"Master, where are we going?" asked Zhang Shiyeh, dressed as a farmer, carrying a bundle on his back, walking with Zhao Chuhai, also dressed as a farmer, on a small road. The two of them were already some distance away from Pinggu County town.

  Li Dan's troops were as fast as they could be, but it was no use. Zhao Chuhai had never intended to return to Pinggu County City. He had simply dug up the gold, silver and valuables he had hidden in a forest outside the city and fled with Zhang Shiyeye all the way to this place.

  He didn't even care about his own family, and he even cut off the long whiskers under his chin with a painful expression, wearing a simple dress for fear that someone would recognize him.

  "Where to go? I don't know where to go either, this vast world doesn't seem to have a place for me, Zhao Mouren." Zhao Chuhai said with some desolation.

  "Master Lao, why haven't you contacted the big shots in Beiping?" asked Zhang Shifu with his own doubts.

  "Hmph, contact them? If they really knew where we were, our heads would have been separated long ago."

  "Ah!"

  "Do you really think those high and mighty big shots in Beiping would care about the two of us small ants? Now that something has happened, they will only think of how to crush us as quickly as possible so that they won't be exposed. Contacting them is a dead end!" Zhao Chuhai shouted excitedly. Yesterday he was still high and mighty, drinking and making merry, but today he had to flee for his life. This huge contrast made it hard for him to accept.

  The scolded Zhang Shiyeh hung his head and muttered to himself, the two of them walking one in front of the other on this desolate road with no one else around.

  The sky gradually darkened, the sun sank in the west and the moon rose in the east.

  Zhao and Chuhe continued on their journey, not daring to stay at an inn, so they had no choice but to spend the night in the wilderness.

  "Old master, look quickly! It seems like there's a broken temple ahead!" shouted Zhang Shifu.

  Zhao Chuhai focused his attention and indeed saw a dilapidated temple. The two of them hastily rushed to the front of the temple.

  Chapter Master pushed open the dusty temple door, "Clang!" A horizontal wooden beam fell from the side of the door to the ground, scaring Chapter Master back to Zhao Chuhai's side. After a while, the two dared to move forward again and found that the door latch had fallen to the ground.

  The two of them, relieved and exhausted, made their way into the temple. The plaque above the entrance was faded and worn, with half of the golden characters missing, it was unclear whether it was due to damage from wind and rain or theft by humans.

  The temple was also very messy, the incense table and case were all knocked over to the ground, even the enshrined gods only had half of their bodies left. Zhao Chuhai wiped his sleeve and cleaned the ranking in front of the god statue, the words on it were also blurry and unclear, could only vaguely make out the three characters "Cheng Huang Shen". It turned out that this temple was a Cheng Huang Temple, but didn't know which route's Cheng Huang was being worshipped.

  "Master, the bed has been made, you should rest early, and we'll decide where to go tomorrow." Zhang Shifu attended to Zhao Chuhai like a servant, knowing that now he could only rely on Zhao Chuhai.

  Looking around at the dirty and messy environment, looking at the bed made of a pile of weeds, looking at Zhang Shiyeye gnawing on a hard yellow steamed bun, Zhao Chuhai felt that all this was very irritating. He thought about how he used to live in the back hall of the county magistrate's mansion, sleep on an intricately carved wooden bed, and eat big fish and meat, but now...

  Zhao Chuhai let out a wry smile and sat down helplessly among the weeds, silently gnawing on a piece of flatbread handed to him by Zhang Shiyeh. Meanwhile, Zhang Shiyeh struggled to start a fire, gazing up at the gradually darkening sky, fearing that an autumn rain was approaching tonight.

  The patter of the rain reminds me that on a dark and gloomy evening, the rain finally started to fall. The raindrops hit the old tiles, dripping through the hollow roof into the temple.

  At this time, Zhang Shiyeh had already fallen into a deep sleep. The dim firelight cast a faint glow on Zhao Chuhai's lifeless eyes. The exhaustion from days of traveling finally caused Zhao Chuhai to close his heavy eyelids.

  ……

  A pitch-black place like ink, Zhao Chuhao looked around nervously, he didn't know how he suddenly appeared here, but he was just in the broken temple.

  Suddenly, a majestic voice rose up: "Zhao Chuhua! Zhao Chuhua! Zhao Chuhua!......"

  "Who! What kind of person dares to play tricks on me, don't you fear that I will confiscate your family's property and exterminate your clan?!" Zhao Chuhai shouted hoarsely, he thought for sure someone was secretly plotting against him.

  "As the county magistrate of Pinggu County, you don't know how to take care of the people and govern the region properly. Instead, you privately sell official grain and embezzle land property. Do you know your crime?!"

  "Who are you! What kind of demon dares to trick the imperial court's officials! Chen Ban Tou! Where is Chen Ban Tou?! Quickly behead this demon!" Zhao Chu He was frightened, he couldn't find where the speaker was, in his panic he even forgot that Chen Ban Tou had long been dead. He even wondered if Zhang Shi Ye had betrayed him and joined forces with outsiders to steal his wealth.

  "Your evil deeds have exhausted your lifespan, I am ordered to take you to the underworld!" The stern voice sounded again.

  Zhao Chuhai suddenly found that the clothes on his body had turned into a white robe, and his hands and feet were bound by iron chains, being pulled towards the darkness. He desperately tried to break free, but the iron chain clanged loudly as he was slowly dragged away.

  "Don't struggle! Come with me quickly... come with me..." A thick smoke rolled in the darkness, and a figure emerged with an iron chain in hand. Zhao Chuhai calmed down and took a look, it was indeed the Cheng Huang from the temple, half of his body missing. At this moment, Cheng Huang was staring coldly at Zhao Chuhai, his hand tightening around the iron chain as he dragged Zhao Chuhai into the darkness...

  "No! Let me go, I won't go! I won't go!" Zhao Chuhai woke up with a loud shout, his forehead covered in dense sweat, and he let out a long breath. It turned out that everything earlier was just a dream...

  Zhao Chuhai, who was feeling parched in his throat, was just about to call for Zhang Shifu to get him some water when he found someone standing in front of him. The dim firelight was flickering wildly in the wind, and it took Zhao Chuhai a long time to make out the face - one of the people he least wanted to see at that moment.

  "Lord Zhao, where are you going? Why didn't you even say goodbye before leaving?" Wu Sou smiled and looked at Zhao Chuhai, also wondering how they had escaped from the mountain surrounded by the army and appeared here again.

  "Wu Lao Da, I know what you want. Isn't it just another half of the reward? Don't worry, I'll give it to you. Just let us go and I'll tell you where I hid the money. It's guaranteed to be much more than the remaining reward." Zhao Chuhai said slowly, having regained his composure.

  "Master Zhang, Master Zhang, hurry up and bring me my water bag." Zhao Chuhai, who thought he had stabilized Wu Qiu, repeatedly called out to Master Zhang, who was still lying down. He couldn't understand how this normally timid person could still be thinking about sleeping at a time like this.

  "Director Zhao, don't bother calling out, Master Zhang can't hear or speak anymore." Wu Qiu joked and waved his hand, and one of his subordinates kicked Master Zhang over with one foot. Only then did they see that Master Zhang's eyes were wide open, with a few drops of fresh blood at the corner of his mouth, and the clothes on his chest had already been dyed bright red, clearly he was dead beyond all doubt.

  "Ah!" Zhao Chuhai exclaimed in surprise, while Wu Qiu laughed on the side. Who would have thought that Zhao Zhi County, who had killed countless people, had never seen a real dead person before?

  "You... you... what are you doing!" Zhao Chuhai trembled, waving a wooden pillar, he couldn't understand why Wu Qiu came up and killed Zhang Shiyeye.

  "Hahaha!" Wu Qiu burst into loud laughter, his subordinates also laughed, and a group of people looked at Zhao Chuhai like a clown.

  "What do I want to do? My Lord Zhao, you still owe Wu a sum of money! You can't have forgotten, can you? Ah?" Wu Sou walked up to Zhao Chuhai and patted his dusty old face...

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