Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

After the robbers left, the servants and maids who had driven the carriages collapsed to the ground, patting their chests and exclaiming that they had survived a calamity.

Since someone had died here, it was no longer advisable to stay. After Li Yun'er brought Li Huanzhi out, she ordered the carriage to move forward a short distance. To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, she arranged for several strong maids to bury the bodies.

Su Mu and the others sat together, gazing in the direction Lin Shu had left, their dry rations unappetizing.

……

Meanwhile, Lin Shu, whom everyone was concerned about, had arrived at the miasma forest in front of Black Wind Village.

"You'd better stay close. Once you're in this forest, it'll be hard to get out. Even if the authorities come, you might not be able to escape unscathed!" The third leader said arrogantly as he saw Lin Shu observing the surroundings.

Lin Shu remained silent. No wonder Black Wind Stronghold dared to act so recklessly. Besides having someone backing them up, their biggest reliance was probably this miasma forest!

As they were about to leave the woods, the third leader, who was walking at the front, glanced back and was immediately terrified. His men and Lin Shu, who were following behind him, had all disappeared.

Suddenly, a chilling killing intent sent shivers down her spine. She hurriedly turned around and saw Lin Shu, who had just been tied up, holding a jade sword that shimmered with a blue light, pressed against her neck.

"Let's talk this out, let's talk this out." The third leader only hoped to keep Lin Shu calm at this moment.

"Three questions. If they are true, I might consider sparing your life," Lin Shu said succinctly.

The third leader nodded hastily.

How many people are in the mountain stronghold?

“There were originally more than a hundred people, but now that you have killed them, only more than eighty are left,” the third leader replied.

Seeing that she seemed genuine, Lin Shu continued, "Who is the master behind you?"

"Ah...this...this..."

Seeing the third leader stammering, Lin Shu brought the sword even closer, startling him into saying, "We will contact Xu Jingyun, the only daughter of Magistrate Xu of Mengzhou Prefecture, directly. We will give her 70% of the loot we robbed. However... I heard she is the Third Princess's person... I don't know anything else."

"Then why did you try to trick me into going up the mountain?"

"Ah, this, it's because that Miss Xu has a fondness for beautiful women, so, so I think..."

"Trying to take credit by using me?" Lin Shu said, removing the long sword from her hand.

Seeing this, the third leader thought he was going to be let go and was overjoyed. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I was wrong, I was wrong. I was blind to your greatness. I will never do it again..." As he spoke, he backed away, but in his heart he thought, "When you fall into my hands, I will make you wish you were dead."

However, before she could finish speaking, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. As if realizing something, she quickly reached out to cover the bleeding spot, trying to stop it, but to no avail. The blood continued to gush out from her hand. She could only look at Lin Shu in disbelief and ask, "Didn't you say... to... let... me go?"

He died before he could finish speaking.

Lin Shu calmly sheathed her sword, turned her back to the corpse, and headed towards the mountain stronghold, silently uttering a few words: "I've made up my mind, I won't let them go."

……

Black Wind Village, nighttime.

Under the moonlight, Lin Shu quietly slipped into the village. She carefully searched each room, and the situation largely matched what the third leader had said. However, wiping them all out in one fell swoop would probably not be an easy task.

Just then, a strange noise came from a house to the side, billowing thick smoke. Several bandits carrying buckets of water rushed over. Seeing this, Lin Shu followed closely behind, climbing onto the roof to look down. Before long, the fire was extinguished.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy with rosy lips and white teeth was captured by several bandits. He was glaring angrily at the thin woman in front of him and said in a fierce voice, "You villain, release me now, or my aunt will not let you off the hook."

The skinny woman smiled contemptuously, used her whip to lift the boy's chin, and said coldly, "Ha! I'm afraid she won't come. If she dares to come, I'll make sure she doesn't leave alive."

After saying that, she instructed the robber beside her, "Give her a good lesson. Big sister likes wild girls, but don't ruin her."

"Yes, Second Boss!" the surrounding female bandits responded in unison.

The boy was then dragged into the house and thrown onto the bed. He kept backing away, crying out, "My aunt is the Grand General of Fengming Kingdom, she will be here soon, and my mother...mother, if you dare touch me, I will...I will..."

The robbers exchanged glances, and just as the boy thought they were afraid, they suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha, this young master actually claims that the Great General who protects the country is his aunt? Hahaha, that's hilarious! You wouldn't be thinking of saying that Her Majesty the Empress is your mother, would you? Hahaha!"

The young man's eyes widened instantly. How could they know? A moment later, his face flushed with anger. How dare these people ignore his words! Back in the capital, whenever he mentioned his aunt's status, no one dared to be disrespectful to him.

Before he could think it through, several robbers surrounded him and reached out to touch his chest, but before they could touch him, they fell down one after another.

The young man trembled all over and looked at the person who had come. Although he couldn't see her face clearly in the moonlight, he could sense that she meant him no harm. So he asked in a trembling voice, "Who...who are you?"

"Your aunt is a General Who Protects the Nation?" Lin Shu didn't answer his question, but asked in a cold tone. Her purpose was to suppress the bandits and eliminate future troubles. She originally didn't want to get involved in this boy's affairs, but after hearing that his aunt was a General Who Protects the Nation, she took action.

The boy seemed taken aback by her question, but quickly recovered and said, "Oh? Yes, yes, my aunt will definitely come to save me. As long as you get me out of here, I will definitely repay you handsomely when my aunt comes, with gold and silver treasures..."

Lin Shu interrupted his nonsense, asking impatiently, "When will she arrive?"

"It should be midnight tonight. I overheard... no, I heard them say that a southerly wind will rise at 7 PM tonight, and the miasma forest is nothing to fear." The young man quickly said when he saw Lin Shu's displeasure.

"Hmm." Lin Shu calculated that it was probably around 5 PM, with about an hour to go.

After that, there was no sound. If he hadn't seen a figure standing there, he would have wondered if the person had left.

"What's your name?"

Lin Shu: "..."

Seeing that no one answered, he said again, "My name is... uh... Xiao Yu."

Lin Shu: "..."

Xiao Yu: "I was so scared today! You actually dared to come in all by yourself, that's amazing!"

Lin Shu: "Shut up."

Xiao Yu huffed, "Hmph! Fine, I won't talk then! Who wants to talk to you?"

After a while, Xiao Yu whispered aggrievedly, "I'm just scared, but you won't say anything and won't let me speak..."

"..."

It has to be said that this boy named Xiao Yu talks a lot, which gave Lin Shu a bit of a headache, so she said, "I'm going out to take care of something."

Seeing that she was about to leave, Xiao Yu quickly grabbed her: "I won't say anything, okay? Don't go, I'm scared to be alone!"

Lin Shu: ...You weren't scared when you were cursing the bandits just now.

Lin Shu frowned and tried to pull her sleeve away from his grasp, saying, "Let go."

Then he climbed out of the window and disappeared into the night.