The Taoist priest immediately realized that the situation was not good. The other group was likely the bandits. It would be much better for him to fall into the hands of the yamen runners than for the bandits. So he immediately gave up struggling and obediently followed the yamen runners.
The bandits who had been secretly pursuing them saw this and, in a fit of anger, punched the wall before returning to report to their leader.
The specific handling of this matter will have to be decided by the boss.
However, to their surprise, they didn't have time to report the Taoist priest's arrest to their boss when they got back, because they hadn't seen their boss at all. The owner of Xilailou told them that their stronghold had been burned down and their boss had rushed back.
Everyone panicked immediately. They didn't care about the people from Xilailou and rushed up the mountain. Naturally, they couldn't get back safely, since the yamen had already set up an ambush on their way back and had them all silently taken back to the yamen.
The day after the auction, Xilailou closed down, and the waiters were all sent home, the reason being that the owner had family matters to attend to and needed to close for a while.
In reality, the owner of Xilailou went to the county government office and, upon seeing the scraps of his wife and children's clothing that the yamen runners had collected from the mountains, broke down in tears.
He shouldn't have believed those bandits. He thought that if he did what they asked, he could successfully rescue his wife and children. He never expected that those beasts never intended to return his wife and children to him!
"Please, Your Excellency, grant justice for this humble subject!"
He knelt before Lu Baichuan and the county magistrate for a long time, almost collapsing.
Pingxuan, dressed as a beggar, was kneeling beside him. He already knew that his family was gone. His reaction was a little less intense than that of the owner of Xilailou, but he was still not in a good state. Especially since the owner of Xilailou was crying so sadly, his emotions were also affected, and he looked very depressed.
“Before, I was worried that those people would harm my wife and children, so I didn’t dare to report it to the authorities. I just hoped that my wife and children would come back safely, but who could have imagined... who could have imagined! I’m the one who has harmed them!”
The owner of Xilailou collapsed to the ground in tears. If he had reported it to the authorities sooner, they might have been able to save their lives!
Seeing his remorseful and regretful expression, Lu Baichuan felt sorry for him, but didn't say much. No one feels good in this situation; they can only try to cope on their own.
Once they had calmed down, Lu Baichuan spoke up, saying, "It's too late to say anything now. The only thing you can do is tell us what you know so that the government can send troops to wipe out the bandits and restore peace to the people."
Taoist Pingxuan sniffed and said coldly, "Let me speak first."
“More than two months ago, I was suddenly approached by people who threatened my family’s lives and asked me to calculate the location of the legendary treasure. I told them that I was just a charlatan trying to make a living in the city. Before I could finish speaking, I was beaten up and forced to call myself a master, to go out and spread the word that I could calculate the location of the treasure.”
"They gave me money to become a respectable Taoist priest, telling everyone about the treasure. The bandits also spread the news in secret, and soon many people came to visit."
“Those bandits were afraid I would let something slip, so they told me to find a place to hide. I thought they were telling me to hide on my own, but I was caught and taken to the stronghold that very night. At first, I thought it would be good to be reunited with my family, but I didn’t see any of my family members. They said they would keep me under separate guards, and they locked me up like that for two months. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I overheard the bandits talking and learned that my family had been gone for a long time. That’s when I escaped when there were hardly any people in the stronghold.”
Following that, the owner of Xilailou also gave a brief account of the situation, which was similar to that of the Taoist priest.
Lu Baichuan asked, "Do you know how these bandits started talking about the treasure? Are they being guided by someone?"
The manager of Xilailou shook his head; by the time he found out, everyone in the city already knew about it.
The Taoist priest thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "That bandit leader often communicates with someone, and it's likely that person is giving them advice behind the scenes."
Lu Baichuan became interested and continued to ask, "Who are they?"
"I don't know, it should be from the capital. The bandit leader called him 'sir,' which means the other party must have given him a lot of benefits, and the bandit leader respected him very much."
This is interesting; it turns out to be someone from the imperial court.
I thought it was Dongting causing trouble, but it turns out it was one of our own people secretly plotting against us.
It's quite ironic.
Afterwards, Lu Baichuan personally interrogated the captured bandits and received similar answers to Pingxuan's: they did not know who was communicating with their leader.
That makes sense; if too many people knew, it would expose that person.
After leaving the prison, Lu Baichuan said, "Send me a team of men; I'm going to suppress the bandits."
Now that we know it wasn't the Eastern Court people causing trouble, things are much simpler. We can just arrest the bandits, lock them up, and then have the emperor send someone to investigate. As for who to send and how well they investigate, that's none of his business.
He hadn't been home for another day, but luckily he sent a message to Jiang Jiuniang. Jiang Jiuniang wasn't worried at all and strolled around the village with Zhang Saozi, getting to know quite a few people.
A group of women gathered around the child, trying to find topics to talk about, and eventually the conversation turned to Jiang Jiuniang's belly.
"The young master is quite well-behaved; he hasn't caused any trouble for the madam these past two days."
In this era, every family wanted to have a son, and he felt that Jiang Jiuniang was no different, so he addressed her as "young master" to please her.
Jiang Jiuniang originally didn't want to dwell on these things, after all, their ideas were deeply ingrained and a few words couldn't change their views. But when she heard everyone around her talking about wanting to have a son, she couldn't help but say, "I've always hoped that this baby would be a girl."
No one took it seriously, thinking she was just joking, after all, what family wants to have a daughter?
Seeing their slightly disdainful looks, Jiang Jiuniang became more serious and continued, "Who among you here isn't a woman? Men and women are both human beings. Why should you think that men are superior? Don't always look down on yourselves and belittle the girls in your families. Girls are our warm little cotton-padded jackets!"
"You really shouldn't disbelieve me. Even Her Majesty the Empress has stood up for us women. Moreover, in the capital, women can also go to school and find a decent job in the city in the future. It is said that women understand women best. In the future, if the daughters of the family are successful, they will remember the kindness of their parents in raising and educating them, and they will definitely be more considerate and caring towards their parents than their sons."
"Don't always think that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl; she's still a piece of your own flesh and blood. Take you all for example, haven't you all cut ties with your maternal families now? Don't you go home to visit during holidays? Raising your daughter well is more respectable than anything else. To be realistic, it means that when she grows up, the bride price can be much higher. Isn't that the truth?"
Finally, she brought up the issue of bride price, which made many people waver.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com