Jiang Li did not pay much attention to Feng Yu Tang and Princess Yongning's command for the time being. However, she wasn't an idiot. Having dealt with Princess Yongning once in her previous life, she was aware that Princess Yongning's reply would be to kill to the last one. The name of the chief assistant's daughter could scare off Tong Zhi Yang and Feng Yu Tang, but it would not scare Yongning. Sooner or later they were going to kill her. At the moment, though, the most important thing was still to help Peng Xiao and the others to settle down. They did not have much time, two days out of the seven days had already passed.
The secret room that Jiang Li mentioned was concealed inside an abandoned haunted farm in Tongxiang. There's an underground tunnel in the ranch, and the entrance to the tunnel was on the stone wall by the lake. Verdant and lush grasses were covering the outside, others simply wouldn't be able to see.
Ye Ming Yu helped Peng Xiao and the others to settle down in the secret room and first asked someone to get them a change of clothes and something to eat. Peng Xiao and He Jun, these two people, were still okay, just having a weak body. Gu Da and Gu Er's conditions were not good and Black had the worst condition. Ye Ming Yu followed Jiang Li's words and invited physician Zhong, when physician Zhong came over, he shook his head repeatedly.
Ye Ming Yu also brought physician Zhong's only son, gave physician Zhong 500 taels of silver and told him that as long as he could cure Black and the others, he would find a way to let physician Zhong leave Tongxiang and added another 500 taels of silver, enough for them to set up a home outside.
In the small Tongxiang county, how could the people experience seeing so much silver at once. Moreover, Ye Ming Yu looked like a demon with a scar on his face. Physician Zhong was trembling in fear and took out 120% effort to treat Black's injuries.
Taking advantage of the rest time of Gu Da, Gu Er and Black, Jiang Li, Peng Xiao, and the other few people walked outside to talk.
Ye Ming Yu looked for a stone from the secret room for him to sit on. Then he said, "Ah Li, this place that you found is good. I think even if Feng Yu Tang digs three meters deep, he would still be unable to find a second place like this. There are still tables and chairs made of rocks, I don't know who left them all behind."
Who left them? Naturally it was Xue Zhao. At that time, Xue Zhao had seen many strange travel notes and often said, "Someday, we will also be like those written in the notes. Pick up a hero in dire straits who's being chased by the authorities. Then we will let him stay here, no one will be able to find him for sure. He will stay here and teach me martial arts. Hey, after three to five years, I will become a hero, nobody will dare to quibble with me. Whoever dares to bully you, jie, just point your finger, I will make them kneel down and beg for forgiveness!"
The young man's wanton laughter seemed to return in the depth of the secret room. A word turned into prophecy, many years later, they really rescued people chased by the authorities and hid them here. But there's no Xue Zhao who's coming to learn martial arts.
Jiang Li retracted her train of thoughts, met Peng Xiao and the others' eyes, and said, "I also heard this from other people by accident. This place is temporarily secure, for at least seven days, Feng Yu Tang's people will not be able to find this place. As long as the seven days pass, everything will be different."
"Miss Jiang second, many thanks to you." Peng Xiao said. He could now be considered to understand Jiang Li's identity, and also realized the matters that made Jiang Li come to Tongxiang. Though he still was not clear why Jiang Li was doing her utmost in the Xue's case, at least, for now, they, the five people who were still alive due to luck, all believed in Jiang Li.
Perhaps it could not be counted as belief, but rather willing to believe. Just like a drowning person suddenly discovered a last straw to clutch at, thus putting effort to go over, not concerned whether the straw would sink or not. Nobody was willing to accept that it was just a mirage. Xue Huai Yuan could be regarded as their superior, but he was more like a teacher. As long as there's a bit of a chance to save Xue Huai Yuan, they were all willing to try.
"What can we do?" He Jun asked.
Jiang Li looked at He Jun. Before, she always felt that He Jun was too gentle and weak, how could he be an official. But after undergoing the experience these days, he seemed to have matured a lot overnight. That youth who always asked Xue Fang Fei to find some books clenched his teeth and persevered to find fairness for the justice in his heart. Even though he could not do anything, as long as he was still alive, he would not admit defeat to fate.
There's still a chance to turn over fate.
"Just looking at Xue's case alone, it could only be reviewed through the hands of Feng Yu Tang in Tongxiang. As long as it's in Feng Yu Tang's hands, any advantages in Xue's case will be detrimental. You are all aware that Feng Yu Tang sent County Deputy Xue to jail on purpose. Therefore, this case must not be handled by Feng Yu Tang. I've thought about it, the only way is to let Feng Yu Tang be involved in it. Then it will be handed over to the Imperial Court of Judicial Review, and only then will there be a leeway."
Peng Xiao and He Jun glanced at each other and said, "You are thinking of letting us sue Feng Yu Tang?"
Dealing with smart people was effortless. Jiang Li said, "Correct. At first I thought letting you sue Feng Yu Tang would be somewhat difficult. Even if it's identified that he tortured you in private, these can still be concealed. In addition, there's only one statement. But Feng Yu Tang unexpectedly sent all of you to Dongshan to mine. This is simply bringing about his own destruction. He walked to a dead end himself, nobody can stop him."
"What does this mean?" Ye Ming Yu interrupted, "Not suing Feng Yu Tang's atrocity, then what to sue?"
"Identify him of not informing the court and dig for gold in private. Even if Dongshan was an abandoned mine and everyone knows that there's no gold to dig, that was a matter of over ten years ago. It's been ten years, many people have forgotten. As long as we let some rumor circulate that Dongshan still has gold to dig but Feng Yu Tang conceals it from the court and privately dispatched people to dig, there will be a huge charge against him."
He Jun muttered, "Private digging, it's a capital offense punishable by the confiscating of property and extermination of the entire family....."
"The things on the land under the heavens are the emperor's things. Stealing people's things, still stealing from the emperor, dying is not enough." Jiang Li smiled slightly, "Besides, it seems that there's a noble person giving orders behind this Master Feng. Yanjing's involvement in muddying the water, who knows what Feng Yu Tang is digging gold for. Digging gold is nothing else but to seek money. Such a huge wealth, if it's used to recruit soldiers and buy horses wouldn't there be the suspicion of treason? Collaborating with the enemy, that is a major event. How can Tongxiang, a small place, solve such a major event? It's not excessive to sue it to a higher office."
Ye Ming Yu was stunned. He Jun and Peng Xiao were also stupefied.
In this brief remark, Jiang Li had brought Feng Yu Tang's accusation up to treason. Against reason, everything that she said can be done. They could be considered to have gained first-hand knowledge of "how words could kill without seeing blood".
Please, read this at BloomingTranslation blog. We spend a lot of time and effort to bring you the best quality translations we can provide, so please show us respect by reading from our site instead of aggregators that steal our work.
"Right." He Jun gritted his teeth and sneered, his voice containing bitter hatred as he said, "They have originally done numerous crimes, their guilt exceeds their lives. It's still cheaper to accuse them of treason. Miss Jiang second, what you said made a lot of sense. That Feng Yu Tang let us, all fifteen brothers, dig for gold, so we will be the witness. Accusing Feng Yu Tang's wolf ambitions! He wanted to dig for gold, also afraid of people discovering his plans, thus made us, Master Xue's subordinates, to do his work. Mining days and nights without any rest. If any of us was dead, no one would receive the corpse, which was the best way not to leak the secret!"
Jiang Li smiled, He Jun had really grown up. Facing his enemies, he could finally be aware that not all upright methods were useful. It's just that this maturity and sensibility made people's hearts ache somehow.
Peng Xiao said deeply, "Not just us, there are still the 10 dead brothers. At that time, Master emphatized with us. There were 15 of us brothers, each of us had lost our parents but there were still wives and children at home. Now they had been tortured by Feng Yu Tang to death, their bodies were thrown on the outside of Dongshan to be eaten by wild dogs. The more pitiful ones were those that were just newly married and in bliss. It's unknown how their wives and children pass their days now..... Even if I have to struggle for this life, I, Peng Xiao, want to take revenge for those brothers!"
Though the tall man did not shed any tears, each word was like tears of blood. Ye Ming Yu, who was listening, felt his heart stimulated and couldn't help saying, "Count me in! Feng Yu Tang did such repulsive things, he should have met retribution earlier. Since the heavens has not come out, I, his mother, will come out!"
[T/N note: saying his mother is a kind of cursing]
Maybe people thought the same way, many things looked difficult when first started, but at the end, it's not that unimaginable.
"But....." He Jun paused, calmed his mind for a while, before looking at Jiang Li, "Asking for Feng Yu Tang's guilt, how about our Master?" He's still thinking of Xue Huai Yuan in his heart.
"County Deputy Xue's charge is basically complete nonsense. Saying that he was greedy for disaster relief silver, all the people in Tongxiang can testify that at the time of disaster, the silver was all distributed to them. Xue Huai Yuan did not corrupt even a single piece of silver." Jiang Li said.
"All of us know that." Peng Xiao lowered his head, "The problem is, no one in Tongxiang is willing to stand up."
"Can't blame them." He Jun interrupted, "Disaster falls on the wife and children, Feng Yu Tang holds their parents and children to threaten them, whose hearts will not have worries and do not dare to testify for Master. Miss Jiang second, after Feng Yu Tang became Tongxiang's county deputy, he bullied men and occupied women, committing all kinds of imaginable misdeeds. The people dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. Not only that, Feng Yu Tang also disregards human lives. If it were not for that, the people would have overturned the sky since earlier. But Feng Yu Tang was originally a gangster, his methods are completely disgusting, no one dares to brave this danger."
"I know." Jiang Li said softly, "I don't blame them." In fact, she's the same. If there's a day in the future that she had to call out injustice on behalf of a good person, but she had to compensate with Xue Huai Yuan and Xue Zhao's lives, she would definitely hesitate. A knife that does not cut one's own body does not hurt. Human nature is just like this, nobody can avoid it.
"Then what to do now?" Ye Ming Yu scratched his head.
"Though the people have difficulties, this matter still needs the people in Tongxiang to step forward. I know there will be danger, but there's no other way. The ways of the world are like this, what is supposed to be fair and just now has to be paid before obtaining. As long as the people stand up, they will be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. I want to let the sinner that frames the Xue family to shed a layer of skin even if they don't die this time. Absolutely won't let them go!" Jiang Li's tone as she spoke grew heavier, there seemed to be fires in the pupils of her eyes. She only calmed down after a while.
"I'll do it. There are altogether 568 households in Tongxiang. I'll persuade them myself. From today on, there are still five days left. Every family and every household in Tongxiang, not a single household has never received County Deputy Xue's grace. "The kindness of dripping water is reciprocated by gushing springs"; although help does not need to be recompense, now is the time to give an account. People's hearts are made of flesh, I'll knock on each family's door, ask each family one by one, 568 households, I don't believe that no one will be willing to come forward." She looked at the few people, "In any case, there will always be one person, right?"
The few people were silent.
There's expectation in Jiang Li's eyes. She had always been calm and gentle. Even if it was an urgent matter, in her hands, it did not seem so tense. As a result, her mood was seldom exposed. This kind of expectant expression had never been seen by Ye Ming Yu.
Now he's seen it.
It was as if at this moment that she became a true girl in her teenage years, looking wholeheartedly for good things to occur. Whoever breaks this careful expectation seemed to have committed a heinous crime.
Peng Xiao said, "Yes, there will certainly be one, and there will be more. The people in Tongxiang are not people who forget favors and violate justice. Miss Jiang second, don't underestimate them."
The corners of Jiang Li's mouth rose and she said, "I won't, I always believe in them."
Just like my father who believes in them.
......
Coming out of the secret room, Jiang Li and Ye Ming Yu walked back.
Ye Ming Yu said, "Ah Li, I'll go with you when you go to persuade those people. I'm afraid that you will be busy handling it by yourself. 568 households is not a small number."
Jiang Li pondered, "Uncle, you don't know the favor they've received from County Deputy Xue, I'm afraid it would be difficult to convince them. Why don't I write notes for you and you look at the notes first."
Ye Ming Yu was stunned, "Don't tell me that you know what kind of favors they have received from County Deputy Xue?"
"Sort of." Jiang Li laughed. Sometimes, she and Xue Zhao felt that Xue Huai Yuan was truly a hard to come by philanthropist on this earth. Because Xue Huai Yuan would help every person that had difficulty in Tongxiang. Tongxiang was poor at that time, no one was willing to come. Xue Huai Yuan came to Tongxiang and never had the idea of leaving. It seemed that for Xue Huai Yuan, each person living in Tongxiang was his close relative. As a parent official, he solved the problem of the common people. If even the common people could not rely on him, there's no one else to rely on.
Previously, she felt it was good to have a clear conscience. But now, she was somewhat at a loss. She didn't know whether there's any meaning when Xue Huai Yuan did all these things at that time.
It would be nice if Xue Zhao was here, Jiang Li thought. He would certainly be able to understand her present confusion, also able to convince her within a short period of time.
The fleet of carriages turned around on the road taken by Jiang Li and once again walked back on the right path. Jiang Li had already changed back to her original clothes on the carriage. It could be assumed that Feng Yu Tang had already found out that the people in Dongshan had been taken away and was searching for the people in frustration. She couldn't conceal it for a long time, so she might as well just walk in the open calmly. Feng Yu Tang knew it was her people that brought Peng Xiao and the others out. However, no matter how, they wouldn't discover them. Probably. Feng Yu Tang also would not dare to intimidate her to tell their whereabouts, thus there was no fear.
Jiang Li sat in the carriage, seriously thinking about which move she should make next. Before she knew it, it was already dark outside.
This day, they had made use of time tightly, even then, time went by very quickly. Jiang Li felt more and more that there was not sufficient time. Two out of the seven days had already passed; the remaining five days, she didn't know if time was enough.
She raised the curtain. In winter, night came quickly. Originally, though it was not lively, there were still people walking around at night in Tongxiang. However, nowadays, perhaps due to Feng Yu Tang taking up the post, there were very few people. After walking for a long time, they only met one person. Each family closed their door and extinguished their lanterns, making Tongxiang look like an empty town. In contrast, the sound made by the carriage walking on the street was especially distinct.
Ye Ming Yu muttered outside, "Why isn't a single person visible?"
The wind slightly blew the curtain on the carriage. For no reason, Jiang Li's heart suddenly jumped.
After turning one more corner, it would be Bluestone Lane. It was obviously a familiar street, but an ominous premonition suddenly gushed out of Jiang Li's heart. She shouted, "Uncle!"
"What's the matter, Ah.....", Ye Ming Yu's word, "Li", had not been spoken yet when he heard a cold sound brought by the wind from midair. He reacted extremely quickly, and without thinking, pulled up his sword and waved it to block. A "clank" sound was immediately heard, which was the sword colliding, creating a loud noise.
From the houses around, a few shadows swooshed out, their movements extremely fast, practically blending in the dim light of the night. They came from both cardinal and ordinal directions of the carriage, pointing their swords at Jiang Li!
"Protect miss cousin!" Ye Ming Yu only managed to shout these words before he started fighting with the black dressed assassins.
Jiang Li's heart thumped. She anticipated Yongning's command to Feng Yu Tang to kill her, but she never thought that it would be this quick! No need to mention the time needed to send a letter from Yanjing to Tongxiang which was not possible to be this quick. At least Feng Yu Tang would hesitate for a while upon receiving Yongning's command. She's Jiang Yuan Bai's daughter, with just this identity, it should make Feng Yu Tang be somewhat restrained.
But everytime there's a mistake, Feng Yu Tang and his master, Yongning, were the same. They were born fearless and ruthless. Perhaps he still thought that Princess Yongning would keep him safe and sound and take care of everything, thus he would be this daring!
Jiang Li looked out and her heart gradually sank. Good grief, Yongning really has a big style. There are merely seven people in their group, but Yongning has 20 people. Among these 20 people, there were a few whose martial arts were especially high. They fought with Ye Ming Yu while the remaining were somewhat inferior in martial arts. However, those people entangled the other bodyguards. A few people headed towards the carriage, their target was Jiang Li!
This can't continue! In Jiang Li's mind, a conjecture flitted across. These people's goal is her, not Ye Ming Yu and the others. If they continue to tangle with each other, perhaps Ye Ming Yu will be in danger. She mulled and without thinking, she abruptly went out of the carriage, scaring Ye Ming Yu. He shouted severely, "Ah Li, go back!"
"I'm fine, uncle!" Jiang Li's movement was very quick, done in a blink of an eye. She turned her head, felt the dagger in her sleeve and took it out to chop off the rope of the carriage. Then she stepped on the stirrup, turned over the horse, pulled the rein, then sped away into the night.
In the blink of an eye, there was no more trace.
Those assassins saw Jiang Li abandon the carriage and run away, one by one no longer fighting with Ye Ming Yu and went to pursue Jiang Li. Ye Ming Yu would not let them get away and continued to fight. However, the other party had a larger number and a few people got away, following Jiang Li's figure seen from behind.
At this moment, on the horse's back, Jiang Li, who was in a desperate situation, could instead think more clearly.
Sometimes, the more desperate the situation was, the more flustered people's hearts would be and it would be easy to make mistakes. Sometimes, they actually did not suffer a defeat that quickly, but due to the agitation, people surrendered quickly. She knew the principle of not giving up until the last moment, moreover, she had a trump card that other people can't compare.
That was, her familiarity with Tongxiang.
Jiang Li could see that those people sent to kill were divided into two groups. The group with the fewer people were those with better martial art skills while the group with the more people were less skillful. Those with better martial art skills should be Yongning's subordinates and the others should be the band that Feng Yu Tang found from somewhere. Presumably, the people who were currently following behind her closely were Princess Yongning's people.
After all, it was their task to chase and kill her.
Jiang Li smiled slightly, the horse nimbly crossed through the wood's paths. In the night, the moon was gradually covered by the thick clouds and nothing could be seen.
But it was as if she could still see as she flexibly shuttled in the woods.
She grew up in Tongxiang, this was her home. She watched Xue Zhao hunt over here, and she knew that it's important to induce the prey to enter the trap when hunting. Not batting an eyelid, little by little, each tree, each piece of land, those were all her natural barriers, her familiar courage.
The corner of Jiang Li's mouth rose up, the sound of the people pursuing behind her were getting closer. She even felt that as long as she turned her head, a shiny silver sword would be across her neck and steal her life.
Please, read this at BloomingTranslation blog. We spend a lot of time and effort to bring you the best quality translations we can provide, so please show us respect by reading from our site instead of aggregators that steal our work.
But she just lightly jumped over the bushes in front of her and stopped.
"Plop" "Plop" "Plop" !
Three sounds.
Sounded like a heavy object falling into water. Shortly after, there was the sound of cursing, there also seemed to be a voice in panic asking for help.
Jiang Li stopped and laughed softly in front of the bushes.
At this moment, the calm bushes turned into a seemingly hollow lake. It looked as if there's something thick and sticky, flowing and wrapping around people, dragging them down. There were shadows of people struggling.
"Don't struggle," Jiang Li spoke slowly, "this pool is the most frightful in the area, the more you struggle, the faster you'll drown."
The moon slowly came out of the cloud. Her clothes and the corner of her skirt were covered in the mud of the woods. However, one cheek was surprisingly clean, with a smile at the corner of her lip, she opened her mouth gently, but the words coming out were utterly dreadful, "Aiya, I just noticed that half of your body has gone in, this cannot be saved. Even if someone comes, they can't save you, otherwise they will be pulled down together." She covered her mouth, sighed and said, "so pitiful."
Those black dressed assassins looked angrily and fiercely at her. But half of the body had sunk, there's one whose face had even started to go in. He probably struggled the most just now. His mouth was covered and soon his nose would also go down. His eyes showed his fright.
This taste of waiting for death was truly a torture. It's better for Jiang Li to stab them with a sword and give them a quick death.
Jiang Li obviously had no such kindness. She turned the horse around and left the pool.
Because of this pool in the woods, Xue Huai Yuan prohibited her and Xue Zhao from playing inside. However, Xue Zhao was mischievous and felt that this was a natural trap. They trapped a lot of prey here. If it were not for Feng Yu Tang's sudden dispatch of assassins, she was about to ask Ye Ming Yu to arrange the woods, it would not be hard to capture all the assassins in one go. Just like in a war, sometimes military strategy could surpass brute force.
It's a pity there were only three.
Jiang Li rode the horse back. She wanted to go back using a different route, safely returning to Ye Ming Yu's side. She didn't know how Ye Ming Yu was now.
The horse walked a few steps forward but stopped abruptly, its front hooves shook a few times in the air. As if smelling some kind of danger, it was hesitant to move.
In the bright moonlight, faintly under the thicket, around ten men dressed in black were standing in a circle, trapping her in the middle.
"Second miss really possesses remarkable abilities." The leader sneered, "No wonder madam told this many of us to go. At first we still thought it's an overkill, but now it seems that we still underestimate second miss."
Madam? Jiang Li frowned, "Ji Shuran?"
The other party did not speak, but Jiang Li understood in an instant, it was indeed Ji Shuran.
She was aware that this time she went to Xiangyang, Ji Shuran would definitely move her hand in the dark. After all, in Ji Shuran's eyes, she was a stumbling block that had to be removed. But she never thought that Ji Shuran's people could keep their composure, even employing the method of 'the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind'. Let people follow from behind, wait until both her side and Feng Yu Tang's side suffered, and at the moment of distraction, killing her when she was unprepared.
This was her own mistake, Jiang Li thought calmly.
There were ten people on the other side while she was alone, without any weapons, except for the short dagger tucked in her sleeve. But this dagger did not have great use as the enemy's strength was too different from hers. She did not have anything that can be used to distract the other party. After seeing Feng Yu Tang's people sink into the pool, these people would be even more alert and would not repeat the mistake.
God likes to joke. When it looked like the future was bright, he liked to let people know that life was short, making the hopeful people fall into the dark and feel more desperate.
"Second miss does not have to look around and look for another way." A trace of malice could be heard in the leader's voice. He said, "Madam told us to use every ways to torture before killing you." He laughed obscenely, "But second miss is such a fresh and able person, wise and brace, we hate to use any scary methods to torture you. Why don't we change to a more comfortable way?"
The black dressed men around simultaneously laughed in the same nauseating way as him. Without thinking, Jiang Li knew what kind of disgusting way their hearts were thinking.
In an instant, she seemed to return to that afternoon at the Shen residence. That state of humiliation and resentment seized the later half a year, making her life turned upside down before she died. And these people once again evoked those disgusting memories.
Jiang Li's eyes sank, she sneered and said, "Do you think your winning is set? Do you think I have no other way?"
The leader laughed again. He said, "I know second miss is stalling for time. But just now, third master Ye was already injured. Feng Yu Tang's people are stopping him. Moreover, second miss's horse ran too fast. Third master Ye's horse does not know the way and cannot find the whereabouts of second miss in the woods. Right here at this moment, there's only us, and you."
He spoke extremely arrogantly. Jiang Li recognize the road, therefore, she was able to bring those three assassins, ran into the woods, and let them lost their lives in the deep pool. But even if Ye Ming Yu could break away from those killers, he would not be able to find Jiang Li. For him, Tongxiang was a totally unfamiliar place.
But Jiang Li just laughed, "Who says I'm calling the third master?"
The person was stunned.
Her voice was clear, containing an indescribable smile and replied to the woods.
"Duke, after watching the play for so long, can you come out?"