Feeling her body tremble slightly, Lu Shiyan assumed she was just too nervous. He tightened his grip on her hand. "Don't be afraid, I'm here. No one will find out."
As he spoke, he glanced down at Jiang Tangtang and added, "It doesn't matter if someone finds out."
Jiang Tangtang's face flushed red.
What was she thinking under these circumstances?
She inwardly screamed like a groundhog, but outwardly she gave a serious "hmm."
Lu Shiyan was unaware of the scream in her heart. He led Jiang Tangtang, dodging left and right, and soon entered a place full of furnaces where weapons were being forged.
Normally, the workers would have already started working by this time.
But today, because of an incident on the neighboring mountain, Yan Mulin ordered his men to lock up the odd-job workers.
With no one left to do the odd jobs and heavy work, the remaining craftsmen naturally started to slack off.
At this moment, some people ran outside to watch the excitement, while others hid in groups of three or five to talk.
Therefore, Lu Shiyan and Jiang Tangtang's trip was incredibly smooth, as if they had a cheat code.
Jiang Tangtang also put away her budding romantic feelings and began to carefully observe the construction inside.
Normally, it would be almost impossible for her to read everything and then write it all down.
But with an electronic notebook, this was a piece of cake for her.
As she looked at it, words and images formed in her mind, which she then recorded in her electronic notebook.
Besides the pictures on the notebook that rival those on a camera, there are also her annotations on the side, all marked very clearly.
Jiang Tangtang recorded the entire building layout and other details into an electronic notebook before taking the tools into the space.
Just as she was getting into it, Lu Shiyan suddenly grabbed her and, like a gust of wind, hid in a secluded spot.
I had barely hidden myself when two old men walked over.
One of them sighed, "Hey! Old Wang, where did my big iron hammer go? It was just here a moment ago, how did it disappear in the blink of an eye? Did some thief break in here?"
Hearing this, Lu Shiyan's fingers tightened, and he was about to make a move when another person said, "At a time like this, why are you still worrying about thieves? If you ask me, let's take this opportunity to leave!"
Jiang Tangtang immediately turned to look at Lu Shiyan.
She didn't speak, but her eyes perfectly conveyed the excitement in her heart at that moment.
She had assumed that these artisans, being unguarded by soldiers and all trusted confidants of Prince Rui, would not defect to her. But to her surprise, they actually wanted to leave.
Could it be that they guessed wrong, and that these people were not Prince Rui's confidants and had not pledged allegiance to him?
Lu Shiyan gave her a look that said "be patient," signaling her to wait and listen to the two of them continue talking.
"Where are you going? Don't you care about your family?"
"How can we just ignore it? But we can't just let ourselves be choked like this for the rest of our lives! We can still work now, but who knows what they'll do to our families when we can't work anymore?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Tangtang and Lu Shiyan suddenly realized what was going on.
It turns out that these people were unsupervised and able to move freely here because their families were controlled by Prince Rui, and they were afraid to act rashly, so they had no choice but to obey him. They were not genuinely loyal to Prince Rui.
If that's the case, things will be much easier. If we can rescue their families, they can come to us for refuge.
Lu Shiyan gave Jiang Tangtang a look that told him to wait there, then used his lightness skill to arrive in front of the two of them.
Lu Shiyan's sudden appearance startled the two of them.
Lu Shiyan quickly reassured them, "Don't panic, you two. I mean you no harm."
"I just overheard you two saying you wanted to leave, but you're stuck here because your families are being held hostage. If I could rescue your families, would you be willing to leave with me?"
Why should we trust you?
“What’s the difference between following you and staying here? It’s just moving from the wolf’s den to the tiger’s den.”
The two spoke at the same time, their words full of doubt. But both of them subconsciously lowered their voices.
Clearly, while the two were full of doubts about Lu Shiyan, they also held a glimmer of hope.
Otherwise, the two of them would have reported Lu Shiyan the moment he appeared, instead of deliberately lowering their voices when they spoke.
"I'm hiring two people to teach a few apprentices. I won't restrict their freedom of movement; you can live with your family. If you feel I'm not a good employer, you can leave with your family at any time."
"You're really that good?" The two looked at Lu Shiyan, not quite believing what he was saying.
"If you don't trust me, you can wait until I rescue your families before making a decision. Since you all want to escape and find a way to save your families anyway, why don't you try trusting me?"
After struggling for a while, the round-faced man spoke first: "My name is Wang Tieli. I was born with great strength, so my father named me Wang Tieli and sent me to a blacksmith's shop to be an apprentice."
I have lost both my son and daughter, and now I only have two granddaughters and one grandson in their care.
I don't know where they're hiding, you'll have to find them yourself! My eldest granddaughter is named Wang Daniu, my second granddaughter is named Wang Erniu, and my youngest grandson is named Fudan.
My eldest granddaughter is eight years old and inherited my strength; she's very strong. But I told her to keep it a secret and not to tell anyone.
Seeing that Wang Tieli had already told him about his family situation, Ge Ming also started talking about his family situation.
Unlike Wang Tieli, Ge Ming's family is quite large, with three sons and two daughters.
All three sons were married and had children. When Ge Ming left home, he already had five grandsons and three granddaughters.
He doesn't even know how many grandchildren he has now.
Finding someone based solely on their name and family situation is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately, in addition to telling us about their families, the two also told us about other artisans.
In fact, Jiang Tangtang and Lu Shiyan's previous guesses were not wrong.
Among these craftsmen, some were indeed Prince Rui's confidants. These confidants were also in a managerial role.
But most of them, like the two of them, are pitiful people whose families are being controlled.
After recounting what they knew, Wang Tieli added, "Yan Mulin probably only knows where our family members are hiding. Every time we meet with our relatives, he is the one who picks us up and takes us away."
Lu Shiyan asked, "A family reunion?"
"Yes, to make us believe that our family members are alive and well, every now and then they would send one or two family members over so we could meet. Each time we met, we could talk for an hour..."
Wang Tieli felt a pang of sorrow when he thought about the look of reluctance in his grandson's eyes and his silent weeping as the grandson left after their meeting last year.
His little grandson lost his father at such a young age, and his mother ran away with someone else. He is his only relative.
But that heartless Prince Rui, for his own selfish reasons, cruelly separated them.
Lu Shiyan said, "When you met your grandson, didn't you mention how he usually lives?"
Wang Tieli thought for a moment and said, "When we meet, someone will be standing guard nearby, so we can't ask them for their address."
But my little grandson is very clever; he can tell me funny stories about himself and his siblings. He said his sister took them to the river to catch fish and to the foot of the mountain to catch rabbits, so they must live in the village.
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