Mu Shaoling turned his head to look at the distant forest and didnāt seem to want to talk.
After a while, the leader came back.
"Have you finished negotiating?" Commandery Princess Dongyang chuckled.
The leader felt a bit embarrassed; he had really overplayed his hand just now.
He touched the big beard on his face, coughed lightly twice, and then said, "Well, little girl, seeing as youāre poor, I wonāt rob you." He paused for a moment and then changed tack, "But I will rob him! Heās got to be rich, look at how fine his clothes are, this outfit mustāve cost more than a hundred taels of silver."
"No way!" As soon as his words fell, Commandery Princess Dongyang spoke up, "Heās my fiancĆ©; robbing him would be like robbing me."
The leader paused and agreed, "Well, what should we do then?"
"Let us go, and wait to rob the next person who comes along," Commandery Princess Dongyang blurted out without thinking.
And Su Ma and others, who were some distance from her and Mu Shaoling, all sneezed in unison. Commandery Princess Dongyang had forgotten that they were the next to pass by.
"That wonāt do!" This time, not waiting for the leader to speak, one of his men spoke up directly.
He thought to himself that if he let the boss do the talking again, this girl might actually persuade him to let them go.
"Brothers, get ready, this young master looks rich; take him and make him cough up the money. As for this girl..."
Another subordinate said, "The girl might look a bit plain, but sheās pretty charming. It wouldnāt be bad to have her as a wife for our boss." As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a sudden chill and a whiff of cold wind blowing through.
"Mhm, right, youāre right. Letās do this!"
The group moved quickly and suddenly swarmed over the two. As she fought, Commandery Princess Dongyang shouted, "Bastards, you have no honor!"
Embarrassed, the leader scratched his head and chuckled, "Who says Iāve got no honor? Weāre robbing this pretty boy, not you."
And sure enough, Commandery Princess Dongyang noticed that indeed, there were a lot of people surrounding Mu Shaoling.
Looking at her own side, which was barely defended, it seemed these people were preventing her from helping him.
"Why arenāt you coming out to help!"
Just when Dongyang thought he was calling her out, three hidden guards appeared out of nowhere.
With skills beyond the ordinary, the fight was quickly over.
"Hey, hey, hey, you wench, I didnāt rob you just now, you canāt tie me up," the leader shouted while trying to flee, but was quickly caught by more servants rushing to the scene.
Commandery Princess Dongyang innocently spread her hands, "Iām not tying you up, he is!"
"Heās your fiancĆ©; if heās tying me up, itās the same as you doing it." Commandery Princess Dongyang, touching her own pigtail, realized this sounded very familiar.
Oh right, werenāt these her words just a moment ago?
"Ahem, I donāt want to tie you up, but Iām not in charge," she then added, "Werenāt you also not in charge just now?"
"Shut up!"
Listening to her chatting away with the bandit leader, back and forth as if they were having the time of their lives, just short of calling each other brother, Mu Shaoling got impatient.
He then turned to the servant, "Handle this! If you donāt handle it well, the consequences of not reporting what you knew earlier... you decide for yourself!"
Then he watched as Mu Shaoling climbed back onto his horse. However, after the horse took a few steps, it stopped again, and he turned to look at Commandery Princess Dongyang, "Not leaving? Want to stay and have tea in jail with him?"