The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 271 Running away from home
Hundreds of thousands of military dependents left the border town in a lively and bustling manner.

The border town seemed to have been emptied out in the blink of an eye.

The streets and alleys are less filled with the mischievousness of most boys, and even the usually packed Ganweixian and Zuixiangju restaurants are deserted.

Fortunately, Gan's father had anticipated this outcome and only slaughtered three sheep today.

Gan's mother stared blankly at South Gate Street.

The children all leave through this gate, and they may not return to the border town for two or three years. How could she, as their mother, not worry about them?

But what the head of the household said is also true. Their daughter spent nearly ten thousand taels of silver to build up the ranch. If they don't help guard it, are they going to let outsiders benefit from it?
Protect the family business, and no matter how the children do outside, they will have a good life when they come home!

Gan Mingshou was afraid that he would be unable to resist following his elder brother to the Seven Guards of Guanxi, so he stayed in the stone house on the ranch yesterday and did not return to the city.

The pasture was unusually deserted, with two hundred cows and fifty adult wild camels missing.

Perhaps only the two thousand sheep and a dozen or so baby camels were happy.

The Gan family is experiencing the sorrow of separation because they will not be able to see their loved ones for a short period of time.

After dark, the border town's general's residence was in complete chaos.

The reason was that Zhao Ran, the eldest daughter of the family who was supposedly ill and bedridden, had suddenly disappeared.

They searched the entire General's Mansion and all the places she frequented in the border town, but couldn't find her.

Her personal maid also disappeared along with her.

They almost turned the General's mansion upside down, but in the end, it was Lady Jiang, the wife of the Marquis, who found a letter in the jewelry box on the dressing table.

However, after reading the contents of the letter, Jiang was so angry that she fainted.

The steward of the Marquis's mansion hurriedly found the camp.

"My lord, something terrible has happened! The eldest young lady left a letter for the madam and you. She and Mangya, disguised as men, have set off for Guazhou with those nine thousand or so half-grown boys!"

Zhao Muyun was shocked and furious, his beard bristling and eyes wide with rage:
"What did you say? Ran'er, has she gone mad? Send someone to find her right now!"

Cursing in my heart:

They really spoiled this daughter!

They're so arrogant!
Walking three thousand miles to Guazhou?

This time, once we catch her, we'll definitely teach her a lesson!
The steward, Zhao Da, felt as bitter as bitter herbs.

Before they came looking for the Marquis, dozens of unemployed people from the General's Office all chased after him.

However, these teenagers have been gone for a day, and they are probably already sixty miles away.

If the young lady and her servant didn't want to come back and were determined to hide from the servants sent by the general's mansion, then they could indeed hide quietly.

With the sky high and the road far, where can't two grown men hide?
Moreover, since it concerned the reputation of the unmarried young lady, they couldn't openly ask the military families to help them find her.

Also, they should soon encounter the refugees heading to Guazhou!

Oh my God, this is really going to kill me!
Thinking of this, Steward Zhao was already drenched in cold sweat.

The air above the entire rear courtyard of the General's Mansion was thick with rage.

Jiang cried as soon as she woke up.

She cried so hard that the world seemed to turn upside down.

Even Zhao Muyun, a general who commanded more than 200,000 troops in the Northwest, was brought to tears and turned ashen-faced.

Before returning to his residence, he sent two squads of his personal guards out to search for his daughter, and also sent a secret letter to the garrison commander of Jinzhou Pass, asking him to help search for her discreetly.

He did everything he could as a father!
All that's left is to wait!

The hardest thing in the world is waiting.

Unsurprisingly, no good news came back before nightfall the following day. There was, however, bad news.

It is said that tens of thousands of refugees from Huaiqing Prefecture have already set off, their movements overlapping with those of the more than nine thousand teenagers.

Finding two people among tens of thousands of people is more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

While angry, Zhao Muyun was also a little smug: Sister Ran is capable of great things; she actually managed to evade the search of more than a hundred people.

I wonder if I'll regret it to the core after I've made this arrogant brat suffer so much.

On the third day, they still couldn't find him.

Lady Jiang, the wife of the Marquis, made another scene, saying that she would find that road herself.

It took Zhao Muyun a long time to calm things down before he could barely stabilize the situation.

He patted his chest and vouched for his wife:
"Don't worry, the only way to Guazhou is through Jinzhou Pass. I've already ordered the garrison commander to set up checkpoints at both the entrance and exit of the city, and I've even sent the commander a portrait of her and that reckless girl! I don't believe those two girls can fly over Jinzhou Pass!"

Jiang gritted her teeth and said:
"It's all because of the master's spoiling! What kind of well-bred young lady is like her? She actually dared to take her maid on a long trip! In her letter, she even said she was going to beg General Gan to let her join that damn vanguard battalion! With her fancy but useless martial arts skills, she'd be nothing more than food for the barbarians on the battlefield!"

"Yes! It's my fault! Bring her back later, and you can lock her in the backyard to embroider her wedding dress! One year, my lady, give me one year, and I'll marry her off within a year!"

"This is a promise made by the master himself! I will trust you this once! How many days will it take these half-grown boys to travel from the border town to Jinzhou Pass?"

"It's an 800-mile journey, which will take at least ten days to cover, and at the slowest it will take more than half a month! Don't worry, Madam, that fierce girl by Ran's side is skilled in martial arts and can take on ten men at once. Protecting her is absolutely no problem!"

"Hmph! If it weren't for that girl, I wouldn't want to live anymore!"

"."

The couple were incredibly anxious waiting for their troublesome daughter in the border town.
The families of soldiers who have traveled long distances have not had an easy time these days either.

Most people's horse-drawn carriages or mule carts were not big enough, and people would feel uncomfortable sitting inside for a long time.

This is even more true for the elderly!
Whenever it's time to rest, I always wish I could get off the bus and walk for an hour.

It's hard for adults to bear, let alone children.

Fatty, who had traveled over 3,000 miles of exile route, complained that it was too sunny outside and only wanted to stay in the carriage with his sister during the day.

This camel caravan originally belonged to their family.

When it comes to our own people using the car, of course we should prioritize our own people.

Fatty, his grandmother, and his sister Yuanyuan—the three of them—occupied the entire car.

The large camel wagon was divided into two sections.

He lived in the inner room, while Mrs. Luo lived in the outer room with her six-month-old granddaughter.

Zuo Wenkang hired an experienced camel driver who understood camel temperaments to help the three generations of the family drive the vehicle.

He would also take time each day to visit his two children and his elderly mother during the rest and meal breaks of the convoy.

His mapping team had a mission and couldn't leave for an extended period.

The only thing I could do was buy some delicious food for my family whenever I came across it along the way.

Before leaving, Gan's parents also prepared dozens of kilograms of dried mutton for their eldest grandson.

Fatty couldn't be more comfortable staying in his own campervan.

The lead convoy was really fast.

They passed through Jinzhou Pass on the eighth day.

The guards of Jinzhou Pass will provide the greatest convenience to the families of these officers and their families.

They were allowed to pass through the border without any hindrance.

(End of this chapter)