Zhao Hanzhang stood at the door, looking down at the young man pressed flat on the ground, their eyes meeting as he strained to look up. The two stared at each other wide-eyed.

A middle-aged man whose clothes were relatively clean but also had several patches walked over with a stern face. His gaze swept over Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, noting the horses they held. His expression eased. When he saw there were over twenty more people standing outside the door, each holding a horse, his facial expression froze.

Fear rose in his eyes. His back unconsciously bent lower as he bowed and asked, “What business brings you nobles here?”

Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze withdrew from the young man’s face and turned to the middle-aged man with a smile. “We’re heading to the county town and happened to pass by here. Since it’s getting dark, we’d like to lodge in the village for a night.”

The middle-aged man hesitated. “Our village is run-down with simple houses. I’m afraid we’d be mistreating you nobles.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled. “As long as there’s a place to rest, that’s enough. We dare not be picky when the village kindly takes us in.”

The middle-aged man said, “But we don’t have that many houses. Why don’t you travel west a bit further, my lady? There’s a larger village ahead that might have lodging.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked toward Qiuwu.

Qiuwu immediately grabbed a handful of copper coins and gave them to the middle-aged man. “It’s getting dark, and there are many wild beasts, snakes and insects outside. Please be accommodating, Village Chief.”

The middle-aged man looked at the copper coins in his hand and pondered. After a long while, he finally nodded in agreement.

He accepted the money and turned to have his family clear out rooms for them. Seeing they were about to clear out all the rooms, Zhao Hanzhang stopped them, saying they only needed two rooms for the night.

The middle-aged man quietly breathed a sigh of relief and only cleaned the two largest rooms for them.

Zhao Hanzhang let them busy themselves. She walked around the courtyard curiously, then circled around the person in the center of the yard to look.

The middle-aged man could tell that among this group, this woman seemed to be in charge. So he followed her around.

Seeing her staring at Wu Erlang, the middle-aged man explained, “This is a villager from our village who just committed an offense. We’re holding him here as punishment. Don’t be afraid, my lady.”

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “I’m not afraid. I’m just curious.”

She asked, “Although lying prone is uncomfortable, it’s not that unbearable. What did he do that this punishment is sufficient?”

Mentioning what Wu Erlang had done, the middle-aged man became angry. “This fellow stole and cut green shoots from my field. This small punishment…since he was discovered in time, we’ll just hold him here like this. If it happens again, it won’t be settled so easily. At the very least, he’ll have to compensate me double.”

Zhao Hanzhang blinked and asked, “Stealing and cutting green shoots at this time…what for?”

The middle-aged man sighed. “What else but to eat? But eating green shoots at this time is simply cutting off one’s own future.”

Wu Sheng blinked at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan. Meeting their gazes, he simply pressed his cheek against the ground and lay completely motionless.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “Where is the field where the green shoots were cut?”

The middle-aged man pointed in a direction and complained endlessly, “It was my youngest son who happened upon him. Otherwise, if he’d really cut them all, I don’t know how much we’d have lost.”

Zhao Hanzhang also sighed. “Looking at his age, with elderly parents and young children at home, starving to the extreme point, he could only eat green shoots to stay alive.”

“Bah! He’s a bachelor without wife or children, and no parents to support. One person fed and the whole family doesn’t worry.”

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan silently looked down at Wu Sheng lying on the ground.

Magistrate Gao also widened his eyes in disbelief, feeling enormously hurt. You must know that when Wu Erlang had tucked away that half flatbread earlier, he had been moved to tears.

He believed Zhao Hanzhang felt the same way—otherwise she wouldn’t have given him two more flatbreads. But the result…

Zhao Hanzhang silently watched Wu Sheng for a while, then looked at the village chief and asked, “Why keep such a person in the village? Not only does he damage property, he spoils the atmosphere. Better to drive him out of the village.”

The young man lying on the ground widened his eyes at once, his head rising slightly as he looked at Zhao Hanzhang in disbelief.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled gently at him. The young man actually shivered.

The middle-aged man was also startled and quickly waved his hands. “It’s not that serious, not that serious. Though he’s no good person, he’s not a bad person either. Alas, he’s just starved badly. Times are hard. How should I put it? Alas, forget it, forget it. Dalang, untie him and let him go home.”

A young man who had been cleaning the room came out, silently untied Wu Sheng, pulled him up, then dropped him and walked away without a care.

As soon as Wu Erlang gained his freedom, he immediately smiled ingratiatingly at the middle-aged man. “Uncle Cheng, I really won’t dare again!”

The middle-aged man scolded, “Get lost. If you cut green shoots again, it won’t be this simple.”

He paused and added, “You can’t cut from others’ fields, and don’t cut from your own either. Wait another month. Who knows how much grain those green shoots could yield? Cutting them now is just wasting food.”

Wu Sheng said carelessly, “But you have to live until that time. Otherwise, if you starve to death and there are still green shoots left unharvested in the field, wouldn’t that be even more frustrating? Thinking about this, you wouldn’t be at peace even in your next life.”

Seeing him so incorrigibly roguish, the village chief angrily reached out to hit him.

Wu Sheng flinched but didn’t dodge, letting the village chief slap him around. He rubbed his shoulder with a hiss. “That hurt too, Uncle Cheng. You must have eaten your fill to have such strength.”

“Get lost!”

Wu Sheng glanced at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, patted his bottom, and was about to leave when Zhao Hanzhang called out, “Since you’re a bachelor, you have no ties. Would you be willing to come with me?”

Wu Sheng was astonished and pointed at his own nose. “Me? The lady is willing to employ me?”

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyebrows. “Yes, so are you willing to follow me?”

Wu Sheng’s heart stirred at once. He couldn’t help turning to look at the village chief, who was also quite surprised. But he only pondered briefly before saying to Wu Sheng, “Go. Perhaps it’s a way to survive.”

Seeing this, the villager who had taken five coins but hadn’t left gathered his courage and stepped forward. “Noble lady, what do you think of me? I’ll endure any beating or scolding. I only ask for one string of cash, or you could give half a bag of grain. I eat very little.”

Zhao Hanzhang reached out and patted his shoulder. “You have a wife and children at home. How could you abandon them and leave? Stay home and farm. Perhaps before long, an opportunity for survival will appear.”

Wu Sheng, who had still been somewhat hesitant, immediately knelt on the ground upon hearing this and kowtowed to Zhao Hanzhang. “This humble one is willing to follow the noble lady.”

He raised his head, looking pitiful again. “Noble lady, I deceived you earlier. That was this humble one’s fault. You may beat or punish me as you wish—I accept it all.”

The village chief immediately turned to stare at him. “What did you deceive the noble lady about?”

Wu Sheng began to cry. “I deceived the noble lady out of two flatbreads. Uncle Cheng, you also know—I still have three children at home. Now that I’m leaving, I don’t know if they can survive…”

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan: …