“General, I’m not, I didn’t, I—”

Before the officer could step forward, the general silenced him with a single stroke of the sword across his throat.

Blood sprayed, and the man collapsed to the ground in an instant.

The crowd froze; no one dared to say a word.

The general leapt back onto his horse. “This is the price of defying the Emperor’s decree — no exceptions!”

“No matter who you are, until the decree is lifted, no one leaves. Is that understood?”

The general flicked his sword, sending a few drops of crimson blood flying off the blade.

The silver gleam of the blade mixed with the red of the blood, chilling to look at.

“Take him away!” The general rode off the way he’d come.

“Yes.” Two guards stepped forward to carry off the body.

The crowd, frightened, began to retreat. The line that had been fairly orderly a moment ago scattered at once.

Some people even hurried to push their carts back the way they’d come.

Two women carrying baskets of mushrooms passed in front of Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu.

The one walking ahead said, “If there were a few more generals as upright as General Lei, Xixi City might still have hope.”

“It’s no use! One man alone can’t do much.” the one behind agreed.

“True enough.” The one in front sighed softly. “When everyone above and below is like this, what can General Lei really do?”

“Today, I guess our mushrooms will just have to feed ourselves.”

“A day or two, we can manage. But if the gates stay closed…” The one behind looked at the mushrooms in her basket and shook her head with a sigh.

“We finally managed to save these up — should have taken them out yesterday.”

“No use saying that now.” The one in front turned back helplessly. “Let’s go. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

The crowd of commoners slowly dispersed.

Every departing face carried some measure of helplessness.

Feng Jiu’er, the one who had caused all of this, watched it unfold, feeling far from at ease herself.

Wasn’t the Feng Clan supposed to be a peaceful, prosperous nation? Why were there still so many people going hungry?

Wutong Town wasn’t far from the capital and didn’t seem especially poor at first glance.

But this one lockdown had revealed just how much hardship still existed even in a place as decent as this.

The rich only grow richer, the poor only poorer — it all comes down to one word: greed.

Once the crowd dispersed, Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu found a roadside tea stall and sat down.

The two chatted idly, but their eyes kept drifting, without seeming to, toward the city gate.

Their goal was simply to figure out roughly when the guards changed shifts.

Feng Jiu’er knew there were surely brothers already looking into this, but since she had nothing else to do, she’d stopped to see for herself.

They’d been sitting a while when two men sat down at the table across from them.

“They’re here,” Qiao Mu said casually, turning to look at the shopkeeper.

“Shopkeeper, two more cups, two servings of mung bean cakes, and a pot of tea.”

“Coming right up,” the shopkeeper replied, and soon brought everything over.

Xing Zizhou and his companion drank tea and ate the cakes.

“By the way, where does the city lord live?” Feng Jiu’er asked Xing Zizhou in a low voice.

“In a place called Ande Town nearby. From here, riding hard, it’s less than two hours,” Xing Zizhou said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

Seeing the shopkeeper approach, Xing Zizhou quickly changed the subject. “I see everyone’s goods can’t get out — what are we going to do about ours?”

Feng Jiu’er sighed and shook her head.

“I hear the big merchants managed to get their goods out. For small businesses like ours, it’s tough.”

“Can’t we find someone to smooth things over?” Qiao Mu poured herself a cup of tea.

“I heard General Lei just killed someone — who’d dare take a bribe now?” the companion said, deliberately raising his voice.

The shopkeeper watched the group for a moment, then walked over.

He leaned in close to Xing Zizhou and asked quietly, “Sir, what kind of goods are you transporting? Where to?”

“Some medicinal herbs. We’re coming from Xiyuan City, planning to pass through Xixi City, then Qiaozhong City, and on to Fenglai City.”

“Never expected something so big to happen in the capital, shutting down every city gate.” Feng Jiu’er shook her head helplessly.

“Qiaozhong City is close to the capital — there’s no going there now,” the companion said, setting down his cup.

“If we could get out through the south gate, we could go to Luoyang City first, then Fenglai West City, and finally into Fenglai City.”

“We just didn’t expect the south gate to be this strict too. Now we don’t know what to do.”

“Let me introduce someone to you all,” the shopkeeper said quietly.

“I only charge one tael of silver for this, but I can’t guarantee you’ll actually get through.”

All four looked up at the shopkeeper at once, frowning.

“Who?” Feng Jiu’er asked softly.

The shopkeeper took a breath and looked over.

“A minor official in charge of the city gate. I can introduce you, but how much he’ll want, and whether you’ll get through in the end, I can’t promise.”

“One tael of silver, fine,” Xing Zizhou nodded. “When can you arrange a meeting with him?”

“Tonight at midnight, here at the shop, would that work?” The shopkeeper glanced back at his own small establishment.

“He’s on duty tonight — I’ll have him come by.”

“Mm.” Xing Zizhou nodded and took out two taels of silver, setting it on the table.

“Include the food too, in that.”

“Yes.” The shopkeeper smiled and took the silver.

The four chatted on a little longer before Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu left first.

They didn’t go anywhere in particular, just went back to collect Feng Li and Jian Yi, then headed to Fenglan Inn.

For now, the best option was still to wait there for more news.

At noon the next day, as the four of them were eating lunch, someone knocked on the door of their room.

“Miss, our boss is back. You may see him anytime.”

Feng Jiu’er looked up at the door and answered, “Good, I’ll change and come.”

A short while later, Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu met with the boss.

In the private booth, a man sat with his back to the entrance.

In front of him sat only a pot of tea.

“Miss, this is our Boss Yuan,” the manager said, gesturing.

The man heard the voice and turned around.

He glanced at Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu, then stood.

“A pleasure! My surname is Yuan.”

Feng Jiu’er hadn’t expected this Boss Yuan to be so young — tall, with flawless pale skin and not a trace of a beard.

His smile was as warm and sincere as sunlight outside.

“Boss Yuan, a pleasure!” Feng Jiu’er extended her hand.

The two shook hands, and after Mr. Yuan shook hands with Qiao Mu as well, the three sat down together.

“Boss Yuan, take your time chatting!” The manager gave a light nod and turned to leave.

This was a corner of the third floor of the inn — after entering, there were a few private booths, but the spacious room had no one else in it.

“Boss Yuan is quite young — are you even twenty yet?” Feng Jiu’er asked with a smile.

“Twenty-two,” Mr. Yuan said, pouring tea for both Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu.

“Ha, truly a young hero.” Feng Jiu’er remarked.

Fortunately, the two of them didn’t look older than they were.

Otherwise, it would have looked like two older sisters bringing along a little milk-fed child.