The cruel little princess

Erni got up early in the morning to boil the medicine. She had always been in charge of boiling the medicine when her mother was sick before, so she was very familiar with the process. After boiling it in a clay pot, she poured it out and put it in a bamboo tube. Rinse it briefly and put it aside. She opened the backpack and checked the things her father packed last night. Well, it's almost done, but this multi-grain pancake is not too dry! Otherwise, just boil some porridge and make some egg pancakes. Thinking of this, Erni was making breakfast in the kitchen in an orderly manner, and suddenly heard a "bang bang" sound coming from the door. Erni's heart tightened, and she quickly picked up the backpack and put it under the firewood, and covered it with firewood. Fortunately, the medicine was boiled early and the rice porridge was cooked. Thinking of this, Erni looked around the kitchen again, and when she didn't notice anything unusual, she was ready to go out and take a look.

Erni's father finished chopping wood and came over to open the door, "Good morning, gentlemen!" It seemed that the people were dressed completely differently from the villagers here. Because the Qinglong Kingdom is over the mountain behind their Willow Village, people from the Qinglong Kingdom often come here secretly to do business. But they usually stay at the most prestigious home of the village chief. This is the first time they have come to their house. Moreover, these gentlemen were dressed in neat shorts, and they exuded a murderous aura. They didn't look like businessmen, but more like... people who live on the edge of a knife! Erni's father instantly thought of his benefactor in the mountains. He wondered if these people were here to search for his benefactor!

"Have there been any suspicious injured people here in the past few days?" the leader asked as he entered the room. His tone was arrogant and unreasonable.

"Sir, I have never seen him. In our family, there are only my daughter and I, and my daughter is timid. She stays at home all day and never goes out. I have never seen him!" Erni's father bent slightly.

"Brother, there is only this family at the foot of the mountain. If he comes down from the mountain and doesn't dare to go to crowded places, he must come here. Unless he hasn't come down the mountain yet..." A short bearded man at the back whispered to the leader.

"We'll know whether we've searched or not!" The leader gripped the big knife at his side tightly and gave the order.

Erni was peeking out from the kitchen door and listening until she understood their purpose. They must be from the Qinglong Kingdom, here to search for her benefactor! Erni took a handful of ash from the bottom of the pot and smeared it on her face and body. She pulled her hair a few times, making it messy. Then she scooped some water and sprinkled it on the firewood in the stove. She sat down in front of the stove and fanned it with a broken fan. When the firewood is wet, it is easy to produce smoke. She shouted in the kitchen, "Dad! Dad! Is the firewood too wet? I can't light it! The smoke is too big! It's too choking! I can't stay here!" As she spoke, she deliberately bumped into the short bearded man who had just entered the kitchen to check. Then she pushed him out. She pretended that she didn't see the man and bumped into him accidentally. Seeing that there was a stranger in the house, she quickly hid behind her father. "Dad, who are they? What are they doing in our house?"

The short man who was hit was about to raise his hand to hit him with a curse, but was stopped by the person next to him. "Don't make trouble. Remember our mission!"

The leading man narrowed his eyes when he saw Erni and asked, "Do you stay at home every day?"

Erni poked her head out from behind her father, feeling both fearful and nervous. "Well, I'm at home every day. Besides feeding the cows and pigs, I also have to cook, wash clothes, and clean the yard..."

"Have you seen any strangers come to your house these days? Or outsiders come into your village?"

"Strangers?" Erni pretended to be thoughtful. "No, I haven't seen anyone except me and my dad."

Seeing that they could not get any other information, the leader signaled them to search quickly so that they could investigate elsewhere.

"Brother, no!"

"Brother, there's none here either!"

They took a quick look to make sure there were no Tibetans and then returned to report.

"We will be staying in your village temporarily during this period. Don't go out without permission. If you encounter any suspicious people, please feel free to contact us. If the information you provide is useful, there will be a reward of ten taels of silver!" The leader took another look and said, "Retreat!" Then they filed out and continued to go to the next house.

"Dad, are the people from the Qinglong Kingdom so arrogant? They came to our village to search for the soldiers from our Jinlong Kingdom?!" Erni was extremely angry, but she also remembered to lower her voice and ask her father.

"What can we ordinary people do? Yesterday, when I went to town to get medicine, I heard that our General Shen was injured, and his son, General Shen, was missing along with the soldiers. Who knows? Those beasts from the Golden Dragon Kingdom might have come to us arrogantly just because they knew this, because they are sure that the general is now unable to lead the troops to fight!" Erni's father was also filled with righteous indignation. "Let's go, Dad will take you to the mountains quietly first."

After locking the door, the father and daughter pretended to go to the mountains to cut grass for pigs. Carrying a backpack, a machete, and a sickle, they followed the trail into the mountains. Erni led her father quietly into the mountains, and with ease, they arrived at the cave by the stream where they had been yesterday. They first quietly checked the surroundings to make sure there was no one else around. Then Erni called out softly, "Benefactor, benefactor! I brought my father to see you!"

Soon, a rustling sound emanated from the cave. Although Shen Zijin felt dizzy, he listened carefully and realized there were indeed only two people outside. Their internal energy didn't sound like that of a cultivator, so they weren't the Qinglong Nation's people out to capture him. So, he slowly climbed out and, standing at the cave entrance, stared through the spiderwebs. "Uncle, please forgive me, I can't go out. If the spiderwebs break, I'll be exposed!" Shen Zijin explained, seeing that only Erni and her father were outside.

"It's okay, benefactor!" Erni's father grinned, "We brought you hemostatic powder and herbs." Erni's father took things out of the backpack and placed them on the ground while speaking, "Benefactor, please sprinkle the hemostatic powder first, then heat the plaster over the fire and stick it on the place where you sprinkled the hemostatic powder. This tube contains herbs for reducing high fever, and this tube is clean water. This is a pot of strong liquor. I don't know why the old doctor asked you to bring the liquor? But if you are seriously injured, try not to drink alcohol." Erni's father instructed one by one.

Erni was speechless for a moment. "Dad, the old doctor asked us to bring wine because he wanted us to spray it on the wound to clean it first, and then use the hemostatic powder. He didn't want us to drink it!"

"Ah? Really? You didn't tell me! You just said to prepare strong liquor. I thought you were going to drink it!" Erni's father scratched his head, "My benefactor, please don't laugh at me! Yesterday, Erni came back and just said that my benefactor was injured, but she didn't say what kind of injury he was injured. So we can only buy some common medicine for wounds. We are afraid of being targeted if we buy other things. This morning, people from the Qinglong Country came to the village to ask if we had seen any strangers recently. They might be here to search for my benefactor. We dare not go out to get other medicine for my benefactor. If someone catches up with us and sells us out for money, we will be really guilty!" Erni's father kept nagging.

"Uncle, that's enough! You don't need to come here again, or someone with ulterior motives will follow you and cause you trouble." Shen Zijin nodded slightly to express his gratitude. "But I have a favor to ask, uncle."

"Oh, benefactor, you saved Erni, which means you saved the lives of both father and daughter! What are you talking about? Just tell me what you want to do!"

"I'm from the Golden Dragon Country military camp. I hope you can go to the camp and tell them my last name is Shen, and ask them to come and rescue me."

Erni's father lowered his head and thought for a moment.

"Uncle, I am penniless now. When I return, I will give you a hundred taels of silver as a reward!" Shen Zijin thought that Erni's father was in some trouble and wanted some benefits.

"No, benefactor! I'm not asking for money! I was thinking about what I heard yesterday about our General Shen missing. Your surname is Shen, but our General Shen?" Erni's father scratched his head, "If so, it's such a coincidence! But starting today, those who came to search are living in our village and won't let us go out casually. We only have one way out of the village, and we really can't go to the military camp to send a letter to our benefactor..."