After being wrongly married, I stabbed my husband to death and became famous throughout the world.

Li Shu didn't stay there for long and soon returned the way he came.

On the way back, she could clearly sense that the officers and soldiers were not treating Li Chutian well.

Li Chutian also became much more depressed, looking listless and powerless, as if he had aged more than ten years.

At this moment, Li Chutian also felt exhausted. Stepping on the bumpy road, he felt that he could never reach the end.

After Zhou's death, things at home were in complete chaos.

Li Shu did not come to cause trouble, but Aman was not someone to be trifled with. She was rather lazy and sometimes would rather be beaten and scolded than do a little more work. Moreover, when the weather got cold, he had fewer clothes to change into, and every time he came back from going out, there was nowhere to dry his wet clothes.

The forest was damp, and the firewood was a bit so that even if Li Man could light a fire to keep warm, he couldn't keep the flame burning, which meant that he would shiver from the cold every time he returned.

If it were just about taking care of himself, he might be able to manage, but Li Man has been in low spirits lately, constantly worried that someone would come and arrest her and throw her in jail. That extremely unstable state keeps him on edge.

If things aren't peaceful at home, they're even worse outside.

Those officers and soldiers were insatiable. Ever since they gave him twenty taels last time, they assumed he had money and began to try every means to plunder him.

As soon as winter arrived, he said that the army camp needed more firewood, so he added a bundle of firewood to his load.

He really couldn't chop the firewood himself, so he considered hiring someone. He knew that among the group of people who went up the mountain together, there was a poor family with plenty of manpower. It would only be a matter of lifting a finger for that family to chop an extra bundle of firewood. He would only need to spend a small amount of money to do much less work, which was much more cost-effective than bribing the soldiers.

But he never expected that someone would actually go to the soldiers to complain about such a trivial matter!

This resulted in both families increasing their accounts, and he inexplicably offended someone.

Having endured such hardship, it was impossible for Li Chutian not to be moved upon seeing Li Shu's daughter.

She's living too well!

It had been a while since I'd seen Li Shu, and he even seemed to have gained some weight and grown a little taller!

His face was a normal rosy color, without any signs of frostbite. He was in much better condition than when he was at home!

He felt very frustrated, but he couldn't show it on his face. He could only watch helplessly as Li Shu tried to get close to others. He even couldn't understand why his daughter treated outsiders more politely than she treated him!

At this moment, Li Shu was smiling as he talked about what he had seen and heard in the army.

This group of people had been there several times and clearly knew more than Li Shu.

"Fortunately, we weren't sentenced to military service. When I went to deliver firewood just now, I heard someone I knew mention that there have been a lot of battles lately because General Xiang is really gone."

"Really gone? What do you mean by that?" Others who weren't well-informed asked hastily.

"You went up the mountain early, so you don't know. I heard that before winter, the army used some kind of trick to spread the news of General Xiang's death to the border. The enemy thought that General Xiang was dead and planned to attack, but unexpectedly General Xiang suddenly appeared and led his soldiers to kill many enemies and win a great victory!"

"When the news reached the interior, everyone was happy. But just a few days later, General Xiang really passed away. I heard that his old illness flared up and he was poisoned, which is why he couldn't be saved. He was just worried that the enemy would launch a major attack after his death, so he decided to dampen their spirits first..."

"Although battles are frequent now, the enemy suffered heavy losses last time, so most of them are small-scale battles. Otherwise, who knows what the battlefield here would be like now..."

This man knew a lot; even the two soldiers leading the way listened carefully.

The border wars affect all the people, so everyone couldn't help but sigh.

Li Shu had heard of this General Xiang.

He is said to be a fierce general of the Great Wall, with immense strength, skilled in all kinds of weapons, and able to charge into the midst of thousands of troops and return safely. He has guarded the border for many years and has achieved outstanding military exploits.

Li Shu couldn't help but think of the coffin that the Qian family had sold, and wondered if it was the one used to bury this person.

“I see the soldiers aren’t eating very well. Uncle Zhao, has the price of grain in the city gone up?” Li Shu asked tentatively.

“Grain prices? Of course they’ve gone up. They’re never cheap at this time of year…” The man opened his mouth, then lowered his voice. “My relatives said that every year after the new grain is harvested, the imperial court will send people to escort the pay and provisions before the snowstorm. But this year the supplies are delayed… so the soldiers in the army have to tighten their belts and are not doing well.”

The fact that there wasn't enough food couldn't be hidden.

To feed tens of thousands of troops, a considerable amount of money and grain was needed. Since the imperial court's supplies had not yet arrived, the generals in the army had no choice but to purchase supplies from the cities in the rear. However, the people also needed to survive, and purchasing large quantities of grain would leave them without food.

Moreover, the army didn't have enough money to purchase food.

Li Shu couldn't help but frown as he listened to these words.

The lack of supplies is a serious matter!

What's more, this happened when the general at the front was gone...

If we hadn't just won a battle, how demoralized would the army have become?

"However, the imperial court won't abandon us here. The provisions will arrive sooner or later. We're not serving time in the army, so we don't need to worry about such things!" The man smiled and continued to spread the news without any concern.

But Li Shu felt uneasy.

She disliked the feeling of being out of touch and out of control.

“Uncle Zhao, you’re right. Winter is so hard to endure, who cares about anything else? We just need to take care of ourselves and survive.” Li Shu echoed, smiling politely.

Li Chutian silently rolled his eyes.

She's not this obedient when she's with her own father.

Li Shu wanders around the mountains every day, so he naturally takes the initiative to learn about the firewood cutters living nearby.

Everyone here is a prisoner serving time in the mountains, most of them have committed crimes, and the charges vary. Some of them are not easy to get along with.

This Uncle Zhao in front of us is different. He comes from a respectable family, is cheerful, and likes to make friends. He only has one daughter, who was almost tricked into eloping by someone with ill intentions. In a fit of anger, Uncle Zhao grabbed an axe and chopped the person up.

He wasn't killed, so he was punished by the authorities and sent here.

The man was very happy and took his wife and daughters into the mountains. He was quite strong and had a lot of strength. He was also familiar with the soldiers, so he was very comfortable in the mountains.

After learning about their situation, Li Shu took several opportunities to have some contact with the family, and of course, he also told them about Li Chutian spending money to buy firewood.

This Uncle Zhao is a kind-hearted person, but also a chatterbox.

Because of his kindness, Li Chutian received special attention from the officers and soldiers.

Moreover, Li Chutian was incredibly naive, actually believing that someone would be willing to help him chop wood and complete his task for just a small amount of money...

He used to work at the post station and always thought he was superior to others, so after entering the mountains, he still retained some of his old habits and never lowered himself to get to know other firewood cutters.

At this moment, as Li Shu was talking to Uncle Zhao, a man in his thirties among the group of people walking ahead kept glancing back...