children behind Qin Yao chose her proposed options, opting for a self-invented worst plan.
"Mother, let’s take him back first. What if his grandmother is really gravely ill?"
Qin Yao couldn’t believe her daughter, whom she had high hopes for, would say such a thing.
Even the apprentice she taught hand-in-hand said, "Besides, it’s only an hour, we’re not in a hurry, just consider it a good deed for the day, master."
Then she saw the sympathy-filled eyes of Da Lang and Second Lang towards Gouwa and Liu Ji’s pleading gaze.
Sanlang... that boy was still holding a food box, munching away, not counting!
At that moment, Qin Yao deeply realized the difficulty of leading a team.
"So annoying!"
Qin Yao glared fiercely at Gouwa, no, blood-child, the sound of his persistent kowtowing made her teeth ache.
Though the group still brought Gouwa and headed for the fork, Qin Yao was displeased.
This displeasure wasn’t about Gouwa or the wasted time, but because none of her teammates stood by her side!
Qin Yao decided that if they encountered those thugs returning on the way, she would definitely not intervene, making these people learn a lesson for choosing a worse option over a better one.
Liu Ji carried the grateful blood-child, secretly observing Qin Yao’s expression, and felt relieved they hadn’t been entirely abandoned.
The group proceeded cautiously but surprisingly smoothly, without encountering the returning thugs.
However, as the half-hour journey went on, the road became narrower and narrower.
Luckily, Yin Le, often secretly contending with Ah Wang, had honed his driving skills to the point of managing a barely passable journey, smoothly arriving at Wildcat Village.
