Chapter 82 - 1#
World 4: You Are the Snow on the Branch#
The carriage drove deep into Liu Family Village.
Qin Qing lifted the carriage curtain to look outside.
Several villagers were wandering on the bumpy yellow dirt road. If he didn’t look carefully, Qin Qing would have almost thought they were walking skeletons. Their sallow skin tightly wrapped around their bones, and their tattered clothes couldn’t cover anything.
As they got closer, the stench of rotting flesh would rush into the carriage with the hot wind, reminiscent of death.
Several children with thin limbs and bellies as big as gongs were curled up at the base of someone’s wall. Their necks, soft as noodles, could not support their heads at all, so they could only hang weakly on their chests.
Hearing the sound of the carriage passing by, they tried their best to prop up their necks and looked over with pleading eyes.
A flock of crows hovered in the sky, their harsh cawing annoying. As long as a child on the ground closed their eyes, they could swoop down for a feast; this had become the most common occurrence.
Qin Qing suppressed the unbearable feeling in his heart and observed carefully.
The skeletons wandering outside, and the big-bellied children curled up by the roadside waiting to die, were almost all women and girls. Their relatives did not run out of any house to take them home and give them a mouthful of food.
When everyone didn’t have enough to eat, the first to get food would inevitably be young and strong men, then boys, and finally elderly men. Women and girls were burdens that wasted grain.
They might not be wandering outside voluntarily, but were driven out or even abandoned by their own relatives.
Qin Qing hugged 996 tightly and sighed deeply: “The world is becoming more and more chaotic.”
996 was studying the script and reminded: “I think the reason Li Suyue is dealing with your family is mainly for the right to mint coins.”
Qin Qing, who had guessed it long ago: “…You are so smart, you could even think of this.”
996 hummed proudly twice and said: “I suggest you take the initiative to hand over the right to mint coins to the imperial court, so as to eliminate hidden dangers.”
Qin Qing looked at the dust filling the air and the starving people everywhere outside the window, and said firmly: “The royal family also has the right to mint coins, but has a single copper coin of the silver money they minted ever been used on the suffering disaster victims? I will absolutely not hand over the right to mint coins. I can’t control other places, but I must save this Jiangbei City.”
996 patted the back of Qin Qing’s hand with its paw and said grumpily: “Why are you still like this, wanting to save this and that? You should save yourself first!”
Qin Qing grabbed the fat cat’s two front paws and said lightly: “I naturally have my ways, you just watch.”
996: “…Damn it, I won’t care about you anymore!”
The carriage swayed, stopping and going.
Qin Qing kept turning his face to look out the window, his slender fingers lazily stroking the fat cat, wondering what he was thinking. Ye Li, sitting opposite him, had seemingly become air.
The infatuation of the past was replaced by the carelessness of the present.
Ye Li, who especially detested cut-sleeves, should have felt fortunate for this alienation. But every once in a while, he would pretend to glance at Qin Qing inadvertently, and a kind of stifled feeling of being ignored and unwillingness always lingered in his heart.
The carriage turned two corners, and a low house made of rammed yellow mud appeared in front. Many furs were hung under the eaves, and two men were sitting by the open window. One was slender and extraordinary in bearing, and the other was as strong as a mountain, tall and mighty. Presumably, they were Liu San and his friend.
Qin Qing walked out of the carriage and looked carefully.
And Ye Li, for some reason, actually got off the carriage first, voluntarily half-knelt by the wheel, and used his own knee to build a step for Qin Qing.
A-Niu: “…” Fourth Highness, aren’t you trying too hard?
996: “…Hahaha, Li Suyue seems to have been tamed a little by you. Qin Qing, you are really capable!”
Only then did Qin Qing come back to his senses and take a step forward. Ye Li’s hand immediately reached up, actively held Qin Qing’s arm, and carefully helped him off the carriage. When doing this, he actually didn’t feel the slightest discomfort.
Inside the low house, Liu San and his friend were still talking, their expressions relaxed, as if chatting about something interesting.
However, the real situation was by no means so.
“A few days ago, Liu Cheng was killed by the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold, just for a bag of grain.” The romantic and handsome man said this with a smile.
Liu San did not show a look of sorrow either, “I know.”
“It’s all becoming bandits. Those people in Black Wind Stronghold wantonly slaughter villagers, while we are doing it to protect our families.”
“But becoming a bandit is ultimately a business where you tie your head to your belt. If I lead this, I have to be responsible for the brothers. I can’t afford it.”
“The fields have all withered, yet the imperial court continues to levy exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous duties. In a while, they will come to conscript able-bodied men for corvée labor. We strong men will inevitably not escape. Once gone, we won’t return for three years. People dying of exhaustion in the river channels are everywhere; not one in ten returns. If we don’t become bandits, where can we find a way to live? If you serve corvée labor, how will your wife and daughter live in the village?”
The handsome man shook his head and smiled, but his dark eyes were full of deep hatred for this man-eating world.
Serving corvée labor meant no wages at all. Being able to drink a bowl of thin gruel every day was the limit, and one had to suffer the whips of officials at all times. Even a strong man like Liu San dared not guarantee that he would definitely come back alive.
And his wife and daughter would undoubtedly die in such a world!
Liu San poked his head out, looked at his wife drying wild vegetables in the yard, then looked at his daughter squatting on the ground playing with a grasshopper, and couldn’t help gritting his teeth.
“I’ll do it!” He slapped the table.
The handsome man smiled briskly.
Just at this moment, a voice clear and shallow as a stream came from outside the courtyard: “Is Brother Liu San at home?”
“Oh my, a noble person has come!” Sister-in-law Liu quickly stood up and shouted, then looked nervously inside the window.
The handsome man raised his eyes to look, and the glimmer in his pupils couldn’t help but condense.
He saw a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth standing under the scorching summer sun, holding a chubby calico cat in his arms, looking over with a smile on his thin lips. He was wearing a pure white long robe, covered with a layer of gauze shirt. The gauze shirt was embroidered with pink petals drifting in the wind.
The sunlight reddened the youth’s bewitchingly beautiful face, making him outshine the pink flowers all over his shirt.
Seeing him, the handsome man actually dazedly thought that time had flowed backward, bringing him back to the spring of three years ago when he had not suffered disaster.
Beautiful people can always bring beautiful fantasies.
The man composed himself and asked, “Who is that?”
Liu San didn’t answer, pushed open the door to welcome him, and bowed neither humbly nor arrogantly: “So it is the Little Marquis gracing us with his presence!”
Hearing it was the Little Marquis, Sister-in-law Liu immediately understood Qin Qing’s identity and quickly pulled her daughter over to bow together.
The handsome man cupped his hands: “Commoner Jiang Feishi greets the Little Marquis. The Little Marquis’s arrival truly brings light to this humble dwelling.”
So it was the Little Marquis of the Tai’an Marquis Residence. What a pity for this good appearance.
What Jiang Feishi said was completely different from what he thought. He straightened his back and looked at the two strong men standing behind Qin Qing, his pupils shrinking slightly.
The man with the particularly large physique actually exuded an aura fiercer than Liu San. The joints of his fingers all showed traces of martial arts practice, his stance was very stable, and his temples were bulging. He must be a top expert who had already condensed true energy.
The Tai’an Marquis Residence indeed had deep foundations.
Jiang Feishi withdrew his gaze and continued to size up this Little Marquis who was like spring flowers and autumn moon. Such exquisite beauty, snowy skin and jade countenance, how much gold, silver, and treasure must have been used to support it? Probably even the water for rinsing his mouth had to have much sweet honey added to make him show a happy face, right?
Even the cat he raised was sturdier than the children in the village.
Jiang Feishi looked at the starving people wandering outside the courtyard wall, and the smile in his eyes took on a trace of imperceptible cold mockery.
Qin Qing stared blankly at Jiang Feishi and suddenly asked: “Have we met before?” This sense of familiarity was exactly the same as when he met Ye Li.
This face, clear and bright as the moon, seemed to have been met many times in dreams.
Jiang Feishi smiled and shook his head, repeatedly saying no.
Qin Qing looked at Jiang Feishi, then turned to look at Ye Li, his gaze somewhat unfocused.
Ye Li frowned, feeling inexplicably unhappy. This man named Jiang Feishi was extremely handsome, not inferior to himself at all, and his temperament was very gentle and elegant. Not to mention being rare in the countryside, he would be rare even in the imperial court.
The look in Qin Qing’s eyes when looking at him was exactly the same as when he first saw himself! Could it be that Qin Qing really had a passion for men, unable to walk when seeing a handsome man?
Damn it!
Ye Li inexplicably cursed in his heart, and his look at Jiang Feishi took on a bit of scrutiny.
996 was also shocked inside.
“Qin Qing, Qin Qing, this Jiang Feishi is the big villain, you have to be careful!”
Qin Qing, who had been dazed and looking back and forth between the two, instead slowly calmed down.
“What is a big villain?”
“A big villain is a big bad guy. This Jiang Feishi is the future leader of the rebel army, successively conquering Jiangbei City, Huai City, Jin City, and other places, dividing the world with Li Suyue. Since he is so familiar with Liu San, then Liu San must be the fierce general Liu Xinyi under his command! Meow, both of them started as bandits! Qin Qing, we have entered a bandit’s den!”
996 was so panicked that its claws went numb.
Qin Qing stroked its head stroke by stroke and said gently in his heart: “Don’t panic, looking at their appearance, they haven’t become bandits yet. They are harmless to us.”
996 looked carefully at the two men with innocent faces, and only then calmed down.
“Little Marquis, you are here to…” Liu San spoke at the right time.
Qin Qing quickly said: “I want you to gather the hunters from the surrounding ten miles and eight villages to form a patrol team.”
“Little Marquis, please speak inside.” Liu San extended his hand to invite the person into the house.
Sister-in-law Liu also followed into the house, rummaging through boxes and chests to find good tea leaves.
“No need to trouble yourself, I’ll leave after I finish speaking.” Qin Qing waved his hand and continued: “The Marquis Residence will distribute monthly money for this team, three taels of silver per person per month, plus two meals a day, with white rice and meat at every meal, enough to be full. If officials come to arrest you for corvée labor, the Marquis Residence will help you pay the tax money.”
Hearing these words, Liu San’s heart was already burning. If these conditions could all be fulfilled one by one, he wouldn’t have to tie his head to his belt to be some bandit!
Sister-in-law Liu, standing at the door of the main room, had extremely bright light in her eyes, and her hands holding the tea canister trembled uncontrollably.
If possible, which wife would be willing to let her man be a bandit? That was killing and arson, things that violated heavenly principles!
Only Jiang Feishi could remain calm and asked with a smile: “May I ask what the Little Marquis wants us to do?”
“Usually, you will walk around the villages and patrol, especially at the foot of the mountain and near the Marquis Residence. If you find wild beasts, you drive them away. If you find bandits, you report to the Marquis Residence, and the Marquis Residence will send soldiers to suppress them. If you can lend a hand to suppress the bandits together, the Marquis Residence will issue extra reward money afterward. If there are casualties, the Marquis Residence will compensate heavily.”