This road is the one where they wait for Xu Ningyan to go to the countryside for an inspection, then kidnap him and take him deep into the mountains.
Cao Yang was sent out to lure the people away. They had already found a girl about the same age as Xu Ningyan who would take care of Xu Ningyan in the cave and live with her for a while.
Upon hearing this, Xu Ningyan immediately realized something was wrong and pressed him for answers.
Er Gouzi stammered on, explaining that the girl had been introduced to him by the person who supposedly gave directions to the Yanchi Brigade.
She looks somewhat like Xu Ningyan, and they're about the same height.
The idea was to have the girl live with Xu Ningyan in a cave so she could learn his daily habits, tone of voice, and so on.
Having learned enough, Xu Ningyan's role ends here. Whether she is sold to a deeper mountain village to be someone's wife or killed directly is up to the Yanchi Brigade.
As for that girl, after she learns the skills, people from the Yanchi Brigade will come and put on a show for her, pretending to rescue her, and then take her to the government and to Gu Zhiyuan's side.
Several months have passed, and she has run away from the deep mountains again. It is reasonable that her personality, appearance, and even voice have changed a little.
Moreover, the person who pointed out the way made it clear that although Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan were legally husband and wife, they had not yet consummated their marriage because Xu Ningyan was young, so it should be easy to deceive them.
After Xu Ningyan's stand-in goes down the mountain and reaches Gu Zhiyuan's side, he will accept everything about Xu Ningyan and will also try to help the Yanchi Brigade regain its qualifications.
With the credit for saving Xu Ningyan's life, and with Xu Ningyan's ideas, the restoration of the Yanchi Brigade's qualifications should be just around the corner.
Although Luo Hanqin felt that Xu Ningyan was innocent, compared to the fact that an entire brigade of people, young and old, had survived, one life was nothing.
At worst, he would spare Xu Ningyan's life and keep him in the cave.
So he didn't think about it for long before agreeing.
With hope of regaining their eligibility, everyone naturally wanted to make sure the game went perfectly.
Therefore, those with manpower contribute manpower, and those with strength contribute strength.
Luo Jinman then offered her son, Cao Yang, so that Cao Yang could strive to become the guide who led Xu Ningyan to the countryside after Xu Ningyan went there.
Luo Hanqin naturally gathered a few trusted brothers and led Xu Ningyan into the deep mountains.
As for the people of Yanchi Brigade, the brigade leader and the party secretary vaguely knew some of the inside story, while the others only knew that what Luo Hanqin and the others were doing was for the future of the brigade.
The entire brigade had suffered enough these past few years, and now that they could be reborn and return to their former good life, they naturally kept quiet.
Therefore, after Cao Yang brought Xu Ningyan into Yanchi Brigade and had her tied up in the deep mountains, when government officials came to investigate, the entire brigade would only say that they had never seen the two of them, thus delaying the investigation.
When they can no longer hide it, they'll bring out a few children who say they saw someone climb the mountain via a side path.
They had planned everything meticulously, considering and thinking of everything, but they never expected that Xu Ningyan would take down all five of them single-handedly.
Things then took a different turn.
Xu Ningyan felt a chill run down her spine. Who was watching her and Gu Zhiyuan from behind?
They've even found a stand-in for the murder! Is this targeting her or Gu Zhiyuan?
"Where is the girl who was supposed to replace me? Have you seen the person who gave you the idea?" Xu Ningyan asked, her smile fading.
Now that they've confessed everything, their plans have come to naught.
None of them were particularly determined, and even the most determined person was nearly crushed by an egg kick.
The group decided to give up and answer whatever they were asked.
"The girl who's going to replace you is currently in our brigade. She's Luo Hanlian's distant cousin. Her parents are gone, and she has no relatives. She came to rely on Luo Hanlian. She usually stays in the house and rarely comes out, afraid that someone will see her and let it slip. Once your matter has settled down and no one is watching the brigade anymore, she'll make an excuse to go back to her hometown to get married and then go into the mountains."
"As for the person who came up with the idea, none of us have ever met her! Although she has been in contact with my mother through letters, there was one time when my mother received a letter and happened to be coming back from outside. She encountered a person who was completely covered up and wearing a man's cotton-padded jacket, but my mother said it should have been a woman."
Cao Yang answered honestly.
Xu Ningyan's first thought was, could it be Xu Zhenzhu?
Xu Zhenzhu understands the situation between herself and Gu Zhiyuan, and harbors resentment towards both of them. If she wants to take revenge, that's understandable.
However, Xu Ningyan felt that something was still wrong, mainly because Xu Zhenzhu didn't have the brains for it!
Moreover, how did she find out about the Yanchi Brigade and then use it to take revenge on me and Gu Zhiyuan? It's quite illogical to go through such a long and complicated process.
There are still too many strange things going on here.
Xu Ningyan became suspicious and interrogated the five people repeatedly.
They only stopped talking when they couldn't get any more information from them.
Looking at the sky outside, it was already faintly white; it seemed like dawn was approaching.
Unbeknownst to her, she had actually interrogated these people all night.
Yawning, Xu Ningyan rested her chin on her hand and sat by the fire to warm herself, glancing out of the cave from time to time. Sigh, she had left marks all the way, so why hadn't anyone come to find her yet?
Just then, I heard a faint noise outside.
Xu Ningyan gripped the dagger warily, signaling the five exhausted men to keep quiet. Then, leaning against the mountain wall, he used the shadows to infiltrate the cave entrance.
The entrance to the cave was completely obscured by bushes taller than a person and vines hanging down from them.
If you hadn't gone in and looked closely, you wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Xu Ningyan lifted a bit of the vine and looked outside.
In the bushes below, one could vaguely make out figures and flickering torches.
Someone was calling out, "Comrade Xu? Where are you?"
Xu Ningyan frowned, unsure whether these people were government reinforcements looking for her, or members of the Yanchi Brigade who had sensed something was wrong and had come up the mountain to warn her.
After hesitating for a moment, she decided to take another look, just to be on the safe side.
Just as he was about to put down the vine he was holding, a dark shadow pounced on him.
Xu Ningyan instinctively thrust out the dagger in her hand, and then—
A sharp pain shot through her wrist as the dagger was snatched away by the newcomer. A familiar voice rang out: "A-Ning?"
Xu Ningyan looked up, but before she could fully lift her head, Gu Zhiyuan grabbed her and pulled her close, his arms like iron, holding her tightly as if he wanted to embed her into his body.
All that could be heard was the rapid, pounding of Gu Zhiyuan's heart.
Xu Ningyan, who had been holding on tightly, finally relaxed and collapsed into Gu Zhiyuan's arms.
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