Chapter 90 090 Reunion with His Highness He really does like asking others…
For a moment, Yun Tianjiao was in a daze. It felt like a past life when she and Shen Hengzhen accompanied Yun Tianqi out of the palace for a stroll. The three of them walked together, joking and laughing as they wandered through the streets and alleys.
Because Yun Tianqi insisted on watching a folk opera that day, they sat down in the simple and crowded opera house. Unexpectedly, a beggar rushed in to beg and was driven away by the opera house owner.
Just then, the scarred beggar fell in front of her, his arm cut by a shard of porcelain. She casually gave him a piece of silver and told him to go to the clinic to get his injury treated.
The boy's face was covered in new wounds, and his dark eyes stared at Yun Tianjiao, as if he recognized her as well.
"You lowly thing, how dare you stare at Her Highness the Princess! I'll gouge your eyes out!" A soldier guarding the boy kicked him in the back of the knee, and the boy, who had just managed to stand up, knelt down again.
This time, he lowered his eyes, no longer daring to look directly at the high and mighty Princess.
Yun Tianjiao got off the carriage and walked up to the boy, but first looked at the soldier who was kicking someone.
Why did you kick him?
The soldier quickly bowed and said, "Your Highness, he offended you."
Yun Tianjiao said calmly, "There is no law that says a commoner should be kicked and beaten for glancing at a member of the royal family a few times."
The soldier's face flushed red, and he bowed even lower. "Your Highness is right, but this young man led the way in setting up an altar to worship the Ghost King, which is a heinous act of worshipping evil spirits and should be punished."
"Nor has any law said that."
With just a few words, Yun Tianjiao had already set the tone for the matter.
The officers and soldiers present glanced at their superiors and released the detained refugees, then dispersed to the side.
In reality, only a few able-bodied young people led the riot; the majority of women, children, and the elderly were hiding in tattered tents set up in the distance, peering fearfully in this direction.
Seeing that Her Highness the Princess had ordered her men to release her brothers, husbands, and sons, they all came out, young and old, and knelt down to express their gratitude.
Yun Tianjiao reached out and supported the boy's arm, speaking gently, "Get up."
The boy's body stiffened slightly the moment Yun Tianjiao touched him, but he quickly recovered and obediently stood up.
"Why are you leading the worship of the Ghost King?" Yun Tianjiao asked.
Before the boy could speak, a dozen or so men behind him interjected, "It's none of his business. Everyone here worships ghosts!"
"His Highness didn't ask you, step back!"
Immediately, guards with knives stepped forward to protect Yun Tianjiao from the agitated refugees rushing over.
Yun Tianjiao raised his hand to signal the soldiers to step back, then looked at the man who had spoken, "Yun Chi Kingdom reveres gods, so why do you worship ghosts?"
The man said in a gruff voice, "So what if we worship ghosts? Haven't you ever worshipped your own ancestors? A wildfire burned for years, and those damned gods didn't care whether we lived or died. Why should we worship them?!"
"How dare you speak to Her Highness the Princess like that!" At this moment, the Imperial Guard also heard the commotion and rushed over. He kowtowed to Yun Tianjiao and apologized, "Your Highness, please forgive me. This humble general was late in protecting Your Highness."
"It's alright, it's nothing." Yun Tianjiao didn't want to provoke these refugees any further, so she ordered the guards to send people to distribute the mooncakes she had brought.
"Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I have come to visit you all on behalf of His Majesty, bringing some mooncakes. His Majesty knows that you have traveled a long way and are short of clothes and medicine, so he specially ordered me to bring some clothes and medicine as well. Several imperial physicians have also come with me. If anyone is sick, you can have a consultation with the imperial physicians so as not to delay your treatment."
The Imperial Guard was efficient; he quickly had tents set up for the imperial physicians as temporary clinics, and soon a long queue formed outside the tents.
As the supplies were distributed, the displaced people's mood indeed relaxed a lot, especially the young and strong men, who, unlike the confrontation they had just faced, went back to their tents to take care of their elderly and weak.
Yun Tianjiao didn't put on any airs of royalty. He sat with the women and children, helping to distribute mooncakes to the children while asking, "Your hometown has suffered a disaster, and the court has already sent officials to provide relief. Why did you still risk coming here?"
An old woman knelt down before Yun Tianjiao with tears in her eyes and kowtowed. "Your Highness, our village is thousands of miles away from the capital. If we hadn't been desperate, why would we have risked our lives to come here? My husband and son died along the way. There are many people like me."
Yun Tianjiao helped the old woman up without interrupting her, patiently waiting for her to continue.
"This wildfire has been burning for nearly three years, and it has been difficult to extinguish. Our village was burned down, our crops were burned down, and countless people died of disease and starvation. The imperial court sent one inspector after another, and each time they said that disaster relief grain had been distributed, but in reality, we didn't receive much. It wasn't until Lord Shen took office half a year ago that the situation improved."
Some of the bolder women also chimed in.
"Yes! Your Highness, if it weren't for Lord Shen, we would probably have starved, frozen, or died of illness long ago! But we never expected that our good days would only last a few days before Lord Shen passed away. We heard that it was because the Emperor suspected Lord Shen of plotting a rebellion! We can all testify that Lord Shen was wholeheartedly dedicated to disaster relief and had absolutely no intention of rebelling. This must be a fabrication and slander!"
"Yes, I heard that Lord Shen is still imprisoned! Your Highness, you must seek justice for Lord Shen! He is a first-rate official! We people in the disaster area are waiting for Lord Shen to return!"
Yun Tianjiao's eyes darkened, and he immediately pressed, "Where did you hear this rumor? Why do you all say that the Emperor suspects Lord Shen of plotting a rebellion?"
Yun Tianqi's suspicion of Shen Hengzhen led him to issue twelve imperial edicts urging him to return to the capital. While this was true, it would never be outwardly expressed. Even if some officials speculated among themselves, it would be impossible for such rumors to spread widely among the common people.
As for Shen Hengzhen being imprisoned in the Censorate prison after returning to the capital, it was because he was disrespectful to the gods and incurred the wrath of the masses; it was a last-minute change.
Yun Tianjiao firmly refused to believe that so many refugees could tell such a story in such a detailed and convincing way, without anyone stirring things up behind the scenes.
"Who said that? Nobody said that! We all know!"
"Yes, we all know!"
The women were baffled by Yun Tianjiao's question.
Yun Tianjiao guided, "There must be a source to this claim. For example, did you hear it from a relative? Or did someone in your family work in the government office and hear it from there?"
Everyone shook their heads in unison, "No, we didn't hear it from others, we know it ourselves."
Yun Tianjiao frowned slightly, feeling that the refugees' reactions were quite strange, and looked at Zhiwei.
Zhiwei seemed to be deep in thought.
At this moment, some refugees whispered among themselves and pointed at Zhiwei repeatedly.
"The man beside Your Highness must be a celestial being."
"Yes, I think I saw his temple on the way here. He's so handsome!"
"Tch! What good are gods? They won't even glance at us. Gods only know how to surround nobles. Look at him, isn't he always by Her Highness the Princess's side? In my opinion, our Ghost King is definitely more handsome than these gods!"
"That's right, only the Ghost King can protect us poor people. My grandfather appeared to me in a dream and told me to worship the Ghost King more and not to pay attention to any gods."
Your grandfather has been gone for many years, hasn't he?
"That's why his dream is believable!"
Seeing that he couldn't get any more useful information from these refugees, Yun Tianjiao walked aside with Zhiwei and said to him, "Don't you find it strange?"
Zhiwei nodded. "These refugees believe that Lord Shen was recalled and imprisoned because of the Emperor's suspicion. This idea seems to have appeared directly in their minds."
Yun Tianjiao said, "I have the same feeling. Could it be that some kind of supernatural power directly implanted this idea into their minds?"
Zhiwei thought for a moment, then her gaze fell on the scarred boy not far away.
"Has Your Highness noticed that, although this young man is quite old, these refugees seem to regard him as their leader?"
Yun Tianjiao followed Zhiwei's gaze and saw that the dozen or so men who had rushed to protect the boy earlier were now surrounding him and talking about something.
The boy was very perceptive and quickly noticed that someone was watching him. He turned his head and met Yun Tianjiao's gaze. He seemed to ponder for a moment, then got up and walked towards the two of them.
"This humble subject pays respects to Your Highness, the Princess. I am deeply grateful for Your Highness's two acts of rescue."
His voice was clear and bright, and his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant. Ignoring the scar on his face, he was also very handsome, making it hard not to like him.
"So you still remember me," Yun Tianjiao said with a smile. "We can be considered to have a connection. But weren't you begging for a living in the capital before? How come you're here now?"
The young man said softly, "I was forced to wander to the capital three years ago because my hometown was hit by a wildfire. A few days ago I heard that people from my hometown were coming again. Although I beg for a living, I have managed to make a living in the capital for a few years and barely managed to survive. So I thought I would go out of the city to help my fellow villagers. But I didn't expect that so many people would come this time."
Yun Tianjiao recalled that when Shen Hengzhen saw this young man and the group of beggars with him, he said that these were refugees who had fled from disaster areas and had no way to register their residence, so they could only beg for a living.
Therefore, it seems that what the boy said was not a lie.
"These people all seem to know you very well. Could they all be related?"
The boy said, “My father was the Registrar of Households in Lian County, responsible for registering households and determining taxes. Because Lian County is located in a mountainous area with complex terrain, villages are often separated by dozens of miles of mountain roads. In order to ensure the accuracy of the population registration, my father took me to register each household one by one, so many people knew me.”
Yun Tianjiao had seen in the memorial that Lian County was the area most severely affected by the recent wildfires in Southwest China.
"So your father was the Registrar of Households. How... did he die?"
The boy replied calmly and respectfully, "He died in the fire while saving a village child."
It was a very simple sentence, passed over lightly and without any weight, but Yun Tianjiao was shocked when he heard it, and could almost imagine the tragic scene.
A child cries, a fire burns mercilessly. A lowly official, in an attempt to save the local people, ventures into the flames and never returns.
It's no wonder that these refugees treated the boy so differently.
"What's your name?" Yun Tianjiao asked.
“Mugo”.
Yun Tianjiao did not return to the palace that night, but instead stayed in a temporary tent. Because of her presence, the refugees were grateful for her compassion and behaved much better. The stationed soldiers also dared not beat or trample on the refugees anymore, and they had a rare peaceful Mid-Autumn Festival.
The people of the southwest are mostly skilled in singing and dancing. Yun Tianjiao was lying in his tent at the moment, and he could even faintly hear people singing outside. However, the lyrics of the song were slightly sad, as if expressing homesickness.
Seeing that Zhiwei was unusually quiet tonight, Yun Tianjiao asked, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"
Zhiwei seemed to snap out of her deep thoughts and winked at Yun Tianjiao: "I was thinking, Your Highness really does like asking other people's names, especially those handsome young men with pitiful backgrounds."
Yun Tianjiao raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but scold, "What kind of jealousy are you having now?"
Zhi smiled, her eyes crinkling, "It was just a joke, Your Highness, please don't take it seriously."
Yun Tianjiao felt that Zhiwei's quietness tonight was not due to this reason, so he deliberately teased him: "Just talking? Then I'll find more pitiful boys in the future and ask them their names."
Knowing that Yun Tianjiao had seen through her scheme, Zhiwei suppressed her smile and said with a slightly serious tone, "Your Highness, have you ever had a moment's doubt that the boy named Muge is the source of this wave of refugees coming to the capital to plead for help?"
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