During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

At midnight, all was quiet.

The people of Kaoshantun were all fast asleep, with only the cold wind howling among the treetops, swirling up the remaining snow on the ground. Inside the Ye family compound, however, there was a desolate and deathly silence.

The room was dark, and everyone sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) wearing thick cotton-padded clothes, holding their breath. Ye Qingqing held two wolf cubs that had grown a bit bigger in her arms, gently stroking their fur with one hand while tightly gripping a sharp boning knife with the other.

Ye Dazhuang stood by the window, like an emotionless stone statue, holding a sharpened woodcutter's knife in his hand, his gaze coldly fixed on the courtyard outside. The three Zhao brothers lay in ambush in the shadows of the courtyard wall, carrying a carrying pole, a pitchfork, and a rope, their muscles taut, ready to strike.

"They're here."

Ye Dazhuang parted his thin lips slightly and uttered two words.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a very faint "click" sound came from outside the courtyard gate—the sound of the latch being pried open. Immediately afterward, several dark figures, like ghosts, leaped over the courtyard wall and landed lightly on the snow.

"Seven in total." Ye Qingqing curled her lips in the darkness and said in a low voice, "Fewer than expected. It seems they've come to scout ahead, wanting to take control of our house first so they can open the gates for the larger group behind us."

"Awoo..." Da Lang and Er Lang whimpered in Ye Qingqing's arms, their throats rumbling with the threatening growls unique to wild beasts. Although they were still young, their bloodthirsty instincts had already been awakened by the atmosphere outside.

"Shh, don't rush." ​​Ye Qingqing patted their heads. "You'll get your first taste of meat later."

The shadowy figures in the courtyard made a hand gesture, splitting into two groups and creeping towards the main house and side rooms. The leader of the bandits, holding a short knife, cautiously approached Ye Qingqing's window, seemingly wanting to eliminate this "leader" first.

Just as his hand was about to touch the window frame—

"Splash!"

A whole basin of icy, dirty water, which had been prepared beforehand, fell from the sky and poured over the bandit's head. In the dead of winter, the icy water chilled him to the bone, and the bandit shuddered, about to shout a curse.

"ignition!"

Inside the room, Ye Qingqing let out a delicate shout.

Ye Dazhuang raised his knife and brought it down, not to kill anyone, but to throw a tinderbox with a burning flame onto the threshold that was already covered in kerosene!

"boom--!"

When the kerosene met the fire, it instantly burst into flames that shot into the sky. The bandit slipped and fell right onto the edge of the spreading kerosene, his trouser leg bursting into flames.

"Ah—! Help! Fire!" A piercing scream tore through the night sky over Kaoshantun.

"Let's do it!"

Ye Qingqing suddenly pushed open the door, and the two wolf cubs in her arms, like two gray lightning bolts, howled and pounced on the burning bandit. Although the wolf cubs didn't have teeth, their sharp claws and reckless attacks instantly threw the bandit into a panic, leaving him no time to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, the three Zhao brothers, who had been lying in ambush in the shadows, made their move.

With a whistling sound, Zhao Laoda slammed the carrying pole in his hand onto the leg of another bandit who had just jumped down from the wall. With a crisp "crack," accompanied by a pig-like scream, the man collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

Zhao Lao Er and Zhao Lao San worked together seamlessly. One used an iron fork to force back the bandits who were sneaking into the side room, while the other threw out a rope and put it around the man's neck. The two of them pulled together and slammed him heavily onto the snow.

"You damned bandits, how dare you cause trouble at my house!" Ye Qingqing's eyes flashed with malice, and the sharp knife in her hand gleamed coldly as she plunged it directly into the thigh of the bandit who had been pounced on by the wolf cub.

"Ah—!" The scream rang out again.

The battle in the courtyard ended in the blink of an eye. Of the seven bandits, three were crippled by the Zhao brothers, two had their faces scratched bloody by the wolf cubs, and one had his leg crippled by Ye Qingqing. They were all tied up like dumplings and left in the middle of the courtyard.

"Qingqing, well done." Ye Dazhuang walked over, looking down at the bandits who were tightly bound, his eyes as cold as ice shards. Not a drop of blood was on his machete, which meant that he was just responsible for blocking the retreat. The ones who actually did the work were Ye Qingqing and the Zhao brothers.

"That's called 'all's fair in war.'" Ye Qingqing exhaled a puff of white breath, patted the dust off her hands, and said, "Dare to come to my house to steal my grain? Don't you even know what I do for a living!"

At this moment, Ye Youliang and Li Chunyan also came out of the house with sticks. Seeing the mess in the yard, Li Chunyan turned pale with fright, but seeing that the bandits had been subdued, she couldn't help but smile: "Second Girl, you're really something!"

"Father, sister-in-law, it's alright now." Ye Qingqing turned around and smiled, then walked to the group of bandits, squatted down, and tapped the leader's face with her knife. "Tell me, where is your second-in-command? How many men did he bring?"

The bandit leader spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, glaring fiercely at her: "You little wench, if you dare touch us, the second-in-command won't let you get away with this!"

"Bang!"

Ye Dazhuang kicked the man in the chest with such force that his eyes almost popped out.

"I'll give you one more chance," Ye Qingqing sneered. "If you don't talk, I'll cut off pieces of your flesh and feed them to the wolves. Oh wait, my eldest and second sons are still young; they'll probably only get a sip of hot soup."

The eldest and second sons came over very cooperatively, letting out two "woofs" at the bandits, revealing their pink gums.

The bandit leader was terrified by the ruthless girl and the two ferocious wolf cubs. Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and stammered, "Second... second-in-command is under the old locust tree at the village entrance... with more than twenty men. They were planning to wait for us to succeed and then launch a coordinated attack from the inside..."

"More than twenty?" Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow and looked at Ye Dazhuang. "Looks like we'll have to take a long drive tonight."

Ye Dazhuang nodded, a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes: "I'll go."

"No, we're going together." Ye Qingqing stood up, her eyes resolute. "Since they dared to come, they can forget about going back. Zhao brothers, keep an eye on these survivors, don't let them die. Father, sister-in-law, you two guard the house."

"Don't worry, Second Girl!" Old Zhao patted his chest confidently. "With us here, not even a fly can get in!"

Ye Qingqing tucked the wolf cub into her arms, grabbed a wooden stick, and nodded to Ye Dazhuang: "Let's go, let's go meet that second-in-command!"

Under the cover of night, the two stealthily made their way to the village entrance.

Under the old locust tree, more than twenty fierce-looking bandits were huddled by the fire, clearly not expecting that their elite troops would be gone for so long.

"Second Boss, that Ye family only has a few women and an old man, along with a few peasants from out of town. What skills could they possibly have? If the brothers go there, it'll be a piece of cake for them, right?" one of the bandits said obsequiously.

The man called the second-in-command was a fat man with a face full of scars. He took a swig of wine and sneered, "Better safe than sorry. That Ye Qingqing can get such good furs, she must have some valuable stuff in her hands. Once the brothers have it, we'll rush in, take all the grain and valuables, and then capture that girl...hehe."

He laughed lewdly.

Just then, a cold voice suddenly came from the darkness:

"Sorry, your brothers are warming themselves by the fire in my yard, so they can't come pick you up."