Fu Tinghan frowned without speaking.

Seeing this, Gaohui paused, then said in a low voice, “Young master, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. He has hidden some treasure outside Mount Hai’er. He’s willing to trade that treasure for a secure identity.”

Fu Tinghan looked up at him. “Being a caravan guard can hardly be called secure.”

Gaohui said, “But right now he’s being hunted by Beigong Chun and Zhao Yong—it’s a catastrophic disaster. If you can protect him, young master, let alone being a guard, he’d be willing to be a groom.”

Fu Tinghan fell silent, turning his head to look out the window. Outside, Qiao Sheng and Zhao Chang couldn’t determine a victor—they could only call it a draw for now.

But he knew that this round was actually won by Qiao Sheng. Having just experienced a great battle and escape, and having fought with someone earlier, he even seemed to be injured. Yet Zhao Chang, fresh and well-rested, still couldn’t defeat him. This showed how formidable Qiao Sheng was.

What he could see, the guards in the courtyard could naturally see as well. But their faces showed no great anger. Instead, they cheered continuously, some even looking at Qiao Sheng with admiration.

“Qiao Sheng and his men killed guards from the caravan. Don’t the guards resent them?”

Gaohui was stunned, then asked with a puzzled expression, “Why should they resent them?”

He said matter-of-factly, “We weren’t robbed through conspiracy. At that time, they were bandits and we were common folk. Bandits robbing folk, folk resisting bandits—it was all for profit, all within reason. They did kill several of our men, but we killed quite a few bandits too.”

“If he’s going to follow us, then we’re all in this together now. Living and dying together—why would there be resentment?”

This answer was beyond Fu Tinghan’s expectations. Did Hanzhang think the same way?

He had been confined by petty righteousness and short-sighted. This era was truly beyond his expectations.

Fu Tinghan smiled and nodded. “Since you have the confidence to bring him under control, then keep them. Just one thing—the leader of the caravan guards must be Zhao Chang.”

Gaohui bowed his head and replied, “Yes,” expressing that he would definitely keep a close watch on Qiao Sheng and his men and wouldn’t let them cause trouble again.

“As for Mount Hai’er…”

“I’ll handle it,” Fu Tinghan said. “Erlang is easy to persuade, but General Beigong isn’t so easy to fool. Have them avoid going out recently and keep a low profile.”

Gaohui agreed.

Only then did Fu Tinghan say, “Give me a list of their names, along with their ages and physical characteristics.”

“Yes.”

Fu Tinghan put on his veiled hat and left. Qiao Sheng, who had been pushed aside, saw him emerge from the adjacent room. His eyes narrowed as he looked carefully, but unfortunately, the veiled hat prevented him from seeing anything.

Fu Tinghan only glanced sideways at them before taking his people out of the courtyard, boarding his carriage, and leaving.

Gaohui saw him to the gate and watched until the guards escorted Fu Tinghan far away before turning back.

Qiao Sheng stared intently at Gaohui, his eyes bright. Gaohui met his gaze and smiled slightly. See, what a clever person—he liked dealing with clever people.

Gaohui stepped forward and announced to everyone, “From now on, Qiao Sheng is also a guard of our caravan. We’re all one family now. Let bygones be bygones, and we should look forward!”

Everyone responded. Looking at Qiao Sheng and his men, they naturally weren’t very close, but they also weren’t like when they first met, as if they wanted to devour each other.

In this era, kindness was rare but enmity easily formed, so they would remember kindness and forget grudges. They were all licking blood from knife edges—who knew when death might come?

Fu Tinghan left as the sky gradually darkened. Beigong Chun and Zhao Erlang were still on Mount Hai’er.

They were busy looting the treasure from the stronghold—copper coins, gold and silver, cloth and porcelain, various ornaments, and even tung oil.

That simpleton Zhao Erlang found a room full of tung oil and was amazed. He immediately had people come move it, loudly declaring, “I discovered this, so it’s all ours.”

The soldiers’ gazes drifted to the other side—they wanted to grab the money.

But Zhao Erlang thought this room full of tung oil was so much. He wasn’t quite sure of its value, so he called everyone to hurry and move it.

Lu Hu came up and whispered, “Young master, all this will have to be split evenly later. Why don’t we go grab the money instead? The soldiers can pocket a bit here and there.”

“Ah?”

Lu Hu said, “Have you forgotten? You agreed with General Beigong to split everything evenly. These large barrels of tung oil—even if you grab them, you can’t hide them. They won’t count as yours.”

Only then did Zhao Erlang react. He quickly had everyone go search for money.

The captured bandits were squatting in an open area. The soldiers had patted them all down, not missing a single coin.

Zhao Erlang was also very interested in this treasure-hunting game, so he ran over. His gaze swept across them, and he picked out someone who clearly had a relatively high status, pulling him aside to ask, “Speak! Besides these few places, where else has your stronghold hidden treasure?”

The man didn’t make a sound.

Zhao Erlang was unambiguous. He rolled up his sleeves and started beating him.

The man hadn’t expected Zhao Erlang to start hitting without warning. He quickly said, “Our boss secretly stashed some money and treasure. I know it’s hidden in his bed.”

Zhao Erlang clenched his fist and asked, “What else?”

“There’s, there’s nothing else.”

“Who are you trying to fool? You think I’ll believe that?” Zhao Erlang figured that money had long been scavenged by the soldiers. Who didn’t know that good things should be hidden under the bed? But his sister had said that cunning rabbits always make three burrows, and that bandit chief was so wicked he must have many burrows too. “Speak! Where is your other hideout?”

The bandit trembled all over. Zhao Erlang’s beatings really hurt. He quickly said, “I really don’t know. I’ve never heard of us having a second hideout. General, you can go look—they definitely haven’t searched it out yet. Our boss really did hide things in his bed.”

He tried hard to indicate, “It’s in the bed, not under it. Lift the bed board—it’s hollow inside.”

This was the first time Zhao Erlang had seen such a thing. He immediately led people excitedly to run over.

Qiao Sheng’s room had already been searched twice, and there were still soldiers unwilling to give up, still rummaging around. One person found a fallen pearl from under a shelf and quickly stuffed it into his clothes, privately pocketing it.

Seeing Zhao Erlang rush in, he immediately lowered his head and stepped aside.

Zhao Erlang paid him no mind and went straight to turn over Qiao Sheng’s bed.

It was completely empty. The soldiers were very thrifty—they had even taken the quilt and pillow, not wasting anything at all.

The bed was heavy and made of ordinary wood, so no one was interested and had left it alone.

At this moment, aside from the low tables and mats still present in the room, even the wooden screen had been carried away.

The Western Liang Army thought: My parents just arrived, and the house lacks everything. Taking this home saves buying it.

The Zhao Family Army thought: This thing should be worth something at the pawnshop. Even if it’s only a few hundred coins, it’s enough for us to have several good meals. Take it!

So the room had been completely cleaned out.

Qiao Sheng’s bed was truly heavy and cumbersome, pressed tightly against the wall as if glued to it. There were traces of movement at the foot of the bed—someone had apparently tried to move the bed away.

Zhao Erlang felt around and found he couldn’t pry open the bed board or break it open. Getting angry, he turned his head to glare furiously at the bandit.

The bandit quickly said, “I, I don’t know how to open it either. I just know our boss hid things inside.”

Zhao Erlang frowned at the bed. Finally, he stood on it and stomped hard. He stomped for a long time, and just as he was about to go out and bring in a large rock to smash the bed apart, one of his stomps broke through a large hole in the bed.

Everyone: …