A farmer has a shrewish wife; he's busy making money every day.

Upon hearing this, the dozen or so burly men guarding the area exchanged glances and hesitated.

Ye Qingxue shouted again, "Look at where it's burning! If you don't go and help, can you bear the responsibility when the chief boss asks about it?"

Upon hearing this, they couldn't help but stir.

One of them, who seemed to be the leader, shouted, "Send some people away, I'll stay here with the rest of the men and keep watch!"

Most of the people who had run away have left.

Ye Qingxue was unable to call the rest away.

The burly man who seemed to be the leader frowned at her and asked, "Hey, what are you still doing here? Aren't you going to put out the fire?"

Ye Qingxue remained silent.

The leader sensed something was wrong, gripped his spear tightly, and walked towards Ye Qingxue.

"Who are you?" he roared.

Just as he was about to reach Ye Qingxue, she rushed towards the big man like lightning.

Before the burly man could react, Ye Qingxue's leg was already upon him like a whirlwind.

With a kick imbued with the energy from his dantian, he slammed it into the burly man's temple.

The burly man leading the group was kicked unconscious by her.

She then repeated the same move, her steps light and agile, weaving freely among the burly men, each punch precisely knocking one of them unconscious.

The burly guard hadn't even gotten a good look at Ye Qingxue before he was knocked unconscious. The only thing he could feel was her fist, which was as hard as steel.

In fact, with Ye Qingxue's current strength, even if all the guards were present, they would not be a match for her. The only concern is that if the commotion is too great, she will be discovered.

Soon, five or six burly men lay dead in front of the door; Ye Qingxue had cleared them all out.

He pulled the key from the leader's waist, unlocked the door, and went inside.

The room was brightly lit, as if the oil lamps had been burning all night.

Looking around the room, Ye Qingxue could only see the wooden crates stacked in the middle.

There was nothing else superfluous.

She took a deep breath and gently opened the lid of the box. In an instant, golden light rushed out and illuminated Ye Qingxue's eyes.

Ye Qingxue was stunned, her heart filled with shock.

Because that box was filled with gold!

Her heart was pounding.

How could a small place like Fierce Tiger Stronghold possibly have so much gold?

In other words, with so much gold, how could it possibly be just a small Tiger Stronghold?!

Unless, of course, their gold is of dubious origin.

To be even bolder, the people in this Tiger Stronghold are illegally mining!

Ye Qingxue's breathing became rapid. This was indeed a capital offense. If it were discovered, even the officials of Jiangnan Prefecture would not be able to protect them!

Outside, there seemed to be hurried footsteps rushing in from a distance.

Ye Qingxue quickly collected a few pieces of gold, closed the lid, and immediately disappeared.

As soon as she climbed over the wall, Ye Qingxue immediately carried Zhao Yantang on her back and left.

As she expected, Hu Fu's voice soon came from behind her.

"Quick! The thief, with Zhao Yantang by his side, can't have gone far. Search the entire mountain!"

"Leopard, you're quick! Find the person as soon as possible!"

Hearing the sounds behind her, Ye Qingxue sped up again.

But her body was indeed weak, and being a woman, carrying a man weighing nearly 200 pounds on her back, her speed couldn't possibly be very fast.

Ye Qingxue listened to the approaching footsteps behind her, and beads of sweat slid down her forehead.

At this moment, Zhao Yantang, who was on his back, opened his eyes groggily: "Brother... Brother, don't worry about me. That second-in-command, Bao Fu, is extremely fast. You won't get far with me."

Ye Qingxue pulled the person up on the net: "Stop talking nonsense, use your strength so you don't fall."

She ran so fast that she didn't notice she had switched to a male voice, and her delicate, high-pitched voice startled Zhao Yantang.

"Girl...you..."

Ye Qingxue knew her gender was exposed, but she couldn't care less at that moment; she could only keep running forward.

Zhao Yantang, who was on her back, was about to faint again from the jolt, and the strength in her hands gradually loosened.

Ye Qingxue felt the weight on her hands increasing, and her hands trembled uncontrollably. She gritted her teeth and her face turned pale.

"It's right ahead! I see it! Call the second-in-command!"

Ye Qingxue: !! They've caught up!

Just then, Ye Qingxue wasn't paying attention and her foot hit a small stone, causing her to fall forward.

Ye Qingxue's heart sank. If she fell, she would be finished.

But just as she was about to fall to the ground, a pair of strong hands caught her, and she staggered a few steps but barely managed to stay upright.

The newcomer was a masked man dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, with sharp features.

Without saying a word, he took Zhao Yantang from Ye Qingxue's back and ran forward.

"Second Master, over here!"

Ye Qingxue was terrified. A roar came from behind her, and she snapped out of her daze and started running.

Without Zhao Yantang suppressing her, her speed increased by more than one level.

By taking a deep breath and touching the ground with the toes, one can stride four or five meters in a single step.

She quickly caught up with the masked man and turned to ask, "Who are you? Why did you save me? You helped me last time too?"

I asked three questions in a row.

The masked man chuckled softly, "Miss Ye, at a time like this, there's no need to ask so many questions."

Then it accelerated and sped forward.

He even knew his surname was Ye?

Hearing the approaching footsteps behind her, Ye Qingxue dared not relax her vigilance. She nimbly avoided the horizontal branches in front of her and jumped over the stones on the ground.

Running forward as fast as it could.

Gradually putting distance between themselves and the people behind them, Ye Qingxue and the masked man quickly ran down the mountain.

"You can't go to the county government!"

Ye Qingxue gasped softly.

They rescued Zhao Yantang, so the first place the Fierce Tiger Stronghold would definitely search is the county government office!

But where to run to has become a problem.

Unlike the mountains, the county is not sheltered by dense foliage.

Late at night, the streets are wide and there are few people, so it's easy to be spotted wherever you go.

The only place I can hide is at a noodle stall!

Ye Qingxue rushed back to the noodle stall and, amidst the panicked gazes of Chen Shi and Aunt Lu, hid Zhao Yantang in the back kitchen.

After the masked man helped her hide the person, he flew away without leaving a word.

Ye Qingxue couldn't care less about anything else at this point. She quickly leaned out and whispered, "Closing up the stall right away! Hurry, keep a natural expression, don't let anyone think something's wrong."

Chen and Aunt Lu suppressed their doubts and began to pack up their stall.

A flurry of footsteps approached from all around. Ye Qingxue hid the man behind the straw, took off her dirty cotton clothes, put them into her spatial storage, washed her face with water, reapplied her male makeup, and then went out.

As Chen packed up her stall, she asked Ye Qingxue, "What's wrong?"

While helping out, Ye Qingxue secretly watched the burly man hiding in the crowd, observing his surroundings.

Fortunately, people from the capital kept moving in during this time, so the people of Menghu Village didn't dare to make a fuss. They just pretended to be ordinary passersby and kept glancing around.

The stall was packed up quickly.

The moment the canopy was lowered, Ye Qingxue let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“Aunt Chen, Aunt Lu, you should go back first. I’ll stay here tonight. Please tell my parents so they don’t need to worry.”

"How can we do this? How can we leave you here all alone?"

"Listen to me, go back." Ye Qingxue's tone was serious and brooked no argument.

Chen and Aunt Lu wanted to say something more, but seeing Ye Qingxue's serious expression, they didn't dare to ask any more questions.

"Alright then, be careful. We'll come earlier tomorrow."

Ye Qingxue nodded to reassure them.

After watching the two leave the shed, Ye Qingxue returned to the kitchen to carefully examine Zhao Yantang's injuries.