Chapter 140 The current emperor, Xiao Qidi, is a beast deserving of being struck by lightning.
"No..." Ning Jinli's eyes widened, "Didn't you see that it was the two of us leading the horse?"
The constable glanced at him with a cold smile, but remained silent.
His colleagues, whom he had called over, were only concerned with leading the horse away.
Ning Jinli sighed, "I understand, horses need to be taxed separately, right?"
"You're smart enough to pay up, ten coins." The constable finally spoke, signaling his colleagues to stop for the time being, and then extended his hand to Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli.
Xiao Qidi asked with a stern face, "Isn't this bamboo stick enough?"
The constable snatched the bamboo stick, put it in his mouth, and said, "Without this bamboo stick, you would have to pay at least eight hundred coins to get through here. Enough talk, hurry up."
Xiao Qidi was almost speechless. He took out ten copper coins and asked, "Let's make it clear first, two horses for ten copper coins, right?"
"Yes, give it to me." The constable suddenly reached out his hand.
Xiao Qidi took two steps back. "Then you have to tell me, after giving this ten coins, does that mean that the two of us plus this horse won't have to pay any other taxes?"
"Yes!" the constable said impatiently, "Hurry up and give me the money!"
Xiao Qidi then handed over ten copper coins.
Just as he and Ning Jinli were about to pass through the checkpoint, the constable reached out and stopped them again, shaking his head and uttering four words, "You still have to pay."
"What do you mean?" Xiao Qidi's eyes flashed with anger. "Didn't we just agree that we wouldn't have to pay any more taxes?"
The constable took the bamboo stick out of his mouth, waved it in front of Xiao Qidi, and said, "You don't have to pay the tax, but you still have to pay a usage fee for this pass. It's not much, just ten coins."
"Heh, heh..." Xiao Qidi was completely speechless, and instead laughed in anger.
Ning Jinli could only sigh inwardly, the actions of the officials here were truly impressive.
The constable said in a high-sounding tone, "We were originally going to charge you eight hundred coins, but we only charged you twenty. You've already gotten a great deal, and you're still not satisfied? Do you want to go to the county jail to reflect on your actions?"
Xiao Qidi didn't want to say anything more, and silently took out another ten coins and handed them over.
He and Ning Jinli were already exhausted from traversing the desolate Gobi Desert and sleeping outdoors these past few days, and they were just thinking of taking a good shower and resting. But now, they've encountered these bizarre things one after another, and they're really tired.
Ning Jinli was the same; her eyes were almost numb.
"Alright, take care, you two." The constable smiled and let them pass.
Just as the two passed through the checkpoint, they suddenly heard a shout from behind, "Get out! So what if you're from Hewan County? If you can't pay the toll, you can't come in!"
Then came a woman's voice, "Your Excellency, please have mercy! I... I had prepared some, but it was stolen on the way back. I'll make up for it next time, okay..."
Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi heard the conversation and turned around.
A woman in her thirties was kneeling before the yamen runners, pleading desperately.
She wore a patched coarse linen dress and a pair of worn-out straw sandals, and carried a bamboo basket on her thin shoulders, which contained some medicinal herbs.
"Get out of the way, or you'll be punished!" the constable cursed.
"Your Honor, sir!" the woman cried, clinging to the constable's leg. "My husband is bedridden and is waiting for me to bring back the herbs to cure him! Please, Your Honor, help me! Make an exception and let me go home... Or, or I can offer some of the herbs as payment for crossing the border..."
The constable immediately flew into a rage, shouting, "Who wants your rotten herbs! Are you trying to curse me to get sick?!"
The woman was terrified. "No, no! Sir, that's not what I meant!"
"Guards!" the constable ordered his men. "Tie this wretched woman to the tree in front, give her a couple of lashes, and then have her family bring money to ransom her!"
"yes!"
The two henchmen were about to make their move.
Seeing this situation, Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi could not tolerate it any longer. Without even discussing it, they rushed over at the same time.
Before the constables could react...
Xiao Qidi had already knocked them all to the ground.
Ning Jinli pushed aside the constables' men, pulled the woman up to help her quickly mount the horse, and then leaped on herself, galloping away.
Xiao Qidi mounted another horse and followed closely behind.
By the time the woman recovered from her panic, the three of them had already left the checkpoint far behind, and the constables could no longer catch up.
"Don't be afraid, we're here to help you. Which direction is your home in?" Ning Jinli asked as she rode her horse.
The woman calmed down and pointed ahead, saying, "When you get to the intersection ahead, turn right, and you'll see an alley. Take the far left one."
"Alright, giddy up!" Ning Jinli slapped the horse's belly with her legs, increasing the speed once again.
About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Following the woman's directions, a dilapidated thatched hut appeared before Ning Jinli.
Before the horse had even come to a complete stop, the woman eagerly jumped off and rushed into the thatched hut.
“Let’s go take a look too,” Xiao Qidi said as he dismounted.
As soon as the two reached the threshold, they smelled a pungent medicinal odor filling the main room.
Looking around, the place could almost be described as bare.
Even the ground was full of potholes.
There was a door on the other side of the main room, with a tattered straw mat hanging as a curtain. The pungent smell of medicine was coming from behind that curtain.
"Mommy, why are you only coming back now?" a little girl of about four or five years old whispered. "I'm so hungry..."
The woman hugged her and said, "I'll make something for you, your father, and your grandmother to eat. Help me wash these herbs."
"Okay." The little girl rolled up her sleeves, took the herbs out of the bamboo basket, and walked to the back door of the house with her short legs.
Although she is very young, you can tell from her quick and efficient manner that she has done this many times before.
"Mother! Come and greet the guests," the woman called out as she walked to the stove and towards the door curtain. "I'll start cooking."
After calling out, she turned back to Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli with an apologetic expression, "My two benefactors, please make yourselves at home... don't mind the poor conditions here..."
Ning Jinli nudged Xiao Qidi's waist with her elbow and muttered, "Is this what you meant by the people of Hewan County living in peace and prosperity?"
Xiao Qidi's face was ashen, and he squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, "That's what the officials in the capital told me, those bastards!"
"Let me help you!" Ning Jinli walked quickly towards the stove.
Xiao Qidi walked to the tattered straw mat curtain, lowered his head and casually lifted the curtain. He saw a thin old woman with a hunched back, leaning on a wooden cane with one hand and groping forward with the other, walking shakily towards him.
Xiao Qidi noticed that the old lady was blind, so he bent down and gently supported her arm, saying, "Grandma, you can rest in the inner room."
“Ah…you are a guest,” the old lady said, taking small steps. “There isn’t even a stool in the main room. If you don’t mind, please sit in the inner room.”
Xiao Qidi asked, "And you are?"
The old lady said, "I am Xiumei's mother-in-law."
The inner room was cramped, and the smell of the boiled herbs was particularly pungent.
Xiao Qidi did not refuse, and helped the old lady to a dilapidated bed.
"Son," the old lady said softly, "we have guests at home."
Only then did Xiao Qidi see that among a pile of tattered bedding whose color was no longer discernible, lay a man who had become skin and bones.
This is clearly the woman's husband.
The man slowly opened his eyes and said with difficulty, "Who...who are you..."
Xiao Qidi said, "I just arrived here and happened to meet your wife, so we came together."
“Oh…so…so you’re a guest who’s come from afar,” the man said apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I…I can’t get up to greet you.”
Xiao Qidi's mood grew increasingly heavy.
He wanted to find a place to sit down and ask about the situation in detail, but the inner room was too small. With his large frame, he almost squeezed the old lady into a corner when he went in.
Left with no other choice, he could only tell the man to rest first, and then turned and walked out of the inner room.
Seeing Ning Jinli and the woman called Xiumei busy at the stove, he thought for a moment and then went to the back door.
There is a small courtyard outside the back door.
There were also some sparse vegetables planted in the yard.
Xiumei's daughter was squatting beside an old wooden basin, carefully washing the herbs.
Xiao Qidi rolled up his sleeves and squatted down as well, saying, "Let me wash it for you."
The little girl quickly said, "Big brother, you are a guest. How can I let you do the work? I can wash it myself."
“It’s alright…” Xiao Qidi’s eyes swept over the little girl’s chapped hands, and he lowered his gaze and said softly, “How about this, let’s wash together, that way we can wash faster, okay?”
"Thank you so much, big brother!" the little girl happily agreed.
Inside the hall.
To entertain her guests, Xiumei went to the corner of the wall, grabbed a long stick, and planned to take down the ingredients that she usually couldn't bear to eat, which were hidden on the roof beam.
Ning Jinli stood in front of a pile of earth and stones that could barely be called a stove. She saw a copper pot used for cooking with some murky water and a strange smell that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Thinking it was probably dishwater, she picked it up and walked to the door of the main room to pour it out.
Hearing the noise, Xiumei turned her head and couldn't help but let out a rapid cry of surprise.
"What's wrong, Sister Xiumei?" Ning Jinli asked.
Xiumei's eyes were full of heartache, "Miss Ning...that...that's the soup my family wanted to drink..."
"Soup?" Ning Jinli was dumbfounded. "You guys drink this kind of stuff?"
Xiumei hurriedly said, "It's not for entertaining you. It's what I caught yesterday, some small fish and shrimp, stewed and ate the leftovers. I was planning to cook half of it with some vegetables today, and use the other half to cook grain."
Ning Jinli was completely stunned.
"It's alright, it's alright..." Xiumei forced a smile, suppressing her heartache. "If you fell, it's alright. It was my rudeness that made you laugh."
Then she held up the ingredients she had just taken down and showed them to Ning Jinli like treasures, saying, "I'll cook these for you later. This is a pheasant my husband hunted in the mountains before he got sick, and some millet that I cleaned."
Ning Jinli's tears streamed down her face.
Xiumei hurriedly said, "Miss Ning, don't cry. I can tell that you must be from a wealthy family... If these things really don't suit your taste, I... I'll go find something else."
"No, no, no," Ning Jinli said, wiping away her tears. "Sister Xiumei, wait for me a moment, I'll be right back."
She dashed to the outside of the thatched hut, quickly found a secluded spot, concentrated her mind and circulated her inner energy, opening a portal in front of her that connected to the factory warehouse in the modern world.
Xiumei didn't know where she was going and was worried that she would run around in an unfamiliar place and be discovered by the yamen runners, so she chased after her outside, but she didn't see Ning Jinli's figure and couldn't help but start to get anxious.
However, after only a short while, Ning Jinli walked out from beside the thatched hut.
Xiumei was stunned. She had clearly searched around the area several times but hadn't seen anyone. How did she... suddenly appear?
"Sister Xiumei, come inside quickly." Ning Jinli said, holding a cardboard box in her arms. "I brought you some food."
Xiumei followed along, completely bewildered.
Ning Jinli put the large cardboard box on the ground and took things out of it while saying, "This is cabbage and radish, this is fresh pork and fresh eggs, as well as vermicelli, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar... I also brought you two iron pots, just make do with them for now."
Upon seeing these things, Xiumei was completely stunned.
“Miss Ning…” Xiu Mei rubbed her eyes hard. “Is this square box made of a unique material some kind of magical treasure?”
Papermaking had not yet been invented in this era, so the people here didn't even know what paper was, let alone cardboard boxes.
Ning Jinli tore the cardboard box apart. "It's just a cardboard box, not a treasure."
“Then these…” Xiu Mei’s hands trembled as she carefully touched the things Ning Jinli had laid out.
Ning Jinli smiled and said, "I'll cook a meal and explain everything to you as I go."
Because of the limited cooking conditions, Ning Jinli used one iron pot to make pork, cabbage, radish and vermicelli stew, and another iron pot to cook rice.
This kind of food, which is nothing out of the ordinary for modern people, made Xiumei feel as if she had witnessed a miracle.
Not only were the ingredients extremely exquisite in her eyes, but even the seasonings, packaging bags, and bottles and jars were beyond her comprehension, not to mention the two iron pots.
The shock she felt was beyond words.
Ning Jinli was already used to her reaction. Back when she delivered things to the soldiers and civilians of Linxian Village, everyone was deeply moved.
"Here, have a taste." Ning Jinli picked up a piece of meat, blew on it to cool it down, and held it to Xiumei's lips.
Even before the food was cooked, Xiumei's mouth watered countless times because of the aroma she had never smelled before. Now that the meat was in her mouth, the rich fragrance filled her nostrils.
She couldn't resist taking a bite.
Instantly, a delicious taste I had never tasted or imagined in my life spread throughout my mouth.
Two lines of tears flowed uncontrollably at that moment.
“Miss Ning…” Xiu Mei’s eyes were filled with tears, and she suddenly knelt down heavily. “Miss Ning, you are a goddess, aren’t you?! Please, please, save my husband!”
"Huh? I've only cooked one meal, and you're already treating me like a god? Get up, get up quickly." Ning Jinli hurriedly helped him up.
Xiumei refused to get up, weeping as she said, "Miss Ning first rescued me, and then she brought me so many foods and treasures that I have never seen before. The dishes she made are definitely not from the mortal world. I really can't think of anyone but a god..."
“Alright, I promise you I’ll try my best to save your husband,” Ning Jinli said seriously, “but you can’t just kneel like this. Get up and tell me properly what’s wrong with him.”
Xiumei calmed herself down and wiped away her tears, saying, "He went to do corvée labor, and he was exhausted like that."
“Hewan County is really strange,” Ning Jinli frowned. “Not only are there inexplicable taxes, but the corvée labor is also so heavy. Don’t they treat laborers like human beings?”
Xiumei's eyes suddenly flashed with intense resentment. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, saying, "It's all that damned Emperor Xiao Qidi's fault! He's a beast! I wish I could tear him to pieces!"
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