Chapter 83

Chapter 83

After the bandits and Barbarians in Nanshan Village were captured, the place had practically become an empty village.

Fan He looked around the village, his heart heavy. “When I came here before, this place was still so lively.”

There had been old people and children, young and strong adults too. Everyone had been working so hard just to live.

Shen Qingzhu said, “Let’s interrogate them first. The villagers may not necessarily be dead. After all, if they were mining iron ore, they would need labor.”

Fan He immediately perked up. “You’re right.”

Jiang Yunsui also went along to watch the interrogation.

They used the Truth Pill right away.

After questioning three people, they discovered that only one of them actually knew the iron mine’s exact location.

And that person was a Barbarian, so naturally, he did not speak the language of the Central Plains.

Fortunately, two people among them knew the Barbarians’ language.

One was Song Jin. After all, he had lived among the Barbarians for a time. In order to adapt, he had forced himself to learn their language in just two short months.

The other was Ji Yan’an.

Because the Ji Family guarded Mobei and often dealt with the Barbarians, understanding the Barbarians required being able to understand their speech.

Later, after Ji Yan’an was poisoned and his body gradually weakened, he grew even fonder of reading.

He had also started learning the Barbarians’ language.

“Bring him. We’re going to find the iron mine.”

The group set off again without rest, heading toward the iron mine.

The pack of dogs followed as well.

Unexpectedly, the place was still quite a distance from Nanshan Village, and the trail leading there was rather tricky.

“Woof, woof, woof…”

Just as they were about to approach the iron mine, the dogs began barking.

Whoosh…

A sharp arrow shot toward them. Nanmo leaped straight up from horseback and blocked the arrow flying at Ji Yan’an.

The others also quickly shielded Ji Yan’an, Nanshu, and the rest behind them.

Jiang Yunsui scrambled down from her horse and, in a fluster, found a large tree she could hide behind.

She even snapped off two branches and held them in her hands.

Ji Yan’an naturally moved quickly to find cover as well. Those without martial arts skills all hid of their own accord, lest they drag everyone down.

The rest charged straight into battle with the people concealed in the forest.

Fortunately, Ji Yan’an had made preparations and brought plenty of men.

As for those hiding in the shadows, hidden guard also flushed them out.

The sounds of killing continued for a full half hour.

At last, every ambusher lying in wait here had been slain.

But people on their side had died as well, and many more were wounded.

Four of the dogs had died too.

Among the dead people and dogs were faces Jiang Yunsui knew.

She crouched in front of the bodies, feeling awful inside.

She wanted to cry a little.

Some of them had only held her and played with her yesterday. Some had picked wild fruits from the mountains for her to eat.

A hand came down on her small shoulder and patted it gently.

“In Mobei, death is normal.”

“A person can be alive and breathing one moment, then gone the next. You have to get used to it.”

Ji Yan’an spoke those words calmly.

It was not as if he was not grieving too. But things like this could not be avoided.

Song Jin finished tending the wounds on his body. Looking at the child crouched on the ground, silently shedding tears, he uncharacteristically said nothing.

Jiang Yunsui cried quietly for a while before a pair of hands lifted her up.

Her little nose and eyes were red. She wiped the tears from her face messily, then raised her small face to look at Nanmo.

Nanmo said, “It’s time to go.”

Jiang Yunsui gave a muffled hum.

“Then what about them?”

Nanmo said, “We’ll leave them here for now. When we return, we’ll bring them home.”

The Yaoguang Guard were similar to hidden guard. They were all orphans selected from various places and brought back for training.

They had no homes. Yaoguang Camp was their home.

The Yaoguang Guard trained together, ate and drank together, and lived together. A group of rootless people had been gathered by the Ji Family, becoming one another’s support, one another’s brothers.
So compared to Jiang Yunsui, the ones who grieved more were their brothers-in-arms.

But they had come to terms with life and death even earlier. They would grieve, but they would also keep looking forward.

Because none of them knew when they, too, might be reunited with their brothers beneath the earth.

After falling into an ambush and losing several men, the whole group sank into a heavy silence.

They also became even more vigilant.

When they were nearly at the iron mine, they heard bursts of screams.

Ji Yan’an said, “Nanmo, Ji Yi, Ji Si, stay behind. Everyone else, get there as fast as you can.”

At his order, everyone moved at once.

Jiang Yunsui was nervous and worried. Suddenly, she pointed at the treetop in a certain direction.

“Si Si!”

Ji Si vanished in an instant. In less than three breaths, a scream rang out.

Someone fell from the dense branches, and Ji Si returned to their side.

“Are there any others hiding nearby?” Ji Yan’an asked.

Jiang Yunsui sensed the area, then shook her head.

She could feel nature. Any unfamiliar presence hidden around them, she could detect. That was also why she had always been able to find hidden guards like Ji Si so easily.

Ji Yan’an patted her head. “Well done.”

Jiang Yunsui’s mood finally improved a little.

Then the little glutton made her demand. “Then when we get back, can I eat a whole big pork knuckle?”

Ji Yan’an said, “…How ambitious of you.”

This bandit suppression had gone so smoothly, and they had even obtained information about the iron mine-Jiang Yunsui had contributed greatly to it all.

Naturally, he would reward the little girl once they returned.

It was just that right now, the little thing only had food in her eyes.

Things at the mine ended quickly. The screams from earlier had come because, after realizing they had been found, the men left guarding the mine had begun slaughtering the miners.

Yelü Can had still been clinging to a faint, desperate hope that the iron mine would not be discovered anytime soon.

After all, he had kept the news well hidden. Even if some bandits knew about the mine, very few knew its exact location.

He probably never imagined that its location would be pried out so quickly.

“Thank you, my lord. Thank you, my lord…”

The miners, all skin and bones, had been rescued at last. Overcome with emotion, they knelt on the ground.

But some miners had still died.

Ji Yan’an sighed.

“Take them down first and give them a proper meal so they can recover some strength.”

“As for the dead, ask whether they have family members to claim them. If not, find a place and bury them.”

“Yes, sir!”

The iron mine had finally been taken. After inspecting it, they found that the mine was not especially large, but the ore had a very high iron content.

After leaving some men to guard the mine, Ji Yan’an and the others departed as well.

The Yaoguang Guard carried the bodies of their fallen brothers on their backs, walking back step by steady step.

The dogs’ bodies were carried too. They had to go home as well.

The rescued miners were all settled in Nanshan Village. Among them, some were originally from Nanshan Village, while others were traveling merchants or commoners who had been captured by the bandits.

Now, how to arrange for them became a problem.

At last, they returned to Beizhen City. Jiang Yunsui moved her little short legs as fast as she could, with Zuozuo Youyou following beside her, and ran back into the Ji Mansion.

“Nanny Zhou, Nanny Zhou, I’m back! Did you all miss me?”

The moment she returned to the residence, she started shouting. Her soft, milky voice instantly livened up the somewhat quiet Ji Mansion.

“Nanny Zhou, I stink all over now.”

“I’m telling you, going out with them this time was so unlucky. I twisted my waist, fell into a pit, and got chased by bandits…”

She counted off the unlucky things she had encountered one by one on her fingers.

In the end, she pushed the blame onto them. “They must have passed all their bad luck onto me!”