Han Zhongyu gritted his teeth and endured the torture for a quarter of an hour. Xie Yushu re-bandaged him, and just then Liu Qiang brought over the medicine he had prepared, which Han Zhongyu drank together!

"Go and rest! I'll watch over things here!"

Seeing Xie Yushu's exhausted face, Liu Qiang couldn't help but say something.

"Alright!"

Xie Yushu was indeed tired. She responded and fell asleep next to Qu Xiaodie.

Xie Yushu slept soundly until dawn before stretching and opening her eyes!

"Hey! You're awake! Perfect timing for dinner! We have vegetables and soup!"

Qu Xiaodie greeted Xie Yushu when she saw her open her eyes.

Xie Yushu tried to clear her head, and when she went over to take a look, there really was food and soup.

"That's right! This meal was quite extravagant!"

Tianqi? Father, Second Uncle, what brings you here too?

Xie Yushu was somewhat surprised to see Xie Tianqi, Liu Xiaodong, Xie Baotian, and Xie Baoshu all there.

When Xie Tianqi heard Xie Yushu ask, she huffed and puffed.

"Sister, those ungrateful bastards are afraid that if we gather information they'll attract the bandits, so they told us to stay away from them to avoid getting involved. They even kicked Dad and Second Uncle out too!"

"Someone must be up to no good!" Liu Qiang said coldly.

"Never mind them! It's good that you're here. Xiaodie and I packed some cornbread in town yesterday, so we can have a few good meals here! By the way, do you guys know Qu Xiaodie?"

"I've met you! Sister Xiaodie said you two are best friends who have gone through thick and thin together! From now on, you're my older sister too!"

"Then you'd better try to curry favor with your Sister Xiaodie, she's really good at kung fu!"

"Really! Sister Xiaodie, I want to become your apprentice!"

Qu Xiaodie smiled

"You're already calling me 'sister,' why are you asking me to be your apprentice? If you're eager to learn, I'll teach you in a bit!"

"That's great, Sister Xiaodie, from now on you're my real sister!"

"I'll learn too! You'll be my older sister from now on!"

Liu Xiaodong was not to be outdone and immediately squeezed forward to speak.

"OK!"

"Xiaodie, why don't you take the time to be everyone's martial arts instructor? We're all on the same side here, so let's all learn from each other and improve our team's fighting strength! If we stick together, we won't get bullied!"

Qu Xiaodie already found life boring, and teaching martial arts was something she was good at, so she readily agreed!

Upon hearing that they could learn martial arts, Liu Qiang, who was originally indifferent, lit up, and even Xie Baoshu was eager to try! The group chattered excitedly around Qu Xiaodie about learning martial arts, while Xie Yushu went to check on the injured Lord Han.

Lord Han was also quite energetic at this moment, watching the group of people chattering away leisurely! He had never experienced such a scene in the first twenty-six years of his life—it was peaceful, warm, and full of everyday life!

It makes you feel relaxed and comfortable!

"How are you feeling, Lord Han?"

"Great!"

Out of professional habit, Xie Yushu reached out and touched his forehead!

"Not bad! It's not burning anymore!"

"You, you, you woman, how can you be so frivolous!"

Lord Han's face turned bright red!

Xie Yushu was dumbfounded, and it took her a while to react before she scolded him in an annoyed tone.

"What are you getting so worked up about? I was just checking if you still had a fever! What are you thinking!"

Han Zhongyu realized he had been misunderstood and was even more embarrassed! He stammered...

"How dare you, a woman, speak such vulgar words!"

Xie Yushu gave Han Zhongyu a cool look.

"May I ask, Your Excellency Han, a man of refined manners, what do you call farts?"

Han Zhongyu covered his head and said

"I'm hungry!"

"Wait!"

"Alright, you guys, stop talking and let's eat!"

Xie Tianqi, take this wild vegetable soup with steamed cornbread to Lord Han!

Xie Yushu came out to greet the group of people who were chatting enthusiastically.

Upon hearing this, Xie Tianqi brought over some wild vegetable soup and steamed cornbread to Han Zhongyu!

The group enjoyed a hearty meal together.

Although it was just the simplest wild vegetable soup and cornbread, the group seemed to taste the flavor of the Chinese New Year!

After dinner, everyone practiced martial arts with Qu Xiaodie. Since Liu Nan and Liu Bei hadn't returned and Lord Han's injuries hadn't healed, they couldn't take any action for the time being. For the next seven days, everyone basically just ate, practiced martial arts, and slept!

Occasionally, Xie Tianqi and Liu Xiaodong would go out for a stroll. They heard that Zhang Zhidao was frantically searching for someone! The city gates were all open, and he was searching every refugee camp!

Qu Xiaodie, the martial arts instructor, is truly remarkable. The moves she taught are simple yet practical, and the combat power of the group has increased significantly. Xie Yushu, having learned the lightness skill, can not fly like Qu Xiaodie, but her running and jumping are noticeably faster and higher than before!

Liu Qiang, Liu Xiaodong, Xie Tianqi, and the others had not systematically learned any martial arts techniques; they all chose the most direct and lethal moves to practice, which unexpectedly yielded positive results!

On the eighth day, Liu Nan and Liu Bei brought back Yi Shuihan, the garrison commander of Chuzhou. Han Zhongyu's stitches had also been removed, and he was now free to move around as he pleased!

The garrison general appeared to be in his mid-twenties, dressed in a blue, fitted outfit. He had a relaxed face, was of medium height, and stood tall and straight. Seeing Han Zhongyu leisurely practicing his punches, he jumped directly in front of Han Zhongyu and exchanged a few moves with him, jokingly saying...

"Your few cotton-fist moves are barely enough to tickle me!"

I'm asking you, can you handle this? If not, then stay put. You're just a few greedy scoundrels; I'll take care of you!

Just call me "Big Brother" from now on!

"Dream on! You'll be the younger brother for the rest of your life!"

"Sigh! I'm just unlucky, I'm a step behind you! Look how cocky you are!"

"Tell me! What do you want to do?! I snuck out here, the court hasn't given me my transfer order yet! It has to be quick, I need to get back!"

"Why did you come in person? Just send me some people!"

"I heard you almost died! I was worried, so of course I had to come and see what happened!"

Xie Yushu, listening from the side, felt her teeth ache. This is what they call having some kind of relationship? Better like best buddies! Tsk tsk!

After the two best buddies finished exchanging pleasantries and getting to know each other, they ate a quick meal and then began to plan their actions.

With the investigation progressing to this point, it's almost certain that someone in the capital is protecting Zhang Zhidao. Requesting the imperial court to send troops would definitely alert this person. Therefore, Yi Shuihan only brought his trusted confidants quietly—a little over three hundred men, not many, but of high quality. More than enough to deal with a few corrupt officials!

As long as we deal with Zhang Zhidao and the others, a few bandits will be no problem!

Since conventional methods are not feasible, violence is the most effective way, and the final plan is not complicated.

They split into two groups.

Half of the men stayed outside the city, while a few were sent to pose as disaster victims and cause trouble, luring the guards out of the city and capturing them outside.

Half of the people followed Han Zhongyu into the city, where, as imperial envoys, they openly and legitimately investigated and dealt with what needed to be investigated.

Two additional groups were assigned to guard the roads leading to the capital and the bandits' stronghold, respectively, to cut off communication.

Xie Tianqi and Liu Xiaodong were quite familiar with the situation at the city gate, and in the past few days they had also made a few friends and figured out the temperaments of the porridge-distributing yamen runners.