Wife Doting Addiction：My Abducted Tsundere Husband - Chapter 1: The Robbery

Chapter 1: The Robbery

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Chief!”

A quick cry rang in the air, full of excitement and surprise.

Outside Shengjing City, in the shabby yard of three earthen houses at the foot of Yuhu Mountain, an unkempt man ran into the first house. Panting, he exclaimed, “Chief, there’s a job, we have money to eat now!”

The one-story traditional house was dark, and it was sparsely furnished. The beams on the roof were blackened. In the middle of the room was a large chair seemed to be garbage-picked from somewhere, and it was covered with tiger skin.

A figure sat on the chair, appeared to be the chief the man was referring to. This person was similarly disheveled and dressed in rags. Lounged lazily on the chair, the chief was eating sunflower seeds.

Next to the chief sat another man, his long body sat on a small bench. Although his crouching figure was bizarre, he had a handsome face. His clothes were also patched, like the others, but much cleaner. He held a freshly-picked sunflower, removed the seeds from the sunflower, and peeled the shells off carefully before putting the seeds in the chief’s hands.

At the age of 16 or 17 years old, the chief cut a slender figure and was not especially tall. With face smeared with mud, the facial features of the chief could not be seen. But the chief’s eyes were dark and clear, and they narrowed as the leader of the gang asked between bites, “Why are you yelling! What’s going on?”

Sweating profusely from September’s scorching heat, the men who just arrived wiped at his forehead clumsily with his sleeve. “Chief,” he exclaimed. “I heard the news that the eldest son of the richest family, the Ji Family in Shengjing city, is preparing for a wedding…he has had an arranged marriage since childhood. The bride’s family is taking several large boxes of dowry to Shengjing City from Fuyang. We are going to be rich this time!”

At that moment, two more men entered. One was tall and burly, with a bearded face. As he stood at the door, the room’s atmosphere turned gloomy. The other was older, about 30 years old. He had a refined disposition and his gaze was composed.

“Ah Shu, did you hear correctly?” he asked calmly. “Is it really the Ji Family of Shengjing City?”

Now that the last two came in, all the members of Dragon Conqueror Gang were present.

Yuhu Mountain sat outside Shengjing City and at the foot of Yuhu Mountain was the Dragon Conqueror Gang, which consisted of these five people.

Sitting on the tiger skin chair, was the chief, Su Jiu, also known as Master Jiu. Su Jiu joined the Dragon Conqueror Gang at the age of five, and had successfully become their gang leader ten years later thanks to the extraordinary martial arts and ruthless means. Su Jiu also successfully managed to turn the nearly 100-member Dragon Conqueror Gang into a five-member bandit nest.

The handsome young man peeling sunflower seeds was known as Chang Huan. He was good at qinggong (a form of martial arts that involved flying in the air), peeling sunflower seeds and flattery.

The man who came in to deliver the message was named Ah Shu, while the two men who had just entered were Hu Dapao, the taller, more serious man, and Qiao An, the poised second-in-command of the Dragon Conqueror Gang.

Ah Shu nodded vigorously when he heard Qiao An’s question. “Yes I heard clearly, it’s the Ji Family!”

Hu Dapao snorted coldly. “Whoever the hell they are! We will rob them, and whatever they have will be ours!”

Qiao An frowned and shook his head. “If they are truly the Ji Family, we cannot rob them!”

“Why not?” Ah Shu asked, his eyes growing wide in surprise.

“The Ji Family is the richest household in Shengjing, and in possession of half of the country’s granaries,” Qiao An explained. “Even the imperial court must be courteous and submissive to them. Even though the present Master of the Ji Family is an easy man, it is said that he is a ruthless character. If we offended him, do you think that we could hang around here?”

Sitting on a small bench, Chang Huan looked up and nodded as he chewed on the seeds. “Our second-in-command is right!”

“Fine then!” Hu Dapao interrupted, “We could always go somewhere else, we can rob anywhere anyway!”

It was true that there was no geographical restriction to robbing.

“The Ji Family forces are everywhere in Daliang Country, where can we go?” Qiao An asked.

Hu Dapao went quiet as he looked at the person in charge.

Undeterred, the chief, who had remained silent finally spoke up. “Is the arranged marriage with Fuyang’s Su Family?”. “I heard that the marriage was called off when the Ji Family had fallen in power… Why did the Su Family send their daughter over again?” How shameful the Su Family was!

“The Su Family saw that the Ji Family had become the richest force in Daliang again these recent years, and denied that they had called off the marriage,” Qiao An replied. “So they sent their daughter and dowry over!”

“Sucking up to the rich, such hypocrites, pfft!” Ah Shu spat at the ground in disdain, before casting a hopeful look at Su Jiu. “Chief, are we going to rob them or not? This is a fat sheep sent to slaughter!”

“Forget it,” Su Jiu seemed to quite tempted and swallowed his saliva down. “Safety first!”

“Chief, don’t tell me you’re scared?” Ah Shu huffed.

“Scared my ass!” Siu Jiu exclaimed. “Go ask around! Who doesn’t know that Master Jiu from Dragon Conqueror Gang is a ruthless character! I have never backed down like a coward!” Su Jiu hit the armrest of the chair and emphasized, “I’m not scared, I just feel like robbing a lady is an easy win. If news gets out, it’ll be an insult to my reputation!”

Patting the young man’s head beside him, Su Jiu asked, “Chang Huan, tell me, have I been a coward before?”

“No!” The young man chewed on his melon seeds as he shook his head sincerely. “Whoever dares to say that the chief is a coward, will face me! I will smash his bones, suck his blood, and wreck his ancestral grave!”

“Good! This is why I dote on you the most!” Su Jiu grinned, with white teeth shown.

“Yes, we were well known, but that was in the past. We had beat the Eight Dragons Gang then, but look at how poor we are now?” Ah Shu grumbled. “There’s only five of us left, and we only have a reputation of robbing the rich to help the poor. What’s the use of that? Look at Eight Dragons Gang now, they have a few dozens of members, and all of them have a great life. They go to brothels and restaurants, and by all means they are better than us!”

Su Jiu kicked him. “If you want to go to them since they are better off, then get out, get out now and join them!”

Ah Shu squatted on the ground, pouting as he felt wronged. “If I wanted to leave, I would have left long ago. Why would I need to starve for three days?”

“Bullsh*t!” Su Jiu exclaimed. “Didn’t I buy a basket of corn for you all to eat? It’s still stuck in the gaps between your teeth!”

Ah Shu pursed his mouth. “Still! As a bandit, we have to buy things to eat, it’s embarrassing!”

“It’s humiliating!” Hu Dapao chimed in.

“If I have to eat corn for two more days, my face is going to turn yellow!”

“We always rob those heartless rich people and use the money to help the poor. But we are so poor that we don’t even have food to eat, why doesn’t anyone help us!”

“I passed by a cornfield that day, stole two stalks of corn, and got chased! What help!”

“And the b*stards from Eight Dragons Gang purposely threw a roast chicken leg to the dogs in front of me! What bullies!”

Ah Shu and Hu Dapao squatted on the ground as they exclaimed one after another their list of grievances until they began to cry at their suffering.

Standing abruptly Su Jiu announced, “Enough! I have decided we will rob tomorrow!”

Hearing their chief’s agreement, both of them stood up excitedly.

Qiao An looked up at Su Jiu.

Su Jiu looked at him. “Master An, what do you think?”

Qiao An frowned for a moment and nodded. “Since our brothers want to rob, then we will rob. But we should not take everything, just take one box of dowry. Don’t hurt anyone. The Ji family probably will not kill us for one box of dowry! It’s almost winter, and we really need some silver to get by.”

Su Jiu nodded. “We should discuss our plans for tomorrow! Everyone gather close!”

With a wave of his hand, the other four came closer.

At this time, there were only five people in the Dragon Conqueror Gang. They were so poor that they were planning a robbery so they wouldn’t have to gnaw at corn. None of them would have thought that only a few years later their gang would become the top sect in Daliang Country and there would be tens of thousands of members under them. Their businesses would spread all over the country, and each of them would become a formidable leader.

Of course, that wouldn’t help them now: they didn’t even have a set plan for dinner.

That night, Chang Huan went to investigate where the Su Family’s dowry entourage went and if other gangs would strike.

When Chang Huan returned at midnight, Ah Shu and Hu Dapao were polishing their broadswords, Su Jiu was sleeping on the chair, and Qiao An was reading under their only oil lamp.

When Chang Huan entered, everyone approached him.

“I have news that the Su Family have reached Lijia Town. With their speed, they will reach Landing Eagle Peak at noon tomorrow. There are few people there, and it’s the best spot for an ambush!”

Su Jiu nodded and gave orders: “Tomorrow at noon, we ambush at Landing Eagle Peak.”

“Yes Chief!” the other four chorused.

Hu Dapao and Ah Shu grinned at each other as if they could already see the delicacies in front of them.

Whether Dragon Conqueror Gang could survive past this winter? What would be their destiny? It all lies in tomorrow!!

…

The next morning, the five of them each ate a stalk of corn and brought along their polished swords as they headed to Landing Eagle Peak.

When they arrived it was approaching noon. The five men lay hidden behind the rocks on the hillside, looking at the official way down the hill.

They would charge immediately upon seeing the Su Family’s horse carriage.

After waiting for nearly four hours, they only saw a handful of passers-by. However, no horse-drawn carriage, much less one with dowry appeared.

As the sun grew from hot to scorching, Hu Dapao stood at a higher vantage point and looked towards the south, but he still didn’t see anything.

“Godd*mnit, don’t tell me they passed by already!” he swore.

Su Jiu just finished a cat nap on the rock, opened the sleepy eyes and yawned lazily. “Chang Huan, go check out if the Su Family is resting anywhere.”

Before Chang Huan could reply, Qiao An said, “There’s woods in front of Landing Eagle Peak. The Su Family might be resting there. Why don’t we go there and catch them by surprise?”

“Alright, let’s do that!” Su Jiu agreed and led the four southwards.

From afar, there was a thick smell which was familiar to bandits. As the sun was scorching, the air was hot and humid and mixed with the stench of blood.

Su Jiu’s eyes narrowed. “Something’s wrong!”

They had arrived at the forest and shock crossed their faces when they saw the scene before them.

A dozen dead bodies lay in the woods. All of them had been killed with a sword: their chests were stabbed through, and the grass in the forest was stained red with blood.

The dead were servant girls, nannies, attendants, and a young woman dressed in silk.

“Godd*mnit, someone got to this fat prey before us!” Hu Dapao cursed as he used his knife to open a crimson red box. It was already empty.

“It must be the Eight Dragons Gang, they never leave anyone alive!” Ah Shu said indignantly.

When Su Jiu approached the silk-covered woman it became apparent that she was naked, and her clothes were thrown on her messily. All the bruises on her body revealed that she had been violated before her death.

Su Jiu frowned, putting the woman’s clothes on her properly. Looking at the woman’s face, Su Jiu’s chest sank inexplicably.

“I thought we would have a great meal, we were happy for nothing, d*mnit!” Ah Shu squatted despondently on the ground.

Qiao An’s gaze fell on Su Jiu, who had dressed the woman. He suddenly gave a meaningful smile.

“Not necessarily!”

“Second-in-command, what ideas do you have?” Hu Dapao asked.

Qiao An nodded. “I do have an idea so we don’t have to starve anymore!”

“What idea, tell us!” Ah Shu asked hurriedly.

Qiao An looked at Su Jiu and said, “We can let Chief pretend to be the bride and enter the city. When they get married, our chief would be the mistress of the Ji Family!”

Stunned, Su Jiu turned around to look at Qiao An.

“What did you just say?”