Requesting Rewards

"Five Ya!"

Li Wuya had just taken the money pouch off Hu Yanhe when she heard Li Sanlang's voice coming from behind. Turning around, she saw Li Sanlang approaching briskly with a lit torch in hand.

Soon, Li Sanlang reached her and glanced at Hu Yanhe, who lay on the ground, covered in blood and clearly lifeless. His eyelids twitched involuntarily.

A little sister who nonchalantly killed a burly man.

A little sister who calmly poisoned others.

Li Sanlang swallowed hard. How had he not realized how formidable Li Wuya was before?

"Brother, why did you come?"

Li Wuya's question brought Li Sanlang back to the present.

"I saw you chasing after that person into the innkeeper's room and never coming out. Worried that something happened to you, I came looking for you."

"Brother, look!"

Li Wuya held up the money pouch with a beaming smile. "There's a lot of silver in here, and we're rich!" She weighed it in her hand. It should be around ten taels.

Having lived with the Li family for five years, their savings had never exceeded a hundred copper coins.

One tael of silver could be exchanged for a thousand copper coins. Ten taels of silver equated to ten thousand copper coins. Finally, they could improve their lives a bit!

"Oh, by the way, Seventh Brother has another money pouch."

Li Sanlang asked hastily, "How does Seventh Brother have one?"

Li Wuya explained casually, "When Seventh Brother and I first entered the secret passage, another person came in. I stoned him to death."

Seeing Li Wuya's casual attitude, Li Sanlang's eyelid twitched again. He hurriedly pulled Li Wuya up. "Let's go, take me to him."

Li Wuya glanced at Li Sanlang's pale face and shook her head. "It's quite far, Brother. You're injured. You should go home and rest."

Li Sanlang didn't insist. "Then quickly take me to find Seventh Brother. We need to get out of the secret passage."

"When I entered, those cavalry soldiers had already stormed into the inn. They're the guards of Dieling Pass. After we leave, we'll likely be questioned. Five Ya, you should explain everything to Brother."

Li Wuya proceeded to tell Li Sanlang how she had killed Hu Yanji and Hu Yanhe, all while guiding him to find Li's Seventh Brother.

Meanwhile, Zhuang Yutang had taken control of the entire inn with his cavalry soldiers.

In the main hall, a soldier was reported to Zhuang Yutang.

"General, we've inquired and found out that the Northern Yan people were poisoned because they drank water brought in by a young boy."

"Furthermore, there's a secret passage leading directly out of the inn."

Hearing this, Zhuang Yutang's face darkened.

The vice-commander continued, "Hu Yanhe has also been poisoned. He probably won't get far. Vice-Commander Xu should be able to capture him. However, the Northern Yan person who left earlier might be difficult to catch."

Zhuang Yutang slammed his fist on the table. "Hu Yanhe must have sent the stolen military defence map to the Northern Yan camp."

Thinking that the strategic defence map of Da Chu would soon be known to the Northern Yan forces, Zhuang Yutang's expression became exceedingly grim.

The northwestern defence line of Da Chu was quite extensive. To better repel a Northern Yan invasion, apart from visible military defences, Da Chu had constructed hidden bases as well. These bases included garrisons, granaries, and arsenals - all crucial locations.

If the Northern Yan forces discovered these bases and launched a surprise attack, the losses would be incalculable.

The soldier's face also reflected concern. "General, what should we do now?"

Suppressing his anger, Zhuang Yutang replied, "What can we do? We can only report to the court immediately and swiftly relocate the bases to minimize losses."

The vice-commander muttered discontentedly, "What on earth are the Protectorate's men doing? How could something so crucial be stolen!"

Over the past two years, their relationship with Northern Yan had become increasingly tense. Battles, big and small, had been incessant. At this moment, with the theft of the military defence map, how much extra burden would this add to them?

Life in the Border Army was already challenging enough. Those people from the Protectorate were receiving their salaries without contributing anything substantial. Why hadn't the heavens just taken them away?

Zhuang Yutang didn't want to think about the people from the Protectorate. Seeing the group still crouched in the corner, he ordered, "If you've questioned these people, let them go. I see that some of them are more seriously injured. Get them to seek medical treatment."

The soldier nodded, turned, and went to relay the orders.

In the inn's kitchen, a faint noise came from behind the idle cooking range, followed by Li Sanlang's head popping out.

After surveying the kitchen and seeing no one around, Li Sanlang gestured to Li Wuya and Li Seventh Brother, signalling for them to come up.

Standing behind the window, Li Sanlang looked through the gap and saw the people in the main hall being released. He breathed a sigh of relief, then said to his siblings, "You two stay in the kitchen. Brother will go out and check the situation first."

Li Wuya nodded and pulled Li Seventh Brother to sit behind the cooking range. She took out two dry flatbreads from her pocket, one for her and one for Li Seventh Brother. They started eating slowly.

After all this commotion, she was quite hungry.

She had hardly taken a few bites of the flatbread when her eyes suddenly narrowed.

Through her psychic perception, in the room where the staff stayed, a pale-faced burly man knocked Li Erniu, who had just regained consciousness, unconscious again with a brick. Then he stripped off Li Erniu's clothes, seemingly preparing to change into them.

Seeing this, Li Wuya shot up from her seat with the speed of a spring, grabbed Hu Yanhe's sword, and tossed the flatbread to Li Seventh Brother. She dashed out of the kitchen.

She didn't know how this man had managed to evade the cavalry's search, and she didn't want to get involved. But his comrades had been drugged by her and Third Brother. The Northern Yan people held grudges. If this man managed to escape, what if he returned for revenge in the future?

She couldn't let him leave alive!

Through her psychic perception, Li Wuya could clearly tell that the man was also poisoned, probably because he had consumed less water, resulting in a milder effect. His movements were a bit unsteady.

Li Wuya approached the room where the man was but didn't rush in. Even though he was poisoned, he might possess martial arts skills. Confronting him head-on would not be wise for a little five-year-old like her.

"Cough, cough~"

Li Wuya pretended to clear her throat with a couple of coughs, then intentionally increased the friction between her feet and the floor to create the illusion that someone was approaching.

As expected, the person inside the room was startled, thinking that the cavalry was coming to search. He quickly slipped into the wardrobe.

At that moment, Li Wuya rushed into the room at lightning speed, making a beeline for the wardrobe. She held up her sword and accurately stabbed it into the gap in the wardrobe.

For the sake of better observation, the burly man was hiding in the gap behind the wardrobe.

"Snicker~"

The sound of the sword piercing into flesh rang out.

The man, already poisoned, could only exert about twenty per cent of his original strength. After being stabbed, he even managed to smash the wardrobe with a palm strike.

Li Wuya was hit by the flying debris and was sent flying backwards. Simultaneously, she withdrew the sword from the man's body.

"Splat~"

Blood spurted out, splattering Li Wuya's clothes with red.

Clutching his chest, from which blood continued to gush, the burly man glared at Li Wuya with intense hatred. "You little brat!" With that, he lunged toward her.

In the split second of his advance, Li Wuya grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it directly at his eyes.

Taking advantage of the man raising his hand to shield his eyes, Li Wuya executed a somersault and flipped herself up, holding her sword, and stabbed again.

"Snicker~"

"Bang!"

The sound of the sword piercing flesh and the sound of a brick hitting a head rang out simultaneously.

Then, with a "bang," the burly man fell to the ground.

"Five Ya!"

Li Sanlang rushed over and saw Li Wuya covered in blood, causing him to jump in fright. He quickly pulled her closer, examined her for injuries, and once he confirmed she was unharmed, he hugged her tightly, patting her back to console her. "Don't be scared, Brother's here!"

Li Wuya, somewhat embarrassed by the tight hug, said, "Brother, I'm not scared!" She tried to open Li Sanlang's arms.

However, Li Sanlang clung to her tightly. "No, you're scared!"

Li Wuya felt a bit helpless. "Brother, I really am not scared!"

Li Sanlang released Li Wuya and held her shoulders, facing her seriously. "No, you are really scared." As he spoke, he pointed to the sword embedded in the burly man's body.

"Wuya, when the commanders question us later, don't say anything. Let Brother handle it."

"Also, remember this man and the two in the secret passage were killed by me."

Li Wuya looked at Li Sanlang's stern expression and nodded.

As a little five-year-old girl, she had killed three people in a row, all of whom were skilled martial artists. Such a story would definitely sound shocking when told to others.

She had acted too extraordinary, which was not necessarily a good thing.

Her brother was ten years old. Killing three poisoned Northern Yan men, although surprising, wasn't overly outrageous. Many young boys from the border regions dared to take on Northern Yan people even at such a young age.

"Brother, the money pouch!"

"I've got it, Brother."

As Li Sanlang took down the money pouch, a group of cavalry burst into the room. The siblings were then taken to the main hall.

In the main hall, Xu Chengkun led his men in bringing back the bodies of Hu Yanhe and Hu Yanji from the secret passage.

Zhuang Yutang sat on a stool, his expression odd as he looked at the bodies of the Northern Yan people on the ground.

This group, led by Hu Yanhe, had posed as travelling merchants and had been active along the border for the past few years, secretly collecting military intelligence from Da Chu. The Protectorate's investigators had been after them for a long time but had failed to catch them.

The Northern Yan spies who had given the Protectorate such a headache had been completely wiped out by a half-grown child!

Zhuang Yutang looked up at the three small children standing across from him in ascending height order.

The tallest among them appeared to be around ten years old. The other two were even younger, perhaps five years old?

"Did you poison the well water?" Zhuang Yutang looked at Li Sanlang.

Li Sanlang nodded.

Zhuang Yutang continued, "Did you kill these two as well?"

Li Sanlang nodded again.

Zhuang Yutang fell silent for a moment before asking, "Tell me, how did you kill the two of them?"

Following Li Wuya's and his own accounts, Li Sanlang repeated the story clearly.

Zhuang Yutang leaned on his chin, listening silently. His expression remained inscrutable, occasionally glancing at the two younger ones.

Why did the two younger ones seem somewhat disinterested while their older brother recounted such a thrilling tale?

When Li Sanlang finished, Zhuang Yutang smiled and looked at Li Wuya, pointing to the burly man who had infiltrated the store. He asked her, "Did you discover this person?"

Li Wuya blinked and nodded.

Zhuang Yutang asked with a smile, "Why didn't you call for help? If your brother hadn't arrived in time, wouldn't you have been in danger?"

Li Wuya's expression paused, and she looked at Zhuang Yutang in a daze.

Why?

There was no reason, just an instinctive reaction. Dealing with things on her own had become ingrained in her, and she had forgotten that she could have called for help in that situation.

Seeing the little girl's dejected look as she hung her head, Zhuang Yutang smiled and shifted his gaze away, back to Li Sanlang. However, a hint of suspicion lingered in his eyes.

Could a child who had grown up in a military camp really possess the ability to annihilate Hu Yanhe and his group?

Keep in mind that Hu Yanhe was an eighth-ranked expert, and his subordinates were also skilled warriors of the sixth and seventh ranks.

Even Hu Yanhe himself might not be confident in taking down this group.

This was just too incredible!

Zhuang Yutang looked at the corpse of Hu Yanhe, whose eyes were wide open in frustration. He had been killed by a ten-year-old child. He must have felt quite miserable before he died.

"Truly awe-inspiring!"

Li Sanlang smiled shyly, looking like he didn't want to take credit.

Beside them, Xu Chengkun, who had been waiting for Zhuang Yutang to inquire about the stolen military defence plans, grew anxious. Finally, he couldn't hold back and asked, "Did you take the things from their bodies?"

Zhuang Yutang noticed with interest that while his brother didn't react much, the two younger ones immediately became guarded as if protecting something.

"What's ours is ours, the silver is our spoils of war."

Seventh Brother, Li Qilang, tightly gripped the money pouch in his pocket, glaring at Xu Chengkun.

"Oh, so you know about spoils of war." Xu Chengkun found it somewhat amusing.

Li Qilang puffed up his chest and lifted his chin. "Of course, you really lack insight!"

According to Fifth Sister's words, whoever did the killing gets to claim the belongings.

If someone killed them, their belongings belonged to that person.

Their brother's belongings were, in turn, his.

Want to snatch his silver? No way!

Xu Chengkun: silence He was being stared down by a little kid.

Zhuang Yutang's interest grew stronger as he saw the two other children fully agreeing with Seventh Brother's stance.

These three children were quite something!

At this moment, Li Sanlang swiftly took out a sealed letter from his pocket and handed it over to Zhuang Yutang.

Upon seeing it, Xu Chengkun's breath caught.

Zhuang Yutang, however, remained composed. He had realized when he saw the corpses of Hu Yanhe and Hu Yanji that the stolen military defence plans hadn't been taken away.

Xu Chengkun took the letter and, upon opening it, his expression darkened. "General, the envelope has been opened."

Zhuang Yutang took a look and didn't say anything. He smiled and looked at the Li siblings. "Alright, everything's settled. You can leave now."

He had expected the three siblings to leave immediately. However, to his surprise, they stood still.

Zhuang Yutang fixed his gaze and realized that the little girl was holding onto the two boys. An amused smile crept onto his face. "What's wrong? Is there something else?"

Li Wuya pointed at the bodies of Hu Yanhe and the others, then at the letter in Zhuang Yutang's hand. "We've achieved something significant. Aren't we getting any rewards?"

Zhuang Yutang's expression flickered for a moment. He smiled thoughtfully and looked at Xu Chengkun. "Do you have the silver?"

Xu Chengkun's expression soured a bit, but he still took off the money pouch from his waist.

Zhuang Yutang jiggled the pouch and then handed it over to Li Wuya. "There's over twenty taels of silver in there. Is that enough?" As he said this, he noticed the two boys looking elated.

However...

Li Wuya didn't accept it. "We don't want silver."

Zhuang Yutang raised an eyebrow. "You don't want silver? Then what do you want?"

Li Wuya replied, "My father is a small banner officer in the garrison. Can you promote him?"

Zhuang Yutang chuckled. "We're garrison commanders; we don't have control over the garrison."

Li Wuya seemed disappointed. After a moment's thought, she pointed to the boxes in the courtyard. "Then we want medicinal herbs." She extended her hand and gestured horizontally. "We don't need a lot, just one box."

Hu Yanhe's group had disguised themselves as herbal merchants, with each horse carrying two large boxes of medicinal herbs.

At this moment, the courtyard was neatly lined with over twenty boxes of medicinal herbs.

Before Zhuang Yutang could speak, Xu Chengkun interjected, "No, those herbs are meant for our soldiers at Dieling Pass. We can't give them to you."

Li Wuya ignored him and looked at Zhuang Yutang. "Why can't we have anything? My father often gets injured, and when he does, there's no medicine to treat him. Can't we get a box of herbs for our contributions?"

This time, even Xu Chengkun felt a bit awkward about speaking up.

Snatching the defence plans was no small feat, not to mention annihilating Hu Yanhe and his group!

Zhuang Yutang smiled at Li Wuya. "If I give you the herbs, can you use them?"

Li Wuya nodded eagerly. "My uncle is a herbalist. He understands medicinal properties."

Zhuang Yutang looked at the sealed letter in his hand. Although the defence plans were lost within the Protectorate, he, as the pursuer, might still be held accountable if they weren't retrieved.

Not to mention, these three kids had really solved a big problem for him.

In this situation, gratitude was due!

"Since you want it, I'll give you a box."