Zhao Qingfeng and Zhao Qingluan immediately moved closer to their mother.

Zhao Qinghe had already thrown away all the lime powder packets. Using her half-baked light-footed skills, she jumped very high and shouted, "Hold your breath!"

A large amount of medicinal powder was scattered from the air.

It's that kind of super-drug, the kind that can kill an elephant.

The moment the powder was sprinkled, the wolves below slowed down.

When Zhao Qinghe landed, she landed right on the head of a wolf.

Using the momentum, he jumped again and landed in front of his two older brothers.

When Zhao Yonggeng's group rushed over to Zhao Qinglin's group, Zhao Qinglin was struggling with the alpha wolf.

With one hand pulling at the wolf's lower lip and the other holding a dagger against its teeth, Zhao Yonggeng was extremely dangerous. He then kicked the wolf in the waist.

With such strength, he kicked the wolf five or six meters away.

Zhao Qinglin, who was desperately tearing at the wolf's lips, held the severed lip in her hand, her face covered in blood.

Seeing the blood on his daughter's face, Zhao Yonggeng was so frightened that his heart almost stopped.

"Young lady, are you alright?"

Zhao Qinglin wiped her eyes, which were smeared with wolf blood, with her sleeve.

"Dad, could you have given me a heads-up? Your precious daughter has hurt her finger."

"I can't move now."

Zhao Yonggeng quickly squatted down to check his daughter's hand and found that she was holding a wolf's lip and couldn't move it. He tried to pull the thing off, but he just couldn't get it off.

"This is due to exhaustion. Later, have your mother apply some medicated oil to it and massage it well to help you relax."

With Zhao Yonggeng's help, Zhao Qinglin sat up. "Father, where's the alpha wolf?"

Zhao Yonggeng looked completely bewildered. "The alpha wolf? Where is the alpha wolf?"

Zhao Qinglin sighed helplessly, "Dad, it's the one you just kicked away."

Zhao Yonggeng said "Oh" and looked towards the wolf that had just been kicked away. He saw that the thing was trying hard to rise from the ground.

He swung his knife and instantly decapitated the alpha wolf.

As Zhao Yonggeng helped his daughter walk towards the camp, cheers erupted from the camp.

Why? Because the wolves were wiped out.

The wolf, drugged and then finished off, is now counting its spoils.

Several bodyguards reacted slowly and inhaled a lot of the sleeping potion before they could hold their breath. Zhao Qinghe gave them the antidote.

He's still in a daze, seeing everything as double. He's just sitting there grinning like an idiot.

After counting the wolf carcasses, all wolves that had been poisoned were bled and skinned on the spot, their internal organs and heads discarded, leaving only pieces of meat.

The wolves that were killed were drained of their blood, thrown into the carriage, and taken away.

Considering the strong smell of blood in the area, the group traveled through the night until dawn, when they discovered a small town in the distance ahead.

That town was like the carrot that fell in front of the donkey.

It took another hour or so to get into the town.

Because the group had killed seventy or eighty wolves the night before, they attracted a lot of attention when they entered the town.

After all, the pieces of wolf meat tied to the roof of the carriage were quite eye-catching.

After entering the town, they inquired around and found the largest inn. They booked a room and then placed all the wolf carcasses in front of the inn.

The whole wolf costs 20 taels of silver, the wolf skin costs 17 taels, and the meat pieces cost 4 taels.

As a result, the fastest-selling item was the whole wolf, while the slowest-selling item was the wolf pelt.

Of course, there were also clever ones who would package a wolf pelt with a piece of wolf meat for 20 taels.

Not only were the food and accommodation expenses covered, but the subsequent expenses were also covered.

Of course, Zhao Yonggeng couldn't do it that way. After deducting the expenses at the inn, he distributed the remaining silver among the bodyguards.

This really embarrassed the bodyguards.

They'd never seen an employer who was better at fighting than these镖局 (escort agencies) people who ran escort services all year round. Most of those wolves were wiped out by just a few people from the master's family.

They've made themselves look like mere decorations; how could they possibly accept money?

"This escort mission must have been the most time-consuming one for everyone. It must have taken up a lot of your time and business."

It's necessary to get more, especially since this money is free.

Since Zhao Yonggeng had said so, the bodyguards naturally accepted it gladly.

Each person received more than 20 taels of silver.

The group only attracted attention because of their high-profile sale of wolves.

Nobody's a fool. They can see how much stuff they have and calculate how much money they've made.

With the convoy being so large and imposing, Zhao Yonggeng and his group were followed as soon as they left the town.

The group acted as if they hadn't noticed the tail, walking slowly and seemingly taking a leisurely stroll.

They caught up with Zhao Yonggeng and his group twenty miles from the town.

They didn't say a word and just started grabbing it.

What they didn't expect was that, armed with machetes and wooden sticks, they were quickly brought down by professional broadswords, longswords, and hammers.

Forget about robbery, not only were all their loose change confiscated, but everyone's belts were pulled off and their big toes and feet were tied together.

Regardless of whether their backs were flexible enough, they were all tied up like commas.

Zhao Yonggeng didn't have time to report to the authorities, so before leaving, he broke the legs of these people.

Whether it will get better or not is no longer something they need to consider.

I don't know if these people are stupid. Zhao Yonggeng's group consisted of more than sixty people, but only about forty of them went to rob him.

Is this looking down on others or being too confident in oneself?

The result, naturally, was disastrous.

Before abandoning these people, Zhao Yonggeng left words on their faces and bodies: the words "robber" on their right cheeks, "robbery" on their left cheeks, and a conspicuous "criminal" character on their foreheads, drawn with cinnabar.

It looks quite terrifying.

Even though it was broad daylight, people passed by here. Those who could read were frightened, and those who couldn't read were terrified.

By the time someone reported it to the authorities and the constables arrived, it was already dark.

Because of maintaining one posture for a long time, the thumb finger is basically ruined due to lack of blood flow.

As for the legs, one was already broken, and with this injury, if you're lucky, you might save one, but if you're unlucky, both will be useless.

Of course, if someone were to get a doctor to treat him, there would be a chance of recovery. But which official would be willing to show kindness to a robber?

Except for corrupt officials, as long as the gifts are sufficient, everyone in the world is innocent.

A month later, Zhao Qingfeng arrived in Qi County, where he was to take up his post.

Upon entering the county, all I felt was desolation, decay, and ruin.

Throughout the county town, most of the houses were made of adobe, while brick and tile houses were mainly concentrated around the county government office.

The worst part is that half of the wall surrounding the backyard of the county government office has collapsed.

Logically, even if it collapsed, there should still be bricks left.

When asked, the constables chuckled and learned that the bricks had been picked up by the common people and taken home to build pigsties and dog kennels.

There were all sorts of people doing it, and it was only because the yamen runners sent people to keep an eye on it that the entire wall was torn down.

“Li County Magistrate, why is there only one hundred taels of silver in Qi County’s account?” Zhao Qingfeng was very shocked.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, our Qi County has been without a magistrate for two years."