That's a bit tricky!
Just as Ji Wenxuan was pondering, the strong men who had been rescued surrounded him with great gratitude. They knelt down and kept kowtowing to Lin Ru and the others!
"Thank you so much, heroes and valiant men!"
"We will repay your great kindness even if we have to work like oxen and horses!"
"Yes, thank goodness for you heroes, otherwise we would have been the scapegoats!"
"These beasts killed my whole family! Just to drag me out and conscript me into the army!"
"And they even stole all the money from my family!"
"Yes, those heartless people actually killed my baby who was less than 100 days old! They're a bunch of beasts! If I hadn't agreed, they would have abused my wife who hadn't even finished her postpartum confinement!"
"We are truly grateful to all the heroes for helping us avenge ourselves!"
They all talked at once about their experiences, some saying their entire families had died, others saying their wives and sisters had been violated!
Even worse, those officers and soldiers actually took pleasure in torturing and killing them!
No wonder Ji Wenxuan said before that they were even better than Prince Shun and his ilk!
Ji Wenxuan grew increasingly angry as he listened. In a flash, he drew his sword and placed it against the soldier's neck!
"You beasts! Weren't you born of parents? Don't you have wives, brothers, sisters, or children?"
"We shouldn't have killed them so easily!"
"They should also experience what it feels like to be tortured to death!"
Just as Ji Wenxuan was so angry that he was about to behead the soldier, a man suddenly stood up from the crowd!
Although he was terrified, he still pleaded loudly, "Hero, please have mercy! This young man under your command didn't harm us!"
"Without him, we don't know how many more brothers would have died along the way!"
"He did want to help us, but he was too weak and was always being whipped by those beasts!"
"Look at him, there are whip marks on his neck and even his face. He's really not a bad person!"
Seeing that the man was trembling all over, yet still pleading for him, Lin Ru believed him completely!
Especially since they had just witnessed the scene of the boy being whipped and verbally abused!
She bent down, reached out and pinched the boy's chin, forcing him to raise his head and look at her!
She then noticed a long scar on the boy's face that stretched all the way down to his neckâclearly a whip mark!
Moreover, the boy's eyes were clear and bright, and because he was forced to look her in the eye, there was a hint of stubbornness in them!
Lin Ru reached out and pulled the boy's collar down, revealing the skin on his collarbone, which also had whip marks. It seemed that the boy had suffered a lot!
She was only trying to prove what that person said, but she forgot how frivolous her action was in this day and age!
It wasn't until the boy's face turned red from his neck to his ears that she realized what was happening and quickly let go of his hand!
She looked up and saw the shocked looks on the faces of the people around her!
Lin Ru coughed lightly, looking a little awkward.
"Ahem! Ahem! Well, I just wanted to verify whether that uncle's words were true or false. I really didn't mean to offend this young man!"
"You all saw it just now, what that uncle said is true. This boy has whip marks all over his face and neck!"
"Let's let him go!"
"But we can't let him go yet. He doesn't look very old, and he's injured. He can't go far on his own. It's better to let him come with us!"
"And while we're at it, can we also ask where the remaining thousand or so people are now?"
Ji Wenxuan and the others then came to their senses!
They thought Lin Ru's idea was great!
So he agreed!
The able-bodied men were overjoyed to see that the men had agreed!
The fear in his eyes when he looked at Lin Ru had turned into kindness and affection!
The bandits quickly finished searching the body!
To their surprise, they actually found more than 4,000 taels of silver in scattered pieces!
The carriages behind were also loaded with a lot of grain!
Ji Wenxuan wanted to distribute the silver to the able-bodied men so they could all leave, but to his surprise, they refused the money!
They said with deep sorrow, "My whole family has been killed by those beasts! We can never go back!"
"I have no face to go back and face my wife, children, and elderly parents. I want to kill those beasts in Shanping County with my own hands!"
"We know you still have other brothers to save!"
"Take us with you, so we can give our loved ones in the afterlife some peace of mind!"
"Yes! When I go back, my family will need to prepare an extra portion of food for me! My family is just too poor!"
"We don't want that money! Consider it our food allowance. It may be a bit much to ask, but you saved us, and we'd like to freeload off you!"
"We are willing to serve you like cattle and horses to repay your kindness!"
Ji Wenxuan looked at the food in the car. If they ate it sparingly, it would be enough to feed them for a while, and right now they needed manpower!
If I hadn't taken them in, who knows what would have become of them!
With that in mind, I agreed to take them back as well, and discuss the matter further!
And there are many dead horses on the ground!
Lin Ru told them to pick out the horses that didn't die from poisoning, as their meat was still edible!
Take the remaining surviving horses back with you!
Ji Wenxuan counted the horse meat and ultimately gave half to Lin Ru! He said somewhat awkwardly, "Miss Lin! Thank you so much!"
"When we arrive at our encampment, we'll treat you to a welcome feast. This horse meat will be a token of our gratitude! We hope you won't find it too much!"
Lin Ru didn't stand on ceremony with him and accepted the horse meat!
"We don't mind! It's perfect timing, we haven't had meat in ages!"
Hearing this, Ji Wenxuan felt a little better! As long as you don't mind!
When Zhang Tiedan heard Lin Ru say that she hadn't eaten meat in a long time, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her! How could her savior be living such a miserable life?
He secretly made up his mind that once he returned to the village, he would give his savior a big gift!
It took about half an incense stick's time to finish before it was all over!
Just as they were about to leave after everything was ready, a roar suddenly came from behind them!
"Bai Qiang! Are you really going to abandon us?"
"I am your wife, I gave birth to two sons for you, I deserve credit even if I didn't do anything special, and you just abandon us like this?"
"And you're all fine now!"
You can't be so ungrateful!
"My parents and brothers have done nothing wrong!"
"Xiang Ya and my sister-in-law's lives were also lost to you!"
What else do you want?
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