The people inside were so frightened by their words that they backed away. Several of Magistrate Liu's concubines shouted at Liu Yiyi to stop talking or they would make her get out.
Liu Yiyi's mother, the former county magistrate's wife, also looked at her with concern, "Madams, my daughter is still young and doesn't understand. Please don't hurt her. If you have any problems, come at me."
"Mother, what are you afraid of? They're just bluffing. Wait until Father comes back..."
An Shuyi didn't give her a chance to continue speaking, and threw all the powder in her hand onto her. To avoid getting it on herself, she carefully took a few steps back. As soon as the powder came into contact with Liu Yiyi, she felt itchy all over.
But she had her doubts; it couldn't be true. As time went on, her body became increasingly itchy. She didn't want to scratch in front of the two women, so she had to try her best to endure it. But soon, the itch overwhelmed her reason.
She started scratching, but the more she scratched, the itchier her body became, until she scratched her flesh raw. "Mother, I'm so itchy, please make them hand over the antidote."
The magistrate's wife saw that her daughter had been covered in the powder and didn't notice that she was itchy, so she thought the medicine was ineffective. But before long, she saw her daughter start scratching herself, tearing off pieces of flesh, leaving bloody marks.
"Ladies, it was my daughter's fault. Please give me the antidote. What do you want? Silver or jewelry? I have some left, I'll give them all to you, I just ask that you give me the antidote."
An Shuyi looked at the blood on her hands and laughed happily. This was the consequence of offending her and Huahua. If it were just hitting her, she wouldn't have much resentment, but Magistrate Liu actually sent people to kill them.
The mother and daughter were still alive at the time, and she was even eager to see their corpses. How could she bear it? It was a pity that Magistrate Liu was taken to the capital, otherwise he would have been subjected to the same treatment of having his flesh torn apart.
"Huahua, let's go, otherwise we won't have time later." They've been inside for a while, and if they stay any longer, the soldiers outside will wake up, which would be troublesome.
Xia Hua nodded, and the two went outside.
"Madam, please don't go! My daughter knows she was wrong. Please give me the antidote, Madam..."
The two walked straight outside as if they hadn't heard the sounds behind them. When they came out, the soldiers outside were still asleep, but it was so dark that even if they were awake, they would just think they were sleeping.
Walking on the street, I could see the road because of the lanterns. Just like before, I used a hook to go down to the outside of the city wall before riding my bicycle away.
The next morning, Xia Hua opened the gate of the house and found a horse-drawn carriage parked outside. It didn't look like a horse from the village. Just as she was wondering about it, An Ye walked past.
"Madam Xia, I'm back. This carriage is full of things my master asked me to bring for you. I'm a little late because I needed to catch the carriage."
When An Yu learned that the gift was for the Second Prince's savior, he wished he could empty the entire storeroom. Moreover, since it was at the Second Prince's behest, he filled the carriage to the brim. Since he couldn't carry it all on horseback, he had no choice but to drive the carriage back.
They didn't stop to rest along the way, and even changed horses twice, but the carriage was full of things, so they couldn't go too fast.
Xia Hua walked over, lifted the curtain of the carriage, and saw that it was full of things: fabrics, calligraphy and paintings, boxes. "Move all of these to the right wing! Did your master bring back any message?"
"No, but the master is very grateful to the two ladies. With those letters, the master will soon be able to enter the Hanlin Academy. These were all brought back by the master. There is also an eagle, which is used to deliver messages. In the future, if the two ladies need anything, they can have the eagle deliver the letters back."
Xia Hua nodded, "Okay, I understand. Shu Shu and I have to leave the day after tomorrow, so you don't need to stay with us. If we haven't returned in two months, go and check when the village harvests the crops. You can write to your master about the price per acre then."
“Madam Xia, the master has ordered me to accompany and protect you and Madam An,” An Ye said.
“We don’t need protection. And your most important task is to tell your master about the grain yield, not to protect us. Alright, that’s settled. You can move your things now.” With that, he went back to his room.
She had to tell Shushu about this. Although the fate of Magistrate Liu's family was still unknown, it was undoubtedly certain that they would be executed. There was no point in keeping them alive. She would go to their estate tomorrow and have the villagers collect their grain. However, she would also need to have Village Chief Lin take some people to keep an eye on things and then bring their grain back.
"Shushu, are you ready? An Ye is back!"
An Shuyi came out of the room. "An Ye is back, so can we go to the capital now?" The Liu family has been imprisoned, and the only outcome is death, so there's no need to wait any longer.
She wanted to go to the capital as soon as possible. Hua Hua had said that if she went by mountain road, she could find precious flowers, plants and saplings and quickly raise twenty taels of silver. So she didn't want to stay in the village for even a moment longer.
“No!” Xia Hua shook her head. “Let’s go up the mountain this afternoon and find something to sell.”
"Why?" If you're looking for something to sell, couldn't you just go to the capital and find something to sell along the way?
Xia Hua explained, "We'll be gone for a long time. In another two months, the crops in the fields will be ready for harvest. We'll need something to plant then, and wheat is the most suitable crop."
“After we go up the mountain to find something to sell, keep the wheat seeds in mind. Maybe the trading system will appear, and we can bring the seeds back tomorrow and send some more to our two villages.”
"We also need to have Village Chief Lin come with us so that when the crops are harvested in the village, we can bring the grain back. Next year, after the wheat harvest, we can plant rice and corn. As for planting morel mushrooms, we'll see if we can buy a village when we return from the capital."
It's not enough to just have rice to eat; we also need wheat. We can plant rice in the spring and wheat in the autumn. On the remaining land, we can grow some vegetables. There are vegetable seeds available at Shushu's place; there are all kinds of vegetables. This way, we can have a variety of dishes.
An Shuyi nodded, "Okay, then after we finish eating, we'll go for a walk in the mountains so we can go to the capital the day after tomorrow."
“Yes,” Xia Hua nodded. “When we eat later, I’ll inform Mu Tou that we’re going to the estate tomorrow and he should come along. Although there’s a manager there, he’s not one of us, so we can’t trust him. We need to have Mu Tou check on things from time to time.”
“I also told An Ye that if we haven’t returned by the time the crops are harvested, he can watch over the harvest and tell Xiao Zili how much each acre yields.”
"Let's go eat first. We'll look at what Xiao Zili asked An Ye to bring back when we get back."
“Okay,” the two of them said as they left the room. The door to the right wing was already closed, the courtyard gate was open, and the carriage was gone, presumably taken away by Dark Night.
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