Chapter 101 Parting (Part 6) Encountering a Ghost.
The man was quite experienced; even with a spear pointed at him and his life hanging by a thread, he only trembled twice before immediately straightening up.
However, everyone behind them was temporarily frightened, and no one dared to say anything or take another step forward.
At this moment, Li Yunru, dressed in a bright yellow cross-collar embroidered peony skirt, slowly walked out of the door.
The moment she appeared, someone in the crowd immediately shouted, "Demon!"
Many people echoed his words, but they immediately fell silent when faced with a group of people blocking their way.
Li Yunru slightly raised her eyes and glanced over. She saw that there were at least several hundred people gathered below the steps. The leader was a lean man with a bare chest. He was good-looking and had delicate features, but his eyes had three whites, which revealed a sinister look.
That was the first shout he made!
A short, plump woman echoed her sentiment.
She secretly made a mental note of it.
"Are you saying that the disaster that Jiangzuo is suffering today is a result of my actions?"
Li Yunru's voice was calm, revealing no trace of joy or anger. She stood there, tall and elegant, and without doing anything special, her simple words sent a chill down one's spine, leaving one speechless for a moment.
She glanced at him, understanding most of what he meant, and continued, "Just now I heard a report that Jiangzuo has not had any trouble for many years, but because I came, the mine incident happened. That's why you all think this way."
"Isn't that right? It is! It's all because of you, you jinx!" the fat woman said.
"Is that so?" Li Yunru stepped down and walked over to the woman.
"You... what do you want to do!" The woman took two steps back, but her words were defiant. "Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you outnumber me and have weapons. The governor cares about the people. If he knew, he would definitely approve of what we're doing!"
"Yeah?"
Li Yunru stared at her intently, clearly feeling guilty, her eyes darting around. The moment she looked away, she immediately squatted down on the ground, pounding her chest and wailing.
"Everyone come quick! The evil spirit is going to eat people!"
"Everyone, come and see!"
"My poor husband, she killed him!"
They throw tantrums, distort the truth, and sow discord.
She used this trick when she was a child.
Li Yunru ignored these voices and the condemnations that arose following her outburst.
She retreated back onto the steps, coldly looking at the people below, and said, "You say this celestial phenomenon is my calamity. Before me, Jiangzuo had never experienced such a disaster. However, as far as I know, the records of Jiangzuo document more than ten major disasters. I won't go into the earlier ones, but in this dynasty, during the reign of the late emperor, in just over ten years, the Jiangzuo region experienced a flood that breached the dikes and a landslide. The two incidents resulted in several thousand casualties, and the imperial court allocated one million taels of silver for disaster relief..."
"What, have you forgotten? Or were these two disasters also man-made? Who caused them? Who is the nemesis?"
They were all rendered speechless by the questions!
In the end, all that's left is a weak excuse, "soliciting nonsense!"
"The past is the past, the present is the present. Tonight's mine disaster is all because of you, it's your fault!"
"Don't listen to this sorcerer's nonsense! She defied the laws of heaven, stole the governor's tiger tally, and attempted to rule Jiangzuo. That's why she harmed our loved ones. A life for a life! A life for a life!"
Even if a statement is full of flaws, people in certain environments, driven by their emotions, are unable to think for themselves and can only be led by others.
"They're in cahoots! Let's just attack! Kill the witch and avenge our loved ones!"
"Kill the witch!"
"Kill the witch!"
The lean man leading the group came up first, carrying a long rake, followed by the others, and the scene became chaotic again.
Even a dozen or so generals couldn't stop them.
Originally, the plan was to use the chaos of the argument to attract their attention, to make them pause and listen quietly, to point out the flaws in her argument, to calm them down, and to give them room to maneuver and find a solution. But now...
Li Yunru sighed and closed her eyes.
A flash of white light appeared, and with a swift movement of the knife, the lean man's eyes widened as he collapsed to the ground.
Song Ji stood in front of her and shouted, "The Governor's Office will decide this matter. Anyone who dares to cause trouble again will suffer the same fate as this person!"
Indeed, sometimes, force is a more direct and effective way to resolve many issues.
To make an example of her, Song Jizhen took action and drew blood. Those who had been following her and demanding she pay with her life froze in their tracks, no longer advancing. The short, fat woman shouted, "Murder! They've killed someone!"
They seemed to be trying to incite people to take action, but still no one dared to step forward.
Taking this opportunity, Song Ji told them to leave, saying, "If anyone dares to cause trouble in front of the Governor's Mansion after today, don't blame me for not showing any mercy with my sword!"
...
The crowd dispersed like birds and beasts, and the once chaotic entrance to the governor's mansion instantly fell silent, with only the faint sound of rain and wind.
Raindrops fell on the fallen man, and his blood spread out like a river, flowing in all directions with the rain.
The group stared at the corpse on the ground, exchanging bewildered glances before finally looking at Li Yunru.
"Madam Li, what should we do with this person?"
"Find a place and bury him."
Li Yunru turned around and went into the house without any reaction.
She wasn't unfamiliar with dead people, nor was she clean-handed and stained with blood. Back when she was in that position, anyone who slandered her would suffer the same fate.
only……
well.
Perhaps it's because I've grown up over the years and seen so many people suffering, that my heart has begun to soften.
Song Ji had him carried away and dealt with, then followed Li Yunru inside. Everyone returned to the meeting hall, and after a long silence, Li Yunru spoke up: "Continue to investigate the mine matter; we must find out the truth!"
"But now that this has happened, I'm afraid those people will be even less cooperative, making it harder to investigate."
"If something is difficult to investigate, then we shouldn't investigate it. But if it's a war, does that mean we shouldn't fight it if it's difficult to fight?"
Li Yunru was in a very bad mood, and her words came out in a harsh tone. Since she was so stubborn, the others didn't know what to say, so they agreed and left for the time being.
at the same time.
Yan Ning rode swiftly along a shortcut towards Jiangzuo. Passing through a mountain road with tea stalls, he handed the horse to an old man, saying, "Feed it some food and bring it a pot of good tea!"
Alright!
The old man led his horse over, tied it to a wooden post, and called out to the old woman at the tea stall. The old woman came out carrying a pot of cold tea.
Yan Ning sat down, poured a full bowl, and drank it all in one gulp. His dry throat finally felt better. He looked up at the sky. The rain wasn't too heavy, and he could continue walking. At this pace, he could reach Jiangzuo in three to five days at most. However, he needed to hurry, otherwise, when the Gu poison took effect, he would be delayed.
In light of the current situation, we absolutely cannot afford to be delayed halfway!
The person clutched their chest.
It's a dull, aching pain.
It's not him who's in pain, it's Liyang...
She is sad.
...
"I have an idea."
The investigation lasted for nearly seven days, but to no avail. Just as everyone had expected, although the people no longer dared to cause trouble at the Governor's Mansion, they also refused to cooperate with the investigation, claiming ignorance when asked, or they would start crying when talking about the victims of the accident...
"What?"
Songji handed her the cloak, saying, "It's windy and cold at night; the princess shouldn't be out like this."
Li Yunru took the cloak and, while tying it on, said, "Don't those people all believe in visions? Perhaps we can make use of that."
Songji found a seat and sat down. He met her big, blinking eyes, but immediately looked away.
"Your subject is foolish and ignorant; please enlighten me, Your Highness."
Li Yunru suddenly understood and laughed out loud: "Have you forgotten the person you killed with a swift stroke that day?"
"As far as I know, he is not a local, but a refugee from the north. He arrived recently and has no relatives or friends. He is currently being housed in a refugee camp in Shilipo, on the outskirts of the city. Since this group of people has just entered the country, they have not yet received their household registration documents, so they have not been able to find a proper job."
Song Ji was shocked: "The princess actually knows so much?"
“I have a record of the documents you gave me before. I haven’t had much to do lately, so I just looked through them again.”
Song Ji smiled and asked, "Did the princess also learn this from the records of Jiangzuo?"
Li Yunru shook her head, "No."
She learned that from her father, the emperor. Those two major disasters caused him a great deal of trouble. The governors at the time submitted one memorial after another, each time with the number of casualties increasing. Even the military camps suffered heavy losses as a result.
The emperor lamented, "Natural disasters and man-made calamities, all suffering isfalling the people."
So money and grain were allocated in large sums, but looking at the situation in Jiangzuo later, it was clear that much of it was not actually used for the benefit of the people.
However, since so much time has passed and the governor had been killed by Yan Ning two years earlier, there is no way to investigate further. It is more important to deal with the immediate issues at hand.
Li Yunru said, "We can take advantage of this person's death."
She explained the reasons for this idea.
“I noticed that day that most of the people were not very aggressive, but some people incited them, which is why they acted that way. That person was one of them, and another one was… that fat woman.”
At this point in her sentence, Song Ji understood.
"I understand. I will make the arrangements immediately."
One day later.
In the dead of night, when all was quiet, a gust of wind suddenly swept by, and the previously closed window swung open. A faint voice drifted out, calling out something, but it was not very clear.
The woman, who had been sleeping peacefully on the bed, first mumbled a complaint that she was a little cold, then froze, afraid to move.
But the sound remained, growing ever closer...
The lady trembled. She didn't dare to turn around. She just took the corner of the quilt with her two fat hands and slowly lifted it up to completely cover her body.
However, a gust of wind blew by, and the quilt slipped from her body like a falling leaf. The woman tried to grab it, but to no avail.
"Aunt Ou, why did you lie to me? Why!"
A deep, rough voice, like a lisp, shouted angrily.
"Who lied to you!"
Aunt Ou sat up in bed, trying to intimidate the person with her imposing manner, but suddenly a white shadow flashed in front of her, and her vision went black. She was so frightened that she fainted. Not long after, she regained consciousness, but when she opened one eye, she saw that the white shadow was still there, and the eerie voice was accusing her again.
She finally panicked and knelt down with a thud.
He begged, bowing and kowtowing three times and kowtowing nine times: "I didn't lie to you, brother. You lied to me. You said that as long as we killed that woman, we would get money. I listened to you. When you shouted, I shouted too. They killed you. The wronged should be held accountable. You should either find the people who killed you or find the people who said they would give us money. I'm just like you, just someone who follows orders!"
"Yeah?"
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Author's note: My writing software malfunctioned, so I'm a little late. I should be able to finish this part and move on to the new story tomorrow.
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