Dawn, where Zhuang Yan and Lu Chen fought fiercely.
The quiet forest suddenly became chaotic. A flock of birds soared into the sky and circled in the air for a long time.
A few footsteps sounded, and then a dozen figures appeared on the battlefield.
The leaders were Lu Mo and Lu Zhong, who was heading north to the Dual World Mountain. Behind them were the other pursuers.
Lu Mo's face darkened when he saw Lu Chen lying on the ground. The atmosphere in the forest was extremely tense.
It was a bad start!
This was the first reaction of the Lu family.
After they received the news from Lu Chen in Dengming Town, they rushed over without stopping. They chased after Zhuang Yan and saw Lu Chen's horse.
Then, he turned into the forest and searched all the way to this place. However, he did not expect to see the burial ground of his teammates.
Lu Mo stood in front of the corpse and was silent for a while. He said in a low voice,""Although we don't know if it was Zhuang Yan's doing, we have to assume the worst-case scenario. From now on, no one is allowed to act on their own, in case they are attacked again and there are casualties.”
" Yes," the people behind him replied solemnly.
"Manager, what should we do now?" Lu Zhong asked quietly.
Lu Mo heaved a sigh of relief. After thinking for a while, he said in a low voice,""There are still a few hundred miles to the south before we reach Zhen Country's Greatwood City. Let's go there first and find the Lu family's contact point. Send a message to the Spirit Domain's spies to search for Zhuang Yan's traces.”
He gritted his teeth as he said the last few words.
。。。
The Tiandu Empire, one of the three kingdoms of the Spirit Domain in Muzhou, was the strongest and most extensive kingdom in the Spirit Domain. Just the power of a single kingdom was enough to suppress the Ming Kingdom and the Zhen Kingdom, forcing the two kingdoms to join forces to resist the pressure from the other kingdom.
In the western hinterland of the Tiandu Empire, there was a city called Lingdu Prefecture.
This city was built along the Lingdu River and was an important town in the western part of the Tiandu Empire. It was extremely prosperous and it was said that there were millions of people living in the city.
He relied on the mountain to eat the mountain, and the water to drink the water.
Relying on the Lingdu River, not only was there a developed shipping trade, but there were also fishermen who relied on the river for generations to make a living.
A few dozen miles away from the Lingdu Prefecture, there was a small fishing village called the Zhou Family. It was located on a plain on the bank of the Lushui River.
This river was a tributary of the Lingdu River. Its source was in the Wangtian Forest Plain in the northwest of Muzhou. It flowed all the way through the middle of Muzhou and the border of the country, heading straight for the Tiandu Dynasty in the east. Finally, it merged into the Lingdu River at the Lingdu Mansion.
It was dawn, and the quiet fishing village of the Zhou family gradually became noisy. This was the time when fishermen started their daily life.
Their lives were very regular. They would leave the ship at dawn and return in the afternoon. Then, they would sell the day's harvest in the town market. This was the way countless fishermen made a living for generations.
Zhou Yao was also one of the countless fishermen. When she was thirteen, her father passed away due to illness. Her mother could not bear the burden of the family and left her two underage sisters behind. No one knew where she went.
From then on, Zhou Yao took on the responsibility of taking care of her eight-year-old sister, Zhou Ning. At that time, she was still young and could not bear the arduous responsibility of supporting the family. Fortunately, with the help of her neighbors and relatives, she finally managed to maintain this small family. It was like this for three years.
Early in the morning, when the sky was still bright, she got up and looked at her sister who was still sleeping soundly beside her. She covered herself with the blanket again and tiptoed out of bed to prepare breakfast in the kitchen.
In less than 15 minutes, she skillfully cooked a pot of fish soup and brought it to the table. In addition, there were two lean steamed buns.
It was getting late. She hurriedly swallowed the dry and hard steamed bun with the boiling fish soup. Then, she put the soup and steamed bun into the pot to heat them up. This was her sister Zhou Ning's breakfast and lunch.
When she went out, there were already fishermen rushing outside. They were carrying fishing nets and buckets towards the Lushui River not far away.
There were small fishing boats moored by the river. These were the rice bowls of the Zhou family's fishermen and their most precious possession.
When Zhou Yao's father passed away, the only thing he left for the two sisters was a small fishing boat. This was the foundation of their survival for the past three years.
Therefore, Zhou Yao had always treasured this ship and had always taken care of it carefully.
It was getting late, and she didn't dare to delay any longer. She took down the fishing net that had been hung in the courtyard last night and carried it on her shoulder. Then, she carried a wooden bucket in her right hand and hurriedly ran towards the river.
At this time, the riverside was already very lively. The voices of men and women, old and young, dispersed the silence of dawn.
When Zhou Yao arrived at the river, the other fishermen who were familiar with her also greeted her warmly.
"Yao Nu is here!"
"Yao Girl…"
Because her name had the word Yao in it, everyone around her called her Yao Girl.
Zhou Yao responded to the greetings of the villagers. For the past three years, if it weren't for the help of these people from time to time, it would have been impossible for a teenage girl like her to fish alone and support her sister.
Therefore, these villagers could basically be considered her benefactors. They had more or less given her a lot of help.
"Morning! Yaoyao. Come, let me help you." At this time, a strong young man came to Zhou Yao and enthusiastically reached out to take the fishing net and put it on her boat.
Zhou Yao's boat was similar to the other boats around her. It was almost three meters long and 1.5 meters wide. There was a small shed in the middle for resting.
"Thank you, Brother Zhou Hong!" Zhou Yao didn't act pretentious and handed the things she had on her to Zhou Hong.
Zhou Hong neatly put the fishing net and other messy things on the boat, then turned around and scratched the back of his head with a silly smile."It's okay, it's okay. It's only right to help you.”
Zhou Yao actually knew that Zhou Hong was interested in her because he had helped her a lot over the years. She could also feel the hidden love in him.
Although she was a little resistant at the beginning, as Zhou Hong continued to help her time and time again, the villagers around her also understood what he meant. They liked to talk about them for no reason, and Zhou Yao slowly got used to it.
Moreover, she was already 16 years old, which was the age for women to talk about marriage. Therefore, she naturally regarded Zhou Hong as her future marriage partner.
Although Zhou Yao was tanned and skinny now, she used to be very delicate and beautiful. She was also a very famous beauty in the Zhou family.
However, after her parents passed away, she went out fishing and hunting every day. She was exposed to the wind and the sun, and her face became dark and dry, covering her past appearance and becoming much more ordinary.
If not for that unforeseen event, she might have married into a wealthy family in the town or Lingdu Manor in the future and become a concubine. Although her status was a little low, at least she did not have to worry about food and clothing. This was also the way out for many beautiful fishing girls.
However, with her current situation, marrying Zhou Hong was already the best choice.
As the small boats left the riverbank, Zhou Hong also wanted to go to his own boat to help his father. He did not continue to waste time here.
Everything was ready. Zhou Yao let go of the leash and stood at the stern of the boat, holding a long pole as she steered the boat upstream of the Lushui River.
Most of the fishermen went downstream because they could reach the intersection of Lingdu River and Lushui River after walking three to four miles downstream. After entering Lingdu River, the fish catch would be even more abundant.
Only experienced fishermen dared to go to the place where the rivers intersected. However, no matter how experienced they were, there was still danger. If they were not careful, they would die at the bottom of the river.
A weak woman like Zhou Yao had never gone downstream since the day she went fishing and hunting alone. On the one hand, it was because she was not able to cope with the complicated water flow downstream.
On the other hand, she did not dare to take the risk because she still had a young sister at home. If anything happened to her, the probability of her sister surviving alone was almost zero.
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