Chapter 275: Don’t You Recognize Me?
Chapter 275: Chapter 275: Don’t You Recognize Me?
The estate was built with three main courtyards.
They abandoned the first main gate.
Shen Ningning and the others entered the second courtyard gate and locked it tightly.
The Protectors pushed stone chairs against the door, barricading it.
Ye Shangyi trembled. "What do we do? Are we doomed?"
They were deep in the mountains. The Ye Family thought she was just on a trip with friends and wouldn’t be back for five days.
But it hadn’t even been five days.
By the time her family realized something was wrong, they would have already been hacked to pieces by this mob of crazed refugees!
Jiang Zhi tightened her grip on her club. "Why don’t you all hide? I’ll fight our way out with the Protectors!"
Shen Ningning shook her head decisively. "No. There are too many of them. We won’t gain any advantage by taking them head-on."
The little girl immediately went to check the back gate.
But she discovered the sound of running footsteps coming from the slope below the back gate as well.
She quickly had a servant lock the gate.
’These refugees actually know how to pincer us.’
However, there couldn’t be many people coming from the back gate, as it was next to a cliff and the path up was extremely narrow.
Shen Ningning paced back and forth, her little face lost in thought.
Ye Shangyi asked tearfully, "What on earth are we going to do?"
Suddenly, Shen Ningning looked up. "Throw the food out."
What the refugees needed most was food.
While it wouldn’t change their situation, it might calm their aggressive mood.
At this, Ye Shangyi truly despaired.
"There’s no food left." In her attempt to trick Shen Ningning into bringing out supplies, she had already emptied the estate’s kitchen.
She never imagined she’d end up trapping herself here to die.
Shen Ningning glanced at her and shook her head helplessly.
"Come with me!" she said, trotting on her little feet toward the courtyard where she had been staying.
Everyone followed her closely, as if she were their savior.
When Shen Ningning dragged a large cloth sack out from under the bed, Ye Shangyi and the other young ladies were stunned.
"Is that..."
Shen Ningning opened the sack, revealing one sweet potato after another.
The little girl said in her soft voice, "I actually only gave you half of what I brought."
Ye Shangyi was speechless.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, the young ladies felt a surge of relief.
It seemed like Shen Ningning had an endless supply of sweet potatoes.
The little girl directed the servants, "Throw the sweet potatoes into the outer courtyard. Throw all of them out."
However, as they dragged the large sack near the second gate, they heard a loud shout from outside—
"People inside! We’ve made it this far, so you can stop hiding."
"We saw the oil on the eaves outside. It made a dozen of our brothers fall and badly hurt themselves!"
"You didn’t face us directly, but you’ve already taken out a few of our men. You must be a clever one. That being the case, we’re not just bloodthirsty bandits. Why don’t you show yourself so we can have a proper chat?"
"We don’t want your lives! We just want silver, food, and clothes!"
"If we can come to an agreement, you open the door. If not, we’ll force our way in. When that happens, it’ll be awkward for you, and I won’t show any mercy."
Ye Shangyi hid behind Shen Ningning, trembling as she clutched the little girl’s sleeve.
"Where would we get clothes for them?"
They had food, but would all those sweet potatoes be enough to satisfy these desperate refugees?
Everyone looked at Shen Ningning, waiting for her to make a decision.
The group began to whisper among themselves.
"No, I don’t think we should open the door. What if they’re trying to trick us?" Chen Wanru said.
But another young lady whimpered, "But if we don’t, and they force their way in, we’ll be lucky to survive."
They all started talking at once.
Finally, Shen Ningning said, "Open the door."
Everyone was stunned.
Shen Ningning waved her small hand. "Stand behind me."
Jiang Zhi was the first to stand by the little girl’s side.
She tossed aside her club and stood with her arms crossed, radiating a deadly aura.
If a fight broke out, her fists would be lethal!
A Protector opened the door.
As soon as a crack appeared, they saw a dense crowd of refugees outside.
The stench of blood, mixed with the chill of falling snow, rushed in.
The starving refugees had been excited, but when the door opened, the first thing they saw was the small, round face of a five-and-a-half-year-old child.
Her skin was fair and lovely, her cheeks pink and chubby, but her dark, deep-set eyes held a fearless and undaunted gaze.
The refugees were puzzled. "It’s a child?"
They looked behind her and saw a group of young girls, all standing there trembling.
’So they’re all just children!’
Shen Ningning held her head high and said, "I have food, but as you can see, we are all children. We have no clothes and no silver."
"I can give you enough food to eat your fill. We can’t give you anything else."
The refugees snapped out of their surprise.
Someone spat and said viciously, "It’s the fathers of you noble ladies who are the truly wicked ones!"
"One by one, all you high-ranking nobles are heartless! When the disaster struck, those officials only knew how to hide in the Capital City and enjoy themselves, ignoring common folk like us who were left homeless!"
"They even want to wipe us out completely! I say we just grab you all and show them that we’re not to be trifled with!"
These words stirred up the other refugees.
"Grab them! Threaten the officials! If they don’t let us into the capital, we’ll kill their children!"
Terrified, Chen Wanru whimpered and crouched down, covering her head. "Don’t kill me! Father, save me! SOB SOB..."
Things having come to this, Ye Shangyi was now too angry to be afraid.
"What’s there to be afraid of? They’re just a pack of unruly peasants!" she scolded Chen Wanru, then clenched her fists. "If you dare touch me, my grandfather will never let you get away with it!"
This only made the refugees more indignant. "Our lives are worthless! What do we have to fear?"
"If we can drag a lady from a noble family like yours down to the grave with us, we’ll have come out ahead!"
Seeing them growing restless and ready to make a move...
Shen Ningning suddenly said, "Then come and try."
Her soft, calm words unexpectedly silenced the refugees.
As if worried about a trap, they looked into the courtyard, but not a single person dared to step forward and rush in.
Just before, in the outer courtyard, they had scrambled frantically onto the walls, only for every one of them to slip and fall hard.
Several were still lying in the back, wailing about broken bones.
’Could there be another trick waiting inside this courtyard?’
In truth, Shen Ningning was just stalling for time.
She took a small half-step back.
The little girl knew they weren’t completely without an escape route, because the deep mountains were right beside them.
To others, the deep mountains were an unfamiliar place.
But for Shen Ningning, once she was in the mountains, she could find her way home. Was there any animal, big or small, in the entire Taiyu Mountain Range that hadn’t eaten her food?
Calling a tiger, or even a bear, would be more than enough.
However, before she could make her next move...
A surprised voice suddenly called out from among the refugees: "Are you... that Young Master?"
Shen Ningning’s eyes filled with confusion.
The refugees parted to let a man with a handlebar mustache walk out.
He was dressed in rags, his cheeks sunken from malnourishment, but his eyes were bright and sharp, shining with a dark light.
Shen Ningning didn’t recognize him. "You are?"
The man with the handlebar mustache was almost crying with joy.
"Young Master, you don’t recognize me? I went to the Capital City before and even bought fruit from you!"
Shen Ningning hesitated for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Are you that merchant from Nanzhou?"