Chunlan knew the opportunity would vanish in an instant. She scrambled up and dashed outside.
But the guard who had gone to fetch a torch had already returned. He saw the firework in the sky, turned, and shouted into the house:
"Uncle Jingnan! The Blue Signal has gone off!"
Everyone in the house came running out. Counting the unconscious guard, there were five of them in all.
Jingnan was more experienced, after all. While the others were still staring blankly at the sky, he shouted first:
"Close the gate! Hurry, close it! Don't let anyone out!"
But when he looked toward the gate, Chunlan slipped through the gap right before his eyes.
Seeing that Chunlan was out, Song Ning grabbed Changmei and ran outside.
But the four men upstairs had already come thundering down after them.
After pushing Changmei through the village gate, Song Ning shouted at the two women:
"Run as hard as you can! If you can't keep running, split up and hide! I'll hold them off as long as I can! Go!"
Changmei said, "No! We'll run together!"
"If we run together, they'll catch all of us! Even one of us getting away is better than none!"
If all three ran together, with Chunlan's stamina, they would be caught in no time.
Then the whole night's effort would have been wasted.
The longer Song Ning held them off, the farther the two women could run.
Outside these gates, they were no longer on Dong Village's territory. They might still have a chance to escape.
Just then, Chunlan suddenly took the bracelet from Changmei and slipped it onto Song Ning's wrist.
"Sis! We can't help her, so we can't hold her back! Run!"
Changmei knew this was their only option now.
The two women gave Song Ning a