Erge spoke faintly: "You’ve only been in Liangzhou City for a couple of days, so you haven’t searched thoroughly. But if you send someone to inquire, you’ll realize that if the treasure hasn’t been taken, I’d have no problem taking you up the mountain. I have one condition — I want to be the second-in-command of your caravan. I’m telling you this now so you can be prepared in advance, lest you get angry upon finding the treasure gone."

Jin Kui’an hesitated, maybe it really was taken?

He turned his head to someone and said, "Give him a horse."

Thus, the group galloped towards the mountain village.

The area was completely looted by Governor Duan and his men, so it was now an empty mountain, with no guards stationed.

Erge led them directly to a site, and from a distance, upon seeing the overturned ground, he had a bad premonition. Upon reaching the site and seeing the large pit, the veins on his forehead couldn’t help but throb.

Jin Kui’an also had a bad feeling, his face darkened, saying, "Don’t tell me the treasure was hidden here."

Erge nodded with a sullen face, "Correct, a large coffin, prepared by the general himself back in the day. He placed all the gold, silver, and jewels he could carry in there."

Jin Kui’an’s expression turned grim, glancing fiercely at Erge, "Don’t you have people in Liangzhou City? Have them come out for questioning."

This showed distrust towards him.

Erge glanced at him, saying: "They are in the city. Do you think anyone can leave the city right now?"

Governor Duan has strict control over Liangzhou. Some of his men are old placements, seemingly unremarkable for now. But if they hadn’t done much for him before, he wouldn’t be able to command them since he held leverage over them.

Jin Kui’an said, "Do you think I can accept running all the way for nothing?"

Erge kept a solemn face, and after a moment of silence, said: "I will contact them."

"I’ll give you a maximum of two days, Erge. I didn’t bring my brothers all the way to Liangzhou just to save you from jail."

Erge understood. If he couldn’t provide enough benefits to the other party, his future wouldn’t be much better than being in jail.

Erge waited for a day. Upon hearing that Shi Ergou had been caught by the government troops, he disguised as a herdsman and passed two messages through suburban vegetable farmers to people in the city.

By afternoon, they met the person.

The matter of Governor Duan finding the treasure in the mountains wasn’t kept secret. Not to mention so many soldiers witnessed it; to reassure the troops, letting them know there’s money and grain now, Governor Duan wouldn’t hide it.

Therefore, upon asking around, one would know, and the story was quite legendary.

"Heard it was the lady and gentleman from the capital who were skilled, able to see through the fog at a glance. The treasure in the mountains was found with their assistance to Governor Duan," said the person threatened by Erge to leave the city. "That’s all I know; that’s all the rumors say."

"How many treasures did they find?"

"Three famous sites."

"Was one of them hidden in a coffin?"

"Yes, a very large coffin, the wood was still good. The Liangzhou troops even carried it back. I heard it’s now placed in the Governor’s mansion. The officials called it a Blessing Coffin, and who knows who it will benefit in the future."

Erge and Jin Kui’an: ...

Jin Kui’an gave a mock smile as he glanced at him, "Will it benefit you then?"

The person shuddered in fright, repeatedly claiming no.

Jin Kui’an coldly asked: "Where’s the gold and silver hidden?"

The person went silent, Erge said: "He’s just a bun seller at the County Governmental Office entrance, do you think he knows where the gold and silver are hidden?"

Jin Kui’an maintained a serious expression without speaking.

"He doesn’t know, but I do," Erge said: "Either in the storage rooms of the Governor’s mansion or the garrison’s warehouses, and some should be in Governor Duan’s private treasury."

Erge noticed Jin Kui’an’s grim expression and said: "We can’t possibly obtain them."

Not to mention they had already alarmed the authorities with the jailbreak; even without the jailbreak, Jin Kui’an’s small group couldn’t take the treasure back from Governor Duan’s hands.

Otherwise, there’d be no need to raid any treasure; plundering the city would almost be enough.

But to save his life, Erge certainly wouldn’t just provide this bit of information. He turned to Jin Kui’an and said: "We were detained in a tent at the time, but amidst the commotion outside, I heard some info. After finding the treasure, Governor Duan plans to share a portion with those officials from the capital."

He added: "The treasure in Liangzhou is hard for us to reclaim, but those people only number around a hundred, so it’s much easier to snatch things from them."

Jin Kui’an squinted his eyes, "Around a hundred people? What kind of people are amongst them? What are these gentlemen and ladies like?"

Having previously assigned people to monitor them, Erge naturally knew what they were like, "Six people, two ladies, four gentlemen, all very outstanding, especially the leading gentleman and lady, though young, the lady should be the famous Little Divine Doctor Zhou Man from the capital, and the gentleman close to her allegedly has a fiancé from a noble family, with a vendetta against the Heavenly Khan’s brother."

"It’s them?" Jin Kui’an asked: "There’s an old man with them, appears to be a scholar, and a burly man with a beard, their head of security?"

Erge: "... You’ve seen them?"

Jin Kui’an: "In the desert."

He recalled carefully, indeed, they carried a lot of luggage, seemingly including a merchant caravan.

His heart ignited with enthusiasm, especially thinking of the face peeking out from the window, his eyes flashing with a peculiar light, he stood up saying: "Let’s pursue them."

Erge didn’t expect him to be so decisive, thought he’d need persuading, but instead hurriedly said: "We don’t know their itinerary, moreover so many days have passed..."

Jin Kui’an interrupted him: "Where are they heading?"

After a pause, Erge replied: "Heard they’re going to the Western Regions."

"They also said so in the desert inn. If they weren’t lying, they’re heading to Shazhou," Jin Kui’an mused, "No, taking that route inevitably leads to Shazhou. Therefore, as long as we hurry to Shazhou, ascertain the details, we can catch up even if they’ve left Shazhou."

Erge considered, since Manbao and her group’s luggage was many, they should be able to catch up, after all, the journey to the Western Regions was still long, while outside the border Jin Kui’an was more familiar.

So Erge nodded in agreement.

With the plan settled, Jin Kui’an said: "We’ll follow their trail, head directly into the desert to chase — that route is rough but bypasses Suzhou City, so with sufficient food and water, we’ll be faster."

Erge had no objections, hence they set off early the next morning.

Meanwhile, Manbao and the others just finished processing the medicinal herbs at the Town Leader’s house, placing the finished medicine on the shelves, following Zhou Man’s instructions for proper preservation.

Man followed behind Zhou Man and her team as a helper for four days and learned quite a lot. Zhou Man didn’t hide the prescriptions, even offered to write them down for Man, then said: "For illnesses like wind-cold and wind-heat, some medicines aren’t suitable to be made into pills, but decoctions work better. If you want a prescription, I can give you two."

Man was eager for them.

In reciprocation, he said: "Imperial Doctor Zhou, I know a place to catch stone fish."