Chapter 1126: Kang Jishou, it still has to be you (Part 2) [Requesting double monthly votes]
Good news, no need to save anymore.
The bad news is, she's somehow ended up in some timeline.
Shen Tang thought she had been sent back to the very beginning by a fishbone, only to realize after killing all the constables that the season, location, and people were all wrong! Aside from the woman who tried to assassinate her, Shen Tang had no recollection of the Shen family members who were exiled back then, nor of the constables she had killed. So how did she realize she hadn't returned to the past?
Hehehe, naturally it's because the face reflected in the stream isn't the stunning beauty that she can't help but admire every morning! As soon as she stuck her head out, the stream reflected a thin, sallow, and sparsely haired child's face. Her cheeks not only lacked baby fat but were also sunken in.
Shen Tang stroked her face: "I look..."
She carefully chose her words. If she couldn't travel back in time, she would be the one using this face in the future. If she was too harsh in her evaluation, she would be letting down her ex and herself: "...somewhat unremarkable."
Shen Tang was like a deflated balloon.
Helpless, he squatted by the stream, pondering his next move.
No matter what it takes, she must return to Kangguo.
More than a decade of hard work and struggle were ruined by a single fishbone. Was she sure God wasn't playing a joke on her? The more Shen Tang thought about it, the angrier she became. She raised her middle finger to the sky and unleashed a barrage of profanities.
Swearing is truly a stress reliever.
Only by speaking out can the heart truly be cleansed!
"Hoo—" Shen Tang exhaled a long breath, having successfully completed a spiritual cleansing. "The best course of action now is to find out where we are, what time it is, and who 'I' really am..."
She turned and waved to the group of trembling prisoners.
These people witnessed Shen Tang committing murder and were so terrified they nearly wet themselves. However, bound by shackles, they couldn't escape and could only endure their fear, remaining in the same space as Shen Tang while silently praying that the killer wouldn't target them. But their prayers were in vain.
"You, come here!"
Shen Tang randomly pointed to a man who looked pleasing to the eye.
The man whose name was called turned pale.
His legs were drained of all strength and became as limp as noodles.
Shen Tang narrowed her eyes dangerously: "Come here!"
Seeing that the man was still in shackles, she flicked her finger to unlock them for him.
The man hadn't expected things to develop this way. Seeing Shen Tang's increasingly dangerous gaze, he didn't dare delay and practically scrambled to her side, saying, "My esteemed sir, I'll obey your orders..."
Shen Tang asked, "What country is this?"
The man was stunned for a moment.
Seeing that he didn't react, Shen Tang sneered: "Is the problem difficult?"
The man said, "It really isn't easy..."
He realized that the person who asked the question was possessed by a ghost, otherwise why would they ask such a strange question? If this ghost had asked the question ten or fifteen days earlier, he could have answered it, but now it was difficult: "Fourteen days ago, the capital fell."
The country was destroyed and the family perished.
Men also do not approve of the enemies who destroyed their country.
This time it was Shen Tang's turn to be stunned: "Destroy a country?"
Was it also a country destroyed? This place couldn't possibly be the Gao Kingdom, could it?
She suddenly went berserk and killed people after just waking up.
Among the officials were also brave warriors, suggesting they lived in the same world. The nearby vegetation thrived in moist conditions and tolerated flooding, and the air was warm and humid, indicating this place was in the south. The Gao Kingdom was neighboring its own Kang Kingdom, with most of its territory being typical northern regions, only a small portion bordering the central continent, but even that had no connection to the southern borders: "The Gao Kingdom?"
She tentatively tested the waters.
The man had clearly never heard of a country whose name was "Gao".
He said, "It is the 'Sun' Kingdom."
The country's name was "Sun"?
Shen Tang had never heard of it either.
"Oh, which country destroyed the Kingdom of Sun?"
Relying on her remaining strength, she could easily silence everyone, making no attempt to hide or conceal anything. She also knew the man knew she wasn't the real person, so why bother pretending?
The man's heart sank to the bottom.
According to the conventions of supernatural tales, if a mountain spirit were truly possessing a living person, it would meticulously conceal its identity. The fact that this ghost is so open only proves that it's confident they can keep them quiet! As long as it's dead, that's all that matters…
He said, "It's 'qu' (曲, meaning melody)."
Shen Tang's ears twitched when she heard the familiar pronunciation.
She immediately corrected her languid, casual posture, leaning forward to get closer to the man, and pressed for clarification: "Which word did you say?"
The man said, "The 'music' in 'highbrow and unpopular'."
"What is the king's name?" After asking, Shen Tang realized that most ordinary people didn't know the king's name, so asking would be pointless, but they would definitely know the king's surname. "You can also know the king's surname."
The man replied, "Zhai, the imperial surname is Zhai!"
Shen Tang suddenly slapped his thigh and blurted out a catchphrase with a distinct northern accent: "Zhai? Qu Kingdom? Could the ruler be that fellow Zhai Xiaofang? If that's the case, then that's fantastic!"
The man silently added a message to his mind.
This is still a lonely ghost from the north.
Man: "The King of Qu Kingdom is indeed named Xiaofang."
Shen Tang's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was half relieved.
Upon learning that the Kingdom of Qu still existed and that Zhai Xiaofang was still in charge, she deduced that even if she had traveled through time, the time difference between the two eras wouldn't be too great. Suppressing her excitement, she pressed on, "Then do you know what countries are in the Northwest? Have you heard of the Kingdom of Gao? Do you know when the Kingdom of Gao was destroyed? Have you heard of the Kingdom of Kang?"
She bombarded the man with a barrage of questions.
The man shook his head: "I've never heard of it."
The Northwest and this place are thousands of miles apart.
How could he know what countries were in that place?
Shen Tang was a little annoyed, but not as anxious as before; she still needed to confirm the information further. She waved to the man, indicating he could leave: "I'll talk to you again if I need anything!"
The man's body visibly shrank and stiffened.
But they dared not disobey.
The midday sun was particularly scorching. Even without moving, just by basking in the sun, streams of liquid flowed down her hair, soon reaching her forehead. She raised her hand to wipe away the sweat and found it felt strange.
Looking down, I saw two or three black lines stuck to my fingertip.
People who frequently scrub their backs in the bathhouse know what this thing is.
Shen Tang: "..."
He glanced at the sun: "Is the perfume shop offering baths and saunas?"
The air was so humid that it softened the dirt on the surface of the human body.
She suddenly plunged her head into the stream.
He rubbed his cheeks vigorously with both hands, his fingers tracing the strands of his hair...
Uh, she looked at the hair between her fingers with a mixture of sadness and tears in her eyes.
"I'm really going to go bald..."
The man returned to the group of prisoners, his eyes constantly observing Shen Tang's every move. He saw her holding her hair in her hands, sobbing softly. Speechless, he silently prayed that the ghost would show mercy. She had killed so many constables; she couldn't kill them too.
Shen Tang mourned for her hair for a few seconds.
She tore a relatively intact piece of cloth from the body of a constable and wrapped it around her head, trying to cover her bald head. Only after doing this did she have time to deal with the exiled prisoners, several of whom showed signs of heatstroke: "The sun is too strong, why don't you go find some shade?"
What are all these people doing, crammed together and squatting here?
The prisoners: "..."
With Shen Tang's permission, they moved their position.
Hunger in his stomach reminded Shen Tang that it was time to eat.
She casually conjured up a large flatbread and began to eat it bite by bite. When it became a little dry, she touched the corpse of a constable, went to the stream to fetch water, and then used her martial energy to heat the water in her water bag until it boiled. Wild freshwater is teeming with parasites; even a martial arts master might not be able to withstand it. The other prisoners, their eyes sunken from hunger, stared intently at her, their eyes practically green with rage, yet they dared not try to steal it.
Who would dare to steal it? The constable's body isn't even cold yet.
Someone swallowed so loudly that it caught Shen Tang's attention.
Seeing that the other party was a little girl, about the same age as Lin Feng when they first met, and with a similar temperament, she naturally felt a bit of goodwill: "Hungry? Come and ask for some if you're hungry."
If we don't take the initiative, are we just expecting others to deliver it to us?
The little girl, tormented by hunger, forgot her fear.
Ignoring her family's objections, she mustered her courage and asked Shen Tang for two cakes, one for herself and the other half for her elderly grandmother. Shen Tang looked at the little girl's thick, black hair with some envy, and then conjured two cakes out of thin air and pushed them into her arms.
"Eat."
The little girl's eyes lit up.
Seeing this, the other prisoners also started to have their own ideas.
Shen Tang was not stingy with the food.
They took the opportunity to find out what crimes these people had committed to warrant their exile.
The matter is rather complicated. These prisoners are not from the same family or clan; they are all from nearby counties. The reasons for their imprisonment are varied. Some were indeed guilty of wrongdoing, while others were innocent. Because the original state had collapsed, the officials who handled their cases were either dead, had fled, or had changed sides, leaving only a pile of case files. These are generally referred to as "bad debts." If handled well, there's no credit; if handled poorly, everyone has to take the blame. Nobody wants to get involved.
In general, a one-size-fits-all approach is used.
Either grant a general amnesty and wipe the slate clean, or settle all the cases.
Even if someone were to reopen the case in the future, there would be no way to investigate.
These are all convenient methods.
In Shen Tang's Kang Kingdom, such cases were always reported to the Ministry of Justice, which would then arrange for reinvestigations in various regions, followed by a review by specialists—a staggering workload. However, multitasking was an essential skill for Kang Kingdom officials, so the workload was actually manageable.
Qu State clearly does not have a tradition of exploiting officials in various ways.
Even so, Zhai Xiaofang did not take a blanket approach.
After conquering the Sun Kingdom, he ordered that, apart from those implicated in the ironclad case, other prisoners would have the opportunity to appeal, and the local government must retry the cases upon receiving such appeals. Shen Tang nodded: "Zhai Xiaofang did a good job; she's quite humane."
They praise him verbally, but they can see the flaws at a glance.
The higher-ups have good intentions, but if the grassroots are unwilling to cooperate, even the best policies will fail to achieve their intended effect and may even become a burden, leading to widespread public resentment. So many prisoners from different places are being transported together, shackled, forced to walk barefoot, and exposed to the scorching sun… Where is the intention to reiterate the past?
The young ones have not yet started to grow teeth, while the older ones have all turned white-haired.
If someone dies on the way, there will be no way to prove it.
Shen Tang couldn't help but think of the original owner of the body.
The original owner of the body was not old, so how did she become a criminal?
Just as this thought crossed her mind, a weak voice responded in her head, a voice she recognized: "Because of the theft, someone took the opportunity to settle accounts, and she was thrown into jail after being caught."
"Why are you using my voice?"
Shen Tang asked the other person in her heart.
The voice was silent for a few moments: "I am 'Zixu'."
“Tu Nan’s ‘Zi Xu’ is not this sound.”
"I am your 'Zixu'!"
The responses were tinged with resentment and anger.
Shen Tang: "...What the hell?"
She scratched the back of her head through the cloth.
In hindsight, I realized that she really did have a "Zixu".
"Ahem... Zixu, what exactly happened?"
Zixu said resentfully, "You'll have to ask Kang Jishou about that."
Shen Tang: "..."
Kang Jishou, it has to be you!
With Zixu's explanation, Shen Tang finally understood the situation—she had only traveled through space, not time; her original body had been knocked unconscious by a fishbone. Zixu was first harmed by Kang Jishou, then swept away by Gu Chi's scholarly ways, and unexpectedly trapped in the dream woven by this body before its death. Zixu got lost in the dream, and before he could find his way out, the original owner died of heatstroke and hunger.
Shen Tang: "What do we do now? I have to go back!"
"You can't right now. I need to use this body to recover." The original owner of this body is dead, and if it's not kept alive, it will quickly rot and stink. Until I recover, I must help her maintain this body.
"You can recover even if you go back to the Wen Palace." She almost thought she had been sent back to the beginning by a fishbone, it scared her to death!
Zixu gritted his teeth: "You still have the nerve to talk about returning to the Wen Palace?"
How am I shameless?
[This is entirely fictitious] Shouldn't he stay in the Wen Palace?
The interior of the Wen Palace is filled with pure literary energy, which is conducive to recovery.
Zixu gave a sarcastic chuckle.
"Why don't you ask your own deserving, billion-dollar-dust-worthy good intentions?"
What good intentions? She's a complete yandere!
Ever since she and Wuyou appeared, they've become her toys, constantly bullied and suffering in silence, desperately hoping that her true self will summon them away. She doesn't want to be with this yandere for even a second!
Life was already difficult enough, but Kang Jishou added even more hardship.
Those two days were a nightmare I don't want to relive!
Shen Tang said awkwardly, "She's just a child."
Zixu chuckled coldly: "Child?"
Shen Tang: "..."
So guilty that I was speechless.
Regardless, Zixu refused to return, and with Kang Jishou's plague still raging, it had no choice but to remain seated in this body. No matter how much persuasion was given, Zixu remained unmoved.
Shen Tang: "..."
Seeing how deeply traumatized Zixu was, she didn't even dare to imagine how Shan Nian might have bullied the two poor little ones behind her back.
"I'll teach her a lesson for you later."
Zixu sneered: "You're lucky you weren't taught a lesson by her."
Don't forget, kindness will eventually be extinguished.
Back then, I used opportunism to suppress evil with good intentions, but now I don't have any cheat codes to exploit anymore. Zixu's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on Shen Tang, casting a shadow over her entire being. She perched on the nearest tree, her lips so pursed they could hang on a clothes hook.
My daughter doesn't easily shed tears, unless she's truly heartbroken.
"Waaah, how long until I can go back?"
Zixu said weakly, "Three days."
"You are here, but where is Wuyou?"
"have no idea……"
Gradually, she could no longer hear Zixu's voice, and no matter how she called, there was no response, so Shen Tang had no choice but to give up for the time being. After obtaining the accurate time from Zixu, her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.
These three days are a vacation for me.
|ω`)
Zixu: I'd rather die, I'd rather be bald, than go back!
(End of this chapter)
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