Chapter 19: A Bandit Family

King Hu passes.

Xie Lan raised her hand weakly: "Axun, I can eat what I cook, but... I won't eat it if I can avoid it."

The same goes for the others, they were all once dignitaries. Even if they occasionally made soup or cakes, the servants would prepare the ingredients and they would put them in the pot, and that would be considered as making it themselves.

Okay.

Shen Xun turned to Zhong Danyue and said, "Ayue, does that Aunt Sun know how to cook?"

Zhong Danyue was stunned. She seemed to have thought of something. "Yes, before being taken in as my father's concubine, Aunt Sun was a cook."

"It just so happens that we don't have anyone who can cook here. Why don't you go ask Aunt Sun if she's willing to come over?"

Zhong Danyue hesitated and said, "Auntie Sun is going to take care of the whole family along the way. Will my father and stepmother agree?"

"You don't need their consent," Shen Xun gave Qi Yunzhou a look, "Zhou'er, you and A Yue go together. If they agree, they'll give you ten taels of silver. If they don't agree..."

Xie Lan continued, "There's a butcher knife on the donkey cart. I just saw it."

Shen Xun nodded, "First courtesy, then force."

Qi Yunzhou nodded, "Mom, I understand."

After saying that, he and Zhong Danyue walked towards the Zhong family.

Qi Yunxi raised his voice and said, "Sister Yue, if they refuse, remember to call me to whip them!"

She really wanted to try her hand at the sparkling jewel whip.

King Hu looked at the bandit-like behavior of this family and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

I heard that his third nephew went to Bawang Mountain and became the king of the mountain. It’s true that people who are not from the same family will not marry.

The Zhong family are all bullies who only bully the weak and fear the strong. When they saw Qi Yunzhou accompanying Zhong Danyue, they didn't even dare to fart.

Only when Zhong Danyue proposed to spend ten taels of silver to buy Aunt Sun did Zhong's father stand up and refuse.

"That won't do," said Zhong's father hypocritically, "Auntie Sun is a member of my Zhong family. How can I sell her off so easily?"

Zhong Danyue retorted, "If you don't have money to buy food, won't you sell Aunt Sun?"

Mr. Zhong said nothing.

Can it be the same?

If I sell it to the officials, I can at least gain some favor from them, but if I sell it to Zhong Danyue, I will never be able to get money from Zhong Danyue through Aunt Sun again.

That's right, when Mr. Zhong saw Aunt Sun taking the silver from Zhong Danyue, he thought of using the same trick again in the future. Zhong Danyue was kind-hearted and would not bear to see Aunt Sun being sold.

Aunt Sun sat quietly on the side, seeing that Father Zhong looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, with a numb expression.

Qi Yunzhou pulled Zhong Danyue and said, "Yue'er, stop talking nonsense with them."

As he spoke, he waved towards Qi Yunxi.

Qi Yunxi stood up excitedly, brandishing the whip in her hand with great vigor.

Zhong Tianci and his mother hid behind his father, who said in horror, "You, aren't you afraid of being blamed by the police?!"

Qi Yunxi smiled evilly, "Blame? Who would blame?"

Mr. Zhong looked towards the officer, and saw that the officer was looking at the Zhong family with concern, looking up at the sky and down at the ground, but he didn't even look at the Zhong family.

The same is true for prisoners.

Seeing that Qi Yunxi was about to whip her, the grandmother of the Zhong family spoke up, "Stop!"

The old lady opened her eyes and stared at Zhong Danyue with her cloudy old eyes, "Yue'er, do you really want to join forces with outsiders to bully your family?"

Zhong Danyue panicked and said subconsciously: "Grandma, I..."

"Hey," Qi Yunxi grabbed Zhong Danyue's hand and said to Old Lady Zhong, "You old fool, you want to teach my sister Yue a lesson? If I didn't see that half of your bones were buried in the ground, I would beat you too!"

Qi Yunxi kept chattering, making the old lady's hands tremble with anger.

She took the ten taels of silver from Qi Yunzhou and threw it into Zhong's father's hand, "Auntie Sun, let's go."

Aunt Sun hesitated and said, "My indenture is still in the master's pocket..."

Qi Yunxi snapped his fingers, "Brother."

Qi Yunzhou understood what he meant, picked up Zhong's father like a chicken, searched his pocket, took out the indenture contract and tore it up.

"Isn't that solved?" Qi Yunxi said disdainfully, "Brother, you are so stupid. No wonder Sister Yue didn't agree to you."

Qi Yunzhou's face darkened, "..."

Stinky girl!

After returning, Chen Xun praised them generously and gave everyone a thumbs up.

Qi Yunxi moved Shen Xun's hand towards her and said proudly, "Big brother's is mine too!"

Shen Xun couldn't help laughing.

Oh my, her Yunxi is so cute!

After adding a pair of bowls and chopsticks for Aunt Sun, Shen Xun saw that she was very reserved, so he asked, "Aunt Sun, what is your real name?"

Aunt Sun was stunned and thought for five seconds before she replied, "My name is Hui Niang."

Chen Xun nodded, "Then we will call you Hui Niang from now on. Hui Niang, please eat more. You will have to cook for so many people along the way."

Aunt Sun, no, she should be called Sun Hui Niang. She is only in her twenties, about the same age as Shen Xun and others.

It's just that he suffered a lot in the Zhong family, so he looks a little old.

Sun Huiniang responded softly and began to eat the slices of meat that Zhong Danyue had put in her bowl.

She almost forgot her own name.

After dinner, Shen Xun took a notebook and a pen, writing and drawing while muttering something to himself.

Xie Lan sat next to her, "Axun, what are you writing?"

Shen Xun bit the tip of his pen, "I'm trying to figure out how many of these people I can recruit."

Xie Lan glanced at the prisoners scattered around and asked, "Axun, what are you doing with them?"

Shen Xun did not hide it from him, "The Youzhou we are going to is vast and sparsely populated, but it is rich in resources. It requires a lot of manpower, and these people are not enough. Along the way, I have to find a way to get more people to go to Youzhou together."

Xie Lan didn't ask her how she knew that, but smiled and said, "Then I'll work with you to find a solution."

He took out a can of chestnuts, and seeing that Shen Xun had no time to eat them, he fed them to her one by one.

Qi Yunzhou saw the two of them leaning against each other, and pulled Qi Yunxi who wanted to get closer to his parents.

"Go sleep in your sister Yue's tent."

It was a dreamless night. Only the prisoners who were frightened by Su Yang could not sleep all night. They were worried that the wolf would come.

But the wolf did not appear until dawn, so he fell drowsy while traveling during the day and was whipped several times for falling behind.

For the next few days, the team stayed in the wild. On this day, before dark, they finally came across a dilapidated temple where they could hide from the cold wind.

The weather is getting colder and people are shivering at night.

"Finally, I can finally get a good night's sleep."

He Changqing muttered to himself.

"Why do you say that, father?"

He Changqing's son asked, "Didn't Father get enough rest these days?"

He Changqing waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want to mention it.

Could he tell his son that he was so scared that he couldn't sleep in the wild because of Su Yang's words?

We're staying in the temple today, so there shouldn't be any wolves around, right?

He Changqing was the husband of the Grand Princess, Qi Yunzhou's aunt. However, the Grand Princess died a few years ago, and Qi Yunzhou and He Changqing had little contact.

Everyone built a few fires and were about to go to sleep when suddenly, they heard a few wolf howls outside.