Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

"What right do you have to arrest me? Let me go! Let me go now! I need to go to Wencun!"

"You bastard! You've got some nerve, daring to talk back to us!"

"Take him away! Take him to the yamen and have them beat this son of a bitch to death!"

……

Between "Sin Village" and "Civil Village", several soldiers pinned a middle-aged man with the character "sin" tattooed on his face to the ground and began punching and kicking him.

Amidst a barrage of angry curses, the blood-covered man was dragged away along the ridges of the field like a dead dog.

At the entrance of the village of Sin, Mu Ling'er, wrapped in a large black robe with only her eyes showing, watched as the soldiers dragged the man away from sight.

Qin Xiucai, standing beside her, offered an explanation at the opportune moment.

"Wen Village is located two miles away from the village. There are always people who envy the life in Wen Village, even though they know that being caught means certain death. They still risk their lives to sneak in from time to time."

Mu Ling'er was about to nod when she realized the problem with the sentence.

"Sneak in? You mean, if that person had entered Wen Village, he could actually become a villager?"

Qin Xiucai remained expressionless and nodded meaningfully under Mu Ling'er's gaze.

"If you want people to go there, you have to give them some hope... Once you enter Wen Village, you become a villager of Wen Village."

After all, the people living in both villages were essentially "criminals" in prison, and none of them were more noble than the other.

There is a way to remove the branding marks from the people in our village.

With successful examples and hope, a continuous stream of people will be willing to give it their all...

For people like us, as long as there's even the slightest hope, even if the road ahead is fraught with certain death, someone will still try... Maybe they'll be the one who survives?

"Excellent methods, excellent strategies! It seems the people at the Wenchang Hall aren't all useless after all."

The blunt words made Qin Xiucai stiffen for a moment, but he smiled when Mu Ling'er looked at him.

"The Wenchang Hall is a symbol of the great opening of the literary path and a sacred place in the hearts of scholars all over the world. Naturally, it is not full of incompetent people. It is just that there are many capable people around you, which is why you think that the Wenchang Hall is incompetent."

When he said this, Qin Xiucai lowered his head, making it impossible for Mu Ling'er to see his expression.

Mu Ling'er didn't care about any of that, and she strode towards the village.

The village is very large, covering a vast area, with many houses scattered around, and it doesn't seem much different from an ordinary village.

If Mu Ling'er didn't know where this place was, she would probably just think it was a large, ordinary village.

But after walking for a short while, Mu Ling'er suddenly stopped and pointed to the houses by the dirt road.

This is a hut built of thatch and wood, standing right by the roadside. Although it has a simple drainage system, it looks extremely rudimentary.

Almost all the houses in the village are like this.

"Your place isn't too far from the sea. Does it rain a lot on weekdays? And do you experience sea breezes during the summer?"

Following Mu Ling'er's gaze, Qin Xiucai immediately realized what Mu Ling'er wanted to ask, and he answered accordingly.

"There are frequent heavy rains, and between June and September, there are often sea breezes. If the wind is strong and the rain is heavy, the houses in the village will have to be rebuilt."

Mu Ling'er nodded slightly and asked aloud.

"When I was in the county town, I noticed that most of the buildings there had white walls and gray tiles, which suggests that there must have been building materials nearby."

But why are all the houses in your village these simple dwellings?

"We are a group of 'sinners.' The villagers are not allowed to quarry stone, and the city will not sell us building materials."

Qin Xiucai answered decisively, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"A sinner? Is she one too?"

As they were speaking, a thin girl who looked no more than ten years old passed by them. Seeing Mu Ling'er, who was wrapped in a black robe, pointing at her, the girl quickly lowered her head, quickened her pace, and hid in the shadows of the house.

Seeing the girl frighten her way away, Qin Xiucai felt a little embarrassed. He wanted to stop her, but after noticing Mu Ling'er's black robe, he gave up his idea and bowed to her instead.

"Please don't be offended, the child meant no harm, it's just..."

"How old is she this year?" Mu Ling'er interrupted Qin Xiucai directly.

"This child is twelve years old this year, and she also has an older brother who is eighteen years old this year." Qin Xiucai's voice was not loud, as if he did not have much emotion.

"Twelve years old...that means she was only nine years old when she came to this village, not even counting the time she spent in prison."

I'm rather curious, what kind of serious crime could such a young child have committed?

Who on earth would throw such a child into this village, to live with a group of "sinners" for years?

This time, Qin Xiucai did not answer immediately; he simply lowered his head and remained silent.

Mu Ling'er, however, refused to give up, her scrutinizing gaze never leaving Qin Xiucai for a moment.

After a long while, the sound rang out again.

"steal."

"steal?"

"This child has been living with her brother since she was little. When she first came here, she didn't even have a name. Because she was the third child in her family, her brother Xiangzi called her Xiao San (Little Third).

Seeing that the child was pitiful, Master Wan gave her a name—Su Xiaoyu, and some people in the village called her Xiaoyu.

The two siblings were imprisoned for different reasons: her brother, Xiangzi, attacked soldiers, while Xiaoyu was imprisoned for stealing.

As Mu Ling'er listened, she pondered for a moment, then asked directly, "What did she steal?"

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by you, but if you really want to be honest, this child did violate the laws of the Great Qi Dynasty, and he can't be considered innocent in his current state."

It happened roughly four years ago. Four years ago, Xiangzi fell ill. The illness wasn't difficult to treat, but it required money to cure.

Even a hero can be brought down by a penny. If a chivalrous knight-errant in the martial world has to worry about money, how much more so for two children who depend on each other for survival?

If it were just a little food, it would be fine. The government wouldn't bother with such things. At most, you'd get a few beatings, but you could just bear it and it would pass.

Xiaoyu is strong enough that she won't be defeated by this setback.

But medical treatment costs money, and the only valuable and easily stolen items are jewelry.

In the bustling city of Changzhou, there was no shortage of wealthy families…