The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"That's fine," Guo Jia said. "Besides, I'm a local and can speak the local dialect. If I'm caught, I'll probably end up working as a laborer in a mountain stronghold or joining a bandit gang. That's better than you guys going there."

"This..." Doctor Fu didn't know whether he should believe the other party.

Guo Jia thought Doctor Fu was worried about his safety, so he said optimistically, "I don't have any family at home anyway. The worst that can happen is that I lose my life. It's no big deal!"

After a pause, he stared into their eyes and said seriously, "Besides, my life is now tied to yours. As long as you trust me, it will be fine!"

Doctor Fu thought about it and saw no better solution, so he said, "Okay, nephew, I'll leave it to you!"

After saying that, he took out two flares from his arms and said, "I got these with great difficulty. Take them. If you fail, you can set off one, and if you succeed, you can set off two. We will find a place to hide nearby and wait for your news. I will reward you handsomely after the success!"

Guo Jia nodded, took the flare and put it in his arms.

He said, "I don't want money, and I don't care about these things. I just want these bandits and these bad guys to die!"

After saying that, he stuffed his bag into Zhang Ping'an's arms, took the bag of poison handed to him by Doctor Fu, and ran away.

"Hey..." Zhang Ping'an stretched out his hand and shouted, only to see Guo Jia waving his hand with his back turned.

At this time, Brother Fu had already brought people to deal with all the bodies.

Doctor Fu urged, "Let's leave quickly and find a secluded place to hide. We can still delay this for a while."

After saying this, he said to his followers, "As you can see, the situation is not good now. I don't want to drag you down. Since you have followed me for so long, here are sixty taels of silver. Each of you will get twenty taels. Now, let's go!"

The three remaining surviving followers looked at each other, bowed and thanked each other, then reached out to take the silver.

Who knew that before they had walked three meters forward, they would spit out blood and fall down!

Brother Fu followed Brother Fu as usual, and the two of them carried the body to the edge of the slope and threw it into the ditch.

Zhang Pingan was shocked when he saw this and stepped back three feet. This Doctor Fu had now mastered the method of using poison just like the magistrate of Gao'an County!

He instantly became alert and didn't dare to get too close to the Fu family.

Doctor Fu also knew that he was easy to be guarded against, but there was no other way. If these followers were not killed, they would probably go and inform on him. People's hearts were unpredictable, so he had to be on guard!

"My dear nephew, I know you will be wary of me when you see me like this, but our goals are the same now. Only after we have dealt with all those bandits can we move forward. We can only cooperate now."

After saying this, Doctor Fu directed his two sons to drive the cart to the edge of the slope, untie the frame, and then throw away the frame. He only led a horse and three mules, and wrapped the animals' hooves with the coarse linen that had been prepared in advance.

Finally, he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, let's go!"

Zhang Ping'an followed suit and quickly took out linen to wrap his mule's hooves.

The Fu family was more familiar with the terrain around Gao'an County than the Zhang family, so they walked in front, and Zhang Ping'an's people followed behind.

Looking at Doctor Fu in front of him with his two sons and three grandsons.

Xu was puzzled and asked, "Why haven't I seen any of the Fu family's women? It seems they're missing quite a few grandchildren, too?"

Zhang Laoer shook his head and didn't respond, indicating that he should keep quiet.

Xu frowned and said no more.

Everyone hurried on their way as fast as they could, taking a small path westward from the nearby slope. After walking five or six miles, they saw a large forest.

However, Doctor Fu did not stop in the woods. Instead, he continued walking forward. When he came to a cemetery, he said to Zhang Pingan, "Look around and see if there are any loose tombstones. I heard Hu San say before that a few years ago when he was a salt smuggler, he dug a tunnel in this mass grave to hide his tracks. I don't know where the entrance is. Those bandits are very cunning. They know several large forests nearby. If we rest in the woods, we will be easily found!"

"How far is this from Dashizigang?" Zhang Ping'an asked. He was afraid that they would not be able to hear the signal Guo Jia sent later.

Doctor Fu smiled and said, "Not far, less than two miles. If your friend succeeds and sends a signal, we will definitely hear it!"

Now they didn't care whether it was unlucky or not. They didn't care about these things. They searched every grave but didn't find any loose tombstones.

Doctor Fu was really anxious now, muttering, "Impossible!"

Zhang Pingan exhaled, carefully observing the tombstones of each grave. Finally, he walked to one of the tombstones and hesitated, "Is this one? The texture of this tombstone is relatively better, and it looks like no one has taken care of it for a long time. The words on the tombstone are hard to read. The others can still be read, which means someone has repaired them intermittently. Only this one seems different!"

Grandpa Jinbao walked up and touched it and said, "It really is, but this one isn't loose either. How do I open it?"

Zhang Ping'an thought of the melodramatic TV dramas he had watched in his previous life, and hesitantly turned the tombstone to the left and right a few times to try. The big stone in front of the tombstone where the offerings were placed actually opened, revealing a dark hole that was big enough for three people to pass through. He probed the hole with his hand and there was the sound of wind, proving that the air was circulating and there was another exit.

Doctor Fu was overjoyed and said, "My dear nephew, you are so smart and you must be a scholar!"

After saying that, he threw a tinder into the cave entrance. Only then did Zhang Ping'an see clearly that the earthen bricks inside looked quite neat.

Doctor Fu turned over the stone slab, led the animals, and walked into the cave first.