Chapter 342: Plans Have Changed

Zhuang Miao smiled and said, "Thank you."

She knew this thank you should have been said long ago, but she could never bring herself to say it.

But now she knew she had to say it.

"No, you don't need to thank me."

Thank them.

Their daily sweat and their efforts have brought us to this point bit by bit; we should all thank them.

Watching the children outside, and seeing Ning Hanmo with blood splattered on his face, she seemed to see a fearless young general on a battlefield.

His road is still long.

When his mother is kind, and his dean is also good.

"Switching from plan three to plan two." The crowd dwindled, and the shouts of killing grew much quieter.

Upon hearing the order, the children instinctively began to shift; even Kang Wen and Ning Hanmo, whose eyes were red with killing, seemed to snap awake instantly.

Then came the changes.

They gathered toward the wagon.

"Du Er!" Ning Hanmo shouted loudly.

At that moment, Du Er dragged a person over, threw him to the ground, then drew his broadsword and placed it against the person's neck, saying, "Speak."

The person shook his head. "I don't know anything."

Ning Hanmo looked at him, then shook his head. "If you don't speak now, you may never get the chance."

Previously, when faced with a child's threat, everyone scoffed.

But just now, what did he see?

This troop of children, every single one knows martial arts, knows martial arts!

These bandits, how many of them know martial arts? They merely rely on brute strength to rob wealthy merchants on the road.

"I really don't know."

"That person gave me fifty taels of silver, and told me to..."

Just then, a feathered arrow whistled from afar.

"Watch out!" Kang Nai Xin shouted loudly.

But...

The arrow's target was the bandit chief; it was never meant to hurt anyone.

"Eh..."

That person's eyes suddenly widened, his body lurched forward with the force, and he collapsed in a pool of blood.

In the end, he said nothing.

Ning Hanmo clenched his fists; outside, the ragtag troops had mostly fled, scattering seven-eighths of them, and the corpses littering the ground were all bandits'.

Only three of the Wang Fu troops were injured, their wounds minor; the others were unharmed.

But...

The children realized they had oversimplified things.

Jiang Yunchu raised her eyebrows. "Not bad," she said. "I could have stopped it, I could have warned them, but I didn't."

Only such an experience can give the children experience and lessons.

Can a single life teach them the most basic vigilance?

"Big Brother Ning," Zhang Cunwen said, somewhat worried. The convoy had slowly moved on, but Big Brother Ning remained silent, saying nothing.

Ning Hanmo shook his head. "I'm fine."

"It's not your fault; none of us expected this. We'll be more vigilant from now on." Kang Wu stepped forward and patted Ning Hanmo on the shoulder.

Ning Hanmo tried to lift the corner of his mouth, but gave up; at this moment he really couldn't smile. "I'm just thinking, if their target were the dean, what should I do?"

After their battle, when they let their guard down, if the enemy fired a cold arrow aimed at his mother?

He wouldn't react in time, mother...

He dare not imagine that consequence, nor could he bear it.

"Then we'll just refine things, bit by bit; the appearance of these people might not be a bad thing—it could be sounding an alarm for us."

Ning Qiancheng looked at his companions; his face also looked grim.

In broad daylight, on the land of Da Ning, bandits actually appeared—what does that signify?

The people lack food and clothing; they can barely survive.

"I'm fine; let me think carefully about the loopholes in the plan."

"Tonight we'll gather again to sum things up."

Ning Hanmo sighed. He wasn't the type to wallow in self-pity; although he felt lingering fear, he also summed up the experience—from now on, this mistake will never happen again on his path.

"Good."

Kang Nai Xin smiled, came, then left, saying nothing.

She knew that Big Brother Ning would figure it out.

"Those kids seem to have taken a heavy blow; shouldn't we comfort them?" Zhuang Miao saw all this, even heard the children's voices, and felt a little worried.

Seeing those shocking corpses, she couldn't help but feel her limbs turn cold—let alone such young children.

But...

"They don't need it." Jiang Yunchu leaned against the wagon, swaying with its motion.

"What they need is to sum up the experience, and then never repeat the mistake next time."

"Great Aunt, they bear many responsibilities on their shoulders—the Regent Prince's Manor, the Kang Fu, and Da Ning."

They were never greenhouse flowers; they have seen corpses, blood, the darkness of human nature—only then can their fragile hearts gradually become steadfast.

She leaned against the carriage, her breathing slowly lengthening; how could she not feel heartache?

But...

To teach the eaglets to fly, the golden eagle will personally push the chicks off the cliff; only then can the eaglets learn to fend for themselves, and someday become golden eagles.

And these twelve people, each one is a golden eagle; how could she bear to cut off their wings?

Zhuang Miao looked at Jiang Yunchu, then glanced at the children outside, sighed lightly, and said nothing more.

"Zi Wei sis, you've worked hard."

Kang Ziwei handled post-battle bandaging; for this trip they didn't bring any medics, because the journey was far and few medics could endure it, and also they tried to minimize these people—more people meant more points needing protection.

Ordinary bandaging and treatment, Kang Ziwei can already do independently.

When Jiang Yunchu initially arranged personnel, she also thought that if it really couldn't be done, she would step in.

But now the injuries, Zi Wei can completely handle independently.

"Bear with it." Kang Ziwei looked at that government soldier; just as he was about to nod, she plunged the knife soaked in liquor and cut it off directly; the flesh around the wound had already necrosed, and must be removed before it can regenerate.

"Ah!" the man cried out, but Kang Ziwei seemed not to hear, quickly sprinkling medicinal powder with both hands, then proceeding to suture and bandage.

Her hand was very steady, always steady; it didn't stop because of the soldier's loud cries of pain, nor did it tremble for any other reason.

But...

If you listen carefully, you'll notice she keeps muttering, "Little white rat, little white rat, just like a little white rat, yes, just like a little white rat..."

This was her first time performing on a person; previously, to let her practice, Jiang Yunchu would separately set aside an hour to teach her basic surgical handling.

The white rats had been bred in batch after batch, but cutting into a person was still her first time!