Traveling through troubled times, he fled with his stepson

As they were talking, a voice came from outside the house: "Master, the man has been caught."

Wei Qiqi opened her eyes wide and looked at Li Yuan. Li Yuan nodded slightly in acknowledgment. She then thought about it and realized that this was to conceal his identity.

"Okay, I'll come."

Li Yuan replied and was about to stand up.

He stayed in front of Wei Qiqi's bed for too long and had no time to tidy himself up. He thought that he might be more concerned about his image in front of outsiders.

"that……"

Wei Qiqi spoke up to stop Li Yuan's actions.

Li Yuan turned and looked at her.

"If the person you caught is not important, you should clean yourself up first."

Li Yuan loved cleanliness, and being dirty for two days would not affect his appearance and the cleanliness of his body.

But the stubble on his face is still too obvious.

Wei Qiqi tapped her chin, signaling Li Yuan. Following her words, Li Yuan touched his chin, blinked slowly, and then said yes.

Li Yuan went out, and soon Wei Qiqi heard the sound of the door next door opening.

She herself did not change her clothes, and she was sweating and taking medicine. Although it didn't smell, she felt sick.

Besides, she hadn't eaten for two days and was very weak. She didn't have the strength to get up and change clothes.

Wei Qiqi planned to ask someone to bring in some food later. Just as she thought of this, Li Yuan pushed the door open and walked in.

The time between the two events was not long, but the speed was beyond her expectations.

What was even more unexpected was the food in Li Yuan's hands.

"I asked the inn to prepare some easily digestible food for you, thinking that you might be hungry when you wake up."

Li Yuan came in and placed the tray on the small table next to him, and then pulled the small table to a position convenient for Wei Qiqi.

"They are all light and easy to swallow, so eat less." He instructed and then stood up.

He stands tall and straight, and once his stubble is shaved off, he becomes a neat and clean-cut young man.

Wei Qiqi's bed was in a position that was somewhat backlit, and when Li Yuan stood up, his position further blocked her shadow.

It was broad daylight, but it was somewhat dim under Li Yuan's shadow. Wei Qiqi looked up involuntarily in the dimness, but could not see Li Yuan's dark eyes.

Wei Qiqi realized that he wanted to say something, but in the end he turned and left without saying anything, leaving her confused facing the colorful, fragrant and delicious food.

Although this food would not have aroused her appetite in the past, she was now starving to death. In the eyes of a starving person, even grass roots can be chewed with relish.

After Li Yuan went out, he closed the door behind him and finally waved to the person guarding the door. The person who had been guarding the door just now hid behind the door of his room quietly.

He turned around and looked at the closed door before turning and leaving.

When they got to a yard outside, the person at the door saw that it was him and quickly opened the door.

As soon as he entered, he saw a fat man in fancy clothes lying on the ground groaning.

His body was tied up with hemp ropes.

"master."

The man who had been sitting next to him stood up immediately when he heard the noise and spoke respectfully to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan walked straight to the top position, sat down naturally, then lowered his head slightly to look at the person lying on the ground.

Two men stepped forward, grabbed the man and faced him to Li Yuan.

"Tell me, who are you? Where do you live now? What kind of business are you doing? Why are you not doing your previous business anymore?"

The man in gorgeous clothes seemed to have been greeted before. Now he faced Li Yuan with a bruised face and nose. The purple bruise on one of his eye sockets made his eye swollen to a slit.

He tried hard to look at Li Yuan with his other intact eye, trying to see who wanted to treat him like this.

"Who are you? I have no grudge against you..."

With a slap, the person behind him slapped the man in gorgeous clothes on the head.

"Just answer when your master asks you to, and stop talking nonsense."

The man felt a sharp pain on his head and his vision went dark. After a while, he raised his head, gasping for breath.

"My name is Fang Hongji. I used to run a grain store, but now I don't do it anymore. I don't live in the city..."

Li Yuan nodded and continued to ask, "Why would you just close a grain store like that? It was such a good business, and I heard that after you closed it, the grain store next to you made a lot of money."

Fang Hongji lowered his head: "Something happened at home, so I had to rush over and didn't have time to make a statement."

"What happened?"

Fang Hongji was unable to answer and was stumped for a moment before continuing, "My mother-in-law is seriously ill, so I took my wife and children to visit her."

"is it?"

Li Yuan sat in his seat, his face slightly gloomy, and it was hard to tell whether his voice expressed belief or disbelief.

"Where do you live then?"

The man lowered his head and said, "My wife and children are still at my wife's parents' home. I came back first because I thought if I don't clean up these foods, they will all get infested with worms and go bad."

Li Yuan made a slight sound with a sneer coming from his nose.

Then he sat up and said to the embarrassed man below: "Fang Hongji, the shopkeeper of Jixiang Grain Store, is greedy for money and afraid of his wife. Both his parents are dead, and his mother-in-law is not alive either. He only has his father-in-law, and he has been living with you all this time."

"And if your wife and children are living at your parents' home, then which hundred-year-old kid did this piece of clothing that my subordinate just handed to me fall from?"

Li Yuan took out the thing that the person who had just opened the door handed to him from his sleeve and threw it to the man.

Fang Hongji was stunned when he saw Baijia Xiaoyi fall to the ground, and then he struggled frantically, and the two people behind him almost couldn't hold him down.

"I don't know who you are, nor do I know what you are going to do. Please, don't hurt my wife and children..."

The man who was just talking nonsense seriously suddenly collapsed on the ground, crying bitterly. The pain before only made him groan without face, but now, just two words were tearing the man's heart apart.

"Just tell me what you want to do, and I will help you do it!"

the man yelled.

Li Yuan above was not in a hurry. He folded the patchwork clothes and put them aside.

"Then let's talk about it again."

Fang Hongji didn't dare to hide anything anymore and quickly told everything he knew.

It turns out that Fang Hongji was not an ordinary grain shop owner. He was once a failed student and later married the only daughter of a former clerk. Although the clerk was gone, his network of contacts remained.

In addition, since he does not hold an official position, those people will more or less make some transactions that are convenient for both parties.

He gave officials some money to maintain the relationship, and those officials gave him some information or conveniences.

"I really heard what they said. They said that the capital was in chaos and several princes and nobles were fighting for power and all died in Kyoto."

"There is only a young child under five years old and the Eighth Prince who is out pacifying Xiliang."

"They said they were about to raise an army to collect grain and land. Some princes have already started a campaign to purge the emperor in their fiefdoms."

"I know I've already told you everything, please let my wife and children go..."

The man collapsed on the ground. He knew that if he told anyone about this and his superiors got to know about it, he would be dead. But if he didn't tell anyone, his wife and children would also die.