A moment later, a blade was placed on the old man's neck and his body was shaking.
"Ask whatever you want. As long as the old man knows, he will tell me."
"Have there ever been any bandits in Ping'an Town?"
The old man opened his cloudy eyes wide, "There is such a rumor."
"Has anyone seen any traces of the bandits?"
"N-Never heard of it."
"Has anyone disappeared inexplicably on East Street?"
"Missing... A lot of people have left Ping'an Town recently. I don't know if it's the old man who's missing."
"Has anyone you know suddenly disappeared?"
The old man thought for a moment and clapped his hands, saying, "What you said is quite strange. When the flood hit, Er Gouzi told me that he would never leave Ping'an Town, but he disappeared just two days after the flood. I walked around the town yesterday and didn't see him either. You see..."
"How old is this Er Gouzi?"
"He was abandoned in our town by his parents when he was little. He's about eighteen or nineteen this year."
"One last question. The entire village of Niutou was murdered. Are there any rumors in town?"
"W-what?!" The old man's eyes widened in shock. He wanted to shake his head but realized the knife was on his neck. He could only stammer, "I don't know about this. It wasn't me. Maybe it was that bandit who did it. But how could bandits spread rumors if they didn't do anything bad? What the hell!"
Jiang Huaixu retracted the dagger and handed the coarse flour pancake to the old man.
The old man must have been hungry for a long time. His shocked expression disappeared instantly, and his old eyes flashed with desire. He picked up the cake and started to eat it.
Jiang Huaixu watched him finish a pancake in a short while, and said with a smile: "Uncle, I still have a few pancakes here, how about we make a deal?"
A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Huaixu left East Street.
When they returned to the dilapidated temple, the Zheng Cong brothers had not yet left.
Seeing her come back, Boss Jiang's serious expression eased a little, "Girl, tell your two brothers what we saw in Niutou Village."
Jiang Huaixu briefly explained what happened in Niutou Village.
"Just now, I went to the streets to ask around and heard that there were bandits around. But when I asked around, no one had seen them. I did hear that some people said that Prince Duan was up to no good and that the conscription was his doing in order to rebel."
The two brothers, who had already believed 70% of what Jiang Lao Da said, could no longer sit still after hearing the word "treason". "Uncle, we'll go back and talk to our family and find you. We'll go with you. You have to wait for us."
Jiang Huaixu called out to the two brothers, "My two brothers, you must not tell anyone about Prince Duan's rebellion. This kind of thing could lead to your own death if you are not careful."
The two men looked serious. They didn't know the trick, but they valued their lives and said "OK" repeatedly.
After seeing the two off, the father and daughter hurriedly left the dilapidated temple.
"We have to go back quickly and tell the villagers about the situation here. We have to leave quickly..." After walking a few steps, Boss Jiang slapped his forehead and said, "We have to get a cart."
"Dad, don't worry about the cart. I've already got it."
Although Boss Jiang was confused, he knew that this was not the time to delve into the matter, so he pulled Jiang Huaixu and hurried back.
On the way back, they walked to a place and made sure that there was no one around. Jiang Huaixu took out the cart he had obtained from the space, and the two of them pushed it. On the way, they happened to meet people from Shili Village who were rushing over.
"Brother Liang, what's going on in town right now? Can we buy a cart or something?"
"Why is there a hole in your cart?"
······
Seeing Boss Jiang telling everyone about the situation in the town, Jiang Huaixu looked at Jiang Erlang in the crowd, winked at him, and the two of them walked to the side of the road tacitly.
"Brother, why did you come with them?"
Jiang Erlang said gently, "I was worried about you guys, so I wanted to come over and check on you."
"If nothing unexpected happens, my sister-in-law's family will come to see us today. There's no need to go to town. I have something to tell you when we get back."
Jiang Erlang looked at Jiang Huaixu's expression seriously and nodded.
Hearing that the villagers still wanted to go to the town despite Jiang Lao Da's dissuasion, Jiang Huaixu hurriedly shouted: "Uncles, aunts and brothers, I'm afraid it will be a waste of time to go to the town. There are not many people selling things in the town. We bought this cart from an old lady after talking our mouths off, and she asked for a very high price. With so many of us, it will be even more difficult. It's better not to bother with this and go a little further. Maybe it will be easier to buy something in the county town."
After these words were spoken, those who were still hoping for a lucky break were speechless.
Seeing this, Jiang Miao, the village chief's eldest son, said, "In that case, let's not go and waste our energy. We haven't walked far yet, so it's not too late to hear what the situation in town is like before making a decision."
In this way, a group of people returned to the base.
Boss Jiang told the villagers what he had seen and heard along the way in as much detail as possible, and everyone's expression was solemn.
Jiang Huaixu pulled Jiang Erlang to a place far away from the villagers, took out the letter from her arms, and while Jiang Erlang was reading the letter, she told him what happened in Niutou Village and the town.
Finally, he said, "With the tragic death of a villager and the disappearance of people in the town, I don't think the bandits have such great power except for the government. The content of the letter is worth believing. It is safer to go to Ganzhou."
After reading the letter quickly, Jiang Erlang carefully put it away and pondered, "Could it be that they want to pin the Niutou Village incident on the bandits? They'll wait until things get out of hand and then go out and suppress the bandits. They'll definitely be able to successfully suppress them. And by suppressing the bandits and exempting them from taxes, they'll win the hearts of the people. Once the news gets out and those who have fled return, it'll be easier to recruit soldiers again."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
