The next day, Aunt Cui and Second Brother Cui both woke up. Although they couldn't accept reality, they still had to, right?

Old Master Cui and Chen Shou asked for help to carry the three coffins of the Cui family into the ancestral cemetery, while the stableman died unjustly. Chen Shou also spent money to have him buried in a good place.

Although Cui Lao Er's injuries were not minor, at least they were to his back, not his legs, so he could still walk. Cui Da Niang was only frightened and had no external injuries.

When the village head heard that they were leaving, he naturally wouldn't stop them. After all, the dead person wasn't from his family. As for the knife, he could investigate it slowly.

“Brother Chen, let’s head into the mountains. That way, those guys won’t be able to find us. I know a mountain path that leads out.” Old Cui said. He was a good hunter, and in his spare time, he would often hunt some game for his mother, younger brother and sister, and later his wife and daughter. He knew these mountains very well. After all, this was where he had lived for nearly thirty years, and he and his second brother had explored every inch of the surrounding mountains. He knew exactly where the caves and streams were.

“Alright, you’re familiar with them, so we need to avoid those people. But we should still bring some weapons. Is there a blacksmith shop in the village that sells knives?” Chen Shou asked.

“Yes. You’re right. When we go into the mountains, we’re bound to encounter wild animals, so we should prepare some knives,” Old Cui said.

What?! There are wild animals too?!

Chen Shou felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't taken the knife to defend himself against wild animals!

So, Old Cui took Chen Shou to the only blacksmith's house in the village.

In the blacksmith's workshop, iron tools such as hoes and shovels were hanging everywhere, but there were no decent weapons.

Chen Shou looked around but couldn't find any weapons he could carry for self-defense. In the end, he only saw two or three kitchen knives, so he had no choice but to say to Boss Cui, "These are all I can take."

But Boss Cui was different. He took a fancy to a plowing knife, though it wasn't quite a knife. Its shape was a bit strange, but with a long handle attached, it looked somewhat like a trident.

"I need this urgently. I won't be afraid of a wolf or anything in the mountains," Old Cui said with a chuckle. This was the first smile he had shown since his wife and children were killed.

Chen Shou was also touched by the man's enthusiasm. He took two slightly lighter kitchen knives, paid the blacksmith, and the two left with the items.

And so, Chen Shou, the two Cui brothers, and Aunt Cui went into the mountains together.

Little did they know that the men in black were not so easy to get rid of. They were assassins who had been kept by someone for five years and never missed a kill. This time, they had been defeated by Boss Cui, which was already a great disgrace.

After Cui Laoda and his men had been gone for a day, the man in black changed his clothes and disguised himself as an ordinary person to inquire about the Cui family. The villagers, naturally unaware of this, told him in detail that his family had suffered a calamity and that the rest of them had already left.

Upon receiving this news, the leader of the men in black became even more determined to succeed, but after repeated failures, he was afraid to face his master when he returned.

Besides, Boss Cui and his group had been in the mountains for most of the day, and they had been traveling very quickly without encountering a single rabbit, let alone any large insects or ferocious beasts.

However, Chen Shou was still a little scared. He learned from Cui Laoda that it would take at least four or five days to walk out of the mountains, which meant they would have to spend the night in the mountains.

As night fell, Boss Cui deliberately found a sheltered spot under a cliff to spend the night. He had brought a tinderbox with him when he left, so they quickly lit a fire.

"Mother, you, Second Brother, and Brother Chen, sit here for a while. I'll go find some wild fruits for you and see if I can catch a rabbit." Old Master Cui looked quite imposing holding the trident.

Aunt Cui nodded, and Cui Lao Er had no objections either. He had injured his back and had been feeling a bit unwell, so it was already good enough that he could keep up and not fall behind.

“Hey, Brother Cui, let’s take our rations and stop looking. It feels a bit unsettling to be out in these mountains and forests without you,” Chen Shou said.

"Keep the rations, just in case. It's very safe here; no wild animals come here. They're all afraid of fire and don't come this way anyway. Don't worry." The more Elder Cui spoke, the more frightened Chen Shou became.

Humans are strange like that. Chen Shou wasn't afraid in such a dangerous situation just two days ago, but he was really scared in this wilderness where the danger was unknown.

Old Cui went to find food, and Aunt Cui sighed, "I never thought that at my age I would be homeless. Xiaoyun, you haven't come back for more than ten years, and now that I've heard from you, it has brought such a disaster."

The old lady still felt sorry for her sons. Seeing that both of them had lost their wives and their granddaughter, she was naturally heartbroken and couldn't help but feel some resentment towards her daughter, whom she hadn't seen for over a decade. Luckily, her younger daughter was married; otherwise, she probably wouldn't have escaped the same fate.

Cui Lao Er's feelings for Cui Niang were not as deep as those for Cui Lao Da. Cui Niang passed away when Cui Lao Er was only a few years old, so naturally his relationship with this older sister was not as strong as that between Cui Lao Da and Cui Niang. He harbored some resentment in his heart.

Chen Shou understood that this was only natural. One might have given up hope of never seeing a loved one again, but then suddenly news arrives – not good news, but bad news, even news that could be fatal. The last vestige of kinship slowly fades away.

“Aunt, please don’t blame Aunt Cui. She stayed in the palace to prevent her from bringing trouble to you, but it seems she couldn’t avoid it anyway,” Chen Shou said.

"She's just a palace maid, why is she getting involved in the affairs between the masters?" Cui Lao Er muttered.

“Second Brother Cui, sometimes people are not in control of their own lives. Aunt Cui could have left the palace long ago, but for the sake of your family's well-being, she preferred to remain alone in the palace, hoping not to implicate you. Now, she has also begged our Consort. It's just that the Consort's people arrived too quickly,” Chen Shou said.

Before Cui Lao Er could say anything more, Cui Da Niang stopped him. After all, she was her own daughter, and she wasn't indifferent to her love. Hearing Chen Shou's words, the resentment in her heart disappeared.

"Sigh, second son, your sister has had a hard life too. Now that this has happened, let's not blame her," the old woman said.

Then, Old Cui returned. He had only been gone for a short while, and he was carrying a pheasant and some wild apples.

"Come on, pluck the pheasant, gut and clean it, then roast it," said Old Cui.