Lu Qiqi sat in the carriage, looking at the gift list given by Madam Zhang, and couldn't help but smile.

The noblewomen in the border town were all very generous, with a carriage full of gifts behind them, all of them the finest items.

Madam Zhang presented deer antler, snow lotus, seahorse, lingzhi, and ambergris, all of which were top-quality medicinal materials, as well as a gold-threaded jadeite and pearl hairpin.

She even suspected that Madam Zhang had filled all the prized possessions of Zhang's Pharmacy with her.

The other ladies also sent many nice gifts.

The lady who ran the cloth shop gave him gifts of Yun brocade, Song brocade, and Huanyun yarn.

The salt merchant's wife naturally wouldn't send salt, but the man was even more extravagant, actually giving her salt certificates stamped with an official seal.

In this way, as long as the salt merchant operates well, someone will pay for her salt for the rest of her life.

Salt was precious in this era, which shows the sincerity of the person giving the gift.

There were also corals and ancient medical books; there were so many things that she was overwhelmed.

Just then, a voice belonging to a young boy came from outside the carriage.

"Chief, it seems the village ahead has been burned to the ground."

Nineteen felt stuffy after sitting in the carriage for a long time.

When I went out for a ride to get some fresh air, I saw the ruins of houses in the distance, with charred blackened areas not covered by snow, clearly indicating that a fire had taken place.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi closed the gift list in her hand and put it into her spatial storage.

After being reminded by Shijiu, Lu Qiqi remembered that the village nearby, where murder and robbery had taken place, had been burned to the ground by Anjiu.

She reached out and lifted the curtain of the carriage, and saw the village burned to ruins in the distance.

Damn memories, swirling in like a whirlpool.

Recalling the villagers' corpses hanging from the rafters, a sudden feeling of suffocation washed over him, making his stomach churn.

However, when she saw the ruins in front of her, she couldn't help but give Anjiu a thumbs up in her heart.

Well done!

Those people deserve to die!

With the village destroyed, the Shadow Guards had to quicken their pace to reach the post station; otherwise, they would have to spend the night in the snow.

As night fell, the group finally arrived at the post station.

Nineteen hurriedly went to get hot water for Lu Qiqi so that she could take a bath to warm herself up after dinner and sleep well at night.

Before leaving the border town, the prince specifically instructed him to take good care of Princess Kangle.

He has a very important task now!

Because of the special status of the Shadow Guards, the people at the official post station dared not neglect them. They quickly arranged for fine wine and food, and even cured meat was served.

It's clear that the post station chief had brought out almost everything the station had kept hidden away.

Looking at the dishes in front of her, Lu Qiqi couldn't help but feel a little self-deprecating.

The food on our previous trip was barely edible, but now on the return journey, we're enjoying a feast of meat and fish.

This is all thanks to the power of the Crown Prince of Libei.

Although lusting after power is wrong, this feeling is really great.

At this moment, after giving instructions to the kitchen staff, Nineteen came over to have a meal together.

With the Crown Prince absent, it was a rare occasion for Shi Jiu to sit at the same table as Lu Qiqi.

He had barely sat down on the stool when he smiled, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and said, "After traveling all day, it's fortunate that you, the village head, had the foresight to have meat prepared for us."

Otherwise, we'd have to eat flatbread for lunch today.

Lu Qiqi couldn't help but smile when she recalled the fish soup hotpot she had at noon.

She soon discovered that An Shi was nowhere to be found.

"Where did Dark Ten go?" Lu Qiqi had eaten a big lunch, and now seeing the cured meat in front of her, she felt extremely full and didn't even want to touch her chopsticks.

Nineteen was young and vigorous, and at the age when he was growing, he had already eaten half a bowl of rice before he looked up and said, "Tenth Brother will lead people to guard outside. After they finish eating, they will take over the guard duty."

I see.

Lu Qiqi thought of the gifts parked at the post station.

Suddenly, she remembered that Song Yanqing had instructed the Shadow Guards to transport the coffin for Chen's relocation.

Chen drowned, and by then, Lu Dashan had already been conscripted into the army.

The elderly couple from the Lu family were reluctant to buy a coffin to bury Chen, not to mention that Chen's death was gruesome, her floating corpse had become a giant, and a larger coffin was needed to accommodate her.

So, they wrapped it in a straw mat and had it carried and buried on the hillside.

The wooden stele for the Chen family was erected later by the third uncle with the help of others.

Thinking this way, Song Yanqing's ability to consider this matter deeply moved her.

Previously, she had planned to take Nineteen to dig up a grave late at night and then directly put Chen into her spatial storage. In this way, she could move to Luzhou Prefecture without anyone noticing and without much effort.

However, she overlooked an important matter: moving graves must not be done in secret.

Regardless of the era, there are always people who have a sense of awe and reverence for ghosts and gods.

People are often puzzled by the sudden appearance of a grave, and may even mistake it for a grave in the wild.

People in this era value death more than life; otherwise, they wouldn't sell themselves into servitude to bury their fathers, or erect cenotaphs for their deceased relatives and hold elaborate ceremonies.

Lu Qiqi put down her chopsticks and went back to her room.

Fearing the wooden barrels at the post station might not be clean, Lu Qiqi took out the wooden barrels from her spatial storage.

Before long, someone from the kitchen brought hot water, and she took a comfortable hot bath before going to sleep.

In winter, the roads are slippery and wet with snow, and even the Shadow Guards dare not drive too fast on these rarely traveled sections.

Therefore, the group traveled at a leisurely pace, taking nearly half a month to reach the hillside behind Maoshan Village, where Chen was buried.

"It's just ahead."

Upon reaching the vicinity of Maoshan Village, Lu Qiqi abandoned the carriage, mounted her horse, and rode ahead to lead the way for the Shadow Guards.

The hillside was covered in snow, and the wild grass was also covered by snow. Fortunately, there were still thorns on the hillside, which held on and prevented it from collapsing.

Otherwise, it would have taken a lot of effort for the group to find Chen's grave in the snow.

Lu Qiqi walked to Chen's grave. The wooden tombstone was lying on the ground, covered with a layer of white snow.

She picked up the wooden tablet, brushed away the snow, and the name of the Chen family member became blurred.

She half-squatted down, looking at the mound of earth covered in snow, and said softly, "Mother, I went to the border town this time and learned that Father was a high-ranking official before he died, a centurion."

I imagine you and your father are reunited in the underworld by now.

When I last came to pay my respects, I told you about the veterans' village. The scenery there is beautiful, and I'm sure you and Dad would like it.

Ah Yao is also in the veterans' village, so our whole family can be together now.

After saying that, Nineteen arranged the offerings and handed Lu Qiqi a stick of incense.

Lu Qiqi glanced down at the offerings, took the incense and worshipped Chen Shi, and only spoke after the incense had burned out, "Let's begin."

The Shadow Guards were already prepared, and they started digging with shovels in hand.

After Chen died, there was no coffin; she was simply wrapped in a straw mat. Therefore, the Shadow Guards did not have much effort in placing her completely intact into the coffin.

Due to the slippery roads caused by the snow, as originally planned, the Shadow Guards first carried Chen's coffin to the Veterans' Village.

Looking at the white banner hanging on the coffin and the procession gradually receding into the distance, Lu Qiqi said softly, "Nineteen, let's go too."