Chapter 8

The candlesticks stood upright, and on the upturned table sat a brass lamp inlaid with kingfisher feathers and pearls. The kingfisher feathers, illuminated by the lamplight, emitted a blue-green hue, though it appeared delicate and small.

But Qingyun was genuinely afraid. If this were to happen and start a fire, it would be no laughing matter. The room was brightly lit, and Song Chaoyun was still wearing her undergarments, sitting in a grand chair. He asked her what had brought her here.

Qingyun knelt and bowed before saying, "This servant has come to see if that lord's illness is any better."

Upon hearing this, Song Chaoyun raised an eyebrow, quite surprised. She looked at Qingyun with a questioning and suspicious gaze, making him freeze in his tracks. After a moment, she said, "I was planning to invite you tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come by yourself."

Qingyun: "I left in a hurry that day and only then did I realize that I had not yet explained some of my illnesses to you, so I came to visit late at night."

Song Chaoyun remained silent, indicating that she should continue.

Qingyun then finished saying what she wanted to say. Song Chaoyun was also a little troubled. She rubbed her temples wearily. "Even though you say that, isn't the source of this fever in the well water?"

Qingyun cupped her hands and replied, "That's what I thought before, but after seeing your condition, I realized that firstly, drinking unclean water weakened your body, and secondly, the mosquito bites caused the illness to come on so suddenly, with fever, cough, and body aches all within a day."

Hearing what she said, Song Chaoyun also felt that it made sense. After reading the medical records in the city, it was found that fever usually caused the body to slowly wear down and die, unlike Chaohua who suddenly fell ill. Song Chaoyun frowned, "I have never seen any mosquitoes here, but if we use mugwort to fumigate now, it will take time to procure and purchase it from various places. What if someone else falls ill during this period?"

Qingyun: "Using a lot of Aina will definitely not be enough. Buy mugwort and wormwood from the existing pharmacies in the city, weave them into fire ropes, and store a certain amount for each household. Then hang mosquito nets on them. That might last for a while."

Song Chaoyun had a headache. Just dealing with the fever alone had already consumed countless manpower and resources in the past few days. Now, they also had to focus their energy on desertification control. Although Qingyun's suggestion was acceptable, how to implement it required further planning, as most of the city's residents didn't have enough money to purchase [medical supplies].

And they might not even believe this claim.

She even paid for and worked on the pots before, but this can't go on forever.

Before long, the government will be worn down by the people, and who knows how much of it will actually be implemented?

As for whether Qingyun had thought of these things, she certainly had. However, she definitely didn't understand how to manage a city or politics. This kind of thing should be left to someone like Song Junwu who understands it. Firstly, they are definitely more familiar with the rules of operation than Qingyun, and secondly, they have the power to implement them.

After staying in the room for a while, she felt a little suffocated. With candles burning all over the room, how could she not feel suffocated? After Qingyun finished speaking, she went back inside and felt the air was fresh again when she came outside.

Song Chaoyun, however, could not sleep at night and sent someone to invite Song Junwu, who was still in the military camp. When the two met, she went straight to the point and asked about Song Junwu's issuance of a travel permit for Qingyun. "Since you have investigated her and issued her a travel permit to Kui County, why don't you go with her?"

Upon hearing this, Song Junwu put down his teacup, frowned, and asked, "I only investigated her maid. Besides, I only gave her a reason to go through the motions. Why do you want me to go with her?"

Upon hearing this, Song Chaoyun rolled her eyes at him and said that she had recently looked at the accounts and found that the city's recent expenses alone were already half of what they had in previous years. She picked up her pen and wrote neatly on the paper, "The magistrate of Kui County is corrupt and lawless. Over the years, he has plundered so much of the people's hard-earned money and taxes."

Upon hearing this, Song Junwu understood Song Chaoyun's meaning. He walked from outside the screen to the inner study, put his hands behind his back, and chuckled, "You want me to scrape some out of him too?"

The hair ornament on the woman's head swayed with her movements. She kept her head down and did not answer. Instead, she focused on practicing the characters in her hands. The light in the room stretched her shadow long and reflected it on the windowsill. The leaves outside rustled in the wind, and the servants in the mansion hurriedly closed the door that was about to be blown open.

The candlelight flickered a few times in the wind, then settled, crackling and burning. After a long while, Song Chaoyun finally put down her pen. She stood up, staring at Song Junwu with a fierce look in her eyes and tone. She said, word by word, "I want you to pull him down from that position! Make him spit out everything he's done—"

"You're really ruthless. He's practically your teacher." Song Junwu bent down and played with the paperweight. The paperweight was made of jade, cool and smooth to the touch. He looked up at the person in front of him with a smile.

Song Chaoyun straightened her clothes. "He only taught me for half a year." As she spoke, she narrowed her eyes slightly, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust. "Why do you think he was demoted to Kui County?"

Song Junwu put down the paperweight. He had come in a hurry and was still wearing his military uniform. He sat down directly to the side with an air of authority, picked up a teacup, and said, "I'll only stay for two days. I have important matters to attend to in the army. If I get things done for you, you will naturally have to agree to my request."

Upon hearing this, Song Chaoyun sighed, inwardly despising the other party, and replied dismissively, "Don't worry, I keep my word."

The study fell silent, save for the single kingfisher feather lamp still burning. The tea had gone cold, and Song Chaoyun's calligraphy lay flat on the desk, bearing the four large characters: "Overcome All Difficulties."

Lin Wanjun had recovered a lot thanks to the antibiotics she had been given, and was no longer as sickly as before. However, just as she was recovering, Qingyun was leaving again. It wasn't that she wanted to leave, but that she had to. After exchanging pleasantries, she set off with the scarred woman.

The two women rode in a donkey cart, followed by several men. After talking with them, they learned that the scarred woman's name was Mu Helian. She didn't say much else, as she didn't want to tell Qingyun about her background. All along the way, Qingyun could sense that the other woman was very curious about how she found the well.

Qingyun scratched his head, thinking, "How could I possibly tell you this? I can't exactly say that I came here through some kind of system." So he simply repeated the information he found online about the system to her.

Mu Helian listened with a serious expression before pondering, "Could this be luck? We've tried these methods too, but none of them were as accurate as yours." She paused for a few seconds, then said slowly and earnestly, "It's incredibly precise."

Qingyun chuckled awkwardly, feeling increasingly guilty, and repeatedly said it was just luck.

They traveled for two days. Because they were in the carriage, Qingyun's feet didn't suffer too much. After arriving at the inn, they each went to sleep, but Qingyun couldn't go out.

And because she could only follow the prescribed route, she hadn't experienced any local customs or culture in the past few days; all she saw were endless, barren mountains.

She was a little uneasy about going to the maid's house tomorrow. One reason was that she was afraid the maid would find out that she wasn't the original owner of the body, which would be a real problem and require a lot of explanation.

She was chatting with the system, complaining, when she suddenly heard a loud noise outside. When she opened the door, she ran into Mu Helian, who was checking on her. The two looked at each other, and she gave Qingyun a wink, signaling her to go inside and not come out. Qingyun smiled and nodded in agreement, and obediently went inside. But after a while, she opened the door again, but this time it seemed as if Mu Helian had guessed her, as she was waiting outside.

With her arms crossed and leaning against the door, she saw her come out again and gave Qingyun a knowing look. Qingyun was truly at a loss this time.

What's going on here! She just wanted to watch the show. Since she wasn't allowed to go out, she decided to stand at the door and listen.

It seemed that two groups of people were arguing outside, but she didn't know what it was about. However, she suddenly heard a very familiar voice and immediately caught the man's calm voice in the crowd, "Send him to the authorities for investigation. No need to say more."

Mu Helian obviously heard it too. She stood in the corridor and leaned half her body out to look down. The person speaking was Song Junwu, who was dressed in plain clothes. At this moment, Qingyun also squeezed in and leaned on the railing. As if noticing the gaze, Song Junwu looked up at the second floor and met Qingyun's gaze.

A bandit insisted that Song Junwu's servant had stolen his things and demanded double the price of the stolen goods as compensation. In reality, it was just a trick where the servant had put the stolen items into his pocket while squatting down. However, the bandit was demanding such a large sum of money and threatened to report the matter to the authorities if the servant did not pay.

The young servant was well-dressed, his clothes brightly colored and of a soft texture, while Song Junwu wore only a few plain linen garments. At first glance, the difference was noticeable when the two stood together. However, onlookers noticed the imposing presence of the young man in linen, and the aura and murderous intent he exuded.

They understood that the swindler was unlikely to succeed today, so everyone tacitly kept quiet, afraid of getting into trouble. Only the swindler was so blind that he kept shouting that he would report it to the authorities.

Unexpectedly, Song Junwu said on the spot without the slightest hesitation that the two of them should go to the government office together. With a single, indifferent glance, the intimidating power made the previously arrogant swindler immediately soften a bit. "Whoever doesn't go is a dog!" But his mouth was still as hard as iron, and he immediately started arguing.

Upon hearing this, the young servant finally spoke up, scoffing and mocking, "Suddenly, the barking of a dog from inside the room reached the heavens; I suppose such a lapdog is standing there." He stared at the swindler and, without any politeness, shouted, "Weren't you going to the government office?! Why aren't you leaving?!" As he spoke, he grabbed the swindler by the collar and, without waiting for a reply, dragged him out.

"This is really someone we've messed with."

"If you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet," an old man in the crowd chuckled, spreading his hands to express his helplessness to those around him.

Seeing that Song Junwu was still staring intently at her, Qingyun couldn't take it anymore. She hurriedly tried to go back to her room, but Mu Helian stopped her, her words full of sarcasm, "Why aren't you watching anymore?"

Qingyun smiled and said, "We've seen all the excitement, so we definitely have to go back!"

"Remember, don't go out on your own. Call me if you need to go anywhere," Mu Helian reminded her as before.

Qingyun nodded, indicating that he just wanted to watch the excitement and had no intention of going out.

"You weren't harassed by the Commander that day, were you?" Mu Helian closed the door and entered the room with Qingyun.

"Of course not, I even gave him some good advice, he won't blame me, right?" Qingyun replied, not expecting the other person to follow her in. Then, as if remembering something, she asked, "Was Lin Wanjun targeted by the Commander?"

Otherwise, why would they say that the people above want her dead? Song Chaoyun is new here, she certainly wouldn't know how to do these things.

Mu Helian clearly didn't want to talk to her anymore, because it would be better for Qingyun to know too much about these matters. Seeing her attitude, Qingyun pressed on, "Is it really the Commander?"

She circled around Mu Helian, repeatedly saying, "Isn't it? Isn't it?"

Perhaps annoyed by her, Mu Helian suddenly said with a cold face, "Of course not!"

Qingyun stopped, his expression serious. "If that's not the case, then why don't you want her to live?"

Mu Helian didn't intend to argue any further and opened the door to leave, but Qingyun stopped her. She said seriously to the woman in front of her, "Let me know, and I won't tell anyone else."