Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 91

The formation that Yun Qing was going to set up today was one she had tried to create herself after studying Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book.

This formation was similar to a street performer’s little trick, commonly called a sleight of hand, so she named it: Obstruction of Sight.

With the county office as the center, she buried one hundred and eight bairen seeds in the east, a pair of red hornless dragons in the south, a bronze drum in the west, and twelve liters of ink in the north.

These items didn’t necessarily have to be buried—they could also be placed on the ground, but Yun Qing was worried that someone might move them out of curiosity, so she chose to bury them.

She also made a batch of mind-clearing sachets and distributed them to everyone. When she gave one to Shi Muyu, Shi Muyu shook her head and said, “I don’t need this. Your illusion technique deceives the eyes, but since I can’t see, I naturally won’t be fooled.”

Yun Qing smiled and said, “That makes sense.”

After distributing the sachets, she leaped up and jumped into the county office. Someone saw her and cursed loudly, “Where did this little lady come from, daring to trespass into the county office? Leave quickly, leave quickly! If you don’t leave now, you’ll get a beating!”

Yun Qing ignored them and rushed toward the main hall like a gust of wind, with two yamen runners chasing and cursing behind her.

After entering the main hall, Yun Qing drew her flying sword. The Hundred Years of Sorrow sword embedded itself precisely in the “Upright and Honorable” plaque, and then she moved her red lips slightly, chanting an incantation in a low voice.

The yamen runners’ bodies trembled, and when they looked at Yun Qing again, their expressions changed.

The yamen runners looked at Yun Qing in confusion and said respectfully, “My lord, why are you here?”

Yun Qing suppressed her laughter, put her hands behind her back with an old-fashioned air, and imitated Magistrate Chang’s tone, saying, “What, does this official need to report to you when I come here to take a look?”

The yamen runners were terrified and repeatedly said “We wouldn’t dare,” then added, “There was a woman who trespassed into the county office, and we chased her all the way here.”

“Oh?” Yun Qing raised her hand to her lips and stroked, pretending to smooth a mustache.

Just then, dong dong dong—the sound of drumming suddenly came from outside.

“My lord, someone is beating the grievance drum again!”

“This official heard it. Why don’t you quickly convene court?”

The one beating the drum outside was Cheng Suiyan, though in others’ eyes he was Chen Fengchun.

This opportunity to show off by beating the drum was something Cheng Suiyan had volunteered for and snatched from Jiang Baiyu’s hands. This was the first time Yun Qing learned that Suiyan had such a strong theatrical streak.

Cheng Suiyan was somewhat excited, swinging his arm in a full circle and beating the drum three times. On the third strike, he actually broke through the entire drum surface in one go.

He stuck out his tongue, threw away the drumstick, and ran into the main hall, falling to his knees with a thud. “Daren, you must seek justice for this humble person!”

Yun Qing: “……”

She could tell he was acting with great devotion.

This time, the range of the Obstruction of Sight formation included even the area outside the railing where the common people gathered to watch. Many nearby residents who heard the drumming came to watch the excitement.

Seeing the person kneeling in the main hall, they pointed and said, “How is it Chen Fengchun again? Didn’t he say he wouldn’t file a complaint anymore?”

“Perhaps he regrets it.”

“Probably thinks the money wasn’t enough, tsk tsk.”

Yun Qing properly convened court, properly listened to Cheng Suiyan’s account of his grievances, and then properly had the yamen runners summon Helan Qing.

Before long, Helan Qing arrived, looking very impatient.

When he came and saw the person kneeling on the ground, he laughed in anger:

“Chen Fengchun! I called you big brother to give you face, but actually you’re not even as good as a dog my family keeps! Now you’ve taken the money and gotten the benefits, what more do you want? If a person is too greedy, they might lose their life!”

Cheng Suiyan had also been a wastrel before, and his good temper only applied to his friends—others naturally didn’t receive such treatment.

Being cursed at by Helan Qing now, he wouldn’t tolerate even the slightest grievance. He stood up and kicked Helan Qing down. “What are you barking about, you dog!”

Helan Qing flew out like a ball, hit the wall with a thud, then fell to the ground with a bang.

He sat on the ground with a trace of confusion on his face. The other person’s strength was too great—he felt like he’d been hit by a bull. His head was buzzing, and he was even too dazed to get angry.

The people outside became excited—a fight had broken out! This Chen Fengchun wasn’t as pathetic as they thought.

Helan Qing finally came to his senses. He had never been so humiliated before, and his face turned the color of pig liver from anger. He got up from the ground cursing, “You lowlife! How dare you!” and lunged forward to fight.

Outside the railing, the group of servants who had followed Helan Qing became agitated. They wanted to cross the railing to help Helan Qing fight, but Jiang Baiyu watched silently, pressing down tiny talismans one by one.

Everyone only saw flashes of golden light pass before their eyes, and then all those servants fell to the ground, fast asleep.

The watching crowd could hardly believe it.

“How strange! Their master is getting beaten inside, and they just fall asleep like that? Their hearts are too big!”

“In this cold winter, aren’t they afraid of freezing to death outside? Sleeping so neatly—how peculiar!”

“I just saw stars in front of my eyes—how odd! I’ll buy some medicine to nourish my kidneys later.”

“I saw stars too!”

“Me too……”

“Could it be haunted? Ugh—let’s go, let’s go, stop watching and go home.”

“Let’s watch a little longer, just a little longer……”

Yun Qing had the yamen runners separate Helan Qing and Cheng Suiyan, picked up the gavel and knocked it on the desk, “Stop fighting, stop fighting, calm down, calm down.”

She wouldn’t even properly use the gavel. Jiang Baiyu watched her and shook his head with a smile. “No proper bearing at all.”

Helan Qing hadn’t noticed that his servants had all fallen asleep. He was now shocked that Magistrate Chang was actually taking sides. He glared at “Magistrate Chang” and said, “Daren, what do you mean by this?” His tone already carried a hint of threat.

“Don’t be hasty, look at the complaint first.” Yun Qing said and extended her hand. Cheng Suiyan took out the complaint, which was presented to her by a yamen runner.

Seeing the complaint, Yun Qing almost couldn’t keep her composure. On this complaint was drawn a very thick cat head. She thought to herself, I told you to be perfunctory, but I didn’t tell you to be this perfunctory.

She cleared her throat and said, “Helan Qing, do you confess your guilt?”

Helan Qing stiffened his neck and said, “I confess.”

“Ah, how did you kill someone?”

This repeated the process of the previous court hearing.

The people outside the railing listened to Helan Qing’s words and began cursing again. This time, with all those servants asleep, everyone cursed even more freely.

Ci Li listened in amazement, his mind constantly filled with the same thought: You can curse like this?

After confessing, Helan Qing looked mockingly at “Magistrate Chang” and said, “I have confessed my guilt. Daren, how do you plan to sentence me?”

Yun Qing looked at the legal advisor beside her and asked, “According to our dynasty’s laws, what should be done?”

The legal advisor sensed that the atmosphere seemed different today. He considered carefully and said cautiously, “For intentional murder, the sentence should be death by hanging. If there are extenuating circumstances, it may be reduced accordingly.”

“No,” Yun Qing shook her hand, “this law is poorly written.”

Helan Qing’s expression relaxed, and a victorious smile appeared on his face. He said to “Magistrate Chang,” “You’re being sensible.” After speaking, he looked provocatively at “Chen Fengchun” beside him.

The legal advisor bowed to “Magistrate Chang” and said, “Then how does daren think it should be judged?”

Yun Qing said, “In my opinion, since he beat someone to death, he should be beaten to death by others.”

This single sentence was like throwing an ice cube into a boiling oil pan—it exploded immediately.

The legal advisor was speechless, the yamen runners were shocked, and the watching crowd was stunned.

Helan Qing looked like he had seen a ghost, staring at “Magistrate Chang’s” face. After a moment of stupor, he said, “Chang Yuanzhi! Have you gone mad?!”

“How dare you! To roar in the court and insult a court official—someone, tie him up for me!”

The yamen runners looked at each other, confused and terrified, and no one dared to move.

These yamen runners had lived in Mengliang City for generations. No matter who came to be magistrate, it didn’t affect their lives, so they found it difficult to show much loyalty to Magistrate Chang, an official from another region.

The magistrate asking them to bully common people was something they were naturally happy to do, but someone like Helan Qing—who would dare!

Helan Qing smiled smugly and looked provocatively at “Magistrate Chang,” saying, “Daren, why don’t you tie me up yourself?”

“Fine, since you’ve made such a request, I’ll fulfill it.” Yun Qing said, walking down from the hall, picking up a rope with one hand, and actually going to tie up Helan Qing, leaving everyone with stunned expressions.

“You……!” Helan Qing struggled, but he didn’t know why this Chang Yuanzhi, as a civil official in his fifties, had such great strength.

He cursed, “Chang Yuanzhi, I see you don’t want your official hat anymore!”

“If I don’t want it, then I don’t want it.” Yun Qing tied him up and looked around at the yamen runners. She figured these yamen runners didn’t even dare to tie up Helan Qing, so they were even less likely to carry out an execution.

She simply pointed at the yamen runners and said, “You all go to the back hall.”

This was exactly what they wanted. The yamen runners and legal advisor quickly slipped away like they had oil on their feet.

Yun Qing put her hands behind her back, walked to the railing, opened it, and said to the watching crowd:

“Come, come, come, everyone come and beat him. This official promises that today’s events will not be prosecuted collectively. If anyone asks, just say I told you to beat him.”

The people looked at each other.

This Helan Qing had a terrible reputation and was used to bullying men and women in Mengliang City. Only because he had a grandfather who was a minister did no one dare to provoke him.

Now, given a legitimate opportunity to beat this scoundrel, many people began to feel tempted, but they were still hesitant, wanting to see others make the first move.

Among them was a young man whose wife had once been harassed by Helan Qing and nearly committed suicide. He had harbored resentment against Helan Qing for a long time. At this moment, he gathered his courage, picked up a stone, and threw it at Helan Qing.

Helan Qing cursed, “You lowlife, how dare you!”

The man said, “I am a lowlife, and now it’s a lowlife beating you. This is for harassing my wife—I’ll beat you to death!” He picked up the stone and struck down at Helan Qing’s head and face.

Helan Qing dodged while cursing.

Seeing this, the other people also surged forward. Some had grudges against Helan Qing, some simply hated his character, and others were jealous of his power.

Regardless of their reasons, the crowd was now fired up, and everyone acting together made their courage ten times stronger.

Helan Qing could still curse a few words at first, but later could only scream and beg for mercy.

Even later, there were no more screams or pleas for mercy.

****

Magistrate Chang stumbled out of the stable, his face still covered with straw. As he ran, he cursed, “How dare they! Someone come! Someone actually ambushed this official—arrest them!”

He had been tied up, gagged, and hidden in the stable by someone unknown. Just now, a stable hand passing by heard the commotion and rescued him.

The yamen runners in the back hall saw Magistrate Chang running from that direction and looked like they had seen a ghost. “My lord, weren’t you conducting court?”

“Nonsense! Who was conducting court!”

“You were! You said you wanted to beat Young Master Helan to death. You told us all to withdraw—it’s been two hours now.”

“What did you say?!”

Magistrate Chang’s face turned ashen as he ran into the main hall.

The main hall was already empty of people—well, empty of living people.

There was a thoroughly dead Helan Qing.

Not far away, a group of servants lay sleeping in disarray.

Magistrate Chang saw Helan Qing’s corpse and his legs went weak, collapsing to the ground.

He tremblingly reached out to check Helan Qing’s breathing—where was there any breath left? The body had already begun to grow cold.

“It’s over, all over……” Magistrate Chang sat there dumbstruck, repeatedly muttering “It’s over.” He saw a piece of paper covering Helan Qing’s corpse and curiously picked it up to look.

Five large characters were written on the paper:

The killer is Yun Qing.

“Yun Qing, Immortal Lady Yun……” Magistrate Chang looked at the note, crying and laughing at the same time, his face covered with tears. Finally, he slapped the paper onto the corpse’s face and hatefully cursed, “Serves you right!”

****

Cheng Suiyan stood at the street corner, holding a wine jar, tilted his head back and took a big gulp of wine, saying, “Satisfying!”

This was the life he wanted—being a chivalrous hero, settling grudges freely, with close friends and companions, drinking heartily!

The few of them now stood on the street corner like a group of idlers, holding wine jars and drinking while chatting. Fu Xue even had a bag of fried small fish as appetizers.

The night in Mengliang City was quite prosperous, with many households showing lights and shops hanging lanterns along the street, decorating the entire street like a long dragon.

Fu Xue picked up a small fried fish and said, “It was satisfying, but Helan Qing is also dead now. Our previous plan is ruined—how do we help Sister Muyu get a child now?”

“I told you, meddling in others’ affairs can change one’s luck.” Yun Qing held the wine jar in one hand and lifted her chin.

The others looked in the direction her chin indicated.

Shi Muyu stood under a tree, smiling as she extended her hand toward Liang Xiao, showing her the Hundred Seed lying in her palm. Her voice was still soft. “Liang Xiao, can you give me a child?”

Liang Xiao was stunned. “Don’t you find me lowly and dirty?”

Shi Muyu shook her head. “I can see that you are the most noble and cleanest person.”

Liang Xiao smiled through her tears, “Good, good……”