The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 903 - 881: Discussing Plans to Escape

Chapter 903: Chapter 881: Discussing Plans to Escape

Bai Shan’s face turned bright red, and he couldn’t help but kick Bai Erlang, "What have you been reading all this time? If you read those traded storybooks from outside again, I will tell Mr. Zhuang."

Manbao looked at him speechless, "How could I possibly be Bai Shan’s sister? Can’t you use your brain a bit? I am my uncle’s daughter, my father’s niece!!!"

After being kicked, Bai Erlang was stunned for a while, "Ah, it’s that complicated?"

"Isn’t this much simpler than what you thought, believing that I was Bai Shan’s sister?"

"Of course it’s not simpler," sighed Bai Erlang, "I thought my uncle had a daughter with him when he escaped, maybe even a concubine or something, and then after they were killed, the baby was left to the wild and was picked up by your father..."

Zhou SiLang was speechless for a moment too, and turned his head towards his sister, "Manbao, it’s a good thing you’re the Senior Sister."

What if she were a Junior Sister and was taught foolishness by the Senior Brother?

Was Manbao really picked up by her father? Could her father have raised her that well?

Doesn’t it require using one’s brains to think about how much it costs to raise a child, especially a child like Manbao who is not his own? Would her father be willing?

Zhou SiLang looked at Bai Erlang with contempt and then, with vigilant eyes, asked the two of them, "What’s this about the betrothal?"

Bai Shan’s face was red as he said, "He’s just imagining things."

This time, Bai Erlang was reluctant to accept it and called out, "How is it my wild imagination? I asked Mr. Zhuang last time, and he didn’t deny it."

Zhou SiLang opened his mouth wide. If Mr. Zhuang was the matchmaker...

He turned his head to size up Bai Shan, finding him more and more disagreeable no matter how he looked.

Bai Shan blinked and coughed lightly, "Matters of marriage should indeed respect the commands of the parents and the words of the matchmaker."

Zhou SiLang was slightly more satisfied, while Manbao looked at them bewildered, "Why are we even talking about this now?"

Zhou SiLang’s suspicious gaze slid between the two, asking, "So what were you supposed to be discussing?"

"Of course, we were going to talk about the Prince of Yizhou. Didn’t you see the County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang talking late into the night by candlelight?" said Manbao, "They must be discussing things they don’t want us to know, which I’m not concerned about. What I mainly want to discuss with Bai Shan is, what if the Prince of Yizhou, in a cornered-rat situation, decides to start a rebellion?"

Zhou SiLang wore a puzzled expression, asking, "Isn’t that a good thing? If he rebels, we don’t even need to find evidence, we can just reverse the case right away."

Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, indeed."

Manbao: "... If he outright rebels, I don’t know if he would get a reversal, but we would definitely be the ones getting quashed first. Our family has so many people, and so does our village."

Bai Shan also nodded, "Right, we could hide in Qili Village and be safe because firstly, we rely on County Magistrate Yang, and secondly, we are sure he wouldn’t dare to rebel easily. If he doesn’t rebel, he can’t blatantly do anything to us, but if he does, it’s not just the few of us—County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang might be killed too if they don’t listen to him."

Zhou SiLang was stunned and asked, "Then, what do we do, do we escape in advance?"

Manbao said, "We’re not like County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang who only have one or two people in their households. We have so many people in our family, where could we possibly run to? And we can’t just abandon our villagers, right?"

Bai Shan nodded, "After all, this situation arose because of us; we can’t just run away and leave them behind."

Bai Erlang was also confused and asked, "Then what do we do?"

Manbao said, "The location of Qili Village isn’t good; it’s right between Luojiang County City and Yizhou City. So, if Yizhou sends troops, Luojiang County probably won’t have received the news yet, but the troops would likely arrive at our village first. But I just thought of something—we can escape through Dahu Mountain just like we came, and the villagers can do the same."

Bai Shan nodded, bringing out the map of Dahu Mountain they had previously made and said, "The high mountains and dense forests make it hard for armies to move, but this is advantageous to us. Even if we don’t escape to the county city, hiding inside the mountain would make it very hard for them to catch us."

Bai Shan analyzed, "If it comes down to a rebellion, we actually become insignificant; at the most, he would use us to vent his frustration. So, the soldiers coming would definitely not be the best, and won’t be too persistent. We can just hide in the mountains for a while."

"And there’s another option," said Bai Shan, "You all find someone to guard the roads; as soon as they see a large troop of soldiers coming, they should light a beacon. We could take a shortcut to Luojiang County, avoiding them, and join County Magistrate Yang in fortifying the city."

"If we stick with County Magistrate Yang, even if the city gates really can’t hold, we can escape out. By then, everyone will be mixed up together. Will they specifically capture people from Qili Village?"

Zhou SiLang and Bai Erlang shook their heads blankly.

Bai Shan said, "There you go, Fourth Brother Zhou. When you go back home tomorrow, don’t say anything to the villagers; the fewer people who know about this, the better. Just tell your paternal uncle, my grandmother, and your parents, that’s all. Don’t mention it to anyone else, including your brothers."

Zhou Si turned to look at Manbao.

Manbao nodded, "Just tell your parents, then follow what mom says."

Only then did Zhou Si swallow hard and nod in agreement.

Seeing the four people in the room all worried, Daji, who had been standing at the back silently, couldn’t help but speak up, "Young Master, Miss Man, aren’t you thinking a bit too far ahead?"

Manbao shook her head seriously, "This is about thinking ten steps ahead. Based on what we’ve learned from various stories, those with short vision and little thought tend to not end well when faced with big events."

Bai Shan also nodded seriously, "It can also bring disaster to many others."

Bai Erlang, who had basically read all the storybooks Bai Shan and Manbao had, also recalled those stories and nodded repeatedly, "That’s right, that’s right. We need to think in the long term. Fourth Brother Zhou, which of the two plans do you think is better?"

Bai Shan and Manbao also looked at Zhou SiLang.

Zhou SiLang pondered and said, "The second one. We aren’t familiar with the forest either, and besides, it lacks food and has too many snakes and bugs. Our village has many old and young. What if something happens? Since the soldiers would be coming from Yizhou City, they would definitely take this road. We just need to have someone keep watch here. As soon as they see someone, we’ll run back to notify everyone, and then everyone can enter Luojiang County from here—we should be able to outrun them."

Manbao: "... You still want to run back to notify? Why not just light a beacon?"

Zhou SiLang scratched his head and asked, "How do you light a beacon? And are we allowed to light one?"

Daji spoke up again from behind, "No! Commoners who light beacons privately are to be beheaded!"

Everyone: ...

Bai Shan scratched his head, "I haven’t seen this law before."

But nobody doubted Daji’s words, because he usually didn’t lie and wouldn’t speak of things he wasn’t sure of.

Manbao stroked her chin and said, "This isn’t urgent. We’ll ask County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang tomorrow. There are surely many other ways to signal apart from beacons in this world; as long as it makes the villagers aware of the enemy’s presence, it’ll work."

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