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After Village Chief Chen and his group left, Yang Wei and his men closed the courtyard gate. They then followed their usual routine, assigning rooms for the night, delegating tasks for starting the fire, cooking, heating water, washing, and tending to the horses. Everything was carried out in an orderly fashion.
Xiao Wu, a member of Yang Wei Escort Agency, climbed into a carriage and took out a large piece of pork from a jar to thaw. The pork weighed about 20 pounds. He also took out some dried black fungus, dried bamboo shoots, and began soaking them. He grabbed a few heads of cabbage and peeled seven or eight large radishes, preparing to chop them for stuffing.
While everyone was busy, the main house in the center of the courtyard was quickly tidied up.
Lu Songli, Yang Wei, Xu Zheng, and the three Qin brothers sat together.
Xu Zheng frowned and said, “Qinglong Fort is indeed a troublesome matter.”
Yes, they had already heard about Qinglong Fort before entering the village.
After Zhou Da took half the men north to support Qin Yan, the remaining men were led by Deputy Leader Hu Guangcong. They were all skilled horsemen, and it would have been a waste to use them merely as bodyguards, like the men of Yang Wei Escort Agency. So, after discussing with the Qin brothers, Lu Songli decided to use them as scouts to enhance their group’s awareness of potential dangers.
The results were immediate. Among other things, they had already gathered quite a bit of information about Qinglong Fort two days earlier.
Qin Heng pointed out, “Cang Mountain is too vast. No matter which route we take, we can’t avoid Qinglong Fort.”
“If we can’t avoid it, then we must face it head-on,” Lu Songli said, setting the tone for the discussion.
She also realized that as soon as they entered Qingxi Village, they were exposed. Maybe not in every village, but both Qingxi Village and He Gu Village, located at opposite ends of Qinglong Fort’s hunting grounds, likely had informants.
With so many carriages, all loaded with supplies, they were nothing but a fat sheep in Qinglong Fort’s eyes.
Yang Wei sighed, feeling that he had miscalculated. He knew this would happen, but they had needed to bring such rich supplies to make their journey comfortable. Since they had enjoyed the benefits of those supplies, they couldn’t now complain about the drawbacks.
Lu Songli was always one to solve problems as they arose, with nothing more to say.
The bandit stronghold had over 200 young and strong men. Even if they showed themselves to be a tough nut to crack, the allure of the supplies they carried would still tempt the bandits to take a bite.
They could force their way through with careful planning, but it would likely lead to casualties. This was not what she wanted.
Just then, one of the escort agency members came to report that someone was knocking at the door.
The group exchanged glances, deciding to discuss further after dinner. For now, if they all left, it might raise suspicion.
The visitor turned out to be Village Chief Chen’s mother, Madam Chen, who came with a seven- or eight-year-old boy to thank them.
The boy had a defiant look, with a hint of rebelliousness, and kept staring at the Qin brothers and the soldiers.
“You are good people, but the heavy snow has blocked the roads. It’s hard to travel. You should turn back and take another route.”
Lu Songli understood that she was indirectly warning them of something. After thanking her for her kindness, Yang Wei gave her two coarse bread rolls.
At that moment, Lu Mingzhi quietly approached Lu Songli and said, “Second Sister, there will be heavy snow in the next two days. We should stay in Qingxi Village for a couple more days.”
Lu Songli nodded, “Alright, I understand. I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”
Traveling in the wild during a snowstorm was not only difficult but also dangerous.
Recently, whenever rain or snow was about to come, Lu Mingzhi would always inform them in advance, helping them avoid a lot of trouble and saving them much effort.
Qin Heng had privately praised him more than once, saying that his studies were indeed useful.
Lu Songli shared this with everyone, and then Yang Wei arranged for a few people to bring a ladder and clear the snow off the roof.
Those who were free helped make dumplings.
While Yang Wei and the others were shoveling snow, they noticed that Village Chief Chen was also leading his people in clearing the snow off their rooftops. Yang Wei greeted him from a distance, “Village Chief Chen, you’re shoveling snow too?”
Village Chief Chen nodded, “Yes, if the snow isn’t cleared, it might damage the roof.” They had been clearing the snow earlier, but stopped when these outsiders entered, startling the villagers.
Yang Wei noticed that after clearing the snow from the chief’s house, they moved on to the next house with the same crew. He immediately understood that these people were planning to clear the snow from each house one by one.
“Village Chief Chen, it’s getting dark soon. Why don’t you assign more people?”
Village Chief Chen gave a bitter smile. These nobles from Chang’an don’t know how hard life is for the common people. It’s not that he doesn’t want to assign more people.
But warm clothing is so expensive and hard to come by. In Qingxi Village, if a household can come up with two complete sets of winter clothing, they’re already doing well.
The only or one of the only two winter outfits is usually worn by the person going out to handle tasks. The rest of the family, if they don’t have anything to do, just stay in bed, where it’s warmer.
Recently, the snow has been heavy, and they’ve had to clear it every day, fearing the roof might collapse. So, he required each household to send one person, preferably a nimble young one, to take turns shoveling snow.
After Yang Wei understood the situation, he took his people to help Village Chief Chen. Since dinner wasn’t ready yet, he helped while also gathering information about Qinglong Village. Village Chief Chen didn’t hide anything and told him everything he knew.
Mo Bing, along with several others, ended up making over a thousand dumplings, then cooked nearly seven hundred of them, leaving three hundred to be sent to Hu Guangcong and his group later.
During the meal, the Lu siblings somehow ended up sitting close together.
“Second Sister, this is good—” As soon as Lu Mingzhi said that, he quickly covered his mouth.
He gave himself away!
The officers paused in the middle of picking up their dumplings, and one of them even dropped his dumpling upon hearing this. They wished they could plug their ears—was this something they were supposed to hear?
Facing those subtle, scrutinizing gazes, the officers didn’t dare move. The dumplings were now a dilemma—they didn’t know whether to eat them or not.
They had already noticed the siblings’ similar appearance and tried their best to ignore it, almost pretending to be blind.
But every day, their understanding was challenged. Today, he actually blurted it out—what now?
Mother, this job is too hard, too difficult. The officers cried out in their hearts.
Lu Songli was speechless. This foolish brother!
She put down her chopsticks, and everyone turned to look at her.
The officers were extremely nervous.
Lu Songli smiled reassuringly at them, “There’s no need to be nervous. Gentlemen, I’m sure you’ve noticed a few things over these past few days.”
“Today, we won’t keep it a secret anymore. You didn’t mishear earlier; this person beside me is my brother, Lu Mingzhi. The other two are Liu Erxi and Mo Bing. They have hired the Yang Wei Escort Agency to do business in Pingzhou. Since we were heading in the same direction, they offered to look after us along the way.”
Lu Songli believed that at this moment, internal stability was very important. And honesty is always a trump card. Given the unexpected situation, if they were unwilling to share the truth, how could they gain the trust of these officers?
“I am being honest with you all because, firstly, we are not enemies and we share a common goal—to safely reach Pingzhou. Secondly, there is no conflict of interest between us, right? So I don’t think there’s any need for us to guard against each other, scheme, or even engage in conflict.”
“Furthermore, with the Qinglong Bandits as a strong enemy nearby, I believe we should be united and friendly, working together against the outside threat. What do you think?”
The officers looked at each other and then nodded in agreement with her words. Her point was clear: if they didn’t cause trouble, nothing would happen to them because killing them wouldn’t benefit her group. But with a strong enemy nearby, if they chose to be disobedient and refused to cooperate, they shouldn’t blame her group for being harsh.
“Madam Qin—Sixth Mistress, we understand.”