Exile is exile, is half of the capital enough as compensation?

Chen Bainian seemed to have been forgotten. He touched his nose after the crowd dispersed and caught up with the team that had long disappeared.

"Young Master, I guess you are the young master of the Leng family that Yan'er mentioned! Thank you so much this time." After entering the house, Chief Mao treated Li Tianze as a guest of honor and poured him tea personally.

"Chief Mao has misunderstood. My last name is not Leng, but I came here to pick you up at the request of Miss Leng."

When Chief Mao heard that his last name wasn't Leng, he was puzzled. He glanced at his granddaughter sitting below him, and when he saw Chen Yan'er nod, he smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I'm shortsighted. I never thought that in addition to the Leng family, there was such an amazing young man like you in the Northland."

"You're very polite, old man. By the way, I wonder who those people were..."

Speaking of this, the mood of the Mao tribe leader became obviously depressed. He took a long breath and said, "Well, speaking of them, this is why we have to leave here."

When everyone in the main room heard his words, they all fell silent. Even Chen Bainian, who had just entered, moved quietly and found a seat slightly closer to the door to sit down.

"Those people are from the Yao ethnic group. They live on a hill not far from us. We used to keep to ourselves, but in the past two years, I don't know what happened. They suddenly set their sights on us and always come over to rob us."

"We used to be completely self-sufficient, but since they've been coming to plunder us, we've been struggling to make ends meet."

"Then what is their purpose? Are they just here to steal your things?"

Chief Mao glanced at the people sitting below. Apart from his two sons, son-in-law and granddaughter, there were only those brought by Li Tianze.

After thinking for a moment, he continued, "They told us to join them. From what I hear, they seem to be planning to revive the Yao people."

Li Tianze didn't know much about the Yao people.

Many years ago, I seemed to have heard his grandfather mention it unintentionally, saying that the Yao people make a living by hunting all year round, and their population is very small.

They have lived in the mountains all year round, and even when other small ethnic groups were persecuted, the Yao people were not affected.

"But I've heard that the Yao people never communicate with outsiders. Why would they have such thoughts this time?"

Chief Mao nodded. "That was the case before, but I heard from someone here that something happened to the Yao tribe's old chief three years ago. Now that the new chief has taken the throne, he's had other plans. I heard the man who came today is the new chief's younger brother."

Li Tianze fell silent after hearing this. He felt a little strange about the Yao people's sudden provocation against Mao Lu.

Even if the old patriarch's lineage is gone, what about the previous members of the Yao ethnic group?

Do they all agree with the new patriarch?

The people he saw today stopped their attacks after seeing that the man leading them was intimidated by him. Although they were on guard when they left, he could feel that those people did not intend to have a conflict with Mao Lu.

Chief Mao seemed to see through his confusion and spoke at the right moment, "Do you also find the rise of the Yao a bit strange? Actually, I do, but I once sent someone to secretly follow the retreating people to investigate. The Yao people were so agile after entering the mountains that they spotted us before we got far. As a result, we only knew they lived in the mountains behind us, but we had no idea where they were staying."

Li Tianze nodded slightly. He was not surprised by this. After all, there was a legend that the Yao people were good at disguising themselves in the mountains. Even if they changed their chief, it was impossible for them to forget the skills that were engraved in their bones.

"The reason why the old man wrote to Miss Chen and said he wanted to live in the north was because of the harassment from the Yao people, right?"

Chief Mao nodded and said, "Well, yes, I didn't know Yan'er at first..." When talking about Chen Yan'er, Chief Mao shifted his gaze and his eyes fell on her face.

Chen Yaner smiled sweetly.

The Mao clan leader was instantly melted by her smile, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face. His voice became gentle, "I didn't know about Yan'er and the others' situation. I originally wanted to ask her two uncles to go to the capital. First, I wanted to see him, and second, I wanted to..."

He didn't say anything else, but instead set his gaze on Chen Bainian.

Li Tianze also followed his gaze and saw that Chen Bainian twisted his body unconsciously when he was stared at by the Mao clan leader.

He stood up and bowed slightly, "Father-in-law."

The smile on Chief Mao's face faded, and he stretched out his hand to slightly suppress it. Then he looked at Li Tianze and continued, "Secondly, I think Bai Nian is, after all, an official in the capital, and has some ability. Even if he can't persuade the nobles in the capital to help, he can at least intimidate the Yao people. But I didn't expect his family to end up in exile."

"Yan'er is such a patient kid. They didn't even tell me they were here. If I hadn't written to her, she might have kept it a secret from an old man like me! Alas, I'm old now and can't help the kids anymore."

When Chen Yaner saw her grandfather like this, her heart sank slightly. She stood up and walked to his side.

His legs softened and he knelt down, kowtowed heavily, "Yan'er pays respects to Grandpa."

Her movements were so fast that even Li Tianze couldn't react, let alone Chief Mao.

Chief Mao hurriedly reached out his hand to help her up, but Chen Yan'er shook her head and refused, "Grandfather, Yan'er is unfilial and has not come to see you for so many years. It's Yan'er's fault."

"Silly child, how can this be said to be your fault!" Chief Mao's eyes were red, and he reached out and pulled her up forcefully.

He pulled Chen Yan'er to his side, patting the back of her hand intermittently, his gaze fixed on her face, as if trying to discern the shadow of another person. "My dear child, you and your mother look so much alike. Seeing you reminds me of your mother still in the clan. It's a pity... it's a pity that your mother will never come back."

Having said that, the old man gave Chen Bainian another cold look.

Although his daughter's death had nothing to do with him, she left with him safely, and his oath is still fresh in his mind. But now everything has changed.

"Grandfather, don't be sad. Although mother is gone, Yan'er will definitely be filial to you in her place in the future."

Chief Mao wiped his cloudy eyes with his sleeve and nodded slightly, "Okay, okay, go ahead. Follow your uncle and the others to visit your grandmother. Your grandmother has been in poor health for many years. When those people came, they hid in the back mountains. I guess they don't know they've left yet. It's just right for you and your uncle to go and pick them up."