254. To slander her
Tao Wanbi hid behind a tree, watching the little dumpling and Lin Fuman walk away hand in hand.
"She is actually Lin Fuman..."
The system was silent for a moment, then emitted a questioning sound—
What else could it be? Didn't you realize it before?
"How could I possibly guess that?" Tao Wanbi found the system incomprehensible.
The system also thought Tao Wanbi was ridiculously stupid.
[Have you forgotten the script again? In the original story, the only time-traveling female character was Lin Fuman, wasn't she?]
At first, seeing how well you were chatting with her, I thought you'd finally gotten smart and were planning to infiltrate the enemy ranks...
I really overestimated your intelligence.
Tao Wanbi gritted her teeth in anger. If the system had a physical form, she would have already pounced on it and started fighting.
Unfortunately, no.
The system had already started urging her to get to work.
[Hurry up and act; their meeting can't be anything good. We must stop them.]
"But how can I stop them?" Tao Wanbi looked at the large group of servants surrounding the carriage, feeling helpless.
[To slander her.]
The system provides the answer.
Just like in the original storyline, turn her from a genius into a monster.
Didn't you see she kept the cloth bag hidden in her clothes? Just tell her she was hiding poison in it, something that could give people a plague.
"This...this is too much! We were just..." Tao Wanbi still wanted to protect her fellow villager.
That was just now.
The system interrupted her.
Now is not the time for indecisiveness. If she refuses to open the cloth bag, everyone will surely become suspicious.
"What if she opens it?"
She couldn't and dared not open it. According to the system's assessment, it most likely contained something that shouldn't exist in this era, and something extremely important.
Tao Wanbi gave up; she stopped struggling.
She finally gritted her teeth and stepped out from behind the tree, shouting towards the village not far away: "Everyone, come out quickly! Catch that girl! She's hiding poison! The plague in Qiuhe City might be caused by her!"
Her voice was shrill and urgent, which quickly attracted many villagers.
Some people peeked out from under their cotton-padded coats, while others ran over wielding hoes, all asking at once, "What? Who's hiding drugs?"
Tao Wanbi pointed at Lin Fuman, who had just emerged from the carriage: "That's her! Look at the cloth bag in her arms, it's been covered up tightly the whole time, it must be hiding some kind of poison! If she brings the poison to the capital, our whole city will be in trouble!"
The villagers looked in the direction she pointed and saw that Lin Fuman was indeed holding the cloth bag tightly to her chest.
The recent plague and inexplicable blizzard in Qiuhe City have caused widespread panic. Everyone was already on edge, and now they looked at each other with expressions of doubt and skepticism.
"Young lady, could you open the bag and let us take a look?" an elderly man tentatively suggested. "If there are no drugs hidden inside, we can all rest assured and avoid any misunderstandings."
This immediately drew a chorus of agreement: "Yes, open it and see! There's nothing to hide, just open it and let everyone see!"
"If there really isn't any drugs hidden, then there's no need for everyone to worry unnecessarily."
Lin Fuman's face looked very pale.
The box is a high-tech box specially designed by modern technology to store delicate reagents, and the contents inside are also from modern laboratories.
More importantly, it did contain some antibiotics that looked like poison.
If the villagers saw these things, they wouldn't know what antibiotics were and would just think they were poison, and might even smash the test tubes.
Although she can be re-matched, Qiu Hecheng's patients may not be able to wait.
So she instinctively hugged the cloth bag tighter, her voice a little strained: "It's not poison in here, it's... something I brought for a friend, it's inconvenient to open."
"Is it inconvenient to open?" Tao Wanbi seized the opportunity and immediately raised her voice, "If you didn't hide any drugs, why is it inconvenient to open? Are you feeling guilty because I hit the nail on the head?"
She walked among the villagers, her tone deliberately panicked: "Think about it, how strange was the plague in Qiuhe City? Now a strange person has appeared. If she really brings the virus in, won't our families and children suffer as well?"
These words were like water dripping into boiling oil, instantly igniting panic among the villagers.
Those who were just moments ago hesitant now wore wary expressions.
"Stop making excuses! Open the cloth bag right now!"
"If you're really hiding drugs, we won't let you leave today!"
"Yes! Open the cloth bag! Otherwise, we won't be polite!"
The little dumpling immediately stood in front of Lin Fuman and shouted to the villagers, "Don't listen to her nonsense! That's not poison, it's a life-saving antidote!"
The servants stepped forward, forming a human wall.
But the villagers were blinded by panic and kept pushing forward. Some even started throwing things and shouting, "Open the cloth bag!" and "Don't let her get away!"
Looking at the chaotic scene, Tao Wanbi felt panicked and confused, but she still forced herself to continue fanning the flames: "Everyone saw that, right? She just doesn't dare to open it! If she really didn't hide any poison, why wouldn't she let everyone see it?"
"I didn't!" Lin Fuman peeked out from behind the little dumpling, her eyes filled with disbelief and disappointment. "Tao Wanbi, we were just having a nice chat, why are you slandering me like this?"
She never imagined that the fellow villager she had finally met would incite the villagers to harm her.
Tao Wanbi was taken aback by her question, her eyes darting away for a moment, before being urged on by the system's voice.
[Host, don't waste your breath arguing with her. Let the villagers force her to open the cloth bag. Once it's open, whatever's inside, you can say it's poison.]
She took a deep breath and shouted to the villagers, "Stop arguing with her! If she won't open it, we'll open it for her!"
The villagers were further agitated by her, and some began to push the servants forcefully, while others picked up stones from the ground and threw them at Lin Fuman.
"Open the cloth bag! Open the cloth bag!"
The shouts grew louder and louder, making people's ears hurt.
Looking at Tao Wanbi's distorted face, Lin Fuman felt her last bit of camaraderie with her fellow villager completely vanish.
Even if they are all time travelers, they are not on the same path.
“Sister Fufu, don’t be afraid,” the little dumpling was also very nervous, her little body was trembling, but she still held Lin Fuman’s hand tightly and tried to comfort her, “With Yue’er here, no one can hurt you.”
She stood on tiptoe, trying her best to straighten her small body, and looked at the villagers who had gathered around: "Yue'er promises, Sister Fufu is not a bad person, and what she's holding isn't poison!"
But when the villagers saw how small she was, most of them just assumed it was a child's way of protecting her friend, and their suspicions remained.
Seeing this, Tao Wanbi immediately seized the opportunity to take two steps forward, her voice deliberately tinged with sorrow: "Princess Fukang, you are young and do not know the wickedness of people's hearts! I have heard that Lin Fuman is the daughter of a disgraced official whose family was raided. She may be staying in the capital to seek revenge!"
These words were like a pebble thrown into water, and the villagers immediately erupted in uproar—
"The daughter of a disgraced official? No wonder she seemed off!"
"The corrupt official whose property was confiscated might actually harbor treacherous intentions!"
"Is she the daughter of that Duke of Anguo? I've heard that his whole family is no good!"
The discussion grew louder, and Tao Wanbi added fuel to the fire: "Think about it again, everything was fine before, so how come suddenly a heavy snow fell and blocked the roads, and Qiuhe City was hit by a plague? This must be divine retribution! It's a warning from heaven that keeping her around will bring disaster to everyone!"
The moment the word "divine retribution" was uttered, the villagers' expressions changed instantly.
People in this era already believed in ghosts and gods. The recent heavy snow blocking the roads and the rampant plague had already made people feel uneasy. Now, with Tao Wanbi stirring things up, their eyes were filled with fear and hostility as they looked at Lin Fuman.
"That's not true! You're talking nonsense!" The little dumpling tightly protected Lin Fuman. "Sister Fufu was going to save people! It has nothing to do with her!"
The little dumpling is quite famous; everyone has heard of this lucky little county princess and holds her in high regard.
Therefore, an old woman in a cotton-padded coat took two steps forward and gently advised the little girl, "Princess Fukang, you are a good child. Don't be deceived by this daughter of a disgraced official. If she really brings divine retribution, you might be implicated if you get too close to her. Stay away from her."
“Yes, Princess Fukang,” the uncle next to her chimed in, “we’re not trying to make things difficult for you, we’re just worried that this girl might really bring bad luck and drag you down with her. Hand her over so we can investigate properly. If we find out she’s innocent, we’ll apologize to her!”
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