"Let me pass! Young Master Zhao just left with your people. What did you do to him?" Xiaohua shouted, pointing at the soldiers.
Wu Qing, who was following behind her, advised, "Maybe he's going to travel with this group from now on. You should just come back with me."
A woman standing next to Xiaohua also chimed in to persuade her, "Ah Hua, that's enough. These people don't look like they should be trifled with. Let's not offend any nobles. Let's just go."
But Xiaohua was determined. "No, I must find Young Master Zhao. He definitely wouldn't abandon me."
The soldiers kept their heads down, not daring to look at Xiaohua and Wu Qing's faces. Mother of God, one person with this level of ugliness was an eyesore, but two at once was simply fatal.
They didn't dare abandon their posts, so they could only diligently stand guard and prevent them from entering.
Fortunately, Zhao Feng arrived quickly.
He glanced at Xiaohua and hurriedly looked away. "Miss, I will no longer be traveling with you all. Thank you for your care during this time."
Hearing his words, Xiaohua's heart shattered. "You... you just said I had the beauty of a celestial being, and now you've changed your mind in the blink of an eye. You..."
The soldiers cast strange yet admiring glances at Zhao Feng. The beauty of a celestial being? How could you say those words against your conscience?
Zhao Feng endured his twitching forehead. "Miss, you can't just spout nonsense. I didn't..."
He suddenly choked on his words. It seemed like he actually had said that just now!
At this moment, he wished he could go back in time and slap himself twice. Of all the things to say, why did he have to say that?
Xiaohua's tiny, mung-bean-sized eyes looked at him accusingly. "You didn't say what? Say it! Do you dare swear to heaven that you didn't call me a celestial beauty? You even said you weren't worthy of me!"
Zhao Feng: "..." For some reason, he felt his hand hurt even more.
He took a deep breath. "You are indeed a celestial beauty, but I do not have feelings for you. Please stop pestering me from now on."
After saying that, he turned and walked away.
Xiaohua was heartbroken. She roared at Zhao Feng's retreating back, "You unfaithful philanderer! I hate you, boohoo..."
Zhao Feng stumbled and almost fell. Wait, how was he unfaithful? Wasn't that phrase used to describe women?
Besides, when did he ever cheat? On whom?
Damn it, he didn't even have a partner to cheat on right now.
They were just passing acquaintances traveling together, yet she made it sound like he was a heartless man abandoning his wife and children.
Seeing that Zhao Feng didn't turn back, and even walked faster until he broke into a jog, Xiaohua finally gave up and ran away crying.
Wu Qing hurriedly followed behind, softly coaxing her.
"The falling flower yearns for love, but the heartless brook babbles on. The word 'love' is truly the most hurtful," Dong Si watched from afar, sighing with deep emotion.
Jiang Jin shot him a sidelong glance but said nothing. This little eunuch was acting like he understood it all.
Dong Si continued, "My Lady, you can have countless male concubines in the future, but you must never truly give your heart, otherwise you will only hurt yourself."
Jiang Jin: "..." Countless male concubines? If she had that kind of energy, she might as well conquer two more cities.
When Jiang Jin set out in the afternoon, Xiaohua and her companions had long since left.
Not long after the group departed, they saw over twenty more corpses by the roadside.
The men had all been killed with a single strike, while the women were left naked and in a horrific state.
Scattered around the bodies were torn clothes, bundles, and cooking pottery. Dong Si even found over a hundred copper coins in one of the bundles.
Judging by the methods and the scene, it was likely the work of the same group from before.
Zhou Sui's attention was suddenly drawn to a wooden token on the ground. He bent down to pick it up and examined it; strange patterns were carved into the wood.
Jiang Jin frowned. "Is this a waist tag?"
Zhou Sui nodded. "Yes, looking at this pattern, it should belong to the people of Quzhao."
Jiang Jin's gaze turned dark as she looked down the road. She didn't know where this group was heading, but in this direction lay Liuxiang County.
And Ge Feng was in Liuxiang County.
Amidst her thoughts, two riders galloped past on the official road.
The riders were two robust men. They glanced back at Jiang Jin's herd of horses and carriages, a gleam flashing in their eyes.
Jiang Jin narrowed her eyes, watching their retreating figures.
She instructed in a low voice, "Be careful on the road."
Zhou Sui's eyes flickered, recalling the two riders who had just passed. "My Lady, do you suspect them?"
Jiang Jin shook her head. "Wealth stirs people's hearts. It never hurts for us to be careful."
Zhou Sui nodded seriously. "Understood. I'll extend our scouting perimeter."
Nothing happened until they prepared to set up camp in the evening, allowing Zhou Sui's anxious heart to finally settle.
Jiang Jin, however, still felt uneasy. "Zhou Sui, arrange for more people to patrol tonight."
The dense forest was deep, with layers of overlapping peaks.
Under the hazy night sky, a small village sat nestled in the mountains.
Inside a dimly lit room, several men sat in silence until footsteps sounded outside.
Shortly after, a young man walked in briskly, his expression excited. "It's confirmed, they've set up camp at Xiaoliu Slope."
The middle-aged man sitting in the seat of honor looked delighted. "Truly?"
The young man nodded affirmatively. "Yes, their group has a little over two hundred people in total. There are over fifty carts transporting grain alone, plus more than a dozen horse carriages."
"And the horses. Added all together, there must be over two hundred of them," the young man said, his breathing growing heavier.
"Boss, let's do it!" a burly man spoke up.
If Jiang Jin were there, she would have recognized this man as one of the riders who had passed by earlier that day.
The others also looked at the middle-aged man with burning eyes, waiting for his decision.
The middle-aged man lowered his head in thought before asking, "How many guards do they have?"
"Only about thirty," the young man said after thinking for a moment, his expression turning strange. "However, there are another sixty or seventy people who look like guards but also don't."
He hadn't dared to get too close and had only taken a look from afar, so he wasn't entirely clear on the specifics.
He only knew that those people wore uniform clothing and didn't hold any weapons.
The middle-aged man looked puzzled. "Logically speaking, it's impossible for them to have so few guards when transporting so much grain and so many carriages, right?"
The burly man remembered something and said, "Boss, I remember now. On the road around the Qianshan Forest area, there were signs of a struggle and bloodstains."
"I reckon they were robbed earlier. Although they managed to protect the grain, a lot of their people must have died."
The young man clapped his hands. "That makes sense. Who wouldn't be tempted by them transporting so much grain? It's perfectly normal for them to be robbed. Now, it's to our advantage."
"Oh right, there are also a lot of women in the group. Our village has too few women, so this is a perfect chance to replenish our numbers."
The burly man slapped him on the head. "No matter what, we can still have a few men share one woman here. You should be content."
Saying this, he stroked his chin, a trace of lust flashing in his eyes. "Speaking of which, when I rode past, I really did see a few beautiful young women."
The young man's eyes lit up. "Really? It would be great if we could each be assigned a woman."
The middle-aged man was amused by his words. "Having that many women would cost so much grain. It's not worth it."
The burly man asked, "Boss, so are we doing this or not?"
