"My lady, what brings us to this security escort agency?"

The carriage stopped in front of the Longmen Escort Agency, and Huang Dehai looked at Lin Xue with some puzzlement.

"Old Ma, come here!"

Lin Xue did not immediately acknowledge Huang Dehai, but instead called out to the driver sitting in front.

"Madam, what are your orders?"

Upon hearing Lin Xue's call, Old Ma immediately jumped off the carriage and came to Lin Xue's side.

"There are seven horses in total. I'll give you two. You mustn't tell anyone about what happened today!"

Lin Xue led Lao Ma aside and discussed it with him in a low voice.

"Madam, this is not a good idea!"

Old Ma subconsciously swallowed twice. This was a horse, a horse that was several times more expensive than a cow!

"I might go to the yamen later. If they ask, just say that I'm skilled in martial arts and drove away those bandits. Pretend you know nothing else!"

"As for these horses, they have nothing to do with those mountain bandits. We just picked them up by the roadside and they're unclaimed. If anyone asks, we'll just say we bought them from the prefectural government!"

Lin Xue continued speaking in a low voice, and after listening, Old Ma rolled his eyes and nodded repeatedly.

If he could get two horses for free, he wouldn't have to continue working for the horse stable!

With his own horses, if he takes on business independently, all the money goes into his own pocket. Why would he need to be exploited by the horse trading company?

"Old Ma, you take the two horses back now, and then we'll continue our journey to Linzhou Prefecture tomorrow!"

Huang Dehai had no idea what the two were whispering about behind his back, but he felt abandoned.

That's clearly my own wife, so why does she talk to outsiders instead of telling me what's going on?

A short while later, Huang Dehai saw Old Ma untie five horses from the back of the carriage, and then he drove the carriage away with the horses.

"Wife, why did Old Ma leave? Aren't we going to Linzhou Prefecture?"

Huang Dehai watched the carriage gradually disappear around the corner, feeling somewhat melancholy.

"My lord, it's getting late. Let's continue our journey tomorrow!"

"Let's go to the escort agency first!"

Lin Xue led five horses into the gate of the escort agency.

"Sir, what goods do you need to transport?"

As soon as the two entered, the staff immediately and warmly greeted them.

"We want to send these horses back to our hometown. Would your escort agency accept them?"

Lin Xue pointed to the five horses following behind her. These five horses were of different sizes, some fat and some thin, some strong and some weak, and it was obvious that they were not from the same batch.

"Please come over here and fill in your information!"

This Longmen Escort Agency is quite professional, Lin Xue glanced at their shipping manifest.

He filled in his home address on it and then noted down the specific characteristics of the five horses.

After filling in all the information, Lin Xue thought to herself, "This is something that was stolen after all."

Then, he filled in two more barrels of medicine on the form and had the Longmen Escort Agency transport them back to Huangjia Village and give them to Old Man Huang.

"Guest, these horses are fine, but what are these two buckets of medicine for?"

Business owners must have a clear understanding of the goods being transported; otherwise, they wouldn't dare accept the order, because if the goods contained poison, something terrible could happen!

"These two buckets of medicinal liquid are specially prepared for these five horses, specifically to improve their health. Give them to my father-in-law, Huang Yousheng. He can tell what it is just by smelling it!"

Lin Xue was worried that the horses wouldn't stay at Lao Huang's house. If they ran away on their own, their family would suffer a huge loss.

He was thinking of getting some spiritual spring water to take back, so that Old Man Huang could feed the horses a meal, and he would make sure that the horses would stay obediently at Old Man Huang's house and would never think of running away again.

"So it was just to help these horses recover. Then everything's fine!"

"Where are your two buckets of medicine? If you can deliver them within an hour, we can take these horses back to Huangjia Village tonight!"

The receptionist looked at the horses; although their strength varied, they should be able to run normally without any problems.

"I'll go and bring you the two buckets of medicine right away. Please wait a moment, young master!"

After saying that, Lin Xue pulled Huang Dehai aside.

"Husband, wait here for me a moment. I'll go get two buckets of medicine. These horses have only just arrived at our home, and we don't know if they have any diseases. We need to get some medicine to prevent them from getting sick!"

Lin Xue told Huang Dehai about her decision and then prepared to walk outside.

"Wife, shall we just take these horses home?"

In Huang Dehai's mind, that's not how he felt about the ownership of these horses!

This is, after all, a bandit's mount. Is it alright for them to take it home like this?

"Husband, we found these horses together with Old Ma. I've already given him two, and the rest will definitely be transported back to our hometown for our father to look after!"

"If you pass this time, you'll probably be able to take the palace examination soon. Then you'll be assigned an official position. Don't we need horses to haul goods to our new posts?"

"Do you think our family can afford to buy all this? We can't keep renting from others!"

Huang Dehai didn't know what was going on, but after being fooled by Lin Xue a few times, he waited at Longmen Escort Agency in a daze.

Seeing how easy-going her husband was, Lin Xue couldn't help but feel worried.

With that henpecked husband, if we don't keep a close eye on her, who knows what might happen!

Soon, Lin Xue went to the grocery store next door and bought two large wooden buckets.

These large wooden barrels come with lids, and as long as they are tied up with ropes, the water inside will generally not spill out.

Lin Xue drew a small bucket of water from the well in the backyard of the general store, then threw in some prepared medicinal herbs, filled it with spiritual spring water, sealed the bucket, and tied it tightly with the hemp rope she had bought.

Finally, he wrote a note and stuffed it into the pile of ropes binding the wooden barrels.

After settling these matters, Lin Xue spent another five coins to have the general store staff deliver the two buckets of water to the Longmen Escort Agency.

After paying one tael and two mace of silver to the Longmen Escort Agency, Lin Xue took the receipt and left with Huang Dehai.

"What should we do now, my wife? Should we find an inn to stay in?"

Seeing Lin Xue wandering aimlessly, Huang Dehai tugged at her sleeve with some concern.

"Husband, do you think we should report those bandits to the authorities?"

Lin Xue had been struggling with this issue. In fact, when she let the bandits go, Lin Xue left something on them, so now it would be incredibly easy for her to find them.

“My lady, I’ve heard of these bandits before. I heard they’re from Little Swallow Mountain.”

"The terrain of Xiaoyan'er Mountain is complex. The imperial court has sent people to besiege it many times, but unfortunately they haven't even been able to find the location of the bandits' den!"