Chapter 494 Interrogation
As soon as the group reached the entrance of the village, the burly man leading the group was suddenly startled.
"Hey! Mr. Wu! There's someone over there!"
Da Han's cousin, carrying Qi Rong on his back, also saw a figure faintly visible in the misty fog. The figure appeared to be wearing armor, and the clanging sound of the armor could be heard from a distance.
Mr. Wu squinted through the mist and looked toward the village entrance, then quickly turned his head away.
He reached out and tugged at the two people, gesturing for them to go to other houses nearby.
When Lin Changning fell into the water, he lost one of his swords. Now, as he struggled to get down while being carried on his back, he regained some of his strength. After getting down, he gripped the sword and looked at the soldiers at the village entrance with a somewhat solemn expression.
Killing a few people wouldn't be a big problem for her, but after killing them, the villagers would be questioned, which could easily harm these innocent fishermen.
If these people die, the imperial army will surely come looking for them, and the villagers who fish by the river will suffer. But now that these people are blocking the village entrance, they can't get out. If the imperial court catches them and finds that the villagers are hiding them, they will surely die.
Lin Changning was in a dilemma. Wu Langzhong seemed to notice and directly pulled Lin Changning into a villager's house.
The big man and his cousin were already chatting with people. Everyone in the village knew each other. When they saw the big man and his cousin carrying someone in, they were a little confused, but they quickly ushered the person into the house.
"Ah Niu, what's with that baby on your back? He looks so sickly."
The burly man laid the unconscious Qi Rong down and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Sixth Aunt, is your back door still open? Can you let us through? I need to take these two children to the Dragon King Temple."
The woman who had been replaced by the burly man, now known as Sixth Aunt, sized up Lin Changning, then glanced at the unconscious Qi Rong, her face showing a hint of fear: "Oh dear, Ah Niu, you brat, did you bring back some rebels from outside? I heard there's been fighting at the ferry recently, you didn't just pick up two living ancestors!!!"
The burly man scratched his head: "Sixth Aunt, stop arguing with me. Getting the person out of here is the most important thing."
The woman clapped her hands: "Come, come, follow me, let's go through the back door first!"
As the woman was speaking, they heard several knocks on the door not far from them.
"Is anyone home? Is anyone home? Open the door! Open the door! Routine questioning!!!"
As dawn broke, most of the fishermen in the village had just gotten up. Hearing the menacing voices outside, they hurriedly opened their doors.
Doctor Wu opened the door and looked outside. He saw that the soldiers who came to question him had already reached the two houses in front.
His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly shoved Lin Changning and the big man, saying, "Stop dawdling, stop dawdling, hurry up and leave through the back door."
As the group was walking towards the backyard, they heard soldiers knocking on the door. Lin Changning's heart tightened; they hadn't even reached the backyard yet, and if the door opened, they would be in trouble.
The villagers' courtyards were almost entirely open, except for the dried fish and some dried vegetable leaves that were drying in the sun.
"Open the door, open the door, routine inspection!!!"
Doctor Wu watched nervously as Lin Changning and the others quickly walked to the backyard before shouting to open the gate.
"Who is it? Coming, coming!"
When Physician Wu opened the door, he saw two soldiers dressed in full uniform looking around the courtyard. Upon seeing Physician Wu, they said irritably, "Why are you so slow? You've kept me waiting!"
Suddenly, Dr. Wu's eyes widened, and he strained his ears, shouting, "What? Sir! I'm old and can't hear you. You want a bench? A bench? We have benches!"
The soldier who knocked on the door was somewhat speechless. He shouted at Wu Langzhong, "No need for a stool! Have you found anyone who drifted down from upstream recently? They're all wanted criminals!"
Dr. Wu muttered, "Ah! I don't want a bench, I want food!"
As they were talking, Doctor Wu rubbed his hands together and looked at the two soldiers with an embarrassed expression: "The food hasn't been cooked yet. If you don't mind, sir, there are some dried fish at home. Take them and have them."
As he spoke, Wu Langzhong turned and went into the courtyard, pulled out a dried fish, and handed it to the two soldiers.
The soldier was speechless. After seeing the fish that Doctor Wu had stuffed into his hand, he looked at the other one. The two of them walked around the courtyard and, finding nothing unusual, happened to see the back door that was wide open.
He pointed at Doctor Wu and said loudly, "Hey, old man, did anyone go out this morning? Why is the door open?"
Doctor Wu curled his nose and stared at the back door the soldier was pointing to, his face showing a hint of disdain: "Are you two soldiers going to the outhouse? The backyard is the backyard."
Upon hearing what Dr. Wu said, the two soldiers covered their noses, exchanged glances, and looked around. Finding nothing of value, one of them put a dried fish in his hand and walked out the door.
Wu Lang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and went back to the backyard, quickly closed the back door, and waited until the outside check was over before daring to push open the back door and sneak towards the Dragon King Temple.
Fortunately, someone led the way, and Lin Changning and Qi Rong were quickly taken to the Dragon King Temple. After laying straw on the ground for the two of them, the big man wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "You can rest here without worry. People don't usually come here. It might be a little cold in the early morning and evening. I will bring you some bedding at noon."
Lin Changning bowed to the burly man again, saying, "Thank you, Uncle!"
The burly men didn't dare to delay. After bringing the two of them over, they quickly returned to the village, where they ran right into Doctor Wu, who was worried and had come to check on them.
When Wu Langzhong heard that the two had arrived at the Dragon King Temple, he was finally relieved and went back with the man.
Lin Changning seemed to fall asleep quickly after lying down next to Qi Rong, seemingly due to the effects of the medicine.
They slept for a whole day, only waking up when the woman's two little children came looking for them late at night, carrying two earthenware jars.
After a young girl shook Lin Changning awake, she stuffed the still-warm fish soup into Lin Changning's arms.
"Brother, my mother asked me to bring you some fish soup. Please drink it quickly."
Lin Changning looked at the pottery jar in his hand, thanked the little girl, and then tilted his head back to pour the fragrant fish soup into his mouth. After finishing his stroll, he thought of Qi Rong, who was still asleep.
They shook the girl awake, handed her the fish soup, and only gave it back to her after she had drunk it.
Qi Rong rubbed his aching temples, turned to look at Lin Changning, and then surveyed his surroundings.
"Dragon King Temple?"
Lin Changning touched the thin blankets covering him and shook his head: "Yeah, they brought the two of us over this morning."
Qi Rong struggled to sit up, but the pain from his wound forced him to fall back down.
"hiss!"
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