When General Qi heard that she didn't speak, he knew that she didn't want to do it.
Too.
Anyway, he won't kill anyone. It's just three months of corvée labor, and Widow Cheng doesn't even need to go. Why fight him for nothing and give him a hundred taels of silver?
General Qi paused for a moment: "You kidnapped and injured an official, a crime deserving of death. Even if we can't catch you, those five are accomplices and can't escape."
In short, if they didn't fight, they were beheaded on charges of assaulting officials.
Zhiwen and Zhiwang, who came to plead for mercy but ended up losing their lives: "..."
He glanced at Boss Ye, not daring to utter a sound.
Ye Wenxue pondered for a moment, then began to bargain: "Fight us, let us go, no money."
General Qi shook his head: "The silver must be given; it is compensation for their exemption from corvée labor. After this matter is over, I will destroy their bandit records."
But other bandits wouldn't work.
Ye Wenxue understood the meaning behind his words, and after hesitating for a long time, she agreed.
In three months, Zhixing could earn her more than one hundred taels of silver.
and......
Ye Wenxue looked at Zhiwen and Zhiwang: "The money should come from your boss's share, not mine."
Zhiwen and Zhiwang nodded repeatedly, eagerly agreeing.
Watching helplessly as Boss Ye untied the rope binding General Qi, Zhiwen and Zhiwang looked on with pity. Why did he have to endure this beating?
After loosening his muscles and tendons by untying the hemp rope, General Qi attacked Ye Wenxue without hesitation.
Zhiwen was soft-hearted and couldn't bear to see someone being beaten so badly, so he silently turned his face away.
Zhiwang clenched his fist to encourage Boss Ye.
Yes, yes, yes, punch his eye sockets, pound his back, and sweep his groin!
General Qi turned away with a dark expression, dodging the underhanded move, and snorted heavily, "You...you're shameless!"
Ye Wenxue rolled her eyes and continued hitting.
*
After an incense stick had burned, the anxious guards outside the door suddenly heard General Qi's muffled voice.
"Release the person and bring them inside."
The guards looked at Lu Fang.
Lu Fang waved his hand: "Let it go."
General Qi's life is still in someone else's hands!
The guards quickly removed the wooden shackles binding Zhixing and the other two, opened the door, pushed them into the room, and took the opportunity to glance at the situation inside.
Uh-huh?
The one with black eyes from being beaten up, is that their young General Qi?!
Before I could even see clearly, the door slammed shut from the inside.
Zhixing and the other two stretched their stiff bodies and stepped forward cautiously, asking, "Where is Master Ye...?"
Knowing that the question was directed at the bald man, Ye Wenxue raised her chin and said, "I don't know, we'll see how lucky he is."
Anyway, she saved Zhixing, who made money for her, and also sowed discord among the He family in front of General Qi. Her mission down the mountain was already complete, so she wouldn't come back to save someone for the sake of the bald man.
Zhi Wu was about to ask another question when Zhi Xing stopped him.
He knew all too well how much danger Boss Ye had taken to come and rescue them, so he didn't ask any more questions.
General Qi, clutching his bruised cheek, suppressed his urge to order his men to wipe them all out and spoke fiercely:
"Give me the money and get out of here. If there's a next time, I won't show any mercy."
While Zhiwen was taking out his silver notes, Ye Wenxue looked at General Qi with curiosity: "You could have easily taken us down without a care, why did you suddenly soften your heart?"
Surely they can't just let Zhixing and the others off the hook because they know about their tragic childhood experiences?
General Qi glared at her, angrily took a sip of his now-cold tea, and slowly began to speak:
"When Zhang Zhixing was in the prefectural city, he donated grain and porridge to the people inside and outside the city more than once. Zhang Zhiwen also did similar things, and..."
Magistrate Lu once told me about an old man who donated over two hundred taels of silver to the county, asking for nothing in return, only that the silver be exchanged for rice and grain to be sent to poor families.
General Qi originally did not intend to arrest Zhang Zhixing and his men after leaving the city.
But who could blame them for being so foolish as to come and join the fun when the advance team passed through the town and many people were watching?
The He family members immediately identified Zhang Zhixing and his men as bandits. Some of the bandits even knelt before him, saying that their families had been killed by Zhang Zhixing and his men.
He couldn't simply let the matter drop in front of so many people.
As they were escorted to the town at the foot of the mountain, several more merchants and bandits pointed them out, and General Qi gradually confirmed Zhang Zhixing and his men's identities as bandits.
When the decision was made to force them into corvée labor, Magistrate Lu came and explained what Zhang Zhiwen and the other man had done in the county.
Otherwise, General Qi wouldn't have agreed to release Ye Wenxue just because she could beat him.
After hearing this, Ye Wenxue couldn't help but think to herself that Xu Lin was smart enough to know that money coming in too quickly would lead to its loss.
She patted Zhiwang's head and exclaimed, "Look, this is the reward for doing good deeds!"
Zhi Xing did not see this as a reward for doing good deeds.
If Ye Wenxue hadn't come to rescue them this time, they would have really been sent to perform corvée labor, and neither General Qi nor Magistrate Lu would have let them go so easily.
The good deeds I did were only a small part of it.
General Qi, who was being watched by several people, expressionlessly put away the silver notes: "You can all get lost."
Ye Wenxue shrugged and was about to leave with Zhiwen and the other four when Zhiwen reached the door and suddenly remembered something else.
He took the letter from his sleeve and respectfully placed it on the desk:
"General Qi, someone asked me to deliver a letter to you."
General Qi dismissed it as a letter from bandits begging for mercy: "Put it on the table."
"oh."
Ye Wenxue and her six companions left openly and honestly. Magistrate Lu, having received a message from General Xiao Qi, did not stop them.
Zhiwen hurriedly went back to retrieve the silver entrusted to him and the belongings in the house.
After this trip, they can no longer stay in the small town at the foot of the mountain; they must leave with Boss Ye.
Inside the house, after a doctor was brought in to treat his injuries, General Qi watered the potted bamboo plant, then leisurely tidied up his desk, waiting for the advance troops sent to guard the mountain pass to return and report.
Then he saw the letter left on the table.
The paper was rough, and there was no envelope; it didn't look like a serious matter.
General Qi, having nothing better to do, opened the letter and glanced at it. After seeing the handwriting, he was instantly stunned.
He gripped the letter tightly, slammed his hand on the table, and shouted excitedly, "Someone, go quickly and get..."
The guards pushed open the door and entered, waiting for General Qi to give the order to arrest the people.
Under the watchful eyes of the guards, General Qi gritted his teeth and swallowed his words: "Go find Zhang Zhiwen!"
The guards were completely bewildered. Didn't you just release the person?
But the guards dared not disobey the order and quickly scattered to arrest the man.
After everyone left, General Qi sat down blankly and stared at the paper in a daze.
The letter contained only five words: Qi Xiaoqi, release him.
But the handwriting was clearly that of Huo Zhaoqing, who was rumored to have been ambushed and killed.
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