From Hoarding to Time-Travel: My Supplies Saved Him

Chapter 720: Chapter 722: Entering the Village

Gu Letian touched the Silver in his chest pocket. "I have to try. So many refugees flooded into the city that day; anyone living nearby should know something.

"Maybe I can ask around and find out some useful information."

Yu Laoda didn’t say anything more. He patted his shoulder and said, "I’ll talk to Chief Chen later. You can’t just go looking for people on your own. Going through Chief Chen might even save you some Silver."

If it were anyone else, Yu Laoda wouldn’t have bothered worrying about it. However, Gu Letian had helped him a lot over the years. Even if it was just to ensure he had a capable assistant in the future, he had to help him no matter what.

Gu Letian quickly thanked him. He knew that having Chief Chen step in would be far better than relying on blind luck.

Gu Wenheng and his group walked slowly down the narrow path, led by the steward.

Although the weeds along the sides of the path had been cleared, the ground was still quite uneven.

Since they were all pampered officials, their pace naturally couldn’t be fast.

On the contrary, Gu Benluo and the other youngsters often ran into the mountains whenever they had free time, either gathering firewood along the way or chasing small prey all over the hills. This kind of path was far too easy for them. Following the guards clearing the way ahead, they skipped and ran, quickly darting far ahead.

"We should be there just ahead, right? I think I see people working on the mountain up ahead," Gule Shun said as he ran to the very front with Gu Benluo.

"I saw them too," Gu Benluo replied. "Let’s run a little faster."

The two boys took the lead and dashed to the very front, while the guards beside them sped up to protect their young masters.

"Your sons’ physical fitness is truly enviable," Wu Haicong said, stopping to catch his breath. "If those brats in my family could be like your sons, I would have brought them along this time too."

Gu Wenheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and also stopped to rest. "He’s just a rascal. Following his older brothers around has made him completely unruly. There’s nothing to envy about that."

"Mr. Gu, you don’t know how badly my boys have been spoiled by my Madam. Whenever they go out, they’re followed by a whole flock of maids and older female servants. How do they even resemble real men?

"To be honest, I came from a rural village myself, and I really can’t stand those effeminate types."

Gu Wenheng glanced at him. In order to curry favor, Wu Haicong was truly going to great lengths, degrading his own children as if they were worthless.

However, he couldn’t take it seriously. "Each has their own strengths. Those who can sit still and have quieter personalities will naturally achieve more in their studies.

"It’s the same with this child of mine. He’s been spoiled rotten by my Madam and is endlessly mischievous all day long."

Hearing them disparage their own children, the subordinate officials following along remained silent. It wasn’t appropriate for them to say anything at this moment.

"Is Xinsheng Village just ahead?" Gu Wenheng turned and asked County Magistrate Kuang.

Prompted by a subtle nod from his steward, County Magistrate Kuang replied, "It’s not far ahead. Would you officials like to take a rest first?"

Gu Wenheng pretended not to notice the exchange. "Let’s all stop and rest for fifteen minutes. Otherwise, by the time we arrive, we’ll all be gasping for breath."

They still needed to maintain their proper image. Furthermore, he wasn’t the only one struggling to keep going; if they weren’t worried about appearances, many of the officials here would probably have already collapsed onto the ground.

As soon as Gu Benluo and Gule Shun rushed into the village, they realized the area was surrounded by mountains on all sides. On a relatively open piece of land in front of them, many wooden cabins had been built.

Compared to the villages they had seen in the past, this place was primitive to the extreme.

Gu Benluo blinked as he looked around the village. Where were the aunts and elderly women who would usually run out to watch them? Why couldn’t he see any of them?

This bizarre sight made him stop in his tracks, and he even grabbed hold of Gule Shun, who had just caught up to him. "Brother Le Shun, I feel like there’s something strange about this place."

Where were the elderly and the children? They only saw some able-bodied men bustling about.

"Did you not pay attention when everyone was discussing this earlier?" Gule Shun leaned close to his ear and whispered, "This is a village made up of mountain bandits. They say these people are very poor, so they probably can’t afford to support any bandit wives."

Gu Benluo also lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. "I think I vaguely heard something about that, but I wasn’t really paying attention.

"But Brother Le Shun, you can’t say things like that here. They’ll be very sad if they hear you."

Gule Shun continued whispering into his ear. "I’m only saying this privately to you. We’d better wait until the others catch up before we go into the village."

He hadn’t thought much of it when they were coming over, but seeing how different this place was from other villages, Gule Shun also felt a bit intimidated. The two brothers cautiously huddled together, which almost amused the guards who had followed them.

Wu Xiaoliu and the others had been somewhat absent-minded while working on the mountain, but seeing people entering the village, they all stopped what they were doing.

"Should we head down?" Yu Laoda asked, looking at the people at the foot of the mountain. "They probably won’t climb up the mountain, will they?"

Boss Xie, who had recently joined them, also put down his tools. He gathered around them to watch the commotion. "Look at how out of breath they all are. By the time they run up the mountain, we wouldn’t be able to get any work done today."

His tone was quite dismissive as he spoke. "They’re all pampered lords. We’d better just go down!"

"Where’s Chief Chen?" Yu Laoda asked. "Why don’t we ask him what we should do now?"

"I just saw him here a moment ago. How did he disappear so quickly?" Wu Xiaoliu looked around. "He probably went to answer the call of nature. Let’s head down and take a look. It wouldn’t be right if there’s no one there to welcome them."

Anyone who wasn’t foolish knew this was a rare opportunity to show their faces. Wu Xiaoliu was already brushing the dirt off his clothes.

"Then let’s go down together and have a look. The rest of you stay here and keep working." Boss Xie sprang into action immediately, tossing his tools to a brother beside him.

Yu Laoda naturally had no objections. He was just about to head down with Gu Letian when Wu Xiaoliu called out to stop him. "Just us bosses heading down is enough. Why are they going down?"

Yu Laoda’s eyes shifted cunningly. "We need to find someone to boil water to entertain the guests. Otherwise, which one of us is going to boil the water?"

"Then we should find someone a bit cleverer," Wu Xiaoliu countered. "If this foolish guy goes down and offends the distinguished guests, we won’t be able to bear the consequences.

"You’ve met Lai San, who is by my side. He’s quite sharp. Let him go down this time."

It was safer to save this kind of opportunity to show one’s face for one of his own men. In the event that one of the lords took a liking to him, it would only bring benefits, and no harm, to him as their boss.

"Since when does boiling water require a clever person?" Yu Laoda replied. "Quite a few people have come this time, so one person won’t be able to handle it alone. Let’s just bring them all."

Boss Xie, standing to the side, also guessed their intentions and beckoned his loyal subordinates to follow them down the mountain.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw that only two children were there and the others hadn’t arrived yet. They all put on what they considered to be their most amiable smiles, preparing to greet the two children first.

However, before they could even open their mouths, the two children were tightly surrounded by a group of guards.