Chapter 62 The wind is rising; I'll take you back. ...

Although Shen Guitang was busy in Bin County, he was able to completely suppress the county magistrate Luo Lian, so his decision-making was not hindered too much and was still relatively well-organized.

In Jing County, Zhang Mutou didn't receive such treatment. Although he was well-fed and cared for in the county government, that was all. The magistrate of Jing County was a local gentry who had donated his position and had no fear of this old man from the capital. Since ancient times, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake, let alone a mere lowly official in the Ministry of Works with no connections.

Zhang Mutou was so angry that he couldn't eat, especially when he saw refugees dying in the county. His already sparse white hair thinned even further.

The turning point came on the third day after he arrived in Jing County. It was a strange story: the county had just experienced flooding, yet a massive fire suddenly broke out.

And coincidentally, the fire occurred at the grain store owned by the wealthiest household in the county, namely the county magistrate.

Even more coincidentally, the fire only burned around the perimeter of the grain store, and as soon as the fire started, a group of refugees rushed into the grain store under the pretext of fighting the fire. By the time the fire was extinguished, the grain inside had also been "destroyed."

That night, the county magistrate nearly suffered a heart attack, but he could only swallow this bitter pill. After all, he had been using the excuse that the county had no food to appease the people. If he were suddenly accused of being the county's magistrate and watching his people starve to death, his job would be over.

Thus, when this timely fire was lit, the people cheered, Zhang Mutou breathed a sigh of relief, and the unsung hero Hei Feng kept his merits hidden.

Finally, Li Jian's men arrived "late," and Shen Guitang and Zhang Mutou were invited back to the prefectural city.

Inside the prefect's residence, Qiu Yun invited Shen Guitang to lunch. "I heard that Lord Shen brought back a mother and child from Bin County?"

Shen Guitang sighed: "Cui Cui is a kind-hearted woman. She wouldn't even step on the insects on the roadside. It's perfectly normal for her to want to help the Chen family mother and son who were kidnapped by Japanese pirates."

"With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?"

Qiu Yun's face twitched, but that wasn't what he wanted to ask anyway. He casually asked, "Did Lord Shen make any unusual discoveries during his trip to Bin County?"

Shen Guitang frowned, his expression unusually serious: "Speaking of discoveries, there is indeed something I'm unsure whether I should report."

"Oh?" Qiu Yun pretended to listen attentively, but her heart was in her throat.

“I suspect,” he pointed to Li Jian’s main courtyard, “that they are colluding with the Japanese pirates.”

Qiu Yun initially breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that they hadn't discovered what happened back then. However, before he could fully relax, he suddenly realized the underlying meaning of Shen Guitang's words.

Back then, the Great Jin Dynasty did have an agreement with the famous Japanese general Ishikawa Ichiro. However, the late emperor had also foreseen Ishikawa Ichiro's ambitions and knew that he would not inform the Japanese monarch. Therefore, he also secretly maintained contact with Taira Sosuke, who was at odds with Ishikawa Ichiro at the time.

Although Ishikawa Ichiro eliminated Xiao Pingjiang, a major threat to the Japanese army, in Quzhou, he was unaware that the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Since the late emperor dared to conspire with him, how could he let him go back alive?

Now that the late emperor and Ishikawa Ichiro are both gone, Ji Heng, who served as the late emperor's sword in the Zhennan Rebellion case, did not exterminate the Japanese pirates entrenched in Quzhou.

On the one hand, after Xiao Pingjiang's death, the Great Jin Dynasty indeed had few generals available. On the other hand, it was also out of fear that the events of that year would be exposed by those with ulterior motives.

However, Ji Heng's willingness to exchange the small-scale antics of the Japanese pirates for the consolidation of his imperial throne does not mean that he would condone Li Jian's collusion with the Japanese pirates.

Qiu Yun stood up abruptly. "This matter is of utmost importance. Lord Shen, please do not joke about this."

Shen Guitang seemed intimidated by his posture and began to hesitate: "Perhaps, perhaps I am overthinking it."

If he were to confidently present evidence at this moment, Qiu Yun would suspect he had ulterior motives. But his self-doubting demeanor already convinced Qiu Yun of his motives to be 70-80%.

Qiu Yun could no longer sit down. "If this matter is true, then Lord Shen will naturally be credited for his report. But if it turns out to be a complete fabrication," his expression turned cold, "Lord Shen should consider the consequences of slandering an official of the imperial court."

Shen Guitang looked annoyed until he watched Qiu Yun's figure disappear completely before his expression returned to its indifferent state. Now he would just sit back and watch them fight like dogs.

Meanwhile, the officials who came from Yujing to provide disaster relief finally arrived in Quzhou with grain allocated from the national treasury. The pacification envoy who came this time was Li Yu, the son-in-law of the current princess, the cousin of Li Jian, the prefect of Quzhou, and the man who had famously exposed his own brother-in-law years ago.

The prince consort was of noble status and had a large entourage. Hengbo was bored in the courtyard when he suddenly saw this grand group of people and turned to avoid them.

However, a somewhat familiar figure in the crowd made her stop in her tracks. How could this person be with...?

Just then, the girl looked up and glanced in their direction. Their eyes met, and both of them were startled. The girl quickly lowered her head and quickened her pace.

Hengbo:……

She wasn't quite sure at first, but now seeing the guilty look on this person's face, who else could it be but Er Gou?

Hengbo wasn't in a hurry to leave; she wanted to see how Ergou managed to become someone else's maid through her own efforts.

Er Gou and several maids, along with the servants, went back and forth in the courtyard, sweeping and arranging luggage. After working for half a day, they finally had a moment to rest.

The moment her bottom touched the stone bench on the veranda, she was dragged away to the back garden by a mysterious figure. Amidst the vibrant colors of the garden, Er Gou shakily raised his head and finally saw the culprit's face.

"Sister Cuihua?! It really is you!" She patted her chest. "I thought I was seeing a ghost because I missed you so much."

Once the initial shock subsided, she couldn't help but complain, "Why did you suddenly appear? You scared me to death!"

Hengbo:……

Why has this child become so suspicious after just a few days apart?

However, there were obviously more important things to do at the moment. Hengbo suppressed his speechlessness and asked her: How did you end up here?

When asked about this, Er Gou was overcome with a pang of sadness: "Sister Cuihua, you have no idea how cold-blooded and ruthless Shen Wangcai is! He actually made me, a weak woman with no strength to even kill a chicken, pretend to be Li Yu's long-lost biological daughter to steal things from him. Do you know Li Yu? He's a monster who treats human life like dirt!" Even though she was indeed Li Yu's daughter...

Li Yu? Recalling Shen Guitang's words in the carriage that night: There are three essential pieces of evidence. Among them, the evidence of the late emperor's collusion with the Japanese pirates is in the hands of the Japanese pirates. As for the remaining letters between Li Yu and Xiao Pingjiang and the communication between Li Yu and Ji Heng, Hengbo is more inclined to believe that Shen Guitang asked Er Gou to find the latter.

After all, if the latter hadn't been in his hands, Li Yu's life would have been taken by Ji Heng long ago. Therefore, for him, this trump card was clearly a matter of life and death.

However, Hengbo wondered: Could it be that Li Yu couldn't even recognize his own daughter?

Er Gou was on the verge of tears. It would be fine if he really didn't recognize her, but she was afraid that Li Yu had already recognized her as his biological daughter.

She recalled her first day at the Princess's residence. To complete Shen Guitang's mission, she had to risk getting acquainted with Li Yu. But the corrupt official's first words upon seeing her were, "Is this the newly recruited maid? She's really ugly. Just send her away."

She almost lost her temper and attacked someone. Her mother, Xiao Wu, was a famous beauty in the past, and she and her mother looked at least five or six parts alike. Even if she was a little thin now, she was still not ugly.

However, when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

She did indeed erupt in anger, but instead threw herself at Li Yu's feet, wailing and howling, "Master, please have mercy on me! My mother died in childbirth, and my ungrateful father married a wealthy widow the following year, kicking me out. I'm starving and freezing every day, and I finally got this good job. Please, give me a chance to live!"

Her crying was so sincere that all the servants who witnessed it were deeply moved. Li Yu's face twitched violently as he lowered his eyes and quietly watched the little girl secretly wipe her snot on his robe.

But he didn't say anything about kicking them out, instead leaving them with the words, "If you stay here, you'll only die faster."

After that, several servants died in the Princess's residence. These people had all had some contact with Li Yu, and some were even beaten to death on Li Yu's orders.

She couldn't help but feel uneasy. It took her a lot of effort to find out from the old people in the Princess's mansion that such things were common in the Princess's mansion in previous years, but had stopped in recent years. She didn't know why it had started again recently.

The old servant gave her one last piece of advice: "In this mansion, only a fool can survive."

Er Gou, still burdened with a mission: ...I want to go home!

“Sister Cuihua,” Ergou looked at Hengbo pitifully, “Do you have any martial arts techniques that can transfer internal energy to others? I’m not greedy, just one level is enough.”

Hengbo:……

Hengbo took Ergou's pulse and then regretfully told her that even if she really had such a technique, she would die from being unable to withstand it and her body would explode.

Er Gou almost burst into tears on the spot, and in the end could only tearfully urge, "Remember to listen to what's going on here. If anything happens to me, you must come and save my dog's life!"

Although Hengbo felt that she was a bit too easily frightened, he still kept a watchful eye. And although things didn't go as Ergou had predicted, Hengbo's caution actually saved her life.

On the way back, Yokomi happened to pass by the courtyard where Kazama Noko was recuperating, and unexpectedly bumped into Keika coming out of it. Keika was clearly also surprised to run into her, and her expression showed a moment of panic, but she quickly smiled at her with feigned composure and left.

After thinking for a moment, Hengbo simply turned around and knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was Chen Yu, whose neck only had a faint bruise. When Chen Yu saw her, her face lit up with a smile. "Pretty sister, you're here."

Hengbo ruffled his hair and produced a piece of chestnut cake from somewhere, which he then gave to him to eat.

Kazama Noko, who was using the pseudonym Xiuqin, was sitting by the window. She seemed to have accepted her current situation and even looked somewhat relaxed.

She even poured a cup of tea for Yokobo: "I have always loved the Great Jin Dynasty, its porcelain, tea, silk... I hope my country can have these too. So when General Ishikawa was selecting attendants to accompany him to the Great Jin Dynasty, I immediately signed up."

"In those years, we were constantly entangled with the Zhennan Army, but we never truly occupied a single piece of land in the Great Jin. The reason was simple: Xiao Pingjiang was too strong. He was so strong that he even made us despair."

“At that time, we were even planning to return empty-handed, but the emperor of the Great Jin gave us an opportunity. It turned out that he also wanted to get rid of Xiao Pingjiang. We seized the opportunity, but we also lost ourselves because of it.”

"Xiao Pingjiang died at the hands of his own people, but haven't we died at the same hands?"

"In the end, I survived, married a Jin man and had a child, Yu'er, but I can never go back to my country. Back then I longed for the Great Jin, but now I want to go home ten times more than before. Perhaps, this is the price of greed."

Yoko fell silent, but Kazama Noko smiled and said, "Actually, it's more than that. Back then, I thought it was fair. We killed a lot of Jin people, but how many Japanese did the Jin army kill? Now I realize how wrong I was." She smiled as she looked at the boy playing in the courtyard. "I will be his lifelong shame."

Hengbo followed her gaze and saw Chen Yu chasing a bamboo dragonfly swirling in the air, but even as he smiled, a gloomy atmosphere lingered around him.

“Guixiang just told me that my husband and father-in-law are both fine. I have also asked her to send Yu’er back once everything has settled down.”

As for herself, having stolen these ten years of fleeting life, it's time for her to atone for her sins.

When Hengbo came out of Kazama Noko's room, Shen Guitang was standing at the gate of the courtyard, seemingly waiting for her.

As she stepped forward, Shen Guitang naturally took her hand: "It's getting windy, I'll take you home."

...

Inside the luxurious room, Li Jian, who had just finished dealing with his cousin, paced anxiously back and forth with his hands behind his back. Beside him, an ordinary-looking man hunched over, looking like he was waiting to be ordered around.

"Is what the people sent by Hira Sosuke said true?"

The hunchbacked man reported, "Our men have confirmed that the Japanese pirate stronghold in Bin County has indeed been destroyed. And someone did see an injured woman come out of there."

“Kazama Noko,” Li Jian murmured, savoring the name. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, only to have it come to you without any effort at all.”

“Keep a close eye on her,” he said ruthlessly. “Don’t let her get away before I figure out how to use her.”

"Yes, ma'am."