Scientific Travel

Wang Moyu drank a large glass of water, her heart growing colder and colder.

"It seems someone is watching us. The news will spread as soon as we leave the manor."

"If the temperature stops rising, that's fine, but if it keeps rising..."

Wang Moyu finished his sentence: "They will definitely sacrifice Xixi..."

"Damn it." Wang Moyu slammed her fist on the table. "If I weren't so weak right now, I would have already gone up and killed everyone. Why would I have to put up with this humiliation?"

Wang Xi was still young, and after being on the road for so long, her stomach started growling uncontrollably.

Li Pingyue smiled and patted her head, saying, "Are you hungry? Have some pastries with your mother first, and I'll go cook for you."

It was already late, and Wang Xi was starving, so Li Pingle didn't cook much, stopping after making only four dishes.

About a week later, there were no more girls in the prison who met the requirements.

Wang Moyu tried various escape methods during the week, but none of them worked. The only saving grace was that although she failed, she was also not discovered.

Li Pingyue was also busy, constantly making traps and crossbows.

He was very slow, his right hand wasn't very dexterous, and it took him so many days to finally make a Rain Flower Formation and a half-finished sleeve arrow.

After these failed escape attempts, Wang Moyu discovered a problem—as long as everyone stayed indoors, there would be no problem.

Previously, Li Pingle was always the one who bought groceries, and Wang Moyu would occasionally go with him a few times, but recently it has been Wang Moyu who has been the one buying groceries all the time.

Every time Wang Moyu went grocery shopping, she could sense someone behind her, but she didn't know exactly how many people were there.

Although I haven't tried it, there should still be someone at home watching over it.

Li Pingle wasn't very sensitive to whether he was being followed or not. Even if he was being followed, he wouldn't be able to tell, so he simply didn't waste the time conducting the experiment.

To escape, you don't necessarily need to know how many people are nearby.

If they keep these people busy and don't have time to monitor them, they can escape.

In the past few days, Wang Moyu has been using grocery shopping as an excuse to secretly contact many people.

In times of economic hardship, many people couldn't even afford a full meal. These people would do anything for a bite to eat.

Wang Moyu's first contact was with Wang Jiang, firstly because he had enough men under his command, and as long as he was given enough leverage, he would do anything.

Secondly, because he wasn't a good person, he wasn't a good person even before the natural disaster, so even if such a person were arrested, Wang Moyu wouldn't feel guilty.

The guards around them must be yamen runners; the county magistrate would never send a Jianghu person who might betray them for such a task.

There are 17 yamen runners in total, and there are at least two yamen runners around her house. If these two people are to leave, something very big must have happened.

It's more important than... watching over Wang Xi, who might be sacrificed...

The operation was divided into two steps. The first step was to send people to seize the granary.

As early as when the plant mutation disaster occurred, local governments began to stockpile grain. In order to make the operation more realistic, Wang Moyu selected emaciated refugees.

Such people have already lost the possibility of living, so they want to seize every opportunity. Wang Moyu first gave each person two catties of fine rice, and promised that all the grain they seized would belong to them, and that after the deed was done, each person would receive another ten catties of fine rice.

The requirements were quite high, and people were signing up in droves. Wang Moyu had already stockpiled a large amount of fine grains at home, but since he couldn't take them with him if he left, he might as well use them all on this operation.

The importance of grain goes without saying. When the yamen runners saw someone trying to steal grain, they quickly notified the county magistrate.

There were 86 people in total responsible for seizing the grain. The yamen runners were armed, and the unarmed men were ultimately at a disadvantage.

Including the yamen runners, there are a total of 54 people in the yamen. Only half of them are needed to deal with those who are unarmed.

The next step is the second step: sending people to break him out of prison.

Wang Moyu chose to find Wang Jiang because he was the only one in the city who had the ability and the courage to break him out of prison.

You can only stop monitoring someone who might be sacrificed if you have something more important to do.

For example... someone wants to kidnap the person who is about to be sacrificed.

A prison break was no small matter, and Wang Jiang considered it for three days before deciding to take on the job.

People die for money, birds die for food; the reward Wang Moyu offered was enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

One thousand gold coins, plus 1000 catties of fine rice and 1000 catties of wheat flour—Wang Jiang couldn't earn that much even if he worked hard his whole life.

To ensure the safety of both parties, Wang Moyu paid a 30% deposit upfront, with the remainder to be paid upon completion of the task.

Wang Jiang had no objection; it's normal for employers to be cautious with such large orders.

Moreover, Wang Moyu only asked him to break into the prison; he didn't require him to succeed. It would be strange to give him the full amount upfront for such a simple task.

Things went very smoothly, just as Wang Moyu had predicted. The county magistrate sent about half of his men to guard the granary. Most of these men were not yamen runners, but rather servants, grooms, and the like.

Later, when someone attempted to break into the prison, the county magistrate dispatched all the yamen runners there, including those who were monitoring the prison.

Wang Moyu went out for a stroll, and after confirming that no one was watching her, she immediately went home and prepared to sneak away with her child.

As soon as I stepped out of the courtyard gate, I heard a voice behind me.

Where are you all headed?

Wang Moyu recognized the voice as belonging to the county magistrate and turned around to look.

Besides the county magistrate, she had about ten other people with her, each carrying a bow and arrow, and they all looked like experienced archers.

There's no point in putting up a fight, but if we can't escape today, we'll never be able to escape in the future.

Wang Moyu put Wang Xi down and said with a forced smile, "What brings you to my house today, County Magistrate?"

The county magistrate's smile was much more genuine; he seemed genuinely kind.

"Today, a group of people came to rob grain, and another group broke into the prison. I'm extremely busy. But..." The county magistrate changed the subject. "No matter how busy I am, I can't forget that the people are the most important thing to me. Moyu, your family has some assets, but in this chaotic world, those with only assets can't protect themselves. Even our county office has been attacked, let alone you. That's why I quickly brought people to protect you."

These men weren't wearing official robes, but their disciplined training suggested they were the county magistrate's private army. Wang Moyu was astonished that the county magistrate would dare to maintain a private army.

"These people aren't wearing official robes, so they probably aren't yamen runners, right?"

“That’s right.” The county magistrate dared to show these people to Wang Moyu, so he wasn’t afraid of her finding out. “It’s just that there have been too many troublemakers lately, so I hired a few people to protect myself. After all, I can’t have the yamen runners protecting me all the time, can I?”

Wang Moyu's face was very ugly. The county magistrate was trying to call a deer a horse, and she had no right to refute him.

It seems we underestimated the county magistrate.

Wang Moyu didn't believe that the county magistrate had come here without any ulterior motive; she definitely knew that the people who robbed the grain and the people who broke into the prison were all hired by her.

Either someone betrayed them and sided with the county magistrate, or...

It was the county magistrate who guessed it.

Wang Moyu preferred the latter. She had carefully examined all the people she had chosen, and they had indeed been poor for a long time, so there was no reason for them to turn against her.

Now that she wants to escape, the county magistrate will definitely keep an eye on her until the people originally responsible for guarding her return. If she wants to run away, she can only take down these people now.

"Since you're here, why don't you all go in and have a drink of water?"

"Okay."

The two acted like best friends, laughing as they walked into the house together.

Li Pingle wasn't good at managing his facial expressions either; ever since he heard the county magistrate's voice, his face had turned very unpleasant.

Wang Xi held Li Pingle's hand and whispered, "Father, don't be angry, we still have a chance."

Upon hearing his daughter's words, Li Pingle's gloomy expression vanished, replaced by a look of relief.

"Don't worry, your father will definitely protect you."

Having already prepared to leave, and knowing there would be no tea at home, Wang Moyu simply took out a jar of wine.

"We're out of tea at home, so let's use wine instead."

The county magistrate seemed genuinely amused and laughed out loud. "People usually use tea instead of wine, but I never expected that you would use wine instead of tea in your household."

Although there was no tea at home, there were teacups. Wang Moyu poured the wine into the teacup. "Try it. This wine is sweet and delicious. I brewed it myself. You can't buy it anywhere else."

The county magistrate, unsuspecting, downed the wine in his teacup in one gulp. After savoring it for a few seconds, he said, "It is indeed excellent. I wonder if I will ever have the good fortune to drink your wine again."

"What are you saying? It's my good fortune if you're willing to drink. You can come anytime you want to drink in the future." Wang Moyu understood the county magistrate's implied meaning, and his face showed a happy expression, without revealing any flaws.

Wang Moyu poured another cup of wine for the county magistrate, but this time the magistrate did not drink it.