Confiscating property? A stunningly beautiful substitute bride empties the national treasury and is

"sky…"

Lu Yunqi behind her was also stunned. He hadn't even seen it clearly when the hook-like object steadily returned to Song Qingqian's hand.

Aside from the few bloodstains on it, he couldn't believe that a woman could have done this.

Lu Jingchuan's face also turned pale instantly. Song Qingqian couldn't have done that without several years of training.

Such speed and such steady swordsmanship made him feel deeply inferior. Lu Jingchuan really felt that he should carefully examine the relationship between the two of them.

Someone as outstanding as Song Qingqian would definitely not be interested in him, so the cooperation she mentioned was just a simple collaboration; he was overthinking it…

"Help! Someone help me!"

Zhang He's screams pierced the thick clouds, but no one dared to step forward to help him up.

"Song Qingqian...you...you are utterly audacious!"

As Zhang He watched Song Qingqian approach, he panicked and began to curse, fearing that if she took one more step closer, she would kill him with a single blow. He now truly realized the power of the curved blade in her hand.

"Shut up if you don't want to die, or I'll make sure you don't see the sun rise tomorrow."

Song Qingqian gave him a disdainful look, then glanced at the kneeling soldiers. Da Hu was so frightened that he quickly shrank back.

"Why are you kneeling? Did I say I was going to punish you?"

Da Hu quickly shook his head, not daring to look up at Song Qingqian.

"Your name is Da Hu, right? If you want to successfully complete your mission in the barbarian lands, you need to be more perceptive and clever, and know what you should and shouldn't do."

"Yes…"

Song Qingqian then looked at the officers and soldiers and said, "I will not be your enemy, and you should not make things difficult for me. It would be good if we could get along peacefully, but if not, let's keep to ourselves."

"Alright, do as you please, I'm going back to sleep!"

After finishing her sentence, Song Qingqian turned and left, completely ignoring Zhang He who continued to roar.

Seeing the two brothers standing motionless beside the carriage, Song Qingqian raised an eyebrow and smiled:

"Want to stand guard? Sure, I'll leave Big Yellow here. One of you can take the first half of the night, and the other can take the second half! That way we can all sleep more soundly."

Lu Yunqi nodded: "Okay, you guys go to sleep first. Tonight, it'll just be me and Da Huang on duty!"

Big Yellow glanced at him, barked twice, and then moved away in disgust...

Lu Yunqi said angrily, "Hey, don't look down on me. I mean what I say."

"Take this, for self-defense at night!"

After Song Qingqian finished speaking, she tossed a dagger to him. Lu Yunqi was about to reach out to catch it, but when he saw that it was a dagger, he quickly withdrew his hand.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the two men and the dog, he awkwardly bent down and picked up the dagger from the ground. It was incredibly sharp; he had truly witnessed its sharpness. He quickly pressed for an answer:

"Um... isn't this the cursed knife? I should be fine taking it, right?"

"idiot!"

Song Qingqian uttered two words speechlessly and prepared to get into the carriage, but Lu Jingchuan reached out and grabbed her, speaking earnestly:

"Qingqian, I want to talk to you!"

"I'm sleepy, I don't want to talk. You can figure it out on your own when you've come to your senses!"

"What I dislike most is mental exhaustion; it's just too tiring and not worth it!"

Song Qingqian shook him off and got into the carriage, lying down next to Lu Lanyue.

With a warm feeling on her back, Song Qingqian once again realized that the money spent on this floor mat was truly worthwhile.

Being rejected was to be expected, and Lu Jingchuan didn't feel ashamed or angry. Apart from feeling a little disappointed, he felt nothing else.

As dawn broke, the exile procession had already set off.

Through the crowd, Song Qingqian did not see Jiang Ce, but Zhang He had inherited the wheelchair that was about to fall apart.

She waved to the soldiers on the side, and Da Hu quickly ran over, smiling respectfully:

"Young Lady Lu, what are your orders?"

"What about Jiang Ce?"

Da Hu's face stiffened, and his smile immediately vanished. He explained, "Deputy General Jiang was left in the cave and wasn't brought out!"

Song Qingqian narrowed her eyes slightly and said seriously, "What do you mean? Could it be that Sun Wuyin has weighed the pros and cons and abandoned him?"

Da Hu nodded silently.

"Alright, you can go back now. You did a good job!"

As they passed through a grove of trees, Song Qingqian took a cloth bag from the trunk and jumped off the carriage.

"Sister-in-law, what are they all doing?"

Lu Lanyue pressed for an explanation, as he was somewhat puzzled as to why the group had suddenly slowed down.

Song Qingqian called to the two of them to jump down, and happily explained, "Let's pick mushrooms! There must have been a lot of mushrooms growing in the woods after yesterday's heavy rain. We'll make chicken stew with mushrooms for lunch."

"Really mushrooms? I've never picked any before!"

"Sister-in-law, I'm going too!"

Lu Xieyue quickly caught up with them.

"And I…"

Zhan'er jumped off the carriage in a hurry, and Xiao Yu'er was about to follow when Bai Shi reached out and pulled her back.

"Yu'er is too young, it's better if she doesn't go."

"No, I'm going! I want to go pick mushrooms with my third aunt!"

Little Yu'er pouted, looking wronged and on the verge of tears. Lu Yunqi couldn't bear it and simply picked her up and took her away, comforting her:

"Sister-in-law, let her go. I'll keep an eye on her!"

"Second Uncle is the best!"

Xiao Yu'er jumped up happily and gave Lu Yunqi a big kiss on the cheek.

Bai sighed and smiled indulgently: "This little girl is getting better and better at acting."

The old lady smiled and nodded: "Yu'er, you're such a little devil!"

"Wow, sister-in-law, this mushroom is huge! I... I've never seen such a big mushroom before."

Lu Xieyue spoke in surprise.

Song Qingqian glanced back at the mushroom in her hand and laughed, "That can't be eaten, throw it away. When picking mushrooms, you can't just look at how pretty they are. The more vibrant the mushroom, the more poisonous it is."

She casually picked out a few open mushrooms from the box: "Any of these will do. This is a pine mushroom, this is a porcini mushroom, and this is a rain mushroom."

In no time, the cloth bag was full. After Lu Yunqi got back into the carriage, he returned.

At this moment, the Qian family and the Luo family got into a fight over a nest of giant mushrooms, which quickly escalated into a brawl between the two families.

Song Qingqian looked up and saw two soldiers carrying whips walking by.

Madam Wang leaned closer and whispered, "Young Madam Lu, these mushrooms are worth selling, aren't they?"

"Of course, these mushrooms are worth quite a bit of money when dried!"

"Really?"

Wang chuckled with delight, "Then I'll gather more."

Song Qingqian nodded, picked up the wood ear mushrooms from the basket and said, "These are quite fragrant when cooked, and they can also be sold for money."

"Okay, thank you!"

Wang laughed and ran away.

The exile procession remained stationary for a full half hour before the soldiers finally drove them on their way.

Song Qingqian saw that many people had picked up poisonous mushrooms, and all of them were wrapped in thick, bulging bandages.

Of course! They also reaped great rewards.

During the midday break, the officers and soldiers set up a large pot and began to cook mushroom soup for the exiled people. With Hu Guo present, they picked out many poisonous mushrooms.

Song Qingqian then made chicken stew with mushrooms for the group, but she directed the whole process while Lu Jingchuan did the cooking, Lu Yunqi tended the fire, and the two sisters watched and learned attentively.