It would be foolish for someone to stay after being acquitted. One second they thought they were going to be shot, and the next they were acquitted. It's so surprising. Only an idiot wouldn't run away and stay in such an unlucky place for the New Year.

With a rumble, people fled one after another out of the prison. The prison guards stood at the prison gate counting the number of people. All the prisoners had run away, and their speed stunned the guards, who were almost knocked away.

"How outrageous! Can't you see there's a living person here?! You hit and killed me! My God, it must be a personal vendetta! Weren't you just a little too harsh on you for the past ten days? Slow down! No one's going to arrest you and put you in jail, is it necessary to run so fast?"

By the time the prison guards realized what had happened, all the dozen or so people held in the large cell had quickly slipped away.

This was the first time in all his years as a prison guard that he had seen someone go to jail and be released without charge.

Even if someone lives to be a hundred, there will still be news to read.

Su Ying helped Grandma Gu hurriedly walk out, thinking that if she walked slowly, she would wake up from the dream.

Gu Sinian was not to be outdone. He helped Gu Huadong, who was trembling, and they jogged out of the prison as quickly as possible.

After spending ten days in prison, Su Ying was starving and unable to sleep well, and she almost smelled terrible. Now that her case had been overturned, she felt she had to hurry up and run away.

As they exited the prison gates, the group, who had been detained for some time and hadn't been exposed to the sun except for being taken out for fresh air in batches, were dazzled by the glare of the outside sun and could barely open their eyes.

As everyone emerged from the prison gates, the feeling of surviving a close call was wonderful, and they took deep breaths of the fresh air outside.

"The air outside is so fresh."

"Absolutely. These ten days in prison felt like ten years. I thought I was going to die, and I was prepared to be shot."

"Pah, pah, pah! Don't say such unlucky things. Say it again."

Sun Xuelin, with his mouth wide open, repeated an auspicious phrase: "Then I wish everyone wealth flowing in like the endless Yangtze River."

Everyone smiled with satisfaction upon hearing Sun Xuelin's blessing.

Having survived this life-or-death ordeal, they cherish their lives even more now.

The group stood at the prison gate, completely disoriented, as it was their first time visiting such an unlucky place.

How are we going to get back?

"That's a good question. I don't even know which way is the right path; I'll have to ask around."

After Sun Xuelin finished speaking, he strode out. He needed to find out the way back, since they had been transferred to a different prison since they came from there.

Having no money and not knowing how to get back, the group of people squatted down and chatted idly. At worst, they could walk back to Willow Village together and keep each other company.

Su Ying stood not far away, listening to their conversation, her brows furrowed. She didn't have the ability to walk back.

The oxcart would take more than two hours to travel that far. Hearing them discussing walking back to Willow Tree Village on foot, Su Ying felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of such a long journey.

Su Ying tugged at Gu Sinian's shirt and asked with a hint of helplessness.

"Is it really going to be a matter of walking back on foot? I can't do it, I definitely can't."

Gu Sinian put his arm around Su Ying's shoulder, looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to the couple, lowered his head slightly, and whispered in Gu Sinian's ear.

"There's no other way. Are we going to walk back penniless? Or are we going to hire an oxcart to go back?"

Su Ying blurted out that she had money to rent an oxcart. Although she didn't like riding in an oxcart, it was still better than walking back on foot.

"You've gone all out on this charade, and everyone's money has been plundered. I know you have money in your personal space, but how are you going to explain this to them?"

It is indeed quite troublesome to explain. They didn't have much money with them when they came, and even if someone had brought more, it would have all gone to the public.

It's a bit unreasonable to suddenly take out money to hire an oxcart to go back.

They had no choice but to accept their fate and let bus number 11 take them back to Liushu Village.

"Aren't you going to return the money they took from us when they arrested us? The money we all handed over together is barely enough to cover the travel expenses back to Willow Tree Village."

Gu Sinian showed no impatience and patiently answered any questions his wife asked.

"Do you remember who took the money?"

Su Ying was so worried at the time that she didn't have time to care what the people who arrested her looked like, nor did she have the mind to.

"How could I remember that? At the time, I was only concerned with my own life and death. I didn't even remember who stole our money."

The man spread his hands and shrugged helplessly. "There's nothing we can do about it. The people who stole our money are the same people who brought us here. Ten whole days have passed. Even if you try to find them, you can't remember who's who. It's a complete mess."

There was nothing that could be done about taking care of Si Nian, so Su Ying had no choice but to give up her unrealistic fantasies.

That's right. They've gone through so many changes of hands over the past ten years. Who can say for sure how they could possibly get back such a paltry sum?

Yan Yan pulled the dejected Su Ying aside and comforted her, "It's alright, child. If we don't have any money, we'll walk back to Willow Village. We can earn money again. Luckily, we survived. This is a stroke of good fortune amidst misfortune."

Su Ying agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "I wonder which great benefactor came to our rescue. The charges against us were already set in stone, and we were sentenced to be executed by firing squad. It's quite rare that the case could be overturned."

Gu Sinian continued Su Ying's words, "Ordinary people who are sentenced to immediate execution by firing squad will find it difficult to overturn the case. This can only mean that the person who helped us is in a high position of power. The people in Dongshi are very afraid of his power and obediently follow the procedures. Otherwise, this case would not have been overturned at all."

After listening to Gu Sinian's detailed explanation, everyone understood a lot of the intricacies involved.

Gu Sinian was a former regimental commander and knew the ins and outs of the matter very well. The order from the Beijing commander to kill them meant that no one dared to challenge him or offend him. This could only mean that the person who could help them was an official with an even higher status than the Huo family.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!