Chapter 255: A Northern Rong Head Is Worth Two Taels

Yan Yu helped Li Xuemei into the house, only leaving quietly after seeing her lie down on the heated brick bed and slowly close her eyes.

Perhaps because of everything they’d been through, the fear in the mother and daughter had lessened considerably.

Still, for a pregnant woman to climb in and out of a cellar, then focus her energy to fire that deadly arrow—it was no surprise she was exhausted.

Yan Yu went to check on Eldest Sister next.

Daya was keeping herself busy to distract her mind. She was helping Granny Rong move everything they had hidden in the cellar back into the house, one item at a time.

Hu Er wasn’t slacking off by not sealing the tunnel. In fact, Master Lu had personally come down to inspect it and said there was no need. The passage between the two cellars could even be expanded a bit further.

In other words, the tunnel would be raised, making it easier for adults to pass through.

Yan Yu couldn’t sit still. She followed the villagers across the river to find the people who had fled the village.

Following Village Chief Luo’s instructions, they headed toward Yongning City.

But before they even reached the city, they were stopped by a group of government officers coming their way.

The inspection was thorough, to say the least.

Yan Yu listened as her father recited their travel permit. She then picked out key information from it, emphasizing their origin and place of residence. She rattled off all the people she knew, like Master Tian from Crouching Tiger City, Commander Xue of the border garrison, her uncle and Uncle Liang, both household registrars, and even the gatekeepers at the city walls.

Fortunately, her presence as a child helped. Her details didn’t match the information the officers had received from Yongning City, but she spoke fluently and confidently. That, combined with the specifics she gave, finally convinced them.

Even so, the officers didn’t allow them to proceed further.

They were ordered to turn back.

The officers said they would enter the village to verify the report. If everything checked out, they would send someone to bring back the elderly, women, and children who had fled.

So back to the village they went.

This group of officers was extremely cautious. Yan Yu noticed their hands never strayed far from their weapons, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. Their sharp eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, never letting their guard down.

When they entered the village and saw the neatly arranged corpses, the officers became even more professional.

One examined the bodies, two others stood by to assist—almost as if they were worried the dead might suddenly rise again…

The rest formed a perimeter, standing in a circle to keep unrelated villagers at bay.

Village Chief Luo and several village elders stood solemnly, clearly prepared for a serious inquiry.

Master Lu and his brothers and nephews stood quietly nearby.

Everyone who had participated in killing the Northern Rong was also present, waiting for questioning.

Hu Er’s eyes kept drifting toward the bows and arrows placed far away from them.

Next to the weapons were the six short sabers taken from the Northern Rong.

What surprised the villagers was that, in addition to those six sabers, the enemies had even more weapons.

Strapped to their legs were six sharp daggers, slightly shorter than the sabers.

Once the officers completed their examination and confirmed that the six were indeed Northern Rong, Yan Yu could visibly see them relax.

Their attitude toward the villagers changed noticeably.

They even seemed… friendly?

Village Chief Luo stepped forward to speak, recounting the entire incident in detail.

Whenever he mentioned a specific villager, that person would be called forward to give their own account.

Yan Yu was also questioned.

She talked about the moment she discovered the six Northern Rong.

Close call.

Good thing she’d gone through the trouble of putting on a convincing act. Otherwise, it would’ve been hard to explain how she just happened to uncover a group of men disguised as hunters.

TV dramas were full of lies—these foreign savages didn’t all have tattoos.

At least, these six didn’t.

The officers identified them using methods not unlike how her father judged livestock.

They focused on the hands, feet, hair, and teeth…

Maybe they even smelled them? That part, she couldn’t say for sure.

“Captain, they’ve already cleaned up the scene. There’s nothing left to see.”

The lead officer glanced at the villagers in front of him.

“Those who killed the Northern Rong, step forward and recount exactly how you did it. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

Yan Yu saw Uncle Hu Er subtly nudge Uncle Qi Wu.

Qi Wu stepped forward. He was tall and burly, and scratched his head as he spoke in his simple, honest way, “Master Lu gave the order, so I rushed over and smashed him hard with a door plank.”

Worried that his words weren’t clear enough, he even mimed the action.

Then Qi Wu thought hard, trying to recall, and added, “That’s it. I didn’t do anything after that.”

Afraid the officers would think that wasn’t enough, Hu Er quickly stepped forward.

“Qi Wu knocked the man down, so I grabbed his bow and tossed a knife to Wang Dalang.

I climbed up that wall, shot one over there, another one on this side…

And one more here—I hit him too.”

Next was Wang Dalang.

He wasn’t this nervous even when killing someone. But with the way this group of officers was interrogating them, and the sheer scale of the operation, he was trembling as he spoke, “I… I took the knife and threw it. It hit.

Then… then I got another knife, saw an opening, and stabbed.

Hu Er’s arrow seemed to hit at the same time, so I don’t know who actually killed… him.” He pointed cautiously at one of the corpses lined up in a row.

Master Lu was far more composed. He was the one who understood best why the officers were being so meticulous.

In Guanzhou, if you were a soldier, each enemy head you took counted toward military merit and earned you silver. If you were a civilian, you didn’t get the merit, but you still got the silver.

One Northern Rong head was worth two taels of silver.

There were six of them here.

That made twelve taels.

Technically, the officers from Yongning City didn’t have jurisdiction here.

The elderly, women, and children of Xiao’an Village couldn’t possibly make it all the way to the Prefectural City at such a pace.

They had originally been on official business to Gufeng. Midway, they encountered the fleeing villagers and split their group—some continued escorting the refugees toward Yongning, while the rest hurried ahead at full speed.

Now that they had run into each other, it wouldn’t make sense to just ignore the situation. So they took the initiative to question the villagers and help the brothers from Crouching Tiger handle the matter.

Once the identities were confirmed as Northern Rong without a doubt, it was time to determine credit.

They’d handled many such cases before, and what they feared most was people within the village fighting over who deserved the merit.

Everyone had contributed, everyone had helped kill the Northern Rong—so why should all the credit go to just one person?

Then there was the reward silver. Should it be divided individually, or split evenly among everyone? Either way, it was bound to cause trouble.

To prevent any disputes later, they asked everyone involved to recount the details clearly.

That way, they could fairly determine how the reward should be distributed.

Twelve taels of silver was no small amount—it was enough to cover a modest household’s expenses in the Prefectural City for an entire year.

After Master Lu finished speaking, it was Hu Er’s turn.

He reported that he had tracked down the fleeing Northern Rong at the Yan residence and shot him dead.

With that, the deaths of all six Northern Rong were clearly accounted for.

Everyone involved had no objections.

Only then did the lead officer slowly bring up the matter of the reward. He explained that they would report the incident to their colleagues in Crouching Tiger City. Someone from there would come to collect the bodies, and once everything was properly settled, officials would be dispatched to distribute the reward silver. There was no need to worry.

Aside from Master Lu and a few others, this was the first time the villagers had heard that killing Northern Rong could earn them a reward.

Their joy was utterly genuine.

They couldn’t help but dance around in excitement.

One after another, they clapped and pounded Hu Er on the back, shoving him this way and that until he nearly toppled over…

(End of Chapter)