The leader raised his sword high, and as he lowered it, rows of arrows shot out in neat formation. I looked at the arrowheads; they seemed no different from ordinary arrows, but when they hit houses or trees, they started to catch fire.
Xie Yuancheng led the horse and took me out of the village. The village was still peaceful. These soldiers were really serious. They brought fireballs again. When we got to the village entrance, people inside started howling.
"The Marquis and his wife are truly wise; there is indeed a place in the village where people are hiding." No matter how busy he was, the leading soldier still had to come over and praise him. These soldiers were all young, and they became happy as soon as they heard the voice, probably thinking that they would have something to do again.
They threw some smoke grenades over, and people started appearing in the village. Everyone was coughing; I counted, there were about a dozen people.
"Cough cough, Mother, I can't see anymore." A crisp voice rang out, it was hard to tell if it was a child or an adult.
"Old Niu, I can't see either. Didn't you say this was a place to hide? You liar."
"Waaaah~ My face, which I just finished drawing, is now all black."
"Brother, I want to eat steamed buns. I'm so hungry and have no strength at all. My husband is still inside."
"I'm done for too. There's white smoke everywhere, and soldiers are shooting arrows in. Let's go to the next village to hide. Once we make some money, we can do something big."
Sounds continued to rise, gradually fading away. Then two armored soldiers came in, leading several dogs inside. My only thought upon seeing these animals was that they were incredibly ferocious, so I quickly moved closer to Xie Yuancheng.
The smoke inside thinned out, and Xie Yuancheng whispered a few words to the leading soldier before leading me away. When I looked back, I still couldn't see clearly.
"Who are they? If they're just ordinary people, don't make things difficult for them."
“Ying’er, you didn’t hear what they said after that, did you? They said that if you make money, you can do big things, so you must not be an ordinary person.”
"Sigh, I wonder if there's anyone around. If they wanted to hide somewhere, they could have found a place to stay. Why did they have to hide under your jurisdiction?"
"I think they did it on purpose; the more dangerous the place, the safer it is."
I didn't want to get involved anymore; I just let them handle it. Xie Yuancheng walked for a while, and when we stopped, we saw thick smoke coming from the direction we had come from.
"How could it be on fire?" I was worried I was seeing things, but when I looked more closely, it was indeed the place we came from.
"This place was originally intended to be used to defend against major floods. Now it's just that construction has started ahead of schedule. It seems that many people still care about my Linyang. We need to get to work harder."
"You don't mean you'll have to patrol from now on, do you? Wouldn't that be exhausting?"
“Ying’er, what I mean is that the people below need to be more diligent. If we arrange things for them in advance, we can have peace of mind for many years to come.”
"Was it those men in black?" I was terrified of the men in black's lethality; they were indeed incredibly capable.
"Yes, what we saw last time was only a small part. If it weren't for their loyalty over the years, who knows how many years would have been wasted."
"You have such charm that so many people follow you. I'm completely captivated by your charm, Lord Marquis."
"Good girl, I really appreciate what you said, but you mustn't try to find out what's going on behind the scenes." Xie Yuancheng stroked my face: "Ying'er, just stay with me and don't worry about anything else."
I nodded quickly. This was better than a windfall. Of course I wouldn't worry about the people behind them. Behind every successful person is a group of... well, you know.
Xie Yuancheng rested for a while, received the message delivered by the pigeon, and then mounted his horse and rode away. He must have been nervous. I sat back and asked him, and Xie Yuancheng didn't say anything at first, but then he told me everything.
"Just tell me what's wrong. Look at you, your hands are all cold. If I warm them up for you, you won't be able to walk."
"It's nothing, just that a few people escaped. They ran very fast, and we didn't catch them."
"They've escaped, but we'll find them eventually. Why are you so nervous?"
"They seem to have overheard our conversation, so they're trying to bring us back these next few days, not just for our manor, but also for Linyang."
"How could I hear that!" I hugged him and tried to force myself to sleep, hoping that my dreams would give me some guidance.
"Ying'er~" Xie Yuancheng rubbed my head: "Don't be silly. It's not like I have to find it. Even if it gets out, there are still ways to solve it."
“I’ve got an idea. The men in black are quick at finding people. Have them search the mountains and forests. When many people flee, they either pretend to be refugees and seek lodging in villages or run deep into the mountains and forests.”
They're not running very fast yet; they can find their way once they roughly know the direction. Even if they're fast, they can't outrun the double-edged swords.
"Alright, I'll let them try." Xie Yuancheng really has a lot of little things on him; I don't even know how he managed to fit them all in.
Just as I was about to turn around, I felt something on the ground. It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival, could there be treasure on the ground too? I told him to dismount and take a look. Xie Yuancheng was reluctant at first, but I kept nagging him. Actually, I just wanted him to relax. We've been through so much together, we can always make up for it. We're still young.
I pulled him to look at the place that I thought was strange earlier. I was about to touch his Xuan Tie sword to show off when I almost lost my grip after only pulling it out a little.
"Ying'er, my sword is very heavy. Where do you want to cut? I'll cut for you."
"Just on the edge of the field, don't use too much force, just pry it open and take a look." I pointed to the edge of the field in front of me, where the grass was very thick.
Xie Yuancheng threw two stones, revealing a thin, bright line. Just as I was about to step forward, he pulled me back. Gray smoke rose into the air, and when I looked back, I realized it was him who had thrown a pellet.
"How many treasures do you have on you? I need to check~" I started searching his body, but Xie Yuancheng pulled my hand down, and I managed to pull away.
“I have many treasures on me. This is a very rare life line. Don’t come near. I’ll let Lingwu and the others take a look. Last time, the teacher was curious about it. Now we can see the real Buddha.”
"Really? Did I help you again?"
"Yes!" Xie Yuancheng hugged me tightly. "Although I don't know how these threads appeared, Ying'er is so smart, I love you so much~"
"Hmph~ Shameless~" I leaned against him, and my hand stopped trembling when I touched it. I felt relieved. He was still nervous, but he just didn't show it.
"Greetings, Lord Marquis!" I was just feeling happy when I heard a very orderly voice. Only then did I realize that more than twenty men in black had suddenly appeared.
"You hide nearby, we'll talk later."
"Yes!" They were definitely people who could accomplish great things; so many of them spoke in unison, as if they were all from the same person.
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