Transmigrated into the Scum Female Consort - Chapter 29

It turned out that the objects they held were magnets. Whenever they came to a fork in the road, they could use them to find the iron filings scattered in the cracks of the stones.

Meanwhile, back with the exile group, because they were on a mountain path, everyone was close together, and Yun Chi and Ye Xuejin could not find an opportunity to eat. The rest of the people had absolutely nothing to eat.

Without timely energy replenishment, and walking all day long, their physical strength was continuously depleted.

As dusk approached, everyone looked at the seemingly endless forest ahead, and their hearts sank.

They wouldn’t get out! They would have to endure another night!

Just as the sky began to darken, Yu Lu loudly ordered at a crossroads: “Xiao Gao, distribute the dry firewood you prepared. We will light torches when it gets dark.”

Everyone stopped short. Were they planning to travel at night? Were they trying to kill them?

“If we walk for a few more hours, there will be a village where we can rest. Don’t just stand there, get moving quickly,” Yu Lu shouted again, and everyone’s spirits lifted somewhat.

Shi Niang checked the sky. Before it got completely dark, she leaped into a tree again, looking toward the direction of the mountain slope behind, and sniffed repeatedly. Human eyesight was limited, especially in the evening mountain forest, making the visible range very short.

The reason she remained so confident was that the wind in the mountains blew up from the valley during the day, and before nightfall, the wind direction had not changed; it was still blowing upwards. Her sense of smell had always been sharp, far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Shi Niang sniffed, her brows slightly furrowed. Something seemed different.

Her eyes deepened. As the group finished distributing the firewood and continued forward, she remained in the tree, quietly watching the left fork in the road.

About fifteen minutes later, a group of masked men appeared, stopping at the crossroads. They each pulled out an object, and one after another, they crouched down on the ground.

Shi Niang’s expression suddenly changed. While the masked men were still distinguishing the direction, she carefully leaped to the adjacent tree. After a few movements, she descended and ran wildly toward the group.

By this time, the sky was almost completely dark. When she caught up to the exile group, she heard Yu Lu giving instructions: “Pass the tinder around. Light the torches.”

Shi Niang rushed over, deliberately suppressing her voice: “Don’t light them!”

Yu Lu’s movements halted, his expression shifting. Earlier at the crossroads, he had noticed Shi Niang climb the tree. Now, seeing her breathless and flustered, it was clear something had gone wrong behind them.

Shi Niang took a breath and quickly relayed her discovery of the masked men.

“…The people who came are all masked and carrying knives. They are foes, not friends.” She spoke without avoiding the others, deliberately scanning everyone’s expressions. Although she did not know how the masked men had accurately found the direction to catch up, there must be an internal mole in the group who left marks for them.

Everyone was shocked, turning to look behind them, their faces filled with panic. No one showed any unusual behavior.

Yu Lu remained calm: “How many people did you see clearly? How long do you estimate it will take them to catch up?”

“Over twenty people. If they found the right path, about thirty minutes,” Shi Niang answered. Compared to the prisoners, who included the old and the weak and were mostly exhausted, the masked men were all strong adults with much better physical strength, moving at almost double their speed. Therefore, even if they kept moving non-stop, the masked men could catch up in thirty minutes at most.

Yu Lu looked around and decisively commanded: “Everyone silence yourselves and follow me.”

He immediately abandoned the mountain path, half-sitting as he slid down the slope for a distance. Then, he drew his knife, cutting through branches as he cautiously made his way down the slope.

Everyone immediately fell silent, following closely behind him.

Shi Niang’s heart was heavy. While this could temporarily evade the masked men, it was only temporary. Once it was light, or even before light, if the masked men couldn’t find the marks left by the mole at the next crossroads, they might turn back. The traces left by so many people, plus the cut branches, would be discoverable with some care, even at night. Furthermore, the masked men would definitely light torches, making detection even easier.

Ahead, Yu Lu constantly swung his knife. His face and arms were already scratched by branches, and a few times, he nearly poked his eyes, but he dared not light a fire or stop.

The prisoners were all scratched to some extent, but they endured silently. At a time like this, they all knew what they had to do.

It was not until the latter half of the night that they finally reached a mountain road. Yu Lu was exhausted and allowed everyone to rest on the spot.

Shi Niang saw no movement behind them, knowing they had temporarily escaped. She walked up to Yu Lu, glanced at the group slumped on the ground, and whispered: “There is an internal mole in the group…” She then described how the masked men were searching for marks at the crossroads.

Yu Lu’s eyes shot open. He looked over the crowd.

He forced himself to stay calm, carefully reviewing the events since they arrived in Zhenshan County. After a moment, he looked at Shi Niang: “Bring your people.” Then, he scanned the six constables one by one: “You all come here as well.”

They had spent less than a day at the post house after entering the city. The prisoners were either under his watch or inside their rooms. The only people who had the chance to privately interact with Magistrate Cai’s men were those who had gone out to buy supplies.

Shi Niang immediately understood Yu Lu’s meaning, but she did not believe the problem lay with the female companions, as they had been together the entire time, with no one acting alone.

“You follow me.” After a pause, she looked at Yun Chi: “You come too.”

Yun Chi walked over blankly. Seeing that everyone called out were those who had left the post house to buy things, she vaguely guessed what was happening. Could one of these people be the problem?

Ye Xuejin frowned slightly, understanding the situation after a brief thought.

It wasn’t just them who understood, but also people like Old Imperial Censor Zhou and the people who were called out. After all, no one was a fool. Although they were generally heading south, the mountain paths were complex with many forks. The fact that the masked men caught up so quickly clearly meant someone was guiding them.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Yu Lu directly ordered the six constables: “Take out everything you have on you.”

Shi Niang followed suit on her side. The young women put down their bundles, and Yun Chi took off the water pouch from her waist.

The constables also put down their water pouches and empty bundles, with only their knives remaining on their belts.

Yu Lu and Shi Niang exchanged glances, inspecting the items but finding nothing.

“Search them,” Yu Lu stated coldly. He started with the constables, not even sparing their knives, which he pulled out and inspected before putting back.

Shi Niang likewise checked the young women, still finding nothing.

At this point, Zeng Laosan complained: “My Lord, what exactly are you trying to do? At least give us a straight answer! Don’t waste time! What if they catch up?”

Yu Lu glared at him but ignored him, asking in a low voice: “In Zhenshan County, when you went out to buy things, did anyone move alone?”

“We were together the entire time,” Shi Niang answered first.

The constables exchanged glances, but no one spoke up.

Yu Lu’s heart sank. “Xiao Gao, you tell me.”

Xiao Gao looked at him nervously: “My Lord, we… we separated.”

“Why did you separate? And who was involved?”

Xiao Gao lowered his eyes, his expression somewhat ashamed.

“Speak now!” Yu Lu roared, pointing at him.

“I will speak, I will speak!” Xiao Gao shivered, spilling the details like beans: “We brothers rarely got a chance to relax, so we went to the Spring Delight Brothel for a bit of fun. That’s when we all separated.”

Yu Lu was slow to react: “Spring Delight Brothel?”

“That is… that is the brothel.”

Yu Lu’s face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot. No wonder Shi Niang and the others, though leaving later, returned to the post house earlier than the constables who left early. It must have been at that time that Magistrate Cai’s men made contact with the constables.

Thinking this, he glared at the six constables and said sternly: “You should understand now. The people from the Zhenshan County Yamen have malicious intentions and want to strike against us. The fact that they caught up so quickly means someone collaborated with them. Since you separated, they must have privately approached all of you.” Magistrate Cai’s men would not rely on just one person to get the job done; they must have sounded out everyone to flip certain individuals.

Hearing this, Xiao Gao dared not hide anything and confessed voluntarily: “My Lord, the constable from Zhenshan County Yamen did approach this subordinate. He even paid for my drinks, but he only chatted with this subordinate. This subordinate would never dare collude with them!”

“This subordinate, too!”

“This subordinate sensed something was off at the time and didn’t dare say much to them.”

“This subordinate is innocent…”

The six constables spoke one after another, clearing their names.

Yu Lu’s blood boiled as he listened. If no one colluded, how did the masked men catch up? Someone here had definitely been turned. But he couldn’t punish everyone, nor could he kill all the constables. And judging by the situation, the mole would never admit it without concrete evidence.

He let out a long breath, picked up the empty bundle on the ground, cut it into strips with his knife, and walked forward without a word.

“My Lord…”

“If you don’t want to die, stay put.” Yu Lu decisively tied the hands of the six constables behind their backs and gagged their mouths.

Afterward, he drove the six of them to walk in front, and the group set off again.

When Yun Chi returned to the group, Ye Xuejin naturally took her hand.

“Fù Mǎ, who do you think it is?”

Yun Chi shook her head. She couldn’t tell who the problem was, but intuitively, she felt that Zeng Laosan was the mole.

Ye Xuejin was thinking the same thing, hinting: “That person has been very quiet these past two days.” Quietness could mean two things: one, he had given up. Two, he was waiting for an opportunity, perhaps having found another method.

Yun Chi agreed: “I feel that way too, but I am afraid of being biased and suspecting the wrong person.”

Ye Xuejin pondered for a moment and analyzed: “If a mark was left, it would be one of a few methods.”

“Tell me.”

“Either they used existing items in the forest, such as arranging stones, cutting trees, or carving words. But doing this at night might escape notice, while in the daytime, it would be too obvious and impossible to hide from everyone.”

“What else?”

“The other is that they prepared something on their person beforehand, such as long-lasting scented powder or colored dyes… but that is also unlikely.”

Yun Chi was puzzled: “Why do you say that?”

“Rain.”

Ye Xuejin said only one word, and Yun Chi understood. It had rained on both evenings, especially the first night with such heavy rain, which would have washed away everything. Unless there was something that wasn’t afraid of water… wait a minute!

Something flashed through her mind. Something that was not washed away by water and still left a trace… Shi Niang said the masked men used a dark, block-shaped object pressed against the ground to search for marks.

“I know!” Yun Chi’s eyes lit up. She released Ye Xuejin’s hand and ran to the young women: “Did you take the belongings of those constables just now?”

“Yes, I took the belongings of the constable named Gao,” Shi Song, the boldest, answered immediately.

Shi Niang saw this and asked: “What did you find?”

As they stopped here, the people in front also stopped. Yu Lu frowned and walked over.

Yun Chi spoke rapidly: “Quickly check if any of the things here have black powder, iron filings, stuck to them!” She roughly understood how the masked men were finding the marks. The dark block Shi Niang mentioned was likely a magnet. She should have realized it earlier! Iron filings are insoluble in water and much denser than water. Without external forces, they would sink to the ground even on a stone surface when wet. If scattered in stone crevices, it would be foolproof. In this situation, when used with a magnet, they could be used as markers and would be hard to spot.

To her surprise, after searching their respective items, the young women all shook their heads.

Just then, Yu Lu suddenly turned around. He knew where the black, suspected iron powder was.