Chapter 37
She believed this was the only time in her life she had ever felt something was truly difficult to handle. Originally acting on Song Junwu's orders, Qingyun and his men arrived at the scene to find a commotion. They saw a woman with disheveled hair, covered in filth, surrounded by a foul stench, smelling like excrement carried from a latrine.
The woman knelt silently in the middle of the road with her hands tied behind her back, her head bowed. A wooden board was stuck in her back, making her look like a prisoner about to be executed in a TV drama. Only when she got closer did you see the words on the board: "Bitch".
Hearing footsteps, the woman didn't even look up. She just knelt there quietly, listening to the curses and pointing fingers around her. From the snippets of conversation, Qingyun learned that the woman had been caught having an affair. Her in-laws made her kneel there, threatening to make her a spectacle for thousands of people if she didn't reveal who her lover was.
However, the direction the woman was kneeling in was exactly where Qingyun was looking for.
She had a vague sense of foreboding. She frowned and looked at the silent woman. Her throat bobbed slightly, but she still didn't speak. The gatekeeper took the visiting card and led the two inside. The courtyard was large, surrounded by groves of flowers and birds. It didn't look like a house in a frontier area at all. It was just like being in the capital.
"This doesn't look like a farmer's house, it looks like a landlord's house." Qingyun murmured softly. She originally intended to tell the system, but thinking about the woman in front of the door, she blurted it out. Fortunately, she spoke softly, and the servant leading the way didn't notice. Instead, the man walking a little ahead of Qingyun turned around to look at her.
While waiting in the living room, Qingyun sat upright in the armchair, but her eyes kept glancing to the side, marveling at the luxurious decoration of the house. The man just stood quietly behind her without saying a word.
A moment later, a hearty laugh came from behind the screen, and a man with a radiant smile walked out. He gestured to Qingyun, who immediately stood up, smiled at him, and returned the gesture, saying, "Please sit down, young lady."
Judging from this, it must be the person she's looking for, but he doesn't look like an old man at all; he looks like he's just over fifty.
Only after the servants introduced him did they realize that this was indeed not the man himself, but the old man's son.
Qin Fu looked at Qingyun and asked what she wanted. He then learned that she wanted to see his father. He looked troubled. Qingyun laughed a few times before saying, "Then I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer, my wife. My father has important business to attend to. Please wait here for a while."
Qingyun smiled upon hearing this and said it was alright.
Although the servants in the mansion kept their heads down and remained silent, they all glanced sideways, trying to get a look at Qingyun. The person in front of them was dressed in poverty and did not seem to be from a wealthy or powerful family, but there was a servant following behind him, and their master treated him with great respect, which inevitably made people guess the identity of the newcomer.
After Qingyun finished chatting with the system, she was led into a room by a maid. As soon as she stepped inside, she smelled a strong incense, mixed with a faint smell of urine. She frowned slightly, but quickly composed herself. Looking up, she saw an old woman sleeping on the bed, while an old man sat in a round-backed chair next to her, silently smoking a pipe. Turning around, she realized that the man hadn't followed her.
"Lord Qin," Qingyun said, bowing.
The old man didn't even react when he heard her words. Later, she realized that he wasn't very good at hearing. The maid next to him reminded him again, and only then did he squint his eyes and look up at her. His pupils contracted slightly, and after a long while, he finally smiled and said, "Please sit down."
Qingyun was never one to beat around the bush. She took out the potatoes and sweet potatoes directly, just like she had done in the Song Dynasty's Yun Palace last time. She first tasted them, then talked about their benefits and explained her purpose. She had thought she would have to fight with the other party, but she didn't expect that the other party would agree after only a moment's thought.
That's it?
System: [You have a masochistic streak, don't you? They agreed so readily and you're still complaining.]
Qingyun found it incredible; it was too smooth!
Before she could even react, she heard her maid say in her ear, "This way, madam."
System: [Aren't you afraid he'll take your seed and give it to someone else? This is all thanks to you, isn't it?]
Qingyun: [Even if he hands it over to the emperor, it's fine. Does he even know how to cultivate it? We have the technology; no matter how they cultivate it, they can never match our technological level.]
System: [So, the potatoes you grew can be considered a kind of "technological" product.]
As the saying goes, "Where there's life, there's hope." No matter who hands over the item first, they don't have the technology.
System: [No wonder you were so calm before, and didn't bother to investigate who secretly gave them the seeds.]
Qingyun walked outside, gazing at the flowers and plants in the courtyard. She simply smiled. "I already know who it is."
Then she added, "But I won't tell you yet."
She had something important to ask right now, so Qingyun patted the shoulder of the maid leading the way, gave her a kind smile, and asked in a friendly tone, "Do you know who that woman outside is?"
Upon hearing this, the maidservant timidly glanced at Qingyun, then immediately shook her head vigorously, saying, "This servant does not know."
After hearing this, Qingyun didn't ask any further questions. Only after leaving the mansion did he inquire with the surrounding crowd.
Only then did I learn that this person was originally the concubine of the master of the Qin family. A few days ago, she was caught in public having an affair with another man, and then the Qin family dragged her out to be seen by thousands of people.
"Are we just going to let her kneel here outside like this?"
"This is to make her kneel here to death. How can we interfere in other people's family affairs?"
The old woman who answered Qingyun continued, "It's simply a sin. That old man Qin is over sixty years old, yet he still goes around ruining other girls' youth."
Qingyun was initially confused, but from the gossip of the people, she learned that the woman was not the one she had seen in front of the hall, but the old man's concubine. Immediately, a chill ran through her body, as if the stench of urine floating in the air was now lingering in her nostrils.
[That old man, his old-fashioned smell practically leaps off the screen.]
As if sensing something amiss, the system immediately echoed in my mind, "Host, don't do anything rash in a moment of impulse."
Qingyun: [What do you think I would do?]
System: [Pull the girl up and run.]
Qingyun: ...Okay, she did have that idea, but what happens after she does it? What will become of this woman? Although she is not dead, her social status has already been judged as a form of poisoning.
"What will happen to her?"
Although she already knew the answer in her heart, she still couldn't help but ask.
"By driving her to her death, by acting like this, you're making her unable to bear it anymore and end up hanging herself."
Yes, even if you can't kill someone easily, so what? There are too many ways to make someone die.
Qingyun frowned, silently guessing the other's fate.
Just because of her entanglement with another man, before the affair has been truly uncovered, she is already being crushed by the mountain of chastity.
Looking back, the woman seemed to sense her gaze. As their eyes met, Qingyun saw the resentment and the desire to live in her eyes. In that instant, she made up her mind.
As night fell, a thick fog enveloped the streets. Everyone walking outside fell silent and hurried along with their necks hunched over. Qingyun wrapped her thin outer garment tighter, her breath visible as white vapor. She looked around carefully before cautiously making her way past like a thief.
The excrement covering the woman had frozen into ice crystals, which clung to her skin and sent chills down her spine. Her face was pale, her lips trembled, but she still stubbornly straightened her back.
The servants standing guard by the door simply stared at her indifferently.
Then the woman from the daytime walked over. She smiled awkwardly, then suddenly leaned closer and pulled a cloth bag from her chest. She said sincerely, "I am from the same hometown as that woman. I would like to say a few words to her. Young man, you might as well make an exception. It's just to catch up. I'm sure your master won't blame you."
The servant just stared at Qingyun hesitantly until the other party shoved the money bag into his arms without giving him a chance to speak. Only then did he begin to weigh the bag in his hand and say, "What do you have to say to this wretch?"
Qingyun chuckled, "We're from the same hometown, so there's bound to be some connection between us."
Seeing this, the servant glanced at the two of them, then remembered that the visiting card Qingyun had sent earlier that day was from the Commander's residence. He thought to himself that this man was backed by Lord Song, and that he, a nobody, couldn't afford to offend him. Besides, it was just a matter of exchanging a few words with the young lady; it shouldn't be a problem. Thinking this, he put on a smile, with a hint of flattery, "Sir, what are you saying? You can go ahead, I'll keep my mouth shut."
"I'll only ask you one question: do you want to live?" Qingyun whispered in the woman's ear, then quickly shoved the thermometer under her armpit. "Don't move. I won't kill you. Answer my question first."
The woman looked Qingyun up and down with a scrutinizing gaze, her voice hoarse, "We've never met before, yet you ask me these things."
“Consider today as an introduction.” Qingyun looked up at her, took her cold hands in his, and rubbed them together to warm them. “As you said, we have no connection. I don’t want anything from you. I just want to save you. I’ll ask you one more time: do you want to live?”
The woman looked at her and said, "I want to!" Just then, she suddenly grabbed Qingyun's arm. "I don't care what you're after. If you can really get me out of here, I'll do anything for you."
Qingyun: "Your previous statement is enough."
She took out the thermometer; thankfully, she didn't have a fever. Qingyun looked up, and the woman hesitated, "I...I didn't..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qingyun interrupted her, "I don't care, I just want to save you." She draped one of the thicker garments over the woman, wrapped it tighter around her, and began to explain her plan.
Why don't you want to hear it? Qingyun doesn't want women to prove their so-called chastity and innocence. Is that important?
So what if I'm not innocent?
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