The shadow was about to scream, but Li Yuan struck again with a powerful kick to his neck, sending his entire body flying two to three meters before crashing to the ground, unconscious.
Li Yuan moved his shoulders, twisted his neck, feeling his strength rapidly returning.
With a sudden crouch, he grabbed the shadow with one hand, like a fierce beast, charging forward with a gust of evil wind, storming out the door and throwing the shadow outside.
He exercised restraint and didn't kill him, since without a cleaver, he's just "0~1," he could manage.
If he killed him directly, it would cause many troubles instead.
Lady Yan then stood up, quickly stuffing lime bags into her waist, picked up a laundry stick, slipped on the embroidered shoes, and followed her man outside.
"Is your body better now?"
"Much better."
"Hmm..." Lady Yan felt inexplicably happy but also a bit heartbroken.
The medicine being expensive made sense, it worked so fast.
But what pained her was that there were still three doses left.
Li Yuan pulled his cotton coat over himself and walked out with Lady Yan.
By the dim moonlight, the two saw the shadow lying there, and it was an old man.
"It's Uncle Ma from the innermost part of the village," Lady Yan immediately recognized him, "He was carrying a knife and blowing a blowpipe at midnight, why would he do this?"
Li Yuan snorted coldly, "Seeing our family has money, he harbored evil intentions. Taking advantage of my injury, and thinking you are a weak woman at home."
Lady Yan understood, she lowered her head and murmured, "Brother Yuan, I'm sorry, today I... in order to get you the medicine, I had to expose our family's money."
Li Yuan said gently, "Sister Yan, what are you talking about? You've been taking care of me wholeheartedly, using the best medicine for me, how could I blame you?"
Lady Yan softly said "hmm," looking at the ground, her face a bit sweet.
The two were silent for a moment.
Lady Yan looked around and said, "Uncle Ma's shouting probably scared several households around, they didn't come out because the big insect frightened them days ago.
However, this actually turned out to be bad.
If they came out, the situation would be clear at a glance.
Now that no one came out, what should we do?"
Li Yuan also frowned; earlier, he didn't knock the person unconscious directly, hoping his yelling would draw neighbors, but unexpectedly no one dared to come out because of the big insect incident.
He thought it over and said, "Tie him up first, tomorrow I'll take him to the officials, and I'll buy a bow on the way to the county."
"Hmm... I'll listen to you," said Lady Yan.
Li Yuan suddenly asked, "How much money do we have left at home?"
Lady Yan said, "Earlier you hunted, went with Uncle Wang to Hengwu Restaurant, sold three pheasants, three hares, and four deer, the restaurant gave you 200 large coins in total.
Later, we didn't spend much, except for some normal purchases..."
Li Yuan interrupted, "Don't mention where it was spent, just tell me how much is left."
Lady Yan said, "140 left."
Li Yuan was startled, "There's that much left? You don't spend money normally?"
Lady Yan said, "Brother Yuan, you earn money with so much difficulty outside, how could I squander it?"
Li Yuan said, "Then give me 100 large coins, I need to buy a new bow, and I'll also bring back some millet, salt, sugar, incense, candles, and soapberries."
...
Soon, Li Yuan tied up the thief tightly, layer after layer, locked him in the storage room, and even tossed a tattered blanket over him to prevent freezing, only then did he and Yan Yu return to bed.
Lady Yan snuggled against Li Yuan's strong body like a little bird, they were quiet for a long time before she couldn't help but ask, "Brother Yuan, in the mountains..."
Mentioning "in the mountains," Li Yuan's breathing suddenly quickened.
In this silent night, it was as if a decaying, cold hand was choking his throat, making it hard to breathe.
After a long time, he calmed down, pulled up the quilt, and asked in a low voice, "Sister Yan, have you heard of any strange things?"
"Strange things?"
"Like tales of ghosts and anomalies."
"There are some, like talking about man-eating goblins in the mountains, or evil ghosts leading people astray, but no one has seen them. I think they're probably to scare children... But people have disappeared in the mountains, yet such things aren't really strange."
As she spoke, Lady Yan asked, "Brother Yuan, did you... did you encounter something?"
Li Yuan nodded solemnly.
He didn't say more, Lady Yan didn't ask more either, both could feel the chill from each other.
The young couple snuggled close, listening to each other's breath and heartbeat in the dark, absorbing warmth and the courage to fight fear from each other.
...
The next day, early morning.
A crowd gathered at the Little Ink Workshop.
"Isn't that Uncle Ma? Why did he end up at Brother Yuan's house? And he looks injured?"
"Brother Yuan seems much recovered now... Hey, money really talks, you get what you pay for, the county doctor truly made a miraculous cure."
"What money?"
"Didn't you hear? Yesterday, Lady Yan spent sixty large coins to get her man's medicine, you get it?"
"Sixty?!?"
The person talking had a glint of jealousy in their eyes, then looking at Uncle Ma, they understood in their heart, but also felt a twinge of discontent, why does this family have so much money?
In the yard, Li Yuan patted Uncle Ma.
Uncle Ma groggily woke up, then started moaning and groaning.
Li Yuan pointed at him, addressing those around, "He climbed my yard last night, blew a blowpipe, picked the door bolt, entered with a cleaver, but luckily I caught him.
Today...everyone bear witness, I'm taking him to the county to be handed over to officials."
Uncle Ma finally woke up, looked around at the situation, and immediately cried, "Injustice, injustice... I was just walking around here last night when a shadow suddenly knocked me out... Oh, it hurts, my arm, hey, my arm."
Li Yuan didn't say much, directly showing the blowpipe and cleaver, "Is this yours?"
"No!" Uncle Ma was cunning.
Thinking quickly, he cried again, "Li Yuan, why did you hit me? I'm old enough to be your father... I was just walking near your house at night, why would you do that?"
Someone in the village said, "Uncle Ma, just admit it, you've been caught, what's there to say?"
Uncle Ma stubbornly said, "I didn't do it."
Inside, Lady Yan was furious, yelling, "You shot blowpipes at my house yesterday, climbed into it. There's even a hole you made in my window, come take a look, everyone."
Many people followed Lady Yan, and seeing it, everyone understood in their heart.
But Uncle Ma was thick-skinned, persistently saying, "I didn't do it, it's not my doing."
Lady Yan stood with arms akimbo, glaring with her apricot eyes, chiding, "Not you? Compare it with your finger!"
Uncle Ma refused.
Lady Yan said again, "Furthermore, if it wasn't you? Why would we catch you? Isn't that cleaver yours, your neighbors would know, right?"
Speaking, Lady Yan scanned the crowd, didn't see Uncle Ma's neighbor, so she called Aunt Wang, asking her to take a couple of people with the cleaver to find his neighbor to identify it.
Sure enough, in a while, the neighbor, bewildered, recognized it, then ran back with Aunt Wang to testify.
Lady Yan glanced at it, obviously showing that Uncle Ma didn't have good relations with the neighbors.
Uncle Ma immediately felt deflated.
Li Yuan said nothing further, directly lifting him, saying, "Come, let's go to see the official."
"I'm not going." Uncle Ma continued being stubborn.
Li Yuan reached out, grabbing him by the neck like an eagle clutching a chick, lifted him, coldly said, "Think it over."
Uncle Ma wailed, his legs kicking in the air, finally nodding, hoarsely saying, "Go... go..."
Li Yuan threw him to the ground, then clasped his hands to those around, saying, "Everyone saw, this surnamed Ma did heinous things, should be handed over to officials.
Folks, if anyone is willing to accompany me to the county to testify, I, Li Yuan, will offer ten coins for the errand."
Immediately, people in the crowd started shouting.
"I'll go."
"I'll help you testify."
"I'll go too..."
Soon, Li Yuan gathered the people.
Lady Yan took the long-unused pen and ink from the drawer, quickly wrote a statement and handed it to Li Yuan.
Then, Li Yuan, pressing Uncle Ma, led more than ten people from the village headed for the county.