Farming and reading family

Gao E and Jin Ruyi now had no other choice, so they followed each other slowly up the stairs, and their eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.

Hong Sheng gently opened the window on the second floor and saw two people on the street kicking doors from house to house, but neither of them could break them open. He slowly closed the window to make sure no one discovered him.

"Is your door bolted?" Gao E asked in a low voice.

"Wait a moment." Hong Sheng went downstairs immediately.

Gao E and Jin Ruyi were waiting nervously upstairs. After a while, they heard the sound of kicking the door downstairs, but the door was not kicked open, so the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Hong Sheng waited until the sound of kicking the door outside died down before he tiptoed upstairs.

"Come to the back, both of you." Hong Sheng said in a low voice.

The two people saw that the other party was indeed helping them, so they groped their way to the back.

When they got to the back room, Hong Sheng blew out the fire stick and only then did he see the other person's face.

"It's you?" Both sides were surprised.

Gao E didn't expect them to hide in Hong Sheng's bookstore: "Thank you."

Hong Sheng waved his hand: "I guess God asked me to repay you a favor. My bookshop will be closed tomorrow, and I will pack up later today."

Jin Ruyi was also very surprised: "Why isn't it open?"

"I'm not good at running a business. This bookshop is getting worse day by day under my management. Now the management is asking for all kinds of tributes and offerings in the name of poetry meetings and elegant gatherings. Otherwise, there will be gangsters making your life a mess." Hong Sheng said helplessly.

"I'm not good at these things. I couldn't help but say something, which might bring trouble to myself. It would be better for me to close this bookstore, sell my meager property, travel and study, and live a free life." Hong Sheng smiled bitterly.

Gao E said she understood, and then suddenly thought of something: "Does Mr. Du Weiqing know Mr. Du?"

Hong Sheng's eyes lit up when he heard Gao E say this: "Do you know him?"

"He is now a teacher in our village school." Gao E looked at Hong Sheng's reaction and guessed that the two of them had a good relationship.

"He's quite good at hiding." Hong Sheng said jokingly, "Well, now that I know where he's staying, I can go see him before I go on my study tour."

"That's perfect. We're going back too, so we can go together," Gao E suggested.

Hong Sheng nodded. It would be troublesome for him to find it on his own. "By the way, why are those two people chasing you?"

They were quite familiar with each other, so Gao E briefly recounted what had happened before, which made Hong Sheng look angry.

"Do you know whose house that is?" Hong Sheng looked at Gao E and Jin Ruyi.

The two people shook their heads. They just walked there accidentally and didn't pay attention to where it was.

Hong Sheng didn't know what luck these two people had. "That's the house of Yishun Bo's son. Almost every day there are a group of playboys living a life of drunkenness and debauchery in it. If the women they kidnap die, they will be thrown out of the yard directly."

The two of them gasped when they heard this. Although they knew that Yishun Bo was all-powerful in Qinzhou City, they didn't expect it to be so exaggerated.

"So a group of people who specialized in stripping corpses appeared outside the house." Hong Sheng was reluctant to say, "They would strip the corpses clean. If someone saw a female corpse like that during the day, they would just throw it into a mass grave without even checking who it was."

"You saw them digging up the body, and they probably wanted to threaten you not to say anything." Hong Sheng guessed.

That's what they said, but if they found out that there were two women, who knows what they would do.

The two of them felt relieved.

"I heard that the prefect of Qinzhou City, Lord Shi, and the prefect, Lord Cao, are not on good terms. Could it be that both of them will not care about this matter?" Gao E was suspicious.

"I heard that Lord Shi has been living outside the city for almost two months." Hong Sheng shook his head.

Gao E and Jin Ruyi suddenly realized that Lord Shi seemed to be under high pressure, so they simply avoided this matter.

"Where are you living now? I'll take you back later." Hong Sheng was worried that it would be unsafe for them to go back.

Gao E told him about the inn they were staying at, and Hong Sheng thought it was not far away, so he started chatting again.

When they returned to the inn, Yu Zhao was already waiting for them in the lobby. He stood up when he saw them come back.

Hong Sheng noted down where they lived and made an appointment to set off together three days later before leaving.

Gao E was still frightened by tonight’s experience. She had originally planned to leave tomorrow, but if she wanted to be with Hong Sheng, she would have to wait for two more days.

They went upstairs and Yu Zhao followed behind.

"Is there something?" Gao E went to the door and saw Yu Zhao still standing behind.

Yu Zhao hesitated for a moment and said, "I have a few brothers who are having a hard time these days and want to find some work for the boss."

Gao E suddenly realized: "Come in and tell me."

Gao E had also seen two of the brothers that Yu Zhao mentioned. They were the bodyguards who escorted Niupi back to Hui County last time.

"The main reason is that they want to bring their families with them as well." This is what Yu Zhao is troubled by.

Since Yu Zhao mentioned this, he actually wanted Gao E to take care of it, otherwise he would be unfamiliar with the place and have no way to make a living in He County.

Gao E knew Yu Zhao's intention: "What are they doing now?"

"Some are bodyguards, some have some skills. They used to have a few acres of land at home, but now they can't farm because of the disaster." Yu Zhao said cautiously.

Gao E suddenly thought of something: "Is their land very close to the Yun family's mountains and forests?"

Yu Zhao was surprised: "How did the boss know?"

Jin Ruyi also looked at Gao E suspiciously.

"Since you are familiar with each other, you should all be related to the Yun family." Gao E explained.

Yu Zhao suddenly realized, "Indeed, they used to be able to go to the Yun family's forest to chop wood and hunt. Even if the Yun family didn't want it, they would still send them some game, so they lived a comfortable life."

"Now the owner of the forest has not only closed the forest, but also always sends people to harass the residents there. Life there is really unbearable." Yu Zhao sighed.

Jin Ruyi didn't quite believe Gao E's explanation, but didn't say anything.

Gao E thought for a moment and said, "You know a little about the situation here. Ghost Crying Mountain does need people, but they need stonemasons and people to transport the stones."

"As for their families, they can continue their previous livelihoods in He County, or they can become tenants. I am not familiar with them, so you can talk to them and see their attitude." Gao E did not take on the matter directly.

Yu Zhao nodded: "As long as there is land to farm, it's fine."

"Then tell them to pack up quickly, and we'll return to Huixian in three days." Gao E didn't want to change the itinerary again.

"Okay." Yu Zhao agreed.

After Yu Zhao left, Jin Ruyi looked at Gao E and asked, "Why do I feel like Earl Yishun doesn't want anyone to get close to the Yun family's forest?"

Gao E thought the same thing: "So what?"

"Aren't you really curious about what secrets are in that forest?" Jin Ruyi didn't believe it.

Gao E was of course curious, but she knew better than to say curiosity killed the cat: "If it weren't for Mr. Hong tonight, what would have happened to us both?"

Jin Ruyi was silent.

If she and Gao E had not happened to meet Hong Sheng, who closed the shop late, there was no way they could escape unscathed.

"Maybe your Jin family has the ability to do what I can't do, but I need to be clear about what I can do." Gao E said calmly.