Jun Jiuling

Different Thoughts

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The people inside and outside the yard retreated like a tide, disappearing into the pale night in a blink of an eye, leaving only the people of the Lin family.

“Search the city! Are they crazy? Are they really going to search the city?” Patriarch Lin said.

Official Lin didn’t care what the Fang family searched, as long as they didn’t search him.

They had come suddenly and left simply.
If the gate hadn’t been knocked into the yard, Master Lin would have suspected that it was a dream.

“Fortunately, even if was a nightmare, I’ve woken from it.”

Before he had finished exhaling, there was another noise outside.

Master Lin and Old Master Lin both felt their hearts jump and their breath become stagnant.

Did the people of the Fang family come to kill again without warning?

A group of people poured in through the door from outside.
Unlike the men and soldiers from before, most of them were women.

“Lin Cheng!” The leading woman screamed, “You cruel and unscrupulous man1.
You dare to raise a bitch without telling me.”

Shit!

Master Lin broke into a cold sweat and his face changed greatly.

The nightmare was not over.
It was just the beginning.

The small yard fell into noise again.
Unlike the scolding and painful voice from the men before, this time it was full of women crying and yelling.

Just a moment later, the whole of Yangcheng also fell into chaos, with shouting and crying everywhere.
The city was brightly lit, and the whole city seemed to be illuminated.

But the wilderness was getting darker and darker.
With a low cry, the running shadow fell to the ground.

She jumped up without pausing at all, picking up the scattered clothes, and limping on.

Run fast, run fast.
Put as much distance as possible.

At the same time, a person who was already asleep in the small room of the Chengbei Post Station suddenly sat up.

“No,” he said.

With this, the man got out of bed quickly.
The man sleeping on the ground was caught off guard and let out a scream when he was stepped on.

“What’s wrong?” The man on the ground shouted in panic, and then the door was opened, and the servant rushed out.

The post station, which had finally fallen into sleep, became noisy, and the extinguished lights lit up one by one.

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Sleepy people in night clothes came out of the house and went to the rear courtyard to see what was going on.

The sleeping family of the postman had already been called there.

The postman was a veteran soldier, and his mother-in-law and daughter huddled together and looked at the man in front of them in horror.

“My money is gone.” The servant said angrily.
He pointed at the girl shrinking in the arms of the old woman, “You’re the only one who has been near me.”

The girl was frightened out of her wits.
She wanted to hide in her mother’s arms, but she was pushed away by the old woman.

“Child, was it you?” The old woman asked in a trembling voice.

The girl was pushed out and presented in front of everyone, and the servant’s eyes swept over her sharply.

Body shape.
At that time, she was wearing a large shirt that had obviously been modified from old clothes.
Now she was wearing inner clothes, so the body shape couldn’t be compared.

Tousled hair, frightened expression, unwashed face stained with dirt.

The look is almost the same in the dark of night.

“I don’t have it, I don’t.” The girl said.

His voice was rough, trembling and unclear because of her panic.

The accent was consistent.

The servant frowned.

Could it be that he was overthinking?

“Did you not deliver us water?” The servant shouted.

Deliver water?

The girl nodded in panic, then shook her head again.

“So do you have it or not?” The servant shouted.

“Uncle, my child delivered water more than a dozen times this night and went everywhere, but there was really nothing stolen.” The postman pleaded, “Uncle, it’s true.
I’ll guarantee with my life.”

The servant ignored him and just stared at the girl, who trembled.

Is he just being paranoid?

So then what was so weird?

Why did his subconscious suddenly wake him up from his sleep?

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He looked at the girl in front of him and contrasted the view of her back from the other one.

Delicate!

The servant’s eyes lit up.

The weirdness was caused by that sense of frailty.

The image of that figure from behind had carried a sense of frailty, and even her crude actions couldn’t fully hide it.

Girls are often frail, but it seemed strange for this postman’s daughter to appear delicate.

That kind of frailty could only come from being raised by a high-ranking family in a life of luxury2.

“How many of you are here today…” The servant stepped forward and asked.

His words had not finished before they heard a noise outside.

“Hurry up, hurry up, the prefect is setting off right away.” Someone called to the people who had come to watch the excitement.

He’s leaving now?

Everyone was stunned, and the servants also stopped asking questions.

“What’s happened?” Everyone wanted to know.

“The Fang family.
They took out an imperial decree and have used it to turn Yangcheng upside down.” The man shouted.

Imperial decree!

All of a sudden the silence turned into uproar.

“How can the Fang family have a decree?”

“Why did the Fang family turn Yangcheng upside down?”

This was asked four times.

But that man didn’t care about the details of the answer.

“I don’t know.” He said, “It seems that one in the family has had a grudge against an official in Yangcheng.”

Saying this indicated an end to the inquiries.

“Hurry up, the prefect has already left.”

Everyone dared not neglect and ran out in a hurry.

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The servant stood there with a complicated expression.

“Do you still want to ask?” The official asked cautiously and looked at the girl who withdrew behind her parents.

What’s the problem?

The servant’s brow uncreased and he no longer looked at the girl.
Instead, he watched the lights become brighter.
People shouted outside.

“Imperial edict, the Fang family is really…” He had a slight smile on his lips.
“Bold.”

After saying that, he looked at the old man’s family again, glanced at the trembling girl, and turned around and walked away.

“Let’s go.” He said.

The darkest moment before dawn slowly passed, and the east gradually turned white.

The hustle and bustle in the city gradually stopped, and many people began to probe out into the streets.

Last night’s movement stirred up the whole county town.
It was more terrible than when the door to the county government office was smashed.
Instead the people’s homes were knocked open in the middle of the night and people broke in

Those who shouted for the decree were not officers or soldiers, and there were no officials to accompany them.
As for the imperial decree, it could not be seen.

This time, the gangsters really made trouble.

Fortunately, those people just searched around the house and asked if they had seen Official Lin.
They didn’t beat people, let alone kill people, and their belongings remained unmoved.

Although it was frightening, it wasn’t so much as to leave them terror-stricken.3

The searchers gradually retreated, and the light replaced the darkness.
The people dared to go out of their homes to inquire about the news.

“So it turns out that Official Lin was part of Magistrate Li’s group?”

“Was the Fang family actually ordered to investigate?”

“So it’s not actually about a feud, but spies and scoundrels?”4

“In fact, that Fang’s family aren’t actually merchants, but officials?”

“No wonder the Fang family is so rich.”

All kinds of comments spread and speculation was chaotic.

Fang Jinxiu, who had been sitting on the street in front of the city gate, turned an unseeing eye to the people who were gradually gathering behind her.
She just looked outside the city.

Behind her came a sharp sound of horses’ hoofs.
Fang Jinxiu turned around and saw a team of men on horses galloping.

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Chen Qi, who had been sleeping on her shoulder, almost fell to the ground.
He woke up in a daze, rubbing his face.

“What time is it?” He wiped his mouth and said, “Has she been found?”

Fang Jinxiu ignored him.
She had stood up and was looking at Fang Chengyu and Old Lady Fang coming.
There were more people coming together in the distance.

The torched had already gone out, and everyone’s face was full of fatigue and anxiety.

Not found.

There was no need to ask.
Fang Jinxiu could tell just by looking at their expressions.

“It’s just one night’s search.” Fang Chengyu’s expression remained the same, and even a smile appeared on his face.
“Grandma, mother and sisters, go back and rest.
I’ll continue to look for her.
It will be fine in the day.
The news spreads faster.
Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to alert the enemy.”5

Old Lady Fang looked at him.
Fang Chengyu was already thin and weak, and his face was even more haggard at this time.

Not long after his poison was detoxified, while he was still weak, he experienced the robbery and killing in Runan and rushed back.
He joined the interrogation in the prison cell and asked for the beheading.
It can be said that he had not even caught his breath yet.

How could he stand to keep going like this?

“Chengyu, you go back to rest first, and we’ll continue to look.” She said.

“Yes, elder sister and I will go.
Both you and grandmother will go back to rest, and then later come and replace us.” Fang Yuxiu also said.

Fang Chengyu shook his head with a smile.

“I’m not tired.” He said, “I’m really not tired.
You don’t know that people won’t be tired if they don’t stop moving.
I won’t stop at this time.
It’s not good to stop and be discouraged.”

What’s the reason for this?

Madam Fang looked at Fang Chengyu with an anxious expression.

“What if she still can’t be found today?” She blurted out.

Fang Chengyu smiled.

“Then I’l look for her tomorrow.” He said and the emotion in his eyes was sincere and firm, “If I can’t find her today, I’ll find her tomorrow.
If I can’t find her tomorrow, I’ll look for her the day after tomorrow, and look for her day by day, until I find her.
In short, I have to find her.”

1– 狼心狗肺 – “heart of a wolf, lungs of a dog”; idiom meaning cruel and unscrupulous, ungrateful and heartless, etc.

2– 锦衣玉食 – “brocade garments, jade meals”; idiom meaning life of extravagance/luxury

3– 心惊胆战- “heart alarmed, trembling in fear”; scared witless
魂飞魄散 – “soul flies away and scatters”; frighted stiff/terror-stricken

4– 乱臣贼子 – “rebels and traitors”; general term for scoundrel

5– 打草惊蛇 – “beat the grass and startle the snake”; inadvertently alert the enemy