CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: WINDS BLOWING, SNOW FALLING, AND GROWING COLD

Carefully tightening the cotton jacket around herself, Yuan Bao huddled into a ball to stay warm.

Now she no longer needed to pay special attention to the three people guarding behind the village, as she could see them hiding beside the windward haystack just by opening her eyes.

As the day passed noon, the sun slowly moved west, and clusters of clouds gradually gathered, the sky visibly darkening.

Judging by the weather, it seemed likely to snow later!

Yuan Bao glanced at the increasingly thick layers of clouds above, starting to ponder how she could sneak back into the village.

If a snowstorm hit after dark, and she couldn’t hide back in the house, she’d truly be left to face the wind and snow, risking the chills.

"This cursed weather, it’s going to snow!"

The three people hiding in the wind shelter all looked up at the clouds, one of them speaking angrily.

"Snow is good; once it snows heavily, we can return to camp!"

"What are you daydreaming about?"

"If we go back without capturing even one person alive, would the centurion spare us?"

"What does it matter to us if the people are hiding in the city?"

"How does it not matter? Didn’t we encounter someone before?"

"If you didn’t capture anyone, don’t say you encountered anyone, or the centurion will think us incompetent."

"We’re not the only ones incompetent!"

"Come to think of it, what’s the court actually thinking? We just repelled Beili, quelled the Jiangnan rebellion, and now the court wants to attack Daxia, even launching a surprise attack to capture Xiao Pass!"

...

The gusting north wind carried the conversation of the three hiding by the haystack to Yuan Bao’s ears.

From their dialogue, Yuan Bao could basically confirm two things.

Firstly, these people weren’t from Daxia but came from neighboring Great Yin, as they were speaking in Great Yin’s official dialect.

The second point was that this team of scouts was not entirely unified, and these soldiers seemed discontent with the Great Yin court.

This discovery made Yuan Bao feel as if she could really pull off a "Home Alone" scenario,

Of course, this wasn’t an easy feat to accomplish.

The first problem was that Yuan Bao was too small; there were many things she couldn’t do yet.

Secondly, Yuan Bao had no tools.

Even the cleverest housewife can’t cook a meal without rice!

...

By mid-afternoon, the snow finally began to fall, and once it started, it came down in large, dense flakes, covering the land and blurring vision.

At this moment, Yuan Bao could no longer clearly see the three enemy scouts hiding behind the haystack.

The heavy snow was falling; Yuan Bao hid under the crop stalks, her body free from snowflakes, so she didn’t worry about her cotton jacket getting wet as the snow melted.

But those three scouts were in a sorry state.

Their cotton jackets weren’t very warm to begin with, and now, soaked by the melting snowflakes, the north wind made them shiver from the cold.

"An opportunity!"

Vaguely hearing the teeth-chattering sounds carried by the wind, Yuan Bao knew her chance was coming.

Amidst the snowstorm, she still had a fifty percent chance of sneaking into the village, to her warm bed.

However, doing so was incredibly risky.

What if those soldiers couldn’t bear the cold and sought refuge in villagers’ homes, and what if they came into the Yuan Family’s house?

"No matter, it’s better to gamble than freeze to death out here overnight!"

Seeing the three become two as one went to find their centurion for guidance, Yuan Bao carefully crawled out from under the crop stalks when the strong wind blew.