Otherwise, if they couldn't find their families during this famine, they wouldn't be able to survive; if they did find their families, they would learn that they had been abused by bandits and their reputations had been ruined, making it difficult for them to survive either. That's why some people jumped off cliffs to commit suicide.
Sister Xiaomei asked them what their plans were. Several girls from the mountain decided to go home, and the remaining nine wanted to follow them south and start a new life in a different place.
They only asked to follow behind and not cause any trouble to the team. Gu Xinran thought that since they had already been saved, they might as well go together.
Looking at the food they had received, everyone felt both sad and happy. How to carry it down the mountain became a big problem.
Brother Gu led his men to lead out the 32 horses from the backyard. The academy only took seven because they did not have to do much work and they were not short of animals anyway.
Each family got one of the remaining horses, and the girls also got one. There were still two horses left, and everyone agreed that they should be rewarded to the Gu family. They had made the greatest contribution to the success of this matter.
Grandpa Gu looked at Gu Xinran and let her decide.
She thought that her family already had a lot of livestock, and many families in the village needed them more than they did.
After a moment of deliberation, he said, "Grandpa Village Chief, the remaining two horses will be the village's common property and will be used in rotation by villagers with less able-bodied labor."
The villagers expressed their gratitude one after another, and Village Chief Li's eyes filled with tears. "How generous! Our whole village will remember your family's kindness."
Gu Xinran waved her hands repeatedly, made an excuse to leave, and let her grandfather deal with it.
She helped Brother Gu pack the food and secretly put most of it into the space. There were twelve people in their family, and they were given more than a thousand kilograms of food this time. The animals could only carry the food, not the people.
For the villagers of Qingshan Village, owning a cow was once an unattainable dream, but now, with windfall gains, every family has a horse.
A sense of happiness arose naturally, and the problem of transporting food was also solved.
When they were about to leave, the villagers saw a group of tied-up unconscious bandits in the yard and their hands began to move.
Xiao Kang asked Gu Xinran tentatively, "How about searching those people? There's no such thing as too much money."
Haha, it’s so easy to learn bad things. She encouraged him, “It’s doable. Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat!”
When the villagers heard this, they rushed into the group of bandits like crazy and searched them thoroughly, even surpassing their predecessors. The people in the academy were stunned.
The result was encouraging. After dividing the money, each person in Qingshan Village received an extra five taels of silver.
Anyone who sees it will get a share, and I was going to share some with the people in the academy, but they said they didn't want to receive anything without merit, so that was it.
It was already past midnight when we finished all this, so we took advantage of the moonlight and left Qingfeng Village.
We chose a relatively secluded place five miles away from the village to set up camp and rest.
As soon as the sun rose, Xiao Ba came back and brought an unexpected person with him.
Duan Yunchi, dressed in a bright red, stood before Gu Xinran and greeted her with a playful smile: "Ranran, long time no see, did you miss me?"
He was also very polite and courteous to other members of the Gu family, especially to Gu's mother, calling her "Aunt" and "Aunt" in a very sweet manner.
Gu Xinran was delighted to see him as cheerful and cheerful as ever. She happily responded, "I've missed you so much. I've been riding in the mule and cart you gave me, and I've been thinking about your kindness every day."
"Haha, really? That's worth it."
The temperature was low early in the morning, so Gu Xinran hurriedly asked him to sit by the campfire and made him hot tea mixed with spiritual spring water.
Gu's mother cooked a big bowl of noodle soup with meat and vegetables for him and Xiao Ba respectively.
Gu Xinran also poured each of them a bowl of Ganoderma lucidum wine to drive away the cold.
The two of them devoured the food in no time and were full in no time. They even licked their faces and added another bowl of wine.
Seeing that he had finished eating, Gu Xinran continued, "Didn't you go back to southern Xinjiang to look for medicine? Why are you here in Jinzhou?"
After filling his stomach, Duan Yunchi took a good look at the Gu family. They were in good condition and did not look thin and haggard due to fleeing famine. The four children of the Gu family had obviously grown taller.
Thinking about the burden on his shoulders, he couldn't help but stroke his forehead and sighed, "I am destined to be a hard worker. Ming Mingzhan wrote to my uncle, asking him to help secretly investigate the iron mine. He is a general and cannot go out without his orders, so I, an idler, was sent out."
Gu Xinran recalled the shock she felt when she first learned of his identity and glanced at him with dissatisfaction. "Haha, you've kept your identity a secret quite well. I just realized you're also a distinguished person. I'm so sorry, so sorry!"
After saying this, he even bowed in a fake manner.
"Oh, you can't blame me for that. You didn't ask."
Gu Xinran still had a resentful look on her face, "Yes, it was my fault, please calm down, sir."
Then he changed the subject and got down to business. "Tell me, has the iron ore been processed?"
Duan Yunchi also turned serious and answered earnestly, "We have fully received them. It's just a pity that all the weapons have been moved out."
Gu Xinran looked regretful and said, "Oh, it seems you are late."
"It's hard for a powerful dragon to suppress a local snake. Our investigation was fraught with difficulties. We only dared to openly attack after the incident happened, and in the end, we only caught a few small fish and shrimp."
Seeing his heavy face, Gu Xinran comforted him, "It's okay. We have iron ore, and weapons can be forged again. Just be careful that the other party may use those weapons for bad things."
Duan Yunchi praised Gu Xinran for being smart in his heart, "Isn't it just a bad thing? Jinzhou Prefecture is now closed.
The imperial guards and eunuchs who were sent to deliver the imperial decree to Governor Wang Kui, summoning him to return to the capital to report on his duties, have been missing to this day."
Gu Xinran was shocked. "Openly disobeying the imperial order, is this a rebellion?"
"It's possible. Jinzhou has no governor. Wang Kui has absolute power, holding all military and political power. I don't have many people now, so I can only hold the iron mine and Wu'an County and wait for reinforcements."
The Gu family members who were listening on the side all changed their expressions.
Gu Xinran felt heavy-hearted. "Alas, our route south has been cut off again. How far is this place from Jinzhou Prefecture? Is it safe?"
"About three hundred miles. It's safe now, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future."
It's really frustrating. Nothing has gone smoothly since entering Jinzhou. Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it. Let's solve the problem in front of me first.
"You guys are taking over the iron mine, so you must be short of people. The people in Qingfeng Village have finally found a way out."
Duan Yunchi gave her a thumbs up and said, "Ranran, you are amazing. We were planning to encircle and suppress Qingfeng Village with Magistrate Zhao of Wu'an County, but you guys finished it first.
The two hundred guards I brought with me and the bailiffs and detectives led by County Magistrate Zhao are arresting people and will send them to the mine soon.
The iron mine is fifty miles east of Qingfeng Village."
Gu Xinran said modestly, "It's just so-so. The more than 30,000 kilograms of grain and several thousand taels of silver in the village, part of which were distributed to the refugees. Do you and County Magistrate Zhao have any objections?"
Duan Yunchi felt a little regretful, but not too much. "I thought we could make a fortune by taking over Qingfeng Village, but I didn't expect it to be so poor. How could I have any objections? County Magistrate Zhao even got the credit for suppressing the bandits for free. Don't worry, he's the prince's man, he won't give away anything."
Gu Xinran subconsciously touched the bridge of her nose and said guiltily, "I'm really poor. I haven't even earned back the money I spent on the drugs. Luckily, Doctor Ling sponsored it for free."
At this time, the personal guard came to report that all the people had been captured and were ready to set off.
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