NOVEL NEXT Chapter 86 - 86 This person is too strange!
Chapter 86: Chapter 86 This person is too strange!
Inside were rows of houses on both sides, and on the side, there was a small door leading outdoors, guarded by two drowsy soldiers.
The two soldiers, upon seeing their Prefecture Lord, quickly bent over and walked over.
“Sir, why have you come personally? Do you need a few…”
He had not finished speaking when the Prefecture Lord slapped him aside.
“Open all the doors for me!”
The soldiers hurried to open the doors.
The girls inside, unaware of the good fortune about to befall them, started screaming in fear.
It was only after the soldiers had herded the girls out that Qi Yue realized how miserable they were.
The poor girls, each in tattered clothes, all had eyes filled with fear. Seeing the Prefecture Lord standing in the courtyard, some girls were so frightened that they trembled, falling to the ground, losing the ability to walk.
A few women from the back courtyard gathered at the door, watching the scene unfold with surprise.
The Prefecture Lord, who had always been brutal and unprincipled, unexpectedly released all the girls he had rounded up and even gave each of them ten taels of silver.
Soon, the last back courtyard of the Yongzhou Government Office was opened, and dozens of girls who had been missing for days poured out.
They cried and laughed as they ran towards their homes.
By the next day, before dawn had even broken, Yongzhou City was in an uproar.
All over the city, people were discussing the sudden madness of the Prefecture Lord.
“Have you heard? The Prefecture Lord has admitted that the lost gold was stolen by him to frame it on Guyang’s chief bandit in a plot to scrape up more.”
“Not at all, I heard that last night a person in black entered the Government Office and took everything away.”
“What person in black? It must have been the Guyang bandit. Only they could vent for the common people.”
“That’s impossible, how could one person empty the Government Office? It must be the Prefecture Lord playing tricks!”
“The Guyang bandit could indeed do it. It is said that when he left, he left a message saying if the city gates are not opened today, tomorrow he will empty the entire city.”
“It must be the Guyang bandits avenging their accomplice, they want to rescue the injured people!”
“…”
In the midst of these discussions, the Yongzhou City Gate finally opened.
The soldiers who had been all over the streets capturing the Guyang bandits had disappeared, and in the chaos, many trapped people took the chance to leave Yongzhou.
Zhang Fang, seeing the situation, also told everyone to leave as quickly as possible and gather outside the city.
In the departing crowd, Qi Yue inadvertently saw Song Gensheng, who was driving a horse-drawn carriage away.
Meanwhile, in the main hall of the county office, the Prefecture Lord was staring blankly at the official seal before him.
He had now become penniless, not only had the extorted wealth vanished, but even the food in the storage was gone, and everyone in the office was starving.
At this point, he knew he could no longer remain an official, and whether he would live or die depended on the will of the Imperial Court, so he had lost interest in managing anything, including the Guyang bandits.
Qi Yue and Zhang Fang left the city gate without stopping and continued westward.
She had thought she had finally rid herself of Qu Wei, but unexpectedly, at some point, several horses caught up with them.
One of them was Qu Wei.
He was still dressed in spotless white clothes, as pristine and fresh as ever. Because he was riding, he held the reins in his hands, and the fan he always carried was tucked at his waist.
He closed in on Qi Yue at a great speed, riding alongside her.
Seeing the astonishment and disdain in Qi Yue’s eyes, he smiled cheerfully.
“Doctor Qi, isn’t it a bit unkind to just walk away like this?”
Qi Yue snorted and didn’t respond, but Qu Wei continued to follow closely, nonstop talking about his recent situation in Yongzhou City.
“Doctor Qi, didn’t you go out to the streets these days? It’s lively on East Main Street, a lot for sale.”
“Too bad, although you dress as a man, you aren’t one. Otherwise, I would definitely have taken you along. You don’t know, the new courtesan at Cuixiang Building is quite the delight…”
“Smack…”
With a crack of her whip, Qi Yue sent Qu Wei’s horse scattering away by a mile, finally freeing herself from the ceaseless buzzing in her ears.
That evening, when they stopped to rest and eat, Qu Wei came over again and sat directly opposite her.
“Doctor Qi! I have a very serious question to ask you.”
“I don’t intend to answer you.”
Qu Wei burst into laughter and became even more shameless in his refusal to leave.
“I bought a hairpin in the city that suits you very well. Let me give it to you!”
“No need.”
“I know you probably don’t want it, so I’ll keep it here for now. When you’re in a good mood, I’ll give it to you.”
“No need.”
“I’m serious. How have you been these past few days?”
“Better than you.”
“Pfft,” Qu Wei laughed, lowering his voice, “I still see that you’re not happy. Are you still thinking about Zhao Xiyan?”
Qi Yue frowned, utterly unable to comprehend Qu Wei’s bizarre actions.
“What exactly do you want to do? When will you leave our group?”
“Can’t you see? I’m keeping you company.”
“No need.”
Qi Yue left after dropping those words, but she heard Qu Wei chuckle behind her.
This man is too mysterious!
She thought.
She didn’t regard him highly.
But to be fair, from the beginning until now, he actually hadn’t done anything to harm her. Otherwise, with his status as a Supervisor, he could have easily kept her trapped in Longnan Ridge.
It was only now that she realized she didn’t understand Qu Wei at all. She only knew he came from a prominent and powerful family, and stayed in Longnan Ridge solely because Huang Zai’an could suppress his headaches.
She certainly didn’t think Qu Wei had come out for her sake. Rather, she suspected he was after the National Treasure.
Thinking of the rumors about the National Treasure being in Western Chu, Qi Yue snorted.
She didn’t believe the treasure was in Western Chu. Clearly, Huang Zai’an knew something to have sent people far away.
But the old man chose this place well; it was quite misleading.
Yan Yun sixteen prefectures were originally Beiyuan’s territory, just falling into Western Chu’s hands a year ago. Saying the treasure was buried here did make sense.
Sure enough, after they reached Yecheng on the border of Beiyuan and Western Chu, Qu Wei said he was about to leave and asked her if she wanted to join him.
Qi Yue simply gave him a cold look.
That evening, they planned to rest in Yecheng and in batches enter the Western Regions of Longnan Ridge through Western Chu the next morning.
First, they needed to prepare a set of Western Chu clothes.
The people of Western Chu were skilled in martial arts, and their clothing was mostly sleek and efficient, even the women’s dresses sported few patterns and favored rugged, bold beauty, while the men’s clothing showed not a trace of decorative patterns.
Beiyuan people, on the other hand, even their men’s clothing tried to incorporate many fancy designs.
Therefore, Qi Yue and her group needed to change their clothes, else they’d be captured as spies the moment they stepped into Western Chu’s territory.
Zhang Fang delegated these trivial matters to his subordinates, who quickly procured quite a few sets of Western Chu clothes.
After dinner, everyone went to rest individually. Qi Yue picked a room, went in, and didn’t come out again.
They were about to enter the Western Regions of Longnan Ridge, and she needed to have a good rest and be fully prepared.
As usual, she entered the space, took a bath, and rested.
She slept soundly in the first half of the night, but she suddenly woke up in the later half.
The alarm she had set hadn’t gone off yet, but someone was banging on the door of her inn.
“Bang, bang, bang… Doctor Qi, Doctor Qi…”
Qi Yue listened for a while and determined it was one of Qu Wei’s attendants, so she ignored it.
“Bang, bang, bang… Doctor Qi, Doctor Qi…”
The shouting outside continued, and she heard Zhang Fang who lived next door coming over.