Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

He turned his head sharply and saw a burly bandit dragging a struggling girl out from the broken cart on his left rear. It was Jiang Qingyue.

The bandit's arms were as thick as small tree stumps. He grabbed Jiang Qingyue's waist with one hand and twisted her arm backward with the other.

Jiang Qingyue kicked wildly in the mud, losing one of her shoes, and her toes dug several bloody marks in the frozen ground.

She turned her head and saw Jiang Qingshan standing in front of Chen Zhilan, crying and screaming at him, "Brother! Brother, save me..."

Jiang Qingshan took half a step forward.

The bandit holding Jiang Qingyue tightened his grip on her neck, gestured with his chin toward Chen Zhilan, and spoke with a clear hint of amusement. To Jiang Qingyue, this almost drove her to the brink of collapse: "Leave that woman here, and I'll give you back your sister, or else..." He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was crystal clear.

Jiang Qingyue froze. She dared not imagine what would happen to her if she fell into this person's hands.

She no longer had time to struggle. Looking at Jiang Qingshan through the firelight, her eyes were filled with pleading. She was his own sister.

"Brother, brother, save me, save me... Waaaaah!"

Jiang Qingshan's hands were trembling. His gaze moved from Chen Zhilan's pale face to Jiang Qingyue's tear-streaked face, and then back again.

Chen Zhilan's lips trembled as she softly called out, "Young Master Jiang..."

Jiang Qingshan gritted his teeth and looked at Jiang Qingyue with a look full of apology. In that look, there was guilt, pain, and struggle, but he did not change his mind.

Then he turned around and dragged Chen Zhilan toward the main road behind him. He ran very fast, as if afraid he would regret it, without even turning his head back.

Jiang Qingyue was heartbroken, and a great despair quickly spread through her.

She felt completely drained, unable to even cry. She couldn't even feel the heavy breathing of the man behind her, nor could she feel the pain in her back from being pushed to the ground by the rubble.

She only saw Jiang Qingshan's figure getting farther and farther away, running faster and faster, without even turning his head back.

The burly man pinned her to the ground, bent down, and, being in the prime of his life, and seeing that Jiang Qingyue was pretty, his lust rose. Ignoring her struggles, he took her right there and then.

A rough hand covered her mouth, while the other hand ripped open her clothes. The brutal force made her spasm all over, and the back of her head slammed against the gravel again and again.

He kept saying, "Your brother doesn't want you anymore, so you'll stay with me from now on, and I'll take good care of you."

"Why are you crying? What happened to you when that pretty boy ran away?"

"Behave yourself, or you'll suffer less."

Every word was like a red-hot branding iron, searing her heart again and again. Jiang Qingyue couldn't struggle and was slapped several times, her lip hitting the stone, blood flowing down her chin.

Her eyes gradually became empty and lifeless. She stopped struggling and screaming, and just stared straight at the hideous face above and the firelight-reddened night sky.

The cacophony of sounds continued to reach Jiang Qingyue's ears, but the man was completely absorbed in the moment, oblivious to his surroundings. The shouts of battle continued in the distance, the torchlight flickered, and figures ran past without anyone stopping to glance at them.

Suddenly, Jiang Qingyue's mind conjured up an image of Jiang Qingshan abandoning her and fleeing for his life without looking back.

He ran so fast, so decisively, without even turning his head. Her hands groped haphazardly at her sides, and then her fingers touched something cold and metallic.

She gripped the handle of a pair of scissors tightly, her fingers turning white from the force.

The man was completely unprepared at that moment, his neck right in front of her, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

With the last of her strength, she plunged the scissors into the side of his neck. The man screamed in pain, not having time to react, and blood spurted from the scissors, splashing onto her face, burning hot.

He reached up to cover his neck, staggered backward, tripped on a piece of gravel, and fell backward.

Jiang Qingyue didn't stop. She pounced on him, straddling his body, once, twice, three times.

The blade of the scissors went completely into her throat, and blood splattered all over her body and face, dripping down her chin.

He pulled it out and then thrust it back in, the movements becoming increasingly forceful and erratic, until the person beneath him twitched twice and then stopped moving completely.

She flung the scissors away, stood up numbly, feeling neither the tearing pain in her lower body nor the cold wind brushing against her soaked clothes.

She looked down at her disheveled clothes, and used her fingers to tie the sashes one by one into a perfect knot. She had been tying this knot for more than ten years, and had learned it for three years in the embroidery room. She could tie it quickly and neatly even with her eyes closed.

Not far away, a few scattered bandits saw their brother being stabbed to death by a woman with scissors, and they roared and rushed up together.

The leader was a thin man with a long face. He clenched his fists and was the first to rush in front of Jiang Qingyue, his arm already raised.

Jiang Qingyue did not dodge.

A long, slender hand, stained with blood, suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed the bandit's arm.

Jiang Qingshan, who had returned, stood in front of her. He had come back at some point, followed by a group of soldiers who had just arrived.

With swords and spears drawn, they quickly cut down the bandits, the sounds of their bodies falling to the ground echoing one after another.

Jiang Qingshan looked at his sister, who was covered in blood and had empty eyes, and slowly took off his outer garment, reaching out to drape it over her shoulders.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Jiang Qingyue suddenly raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face with her blood-stained palm. His outer robe was knocked to the ground, and then her eyes rolled back as she slumped down.

Jiang Xing happened to be absent from all of this.

The moment Jiang Dazhu and Zhou rushed to fight the bandits, she had already surveyed the entire situation from her vantage point.

She saw Ma Dadan, surrounded by several bandits, his broadsword chipped and broken, struggling to stay afloat on a rickety cart.

He had several cuts on his body, his left leg was clearly slashed, and blood was flowing down his right arm. There were five or six bandits surrounding him. Although their swordsmanship was chaotic, they outnumbered him and he would surely die if the situation dragged on any longer.

They hadn't even reached the southwestern prefecture yet. Without him, this group of people would be refugees, unable to even enter the city gates once they arrived.

She couldn't let Ma Dandan die before they reached the designated location.