Dong Yishu and Li Yang also noticed the commotion here and rushed over. After roughly understanding the situation, they decided to move forward and stay in Jiangjia Village. Because sleeping in the wild is not as comfortable as sleeping in a house.
Dong Yishu has lost a lot of weight recently and can't stand the days of sleeping in the open air. He also thinks that with so many officers and soldiers here, even if there are any men in black, they will probably have to take a detour when they see them.
Besides, Zhou Shuo just had surgery, so he needs to rest well! Dong Yishu wanted to curry favor with Duke Anguo, so he naturally had to take good care of Zhou Shuo.
Li Yang had no way to stop him and could only let the exiled prisoner move forward.
Gu Yanming arranged for Jianshu to escort Zhu Xiu and her son to the next village and check on the situation.
Soon, the army found a small village with about a hundred households ahead. Only a few windows were lit with dim flames.
Dong Yishu sent people to knock on the doors of several families, but as soon as they heard the sound, they quickly turned off the lights. No matter how hard they knocked, the people refused to open the door.
Ye Xinran didn't care whether to sleep in the house or in the wild. She was going to stay here for the night anyway, so she asked the people here to make a fire and cook. She took out food from the space and asked them to cook porridge, dried meat, steamed buns, and wild vegetables picked today, which was considered rich.
"Where are you from and why are you here?" An old woman's voice sounded timidly, not daring to look at anyone.
It turned out that at some point, Madam Yu went to knock on the door, and when the man heard the old woman's voice, he felt relieved and opened the door. But no one came out, he just opened a crack and stuck his head out.
"We are soldiers! We are passing by here and would like to stay for one night!" Dong Yishu's eyes lit up when he saw the villager open the door, and he hurried forward to start a conversation.
His smile was gentle and his tone was sincere, but it frightened the old woman. She couldn't help but hide behind the door.
"We have nothing here. All the men have been captured, and even the livestock are gone! Don't come here again."
Dong Yishu was embarrassed. It was the first time he was despised by someone, and that person was an old woman in the village.
Ye Xinran raised her eyebrows when she saw this scene. Logically speaking, most people would unconsciously approach Dong Yishu's face, so why would they hide? Could it be that someone good-looking had come before and ended up bringing disaster to them?
"We don't want your stuff. We just want to stay for one night and leave tomorrow morning!" Li Yang explained, trying to make his voice gentle.
The old woman stopped listening, glanced hurriedly outside, and slammed the door shut. No matter what others said, she would not come out, and the lights went out.
The crowd had no choice but to set up camp at the entrance of the village.
After dinner, I packed up and prepared to go to bed. At this time, Jianshu came back, holding Jiang Yubao in his arms, and Zhu Xiu followed behind him.
Zhu Xiu's eyes were red, obviously she had been crying again.
Ye Xinran and Gu Yanming stepped forward, and Jianshu shook his head at them. Then he handed the child to Daoqin and walked aside before speaking.
"All the men in the village are missing, leaving only the elderly, the weak, women and children. Zhu Xiu's brother and younger brother were also arrested, and her sister-in-law ran away with her nephew. No one is left in their family." After Jianshu finished speaking, he added with a serious expression.
"I felt something was wrong. As soon as I entered the village, I felt like I was being watched. When we left the village, we encountered two men in black, whom I killed. I saw a mark on the sole of one of their feet!"
Gu Yanming and Ye Xinran were both stunned!
"What mark!" Ye Xinran asked.
"It's different from the previous two!"
Jian Shu was on the ground, holding a branch and gesturing, saying, "It looks like 'small' in size! I can see it clearly, it looks like 'small'!"
"It seems that we have to go to the next village to check out the situation!" Gu Yanming narrowed his eyes and said with a cold body.
Ye Xinran nodded. He asked Jianshu and Daoqin to stay to protect everyone, and said something to Old Yan and Old Madam Yu. The two of them went to the village that Jianshu mentioned.
In order to save time, Gu Yanming still carried Ye Xinran through the forest and soon arrived at the next village.
The next village is Zhujia Village, which also has hundreds of households. Most of the houses are stacked on top of each other on the hillside, and from a distance, it looks like a house on top of another.
Ye Xinran and Gu Yanming found the largest courtyard with lights on, quietly climbed onto the roof, looked around several rooms, and finally saw figures in a room in the corner. It was an old woman and an old man.
"Old lady, I feel very uneasy!" The old man sat on the kang, crossed his legs and sighed.
"There's nothing we can do about it! The other party said that we can't report it to the police. Otherwise, our three sons and two grandsons will all die!" The old woman wiped her eyes. She couldn't calm down. She threw the half-finished needlework into a bamboo basket on the side and started to cry.
"Old woman, hey! Don't cry, what's the point of crying?" The old man's voice was also choked. "Crying makes my mind confused!"
The old woman raised her head and said angrily, "I've said before that our village is a bad place, full of evil. A Taoist priest passed by us before and said, 'Our back mountain is like an ancient battlefield? It's full of murderous aura! It's not suitable for living here. But you didn't listen and insisted on settling here!"
The old man waved his hands and said unhappily, "Listen to his nonsense, all that murderous stuff! He just wants us to give him more money.
No one knows what's going on with this place better than me. This is a Feng Shui treasure land, and it was the fief of a prince in the previous dynasty!
Later, dynasties changed, and it was still more prosperous than the nearby Xiangcheng and Lvlicheng. But after an earthquake, people moved away. There are still ruins of the town in the back mountain, but the road is difficult to walk on and there are wild beasts, so few people go there! "
After the old man finished speaking, he lowered his voice again.
"I heard from my father that there seems to be a treasure house left by the prince of the previous dynasty in the back mountain. I guess those men in black are coming for the treasure house!"
"Even if there is a treasure trove, you still need someone alive to take it!" The old woman cried angrily, "Our son and grandson were harmed by you!"
The old man was not convinced, "What do you know? Do you want them to get into trouble? You said that gold and silver are not important, but do you want our children and grandchildren to be farmers who work hard in the fields for generations? They will be trapped in this mountain village forever!"
The old woman was speechless. Who doesn’t want their children to live a good life?
Gu Yanming and Ye Xinran looked at each other and pointed outside. Ye Xinran nodded. The two left the yard.
"It seems that there really might be some treasure house nearby, and the men in black have captured all the men to dig for treasure!" Ye Xinran whispered.
Gu Yanming thought so too.
"Do you know which prince of the previous dynasty had his fiefdom here?" Ye Xinran asked curiously.
Gu Yanming thought about it seriously and said, "It's probably the King Xiaoyao."
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