Chapter 411: Suppressing the Bandits, Who Has Come?

"You two ran away secretly, didn’t you? You must be eloping."

A cunning glint flashed in Qi Peiyao’s eyes as she sized them up with great interest.

Ji Qingwu was slightly taken aback. Her gaze flickered, and her tone held a hint of probing.

"How... how could you tell?"

With a slight movement of her wrist, she signaled for Si Hai to remain calm.

Qi Peiyao smiled confidently, returning to the couch and leaning back. Lazily, she said, "I may not be good at much, but I’ve always been an excellent judge of character."

Ji Qingwu said, "You have a keen eye, madam."

Qi Peiyao was half right—they had indeed run away, but their relationship was not what she imagined.

Ji Qingwu said, "The young master and I ran away from home. We’re hoping to find shelter with relatives in Longzhou."

With his mask gone, Si Hai heard the word "eloping" and then heard Ji Qingwu call him "young master." He instantly flushed red to the tips of his ears, lowering his head and not daring to speak.

In Qi Peiyao’s eyes, this was irrefutable proof.

She gently patted her swollen belly, her tone softening.

"You don’t have to hide it from me. I’m a woman, too; I understand. I won’t make things difficult for you."

She continued, "As long as you agree to stay, I can arrange some work for him in the village. I’ll make sure no one bullies him."

Ji Qingwu shook her head. "But we’ve already made arrangements with our relatives in Longzhou. If they don’t hear from us, they’ll come looking."

Qi Peiyao wanted to cross her legs, but her large belly forced her to give up the idea.

She patted her round belly again, looking up with a smile. "Are you saying your relatives will come to Black Wind Village to find you?"

Ji Qingwu nodded.

’The longer we’re delayed,’ she thought, ’the more likely my Hidden Guards will discover my tracks.’

Qi Peiyao narrowed her eyes. "I’d advise you to give up on that idea. Our village isn’t some ordinary bandit den. We just robbed a convoy from the Princess Mansion, yet no one has dared to come looking. Do you know why?"

Ji Qingwu fixed her gaze on her.

"Why is that?"

’She had known for a while that this bandit den was unusual.’

When they had attacked the carriage, she noticed that the bandits with Hu Lie all held their blades and bows with their right hands, and at nearly the same angle and height.

This was the kind of uniformity only achieved by well-trained soldiers in a military camp, not something common brigands could manage.

’For a group like this to appear near the Northern Border, it’s hard not to suspect it’s a trap set by Xijin.’

’They could be Xijin soldiers disguised as bandits, waiting to coordinate an attack from both inside and out to chip away at Beili’s military strength...’

Qi Peiyao realized she had let something slip and tried to cover it up. "You don’t need to worry about that. Just know that no one is coming to save you."

"What’s that saying again? Since you’re already here..."

She couldn’t remember the rest of the phrase, so she gave up and waved her hand dismissively. "Just stay here. Stick with me, and I won’t let you..."

She pointed at Si Hai. "...or your young man suffer."

Ji Qingwu wanted to ask more, but Qi Peiyao’s stomach grumbled loudly. She frowned and shouted toward the door, "Hu Xiaosi! Is the food ready yet? Are you trying to starve me and my baby to death?"

The area outside the door was silent. There was no reply.

Qi Peiyao froze for a moment. Usually, when there wasn’t a raid going on, Hu Si was always hovering around her.

Ji Qingwu and Si Hai exchanged a look, a faint sense of unease growing in their hearts.

Qi Peiyao was pregnant and had difficulty moving, so Ji Qingwu said, "I’ll go check the door."

"I’ll go." Si Hai stepped forward first, pushing the door open and walking out quickly.

Qi Peiyao winked at Ji Qingwu, teasing, "He’s young, but he sure knows how to dote on someone."

Si Hai returned quickly and reported what was happening outside.

"It’s very noisy outside. It sounds like a battle is going on up front."

Qi Peiyao pushed open the window and glanced out hurriedly. The part of the village she could see was empty, but the clamor of fighting echoed from a distance.

Qi Peiyao bit her fingernails and muttered, "This shouldn’t be happening. He promised us no one would come looking for trouble."

’Ji Qingwu heard her whisper. Who was this "he"? Who had given Black Wind Village the confidence to act so brazenly?’

Flickering firelight began to rise outside.

The three leaders and Hu Si were nowhere to be seen.

Qi Peiyao’s expression changed, and she instantly grew tense. She jumped off the couch, slipped on her shoes, and turned to enter the inner room.

’Ji Qingwu didn’t move. A commotion this big most likely meant the court had arrived. Who else could contend with a village of over a thousand people?’

Qi Peiyao pushed aside a red plum blossom vase, revealing a hidden compartment, and opened a secret room.

She looked back and shouted, "Get in here with me!"

Ji Qingwu glanced at Si Hai and said, "Jiang Hai has to come with me."

Qi Peiyao said urgently, "I don’t trust him. Only you can come in."

’Ji Qingwu knew that, in truth, Qi Peiyao didn’t trust her either.’

’It was just that she was pregnant and could go into labor at any moment; keeping Ji Qingwu by her side was a source of comfort.’

’But once they went inside, there was no telling if they’d be able to get out.’

Ji Qingwu insisted, "I’m staying with Jiang Hai."

Qi Peiyao stomped her foot in frustration. "You’ll be safest with me! If you don’t come in now, you’ll lose your chance!"

Ji Qingwu remained where she was, not moving an inch.

Soon, the door was kicked open, and seven or eight government soldiers holding sabers rushed in.

Seeing this, Qi Peiyao immediately shut the secret room’s door, disappearing inside alone.

The government soldiers could only watch as the stone door closed before them. They ran over to investigate but couldn’t trigger the mechanism no matter what they tried.

The remaining soldiers pulled out a portrait, looked Ji Qingwu and Si Hai up and down, then bound their hands with shackles and led them out.

In the village’s front courtyard, inside the large hall where the bandits held their meetings.

"Sir, we just went to the back courtyard and captured these two."

The soldier cupped his hands in a salute to the man in official robes before him. "There was also a pregnant woman who escaped into a secret passage in the room, but we don’t know how to open it."

The man spoke with a calm expression. "The pregnant woman must be Hu Feng’s wife."

The soldier lowered his head. "Your subordinates were a step too slow and failed to capture her."

The man paused for a moment before saying, "It’s not your fault. The people of Black Wind Village are no ordinary folk."

’But even as he said that, he had already captured the three Hu brothers, who were now being held in the dungeon.’

’Wasn’t that just another way of saying he himself was an even more extraordinary figure?’

The soldier immediately offered a compliment. "Still, it was your brilliant strategy, Sir, to deliberately have Huang Er infiltrate Black Wind Village to send us information. That’s why today went so smoothly."

’Ji Qingwu’s ears twitched. So, the caravan manager, Huang Er, was acting on orders. No wonder the hired guards were so useless. They had courted danger all for the sake of encircling and annihilating the bandits today.’

The man said, "The credit is not all mine."

The soldier exclaimed in admiration, "I never expected that after you sent a memorial to the Northern Border, they would so readily dispatch two thousand elite soldiers to eliminate the bandits."

Ji Qingwu’s eyes widened slightly.

’The soldiers she had seen on the road weren’t government soldiers, but troops dispatched from the Northern Border Camp—approved by Emperor Wu Su himself.’

’But at a time when troops were critically needed, mobilizing the army to deal with bandits seemed like a gross misuse of resources.’

’Does he know I’m here?’

Just as Ji Qingwu’s heart was pounding with uncertainty, the man turned around.