Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

As for Xia Yu, for the first two days after boarding the ship, Xia Yu, along with Shijiu and Da Niu, stayed close to Shen Luo. Even at night, Xia Yu insisted that Shen Luo share a cabin with her. At first, Shen Luo was awkward and refused to sleep in the same cabin as Xia Yu. However, once inside, she realized it wasn't what she had imagined.

The cabin was enormous, laid out like three main rooms in a house. Xia Yu slept on a daybed in the leftmost room. Da Niu and Shi Jiu slept on two couches in the central flower hall. Shen Luo slept on the rightmost bed. For safety reasons, all the windows in the cabin were latched from the inside, in case someone climbed in through the windows.

At night, once the curtain in the middle is drawn, it's like having three separate rooms. In addition, before going to sleep, Xia Yu would tie a long rope to her wrist and Shen Luo's wrist respectively, so that in case of danger, she could use the rope to bring Shen Luo into her space.

Two days passed without any unexpected events, but perhaps due to excessive mental tension, Xia Yu always had a sense of calm before the storm.

On the third day, in the middle of the night, they suddenly heard a series of urgent whistles outside, which was the signal they had agreed upon beforehand.

"Be careful, something's up," Xia Yu said to Nineteen and Daniu. Hearing Xia Yu's words, the two girls immediately shielded Shen Luo in the middle, carefully listening to the surrounding sounds.

Xia Yu peered through the crack in the window and, sure enough, saw many men dressed in short clothes using ropes to hook onto the ship's railings and climb aboard. Unfortunately, they weren't very lucky; each one who managed to climb aboard was slashed by the guards on deck. The bandits quickly realized something was wrong; the ship was eerily quiet. Aside from a single whistle at the beginning, there had been no other sound. And quite a few of their men had already climbed aboard; why was there absolutely no movement on board?

The bandit leader waved his hand, making a 'pause' gesture.

Those who were about to climb onto the boat were stopped by the people behind them.

"Something's not right. There's not a sound on this ship, not even the brothers who went aboard. There's something strange about this ship. Let's get out of here."

“Brother, so many of our brothers have already gone up there, are we just going to abandon them?” one of the robbers standing next to him said disapprovingly.

"Pah, you know nothing! We've done so many jobs, have you ever seen anything this bizarre? Get out of here, or we'll all be dead." The bandit leader spat at the man.

The man wanted to say something more, but fearing his boss's tyranny, he silently shut his mouth and prepared to retreat. But this ship wasn't a place they could come and go as they pleased. Since they'd come uninvited, they shouldn't expect to leave so easily.

Just as those people were preparing to retreat, several people suddenly leaped down from the ship, quickly approached them, and then, carrying one person in each hand, flew back onto the ship. The people being carried felt a sudden lightness in their bodies, and they were already on the deck of the large ship.

Everyone stood still and looked around.

My goodness, the scene before me was so terrifying that I almost peed my pants, and it wasn't just one person.

Even inside the cabin, Xia Yu and the others could smell the stench of urine through the tiny cracks. Somewhat disgusted, they fanned themselves away from the lingering scent and covered their noses with scented handkerchiefs.

"Heroes, spare our lives! We are just ordinary bandits who make a living by robbing wealthy merchants. We never harm anyone. Today, we were blind and offended you gentlemen. Please, sirs, spare our lives!"

The bandit leader, seeing that all his brothers who had come up earlier were now dead, their blood flowing everywhere on the deck, quickly knelt down and begged for mercy. He hoped the other side wouldn't value his life and would let them go.

"Who sent you?" someone finally asked.

"Who sent us?" The bandit leader didn't quite understand the question. But when he looked up at the black-clad man whose eyes were the only visible part of his face, he shuddered in fear.

"Yes, yes, one of my brothers said that this ship didn't look like a cargo ship, and it wasn't flying an official flag. Judging from its size, he thought it belonged to some wealthy merchant. He told me, and then I brought my brothers here." The leader stammered as he explained why he had come.

I just don't know if what I said is the answer the other person wants.

"I'm asking who sent you?" the masked man in black asked again in a cold voice, clearly dissatisfied with the previous answer.

"Hero, hero, no one sent us! I'm the boss, and my men said there was fat sheep, so we came. I really don't know what you're asking, hero!" The bandit was almost crying. He was just an ordinary pirate; who did he need to take orders from to rob a ship? He just came whenever he wanted.

"I'll ask you one last time, who sent you? If you don't answer properly, their fate will be your fate," the masked man in black threatened, pointing to a headless corpse beside him.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! Please, sir, don't kill me! I have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a baby crying for milk. I can't die! Who sent me? Let me think, please let me think."

"It was my wife. She forced me to come. She said that other women all had gold combs and hairpins, but she had nothing on her head. She insisted that I give her a gold comb and hairpin." The bandit leader, thinking that his wife might not live much longer, cried with tears streaming down his face.