The old man said loudly, "I'm coming. Wait for a moment."

He looked over here and quickly walked to the door.

As soon as the door was opened, a few people in black broke in.

The old man pretended to be surprised and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing?"

"Why did you take so long to open the door?" The leader looked around the room, walked to the old man, and asked.

The old man looked at the man in black and replied without panic, "I'm too old and weak, so I moved slowly."

"Really?" The man in black asked.

He turned his head and said in a low voice to people behind him, "Search the room!"

As soon as the man finished his words, the men in black bypassed the old man, walked into the house, and searched the house.

"Oh... What are you doing? What are you doing?" Seeing this, the old man ran forward and said loudly.

After the men in black checked over the room, they walked to the leader and reported, "No one."

"No one?" The leader frowned. From the moment the door was opened, he smelled a faint smell of blood in the room. As men of sacrifice, they were born to be sensitive to the smell of blood!

The leader walked to the table aside, staring at the powder in the bowl, then looked at the old man and asked, "What is this?"

"Medicine powder." The old man frowned. He forgot to take the powder away just now, but he said calmly.

The leader held the bowl and smelled it. He snorted, staring at the old man, and asked, "Phoenix-tail fern. It is used to stop the bleeding. Right?"

"It is. What's the matter?" The old man looked at the leader and replied. He was scared.

The leader put the bowl on the table and sat down on the chair, "You are not injured. Is there anyone else here using the medicine?"

"What? Other people? Since my wife died, I have been lived alone." The old man said as his eyes flashed.

The leader stared at the old man and said, "Then the medicine..."

"I'm weak and sick now and has no means of earning money. So I usually go to the forest to find some herbs when I am free and sell them to drug stores. I found the medicine a few days ago, and it is now milled. I am preparing to go to a drug store to sell it tomorrow!" The old man said quickly before the leader had finished speaking.

The leader looked at the old man with a sneer, "I hope it's true!"

Then he glanced inside the room again and walked to the large wine jar in the corner.

The old man was nervous and wondered whether the leader had found out something.

The leader said to a man behind him, "Smash this jar!"

"Okay!" They walked over.

Seeing this, the old man hurried forward, "No, no, no!"

"Why? Is there someone hiding inside?" The leader looked at the old man and said.

The old man shook his head and said, "I don't know what you are looking for, but the wine in the jar was made by my wife a long time ago. There is still a lot of wine in it. I have always been reluctant to drink it. I just want to keep it longer."

The old man looked sad.

"Oh? But I was not a good man in nature. So, I will not do as you wish!" The leader raised his voice with a sneer. Then he took the sword and smashed the jar with it.

Bang!

The jar was shattered!

The remaining wine flew out, and the room was filled with the smell of wine.

People in the cellar also heard the sound above.

Since the cellar under the jar was separated by wooden boards, the strong smell of wine filled the whole cellar. There was even wine flowing to the cellar through gaps.

Xu Qing frowned and motioned to other people to block the gaps with their sleeves.

Because Xu Qing knew that these people who had learned kung fu were extremely sensitive to sounds. If they heard the sound of dripping wine, the consequences would be terrible.

The old man was shocked. He stood still there, watching the broken jar and the flowing wine. He slowly squatted down, looked helplessly, and picked up a few pieces. He held them in his hands and said sadly, "My dear, I can never drink the wine made by you."

The leader saw no people in the jar, so he looked away and said loudly, "Let's go!"

Then they walked out of the house!

After a long time, a person in the cellar asked Xu Qing in a low voice, "They seemed to go."

"Well, wait a minute." Xu Qing replied.

If there was a trick, it would be better for them to wait for a while.

The old man gently put down the fragments of the wine jar in his hand, then got up to close the door and locked it.

Then he came over, cleaned up the debris on the board, and then removed the board, "They are all gone. You can come out."

After hearing this, a person said to Xu Qing, "You go first."

Xu Qing did not refuse. He nodded and came out of the cellar.

Then others came out of the cellar.

"Thank you," Xu Qing said, watching the old man, and saluted.

The old man waved his hands. He fixed his eyes on the broken wine jar on the ground.

Xu Qing saw that the old man was sad, so he said with guilt, "I knew what happened just now. Sorry for causing trouble for you."

"It doesn't matter. I think my wife would also agree to save you if she knew what happened. She was kind." The old man waved his hands and looked away. There were tears in his eyes.

Xu Qing knew how the old man was feeling. He walked forward and said, "It's getting late. You can go back and have a rest."

The old man shook his head sadly and said, "You go and have a rest first. I need to clean up this mess."

"Okay." Xu Qing guessed that he wanted to be alone at this time.

So he motioned to the other four people to follow him to get in the room.

"You guys sleep here tonight. Those people destroyed the wine jar left by his wife. He must be very sad. Let him alone."

"Okay." Others nodded.

One of them brought a quilt for the old man.

After this person came back, they looked at each other and asked Xu Qing, "Who are they? Why do you..."

"They are here to catch me." Xu Qing said straightforwardly. He thought it was better to tell them about it.

They still needed a few days to reach Jiandu, but this group of people was eager to kill him. Previously, he thought that they would be seriously injured while fighting with wolves.

But from the sounds before, there were at least no less than five people. He did not expect that they would defeat those wolves in such a short time!

It seemed that those who came to assassinate him were bound to kill him. Xu Qing thought about it and decided to tell everyone so that they would be vigilant.

So Xu Qing said, "Do you know how I escaped while facing the wolves just now?"

"You said that you were saved by a swordsman who passed by." One of them said.

Xu Qing shook his head, "I said that because I don't want you to worry about me. But these people are too powerful. I think I should tell you about this. You must be careful next."

"Are these people ordered by Prime Minister Lan?" Someone asked.

Xu Qing sighed and said, "No."

"No? Who would they be?" After hearing this, they frowned. They knew what had happened in Jiandu. Prime Minister Lan was deprived of his power, so he hated Xu Qing. Except for Prime Minister Lan, who else wanted to kill him?

Xu Qing sat aside and sighed slightly. He said, "I don't know, but these people are on the opposite side of Prime Minister Lan. They wanted to assassinate me to frame Prime Minister Lan so that he can't regain his power."

"Then... What should we do next? These people are powerful. I am afraid it will be difficult for us to reach Jiandu." At this time, a person frowned and asked Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked at them and said, "It's not that bad. Prime Minister Lan also knew that some people would set the trap, so he also ordered some people to monitor us secretly. If those people come out, the two groups will fight with each other."

"You mean that Prime Minister Lan's subordinates are secretly protecting us along the trip?" One person looked at Xu Qing with a puzzled expression and asked.

Xu Qing said, "Yes. If another group of people had not come out just now, even if we were really eaten by the wolves, Prime Minister Lan's subordinates would not have helped. We must be more cautious next. From their conversation just now, it is obvious that they doubt this place. We need to stay with this old man for another day and leave the day after tomorrow."

"Okay." Others nodded.

Xu Qing looked at the sky outside and said, "Go to take a break. It's almost dawn."

They spread the bedding and lay on it. Xu Qing also went to bed.

The sky was getting brighter.

Imperial Concubine Xiao's subordinates looked around all night, but they still didn't find Xu Qing.

"Shall we continue?" Someone asked the leader.

The leader frowned and looked down. They went to every household, and there were no other villages except for this small town. Xu Qing couldn't have gone to other places.

But he still doubted the old man, so he decided to go back. So he said, "You go back to the inn to take a rest first. I will go back to check."

"Okay!" Others answered.