Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight: We Will Be Together

and went out to greet him by water."The old master instructed me to tell the young master that all miscellaneous matters should be put aside for now, and wait for the fourth and fifth masters to retu..."No, we have to stay together, we can't scatter!"

"Yes, we're going to be together!"

The villagers immediately panicked and rushed forward, surrounding the two minor officials in the middle.

The two clerks hadn't expected the villagers to react with such fervor. They were taken aback, but quickly regained their composure and glared at the crowd, shouting angrily.

"Step back, step back! What are you trying to do, cause trouble!"

The villagers all clenched their fists, neither retreating nor speaking. Their bloodshot eyes fixed on the two petty officials, making them increasingly uneasy.

Did they see wrong These commoners' eyes seemed to hold... murderous intent.

At this moment, Li Laoer coughed and helped the village chief forward, settling him in a chair. Then he said:

Have you two heard what happened at the docks the day before yesterday Jiangbei people came to seek refuge, and they encountered barbarians outside the docks. The Dingbei Army guarding the docks refused to send troops to assist them. In the end, it was Hou Xin Ting who led his troops to arrive and killed thirty barbarian iron cavalry.

Two clerks didn't react immediately and nodded, saying, "We heard it, but what does this have to do with you"

The village head let out a cold smile and pulled open the large coat he was wearing, revealing half of his blood-stained arm.

The rest of the villagers also hurriedly unbuttoned their cotton-padded jackets, revealing their battered and bruised bodies.

The petty official gasped in shock. What else was there to misunderstand These people were the very mud-legged barbarians!

The past two days the city has been buzzing with talk of this incident. Everyone says these people are fierce; they encountered barbarians, none of them were killed, and they even killed over a dozen barbarians in return.

It's said that Marquis XinTing arrived with his troops, only to clean up the mess. In reality, those thirty barbarian iron cavalry were all killed by this group of people.

Of course, what's even more famous is that Marquis Xin Ting actually denounced this group of people. The general who refused to rescue the soldiers was directly dismissed, and Marquis Dingbei was also reprimanded!

Thinking back to their colleagues who had come over earlier, both of them felt a little regret.

Li Laoer looked at the expressions of the two people, his heart settled, and he said again.

“We also know that you two officials have no grudge against us. Someone is just looking down on us, but we don't want to suffer a loss either. This matter will inevitably have to go to the Marquis’s place later. Do you two think you can bear the wrath of the Marquis Or perhaps, even without the Marquis stepping in, we can get our breath back!”

Li Lao'er casually pulled out a string of wolf teeth from his sleeve and continued in a casual tone: "Officers, take a look at this wolf tooth necklace. I got it while we were spending the winter in the mountains. We encountered a pack of wolves, not one was left alive, all killed by us. There was also a group of bandits who were very arrogant, kidnapping our children. But we went after them and beheaded them all. You see, people from our northern region are wild and refuse to suffer any injustice. We don't wait overnight for revenge!"

Two clerks looked at the wolf's tooth, then at the crowd, and cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.

"Well, well... brothers, don't rush things, this isn't something that can't be delayed"

"Yeah, yeah, let's figure something out."

Two clerks quickly flipped through the books, searching and searching, until they finally looked at each other and said.

"We're not trying to make things difficult for you. If you split up, each of the five hamlets is quite good. But if you want to stay together, there aren't really many suitable places left. So... are you still planning on not splitting up"

The villagers, without hesitation, spoke in unison, "We won't be separated. We must stay together."

The village head leaned back in his chair, his face pale. He nodded, "We must stay together."

Li Laer glanced at the petty official and said, "The Marquis is going to kill barbarians now, but when he comes back, he will also stay in our village for a while. If the place is not good, I'm afraid that when the time comes, he will have us move here to swap places. At that time, we will trouble the two officials."

Two clerks scowled and shoved the document directly to Li Laer.

“Since you can’t even switch, with nearly a hundred of you, you’d need almost four hundred acres of land. There’s nowhere else that’s big enough, this is the only place that fits.”

Li Lao'er wasn't being polite either, he quickly flipped through the booklet.

The two clerks hadn't lied. All the other places had been stamped, only a few hadn't been, and those were marked as just a few dozen acres of wasteland.

And this place was allotted to them, about seventy li to the south, and a hundred li away was Xindu Zhuzhou Prefecture.

Thirty miles away is quite convenient.

He whispered with the village head for a moment, then decided on this place.

Two clerks let out a sigh of relief, efficiently finishing the paperwork and finally sending the group away.

Two people stood inside the shed. One wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "What do we do We managed to take care of those thugs, but what about over there... how do we explain that"

"How are we going to explain this" another sneered, "They only said they wanted these people to have a hard time, but not how. Besides, the place where we're sending them is enough to cover our tracks."

Although the two clerks whispered to each other, all the villagers who heard about the news were delighted. They were happy because their new land was close to the capital.

After all, we're strangers in a strange land. It brings comfort knowing that we can still gather together like this.

The crowd huddled together, discussing whether to set off sooner. This wasn't a place to linger.

If Young Master Ye is not here, if anyone comes looking for trouble, they'll be the ones who suffer.

Then everyone quickly packed their things, hired seven or eight carriages at a high price, and set off with their families the next morning.

Mr. Wen and Mrs. Cui were still in the line, in a carriage with the Li family.

Mrs. Cui held Jiayin in her arms, feeling heartache for her because of the injury. Her little face had thinned from it.

Mrs. Li lay on the thick quilts, but her wound still ached with each bump of the carriage.

She endured with great effort, chatting idly with Lady Cui to distract her mind.

"Madam, you should go home now. Don't worry about us anymore. We have a new place to stay, and things will only get better from here on out."

Mrs. Cui smiled, "Auntie, I'll feel at ease only when you all arrive and settle down. Also, Auntie, please call me Jiner from now on. I'm your junior in the martial arts world through Jiaren, and also a younger generation of your family. My family has only my elder brother left, so I plan to consider your house as my own in the future. Please don't find me bothersome."

"No complaints, no complaints!" Old Mrs. Li was delighted. "You're a lady from a good family and close to Funiu. To be honest, I'm hoping Funiu will grow up big and strong, and you can help us guide her. This child is too smart; I'm always afraid she'll go astray."

Mrs. Cui gently patted Jia Yin and readily agreed, “Yes, sister-in-law, you mustn’t go back on your word. From now on, Fu Niu will be my little disciple.”

"No regrets, of course no regrets." Old Li stroked her granddaughter's chubby little feet, her heart aching with distress, "It's all my fault. Holding her in my arms and not protecting her well enough."

"Don't speak like that, sister-in-law. During such chaos, surviving is already a blessing. This girl is fortunate, she escaped a great disaster and will surely have a brighter future."

"Okay, okay, I'll take your word for it!"

The carriage rattled on, Jia Yin vaguely hearing a few words, but soon fell asleep from the swaying.

Her head was still swollen, not healing so easily.

But Dr. Zhang promised her that with acupuncture every day, she'd be healed in half a month. She wasn't so afraid anymore.

Although seventy miles isn't that far, with so many people of all ages traveling on the carriage, including those injured, and having spent a night sleeping outdoors, it wasn't until noon on the second day that they reached Xiajin Village in Nanxi County, as stated on the land deed.

Just then, there were farmers busy in the fields, preparing for spring planting. When they saw Li Laer asking for directions, they led him past.e gate constantly echoed with a cacophony of footsteps, interspersed with muffled sobs and harsh shouts.Even though Shui Ling was usually bold, she couldn't help but feel a little scared at this momen...