The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1210 - 1188: Generous Reward

Chapter 1210: Chapter 1188: Generous Reward

A group of people followed the flow of the crowd and walked on for a while. After exiting the street, they found themselves facing a large lake, with a temple built atop the other side.

You could get there by walking on either side of the lake; there were many stalls set up along the street, and carriages couldn’t come this far, not even those of the wealthy families.

But they could choose to be carried in a palanquin by porters.

However, Manbao and the others glanced at the palanquins stuck at the back that just couldn’t get through and didn’t envy them one bit.

For such a short distance, walking was better than riding in a palanquin – it was more refreshing.

Bai Shan and his group originally wanted to go to the left since that path seemed much shorter—the lake stretched too far to the right.

Little did they know, many people had the same idea as them, and with a push, they were forced several steps back, right into the middle of a crowd aiming to go to the right, leading them in that direction too.

The youths were easygoing and followed the crowd to the right upon seeing this.

After a while, there were fewer people, naturally, since it was a street that branched into two, diverting the flow. Besides, this route was quite long.

Willows were planted along the lakeside, and some accessible shores even had boats moored, ready to attract business by offering customers a shortcut across the lake directly to Xiangguo Temple without needing to walk.

Manbao and the other youths paused to have a look, but were soon urged by the people behind them to move on.

Manbao was somewhat reluctant, "Actually, taking a boat wouldn’t be bad."

Feng Zongping, who had been to Xiangguo Temple many times, replied, "What’s so good about taking a boat? If we continue down this path, we can see monkey shows, and the lake now only has withered lotus leaves, not at all interesting to look at."

Bai Shan also felt like taking a boat, "We’ve never seen a lake so big before."

Manbao and Bai Erlang nodded in agreement.

But by then, they had already walked past one group of boats for hire, and it was a bit of a distance to the next. No one minded much and began watching the various street performers.

Manbao and the others were a bit short, so at exciting parts, they would stand on their tiptoes to watch, seeing people inside the circle performing the trick of breaking stone slabs with their chests.

The youths were all engrossed, with Manbao being shorter than Bai Shan, he had to strain on his tiptoes and lean heavily on Bai Shan’s shoulder for a better view.

But for some unknown reason, suddenly a bunch of people surged from behind, bumping the two, making Manbao lose his balance, and he moved sideways with Bai Shan for a few steps.

Daji, originally standing behind the group, sensed something was wrong and immediately moved forward to grab them. But then the corner of his eye caught a flash of silver from the hand of the person jostling Bai Shan and Manbao. Without thinking, he reached out to block it...

The knife stabbed into Daji’s palm, but he didn’t retreat. Because the crowd was so dense, he couldn’t use his skills to full extent. With his other hand, he grabbed the assailant’s neck and pushed, shoving aside several people around him...

At the same time, he shouted, "Assassins! Young Master, run—"

Manbao was the first to look back and saw his hand covered in blood. She hadn’t even time to be surprised when the crowd suddenly became agitated. A force struck them, and Bai Shan and Manbao splashed into the water...

Feng Zongping and the others beside him were all stunned.

Then everyone quickly snapped out of it, Bai Erlang leapt forward trying to pull Bai Shan and Manbao out of the water, but as he extended his hand, a knife was swung down. With a swift retraction, he spared his hand, and then he got angry. He grabbed whatever he could from a nearby stall and started hurling it at those attackers...

Daji was surrounded by four or five people and couldn’t free his hands to rescue Bai Shan and Manbao; worried for Bai Erlang’s safety, he could only shout, "Young Hall Master, go quickly and call the bailiffs—"

Feng Zongping and Yi Ziyang, who had come along, both had some martial skills and stepped in to help.

There were about seven or eight assailants; one of them didn’t even bother to aim and charged straight at Yin Huo with a short sword. Changshou, terrified, spread his arms in front of Yin Huo...

Bai Erlang, who was randomly throwing things around, happened to grab a wooden mallet used for pounding shoulders. Gripping the mallet, he struck savagely at the wrist of the assassin. The pain caused the assassin to drop the dagger, and after giving Bai Erlang a glance, he charged straight at him...

Bai Erlang swung the mallet in defense and shouted at Yin Huo, "Run—"

Having never witnessed such a scene, Yin Huo turned pale. He clung tightly to Changshou’s hand and yelled, "Someone come quickly, the victims are the grandson of the Minister of Justice and the son of the Prefect of the Capital. Whoever captures these assassins, or protects these young masters, will be handsomely rewarded by both families—"

The not-so-wealthy Feng Zongping, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but snidely think to himself why he should pay when he wasn’t the one being attacked.

But he still echoed the call for help, shouting, "That’s right, I am the grandson of the Minister of Justice, come and save us—"

They knew some basic martial arts at best, perhaps having learned some sword techniques for fun and interest, but they weren’t preparing to go into battle or become knights-errant; all show and no substance, right?

Compared to these desperados, they were far behind. It was only because it was a matter of life and death that their reactions were sharp enough to temporarily hold off their attackers, but a counter-attack was out of the question. A few young people together, screaming and throwing things around, were only able to hold back two assassins, while the other four surrounded Daji and two more followed Manbao into the water...

Yet Yin Huo’s cries were effective; passersby who were cowardly and worried about their own lives ran away, while some vendors helped out with their shoulder poles, just barely preventing the assassins from successfully stabbing them...

Hiding behind Changshou, Yin Huo covered his chest and gasped for breath before saying, "Anyone who helps, will receive ten silver coins in gratitude afterwards, and for those who distinguish themselves, ten gold coins!"

Glancing over and seeing that Bai Shan and Manbao were no longer visible in the water, his heart skipped a beat and he shouted, "Whoever can rescue the young master and the young lady in the water will be rewarded a thousand gold coins!"

Where there are heavy rewards, there will be brave souls, and indeed, someone plunged into the water with a splash...

Once Manbao and Bai Shan had fallen into the water, they came to the surface and started swimming towards the shore.

While they could swim, they were not highly skilled; it was merely something they learned when they played and fished in the river with Zhou Silang back in Qili Village as children, enough to float and swim.

Though they enjoyed playing in the water, they also had a natural fear of it. _{fre ewe bnove l.com}

But just as the two had taken a few strokes forward, two people jumped into the water from the shore. Dressed as commoners and wielding blades, they swung towards them with the intent to stab...

Bai Shan’s heart tightened, and instinctively he pulled Manbao down with him; the knife plunged into the water, its blade stopping just an inch from Manbao’s face.

The moment she fell into the water, Manbao instinctively closed her eyes, but Bai Shan’s were half-open. Seeing this, he did not know where he found the courage, but he let go of Manbao, grabbed the pair of hands and pulled them towards himself, then bit down fiercely.