"Looks like she did escape from here. People from the Water Tribe are such great swimmers. She must have chosen this place specifically for her escape."

"Didn't you say there was another person? Who was that person?"

When this was mentioned, everyone fell silent.

One of them sighed, "I didn't expect Feng to go this far for Yue. Was that person in the tree also arranged by Feng?"

No one spoke.

The man said, "Let's go back."

Just as everyone was about to go back, suddenly a dozen or so people with torches came running from the direction of the tribe.

The leader asked, "Yong, where are the slaves? The king said we must bring them back."

Yong pointed to the stream and said, "He escaped from here."

"There's a river behind us. They must have escaped through the river. But Steward Ji Er said they were all injured and couldn't get far. Let's chase them along both sides of the river."

The man began to give orders, "Yong, lead the men from the creek all the way downstream. I'll lead the men around to the other side. The king said Feng dared to burn the palace for Yue's sake and he must not be forgiven. Not only does Feng deserve death, but Yue must not be spared either."

"Yes." Yong said, leading the dozen or so men under his command, walking downstream along the bank of the creek with torches.

Others went upstream, where there should be a shallower section of water where they could go around to the other side of the river.

Qiao Yu had hoped they would just call it quits and stop pursuing Yue and the others. Unexpectedly, the opposite happened. She worried, fearing they would follow the stream from the other side of the creek to the other side of the river, capturing all the men of the Dragon Tribe in one fell swoop.

But she couldn't act rashly at this time. Otherwise, it was very likely that the people from the four tribes would not be able to find Man and his group, and because of her actions, they would notice them, which would bring disaster to Man and his group.

At this point we can only wait and see.

Her only wish was that they would follow her instructions, erase all traces, and stay in the cave honestly, not make any noise, not grill meat, and not light a fire at night.

Everything was quiet, the only sound being the rustling of leaves in the wind. But Qiao Yu didn't move. Not only that, she also softened her breathing, trying to minimize her presence.

She intuitively sensed that there were others here besides herself. Perhaps two or three of them had stayed behind, lying in wait for her to show up.

After an unknown amount of time, two people emerged from under the bushes.

One of them said, "It seems he is really not here."

Another person said, "I told you I won't stay here any longer. Yuedu has already fled with the current. Her companions can't possibly still be here. They must have fled with them."

"Humph, it's all the fault of those people under Steward Ji Er. They didn't chase them in time, but instead ran back to the tribe to report the news, delaying the opportunity in vain."

"Alas, she's just a slave girl. Who knew the king would be so angry? Let's go back to the tribe first."

As they spoke, the two emerged from the woods and headed towards the tribe. Peace returned to the area.

Qiao Yu still didn't move.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps an hour, perhaps two, there was movement in the bushes again.

"Let's go, we're really not here anymore."

"Hey, wait, my legs are numb and I can't walk anymore."

"Cong is just too suspicious. He insisted on making us stay so long. Let's go back."

After the two men left, Qiao Yu finally felt that there was no one around.

But she still didn't move.

After the two attempts just now, this place has become the safest place. She plans to stay here and wait for the two groups of people who went to chase the moon to come back so that she can know the results of their search.

If the men of the Dragon Tribe were accidentally discovered, according to the custom of the Four Tribes, as long as they did not resist to the death, the Four Tribes would only make them slaves and would not kill them directly. As long as they were alive, she would have a chance to save them.

If those people returned empty-handed and failed to catch anyone, she would feel relieved and could also arrange follow-up matters.

She stayed in the tree until dawn the next day.

The trade fair was no longer held, but the people of the Jiangyuan tribe did not leave immediately. Instead, they were left in the Sifang tribe.

Qiao Yu waited in the tree until noon, when Yong's group finally returned. They came back empty-handed; they hadn't caught anyone.

An hour or two later, another group of people came back, but they also found nothing.

Qiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

But she still didn't relax and stayed on the tree.

Another day passed, and the Jiangyuan tribe left the Sifang tribe and returned to their own tribes. The Sifang smelting site resumed smelting as usual, with the slag dumpers occasionally bringing in slag, and the Sifang tribe seemed to have returned to peace.

Qiao Yu waited patiently for another day, and seeing that everything was normal, he climbed down the tree at night, found the raft hidden on the tree, put it into the river, and went to look for the men of the Dragon Tribe.

Qiao Yu had just tied the raft to the spot where it had docked last time when a figure jumped down from a tree. Before Qiao Yu could attack, he called out, "Yu, you're finally here?"

"Qiang, why are you here?" Qiao Yu asked in surprise.

"Something happened in the Sifang Tribe. We are worried about you, but we dare not go looking for you, for fear of alerting the people of the Sifang Tribe and disrupting your plans. So we take turns guarding here, hoping to see you soon."

Qiao Yu sensed something was wrong. "How did you know something happened to the Sifang Tribe? Did they send people to search that day and find your hiding place?"

"What? They sent people to search? They sent people to search here?" Qiang was shocked, but then his face was full of relief: "Fortunately, we listened to you and erased all traces. They didn't search here."

"Then how do you know something happened in the Sifang tribe?" Qiao Yu stared at him closely.

"Two days ago, at dawn, we came to fetch water and rescued a woman who had fainted on the shore. We guessed something had happened in the Sifang tribe, so we were very worried about you."

"Is that woman's name Yue?" Qiao Yu asked.

Qiang shook his head: "She just woke up yesterday at noon. She didn't say anything when I asked her. She just kept crying and shaking her head."

Qiao Yu didn't say anything else and followed Qiang forward.

After rescuing the woman, the men felt the cave was unsafe and moved to another hiding place. With Qiao Yu's warning, they didn't dare mark the cave again, and they were worried that Qiao Yu wouldn't be able to find them, so they sent people to guard the shore.

Qiao Yu followed Qiang to their hiding place, nodded to the men with happy faces, and his eyes fell on the woman who was half lying on a pile of straw.

"Yue." she called out.

Yue, who was staring at Qiao Yu nervously with her hands clasped together, suddenly shuddered and a look of shock and fear appeared in her eyes.

"Don't worry, people from the Sifang tribe came to search for you, but they didn't find you. They went back the day before yesterday." Qiao Yu said.

"You, you are the one who saved me that night?" Yue asked.