novelden Chapter 61 With such filial sons and virtuous grandsons, how could we not perish?
Chapter 61 With such filial sons and virtuous grandsons, how could we not perish?
Watching Shan Qiyu leave, Meng Fuqing breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Fairy Goddess had laid the groundwork; otherwise, he didn't know how shocked he would have been.
With their belongings, which they couldn't bear to part with, now secured, the family only needed to prepare dry rations and wait for the village chief's gong to sound.
That evening, Meng Fuqing went to the county town. This time, she didn't dare to ride her motorcycle on the main road. Fortunately, she was a good driver and could ride steadily along the side roads. When she encountered places without roads, she used vines to wrap around the branches of trees high enough and swung across like a swing. As long as she had good eyesight, she was not slow.
We arrived in the county town before midnight.
Meng Fuqing found the county government office, circled around to the magistrate's residence, nimbly leaped onto the roof, and used a vine to search for his target in the courtyard.
It was soon confirmed that the magistrate was speaking to the person standing in front of him in the still-lit study.
She quietly approached the roof of the study and listened intently to the people inside.
"...Now the border war is going backwards, and the barbarian hooves will be able to trample into Pingchang Prefecture in less than five days. You should make a decision soon, lest things fall into complete chaos and both people and wealth are lost."
The county magistrate, surnamed Jiang, was not tall but had a sturdy build. He was deep in thought at the moment, and after pondering for a long time, he shook his head and said, "I naturally know that this matter is urgent, but although I have been an official for many years and am not a good official praised by all the people, I am well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics and know the greater good of the country. If this matter is exposed, what awaits me is the crime of having my entire family executed..."
To Meng Fuqing, the first part of the speech was all nonsense, and the last sentence was the key point.
The standing man suddenly leaned closer and whispered something to Magistrate Jiang. After listening, Magistrate Jiang looked astonished and stood up abruptly from his seat, asking, "Is this true?"
"Whether you believe it or not is entirely up to you, sir. I only have one thing to tell you: if the barbarians want to reach the capital directly, they will inevitably have to pass through Qingping County. If the prefectural city surrenders without a fight, it would be unwise for you to continue resisting. It would be better to..."
The two exchanged a glance, simultaneously understanding the unspoken message in each other's eyes.
Magistrate Jiang sat heavily back in his chair, and after a long while said, "I understand. How can I, on my own, save the people of Qingping? This is the only way."
He gave a wry smile. "It's all about timing and fate. I wonder when you will be able to fulfill your promise?"
When he said the last sentence, his tone was clearly agitated. The speed of his change was astonishing.
Meng Fuqing sensed through the vines that the person standing in front of Magistrate Jiang curled his lips in disdain before saying, "It will be delivered to your residence soon, sir. I shall take my leave."
After saying that, he left the study and disappeared into the night.
After he left, the magistrate in the study clenched his fist and slammed it heavily into the palm of his other hand. His face, which had been bitter just moments before, was now full of joy.
He stood up and paced back and forth in the study a few times before leaving.
Meng Fuqing never expected that he would just come to scout out the place and see if the magistrate of Qingping County was worth the risk of teaching him a lesson, but he would just happen to run into him making a deal with someone.
The person who came in the middle of the night did not look like a Hu person, but he was clearly working for the Hu people.
From their conversation, Meng Fuqing also sensed that there seemed to be a traitor in Changping Prefecture as well.
With such a group of filial sons and virtuous grandsons, how could the Great Yan not perish?
Meng Fuqing shifted his position to loosen his limbs, put on a protective mask, and manipulated the vines to avoid the servants in the mansion as he began searching for the storeroom.
After finding it, she quietly went to the roof of the warehouse, fixed one end of the vine, jumped off the roof upside down, and, under the guards' astonished gazes, took out the remaining bit of sleeping potion from her spatial storage and sprinkled it on the two guards.
Once the guard was knocked unconscious, she flipped over and landed steadily, opened the warehouse door, locked herself in, and slipped inside.
After closing the door and turning around to see the scene before him, Meng Fuqing understood the meaning of "a clean county magistrate for three years, 100,000 taels of silver".
The boxes laid out in front of her contained gold and silver, and several other boxes were filled with copper coins. She suspected that all the copper coins she had collected when she went to and from the county town were here.
Not to mention the remaining gold, jade, gemstones, and emeralds.
She didn't have time to look closely; she just grabbed it from the warehouse.
She put everything into her spatial storage, took out several bottles of alcohol, poured them onto the flammable curtains in the warehouse, and as she left the warehouse, she took out a lighter and threw it in.
The flames ignited instantly upon contact with the flammable alcohol. Meng Fuqing climbed back onto the roof and quickly disappeared into the darkness.
We returned the way we came, and this time it was already dawn when we got back to the village.
On her way home, she ran into Meng Linlang, whom she hadn't seen for many days. Meng Linlang stopped in her tracks when she saw her, and her face, which had been somewhat rosy, turned pale in an instant.
Accompanying her was Meng Linlang's second brother, Meng He, who glared angrily at Meng Fuqing as soon as he saw her.
"Meng Fuqing, don't even think about touching a hair on Linlang's head again!"
Meng Fuqing passed by them and said, "Go get treatment if you're sick."
She knew better than anyone that this family harbored ill intentions towards her, but she never acted on those intentions. The only time she did so, she even granted their request, and then she did nothing more.
Meng Linlang's greatest value lies in herself.
Meng He wanted to say something, but Meng Linlang stopped him, "Second brother, Mother said that our two families will keep to themselves from now on, and I have taken her advice to heart. Why are you still being so reckless?"
"Who told her to make you fall into the water?" Meng He said angrily. "I'm worried she'll bully you again."
Meng Linlang smiled and shook her head, "Don't worry, I won't associate with her. Thank you for protecting me, Second Brother."
After the drowning incident, her parents, needless to say, thought she was possessed. Her eldest brother also felt that her behavior that day was a bit strange. Only her second brother and two younger brothers trusted her as before.
She felt wronged. All she did was recreate the scene from her dream. Could things in a dream be treated as if they never happened?
She couldn't, just as although she couldn't see her husband's face in her dream, every little thing she and he experienced together felt incredibly real to her, and even the heart-fluttering moments in her dream made her heart race.
For the next two days, there was still no definite news about the border, but the villagers who went to the county town to buy grain brought back a lot of news about the fire at the county government office.
The fire in the warehouse that night was too fierce, and even though the guards discovered it in time, they were unable to extinguish it. They could only barely prevent the fire from spreading to the county government office in front of it.
Magistrate Jiang was left with only his personal belongings; the rest was completely consumed by the fire.
The people all knew that gold, silver, and copper coins could still be used even after being burned, but their magistrate hadn't brought anything with him!
Amidst the fear of war, the people talked about it with great interest, saying that their magistrate was a rare good and honest official, and that having Magistrate Jiang in Qingping County was a blessing they had accumulated over several lifetimes!
Magistrate Jiang, carrying all his belongings, was so angry that his face was contorted, but he could only manage a weak smile.
After waiting for two days, even Meng Fuqing became restless. As if hearing her thoughts, she heard a noise outside the window that night.
She got out of bed and opened the window. There was no one outside, except for a note that had been slipped through the window crack and fell to the ground after she opened the window.
He bent down to pick it up, opened it, and found a note with the words: "Yongcheng has fallen. We will set off early tomorrow morning."