With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

"The soldiers who stay behind can also send letters to their families, asking them to settle down here. I will arrange housing for them free of charge," Nangong Wu added.

"Understood, Your Majesty. I shall take my leave now." Duan Chengye withdrew after receiving the order.

A short while later, Li Ke returned. "Your Highness, the soldiers who wanted to leave the city have come to collect their silver."

Nangong Wu stood up, took out ten boxes of silver from her spatial storage, totaling about 40,000 taels, and then opened them to check.

These boxes contain ingots weighing ten taels, five taels, and two taels.

Li Ke said, "Your Highness, how about adding two more boxes of one-tael and one-small-ingot ingots?"

These soldiers had a long way to go home, and the silver ingots were too big to spend on the journey.

"That works too." Nangong Wu took out two more boxes of silver, each containing one tael and one ingot, with about five thousand taels in each box.

"Let someone come and carry it away!"

Li Ke went out and called some servants to carry the box away.

On that day, more than 5,000 soldiers left Runan City.

After finishing her official business, Nangong Wu returned to her temporary residence in the backyard.

It is said that this courtyard was where Liang Zheng's wife lived, and she ordered the yamen runners to dispose of everything in the house.

The things the First Madam used were all of the finest quality; most of her furniture was made of expensive rosewood, and the servants took them back to their own homes or sold them for money.

After the room was emptied, she had someone buy new wood. The wood was of average quality, but it was new.

"Mother." Nangong Xi saw her first and ran out to hug her leg.

"What happened? What did you eat that made your face so dirty?" Nangong Wu saw that her daughter's face looked like a cat's and took out a handkerchief to wipe it for her.

"Mother, I miss Father." Nangong Xi nestled into her arms.

When Nangong Wu heard her mention that man, her brows furrowed slightly. "Father will be back once he's finished with his work."

Nangong Jue came out and leaned against her, "Mother, I'm sleepy!"

Li Shuang followed behind and said, "Your Highness, it's almost time for dinner. Please have dinner before you go to sleep."

"But I'm so sleepy!" Nangong Jue kept yawning, his eyelids were already closed.

Hearing this from inside the space, Eileen immediately said, "The food is ready. You can come inside and eat!"

"Sweetie, you haven't eaten dinner for several days before going to bed. That's not good for your health. Aunt Eileen has already cooked dinner, including your favorite shrimp. Eat your dinner before you go to sleep," Nangong Wu coaxed the child.

"Really?" Upon hearing that there was something delicious to eat, Nangong Jue immediately perked up, and his drowsiness vanished.

"Really, we'll eat as soon as we come inside." She picked up her son and then took Xi'er's hand as they walked into the house.

Just in case, Eileen and Aiqi will still help cook the children's meals.

Inside the room, Nangong Yu and Li Shuang's son, Luo Yushao, was playing with a toy race car.

"Stop playing around, it's time to eat!"

Upon hearing this, the two children immediately put down their toys and ran to wash their hands.

Eileen came out of the space and placed the food she was carrying on the table.

Li Shuang also came over to help serve the children their meal. In the end, there was still a lot of food left over, which the two adults also ate.

After dinner, Nangong Jue was no longer sleepy, so Nangong Wu told the children to go to the yard to play and digest their food.

"Your Highness, why don't we find two reliable people to tidy up this courtyard?" Li Shuang suggested.

She felt that someone needed to clean the yard.

Nangong Wu thought for a moment, "Let Fu Daniu's sister come! Among those women, find another honest and reliable one."

"Understood!" Li Shuang replied.

After the four children were tired from playing, Nangong Wu let them all enter the space, and asked Eileen and Aiqi to help them take a bath before they went to bed.

That evening, Li Zhan returned with a message: "Your Highness, the villagers trust you very much and are willing to sell that piece of land and move to Runan City. They want me to thank you on their behalf."

"Alright, you'll be in charge of this matter. First, negotiate the price, then arrange houses for them. If there aren't enough rooms, build more. Once they move to the city, give them the money," Nangong Wu instructed.

"Understood," Li Zhan replied.

The next day, the guards at the nearest pass also came into the city, wanting to collect their silver and leave.

Since many people came, Nangong Wu had the silver carried to the city gate and distributed.

Nangong Wu and Nangong Xiao also came over and stood on the city gate tower, watching the soldiers lining up to receive their silver.

"Sister, I think they will come back someday."

"Yes, but it's only a matter of time." Nangong Wu's gaze was distant.

Once Nangong Chengkun ascends the throne, if a disaster occurs, the people will surely be filled with resentment.

"Chirp—" A sharp, long chirp suddenly came from the sky.

The brother and sister looked up and saw a large eagle circling overhead.

"Gale!" Nangong Xiao exclaimed in surprise, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled.

Upon hearing this, the falcon let out another joyful cry, swooped down towards them, and flapped its wings, circling them a few times.

"...?" Nangong Wu was surprised when she saw Nangong Xiao raise an arm and the falcon land on his arm.

"Brother, did you raise these?"

"Yes." Nangong Xiao nodded. "I found it when I was little. It was only the size of a fist back then, and it was injured. We depended on each other and grew up together. Lie Feng is very intelligent and has helped me through many dangers."

"That's great." Nangong Wu watched the interaction between the person and the eagle and even wanted to raise one herself.

Nangong Xiao put the falcon on the ground, untied a bamboo tube from its leg, and then took out some dried beef to feed it.

He opened the small bamboo tube, took out the small paper roll inside, and opened it to look at it.

After reading it, I frowned slightly.

Seeing that his expression was off, Nangong Wu asked, "Brother, is something wrong?"

"It's Ouyang Feng and his group heading towards Jianggang Prefecture. They encountered several troubles along the way and suffered heavy losses." Nangong Xiao's face darkened.

"Where are they now?" Nangong Wu knew that the Blood Moon Society had come looking for them.

"I originally sent them to Kyoto, but then you said you wanted to come to Jianggang Prefecture, so I sent them a message to change their route to Jianggang Prefecture." Nangong Xiao showed her the small note in his hand.

Nangong Wu looked at the contents of the note. It said that Ouyang Feng and the Blood Moon Society's team had been attacked by people from Changyang Temple, resulting in many casualties and injuries. They were temporarily staying in a dilapidated temple.

Her heart sank, and she looked at the falcon. "Brother, can your falcon lead you to your people?"

"Sure, as long as they're still in that place, we can find them accurately. If they've already set off, it will take a little more time," Nangong Xiao said.

"Since we've found them, let's go pick them up!" Nangong Wu looked at the falcon, which had finished the jerky she had given it and was standing there quietly.