Qiao Mu collected herself, grabbed a robe, gave it a snap, and turned around.

The robe arced perfectly through the air and landed on her shoulders.

“Qinchun is missing, let’s find her first and talk later!”

Qiao Mu dropped that line, gathered her long hair with one hand, and left the tent.

It wasn’t his fault. If anyone was to blame, it was herself.

He had only been helping her with her hair, yet she had read too much into it. Was it because she’d reached an age where she ought to find a man, otherwise she’d keep getting so flustered over nothing?

Qiao Mu didn’t understand it herself. She decided that once Jiu’er had a free moment, she’d ask her properly about this.

By the moonlight, Feng Jiu’er found the cloth left behind by the pool.

She picked up a branch by the water’s edge and used it to lift the cloth.

“Jiu’er, what’s the situation?” Jian Yi rushed over from the other side.

“There’s a sedative drug on it.” Feng Jiu’er took a deep breath, her moth-like brows furrowing slightly.

“Doctor Long, there are footprints over here.” Yang Sheng’s voice carried from behind a large boulder.

Feng Jiu’er and Jian Yi turned that way, while Qiao Mu and Feng Jiang followed close behind.

Halfway up the mountainside, a small dark-green tent was pitched among the grass.

The tent’s flap was open, and inside, someone slept.

Two little squirrels scampered around the man, playing happily.

Suddenly something stirred, and one squirrel darted outside.

The squirrel saw several people passing along the path above, one of them seemingly carrying something over their shoulder.

In the moonlight, this little creature scratched its head with its front paws, then turned and scurried back into the tent.

The two squirrels together began clawing at Feng Yinan’s head, but Feng Yinan didn’t stir at all.

Finally, one squirrel scratched its head, turned, and brought its tail close to Feng Yinan’s face.

“Achoo!” Feng Yinan’s nose itched, and he sneezed, sitting up.

He looked down at the squirrel that had woken him, then reached out a large hand and scooped it up.

“Mischievous thing! I’ll teach you to be mischievous!” Feng Yinan patted the squirrel’s body a few times.

The squirrel squeaked in protest, begging for mercy.

Man and squirrel exchanged a look, then both seemed to smile at the same time.

“Squeak squeak”—the other squirrel, standing outside the tent, glanced back.

Feng Yinan noticed the squirrel’s worry, picked up the other one, and walked outside.

“Come on, let’s see what your brother’s fussing about.”

These two squirrel brothers had been adopted by Feng Yinan after he came to the Feng Clan.

That day, in a meadow, if Feng Yinan hadn’t arrived in time, both squirrels would have become a hawk’s meal.

Their mother had sacrificed herself, and the two little squirrels had followed Feng Yinan ever since.

Feng Yinan always preferred to be alone, but in the end, he’d agreed to take them in.

“What? Bandits captured a girl?” Feng Yinan frowned, following the squirrel’s gaze toward the other side of the mountain.

Sure enough, he spotted several figures disappearing into the forest.

“Let’s go.” Feng Yinan frowned and climbed up onto the main path in just a few strides.

He could let bandits rob money and grain, that wasn’t his concern—but kidnapping people, that he would not let go.

In this life, the thing Feng Yinan despised most was men who mistreated women.

Even if, in the end, he couldn’t necessarily save her, he would at least never stand by and do nothing.

Feng Yinan moved quickly along the path the bandits had taken, with the two squirrels leading the way ahead of him.

Yue Qinchun, slung over a shoulder, hadn’t even had time to call out before she truly fainted.

Fortunately, she hadn’t inhaled much of the drug, and before long, she woke up.

Seeing herself being carried through the forest, she shouted loudly, “Help! Help! Help me!”

Feng Yinan moved swiftly, and he had only just entered the forest when he heard the woman’s cries.

“Go find some backup.” He dropped that line and quickened his pace.

Yue Qinchun had only managed to shout a few times before the man carrying her set her back down on the ground.

A dagger now rested against her neck.

“Stop shouting!” The man twisted the dagger against her neck. “Shout again, and don’t blame me for being rude!”

“What do you want?” Yue Qinchun looked at the not-too-large group, trying to see if she could find a way to escape on her own.

If she hadn’t been preoccupied with her thoughts by the pool earlier, she wouldn’t have fallen for their drug.

Without that drug, these few bandits would have been no match for her.

Yue Qinchun deeply regretted leaving the group. If she hadn’t wandered off, things wouldn’t have come to this.

“Money—name a price, I have it.” Yue Qinchun said in a low voice, looking at the man holding the dagger.

“As long as you don’t hurt me, I guarantee I can have someone send money over—ten thousand taels of silver, how about it?”

The man holding the dagger glanced back at his boss.

The boss chuckled and came over to Yue Qinchun.

He reached out a rough hand and lifted her chin. “Little girl, who knew you could talk so well.”

“Tsk tsk…” Boss looked over Yue Qinchun’s clothing, then reached down and tugged at her robe. “Fine fabric!”

“What are you doing?” Yue Qinchun, ignoring the chill of the blade at her neck, shoved Boss away.

But the moment she exerted force, her head spun even more violently, her body swaying badly.

Boss seized the opportunity to pull her into his embrace.

Beauty in his arms, beneath the moonlight, Boss’s face broke into a peculiar smile.

“Heh heh heh… so fragrant! Hard to let go of!”

“Let go! Let go of me!” The more Boss cherished her, the more Yue Qinchun loathed it.

She struggled with all her strength, wanting only to escape this disgusting man’s embrace.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

“Boss, what’d you find?” A group of bandits came running at the sound.

“A beauty, so pretty!”

“There’s actually a little beauty in the mountains?”

“Boss, you’ve struck it rich this time.”

“Boss is brilliant, Boss is brilliant!”

All at once twenty or thirty people arrived, and the forest instantly grew lively.

Yue Qinchun had thought there were only a few bandits, never expecting so many to show up.

Was she really going to die here? No! She was still young, there was still so much she hadn’t done.

Before Yue Qinchun could say anything else, her hands were restrained by Boss, and a cloth was stuffed into her mouth.

“Come on, behave and it’ll be fine! I’ll treat you well.” Boss restrained her hands with one palm.

Drained of strength, Yue Qinchun was forced to keep moving forward.

As they neared the mountain, ahead appeared a small courtyard enclosed by a fence.

The courtyard surrounded the entrance to a cave, and inside it, several more people were waiting.

Yue Qinchun didn’t want to go any further. She felt that if she took one more step forward, she would surely die.

This forest was so deep—would Jiu’er and the others even be able to find their way in?

It was all her fault. Why had she left? She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to die!

Just as Yue Qinchun stopped in her tracks, someone shoved her hard from behind.

She fell weakly to the ground, and using her now-free hand, pulled the cloth from her mouth.

“Help! Help me! Someone, help! Murder! Help!”

“Stop shouting!” A bandit looked at the little beauty with a smile. “This forest is very deep, your voice won’t carry out, and no one will find a way in.”

“Since our boss has already said he’ll treat you well, just be good and stay—you’ll make a fine sister-in-law for us.”

The moment the bandit’s words fell, dozens of men burst into laughter.