Yun Zhe glanced at the two girls shivering from the cold, then looked sideways at the woman who was still seething with anger but dared not speak out. After thinking for a moment, Yun Zhe tossed them a silver coin. "Take two blankets."

The woman hesitated slightly before picking up the silver coin. Her mind was already contemplating whether she should ask for another coin—one coin for the blanket…

Then she saw Yun Zhe's eyes, which held a hint of murderous intent, and his longsword, slightly drawn. The woman subconsciously swallowed, pulled two blankets from the ground, and threw them at Yun Zhe's feet.

Yun Zhe was filled with doubt and indignation. He picked up the blankets and draped them over the two little girls.

At the city gate, Gao, who was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, saw Yun Zhe leading the two children back and his mouth dropped open so wide it could fit a goose egg.

Yun Zhe frowned, and upon seeing Gao, he unleashed a torrent of attacks.

"How were the numbers counted? The number of refugees is quite different from what you said."

Gao abruptly shut his mouth, but before he could reply, Yun Zhe spoke again.

How serious is child trafficking? Have you noticed people smuggling people right under your nose?

Gao sensed something was wrong. He had been busy building the castle recently, and his mind was focused on this place, so he hadn't been paying much attention to the refugees.

"The population is decreasing day by day, but the money spent on the refugees every day is not decreasing. Gao, corruption is very serious. You should have something to say to me about this, right?"

Cold sweat began to bead on Gao's forehead. He knelt down on one knee, trembling. "My lord, my lord, I'll go investigate right away and find out what's going on!"

Yun Zhe hummed in agreement. "You were waiting for me, weren't you? What's up?"

Gao then remembered what he had been anxious about earlier. He glanced at the two girls behind Yun Zhe, who were also curiously looking at him.

Gao coughed and whispered in Yun Zhe's ear, "Sir, we've made a big discovery. The Gao Chaizeng we released is indeed suspicious. He first went to see Omar and the others, and then met with a mysterious man who said a lot... a lot of bad things about you."

"A mysterious man? How mysterious?"

Gao continued, "That man's build and appearance didn't resemble a vagrant at all, and his accent had a Belvedere flavor."

Yun Zhe nodded, "That's right. It's not incomprehensible that a scholar who so highly praises Belvedere would become a traitor."

“If you try to manage both sides, it will be too tiring. Here’s what we’ll do: go and call Jerok and Morrison to my tent. We’ll discuss things later and try to get things sorted out at the castle.”

Gao was overjoyed and ran out like a shot, leaving Yun Zhe quite embarrassed. He still had something to say, wanting Gao to bring back a maid to help take care of the two girls, but judging from Gao's appearance, he probably had no intention of coming back.

Yun Zhe sighed, looked at the two girls trembling, and said, "Come on, let's go eat first."

"My lord, you must be Lord Yun Zhe..." the older girl said softly, biting her lip.

Yun Zhe was taken aback. "You know me?"

The girl shook her head. "I didn't know who you were at first, but he was very... polite to you. I thought, then you must be Lord Yun Zhe." The word "polite" made the girl think for a while. She wanted to express humility and obedience, but unfortunately, these two words were not in her dictionary.

"You know Gao?"

The girl nodded. "He shared food with us; he's a good person..."

Yun Zhe chuckled and patted the little girl's head. "Don't worry, I won't punish him. After all, I'm a good person too, right?"

The little girl's eyes brightened noticeably, and she nodded, seemingly in a much better mood.

Yun Zhe glanced at the other girl, who did seem much younger and still looked quite naive.

Yun Zhe squatted down. "By the way, what's your name?"

“My name is Hailey, and her name is Juno. I am thirteen years old, and Juno is three years younger than me, ten years old.”

"Okay, Hailey, I'll take you to buy some clothes first, and then we'll have a nice meal."

“Mom…” Juno turned back to where she came from and murmured those two words.

Hailey glanced at Yun Zhe somewhat awkwardly. Yun Zhe, however, seemed unfazed. He pulled Juno aside and said, "Juno, be good. Your mother has just gone to work in a faraway place and won't be able to take care of you for a while, so she asked me to take care of you. Once your mother has earned some money, she will come to pick you up."

Juno nodded, her eyes calming down considerably. Yun Zhe, on the other hand, felt a headache coming on. Juno looked ten years old, but seemed like a five or six-year-old child, while Hailey seemed much more normal, or rather, more mature than a thirteen-year-old girl.

Hailey looked at Yun Zhe with a playful gaze, her eyes filled with curiosity, scrutiny, disdain, and doubt. In her mind, however, she was thinking, "If you tell one lie now, you'll have to tell many more to cover it up later. You might as well just tell her directly."

"Haley, are you really thirteen?" Yun Zhe asked impatiently as he pulled the two of them toward the castle.

Hailey nodded. "I just had my birthday."

Yun Zhe couldn't help but think of Wu Sha, who was thousands of miles away. He thought that the two girls must be a perfect match.

The evening meeting proceeded in a delicate atmosphere.

Four grown men huddled in the tent under the dim light of an oil lamp, listening to the even breathing of the two girls beside them, and discussed the various problems they were facing in hushed tones.

"Is it possible that all of these things are actually one thing?" Morrison tapped the table, then lowered his voice under Yun Zhe's warning gaze.

Gao gradually realized what was going on. "You mean, the population decline, human trafficking, corruption, and collusion with the enemy were all done by the same group of people?"

"I don't understand how they smuggle people into the elven territory? The elves don't need us humans, and they hate human trafficking." Jerok was very puzzled. He didn't expect Yun Zhe to call him here tonight to discuss such a formal matter. He had just come from what happened with Ellie and Akdina and was still not in the right state of mind.

"Is it possible?" Yun Zhe said helplessly, "The place of the elves is just a cover. After all, if we told you the truth, you wouldn't agree to be sent to a foreign country."

Jerok awkwardly rubbed his temples, feeling quite apologetic for not being in the right frame of mind.

"My lord, what should we do?" Gao looked at Yun Zhe, his eyes full of eagerness.

“Clearly, human trafficking has formed a chain, and I suspect that the end point of human trafficking should be Belvaldo.” Yun Zhe snorted, feeling furious at the thought that Belvaldo was still trying to poach his employees.

“The route and the timing... they definitely won’t send them away one by one, but in batches,” Morrison said nervously. “But sir, you’ve already broken ties with them today. Could you have missed this opportunity?”

Yun Zhe thought for a moment, then shook his head. "You're right, but that woman is still waiting for that man named Stanton to come find her. I think this might be our only chance..."