From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 41 Mother, we're no longer considered refugees!

Lin Yan returned to Qingzhou City ten days later.

Upon entering the courtyard in Liuxiang, Chen was sitting in the yard basking in the sun.

Lin Xiu squatted down and used a twig to write on the ground.

Hearing footsteps, Lin Xiu looked up, paused for a moment, then threw down the branch and ran over.

"elder brother!"

Chen stood up, looked him up and down, noticed the fresh wound on his face, said nothing, but simply reached out and straightened his collar.

Lin Yan took out the deregistration documents and placed them on the table.

"Mother, we're no longer registered as exiles."

Chen picked up the paper, her fingers tracing the words "three generations of reformed families" over and over again. Her lips trembled for a long time before she could only say, "Good, good."

Lin Xiu stood on tiptoe for a long time, then asked, "Brother, what does this mean?"

"It means that no one can kick us out anymore."

Lin Xiu's eyes lit up.

That evening, Lin Yan went to a tofu stall in Liuxiang, south of the city.

The old woman was still there; she had only packed up half of her stall and was bending over to move a slab of unsold tofu.

"Aunt Zhou".

The old woman straightened up, recognized him, and nodded.

Lin Yan said, "I'm going north, you'll be here all alone—"

"I'm not leaving."

The old woman interrupted him, "I've been running this business for twenty years, a few more years won't make a difference."

Lin Yan remained silent for a moment, then took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and placed them on the tofu board.

"I've taken Gu Changshan's jade pendant."

The old woman glanced at him and pushed the silver back.

"I have no use for this thing; you keep it. Only if you live will the token have been given to you in vain."

The next morning, Lin Yan rented a mule cart and took his mother and sister out of the city.

As he left the city gate, he noticed several new notices posted there. He pulled his straw hat down low and drove his mule cart past the notices.

Lin Xiu, the younger sister, tried to peek out out of curiosity, but he pushed her back down.

"Stop looking, sit down with your mother."

The mule cart traveled along the main road for two days before stopping at a fork in the road.

Xiong Kuo and his five brothers were waiting by the roadside. There was also a donkey cart next to them, carrying the money and accountant and several elderly and weak people from the village.

Xiong Kuo stepped forward and greeted him, "Chief."

"Just call him Lin Yan."

Lin Yan jumped out of the car. "The village is gone, and you're still calling yourself the village chief?"

"I'm used to calling you that."

Xiong Kuo grinned, then said seriously, "The road to the south is blocked."

"How so?"

"After we came down from Jiming Ridge, I sent two brothers south to scout the area."

Xiong Kuo lowered his voice, "Qingyuan County, Shiqiao Town, and even Lin'an County, are full of Qingfengxiang's informants. They not only employ shop assistants, but also hire local thugs to go from inn to inquire with your portrait."

Lin Yan remained silent.

"There's one more thing."

Xiong Kuo pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "This was torn off at the entrance of Qingyuan County."

The banquet unfolded into a wanted poster.

The person depicted on the notice looks five or six parts like him, and the reward below has increased from fifty taels to three hundred taels.

"After Zhao Yuanlang died, Qing Fengxiang went mad."

Xiong Kuo said, "We can't go back to the south."

Chen coughed twice while sitting on the mule cart, and Lin Xiu quickly handed him the water bag.

Lin Yan folded the notice and stuffed it into his arms, then leaned against the mule station for a while.

The wind blows.

The northern horizon was tinged with a grayish-yellow hue, as if something was burning.

The image of Iron Coffin Cliff popped into Lin Yan's mind.

Veteran Zhao Shitou once said that Tieguanya was a fortress that the Shanzi Battalion had defended back then. It was a strategic location that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

They also said that there were hidden sentry posts and fortifications left there by the Mountain Battalion.

"We're not going south," Lin Yan said. "We're heading north."

"North? There's a war going on in the north..."

"Let's go to Iron Coffin Cliff."

Xiong Kuo paused for a moment, "That place..."

"Have you been there?"

"I've never been there."

Xiong Kuo scratched the back of his head and said hesitantly, "But I heard from the old brothers of the border army that Iron Coffin Cliff is located in the western part of the northern border, about a hundred miles away from Zhenbei City."

That place used to be the defense zone of the Mountain Battalion, but after the battalion disbanded, it became deserted. It's said that the terrain there is extremely treacherous, with cliffs on three sides and only one road leading up.

Lin Yan nodded. "Three sides are cliffs, and there's only one road. Perfect."

"Just what?" he didn't finish, but Xiong Kuo understood.

The mule carts and donkey carts turned off the official road and headed northwest along the abandoned post road.

The road became increasingly desolate, with abandoned fields on both sides. Occasionally, we would pass through a few villages, but they were either empty or burned down.

After walking for three days, we saw a group of people digging grass roots by the roadside in the distance.

A dozen or so refugees, men and women, were all skin and bones, squatting on the ground stuffing handfuls of wild vegetables into their mouths.

Lin Yan had the convoy stop and put half of his personal provisions by the roadside.

A refugee rushed over and grabbed it.

He wolfed it down, choking until his eyes rolled back in his head.

A disheveled man didn't try to steal the grain; instead, he stood by the roadside, staring intently at the knife at Lin Yan's waist.

"That knife."

The man spoke, his voice hoarse, "Is it Zhao Yuanlang's?"

Xiong Kuo's hand had already touched the hilt of the knife.

Lin Yan pressed down on Xiong Kuo's hand, looked at the man, and asked, "Do you recognize Zhao Yuanlang?"

"How could I not recognize you?"

The man spat, "I worked as his bodyguard for three years, and he just fired me like that, without paying a single penny. When a few of us went to ask for it back, he broke our legs and threw us out."

Lin Yan glanced at him. Although the man was extremely thin, he stood there with his back straight, his hands had large knuckles, and the calluses on his hands were very thick.

"Are you a soldier?"

The man paused for a moment, then asked, "How did you know?"

"Your posture," Lin Yan said, "is the standing posture from the military drill manual."

The man was silent for a moment, then lowered his voice, "Zhang Dabiao, formerly of the Second Company of the Left Battalion of the Zhenbei Army. After the Zhenbei Army disbanded, he had nowhere to go, so he became Zhao Yuanlang's bodyguard."

Lin Yan looked at him, a thought flashing through her mind.

"The Zhenbei Army has disbanded, why aren't you home?"

"Home?" Zhang Dabiao grinned bitterly. "Our hometown was burned down by the northern barbarians. My whole family died. I'm the only one left."

Lin Yan removed his hand from the hilt of the knife.

"We're short-handed right now. Work for me, and I'll provide meals."

Zhang Dabiao looked up at him. "Who are you?"

"Lin Yan".

Zhang Dabiao's eyes widened suddenly. "A three-hundred-tael bounty on that Lin Yan?"

"it's me."

Zhang Dabiao stared intently at Lin Yan's face for a few moments, then threw away the wooden stick in his hand.

"I'll do it with you. Anyway, this life isn't worth three hundred taels of silver."

Lin Yan asked Xiong Kuo to give Zhang Dabiao a portion of dry rations.

Zhang Dabiao took it, squatted down by the roadside and chewed it heartily, but stopped after a couple of bites.

"Boss Lin, there are a few old brothers from the Zhenbei Army around here. They've all scattered and have nowhere to go. Do you want them?"

"Where?"

"Ten miles west, there's a rocky gully. They built a shack there and survived by digging for wild vegetables and scavenging scraps."

Lin Yan handed the reins of the mule cart to Lin Xiu, "Xiu'er, you and Uncle Xiong Kuo go ahead first. I'll go pick up a few people."

Lin Xiu nodded and said to Lin Yan, "Brother, come back quickly."