The girl traveled through another world and forced the prince to take the imperial examination

At this point, Village Chief Xu refused to continue. Xiao Hei's heart tightened. What could be so deadly in the mountains? Besides wild animals, it must be people! Who? Could it be those men in black? They haven't given up yet? Are they still tracking them?

Xiao Hei was grateful to Mu Qingcheng again. If they hadn't met Mu Qingcheng, even their bodies would have been dug out by now!

Xiao Hei continued to steer the conversation: "The village chief is right. The three of us brothers and sisters were the bandits we encountered in the mountains. However, we don't know if they are from the Lao Chen Village you mentioned."

"On which mountain did you meet him?" a villager asked.

Xiao Hei deliberately thought for a moment before saying, "We didn't know what mountain it was at the time, but later we heard from others that it was called Dongling Mountain."

Everyone fell silent again! It seemed that everyone knew what was going on.

"I remember the situation at the time. There were more than 20 bandits, all young men. The oldest was only in his twenties, and the youngest was about 15 or 16. They all had axes in their hands. I thought they were villagers from a nearby village."

At this point, Fang suddenly stood up and said excitedly: "It was these people, these beasts who robbed my family's ox cart and injured our head. He almost lost his life in their hands. But our head said there were only five of them."

"Hmph! Keeping this old Chen village is such a disaster!" Zhang Dazhui slammed the table in indignation.

A villager nearby pushed him back into his chair and said, "Brother Dazhu, you haven't been in the village for a long time, so you don't know what's happened recently. The person this young man just mentioned doesn't look like someone from Laochen Village."

Zhang Dazhu was puzzled, and the villager explained, "The people in Laochen Village dress very elegantly and would never wear the clothes of ordinary villagers. Everyone of them carries a sword or a knife, and no one carries an axe. So this group of bandits may not be from Laochen Village."

Xiao Hei also frowned in thought, pretending to be serious. "Then, could it be the villagers nearby? When they were chasing me in the mountains, they were obviously very familiar with the mountain roads."

This information reminded everyone. Everyone looked at each other and had the answer in their hearts, but no one announced the answer.

"Who is it? Which village are these brats from?" Fang asked Xiao Hei's real thoughts in an angry tone. He applauded Fang in his heart.

A villager tugged at Fang's clothes and whispered, "It could be Donghu Village, or it could be Dongwang Village. It's even possible that both villages were involved."

Although the voice was small, Xiao Hei heard it clearly. It was exactly what his master guessed. So was it Donghu Village or Dongwang Village?

Xiao Hei continued to question, preparing to release a heavy hammer.

"I'm not happy with you. We heard some things after we were forced to surrender. I didn't want to talk about this, but I also wanted to find those bandits and take revenge. I was forced to do so."

Aunt Fang has also met my cousin. He's very handsome. I once heard with my own ears that a young man named Gou Wa among them said he wanted to sell my cousin to Lai Pi Si from Lao Chen Village, and that he also said... he needed to raise money for the bride price.

Xiao Hei silently kowtowed to his master and apologized. In fact, it would be more convincing to mention Mu Qingcheng, but this would ruin Mu Qingcheng's reputation, and he would never mention Mu Qingcheng even if he was beaten to death.

"Lapis Si! This beast, this rapist! Why isn't he dead yet?"

"I should have thought it was this group of people."

"Village chief, we can't just let this go. Let's unite with other villages and catch these people together."

"That's right! Donghu Village relied on their good relationship with Laochen Village to suppress several of our villages. Now they dare to rob and injure people. This is really too much."

Sure enough, it was Donghu Village!

Xiao Hei pretended to be puzzled and asked, "What's the connection between this Lai Pi Si and the bandits?"

A villager snorted, "Young man, you don't know, this Lai Pi Si is a bastard. He was originally from Dongwang Village. Since his parents died, he grew up eating at other people's houses. But he is ungrateful and lazy. He thinks the food people give him is not good, so he starts to steal it. The villagers got anxious and didn't want to feed him anymore, so he started stealing and causing trouble for the villagers. The Dongwang villagers were so angry that they drove him out. Unexpectedly, he became even worse and went to cause trouble in other villages. Which village nearby has not been harmed by him?"

Another villager added, "Hey! Destroying some food was a minor matter. But when he grew up, perhaps because he'd done so many bad things, God didn't want him to have an easy time. He gave him sores all over his face, and even dogs scorned him for being disgusting. He went to a matchmaker to propose marriage, but no girl would want to marry a man like him. This scoundrel actually went so far as to destroy the little girls in the village. He's done the most evil things."

"A few years ago, several of our villages, which had been harmed by him, banded together to capture him. We reported him to the authorities, and they said we could do whatever we wanted with such a heinous criminal. So, after discussing it, we decided to drown him in a pond."

"Who would have thought that the King of Hell was also afraid of evil people and refused to take him in? Not only did he not die, he even escaped to Dongling Mountain."

"It just so happened that a group of mysterious people came to Dongling Mountain that year. They seemed to be looking for something there. Lai Pi Si joined this group. He was very familiar with Dongling Mountain. He led the group into Laochen Village and killed all the men there, leaving only the young women. Later, they occupied Laochen Village. The soldiers came to strangle the villagers several times, but they returned with heavy casualties. After that, no one dared to approach Laochen Village anymore."

"Ever since they took over Laochen Village, several villages down the mountain have moved away. The two remaining villages, Donghu and Dongwang, have taken refuge with Laochen Village. Over the years, these two villages have relied on Laochen Village's bad reputation to act as accomplices and commit atrocities. This robbery was definitely done by the young men from those two villages."

Xiao Hei asked, "Why did this mysterious group of people occupy Lao Chen Village? Do you know how many people there are?"

An old man said, "These things are no longer secrets. I heard there's a mine in this mountain, but no one knows what kind. The people of Laochen Village are unlucky. They were originally hunters and lived in the mountains just for convenience. Who knew they would live on a mountain with a mine? That's when they brought disaster upon themselves. No one can tell exactly how many people there are in Laochen Village. Back then, the government sent 500 soldiers to suppress the bandits, but they suffered heavy casualties."

Xiao Hei felt something was amiss and asked, "They're operating an illegal mine, a serious crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the family. Didn't anyone in the local government report this to the court? If the court knew, wouldn't they be able to resolve the issue by sending in an army?"

The hall suddenly fell silent, no one answering him. Xiao Hei was surprised, wondering if his intelligence had been severely damaged. He was also a member of the imperial court, and his master was even more so. They both nearly died, let alone a few minor officials in this remote mountainous area.

The real owner of this mine should be that person. Otherwise, who would have the courage to imprison his master here.