“Perhaps it’s as you said – the beggars are all staying at earth god temples and such places.” Qin Yining nodded slightly. Though she said this, she still added, “Later tonight, have Jingzhe and the others look around. I always feel this matter isn’t ordinary.”

Ji Yun didn’t quite understand why Qin Yining would have such a feeling, but she trusted Qin Yining’s judgment completely and immediately said seriously, “Yes, this servant will speak with Jingzhe about it later.”

At this time, Jingzhe and the other three were chatting with the people of Danfu County.

This time Qin Yining was close enough to hear their conversation clearly. Sure enough, as soon as Jingzhe mentioned the words “building the imperial mausoleum,” the middle-aged woman who was looking at rouge immediately darkened her expression, pressed her lips together, and walked away.

Such situations occurred several times throughout the day. Jingzhe and the others tried their best to read people’s expressions, specifically seeking out kind-faced women or elderly people to ask – these types of people had soft and kind hearts and were most likely to tell the truth. Yet in the end, they still couldn’t uncover any inside information.

The more no one would speak, the more Qin Yining could confirm that there was indeed a problem with this county. The civilian laborers’ delay in arriving must have some hidden story.

At dusk, the orange-red slanting sun painted the entire sky with brilliant sunset clouds.

Qin Yining’s group of three carriages slowly drove back along the road they had come. To gather intelligence, they hadn’t rested all day and were now sitting in their carriages, eating dry biscuits and pastries with water from their water pouches to satisfy their hunger.

Qin Yining tore off a piece of flatbread and put it in her mouth. After taking just two bites, she saw the thin beggar she had noticed earlier.

He was supporting himself with a bamboo stick as thick as an egg, struggling to walk along the roadside. Only when he moved could one see that both his right arm and right leg were disabled! As he limped forward with difficulty, his sleeve hung powerlessly, his right hand swinging back and forth – clearly his right arm was broken and tucked inside his sleeve.

Qin Yining couldn’t bear to see such pitiable people. As her carriage passed by the man, she couldn’t help but lift the window curtain and call softly, “Wait.”

But the man seemed unable to hear and continued walking forward.

Qin Yining had no choice but to tell Ji Yun, “Quick, go give this bread to that young man, and give him this water pouch too. And these loose silver coins as well.”

Ji Yun smiled. “Understood. I know Madam has a kind heart. I have some loose silver here.”

Ji Yun took the things Qin Yining had given her, jumped down from the carriage, and hurried to catch up, calling as she walked, “Hey, young man, wait!”

But the beggar still didn’t stop.

However, his legs weren’t good, and he seemed like he hadn’t eaten a full meal in a long time and had no strength. Ji Yun quickly caught up and blocked his path.

“Hey, why don’t you listen?”

The other person seemed startled by someone suddenly appearing in front of him and looked down numbly and dully.

Ji Yun handed over the oil paper package containing several flatbreads and the water pouch. “This is from our mistress. Eat quickly. And here’s some loose silver – you don’t look well, take this to see a doctor about your injuries.”

The oil paper package gave off the distinctive aroma of flatbreads, and Ji Yun heard the beggar’s stomach obviously “rumble.”

He looked up at Ji Yun, opened his mouth, but no sound came from his throat. He clutched his bamboo stick and slowly raised his left hand to accept the oil paper package.

Seeing this, Ji Yun realized that this person was not only disabled in his right arm and right leg, but probably hadn’t deliberately ignored her earlier – he couldn’t hear and couldn’t speak either.

Ji Yun’s heart softened and she gave him some more loose silver. “Take this and go see a doctor. This is from our mistress.”

Knowing that this person couldn’t hear or speak, Ji Yun combined words with gestures, pointing to Qin Yining’s carriage.

The man understood Ji Yun’s meaning and turned to look at the carriage.

Qin Yining was lifting the carriage curtain slightly. Since she was inside the carriage, she wasn’t wearing her veil hat, and half of her fair, delicate face was visible, her bright eyes looking over with kindness.

The man hugged the oil paper package and bent down with difficulty to take a bite of the flatbread.

Ji Yun sighed softly and walked around him toward the carriage.

Just then, two young men suddenly rushed over from the opposite direction and knocked both the oil paper package and water pouch from the beggar’s hands to the ground.

“You son of a bitch! Who said you could eat! What do you think you are!”

“You only deserve to eat dog food and pig slop!”

The other young man grabbed the beggar’s collar and pushed him forcefully, raising his palm to strike.

How could Ji Yun stand to see such bullying! She had just given the beggar food, and now someone was knocking it down. Not only did they knock down what she had given, they were even going to hit him!

Ji Yun turned back and blocked the man’s hand before it could fall. “What are you doing! Bullying a pitiful person – what do you think you are!”

“Little lady, I advise you to mind your own business!”

“This young lady is definitely going to mind this business! You’re bullying a poor disabled person – aren’t you afraid of divine retribution!”

“Hey! Get lost, stinking woman, or I’ll beat you too!”

…

Seeing Ji Yun getting into an argument with those two ruffians, Qin Yining realized things were going badly and quickly got out of the carriage.

By this time, the beggar had already been pushed to the ground by the young man, but the beggar seemed oblivious to pain, grabbing the mud-stained flatbread and gnawing on it.

As if enraged by his action of eating the bread, the two ruffians became even more furious, shouting loudly and dodging around Ji Yun to punch and kick the beggar.

“Stop.” Qin Yining put on her veil hat and, accompanied by Jingzhe and the others, blocked the two ruffians, saying peacefully, “Please calm down, brave men.”

The two young men saw that the one speaking was a woman with a graceful figure wearing a veil hat. From her bearing and voice, they could tell she was a beauty, which aroused the special emotions that people have toward attractive individuals. Their shouting subsided somewhat, but their attitude remained terrible.

“Outsiders! I advise you to mind your own business!”

The commotion and shouting here had already attracted many people’s attention. Qin Yining’s merchant convoy had done business with quite a few people today, and seeing that the traveling merchants were having trouble here, men and women, old and young, all gathered around.

An elderly man over sixty emerged from the crowd and stood before Qin Yining with a stern expression.

“Madam, you came from elsewhere to do business in our Danfu County territory. Have we made things difficult for you?”

Qin Yining smiled and bowed, saying gently, “Respected elder, Danfu County is blessed with outstanding people and simple folk customs, with harmonious neighbors. We traveling merchants have been quite well cared for by the brothers and sisters in your precious territory, and this humble woman is truly grateful.”

The elder frowned and scolded sternly, “Since our Danfu County hasn’t done anything to wrong you all, why are you interfering in our affairs!”

Qin Yining stepped forward, her steady voice coming from beneath the veil hat. “Respected elder, we had no intention of interfering in your county’s affairs. We only saw this young man in distress and gave him some food. How is this offending your county?”

“Let me tell you.” The elder stepped forward and kicked the flatbread from the beggar’s hands, then stomped on it heavily several times.

“Four years ago, this person came here as a drifter and fainted from hunger on the street. He was taken in by the kind-hearted Master Wang, who provided him with good food and lodging, didn’t mind that he was deaf and mute, and even arranged work for him. Who would have thought that after staying at Master Wang’s house for just two days, he murdered Master Wang’s wife! If we hadn’t felt that simply reporting him to the authorities and having his head chopped off was too good for him, would he still be lingering on until today? Having committed such bestial acts, he doesn’t deserve to eat human food – he only deserves pig food and dog food!”

The elder spoke with great anger and kicked the beggar again viciously, this blow landing right on his broken right arm.

His arm was already bent at an unnatural angle, and this kick made it fold even more grotesquely. His appearance curled up in a ball enduring the pain became even more pitiful.

Qin Yining frowned.

She had come to gather intelligence and didn’t want to attract too much attention. But encountering such a situation, it was difficult for her not to intervene.

“According to you, this person killed someone?”

“Exactly!”

“If so, why didn’t you report it to the authorities four years ago and have a proper trial? If there was sufficient evidence, the law would naturally deal with this person. Since he killed someone, the higher authorities would have upright officials to make decisions and chop off his head. There would be no need for people to torture and humiliate him like this! According to what you say, for four years this deaf and mute man has had his limbs broken and been thrown onto the streets to beg, and from your attitude, you refuse to give him charity, only feeding him pig food and dog food. Torturing a person like this – how much more noble is this method than killing?”

“Exactly!” Upon hearing this, Ji Yun was also filled with righteous indignation, putting her hands on her hips and saying fiercely, “That Master Wang had his wife killed and could still restrain himself from reporting to the authorities – isn’t there something suspicious about that? Fine, even if his wife was truly killed by this person, giving him a quick death to pay with his life – no one could say anything about that. Yet he uses such methods to torture people, not letting them live properly but not giving them a quick death either. Trampling on a life like this – can someone who does such things still be called a ‘kind master’? Don’t make people laugh their teeth out!”

“You!” The elder was so angry his beard bristled and his eyes bulged. “You outsiders – I knew you were all up to no good! We shouldn’t have let you in to do business in the first place!”

“The travel permits are from the court. Even the court doesn’t stop us from doing business, so where do you, an old man, get such audacity!” Ji Yun shouted back loudly.

By now many residents had gathered around, and quite a few able-bodied men had been enraged, all pointing accusations at Ji Yun and Qin Yining.

“You people are so tactless!”

“Exactly, we’ll deal with criminals however we want. You keep talking about law this and law that – are you like those court lackeys, here to harm the common people?!”

In their eyes, dealing with a murderer this way privately was perfectly justified. They had never encountered such criticism before, and everyone was furious.

Seeing the situation was bad, Jingzhe and the others quickly surrounded Qin Yining protectively.

Qin Yining hadn’t expected things to escalate like this. When Jingzhe had earlier mentioned that the three major clans in Danfu County made up eighty percent of the county’s population, she had been somewhat skeptical. But now seeing how united these people were – even when firmly holding to an ignorant practice, no one raised objections, still unquestioningly trusting their elders’ judgment while harboring hostility toward the court and completely rejecting imperial law.

Qin Yining’s brow furrowed as she instantly made her decision.