nucmednet Chapter 37 Powerless, without connections, weak, pitiful, and helpless.
Chapter 37 Powerless, without connections, weak, pitiful, and helpless.
After storing the somewhat heavy silver into his spatial storage, Meng Fuqing felt his stomach rumble twice, realizing it was lunchtime. He ordered a bowl of mutton soup and some sesame cakes from a roadside stall.
Before long, steaming hot mutton soup and fragrant sesame cakes were served on the table, and Meng Fuqing sat by the roadside to eat.
"Have you heard? What happened to the Lin family in Shili Town?"
"How come I haven't heard? They say that the old master of the Lin family suddenly suffered a stroke while he was having sex with his concubine, and died without making a sound. It's such a pity that he had so many beautiful women in his family..."
Meng Fuqing's ears twitched; the two people who were talking were sitting at the table behind her. She put down her chopsticks and slowly nibbled on the warm sesame cake.
"Where? I heard that Master Lin was murdered. Not only is he dead, but the Lin family's storeroom was also emptied! Otherwise, how could such a coincidence happen?"
"really?"
"It couldn't be more true! It's really strange, really. There wasn't even a mouse hole in that warehouse. How could they have moved all that gold and silver in one go?"
"Is this what the Lin family has been causing trouble at the county government office lately?"
"That's right, there are so many mouths to feed. The Lin family is related to the county magistrate, so we have to ask the county magistrate to make the decision."
“It’s good to have a relative who’s an official. The Lin family is a local tyrant in Shili Town. They’ve done a lot of things like bullying men and women. They say they had fifteen concubines, but those were still alive. They were forced to their deaths…” The man shook his head and clicked his tongue twice. After sighing, he said hesitantly, “But… I feel like this is something no human being could do.”
"You know what, some people actually say that. The Lin family went to great lengths to invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual, saying that the young girl had a lot of yin energy and that arranging a ghost marriage would nourish the soul of the wealthy Lin so that his resentment would dissipate."
"This is too far-fetched... Has the person been found?"
"They've been found, and the person has been buried."
……
A ghost marriage? It seems she was the ghost marriage chosen by the Lin family back then.
After eavesdropping on their conversation, Meng Fuqing picked up his bowl and finished the mutton soup in a few gulps. He then bought twenty sesame cakes from the stall owner, paid the money, and headed towards the county's carriage and horse station.
The Lin family's affairs, whether it was the disappearance of gold and silver jewelry from the warehouse or the suffocation that left no trace, all illustrate one thing—something that ordinary people could not do.
The Lin family and the county magistrate did have a close relationship, which made her a little worried. What if the Lin family decided to take their anger out on someone?
She, Meng Fuqing, had just lost her father, was recovering from a serious illness, was powerless, weak, pitiful, and helpless, and just happened to rebel against the Lin family at this critical juncture. What a chosen scapegoat!
She had never met the magistrate of Qingping County before. How could someone who could raise such parasites as the Lin family and collect city fees per capita be a good official?
Meng Fuqing sighed, feeling a little depressed for the first time.
Killing people is not difficult; what's difficult is that you can't kill them all, you simply can't kill them all.
However, these are all just her guesses. Unless the Hu people invade and the Great Yan Kingdom falls, the death of a local county official is no small matter.
Three wanted criminals were roaming around Qingping County, and several unsolved cases had occurred. It would be bad if they attracted the attention of the higher-ups. She really didn't want to deal with people from the imperial court unless absolutely necessary.
Putting aside his other matters, Meng Fuqing inquired as he walked toward the carriage.
The horse and carriage shops in the county were much larger than those in the town, and there were many more livestock to choose from.
She stood at the entrance of the carriage shop, not really wanting to go in.
Perhaps because of her wood-type superpowers, she is particularly attractive to herbivores. Last time, it was Shan Qiyu who rented the car. This time, since her mother wasn't around, she had to bite the bullet and go ahead.
The shop assistant at the carriage shop saw her standing motionless at the door, sized her up in her coarse linen clothes with several patches, and clicked his tongue, asking, "What do you do?"
He impatiently cracked his whip, "Don't stand in front of our carriage shop if you have nothing to do, you're delaying our business!"
The young man who was looking after the horses inside the carriage shop heard the noise and turned to look at the door. He happened to see Meng Fuqing, who had almost been whipped, not even blinking before his gaze fell on the shop assistant.
His brow twitched slightly; he hadn't expected to run into her in Qingping County.
"Buy a car," Meng Fuqing said softly.
The shop assistant shrugged at her, "You're so poor you can barely afford clothes. Can you even afford to buy anything?"
Meng Fuqing twitched the corner of his mouth. "How strange, is your master hiring a waiter to drive away guests?"
She casually stopped a passerby who wanted to enter the carriage shop, saying, "Don't go in. This guy said that you can't enter unless you're wearing fine clothes."
The waiter's eyes widened: "I didn't say that...!"
The passerby was a burly man. He glanced at the waiter who was anxiously trying to pull people away, rolled his eyes, and immediately said, "Forget it. I hate people who fawn over the powerful and bully the weak the most. Let's go to another place."
He spoke loudly, and the waiter immediately froze, stopping his movements.
After walking a few steps, the man stopped and turned to Meng Fuqing, saying, "There's more than one carriage shop in the county. There's another one called Changrong to the south. Don't argue with him, little girl."
Finished talking and left.
Waiter: ...
What's going on with this guy? He's probably sent by their rivals to sabotage Chen's Carriage and Horse Shop's business!
The manager of the carriage company went to the toilet, and when he came out, he heard what the man said and the sky fell down.
He grabbed one of the men to ask what was going on, only to see the tall, handsome young man who had just taken a liking to a horse lazily say, "Never mind, I'll go look somewhere else too."
After saying that, he turned to leave.
Seeing this, the other livestock watchers also hesitated, unsure whether they should still buy it.
Meng Fuqing then noticed the boy with his hair tied up. She stared at the ordinary face that was walking towards her for a moment, and she was sure that he was disguised.
This outfit and this demeanor are not commonly seen in Qingping County. The last time she saw them was at Sifang Xiaoguan.
If she wasn't mistaken, the boy the scarred man was following was probably a member of the Xie family, and also a wanted criminal with a bounty of one hundred taels of silver on his head.
She was only distracted by the scarred man as she passed the city gate, and didn't notice what he actually looked like. But she was certain that he had disguised himself to avoid the authorities.
Just as he was about to snatch another big catch, the waiter was dumbfounded again. He had only made a few casual jokes with the young girl; what did he have to do with these two?
This person was also sent by Changrong! It must be!
He stared at Meng Fuqing suspiciously: "Tell me, were you sent by Changrong to disrupt Chenji's business?!"
As he spoke, as if afraid that Meng Fuqing would run away, he reached out to grab Meng Fuqing's arm.
Before he even touched anyone, his entire arm went numb, as if hundreds of ants were crawling on it.
The boy withdrew his hand, a half-smile on his face, and said, "You're blocking my way."
The manager of the carriage shop, who had just figured out the situation, rushed over, wiping the sweat from his brow. He immediately slapped the shop assistant across the face. "You blind fool! You're clearly looking down on everyone! I, the manager, haven't been discriminating against anyone, and you're already acting like a bully?! Men, take him away!"
The guy was stunned and left without uttering a sound.