Chapter 113: Even broken copper and rotten iron are money!

The facts proved that Du Shanü had still thought too simply.

In the torrential rain, she finally, step by step, reached the side of Ouyang Wu's corpse, which had not yet cooled, squatted down, reached into his clothing, and felt all over.

She searched the cuffs, waist, and boot tops, one by one......

She found that every time she extended and retracted her fingers, everywhere she touched was empty.

Not to mention any jade pendant or token, she didn't even have a money pouch.

The only thing worth any silver was a small box half the size of a palm, which held a gold toothpick, a gold ear scoop, and a gold comb about two fingers wide.

If one must count, there was also a belt with a jade-ornamented tip.

I'm convinced!

It's not like that in the storybooks!

Du Shanü, unwilling to give up, felt around everywhere, even searching through her hair, and confirmed there was nothing more.

Chinu over there had also finished feeling the other two corpses, stood up with empty hands, and shook his head at her.

Obviously, his haul was even less than Du Shanü's.

Du Shanü momentarily felt vexed, but Chinu was not surprised at all:

"I wanted to tell you earlier, their background was already suspicious; how could they carry items that would expose their identity?"

It's like, who would see a dead man going on a mission stuff a written verification of his own name into his mouth?

If the mission fails, wouldn't his identity be discovered?

As for Ouyang Wu's imperial decree and appointment......

That is sheer nonsense.

They had long occupied Dun Cheng; if they had an official seal, it should be kept in the county office—how could a fool be running around with it?

Chinu explained each point, but Du Shanü thought he was just making excuses after the fact:

"Then you were just as energetic in feeling those corpses a moment ago......"

She felt carefully, searching both sides, while Chinu had only just managed to finish the other two corpses—evidently he had also put in effort.

If she hadn't expected anything, how could she have done this?

Chinu choked, then instinctively retorted:

"These few people dared to ride three horses out of the city to scout—how are they not fools?"

Actually, they had never imagined things would go so smoothly before.

Du Shanü's original idea was to divert the trouble eastward and watch the tigers fight from the mountain.

Otherwise, how would Ouyang Wu think, given their brothers' abilities, they would certainly personally run to Ju Cheng and bring back Ouyang Yan and Ouyang An themselves?

But that period of time would certainly be uncontrollable.

Therefore, they had long prepared to lie in ambush here, waiting only for the right moment to take the enemy's heads.

But who would have thought that yesterday, a group of refugees fleeing from Ju Cheng arrived first at the deserted village, bringing a major piece of news——

In Ju Cheng, the county magistrate's male favorite somehow killed the magistrate, rolled up the silver money, and hid!

After the magistrate's death, the lower officials only knew to exploit the people's wealth before the new official arrived; Ju Cheng is now in utter chaos, so this group of people naturally could only flee outward.

Du Shanü saw the usefulness of this news, so she deliberately did not block it, sent the message back to Dun Cheng, and also deliberately set an ambush here.

And Ouyang Wu, indeed, also wanted to see the disaster in Ju Cheng with his own eyes!

But Du Shanü and Chinu never imagined that this person, whether arrogant or proud, would actually set out with only two horsemen......

"That's what I'm saying!"

Du Shanü carelessly scratched her forehead:

"They at least brought two horsemen, while I went out with only you."

Indeed......

Six of one, half a dozen of the other—no one should say who.

Chinu hummed:

"How can that be lumped together! How could I be the same as them! o(￣ヘ￣o#)"

The two of them each have a chief crossbow; if they ambush, they could likely deal with a hundred people.

Even in a frontal battle, they could certainly take down twenty or thirty......

How could he be compared to others!

Du Shanü raised her head; rainwater streamed down her straw hat, forming a bead curtain that poured down.

She glanced several times at Chinu's face, where a faint color had returned to his proud expression, her heart softened slightly, she lowered her head and chuckled:

"That's also true...... A Nu is truly formidable."

This day was already the fifth day of the heavy rain, and also the third day after their argument.

And Du Shanü had finally picked up the nickname 'A Nu' again.

She still didn't understand what Chinu was thinking, and Chinu perhaps also didn't understand what she and he himself were thinking......

However, under their familiar bickering, the gloom that had lingered for several days finally eased a little.

Chinu pursed his lips slightly, about to speak again, but Du Shanü had already withdrawn her gaze and said quickly:

"Never mind, never mind, let's first attend to the main business."

"Come help me strip their clothes; we're ordinary folk trying to make a living—those clothes are worth some money, and after altering them we could still wear them......"

Chinu: "......"

Detestable.

Other people's lords are all so impressive, yet he follows a female leader—he can barely afford an inn, must join her in ambushing, searching corpses, burying them, and now even has to scavenge scrap copper and iron!

How much money could those clothes be worth!

Unwilling to return, unwilling, but Chinu, when he gets to work, is still reliable.

He walked to Ouyang Wu's corpse, squatted down again, grabbed the shaft of the crossbow bolt in his throat, sank his wrist, and pulled it out.

A small stream of pale red blood welled from the wound, but the rain quickly washed it away.

Chinu rubbed the arrow on the corpse's robe, then slipped it back into the quiver.

Du Shanü, meanwhile, moved swiftly, undoing buttons and ties, and in a few motions stripped the young man's outer robe.

The fabric was good; although stained with mud, after washing the dark pattern could still be seen.

She rolled the robe into a bundle, tucked it under her arm, then went to strip the young attendant's clothing.

Chinu turned to the older attendant, stripped his robe as well, gathered the three knives he carried, wrapped the blades in the removed clothing, made a bundle, and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

As for the horses the three had ridden earlier, the two that had bolted in fright had already returned on their own, now nibbling the soggy grass by the road.

The horse Ouyang Wu had been riding had just tripped its foreleg; it now limped slightly, obviously injured.

Although injured, injured, a horse is always valuable; if we take it back and nurse it well, it might even turn out to be the biggest gain of this trip.

The two worked swiftly, gathering the loot, securing it firmly on the horses' backs, then turned to deal with the three naked corpses.

The corpses lay flat in the mud, but after a moment the rain had washed them somewhat pale.

Although we don't know when the An Nan side will notice the three are missing, leaving the corpses here is obviously not acceptable.

A simple disposal would not only buy time before the An Nan royal family comes looking, but could also conceal their identities.

Fortunately, there is a river right beside Zhenjiang Village.

The two dragged the corpses to the riverbank.

Chinu was slender but strong; he grabbed each corpse's ankle with one hand and dragged them along, leaving two long tracks in the mud that the rain quickly smoothed away.

The river surface was pocked with countless pits from the rain, the water rushed downstream in swirling eddies.

Du Shanü and Chinu dragged the three corpses to the river's edge and let go.

The corpses fell into the river, sending up a large spray; they sank briefly, then rose again, caught by the current and spun downstream.

The three corpses bobbed up and down on the surface, drifting farther away, until the rain curtain swallowed them and nothing could be seen.

The river rushed, yellow mud churning.

Raindrops fell ever more densely from Du Shanü's chin; she stood by the river watching for a moment, then turned and nimbly mounted her horse:

"Let's go, go find that Ouyang father‑son pair and see how they thank me this time!"

?? Shasha: It's normal to be penny‑pinching at the start of a business......