“I know that Xiao Miao’er has feelings for me. If you didn’t have feelings for me, you wouldn’t have secretly run to my medicine hut.”

He finally let her go, but his tone suggested he was deeply aggrieved.

Sun Miao'er's face flushed red, and the cool breeze made her feel a little better. She asked softly, "Did Master go to the medicine hut?"

"I've been there."

She had tidied up the medicine hut spotlessly. On the table inside, there were a few pieces of clumsy writing, which he recognized at a glance as being written by Xiao Miao'er.

When Sun Miao'er missed him, she went to the medicine shop several times. Whenever she had nothing to do, she would try to copy the prescriptions on the table a few times. However, her handwriting was so bad that she would only write a few lines each time before giving up.

"Once I've finished dealing with things in Kezhou, I'll help you with any business deals you want to make, and I'll meet the people you need to see." His extremely gentle tone seemed to have the power to break through mountains and rocks, striking her heartstrings.

Each word trembled.

After turning through several alleys, we finally circled back to the cloth shop, where the lights were on.

"Has Liu'er not gone home yet? He's been quite diligent lately," Sun Miao'er muttered to herself, quickening her pace.

When she got closer to the shop, she realized that there wasn't a single person in the store.

"You good-for-nothing Liu'er, aren't you afraid someone will steal your things!" Sun Miao'er cursed in exasperation, then ran to the backyard and knocked on Liu'er's door for a long time.

Liu'er was awakened from her sleep by the knocking on the door. She threw on her outer robe and went to open it. After seeing who it was, she immediately perked up and asked with wide eyes, "Shopkeeper? What's wrong?"

After saying that, he couldn't help but yawn twice because he was so sleepy.

Sun Miao'er was furious and said, "You're asking me what's wrong? There's no one in the shop, and you're closing up shop with the door wide open? What if you get robbed?"

"Huh?" Liu'er exclaimed in surprise, and quickly peeked out. Sure enough, the shop was lit up. She ran forward without even putting on her shoes.

Liu'er entered the shop and hurriedly began to close the door. "Oh dear, shopkeeper, where is Mr. Lu? He... why didn't he even close the door? I told Mr. Lu..."

Sun Miao'er went straight to the accounting office. "You go ahead with your work. I'm here to get some things."

"Who is Lu Huan?" Fu Yuchi asked casually.

Sun Miao'er said, "He is my second aunt's husband. My second aunt said he couldn't find any work, and the shop just happened to be short of an accountant."

There was a money box under the accounting office. After the daily money came in, it was locked inside. Sun Miao'er had done all the accounting herself, so it was convenient to put the money box there. Besides, she kept the key, so no one else could touch it.

"Oh no!" Sun Miao'er tried to open the money box with the key for a long time but couldn't. She finally realized that the lock had been switched.

It's Lu Huan!

No wonder he refused to give money to them during the day.

Sun Miao'er noticed something was wrong at that time. Lu Huan had been doing accounting for many years, how could he not be able to do this little bit of accounting?

At the time, she thought that with the connection of her second aunt, he probably wouldn't dare to be greedy.

However, despite all the planning, one should not have foreseen the need to guard against a thief within one's own ranks.

Changing the lock wasn't a problem. Liu'er took a hammer and smashed the wooden box open in a few strokes, leaving only some loose silver inside.

"You, Lu Huan, are something else."

To pull this stunt on her in the middle of the night, in just half a month, it seems they were well-prepared.

Fu Yuchi pinched a handful of the last remaining silver coins in the box, and asked in a raised tone, "Looking for them?"

Sun Miao'er forced a smile, which looked more like a grimace, and asked, "What does Master think?"

"You wait."

Du Huan Lou's spies are all over Yingzhou. Let alone Lu Huan, even ten of them could be captured in less than an hour.

Lu Huan couldn't possibly escape. When Hu Tingzhi's men found him, he was waiting for a boat at the Ye Wharf with his wife and children.

Before they could even find out who the person was, they were put in a cloth bag, tied up, and taken back to the cloth shop.

The bag was removed, and Lu Huan, seeing the person in front of him clearly, realized with a start that something terrible had happened. "Miao'er! Miao'er, let your uncle explain..."

"Second Aunt, go ahead and tell me." Sun Miao'er didn't press her for answers. Instead, she remained as calm as ever, holding a cup of tea and sipping it leisurely.

Sun Caiyun's hands and feet were bound with ropes, and her head was hanging down. No matter how Sun Miao'er asked her questions, she would not answer.

Sun Miao'er got up and walked to Sun Caiyun's side. "I still respectfully call you Second Aunt. How old is Xiao Huzi? Five years old? He should be old enough to remember things by now. I didn't let him come over. I asked Xiao Ning and Xiao Man to stay in the room with him."

"I suppose Second Aunt's husband is somewhat of a scholar. Does Little Tiger want to study in the future?"

Upon hearing his son's name, Lu Huan stammered, "Miao'er, it was all my second aunt's husband's fault for being confused. You should send me to the authorities and let your second aunt and younger brother go, go as far away as possible! We don't want to die!"

"Go? Why should we go?" Sun Miao'er frowned.

Lu Huan shook his head in panic, "The King of Wei's army is coming soon, Magistrate Zhang will not surrender! The King of Wei is ruthless, he will definitely massacre the city as a demonstration, your second aunt and I are also desperate!"

Fu Yuchi suddenly became interested and asked casually, "Who told you that the King of Wei would massacre the city?"

He and Xi Yan grew up together and knew that Xi Yan had suffered misfortune later, but it was far from being as cruel as massacring an entire city.

Moreover, the army in Kezhou is well-trained and disciplined, so how could it be rumored to be a fierce and ruthless army?

“Outsiders may not know, but many people in Pingnan City have already heard about it!” Lu Huan stretched his neck and spoke with conviction, “Some of my classmates from when I was in school came back from outside and said that the Prince of Wei fought with the people of the court and wiped out the court’s small team, leaving no survivors. They even burned down several villages along the way!”

Fu Yuchi could easily imagine Xi Yan's expression when these words reached his ears.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Miao'er, let me ask him."

"Where did your classmate come from, and from whom did he hear these things?"

Fu Yuchi turned to look at Sun Miao'er and said, "In recent years, the court has imposed heavy taxes, and the people are full of complaints and can no longer bear the burden. The people are suffering endlessly, but the higher-ups turn a deaf ear."

"The person in charge has long lost the people's support. Shouldn't they be replaced?"

Lu Huan had no idea about these things. People live for their own benefit. He argued, "Even if it were the King of Wei, we wouldn't survive. We're all going to die anyway, so let's hurry up and escape first."

"Escape? You make it sound so easy." Sun Miao'er sneered. "If a real war breaks out, which inch of the Great Shang territory can escape? Those in the north will run south, and those in the south will run west. Where can they go?"

“If you need money, you can tell me. But if you take my money and leave without saying goodbye, that’s theft, that’s burglary!” Sun Miao’er rubbed her right index finger against her left middle finger. “Even with this much money, if war breaks out, you’ll still die.”