Chapter 229 - 229 Strange Things

229 Strange Things

They rushed for another four hours before finally seeing the village Lu Yao had mentioned. But when their carriage entered the village, they realized that it was ridiculously quiet.

Not only was there no sound of people in the village, but not even chickens, ducks, pigs, or geese. It was as if the entire village was empty.

This was too strange!

Yu Niaoniao and the others alighted from the carriage. They picked a random house and knocked. No one answered.

Dang Gui pushed the courtyard door open with a little force.

She turned to Yu Niaoniao and said, “Sister, this door is unlocked.”

Yu Niaoniao replied, “Let’s go in and take a look.”

They pushed open the courtyard door and went in to take a look. They realized that the courtyard had long been overgrown with weeds. The doors and windows in the house were broken. The ground was covered in dust and the furniture was dilapidated.

It was obvious that no one had lived here for a long time.

Then, they went to the other houses in the village and realized that the entire village was empty. No one knew where they were.

Lu Yao frowned. “How can this be? I clearly passed by this village when I left home. There were many families living in the village at that time. Why are they all gone? What happened?”

Dang Gui recalled what the innkeeper had said and guessed.

“Could the bandits have entered the village and captured everyone?”

Yu Niaoniao shook her head. “I don’t think so. Although the things in the house are old and worn, there are no signs that they were damaged. That means the villagers left on their own.”

Dang Gui did not understand.

“Why did the villagers leave out of the blue?”

No one present could give an answer.

Although there was nothing in this village, at least there were houses to shelter them from the wind and rain. They chose a relatively intact house and planned to make do here for the night and continue their journey in the morning.

The expected local delicacies were gone. They had to continue eating dry food tonight.

Lu Yao looked at Dang Gui’s unhappy expression and suddenly said.

“I have some beef jerky in my carriage. Do you guys want to try it?”

Dang Gui reacted quickly and hurriedly replied, “Sure, sure!”

From her anxious look, she seemed to be afraid that the other party would renege.

Lu Yao smiled and instructed the little attendant to bring the beef jerky.

With the support of the beef jerky, the dry steamed bun immediately became much more delicious.

As Dang Gui ate with relish, her small face was filled with joy. Seeing this, Lu Yao’s smile deepened.

After dinner, everyone found a place to sleep and rest. Only Lo Pingsha was awake.

He had a feeling there was something strange about this place. Someone had to keep watch in case of an accident.

The good night passed steadily and they hurried on the next morning.

When the carriage passed near the farmland, Yu Niaoniao saw that the fields were all empty. There was not even a crop.

There had been no one to tend to them for a long time. The fields were covered in weeds and looked desolate.

Lu Yao saw this scene too. He could not help but frown. He had only been out for five years. Why had Liaodong County changed? What had happened in Liaodong County in the past five years?

He made a decision. When he entered the county city, he would definitely ask the local county magistrate.

The surrounding scenery gradually changed, and the forest became denser.

Dang Gui looked at it for a long time and felt that there was nothing new, so she leaned against Yu Niaoniao and closed her eyes to sleep.

They were sleeping soundly when the carriage suddenly stopped.

Then they heard Lo Pingsha’s reprimand.

“What are you guys doing?”

Yu Niaoniao and Dang Gui woke up immediately. They quickly asked what had happened.

Lo Pingsha’s voice entered the car. “There’s a robbery up ahead.”

Yu Niaoniao and Dang Gui were shocked.

They had really encountered bandits!

They did not have time to think. They hurriedly took out their defensive weapons and prepared to fight the bandits to the death.

However, when they jumped out of the carriage and saw the bandits with their own eyes, they could not help but be stunned.

The road ahead was blocked by a thick tree trunk lying horizontally.

Behind the trunk stood a dozen people, men, women, and children.

They were all ragged and thin, and their eyes were empty and silent. The only weapon in their hands was wooden clubs.

At this moment, Lu Yao and the little attendant got out of the car.

They also had weapons in their hands, and they were prepared for the worst. They did not expect to see this.

Yu Niaoniao was in disbelief. “Are these people bandits?”

They were clearly more like refugees!

Lo Pingsha was also a little hesitant. “I think so. Otherwise, why would they block our way?”

Lu Yao took a step forward and asked with a local accent, “May I ask what you want?”

A tall, thin young man walked out of the group. He was different from the others. Others could only hold sticks in their hands. Only he held an axe.

He looked hard at the axe, as a deliberately fierce expression took shape on his face.

“This area is our territory. If you want to pass through here, you have to leave a toll!”

Lu Yao asked how much they wanted.

The young man’s gaze roved over them.

Even if the young man was inexperienced, he could tell that these people were dressed very well and were very fair. He could tell that they were rich.

Therefore, the young man spoke without thinking, “I want all the money and food you have!”

Lu Yao originally thought that it was better to avoid trouble. He would treat it as spending money to avoid trouble. However, the other party was asking for too much. He definitely could not agree.

If they handed over the silver and food, how would they survive the rest of the journey?

Lu Yao said in a low voice, “I’ll give you a hundred taels. As long as you take the money and leave, I can pretend that nothing happened today.”

When the bandits heard that there were a hundred taels, their eyes immediately lit up.

They discussed softly. They had never seen so much money in their lives!

The young man raised his hand to silence everyone.

He stared at Lu Yao.

“Don’t bargain with me. I want all the money and food you have. If you don’t agree, don’t even think about passing through here today!”

A hundred taels of silver sounded like a lot, but there were so many of them. They had to eat and see a doctor. There would not be much to go around.

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to compromise, Lu Yao sighed softly.

“In that case, don’t blame me for being rude.”

With that, he drew his sword. Although he was a scholar, he had also learned the Six Arts of a Gentleman and had even learned sword techniques from a master for a period of time. Regardless of his strength, his posture looked very scary.

The bandits were shocked by the sword in his hand, and their faces revealed fear.

Only the young man with the axe looked fearless.

He gritted his teeth. “Looks like you guys are planning to fight us to the death.”

As soon as he finished speaking, an arrow tore through the air and hit the tree in front of him.

The arrowhead stabbed deep into the wood, the end still quivering.

The young man was really frightened now.

He looked up and saw Yu Niaoniao holding a bow.

Yu Niaoniao asked word by word.

“Are you sure you want to fight us?”