Traveling through the starry sky just for you, I was a koi in ancient times

Chapter 155 Encountering Robbers

Wang Jinlai answered cautiously:

"I don't know. He just asked me to give it to you."

Wang Jinlai presented the 50 taels of silver given by the young lady to the old grandmother. The old woman took the silver note and said with trembling hands:

"Wuwuwu, wuwuwu..." He burst into tears.

The old grandmother's sobbing attracted a group of people, and finally, without any notice, they all crowded around the old grandmother, looking at the silver bills in her hand, with mixed feelings of sadness and joy.

Some people lowered their heads, some shed tears silently, most people covered their faces and cried, and some turned their backs, covering their faces and crying loudly.

At that moment, there was a cry in the house. Wang Jinlai pulled Wen Xiao. The boy cried so hard that his eyes turned red. He looked at Wang Jinlai.

"Brother."

"Tell me about your family's affairs so I can tell Wenbai when I get home."

Wen Xiao nodded, pulled Wang Jinlai out of the house, sat on the steps in the yard, and told him what had happened at home in the past two years:

"…My grandmother brought the women in the family who had titles back to the clan. My grandmother found a way to bring the daughters of each family back to their ancestral home as maids and make them commoners…"

Wang Jinlai asked in confusion:

"The women were escorted back to their ancestral home. How did you get here?"

"I am a friend of my grandfather, who sent me here from the capital. I don't understand why I was sent here, but my grandmother thinks I should grow up here."

After saying this, Wen Xiao shook his head slightly, as if to say that he really didn't understand the reason behind it.

Wang Jinlai asked about the family's living conditions and was deeply worried.

It is said that the officers and soldiers who escorted along the way took away all the valuables from the women, leaving only a few penniless women who entered the old house alone.

The clan accepted the group of people, but they did not take care of them, nor did they dare to take care of them, after all, they were the family members of the criminals. However, they also clearly prohibited the clan members from harassing them.

In this way, the group of women who had been sleeping in the open and starving along the way finally found a place to stay.

After resting for the tiring journey, the real problem arose: no money and no food!

Wen Jinshu came up with an idea to sell the wood from the main hall to the clan members at a low price to repair the ancestral hall in exchange for food.

Then he persuaded the sisters to cut their long hair and exchanged them for daily necessities. Only then did they settle down in the empty yard.

Originally, there were people looking after the ancestral house, but after they were convicted, those without indentures all fled, fearing they would be implicated. Those with indentures were all made slaves of the government, and were escorted away and never returned.

Wang Jinlai listened to Wen Xiao's narration and felt that Wen Bai must have done good deeds in his previous life to meet the Wang family.

The Wang family were very kind. They not only helped Wen Bai, but also sent money home for him and visited his family on his behalf.

Wang Jinlai thought about the time when he fled from famine. If he had not met the third master Wang Shuyan, he would have died long ago.

During the escape, human nature exposed countless shortcomings, but he could not abandon his starving parents in the wilderness, so he dug the soil with his hands to bury his parents. At that time, he was so hungry that he had no strength left and fell directly into a big pit.

To this day, Wang Jinlai still clearly remembers that the young man with a solemn face, accompanied by a group of servants, searched for the victims along the way. When they saw people who had starved to death, they would do their best to bury them after confirming the death.

As for those children who fainted beside their parents at home, and those babies who were dying, as long as they were found to have a breath left, the Third Master would rescue them and send them to the Flower-Fruit Mountain. The young ones would be fed by others, and the older ones would fend for themselves...

I still remember that I was so hungry that I didn’t even have the strength to breathe. When Third Master held me in his arms, I thought I was going to set off on the road with my parents, thinking that at least I wouldn’t be alone on the road to the underworld…

Whenever he thought of this, Wang Jinlai felt a tearing pain in his heart. He raised his hand to press his chest and closed his eyes to relax.

Wen Xiao saw this, carefully pulled the corner of Wang Jinlai's clothes, and asked softly:

"Brother, what's wrong with you?"

The abnormal heartbeat made Wang Jinlai extremely painful, as if his heart was about to jump out of his mouth at any time. Wang Jinlai swallowed twice, closed his eyes, and slowly calmed himself down.

Wang Jinlai changed the subject:

“Have you read?”

"I had already entered the provincial school when I was at home, and when I took the examination for the Tongsheng degree, my family was convicted of a crime."

"What are your plans?"

"We have no right to choose. Being alive now is a blessing from heaven."

Wang Jinlai realized that they couldn't continue the conversation. The two of them sat quietly looking at the stars in the sky without saying anything.

It was not until dark that Wang Jinlai left the village with letters and two baskets on his back, and met Wang Ping'an and Wang Jindong.

The three of them agreed to return when it was daybreak, so they found a slope sheltered from the wind in the woods and took turns to rest.

The wind became colder and colder at night. The three people were woken up by the wind. It seemed that it was already past three o'clock. Wang Pingan was about to order two people to take turns to rest. Wang Jin held down Wang Pingan's raised hand with one hand, covered Wang Pingan's mouth with the other hand, and pressed on Wang Pingan, whispering in his ear:

"Someone is coming this way."

Then he reminded:

"Don't move!"

Wang Jindong didn't move since he saw Wang Jinlai's series of actions. When he found that the two were inseparable for a long time and was about to approach them, Wang Jinlai turned around and shook his head vigorously.

At the same time, Wang Jindong heard several footsteps getting closer and closer to the three people.

There was a low voice.

"I heard they are the relatives of officials, and they are all beauties."

"There are more than 10 girls coming from the capital, enough for the brothers to share."

"Second in command, aren't you going to grab food?"

"I want both the people and the food. Mazi, the other five of you go find food in the village."

"Shouhou, Tiedan, are you coming with me to rob someone?"

"Where are the girls of the Second in Command?"

"I heard it's at the west end of the village. It's said to be a wealthy mansion. We just need to go west. You two follow me closely!"

The group of black shadows split into two groups, and the shadows left the foot of the mountain and ran towards the village. Wang Jinlai pulled Wang Pingan up and asked:

"Save or not?"

While Wang Ping'an was still hesitating, Wang Jinlai turned around and asked Wang Jindong:

"Do you dare to save people?"

Seeing that Wang Jindong had stood up, he tied the coarse cloth covering the basket around his face and took out the weapon he carried with him.

Wang Jinlai understood immediately and covered his face with a piece of cloth.

"Butler Wang, please pull the mule to the west entrance of the village and wait for us. If we don't come out before dawn, you can go back to the Wang family and report it yourself!"

Wang Pingan sat up, took out a fire starter from his pocket, handed it to Wang Jinlai, and said:

"Go into the village and light a fire, then shout, 'Fire!' The bigger the noise, the better. This way the bandits won't be able to steal food so easily, and it will also give you a chance to save people."

Then he took out something and put it into Wang Jinlai's hand:

"This is a short knife I carry."

Wang Jinlai pushed it back.

"No, you can take it yourself. Before we go out, Miss asked us to prepare something convenient."