Big Hu was rendered speechless by Qiao Zhao’s questioning.

Trafficking in women—and the one asking was a young lady. He feared that if he spoke the truth, this young mistress would immediately order someone to throw him into the sea to feed the fish.

“Our patience is limited,” Qiao Zhao reminded him coolly.

Meeting the girl’s unperturbed gaze, Big Hu felt his scalp tingle.

He knew this young mistress would follow through on her words.

Forget it. If he didn’t speak, he’d certainly be thrown into the sea to feed the fish. If he confessed honestly, there might still be a thread of hope for survival. Better to come clean.

“Those women… some we snatched, and others—”

“Keep rambling and I’ll throw you out the window!” Yang Houcheng threatened.

Big Hu’s heart trembled. He closed his eyes and said, “Others we bought!”

“Bought? From where?” Qiao Zhao pressed.

Big Hu’s eyes rolled as he glanced around at everyone, asking, “You all aren’t from around here, are you?”

“Cut the nonsense!” Chi Can said impatiently.

“I, I’m just afraid—”

Chi Can interrupted him with a cold laugh: “You could be fed to the fish at any moment, what are you still afraid of? Speak clearly and straightforwardly. If we’re pleased, we might just spare your dog’s life.”

Big Hu’s eyes lit up: “You really won’t kill me?”

Yang Houcheng slammed a dagger down in front of Big Hu: “Keep rambling and we’ll kill you now.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll talk, I’ll talk right now. The women we usually get are mainly kidnapped ones. If we can’t make up the numbers, we’ll buy a few from someone called Liu Erqiao in White Fish Town to fill the quota.”

“White Fish Town’s Liu Erqiao? Where does he get so many young women?” Qiao Zhao asked.

Big Hu brightened: “How could he not have them? Liu Erqiao is openly just a local wealthy man in White Fish Town, but behind him is the government. The officials regularly make those towns hand over young women. Some are used to appease the Japanese pirates, but what about the extras? They can’t exactly return them, can they?”

At this point, a vicious gleam flashed across Big Hu’s face as he sneered: “Those officials never spit out what they’ve swallowed. So they find people like Liu Erqiao to stand in front and sell off these young women, making some silver in the process, right?”

Big Hu’s words chilled everyone to the bone, sending fury surging upward.

“The local government is this corrupt and evil?” Yang Houcheng pressed his hands together, making cracking sounds.

Chi Can’s thin lips pressed tight, his lazy expression gradually turning cold and severe.

Big Hu chuckled: “You gentlemen are from out of town. Officials selling a few young women is nothing—as long as there’s silver to be made, what wouldn’t they do? Do you think I, Big Hu, was born to do this wicked trade? No! In earlier years, we were also decent folk, specialized in raising silkworms and selling silk. But times changed—they won’t let people live honestly anymore.”

“How so?” Shao Mingyuan asked calmly.

Big Hu glanced at Shao Mingyuan.

He had long ago quietly noticed this silent young man. Based on his years of experience in murder and arson, among these people, aside from that young lady, the one who could truly make decisions should be this young man.

“We had no choice! The things we worked so hard to produce—those sea merchants weren’t willing to spend money to buy them. Forget high prices, they wouldn’t even pay low prices. Much better to just rob directly—no capital, all profit!”

“Doesn’t the government intervene?” Yang Houcheng frowned.

Big Hu sneered: “Intervene in what? The ones backing those sea merchants are the government officials! When the sea merchants rob our goods and make silver, the officials take the lion’s share. Do you gentlemen think there are so many Japanese pirates along our southern coast? That’s not how it is—many of those ‘Japanese pirates’ are those sea merchants from years past!”

“Is this true?” Yang Houcheng was greatly shocked, involuntarily looking toward Chi Can and Shao Mingyuan.

Shao Mingyuan couldn’t see with his eyes. His face showed no emotion as he just listened silently.

Chi Can asked doubtfully: “With the coastal areas in such chaos, why hasn’t news reached the capital?”

The Jinlin Guards were spread throughout the realm—surely the Jinlin Guards in the southern coastal areas weren’t all blind and deaf?

Hearing Chi Can’s question, Big Hu didn’t answer.

At his level, naturally, he couldn’t think of such things.

“In that case, the young women you procured weren’t sold to Japanese pirates, but to sea merchants?” Qiao Zhao asked.

“What sea merchants? We all call those people bandits now. Some of those following bandits are entirely Great Liang people, others are Great Liang people mixed with real Japanese. The officials call them all Japanese pirates when speaking publicly.”

“How many women were in this batch?”

“Ten, twelve—”

Qiao Zhao’s delicate brows furrowed.

Big Hu instinctively shuddered and blurted out: “Not twelve, ten!”

“How did it become two fewer?”

Big Hu looked at the group fearfully, lowering his head: “Two weren’t watched properly and jumped into the sea to die…”

Yang Houcheng raised his hand and slapped Big Hu, angrily saying: “The ones who truly deserve to die are you bastards!”

Big Hu covered his face and pleaded, “Please calm your anger, brave sir! We were also forced into desperate straits before taking this path.”

Qiao Zhao coldly swept Big Hu with a glance, asking: “If that’s the case, how did you end up in this situation?”

“Got double-crossed?” Chi Can asked with a smile.

Big Hu hung his head dejectedly: “In this batch of goods… no, in this batch of women, there was one particularly outstanding one. We added a bit to the price, but unexpectedly the other party turned hostile…”

“Did you go to their island to trade?” Shao Mingyuan suddenly asked.

“No, but the trading location wasn’t far from the small island where those people are based.”

“How many people do they have, and where is their base?”

“I don’t know their total numbers clearly, but each time we trade at sea, they bring twenty to thirty people. Their base is on Mingfeng Island—they only occupied that island a few months ago.”

“Ye Luo, bring the sea chart and have him point it out.”

Ye Luo quickly produced a sea chart and spread it before Big Hu, pointing to a certain spot: “We’re roughly at this position now. Which direction is that, Mingfeng Island?”

Big Hu stared wide-eyed at the sea chart for a long time, then uncertainly pointed to one place: “It might be this island? I, I can’t read this thing.”

Ye Luo remained silent.

“Chen Guang, question him about the details. Shixi, Chongshan, let’s go out first.”

Shao Mingyuan turned and walked out of the room first, with Ye Luo quietly following.

The group entered another room.

“Ye Luo, where did Big Hu point just now?” Shao Mingyuan asked.

Ye Luo’s tone carried no fluctuation whatsoever: “Reporting to the General, the Mingfeng Island that Big Hu indicated is precisely the island where Physician Li gathered herbs and took shelter. At that time, it was still a deserted island.”

“In that case, aren’t we destined to clash with that group?” Yang Houcheng shook his head. “This herb-gathering trip has truly been unlucky at every turn. We have so few people, and we don’t even know how many they have.”

“Shixi, Chongshan, there’s something I need to tell you both.”

Chi Can and the other looked toward Shao Mingyuan together.

Shao Mingyuan said matter-of-factly: “I’ve lost my sight.”