In the end, Qi Yunxiao agreed to take over the Hidden Dragon Guard.
Long San was unconvinced, so he slammed his shoulder against the wall and miraculously managed to catch himself, then prepared to pounce on the wall again.
Qi Yunxiao scoffed coldly: "I can dislocate your arm, do you think I can't kill you?"
Long San paused.
Compared to dismembering an arm, killing someone is certainly more convenient and efficient.
Zhao Mingzhu chuckled dryly and pulled Long San aside, handing him an envelope: "This is a keepsake and address left to you by my father. You can read it after I leave."
After saying that, Zhao Mingzhu ran away.
Long San followed, but Zhao Mingzhu scolded him: "From now on, you should stick with my cousin, not me."
Long San refused: "You don't know martial arts, how can you be left unprotected?"
Qi Yunxiao curled his lip: "I don't want this person, you go with her."
Long San was overjoyed, while Zhao Mingzhu had a complicated expression. The two of them finally left.
After the two left, Qi Yunxiao opened the envelope, and when he saw the words inside, he jumped up in surprise: "Holy crap!"
The letter was brief and somewhat hastily written, clearly written in a rush.
“Nephew, the Hidden Dragon Guard is now in your hands. Please do your best to protect the lives of your two cousins.”
"Of course, if they are gone by the time you see this letter, or if you are unable to help, I will not blame you."
"Furthermore, since the incident happened so suddenly, I can't offer you any financial support. I can only ask that you overcome the difficulties and ensure that these Hidden Dragon Guards don't starve to death."
"Of course, if they starve to death, it's their bad luck, and I won't blame you."
Qi Yunxiao's face turned ashen!
One thousand Hidden Dragon Guards!
A thousand mouths!
You want to support yourself?!
Should I set up a mountain stronghold, recruit these Hidden Dragon Guards to rob and plunder, and become a mountain king?
Crown Prince?
The crown prince has no money; he still wears a short shirt and cloth shoes at home every day!
The Eighth Prince?
Don't even think about it.
He's only eight years old, how much money could he possibly have?
I was tricked by my wicked uncle, the emperor!
Enraged, Qi Yunxiao ignored the cloth shop's messengers and rode his black horse out of the city at breakneck speed.
At the entrance of the cloth shop, Lady Qingping, having just paid the silver at Guiyun Tower to redeem Qi Yunheng, disregarded everything else and personally went to the cloth shop to wait for Qi Yunxiao.
No matter what, I must make Qi Yunxiao give her the household allowance for the past six months.
Otherwise, we won't be able to cook next month!
The shopkeeper said Qi Yunxiao wasn't there and didn't know where he had gone.
I refuse to believe it today!
I am your stepmother in name only. I'm waiting for you. Do you think you can hide from me forever?
If you don't show up, the people of the capital will drown you, the newly appointed heir of the Qingping Marquis's mansion, in their spittle.
Just as he was ruthlessly scheming in his heart, he glanced over and saw a black horse gallop past the entrance of the cloth shop and head straight out of the city.
Who else could it be but Qi Yunxiao, the one riding the black horse wearing a veiled hat but whose forehead was inadvertently exposed?
"Qi Yunxiao!" Lady Qingping's scream pierced the clouds and tore through the silk.
However, Qi Yunxiao seemed not to hear at all, and rode his horse out of the city gate, heading straight out.
That's it, they've really escaped this time!
He rarely returns to the capital throughout the year. If he leaves the capital this time, who knows when he will come back!
How will we manage household expenses?
Lady Qingping was on the verge of tears, and couldn't help but look at the cloth shop manager: "Your boss has already left the capital, why don't you hand over your accounts to me first?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Madam, the master didn't say he was leaving the capital. He might be back in three to five days. Why don't you wait a little longer?"
They just wouldn't talk about paying money or settling accounts.
Lady Qingping was so angry that she felt dizzy.
She knew that it was a mistake to let Qi Yunxiao manage her mother's dowry!
However, since the late emperor was still alive at that time, and Qi Yunxiao was the empress's nephew, she dared not humiliate him too much.
The Empress said she wanted to entrust the dowry to Qi Yunxiao for management, and she had no choice but to agree.
This also put an end to Qi Yunxiao's idea of inheriting the title of heir of the Qingping Marquis's mansion.
After all, no prince in this dynasty was a businessman.
This is too despicable; people of status and position would disdain it.
Who would have thought that, after all this time, the Qingping Marquis's mansion would actually have to rely on the money earned from Qi Yunxiao's dowry to make ends meet?!
This is a matter that's hard to talk about, and everyone is intentionally avoiding mentioning it.
There's no way to avoid it now: the family is starving, what can we do if we don't bring it up?
But who could have imagined that Qi Yunxiao would actually win the favor of the new emperor and be suddenly made the heir apparent!
Now he's getting even more arrogant, and it's clear that the Qingping Marquis's mansion can no longer control him!
What should we do?
Once outside the city, Qi Yunxiao released the black horse into the mountains and then drifted into the depths of the dense forest like a wisp of smoke.
According to the map in the letter, head to the location of the Hidden Dragon Guards...
Shen Qingyu patiently waited for Xiao Yunqi to return, but after waiting and waiting, he did not return. Instead, the first wave of famine escape arrived!
This year, the entire prefecture city not only suffered a complete crop failure, but its grain production also decreased by 80%.
Villages like Shenjia Village that found new water sources were few and far between. People had to carry water to irrigate their fields, which not only exhausted them but also failed to save much of their food.
With their food supplies running out, the family had no choice but to leave home, leaning on their canes, to escape the famine.
For a time, in Hengshui Town, you could see one or two people selling their children or becoming slaves every few steps along the roadside.
There were straw markers everywhere.
Shen Qingyu has really been too afraid to wander around these days. Every time she goes out, she takes Cheng Ping with her, just in case something happens and her secret space is exposed.
I dug out my coarse cloth clothes that I hadn't worn for a while, and the simple outfit of a simple dress and hairpin made me feel like I had returned to the old days.
Even so, her rosy face and full cheeks made it easy to tell that she was not lacking in food.
So the donkey cart traveled along the road, and every few steps someone would stop it and ask, "Want to buy passengers?"
She still harbored some resentment towards slavery, but she couldn't say much about it. If she was asked too many questions, she could only put on a veil.
The pastry shops have been keeping closed for days, fearing looting by disaster victims, and are only accepting pre-orders from wealthy families.
Even the small shops on the dock have recently closed down.
It doesn't matter if I don't make money, my life is more important.
The braised meat is no longer sold at the dockside shops; it's only delivered to Guiyunlou and Qihan in the prefectural city.
The bean sprouts are still growing as usual.
However, when Qi Han sent people to pick up bean sprouts and braised meat, he had to send strong, fierce-looking men to keep the vagrants who were eyeing him covetously on the roadside in check.
In comparison, life in Shenjia Village was much better: although every household drank coarse grain porridge, they didn't starve to death.
"Thanks to Qingyu!"
"That's right! If she hadn't asked us to build houses and we hadn't earned some money, where would we have gotten the mixed grains to cook porridge for now?"
"Alas! If we hadn't gotten several dozen kilograms of grain from them, our whole family would have had to flee the famine on crutches!"
Even so, cries could still be heard from some houses in the village: "Mother, please don't sell me... I only eat one meal a day!"
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