Zhu Xixi's crying startled everyone, and the Zhu family was thrown into a panic, quickly pulling Liu Shi up.

Pei Sining's clothes are too conspicuous; we need to take them off.

It would be best to put the jade pendant away and smear mud on his face.

[By looking like a little beggar, the big bad guy won't suspect Pei Sining's identity.]

Hehe, Xixi is so smart, she'll definitely get first place in her exams in the future.

Zhu Xixi's crying then attracted the Zhu family, who hopefully understood her intention.

Liu understood her daughter's hint and hurriedly nudged her mother-in-law with her elbow and pointed with her chin at Pei Sining's clothes, who was standing in the middle.

Following her daughter-in-law's gaze, Old Mrs. Zhu instantly understood and immediately instructed her son and daughter-in-law to attack Pei Sining.

"Quick, take off his clothes and smear some mud on his face. He's too clean; he'll definitely want to escape."

Upon hearing Old Lady Zhu's instructions, everyone rushed into the fray, frantically tearing off Pei Sining's clothes and smearing mud from the ground haphazardly on his face.

Pei Sining was manipulated by the Zhu family like a puppet, feeling extremely wronged. If it weren't for Zhu Shengan's sake, he would have been angry long ago.

At this moment, Chen Xiang stood behind the Zhu family, brandishing a large knife and shouting, "Hey, what are you doing? Sneaking around like that?"

"Get out of the way, and bring the kid out to my father."

Just then, Pei Sining had taken off her outer clothes, her whole body covered in mud, her hair disheveled, and she walked out from behind the Zhu family members in a sorry state.

Chen Xiang stepped forward suspiciously, bent down, and carefully examined Pei Sining's face. The more he looked, the stranger he found it. "This kid is quite fair-skinned."

"Yes! He used to be from a wealthy family, but his family suffered a disaster and he had to escape. Now he was all alone in this forest, and luckily we found him."

With a feeling of unease, Grandma Zhu stepped forward, placed her hands on Pei Sining's shoulders, and forced a smile.

Chen Xiang observed him for a while, casually poked at his body, and only after confirming that there was no problem did he straighten up again and put the broadsword away.

"Alright! Everyone hurry back, we still have a long journey ahead tomorrow!"

After giving a few instructions, he waved and led Zhu Wen and the others away from the woods.

As the escorts disappeared into the distance, Old Lady Zhu finally felt relieved, clutching her chest and panting. "Let's go back to the camp and discuss this further."

The others, who had been up all night, nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, following Old Lady Zhu toward the camp.

Back at the camp, none of them wanted to sleep; they all sat on the stone benches, staring blankly at the flames in the fire.

"Mother, what should we do next?"

Zhu Haotian kept adding branches to the fire, his shoulders slumped, his face showing anxiety and unease.

Despair and helplessness were also evident in the eyes of the others. They were to set off tomorrow, and they wondered how they could stop the Turks' actions.

Old Mrs. Zhu's face was gloomy, and pain and sorrow flashed in her eyes as she stared blankly at the flames. "We must find a way to stop the escorts."

Zhu Xi looked curiously at the worried faces of his family members, and rolled his dark eyes.

[Actually, staying is very simple! Just say you've picked some herbs and want to sell them in town.]

If you inflate the price of the herbs, these greedy scoundrels will surely be willing to stay an extra day.

[If we then catch the villain trying to infiltrate Jiangyang City, the crisis will be resolved.]

Zhu Xixi realized that all her thoughts couldn't be conveyed, and her cheerful little face fell again, her little mouth pouting unhappily.

[XiXi is born with the body of a child, but destined to worry! Family members, keep up the good work!]

Hearing her daughter's adorable chatter, Liu suppressed a smile and picked up the rice porridge she had prepared.

"Xixi, it's time to eat. How about Mommy feeds you?"

Tao was feeling annoyed when she saw her sister-in-law about to feed her niece, so she quickly reached out and said, "Sister-in-law, how about I feed her? I'm feeling annoyed and want to find something to do."

"Alright." Madam Liu didn't stop her and handed her daughter and rice porridge over, then smiled at her sister-in-law, "Qinru, did you find any herbs in the woods just now?"

"There are only weeds everywhere, and nothing can be found."

Tao carefully took her niece, afraid that her clumsy hands might hurt this precious child. Besides wanting to find something to do, she mainly wanted to get some useful information from her niece.

When Zhu Xixi saw Tao's round face, she grinned and waved her little hand to greet her.

Liu sighed casually, "I thought we could find some valuable herbs tonight. If we did, we might be able to sell them for money, since we still owe Zhu Wen fifty taels."

Grandma Zhu listened quietly to her daughter-in-law's words, then suddenly remembered something, slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Oh dear, how could I have forgotten about that?"

Pei Sining was craning her neck to look at Zhu Xixi with curiosity when she heard Old Lady Zhu's shout, and she was almost startled.

"Grandma Zhu, don't be so alarmed, it's quite frightening."

"Mother, what are you thinking about?" Liu Shi knew her mother-in-law would think of the gold, and looked at her mother-in-law with expectant eyes.

Grandma Zhu smiled mysteriously and waved to the crowd, "Come closer."

Seeing this, everyone quickly moved closer and stared at Old Lady Zhu with curiosity.

After her son and daughter-in-law approached, Old Lady Zhu looked around, beckoned to Liu Shi with her hand, and said in a low voice.

"Eldest daughter-in-law, gold."

Upon seeing this, Liu quickly turned around, rummaged around inside, grabbed the gold in her palm, and hurriedly placed it in Old Madam Zhu's hand.

"Mother, are you planning to use it?"

"Yes, tomorrow we'll say we've dug up gold and hand it over to the guards. They're so greedy, they'll definitely agree to stay another day."

Grandma Zhu held the gold in her palm and excitedly told him her plan.

Grandma! Your method won't work.

[This will cause people to fight over gold.]

【Why!】

Zhu Xixi thought that Old Lady Zhu had come up with a good idea, but when she heard that gold was used as bait, she closed her eyes and sighed in disappointment.

When Tao heard that this method wouldn't work, she became anxious and looked at Old Lady Zhu with a hesitant expression.

Liu gave an awkward smile, coughed a few times, and looked very unpleasant. It seemed that her mother-in-law had misunderstood her.

Thinking of this, she then asked, "What about the Turks?"

"Yes! Mother, what should we do about the Turks?" Zhu Haotian was also worried about the Turks. If Jiangyang City fell, their chances of survival would be very low.

Grandma Zhu hadn't thought about this question; she pursed her lips and fell into deep thought.

At this moment, Pei Sining glanced helplessly at the Zhu family and shook her head. "Why use gold? Why don't you just say you dug up some medicinal herbs like ginseng and want to sell them in the county town, and hand over the money to the escort officer?"

“Gold is such a precious thing, your words are likely to cause internal strife.”