Just as she had knocked out the woman called Ji Zi earlier, Mian Tang used minimal force. She estimated that it was about time for her to regain consciousness…
Sure enough, after a short while, Ji Zi emerged, stumbling and holding her neck, then shouting.
Mian Tang narrowed her eyes. As expected, people quickly ran to the several hidden sentry positions she had observed during the day.
They first rushed into the room to find it empty, then searched around the house. Finding no one, they began to panic. Some quickly spread out to search, while others ran swiftly to find Ying Si Si.
When Ying Si Si led his men back hurriedly, Mian Tang, hidden in the treetops, could hear his angry shouts: “Damn it, you idiots! How could you let her escape…”
Over the past two days, Mian Tang hadn’t learned much from Ji Zi. Instead, she had mostly heard the guards in the courtyard shouting at and cursing a group of bound and gagged men and women.
So she understood the first half of what Ying Si Si said.
Hearing this, a cold smile flickered across Mian Tang’s lips. Did they think she was an unworldly young lady? If she were truly that Japanese man’s wife, would he use the word “escape”?
Moreover, he claimed they had been married for three years yet hadn’t visited her maternal grandfather. This was utter nonsense.
Her maternal grandfather was her closest relative in this world. If she had married, how could she not have found a way to contact them and visit her grandfather after so long?
Most importantly, Mian Tang had heard stories from her grandfather about his travels and had never held a good impression of these Japanese pirates who frequently raided the coast.
Over time, Mian Tang had grown to dislike these short people.
Although Ying Si Si was relatively good-looking, every time she heard his stiff-tongued accent, it reminded Mian Tang that this “husband” of hers was not of her people.
Mian Tang felt that she couldn’t possibly sleep with such a boy who couldn’t even speak properly.
In any case, having made her decision, Mian Tang held her breath and surveyed her surroundings.
These past few days, as the Japanese on the island were preparing to leave, many trunks had been moved. Even at the entrance to Mian Tang’s courtyard, numerous packed boxes were placed.
During the day, due to the heat, the men had stopped working under the sun to rest, planning to load the ships at night.
So while they scattered to search for her, Mian Tang climbed down the coconut tree. The houses provided cover, creating a blind spot invisible from the surroundings.
They had already searched the room, surely not expecting her to return.
Mian Tang quietly jumped back through the window and leaned against the door to watch. Soon, porters came by, carrying boxes in pairs towards the dock where the ships were moored.
Mian Tang secretly followed behind the two men. As expected, under cover of night, these porters were slacking off a bit.
The two men only carried their load halfway before stopping to rest. One even turned into a nearby thicket to relieve himself.
Seizing the opportunity, Mian Tang slipped into the thicket, swiftly approached the Japanese man, and knocked him out efficiently. She tied him up behind a large rock and gagged him with a cloth.
She then changed into his short robe, deliberately mimicking the Japanese custom of covering the brow ridge with a towel. Keeping her head low and slightly hunched in the darkness, she closely resembled the unfortunate man she had replaced.
Hearing the waiting partner urging in gibberish, Mian Tang, head bowed, lifted the box behind him and followed along with about a dozen Japanese onto the cargo ship.
Meanwhile, sword-wielding Japanese ran to the dock, jabbering and guarding the port, not allowing the remaining Japanese to transport more luggage. Even though Mian Tang couldn’t understand, she could guess it was about a woman escaping and sealing the port to prevent anyone from entering or leaving.
While the dozen or so cargo handlers gathered to whisper among themselves, she quickly slipped into the pile of boxes on the cargo ship and hid.
Soon, these loaded cargo ships would set sail.
Over the past two days, Mian Tang had observed from the courtyard that these cargo ships had spare small boats tied to their gunwales.
If she tried to steal a small boat on shore, she would easily be discovered and pursued by Ying Si Si’s men.
Once the ship sailed out of the harbor, she could seize the opportunity to steal a boat and paddle back to the coast, following the sun’s direction.
Although this plan certainly had unknown variables, Mian Tang’s instincts kept screaming at her: “Escape quickly! You absolutely cannot go to Japan with them!”
So, with the Japanese led by Ying Si Si about to depart, she decided to risk being fed to the fish at sea and try to escape.
Mian Tang waited patiently for a while, and soon the ship that had been loaded earlier slowly sailed away from the port.
After calculating the timing, Mian Tang nimbly crawled out from the pile of boxes. Listening to the footsteps and voices of the sailors on deck, she estimated their positions, found an opening, and went to the side of the ship. Using a dismantling knife she had swiped from the dock, she cut the ropes, then tied them securely to a mast, gradually lowering one end of the boat into the water. She repeated the process for the other end.
Seeing the boat touch the water, just as her heart lightened and she prepared to jump down, a sudden gust of blade wind swept past as a long sword attacked.
Mian Tang quickly dodged and looked back to see Ying Si Si holding a long sword, glaring at her with shadowed eyes, slowly saying, “We couldn’t find you anywhere on the island, so I guessed you must be hiding on the ship.”
Mian Tang watched as the rope of the boat she had worked so hard to lower was cut by Ying Si Si, the small vessel gradually drifting away. She turned back and said coldly, “May I ask why you’ve deceived me like this?”
Ying Si Si’s eyes flashed as he asked, “You… remember now?”
Mian Tang naturally wouldn’t reveal everything. She only replied ambiguously, “What do you think?”
Knowing that at this point he could no longer pretend to be her husband, Ying Si Si said coldly, “You can’t leave. Just obediently come with me to Japan.”
Liu Mian Tang smiled slightly at him, “Boy, that depends on whether you have the skill!” As she spoke, her wrist twisted, swiftly seizing a weapon from a nearby Japanese man’s hand. She kicked him into the sea in one smooth motion, then stood with the blade, ready to fight.
At this moment, the moon gradually emerged from behind the clouds, pouring down like water, and illuminating Mian Tang’s fair face. Her long, curved eyelashes cast a shadow under her eyes. When she slightly lifted her chin in challenge, she looked like a fairy rising from the misty waters…
Ying Si Si’s grip on his sword tightened involuntarily, his throat bobbing. He decided that even at the cost of his life, he would never return such a beautiful woman to the King of Huaiyang.
With this thought, he suddenly launched an attack, slashing diagonally at Liu Mian Tang.
As their blades clashed, Liu Mian Tang realized that this Ying Si Si was no mere showman. Her hand bore an old injury, preventing her from matching strength with a man in his prime.
Moreover, he had superior numbers. She couldn’t win in a confrontation. So her goal was the leather water bags on the other side of the ship’s rail. With those, even if she jumped into the water, she could use them to stay afloat and drift with the waves.
But just as Mian Tang was beginning to lose ground, a thunderous boom suddenly shook the ship violently.
Following this, countless points of firelight appeared around the ship, like stars. Two large ships emerged from the distant mist.
Simultaneously, someone shouted: “Listen up, everyone on board! We are warships from Da Yan. Surrender your weapons obediently, or we’ll blast you all into the sea!”
At this moment, Ying Si Si’s subordinate came to report in panic: “General, it’s bad! Our ship’s side has been blasted open by cannon fire. This is a cargo ship, we have no cannons to fight back. We’d better quickly take the small boats back to the island.”
Ying Si Si’s heart suddenly sank. When he turned back, Liu Mian Tang had already vanished from the deck…
Meanwhile, the “Big Boss” Lu, taking advantage of the interval between cannon fire on the cargo ship, quickly grabbed a water bag and jumped overboard. Huge waves immediately crashed over her, that icy chill penetrating her bones once again.
She held her breath in the waves, trying to sink deeper, but voices seemed to echo faintly in her mind, calling out: “Mian Tang… you’ve been naughty again…”
Just then, she felt a sharp pain in her head, almost causing her to open her mouth and let seawater rush in.
But at that moment, someone suddenly grabbed her ankle, making her eyes snap open in shock.
When she struggled to the surface, the person who had pulled her also emerged, exclaiming joyfully: “Big Boss, I’ve finally found you!”
Mian Tang looked closely and saw it was her trusted subordinate, Lu Yi.
At that moment, two more heads surfaced –Lu Zhong and Lu Quan.
Since waking up, Mian Tang had found the world completely changed, as if centuries had passed. Trapped among a group of Japanese whose language she couldn’t understand, she had felt extremely lost.
Now, seeing these familiar brothers, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, almost sinking back into the water with relief.
Seeing this, Lu Yi quickly said: “Hurry! Get the Big Boss onto the small boat.”
On the night the Big Boss disappeared, they had seen her fall into the water and immediately ran and jumped in after her.
Unfortunately, they were a step too late. Although they later chased after her in a boat, they couldn’t get too close to the pirate island. In the end, their boat was destroyed, and if it weren’t for other brothers coming to their aid, they would have been buried at sea.
This time, they had come with the King of Huaiyang’s warships. Being too anxious, upon discovering a cargo ship sailing from the pirate island, they first launched assault boats, planning to sneak aboard and assess the situation. Then they saw the Big Boss jump from that ship, so they quickly jumped into the sea as well, finally managing to rescue her.
After the three brothers clumsily pulled Mian Tang onto the boat and were about to return to the warship, Liu Mian Tang spat out a mouthful of saltwater and pointed at the brightly lit warship, asking: “Whose warship is that?”
Lu Quan, puzzled, replied: “Who else could it be? Of course, it’s the King of Huaiyang’s!”
Hearing this, Mian Tang’s eyes immediately widened. She flicked Lu Quan, who was rowing the boat, on the forehead and said: “Knowing it’s Cui the traitor’s ship, why are you rowing towards it?… Don’t tell me you lot are planning to exchange me for a reward?”
Lu Quan, covering his forehead with his mouth agape, choked out: “B-Big Boss, what are you saying? Even if you sold me to a brothel, I could never sell you out!”