He exchanged a glance with Zhiwen, who was frowning, and quickly realized that someone was sabotaging them behind the scenes.
Zhi Wang mustered his courage, raised his head, and looked directly at Lu Fang: "My lord, I swear on my life that Zhi Xing and Zhi Wu are innocent."
Lu Fang smiled faintly: "Your life is worthless. To be honest, if I hadn't taught you for a while and knew your character well, you would have been implicated and thrown into prison the day after the vanguard entered the town."
Zhiwen and Zhiwang were speechless.
Lu Fang shook his head: "Go back. This is not something the two of you can get involved in."
If he was right, the young general wanted to make an example of someone.
Anyone who colludes with mountain bandits or robbers shall be killed.
Zhang Zhixing and Zhang Zhiwu just happened to run into the target; if anyone is to blame, it's just bad luck.
Zhiwang bit his lower lip tightly: "I...can we go see them?"
Lu Fang was about to refuse, but seeing the redness in Zhiwen and Zhiwang's eyes, he ultimately agreed, considering the slight bond between master and disciple and the donation of over two hundred taels of silver from the old man Zhiwen had brought.
"No more than fifteen minutes; you cannot linger."
He paused for a moment, then said, "Keep those five hundred taels of silver yourselves, and from now on... don't be bandits anymore."
Zhiwang gave a bitter smile, making his point clear: "Sir, do you know what kind of life we lived before we were taken in and brought back to the mountain stronghold?"
Lu Fang remained silent.
Zhiwang didn't expect the local official to respond: "It was I who overstepped my bounds. Farewell."
Lu Fang watched Zhi Wang and Zhi Wen leave, and sighed deeply.
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