The woman next to her screamed in fright and fainted immediately.

Song Xiaoyu squatted down and checked Zhao Changming's breath.

"She's already dead."

"What bad luck! How could he have died like this?" Zhang Xiu'e spat.

"Alright, let him die. People like him are just wasting their lives."

"But what about that general and those letters he just mentioned... what's going on? Did you all know about this, but only kept it from me?"

Song Xiaoyu didn't want to waste time explaining; she just wanted to bury the old man quickly and leave as soon as possible.

As for Zhao Changming, he killed himself in the accident. Let his wife deal with it herself when she wakes up.

"You haven't answered my question yet, hurry up and tell me..."

Song He'er knew that Zhang Xiu'e was an impatient person, so she went over and stopped her: "Third Aunt, let's go back and talk about it later. This place is not a good place to stay."

Zhang Xiue sighed. Although she was extremely anxious, she remained silent. She helped Song Xiaoyu bury Ruizhen's mother-in-law, and then hurriedly went down the mountain...

When they returned to the cave, Qin Xiaoniang noticed that their faces were not looking good, and she began to worry, thinking that they had suffered a loss at Zhao Changming's hands.

"How did it go? Did that man make you suffer?"

Song He'er smiled and replied, "Mother, how could that good-for-nothing Zhao Changming let us suffer?"

"What's wrong? You seem downcast."

Zhang Xiu'e kept pestering Song Xiaoyu with questions from earlier, chattering on and on, which was quite annoying.

"Third Aunt, don't be anxious. Sit down and have some water. Let my third uncle explain this slowly..."

"How can I sit down now? What Zhao Changming said just now really upset me. What did he mean by saying that even if he dies, we won't be any better off? Does he have some kind of leverage over my brother? Why would he say such harsh words?"

Song Xiaoyu sighed. After a long day of running around, it was getting dark.

Qin Xiaoniang lit a kerosene lamp in the cave and brought the food into the house. Everyone ate and discussed things at the same time.

"It's all because of my good brother. He colluded with the soldiers guarding the city and secretly dealt with the people of Nanzhao in Xizhou, selling smuggled salt. Our dynasty has always paid close attention to salt affairs, and the profits are quite high. We absolutely do not allow people to sell it privately. But he's like he's come to paradise in Xinzhou, enjoying himself to the fullest!"

Qin Xiaoniang came from a wealthy merchant family. Although she didn't understand the law, she still had some knowledge of doing business. Every year, the salt tax revenue accounted for more than half of the national treasury, and merchants were absolutely not allowed to sell salt without a salt permit.

"How dare Song Xiaoqi! If... if the emperor finds out... will we... will we all be beheaded?"

Song Xiaoyu sneered, "Beheading is a good thing. Who knows, if the Emperor gets ruthless, he might have us executed by slow slicing. That would be truly unbearable pain!"

Qin Xiaoniang angrily threw her chopsticks on the ground. "That damned man, is he determined to kill us? We've already fallen to this state, and we've suffered so much just to survive!"

Song He'er was most afraid of Qin Xiaoniang getting angry, after all, Qin Xiaoniang was in poor health and would fall ill for several days if she got angry even slightly.

"Mother, don't think like that. He has to bear the consequences of his own mistakes. We don't need to suffer for him!"

Zhang Xiu'e was also extremely anxious, jumping up and down as if she wanted to rush out and kill Song Xiaoqi.

"In my opinion, we should just kill that bastard. You can't get anything out of a dead man. If the court blames us, we can just say that he's long gone and there's nothing to investigate. That way, we can avoid disaster!"

These words were exactly what Song He'er wanted to say; getting rid of Song Xiaoqi was the most effective solution at the moment.

Although patricide is a heinous crime, Song Xiaoqi disregarded human ethics and was no longer worthy of being called a "father." Would she still care about such useless etiquette and morality?

Song Xiaoqi frowned and scolded Zhang Xiue a few times, "Do you think you can just kill this person like that? Besides, as a younger brother, killing my own older brother is an outrageous crime. Even if he is guilty, I shouldn't be the one to kill him."

"Then what are you going to do? Wait until we're all dead? Keep all those principles of filial piety and brotherly love to preach to the King of Hell?"

"Why are you always so harsh? Is murder the only solution? Can't we just lock him up and imprison him?"

Zhang Xiue was speechless and simply shut her mouth and stopped talking.

Song He'er was overwhelmed by this pile of troublesome matters. Since arriving in Xinzhou, she had been dealing with these trivial matters every day, and she didn't know when she would be able to relax and focus on building a career.

Thinking of this, Song He'er breathed a long sigh of relief. It was getting dark, and she estimated that the merchant ship from Nanzhao would arrive soon.

She had to go out and see Jiang Huaifu. If he didn't come today, she would go to the other side of the boat. In short, she had to see him.

"Everyone, eat first. After you finish eating, go to the front and see if those merchants are coming today. If they are, we'll have to take on tasks and work. It's no fun just drifting through each day. Work harder, earn more money, and try to build the big house first!" Qin Xiaoniang reminded them.

Fortunately, Qin Xiaoniang didn't take Song Xiaoqi's matter to heart. She was angry, but she didn't care how to deal with him or whether he lived or died.

After dinner, as usual, Song Xiaoqi took Li Qiang to the riverbank to meet them, and Song He'er made an excuse to follow behind.

Although Song Xiaoqi violated the laws of the imperial court, their private dealings with merchants were also inappropriate.

The difference is that Song Xiaoyu was doing business by skirting the bottom line of the imperial court, while they were just making small trinkets to make a living.

After walking for a long time, Song He'er finally saw light. She stood on tiptoe and looked over, and saw a boat slowly approaching the riverbank...

Song Xiaoyu and Li Qiang were efficient people. They finished their task in no time and hurriedly returned, each carrying a sack of things.

When Song He'er arrived at the boat, she saw the two servants guarding the shore.

"Does the young lady have something to discuss with His Highness?"

"Yes, I want to see him."

"Your Highness has been waiting for you for a long time, please."

Song He'er was very surprised. This Jiang Huaifu seemed to have the ability to predict the future. It was as if he always came prepared and felt that she would definitely get on the ship.