Shen Qingwan, seeing that there were no people from Dahe Village around, continued moving forward.

It wasn’t until they exited the mountain path that they finally spotted the villagers resting under a large tree.

Seeing Shen Qingwan and her group catch up, the village head finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Good thing you caught up—I was so worried!”

He wiped the corners of his eyes. After everything they had been through, he was still shaken.

“Uncle, how did you escape?”

Shen Qingwan asked, looking at the village head.

“Fortunately, the knives you gave us came in handy. By the time those bandits chased us down, only twenty or thirty of them were left. We had so many people, plus weapons, so we weren’t afraid anymore. Since we had elderly folks and children with us, we couldn’t run fast. Rather than waiting to be slaughtered, we decided to fight back. Luckily, we outnumbered them, and before long, they were all dealt with.”

“After killing the bandits, we were a bit slow to react, so the refugees nearby looted everything they had stolen. I figured those things originally belonged to the people anyway, so I didn’t stop them. However, no one dared to take the weapons, so we gathered them up and brought them back.”

The situation was just as Shen Qingwan had guessed.

After exchanging a few more words with the village head, she led her family to find a place to rest. Everyone was exhausted and hungry, eating whatever food they had.

The children had long been starving, so Shen Qingwan took out some dry rations and gave each child a piece of flatbread.

The others ate what they had brought with them.

The next morning, Shen Qingwan was abruptly awakened by the sound of urgent hoofbeats.

Perhaps because of the terrifying encounter with the masked iron-clad warriors the day before, she couldn’t help but feel tense, especially after recalling the silver banknotes and the iron tiger she had taken from that man.

Looking toward the main road, she saw a group of forty to fifty armored soldiers. Unlike before, they did not simply ride past.

Instead, they stopped to question the refugees, asking if they had seen a group of men dressed in black.

To avoid trouble, the refugees all shook their heads and said they hadn’t seen anything.

When the soldiers reached their group, one of them stepped forward and questioned the village head. The village head also shook his head and denied seeing anything.

“These men are fugitives wanted by the imperial court. If any of you have seen them, do not hide it. Anyone who can provide information on their whereabouts will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver.”

Hearing the mention of a hundred taels of silver, many people were tempted.

Datou’s wife’s eyes darted around before she quickly stepped forward. “Officer, I saw those men in black! I also saw people dressed in armor like yours.”

As soon as she spoke, many people turned to look at her.

A hundred taels of silver was indeed a huge temptation.

Not wanting to miss out, Lu Wenzhi hurriedly added, “Officer, I also saw them! Just last night, they passed by us, one group ahead of the other. Then, for some reason, they started fighting.”

“Yes, yes! The armored ones were killed by the men in black. By the time we arrived, the ground was covered in corpses. The refugees stripped their armor and clothing.”

Datou’s wife, fearing she wouldn’t get a share of the silver, quickly spoke again.

Hearing their words, the officer’s gaze darkened with killing intent. “Did you see the men in black take anything from the armored soldiers?”

Datou’s wife shook her head. “By the time we got there, they had already left, so we didn’t see them take anything.”

“The refugees took everything from the dead soldiers, but no one from our village took anything,” Lu Wenzhi quickly added, realizing that these men were dangerous.

Datou’s wife nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes! If you want to chase them, just follow the road straight ahead. You might still catch up!”

The officer glanced at Datou’s wife with obvious disdain. “Foolish woman. Those men galloped away at full speed. Even if we were only a cup of tea’s time behind them, they’d be hard to catch—let alone after an entire night.”

“Move out!”

With a wave of his hand, he prepared to leave.

Datou’s wife hurriedly asked, “Officer, what about the silver?”

Before she could react, the officer lashed her across the face with his whip.

“Hmph! You dare ask for silver? You withheld information. The fact that we aren’t punishing you is already mercy enough. Now, get out of the way!”

With a loud neigh, his horse reared, and he rode off without another glance.

Datou’s wife screamed in pain, clutching her face.

Shen Qingwan’s gaze was icy as she stared at them. “Do you two realize that your words just now could bring disaster to the entire village?”

“Sister-in-law, what nonsense are you saying? We were just helping them out. How does that harm the village?” Lu Wenzhi snapped, already furious at not receiving the silver.

Datou’s wife, enduring the stinging pain on her face, was equally displeased. “So it’s fine for you to take money from the bandits’ corpses, but not for us to earn some silver?”

She had seen it—Shen Qingwan had collected quite a few bundles from the bandits’ bodies, and they were filled with silver stolen from ordinary people.

Shen Qingwan hadn’t expected her to bring this up, but she said nothing more.

Instead, she started thinking about how to get rid of this troublesome family from the group.

Lu Wenzhi, too, needed to be dealt with before he caused real harm.

The village head, still shaken from earlier, was also displeased with Datou’s wife and Lu Wenzhi. However, he said nothing and instead urged everyone to pack up and move on.

They hadn’t traveled far before they started seeing corpses of refugees scattered along the roadside. Further ahead, a large group of refugees had gathered.

“Woo… woo… It’s all my fault! I shouldn’t have let you take that armor—it only brought disaster!”

“Who would’ve thought a set of clothes would cost my son his life?”

“Aren’t those soldiers supposed to be from the imperial army? How could they slaughter innocent people like this?”

Some refugees recognized the armored soldiers and cursed, “Those are the Iron Guards of Prince Liang! He’s always been ruthless. His men are no better!”

“Watch your mouth! Do you want to die?”

Hearing this, a bystander quickly tried to stop him.

The man realized he was powerless and could only wail over his father’s corpse.

“What happened?”

The village head, alarmed by the number of dead, asked a nearby refugee.

A survivor explained, “A group of armored cavalry came by earlier, asking if anyone had taken anything from the dead soldiers last night.

“Before they could answer, the soldiers searched their bags. When they found pieces of armor, they became furious, saying it wasn’t what they were looking for. They demanded to know if anyone had taken something else.

“When no one admitted to it, they started killing people.

“We were lucky to escape in time. They must have been in a hurry to find whatever they lost, so they didn’t chase us.”

Hearing this, the village head broke into a cold sweat.

Thank goodness no one from their village had touched those things.

Datou’s wife and Lu Wenzhi also saw the corpses.

Realizing these people had been killed by the Iron Guards, they shrank back in fear.

If they thought about it carefully, these deaths were partly their fault. If they hadn’t pointed fingers at the refugees, the soldiers wouldn’t have slaughtered them.

Shen Qingwan narrowed her eyes.

It seemed her plans for dealing with those two needed to happen sooner rather than later.