Chapter 178: Chapter 179 - 179 “…You, you want to change dynasties?”

“My name is Xun Shuang, and I know a few characters,” he said.

Originally, Xun Shuang’s father was a down-and-out scholar who taught him to read and write in his early years, but his father died when he was just ten years old.

Afterwards, Xun Shuang lived with his mother and, with great difficulty, grew up, only to have his old mother die of illness as well.

With empty walls at home, no surviving relatives, and not a single grain of rice to cook, such was the tragic life of Xun Shuang.

Last year, while cleaning out the latrines for a wealthy family in the village, Xun Shuang found a finger ring.

Out of an honest mindset, Xun Shuang cleaned the ring and returned it to the rich family, but to his surprise, the rich homeowner got angry when he heard his explanation.

Far from being thankful, the homeowner accused him of theft and wanted to turn him over to the authorities for punishment.

As it turned out, the county magistrate also thought he was feigning honesty and took the ring he claimed to have found in the latrine as an attempt to gain favor, so he had Xun Shuang severely flogged with thirty big boards and also made him clean out the latrine for the rich family for free for five years.

Xun Shuang cleaned toilets and took care of sanitation at the rich family’s house for half a year. Not only did he alternate between hunger and fullness, but he was also often cursed as a thief.

Eventually, he couldn’t stand it any longer, so he fled the village and hid in the mountains, resorting to robbery to survive.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Having heard his story, Qi Yue was greatly shaken.

Although she was a civilian since her exoneration, she had backers, capabilities, and money—in essence, she was still above others and naturally didn’t encounter such matters in her usual life.

Issues like Xun Shuang’s, while seemingly rare, were actually problems many ordinary people faced.

Without land, they had to rent from rich landlords, pay heavy taxes, and still couldn’t eat their fill in a year.

If they fell ill or encountered lawsuits or other adversities, the whole family was left with no way to survive.

In comparison, Xun Shuang was lucky; after all, he wasn’t married and only had himself to feed.

For those with families to provide for, life was even more unbearable.

In short, the hardship of the people was indeed great!

Thinking of this, Qi Yue sighed repeatedly.

Suddenly, she thought of the sparsely populated southeast of Longnan County Government, which was now building The Great Wall and needed a large labor force. Why not introduce them to settle there?

On the one hand, they could work on The Great Wall in exchange for some money and food, and on the other hand, since Chu Yuntian was a good official and his jurisdiction was largely clean, once The Great Wall was complete, they could also cultivate land along The Great Wall for a living. Would this not be the best of both worlds?

Once she had made up her mind, she immediately discussed the matter with Xun Shuang.

“If you are willing, I can write a letter and recommend that you meet with the Prefectural Governor. You won’t need to continue with this life of highway robbery,” she said.

At first, Xun Shuang was skeptical, not expecting that highway robbery could somehow lead to a future?

However, seeing Qi Yue dressed as a man, exuding righteousness, and being extraordinarily handsome, he didn’t want to miss out on such an opportunity and asked with trepidation, “I am certainly willing, but I’m not sure if the Prefectural Governor will really care about people like us?”

“Rest assured, take my letter, and there will be no mistake,” she assured him.

Qi Yue immediately took out paper and a homemade charcoal pencil from her bosom and went over to a large rock to write the letter.

“Grand Tutor, your daughter Qi Yue sends her regards. It has been a few days since we parted, and I miss you greatly, worrying about you, madam, and my auntie’s well-being. Today, passing by Hemu Mountain, I encountered…”

With swift strokes of her charcoal pencil, she quickly outlined the situation and the idea of resettling these people, and then handed the letter to Xun Shuang after finishing.

“Take this letter and head to the Longnan County Government. If you encounter trouble entering the city, say you’re seeking treatment from the Divine Doctor, and you will naturally meet the Prefectural Governor,” she instructed.

The more Xun Shuang listened, the more astonished he became. After only reading the first sentence of the letter, he immediately knelt down on the ground.

“I am blind and did not recognize the Divine Doctor of Longnan County, please forgive me,” he pleaded.

At that moment, the bandits who had fled learned of her reputation and knelt before Qi Yue as well.

“Divine Doctor on high, we are blind and did not recognize you,” they said.

“Please forgive us!”

“…”

It had been three days since she left Longnan County Government, and by their horse-riding speed, they were at least three hundred miles away.

Qi Yue had not expected her reputation to have spread so far.

After much persuasion, she finally convinced everyone to rise.

Considering that there were many who resorted to highway robbery along the way and that they were all impoverished people, she commanded Zhang Popo to take out two hundred taels of silver and handed them to Xun Shuang, instructing him to gather together all the people who couldn’t survive and lead them to Longnan County.

Xun Shuang accepted the task and immediately knelt down again, swearing an oath that he would not fail her charge.

After bidding farewell, Xun Shuang took his men south, while Qi Yue continued her journey north to the Capital City.

Qu Wei did harbor some doubts about her generosity.

“Aren’t you worried that this Xun Shuang will take the silver and run away?”

“Spending two hundred taels of silver to see someone’s true colors is worth it!”

“Worth it? Just hand over two hundred taels of silver like that, huh? Why don’t you give your big brother two hundred taels of silver instead?!”

“Because I already know what kind of person you are.”

“And what kind of person am I? Am I the good big brother you have in mind?”

“Your image is indeed not bad.”

“Really? Tell me about it.”

“Have you ever seen a fool who spends money and also puts in the effort? You’re just about that, with the added title of big brother… haha…”

Leaving that remark hanging, Qi Yue flicked her whip and the horse beneath her leaped forward a full ten feet.

Upon catching onto her jest, Qu Wei immediately spurred his horse to follow.

“I’ve never seen a sister like you…”

Madam Zhang and the accompanying attendants also spurred their horses and followed. Laughter suddenly rose up on the road, mingling with the receding dust.

Thus, the four of them traveled by day and rested by night. Along the way, they encountered quite a few wandering bandits.

One day, the four riders came upon a plain.

It was springtime, and there were many peasants scattered in the fields, bending their backs and swinging their farm tools rhythmically.

But these people looked haggard and moved mechanically, without any enthusiasm for spring planting. Instead, there was an underlying atmosphere of loathing and resignation.

Although Qi Yue didn’t farm, she grew medicinal herbs, so she could deeply empathize with the peasants’ bitterness and helplessness at seeing no hope yet having to continue farming.

There was no hope in farming, but to not farm was to have even less hope; an entire family would starve immediately.

Qu Wei also felt helpless.

“It’s a pity that the eighteen provinces of Beiyuan’s granaries are spoiled to such a degree.”

He shook his fan vigorously, looking quite indignant.

“If we could kill Minister Lin, kill the dog Emperor, then the world would be at peace.”

Although Qi Yue admired his thoughts, she did not agree with them.

“Big brother, your ideas are good, but they are useless.”

The officials force the people to rebel, and when these people who see no hope can no longer tolerate, they will eventually take up hammers and rise in revolt.

Then they would kill the Emperor, set up a new one…

But the situation would still not change fundamentally. History always seems to repeat itself in astonishing ways, and it’s always the common folk at the bottom who suffer.

“How can it be useless?” Qu Wei said indignantly, “If it weren’t for an illness in my earlier years, I might be a master by now, capable of storming the Imperial Palace…”

“Enough.”

Seeing him getting more and more outrageous, Qi Yue quickly interrupted him, “Even if you killed them, there would be a second Grand Tutor Lin, a second foolish ruler. Can you kill them all?”

“So what do we do? We can’t just let this continue!” Qu Wei said, refusing to accept this.

“There’s nothing else to do but wait. Only when the root is thoroughly rotten can it be completely pulled out.”

Her words were so alarming that Qu Wei nearly fell off his horse.

“…You, you want to change the dynasty?”

Qi Yue gave him a look.

“I never said that, and I’m not interested in becoming the Emperor, at least not for now.”

Hearing this, Qu Wei suddenly calmed down, and a mysterious smile appeared on his lips, sending chills down Qi Yue’s spine.

“What are you scheming?”

Qu Wei unfurled his fan with a swish, looking profound, “Anyway, I wouldn’t dare to scheme against you.”