Chapter 25
The next day, Lu Ling returned to his original appearance, no longer looking as crazy as he did yesterday.
Shen Wangyou recalled what happened yesterday and felt a little scared. Yesterday, Lu Ling was lying on the bed, and he sat beside the bed, staring at her in a daze.
He was afraid she would do something stupid.
The two of them sat and lay down, each with their own thoughts, and both of them had not slept all night.
"I'm not going back to Leping Village. You can go back by yourself." Lu Ling's expression was gloomy, his eyes were dark, and his words were flat.
"A Ling, where can you go if you don't go back?" Shen Wangyou looked sad and frowned.
Lu Ling paused. Yes, where could she go? The world was so big, but it seemed there was no place for her.
When she was young, she thought she would always be happy, innocent, and live a carefree and stable life.
She had imagined her married life with Shen Wangyou, Shen Wangyou taking care of the outside affairs while she took care of the inside affairs. If she missed home, she and Shen Wangyou would go back to the Lu Mansion, have a meal, chat with her parents, and the whole family would be happy.
After dinner, she and Shen Wangyou walked home. There was no need to light a lamp, as the moonlight would illuminate the way for them.
Perhaps she would have children with Shen Wangyou, and the children would be well-behaved and sensible, calling them father and mother every day.
But overnight, all of these were gone. His father and mother died tragically one after another, and even the two maids who were like sisters to him were gone.
If people knew that he was not dead yet, those people would come back to capture him.
No.
Maybe it's a direct pursuit.
Lu Ling stopped and thought about where he could go. It seemed that Leping Village was the safest place.
Keleping Village has little connection with the outside world, and many things are difficult to find out. If she wants to seek justice for her father, she naturally cannot stay there.
Lu Ling was thinking when his hand was taken by Shen Wangyou.
"A Ling, I know what's on your mind, but now there are no clues. How are you going to investigate? Besides..."
Shen Wangyou wanted to say something but stopped.
Lu Ling looked up at Shen Wangyou, waiting for his next words.
"What's more?" Lu Ling asked when he saw that Chen Wangyou was hesitant to speak.
"Besides, you and I are penniless now. Even the money we need to go out is lent to us by Aunt Zhao. If we want to redress our grievances, this money is not enough."
Lu Ling suddenly remembered that she had seen a beggar beating a drum to appeal for justice at the gate of Dali Temple. Lu Ling thought that the bailiffs would take the beggar inside and ask him about his request.
But the beggar was stopped by someone inside and asked if he had any money. A beggar naturally had no money, so the yamen runner drove him away, saying, "Why are you here to appeal for justice when you have no money? The lord is busy and has no time for a beggar like you. Get out of here!"
Later she asked her father, "Why can't I seek justice if I don't have money?"
At that time, Lu Xing was still an insignificant official in the court. He gently stroked Lu Ling's head and said, "This is an unwritten rule in Daliang. If you want to beat the drum to complain, you must give money to the masters inside. If you don't have money, they will ignore you."
And that money was not only given to the officials inside, but also to the yamen runners. The total amount was about ten thousand taels of gold.
However, those who went to appeal were almost all officials who had been demoted or had their property confiscated. These people had no money at home, so how could they afford ten thousand taels of gold?
This has also led to many unjust, false and wrong cases in Daliang.
But Lu Ling was just a woman, and she didn't know how she could get together ten thousand taels of gold.
She suddenly had an idea, but she didn't know if it could be realized.
Lu Ling suddenly looked up, which scared Shen Wangyou.
"I have a way, but I don't know if it can be realized."
*
The two walked to the market, Shen Wangyou holding a few pieces of cloth in both hands, followed Lu Ling quietly.
Shen Wangyou didn't understand why Lu Ling bought so much. Although the money given by Aunt Zhao was enough, he always felt that it was not good to be so extravagant.
But when he saw Lu Ling was so confident, he felt that it was okay.
The two of them walked like this and unknowingly came to the notice. Lu Ling stopped and looked at the portrait. His eyes darkened and his hands clenched into fists.
A breeze blew by, gently blowing open the curtain of Lu Ling's hat, revealing Lu Ling's sharp eyes. No one knew how she felt at the moment.
Finally, Lu Ling released his strength, breathed a sigh of relief, and his complexion returned to normal, completely different from his previous expression.
"Let's go."
Shen Wangyou nodded and followed behind him.
Suddenly, a pair of pitch-black hands grabbed Lu Ling's feet. Not only were they pitch-black, but if you looked closely, you could also see some blood stains on them.
Lu Ling was held by the ankle, unable to move. She wanted to use her martial arts to kick the man away. But before she could act, a voice came from below:
"Give me some alms, my lord."
Lu Ling looked down at the man. He was a beggar. His face was so dirty that he couldn't see his features clearly.
Lu Ling stared at him for a while, then slowly said:
"There's a jar of wine buried under the peach tree at the entrance of Nan'an Temple. If you want it, you can go there."
Shen Wangyou originally felt sick when he saw the beggar pulling Lu Ling's ankle. He had never even held Lu Ling's ankle, so how could he let a beggar touch it?
Thinking about it, Shen Wangyou wanted to kick the beggar's hand away.
But when he heard Lu Ling's words, he was stunned.
Nan'an Temple?
Isn't that in the capital? Why did Lu Ling ask this beggar to go there and say there was a jar of wine buried there?
Before he could think about it, the beggar had already followed Lu Ling away.
Shen Wangyou hurriedly caught up.
The sun was about to set, and the bed was covered with a layer of golden yellow. Lu Ling sat on the bed, and the sunlight climbed up Lu Ling's clothes, making Lu Ling look even more gentle.
Lu Ling had already removed the beard from the corners of his lips, and his face was white and clean.
"Eat slowly, no one will compete with you for food." Lu Ling couldn't help but speak as he looked at the person in front of him who was wolfing down the food.
The person eating is the beggar who just followed Lu Ling back.
She took off her tattered clothes and put on a green one. Her messy hair was combed again and the black marks on her hands were washed away, leaving only a faint red mark.
Although the man's appearance was not outstanding, he was handsome.
Perhaps because he had been hungry for a long time, he didn't even use chopsticks and picked up a large piece of chicken leg directly with his hands.
Seeing Lu Ling staring at him, he felt a little embarrassed, raised his eyes, and said, "I'm sorry, miss, I'm really hungry. Please forgive me if I have offended you."
For a moment, Lu Ling thought she had returned to the Lu Mansion, because no one had called her "Miss" for a long time, let alone from an acquaintance.
Lu Ling stopped him and said, "Nothing, why are you like this? Didn't you leave early?"
What Lu Ling was talking about was the day when Lu Xing dismissed everyone in the mansion. She remembered that the person in front of her was one of the first to leave.
The man's face changed, he put down the chicken leg in his hand, and swallowed what he had just eaten before speaking.
"I didn't want to leave that day, but my father said that if I lived, I could still overturn the case for the Lu family and do my part for them. But if I stayed in the mansion, I would only die and accomplish nothing."
Lu Ling nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded and said, "Butler, what you said is correct."
"How did you become like this?"
When sending everyone away that day, Mr. Lu gave them all the monthly allowance, and also gave each person an extra three taels of silver to prepare for emergencies.
"I originally wanted to find a senior official from the Dali Temple to check the files, so I invested all the money. I never thought that all the money would be wasted." The man said with his head down.
"Later, I heard that you were exiled to Shuzhou, so I wanted to come to Shuzhou to find you. However, I didn't have any extra money, so I had no choice but to beg all the way here."
The man's face was full of regret and unwillingness.
Just as Lu Ling was about to say something, the door was opened from the outside.
"Here." Shen Wangyou threw a bottle to the man.
The man was stunned for a moment, a little at a loss. You know, he and Shen Wangyou didn't get along well in the Lu Mansion before.
Seeing that the man didn’t take it, Shen Wangyou picked up the bottle again and said sourly: “Oh, this is the medicine I just bought. Since you don’t want it, I will keep it for myself.”
Seeing that the two were still the same as before, Lu Ling smiled and then spoke.
"Wangyou, give the medicine to Jiang Yun."
Shen Wangyou curled his lips, glared at Jiang Yun, and put the medicine into Jiang Yun's hand unwillingly.
Jiang Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, "Thank you."
"Miss, I saw that the person arrested on the city wall was Qingdai. I wonder what happened?"
Lu Ling was stunned at first, but then he recovered his composure and told him the whole story.
When Jiang Yun heard this, his eyes became redder and he choked up, "Miss, you, you mean that Kaempferia galanga and Indigo are..."
He didn't want to say that word.
Lu Ling looked at him and nodded slowly.
Shen Wangyou patted Lu Ling's back gently and comforted her, "It will be fine."
"What are your plans next, young lady?"
Lu Ling recovered and said, "Make money, investigate the case, and get revenge."
These six short words may seem simple, but they are much easier said than done.
"Would you like to join us?" Lu Ling asked Jiang Yun.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun stood up and knelt on one knee, bowing and saying, "The Lu family has been very kind to me, and I, Miss Jiang Yun, will obey you."
So the three of them returned to Leping Village together with some cloth.
As soon as we entered the village entrance, Aunt Zhao came over to greet us.
The visitor said with a smile, "How was your trip to the city these past few days?"
“Thanks to Aunt Zhao, I had a great time.” Shen Wangyou said.
For some reason, the smile on Aunt Zhao's face disappeared, and she just said awkwardly, "That's good, that's good."
On the way back, Aunt Zhao didn't say another word.
"Aunt Zhao, this is my friend. He has nowhere to go now. Can he stay with us at your house?" Lu Ling asked.
Aunt Zhao smiled again and said, "Since you are Miss Aling's friend, then of course it's possible."
Lu Ling thanked her, and soon they returned to Aunt Zhao's house.
Jiang Yun was arranged to live on the first floor of Lu Ling's house, while she and Shen Wangyou lived in the same room as usual.
*
In the woodshed, a man was sitting on a chair with a table next to him. The tea was boiling and steaming.
The man picked up the teacup, blew on it gently, and then began to taste it.
The woman came in hurriedly, bowed her head and said, "Sir."
The man put the tea back, his face expressionless, his whole body hidden in the shadows.
"How's it going?"
"Sir, all the things have been moved out and are now buried in the back mountain."
The man played with the peace locket in his hand and said nonchalantly, "What about the other thing? I've found out."
The woman suddenly knelt down and said in panic, "Sir, this matter is too complicated and has not been fully investigated yet."
"Waste!" the man cursed, then continued, "Where's Jiang Yun? Can you find out what he's been doing these past few months?"
"I've checked it out."
The man nodded in satisfaction, lowered his body to stare at the woman, and said, "Ning Hua, you must know who you are serving, and don't have any other thoughts."
The woman was startled and looked up to meet the man's cruel eyes.
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