Chapter 41: Peril

Wei Mingxuan, who had been lying down in his clothes, rolled over and got out of bed, instinctively waking up Liu Quan and Wang Gui who were already asleep.

Liu Quan had just let out a snort, his eyes opening in alarm. Before he could speak, Wei Mingxuan gestured for him to be quiet, whispering, “Something might be wrong.”

Liu Quan quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed the curved blade he kept by the bed. It was a weapon they had taken from the mountain bandits on Mount Yueheng, and they had secretly hidden two of them under the cart boards.

“Young Master, stay in the room. I’ll go check it out.”

“Let’s go together,” Wei Mingxuan shook his head, picking up the dagger he had placed under his pillow before going to sleep. He said in a low voice, “If there’s trouble, we can leave together. Gui’er, if things go wrong, you run and call your mother and Gui Xiang.”

Wang Gui nodded nervously.

They quietly pushed open a crack in the door. There was no one in the courtyard, but they could faintly hear noises coming from behind the houses.

The small room they were staying in was the first room in the east wing. It had originally belonged to the youngest son of the family, who hadn’t yet married. The next room and the west wing opposite were occupied by the family’s eldest and second sons and their wives.

To make room for them, the daughter-in-law and her children had moved to the opposite west wing, while the three sons of the family lived next door to Wei Mingxuan.

Now, the door to the next room was open, and the bed was empty.

Looking at the corner of the courtyard, they saw that the oilcloth covering the cart boards had been lifted, and everything that had been under it was gone.

Wei Mingxuan’s expression tightened, and he gasped.

He had thought that the farming family was kind and simple, but he was a complete fool!

“Liu Shu, go harness the mule cart. Gui’er, let’s go call your mother and Gui Xiang. We need to leave here.”

Wei Mingxuan gripped his dagger, moved quietly, and walked towards the main room with Wang Gui. Granny Wang and Gui Xiang were in the east ear room next to the main room.

As they got closer, they could faintly hear sounds coming from the backyard.

“Twenty taels of silver…”

“That girl is a virgin, we can sell her for more…”

Wei Mingxuan was furious. They had stolen the goods from the cart, and now these people were planning to sell them?

They had been completely unprepared for this family’s treachery. If it hadn’t been for the warning stone, they would have fallen into their trap tonight!

Right, the stone.

Wei Mingxuan looked around, and finally saw a figure disappearing into the darkness on the roof of the east wing behind them.

Clad in pitch-black night clothes, with agile movements that were good at hiding, it was exactly like the Tianshu Pavilion guards his elder sister had described.

At this moment, Wei Mingxuan was truly grateful that his elder sister had spent twenty-five thousand taels of silver to hire this team of Tianshu Pavilion guards.

It was worth it, truly worth it!

His elder sister was truly insightful!

At this time, Wang Gui had already pushed open the door to the east ear room, and the surprised cries from inside attracted the attention of the people talking in the backyard.

Footsteps rushed towards them. Wei Mingxuan gripped his dagger, his expression tense as he stood in front of the door to the east ear room.

Inside, Granny Wang had been woken up by Wang Gui, but Gui Xiang seemed to be in a daze, her legs so weak that she could barely stand.

Granny Wang gritted her teeth, “Help Gui Xiang onto my back. I’ll carry her out!”

She was an old woman who was used to doing manual labor, and she had plenty of strength.

Wang Gui hurriedly followed Granny Wang’s instructions.

After this brief delay, the men from the backyard had already approached, four or five sturdy farmers who were far stronger than Wei Mingxuan’s frail frame.

Fortunately, at that moment, a figure dropped from the roof, blocking the path between Wei Mingxuan and the farmers.

“Young Master, you take the others and leave first. We will hold them off.”

Now was not the time for polite refusals. Wei Mingxuan nodded, quickly pulling Wang Gui to grab Gui Xiang and Granny Wang to run out of the courtyard.

As they passed the kitchen door, he snatched a bag of flour and a bundle of corn.

Liu Quan had already tied the mule cart at the door, and Granny Wang placed Gui Xiang onto the cart’s boards, gasping for breath.

“Grandma, you should sit on it too. Liu Shu, let’s get moving!” Wei Mingxuan urged.

Granny Wang supported Gui Xiang and settled herself firmly on the cart.

Liu Quan grabbed the reins and jogged toward the village entrance, while Wei Mingxuan and Wang Gui ran alongside the cart.

Suddenly, Granny Wang slapped her forehead, remembering, “Oh no, I forgot about the ewe!”

“Forget the sheep! Our lives are more important,” Wei Mingxuan said without looking back as he continued to run forward.

He might regret the things that had been stolen, including the ewe, but he was more worried about the people in the village. If they alerted the other families in the village, they would never escape!

The quiet night was shattered by shouts from the backyard.

Just as Wei Mingxuan had anticipated, lights began to flicker on in the neighboring courtyards, and he felt a tightening in his chest. “Liu Shu, we need to run faster.”

“You two, get on the cart!” Liu Quan said as he slowed his pace a bit, waiting for Wei Mingxuan and Wang Gui to climb onto the cart’s boards before striding forward toward the main road out of the village.

…

Meanwhile, Wei Yunlan, who had entered Suijiang City, was unaware that she had encountered the greatest danger she could have imagined.

At this moment, she was staying at the Yuelai Inn, the closest to the East City Gate, accompanied by Tingxue and Ningshuang.

Originally, according to plan, they were supposed to stay at a more renowned inn on the next street. However, upon arriving in Suijiang, they discovered that more than half of the buildings on that street had collapsed, making it impossible to stay there.

This showed that a well-known name does not always mean quality. The large inn that was filled with guests in Suizhou had all three floors caved in, while the relatively unknown Yuelai Inn, also three stories tall, had only lost a few roof tiles.

The disaster situation in Suijiang was slightly better than in Suian; at least there were no cases of entire houses sinking into deep pits. However, the atmosphere in the city was still very heavy, with many displaced citizens setting up tents on the streets, making the roads that could still accommodate carriages crowded and chaotic.

The Yuelai Inn where Wei Yunlan and her companions were staying had not raised its prices much compared to usual, as the ordinary citizens in the city had no extra silver to waste at such a critical time. The wealthy who could afford to stay at an inn had long since hired transportation to leave Suizhou after the disaster.

Wei Yunlan had requested two rooms on the third floor.

From the window, they could see the situation at the city gate.

Ningshuang and Tingxue took turns keeping watch at the window while Wei Yunlan took the opportunity to count the wealth in her space.

With the remaining twenty-five thousand taels of banknotes from the Tianshu Pavilion, along with eight hundred taels of banknotes and ten pieces of gold leaf gifted by Yu Ying, and the silver she had originally set aside, she had nearly thirty thousand taels in total.

Her initial plan was to stockpile grain…

But plans could not keep up with changes. Due to the disaster, grain prices in Liangzhou, Suizhou, and several other provinces had skyrocketed. While it was still reasonable to hoard some food for personal use, hoarding grain on a large scale was clearly not a wise move.

Instead of stockpiling grain, it would be better to gather other items that would be more valuable once they reached Beiguan.