Chapter 23 The Ancient Scholar Used as Cannon Fodder (Part Two and Three) The next day, ...
The next day, before Han Qige even got out of bed, she was restrained by a group of officials and taken directly to the county government's courtroom.
Lord Liu sat on the throne and slammed his gavel: "Han Qige, you have clearly been stripped of your scholar's degree and have no official travel permit, yet you have sneaked into the city. Guards, give him twenty strokes of the cane!"
Before Han Qige could react, she was pinned to the ground and stripped of her clothes. Fortunately, this was not a public trial and no onlookers were present.
The fact that he didn't have a travel permit was indeed his carelessness. Fortunately, this time it was only twenty strokes of the cane, so it shouldn't be too hard for him.
Just as Han Qige secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the board slammed down on him, the force of which caused him to let out a shrill scream.
The bailiffs who were administering the caning were completely unaffected; they even changed bailiffs every two strokes. After only ten strokes, Han Qige was already unable to make a sound. By the time the twenty strokes were finished, he was completely disoriented.
In his daze, he heard Lord Liu in the courtroom slam his gavel again: "Han Qige has been wearing a scholar's robes and impersonating a scholar to swindle people. He shall be given another twenty strokes of the cane!"
Han Qige's eyes widened suddenly. Something was wrong. Was someone trying to harm him? Who was it? Qian Youcai or Qian Youhua?!
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to figure it out. The bailiff who was administering the caning had already received instructions, and before the forty strokes were even finished, Han Qige had completely lost his breath.
After hearing that the man had been beaten to death, Lord Liu was still not at ease. He ordered his men to burn the body to ashes before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
When Qian Youhua heard about this, he came to collect the ashes and sent them to Han's parents, hoping it would be some consolation.
He didn't come away empty-handed; although Han Qige's ideas were a bit rudimentary, they were good directions.
Qian Youhua wrote all of this down and handed it over to the group of managers, thinking that they could take advantage of the holidays to launch some kind of promotional activity.
Upon receiving the ashes, the Han family elders were overwhelmed with emotion, finally feeling a great weight lifted from their hearts. They adopted a distant relative's child, registering him under their son's name, thus continuing their family line.
Lin You, who was far away in the capital, was greatly shocked when she heard the system notification.
"Baby, Chu baby! Han Qige is dead!" Lin You exclaimed in disbelief. How could he be dead? Wasn't he the main villain? Wasn't he supposed to be causing trouble and rebelling?
"How did you know he died? How did you get notified?" Chu Nanfeng asked, taking the bean rolls from the vendor and counting out a few coins.
"There was a notification saying that Han Qige is dead, and the mission is halfway complete," Lin You replied casually.
She glanced around the street and called out, "Chu Nanfeng, there's a long line at that fried rice cake stall on the east side. It must taste really good. Let's bring some back for our godmother and little sister."
Chu Nanfeng sighed helplessly. Shouldn't they be checking the task completion rules and the specific reasons for completion now?!
Forget it, I'm not in the mood to watch it here. Let's talk about it when we get back.
After buying fried rice cakes, packing two servings of noodles with soybean paste, and going to the market to buy a few apples that had been stored for a long time, Chu Nanfeng didn't head back until both his hands were full.
As for why he didn't buy his own Zhajiangmian (noodles with soybean paste), it's because he had just tried many snacks and was already full.
The culprit, Lin You, was still nagging from the side: "Chu Nanfeng, your eating habits are not very healthy. We need to eat lighter meals and avoid heavy oil and sugar, otherwise you will develop high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol in the future."
"Okay, remember to remind me next time, sister." What could Chu Nanfeng do but nod in agreement? She was powerless against Chu Nanfeng's selective amnesia.
With just over ten days left until the Lunar New Year, Chu Nanfeng's house was finally renovated, and while the furniture and decorations weren't the finest, they were all prepared.
Although the house wasn't very big, it still needed manpower to maintain, so he went to the brokerage firm and bought a few honest and hardworking servants.
There was a gatekeeper who also ran errands, an old woman who did laundry, cooking, and cleaning, and a little girl who was two years older than Chu Qing.
It wasn't convenient to bring too many people to the Qian family's guest courtyard, so the servants and maids were arranged to stay at the new house first, to look around the house and clean the courtyard.
The little horse named Lin Doudou now has its own stable, and the hired coachman also lives in the gatehouse so they can look after each other.
The maid named Xiaohong followed Chu's mother and Chu Qing, helping with some odd jobs.
In modern news, there have been many cases of nannies abusing children. Lin You kept an eye on her for a few days out of concern, and only felt relieved when she saw that Xiao Hong was relatively honest and did not slack off at work.
As Chu Nanfeng's number one fanboy, after learning about Chu Nanfeng's moving plans, Qian Youcai specially consulted a fortune teller to ask which day before the new year would be suitable for moving into his new home.
Having received instructions from someone, Blind Liu pretended to count on his fingers, and after a long time, he finally came up with a date: "The 27th of the twelfth lunar month."
"This is too close to the New Year, sir. Could you please suggest a date earlier?" Qian Youcai hurriedly placed a one-tael silver ingot in his hand.
Blind Liu deftly pocketed the silver, and said mysteriously:
"The person you're predicting to move to a new house is a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations? This scholar is not old, but he is a man of great talent and learning, with a promising future. He is truly remarkable."
"Excellent, excellent! Sir, you are truly a master strategist!" Qian Youcai's eyes lit up; he had met a genius!
The fortune teller stroked his beard and continued, "The date I chose will be of great benefit to him in next year's imperial examination; it must not be moved forward."
"Alright, alright, then I'll listen to the fortune teller!" Qian Youcai gave another tael of silver as a fortune-telling fee before happily returning to tell Chu Nanfeng the date.
"It's too late. Why don't we find someone else to calculate it?" Lin You couldn't help but suggest. There are still half a month until the New Year, so why is there only one auspicious day?
"A few days later is fine. It seems that Brother Xie can get the General's Mansion matters settled before the New Year."
Chu Nanfeng didn't care much about the time of day these past few days, since the house had already been tidied up and he could move in right away.
"Huh?" Lin You was stunned for a while before she understood what it meant. "So it was Xie Zi'an who did this. He did this to congratulate you on moving to your new home? This guy is really weird."
Lin You suppressed a laugh and made a sarcastic remark, just as she heard Chu Qing calling her. It turned out that Chu's mother was going to make sesame candy.
She loves snacks, and the whole Chu family knows that she'll go to the food street even if she can't get any. So whenever the family makes something delicious, Chu Qing will specifically call her over.
The customs here are the same as those in modern times. Every year on the eve of the Lunar New Year, people worship the Kitchen God and eat sesame candy. When Lin You was a child, she also liked to squat in front of the stove and watch her grandmother make sesame candy.
Chu's mother put the washed white sesame seeds into the pot and stirred them over a low flame. Soon, the pot started to crackle, and sesame seeds would occasionally pop.
The maid Xiaohong helped start the fire, while Chu Qing squatted not far away, her cheeks propped up on her hand, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
The food has been good these past few months, and Lin You often feeds her snacks, so the little girl's face has gotten a bit chubby.
Lin You couldn't help but lean over and pinch her little face. Although she didn't feel anything when she touched things, she still enjoyed pinching her face.
She reached out and rubbed Chu Qing's head again. The little girl's hair was still a bit dry and yellow. She would buy more red dates and black beans and cook porridge for her every day to help her recover.
Once the sesame seeds in the pot had turned golden brown, Chu's mother took out a jar of maltose sauce, scooped out a large clump, and poured it into the pot.
The translucent maltose melts slowly with the heat. Then, pour a bowl of brown sugar into the pot. Once the sugar syrup coats each sesame seed, you can take it out, roll it out, and cut it into small pieces while it's still hot.
Once cooled, the sesame candy is sweet and crispy, and can be stored for a long time in an airtight container.
Now that the family has some extra money, Chu's mother made a lot more candy this year, and even gave a jar to Qian Duoduo who came to play. While putting away the jar of candy for Lin You, Chu Qing instructed the little girl, Qian:
"My older sister said that you shouldn't eat too much sugar in a day, and you should remember to rinse your mouth after eating it, otherwise your teeth will get rotten."
Qian Duoduo nodded obediently. Her father had said that the Chu family were all smart people, and listening to them would be the right thing to do.
The Chu family was happily busy every day, preparing for a good New Year, and Young Master Xie was also happily busy every day, preparing for the Emperor to have a good New Year.
In order to finish the task as soon as possible, Xie Zian traveled day and night without stopping, rushing around day and night. Even Xu Wuchen, who was following him, was nagged by him several times for being too slow.
Guard Xu rolled his eyes discreetly and nimbly slipped into the hill ahead to investigate. The mountain, which should have been desolate, had been transformed into a stronghold at some point, bustling with people, but they didn't seem like bandits.
The swords, spears, and halberds they carried were all standard military weapons, and some of them were even wearing military armor.
The village's defenses weren't very tight, and Xu Wuchen sneaked in, finding the Prince Cheng's family crest and a handwritten letter. He was caught red-handed.
Xie Zian and Xu Wuchen investigated for half a month and found evidence that Prince Cheng was colluding with foreign enemies. They also uncovered the location where he secretly stockpiled troops.
Lord Xie swiftly led his troops and wiped out the entire hill. Prince Cheng was naturally arrested and will likely spend the New Year in prison.
[Ding! Emperor's favorability +3, 30 points gained. The "Pampered Concubine" quest has officially begun.]
[Ding! The points mall is now open. Please check it out.]
[Ding! Main quest activated. Please encounter the Emperor once within three days to gain 2 points of favorability. Success rewards 10 points; failure incurs no penalty.]
One person was buying New Year's goods when they were startled by a series of notification sounds.
This cheat ability, with its somewhat odd name, doesn't usually have a high presence; it's mostly used as a measure of favorability. Who knows how it suddenly activated out of nowhere.
"Could the emperor be nearby?" In novels, it's not common for the emperor to travel incognito. If he sees the male or female protagonist in a crowd and thinks that this person has an unusual bone structure, clear eyebrows and bright eyes, and is very different from others, then what is the story?
Taking advantage of the fact that no one could see her, Lin You blatantly looked around.
They came from a small market near the eastern city wall, where most of the vendors were locals from the vicinity of the capital.
There were many people at the market, all wearing cloth t-shirts and linen shirts, some even patched up. The most neatly dressed person around here was Chu Nanfeng.
Lin You wandered around for a while but couldn't see anyone with imperial majesty. There were no restaurants, teahouses, or houses nearby. Surely the emperor wouldn't be out on the city wall enjoying the breeze on New Year's Day.
"Sister, things are busy at the end of the year, how could the Emperor have time to come here? It must be that Brother Xie has finished dealing with his affairs and mentioned my name when he met with the Emperor."
Chu Nanfeng listened to her idea and explained it to her with amusement.
As they walked home, they studied the updated information and points mall that appeared after the cheat system was activated.
This mall is very different from Lin You's mall, and the points are not interchangeable. The items inside are very much in line with the style of a cheat system.
The images displayed on the very front page were things like slender hands, a willow-like waist, skin as smooth as ice and bones as white as jade, flowing black hair, and rosy cheeks, making everyone's lips twitch.
Lin You continued scrolling down, where there were various options for eye and eyebrow shapes, nose sizes, lip curves, ear shapes, skin colors, and even different body scents.
It's just painless cosmetic surgery, like creating a character in an online game. If you actually get this done, even your own mother probably wouldn't recognize you.
Fortunately, they are a legitimate company. The Golden Finger Mall is a bit odd, but there are no skills that need to be censored or pixelated.
Lin You searched through the entire online store before finally finding a few items that were somewhat useful.
A pill for fertility, a pill for preventing miscarriage, and a book on making pastries.
"It's... alright, at least there's still something usable." Lin You's tone was dry; even she couldn't comfort herself with these words!
What terrible luck she had to draw such a piece of junk!
Lin You felt like she was just a burden, unable to help him with anything except accompanying him shopping.
Chu Nanfeng didn't care about the items in the shop. They were an unexpected bonus, so why should he complain about it just because he didn't get much?
This time, Lin You, who was sulking, was not easy to coax. Chu Nanfeng had already walked through three snack streets, but she still hadn't said that she wanted to buy anything.
After Chu Nanfeng learned the reason, he immediately said seriously, "Sister, why belittle yourself? If it weren't for you, Nanfeng would have been doomed long ago."
"That's Han Qige, he's a scoundrel!" Lin You snorted, then sighed, "My luck is just too bad."
Chu Nanfeng thought it was alright: "The fact that the golden finger can show the emperor's favorability is already a great opportunity. What else is needed?"
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Author's Note: [Owl emoji]
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