Chapter 56 I lied to him.
Someone added firewood to the fire, making it burn even brighter and the flames even stronger.
Li Shiyue sat by the fire with her knife in hand. Kneeling in front of her was a man whose hands and feet were tied behind his back and whose mouth was gagged. He was the same man who had been so frightened that he dropped his knife and knelt down to beg for mercy.
Between the two was a head with wide-open eyes.
Li Wangshui stood behind the man who was trembling with fear, while the other three from Li Family Village stood behind Li Shiyue.
Li Shiyue pointed the tip of her knife at the kneeling man opposite her: "I have some questions for you. Tell me the truth, and I'll let you go."
Upon hearing this, the man nodded rapidly, his head moving up and down dramatically, showing how desperately he wanted to live.
After Li Wangshui removed the gag from the man, the man immediately cried out to Li Shiyue, "Grandma, spare my life!"
Grandma, have mercy!
I've never killed anyone; I was kidnapped!
Waaah, I…
Li Shiyue had no time to listen to this man's wailing. With a hint of impatience, she patted the head on the ground with her knife: "Shut up!"
The crying man was startled by Li Shiyue's sharp shout and immediately fell silent.
"I don't have time to listen to your rambling. I'll ask you questions, and you answer them."
When the man met Li Shiyue's fierce gaze, he quickly nodded and replied, "Yes."
"Are you the Shence Army?"
Why did you kidnap our people?
"We can't be said to be the Shence Army, but a few of us are considered to be members of the Shence Army."
We used to be auxiliary soldiers for the Shence Army; I was the one who pushed the grain carts.
First, the Prince of Jing'an rebelled, and the emperor sent the Shence Army to suppress the rebellion.
But when they met, the Shence Army was no match and was constantly being overwhelmed.
Later in the battle, when we ran out of manpower, the higher-ups sent us auxiliary soldiers to fight as well, but it still wasn't enough. So they sent us out to conscript men to take back, and that's when we saw your men on the road and arrested them.
"It wasn't me who ordered them to be arrested, it was all Zhao Wu's doing, yes, it was all Zhao Wu's doing!" the man shouted, pointing at the severed head on the ground. "I didn't hit them, grandma, please let me go! I'm telling the truth, I'm telling the whole story!"
"Where is your camp located? How often do you return to hand over duties?"
After the man finished speaking, Li Shiyue lowered his head and thought for a while before nodding to Li Wangshui, who was standing opposite him.
Li Wangshui nodded in agreement. He stepped forward with his knife, pressed down on the auxiliary soldier's neck, and slashed down with the knife.
The auxiliary soldier's eyes widened in disbelief, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.
"This...this, doesn't this mean that if he confesses, we'll let him go?"
Without turning his head, Li Shiyue replied, "I lied to him."
The villager was speechless at Li Shiyue's words. Li Shiyue didn't take it to heart and just stood up: "Hurry up and search the corpses. Once you're done, pile them up, light a fire, and burn them all."
Upon hearing the word "looting the corpses," the villagers realized what was going on. Together, they thoroughly looted all six corpses, finding some loose silver coins, a few brand-name items, a dozen or so flatbreads, and several water pouches.
Of course, the most important thing is actually those six official knives.
Li Shiyue put away all the name tags, and gave each person a government-issued knife. "I'll take one more knife. I won't share the silver and food; Uncle Wangshui, please help me divide them."
They naturally had no objections to what Li Shiyue said.
A fire covered up all traces.
After seeing that the corpse was burned beyond recognition and could not be identified at all, Li Shiyue and Li Wangshui walked back.
They traveled in silence, and before they even arrived at their destination, villagers came to greet them.
"You've finally returned! The scholar told us to wait for you here."
Li Shiyue's blood-stained appearance might have been difficult to see in the pitch-black night, but even in the dead of night, the strong smell of blood on her was still noticeable; the smell was simply too overpowering.
Li Shiyue took Li Wangshui, Ma Zi, Wei Zi and others to see Li Shiyang. As soon as Li Shiyang saw him, he knew that he had killed someone again.
"how?"
Li Shiyue quickly and concisely told Li Shiyang about the pockmarked skin and how she, along with Li Wangshui, killed six auxiliary soldiers.
Finally, Li Shiyue took out the nameplates and showed them to Li Shiyang: "I don't know the map, but this place doesn't seem too far from us. They still have three days before they hand over the people again, so we need to leave as soon as possible."
Li Shiyue had never seen a map before, but Li Shiyang had the good fortune to see one twice when he was in the prefectural city. So when he heard Li Shiyue say this, he knew that Li Shiyue was right.
Now, the only way to survive is to race against time, before this is discovered and before the other party knows.
"Walk!
"No sleep tonight, let's leave tonight!"
When Li Shiyang gave the order, the previously quiet Li Family Village camp sprang into action.
Because of past experience, they were all packed up in less than half an hour. Li Shiyang led the group onto a side road, hoping to avoid people as much as possible and reach Dengzhou as soon as possible.
The next day, after listening to what Li Shiyue said, Li Shiyang gathered all the men from each household together. The elderly, weak, women, and children walked in the middle, while the men protected them at the front and back. Hopefully, this would be of some use in case of trouble.
Li Shiyue's clothes had been changed; the original set of blood-stained clothes had been burned by Li's mother.
Li Shiyue's original intention was to just change her outer garment, and when the conditions were right and the water pipes were working properly, she could wash the clothes and wear them again.
But Li's mother insisted on burning it. Her exact words were: "You are still a woman. What will happen if outsiders find out that you have this blood-stained dress?"
Seeing the worry in her mother's eyes, Li Shiyue didn't want to argue with her, so she agreed to her mother's words.
However, she did mention this matter when she and Li Qiutian were chatting behind her back.
“My mother is worried that if people find out about my fierce nature, they will be afraid of me and I won’t be able to find a good husband.”
I know and understand that my mother loves and cares for me.
But in this world, isn't it a good thing that people are afraid of me?
"Sister, look at my father," Li Shiyue turned around and gestured to Li Qiutian to look at Li's father sitting on the donkey cart behind them, leaning against the grain sacks. "My mother is such a good person, yet she met my father. This shows that marriage is a risky thing."
So, when I don't have enough strength of my own, why should I think about getting married and finding a good husband?
"My mother, in the end, was still bound."
Li Qiutian followed Li Shiyue's hand and saw Qin Tao carrying a bowl to Li's father. They were quite far away, and Li Qiutian couldn't hear what Li's father said, but judging from his manner, it probably wasn't anything nice.
Li's father didn't even take the bowl, nor did he extend his hand. He only glanced at the bowl before cursing. Qin Tao had no choice but to pick up the bowl and turn away. Li's father continued to mutter curses at Qin Tao's back.
Li Qiutian didn't quite understand what Li Shiyue was saying, but just by looking at how Li's father and Qin Tao interacted, Li Qiutian understood what Li Shiyue meant: "A woman's marriage is risky. If she marries a selfish man like Li's father, she would abandon not only her wife, but even her own mother and children."
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