Watching how, in the blink of an eye, the stronghold had gained more than four hundred people, and seeing that these four hundred plus were all young men—though untrained in martial arts, their years of farm labor had forged sturdy, muscular bodies—And these men, unlike the old slick bandits in the stronghold, did not yet have bad habits.

They knew when to advance and retreat, understood hierarchy, and obeyed orders quite well.

With just a bit of training, they might become a more powerful fighting force than the stronghold’s original troops.

Thinking of this, Wu Qianlan grew even more puzzled.

She could not understand why these people were so willing to follow this “bandit husband” up the mountain to rebel.

Her heart was filled with mixed emotions. But since Ning Qingtian was still talking with those young men, she could not walk over, so she could only suppress her curiosity and stand to the side.

Ning Qingtian chatted with the young recruits while telling them about the benefits of coming up the mountain, nodding with satisfaction as he spoke.

His excitement was written all over his face.

Their allegiance was both within his expectations and beyond his expectations.

Indeed, if you give a man one shi of grain, he will remember your kindness.

Give him ten shi, and he will tie his head to his belt and follow you to the death.

Even so, he had not expected the results to be so immediate and so dramatic, leaving him a little unprepared.

Just as he finished deciding how to arrange these new recruits, Yang Ba—who had led men to dig—came running out, shouting in excitement.

“Chief, Chief, something big!”

Ning Qingtian turned and glared at him, scolding, “Flailing about like that, what kind of example is that? Aren’t you afraid the villagers will laugh at you?”

Yang Ba did not mind the rebuke at all. He merely toned himself down a bit, came up to Ning Qingtian, and lowered his voice.

“Chief, I did as you said. We dug under the back wall of the yard, more than six chi deep, and found ten large gold ingots—five thousand taels of gold in total!”

At this, Ning Qingtian looked toward the old man again. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, he still could not help but be shocked.

Five thousand taels of gold—that was fifty thousand guan in copper coins, several times more than everything they had already confiscated.

For a small village head’s family to hoard that much wealth, who knew how many generations of the people’s blood and sweat it represented—only for him to scoop it all up in one go.

When he turned back and looked at the village head’s family members, he saw tears in several women’s eyes.

Clearly, they had known about the existence of those five thousand taels of gold.

But he could not be bothered with them anymore. Tonight’s harvest was already enormous, and he had no desire to haggle over details.

He merely ordered Yang Ba, “It’s getting late. Take the brothers and pack everything up. We’re heading back to the mountain.”

Yang Ba accepted the order and left at once. Ning Qingtian then called Wang Wen over and told him to join Zhang Kai in leading the newly recruited young men to help.

In just a short while, Ning Qingtian went to chat with the old man again, thanking him for the information.

Afterward, he said a few kind words to the other villagers.

When the villagers heard that the “chieftain” who had given them grain was about to leave, they all brought out their one-wheeled carts of their own accord to help push the remaining grain for the bandits, wanting to escort them part of the way as a sign of gratitude.

Seeing that his men really could not carry all the grain by themselves and that the villagers were willing to help, Ning Qingtian did not refuse.

Only when the villagers had helped deliver the grain to the boats using their carts did he instruct Wang Wen to take men and give ten guan in coins to every household that had come out to help.

At this point, having witnessed how the chieftain’s decisions had instantly brought more than four hundred new men to the stronghold, Wang Wen no longer had any doubts about Ning Qingtian’s judgment and personally handed out ten guan per household.

After another busy stretch, once all the grain had been loaded onto the boats, Ning Qingtian and Wu Qianlan stood together at the prow, waving farewell to the villagers.

Dozens of heavily loaded boats, their hulls sunk deep into the water, glided away under the faint starlight, heading toward Liangshan Island.

* * *

By the time the boats docked, Luo Youcai—who had been guarding the stronghold—was already waiting onshore.

When he saw the haul they brought back, his wrinkled face blossomed like a chrysanthemum.

Ning Qingtian had the money and grain counted again and gave every man who had gone down the mountain that night his share of the spoils.

Everything left over was placed into the stronghold’s warehouse as reserves.

He then promoted Zhang Kai to a minor leader in charge of helping Yang Ba manage the new recruits.

Everyone had been busy all night and was hungry.

Ning Qingtian didn’t stand on ceremony and ordered the kitchen to prepare a proper meal.

After eating, everyone went off to rest.

By the time he finished assigning living quarters to the new recruits, dawn was already breaking. Having been up all night, Ning Qingtian finally began to feel tired.

Only then did he truly understand that his wife’s days were never easy either.

He glanced at his wife, who had gone to bed early, and seeing that she was still sound asleep, he took off his clothes, intending to lie down and rest a while as well.

“What are you doing?”

Just as he reached for the bed to climb up, his wife suddenly opened her eyes.

Her gaze was filled with imperial authority, completely unlike her usual self, as if she had become a different person.

Ning Qingtian was startled.

He raised a hand, about to explain himself, but upon seeing his wife’s expression, so different from usual, his interest was suddenly piqued.

With a flip, he climbed straight into the bed, wrapped his wife tightly in his arms, and felt the warmth of her body pressing against him.

A faint, unique fragrance rose to his nose, making him subconsciously lift his head.

Wu Qianlan had no cultivation at all.

She had been on guard against this man all night, then went down the mountain with him.

When they finally returned to the stronghold, she’d immediately used the excuse of handing all affairs over to Ning Qingtian and retreated to her room, unable to fight off the wave of exhaustion.

She had barely slept when this “bandit husband” woke her up.

Before she could even get away, he had already grabbed hold of her.

“Nothing, I just wanted to hold my wife while I sleep.”

Ning Qingtian looked at her with squinting eyes and took another deep breath.