Chapter 55
Chapter 55
After Cook Chen was buried, Jiang Yunsui stayed downcast for quite some time.
Half a month later, Ji Yan’an took her out.
“Where are we going?”
Sitting in the carriage, she leaned against the window and watched the lively crowd outside.
Ji Yan’an said, “To watch Wang Hu and his men receive their sentences.”
That was sure to be a lively event.
Jiang Yunsui saw quite a few people outside hurrying toward the county yamen.
“Hurry, hurry! Today’s the day Wang Hu and his lot are put on trial. We need to get a spot up front.”
“This is so satisfying. If only they could just be beheaded on the spot.”
“My third aunt’s daughter was taken by those animals. She’s already dead. Those beasts deserve to die!”
“Young Master Ji is the one governing Beizhen City now, isn’t he? It’s much safer than before. Even the petty thieves have gotten fewer.”
“Exactly. Our Beizhen City is protected by the Ji Family Army, so in the end, it really has to be a Ji Family Member who comes to take charge.”
Jiang Yunsui pricked up her ears, listening to the passersby praise Ji Yan’an, and felt a little pleased herself.
When they arrived at the county yamen, they went straight in through the back entrance.
Ji Yan’an sat with several other generals in the seats below the dais, while the county magistrate sat above.
At that moment, cold sweat was beading on the county magistrate’s forehead.
With so many important figures present, he had better conduct this trial properly.
Jiang Yunsui stood beside Ji Yan’an’s chair, her tiny body leaning crookedly against it. Aside from Ji Yan’an, everyone else ignored her presence.
As the court session began, Wang Hu and the men who had once followed him around abusing their power were dragged in.
The evidence and charges had all been gathered thoroughly. Their crimes were beyond dispute.
Aside from Wang Hu and a few higher-ranking officials, who were to be escorted back to the capital, the others were all sentenced to be executed three years later.
During those three years, they would be sent away for hard labor.
Their families were also sentenced to have their property confiscated and be sent to the harshest places to perform hard labor.
In this era, there was no such thing as a crime not implicating one’s family.
The fact that the rest of their clans were not dragged into it was already considered lenient.
As soon as the county magistrate handed down the sentences, another burst of chaotic noise came from outside.
A group of people made a grand entrance.
“My lords, leave this Wang Hu to us.”
A beardless man with a pale face walked in, followed by some fifty guards. His voice was sharper than that of an ordinary man, and he held an imperial edict in his hand, unconsciously crooking his pinky as he spoke.
Jiang Yunsui couldn’t help taking a few more looks. So strange. She had to look again.
“And where is the military pay Wang Hu stole? Those funds are evidence as well, and must be taken back with us.”
The generals secretly spat in contempt. If it was taken back, would they ever see it again?
General Zhao, who smiled like the Maitreya Buddha, gave a cheerful laugh. “Eunuch, surely you jest. The military pay has, of course, been distributed to the soldiers below. Otherwise, what are they supposed to use to protect Great Liang? Nothing but hot blood and mortal flesh? Without silver, without grain, without a full belly, how are they supposed to have the strength to fight the barbarians?”
“What?! It’s all been distributed?!”
“Of course. That was military pay from three years ago. It was delayed until now before it finally got handed out. And quite a few of our soldiers had already died in battle before they ever got the chance to receive that money. We’ve failed them. Wang Hu truly is insatiably greedy, a complete animal.”
“Exactly. Eunuch, you’ve come at just the right time. When will the higher-ups issue this year’s military pay for Mobei? And the soldiers’ clothes need replacing, too. Otherwise, this winter won’t be easy to get through.”
“The weapons should be replaced as well.”
“And the horses. We have far too few horses, nowhere near as many as the barbarians…”
The generals chimed in one after another, working together in perfect harmony. Every time they opened their mouths, it was to ask for money.
The eunuch could barely keep the expression on his face from cracking.
“Heh… yes, about that. I will return and ask His Majesty for further instructions.”
From the looks of it, there was no chance he would be taking that military pay with him. If he tried, this mob would eat him alive.
When the eunuch left, he cast a discreet glance in Ji Yan’an’s direction.
Seeing Ji Yan’an’s pale face and the way his eyes were closed, as if he were so weak he might faint at any moment, the eunuch thought to himself that he should send an imperial physician to check on him tomorrow.
The group left with Wang Hu and the others.
Only then did Ji Yan’an open his eyes and give a faint glance in the direction they had gone.
He rose, exchanged a few words with the generals, and then departed. But after settling into the carriage, Ji Yan’an kept feeling as if something had been left behind.
“Nanshu, did we forget something?”
Nanshu swept his gaze around the inside of the carriage.
“No.”
Ji Yan’an frowned slightly. Then, all at once, he stiffened.
“Where is Jiang Yunsui?!”
“Achoo…”
Jiang Yunsui had run off.
She had gotten bored sitting around in the court hall and wanted to go out for a stroll and buy something to eat.
She had originally planned to return quickly, but then she ran into two aunties in the street yanking at each other’s hair. The spectacle was so entertaining that she got hooked on watching and lost track of time.
Only after the two aunties finally finished their hair-pulling match did she remember Ji Yan’an. With a bun clenched in her mouth, she hurried back.
But after turning around and running a few steps, she crashed into someone and landed flat on her bottom.
Before Jiang Yunsui could get up, someone scooped her into their arms.
“Oh, Niuniu, how could you be so careless?”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes went wide. Since when did she have a mother?!
The next second, a large, stinking hand covered her mouth and nose.
A strange smell drifted over. Jiang Yunsui and the woman holding her stared at each other, eye to eye.
“What’s going on? The drug stopped working?”
When the woman saw that Jiang Yunsui had not passed out, her face changed drastically.
Jiang Yunsui bit down hard on her hand.
She smashed the sweet fried rice cake in her hand toward the woman’s eye, kicked hard against her chest, and even grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked.
“Awooo!!!”
Under the combined assault of Jiang Yunsui’s hands, feet, and teeth, the woman screamed and let go.
Jiang Yunsui saw two men walking over with fierce expressions. Not daring to keep fighting, she immediately turned and sprinted away.
The woman’s shrill voice pierced her ears.
“Hurry up and catch that little bitch!”
As soon as Jiang Yunsui ran into the crowd, she activated her ability to make people overlook her.
In the blink of an eye, those people realized that the target they were looking for had vanished.
For a moment, they cursed under their breath.
“Where the hell did that wretched girl run off to?”
The gazes of the surrounding people gradually turned suspicious as they looked at them.
The woman was grimacing in pain, but she still had to explain herself to the people nearby.
“That wretched girl wanted new clothes. How could a poor family like ours afford that? So she threw a tantrum, that’s all.”
After they finally came up with an excuse and dispelled the crowd’s suspicions, their faces darkened the moment they turned away.
“Stop looking. Take the goods we already have and get them out first. The searches have been getting stricter lately. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to move a single one of them.”
The group went into an empty alley.
The woman’s face was full of hatred. “Damn it. If the drug hadn’t failed, that little girl never would’ve gotten away. With looks like hers, she’d definitely fetch a good price if we sold her to a brothel.”
“Useless. You couldn’t even catch one child.”
A simple, honest-looking man glared viciously at the woman.