Pa Chapter 25 (1/2)

Chapter 25: Restoring Livelihood to the Border

They headed inside and came to the magistrate’s bedchambers. The man was wearing a thin layer, on his knees outside another room’s door. The fire looked like it had been set here earlier and had been extinguished by now, but the magistrate still looked defeated and forlorn. When he saw Qi Chen arrive, it was as if he’d glimpsed his savior. The magistrate crawled over to Qi Chen’s side, the tears streaming down his face actually invoking some pity. “You’re finally here, Your Highness!”

Qi Chen looked at Jun Huang. She understood his meaning and said that she would go looked around to see what damages there might be. When she left, Qi Chen indicated for people to follow her and took the magistrate into another room.

The prince sat in the main seat, looking frostily at the magistrate kneeling in the middle of the room. “Worthless thing! What good are you for?!” he couldn’t help but curse loudly.

“Forgive me Your Highness, please spare me Your Highness!” The magistrate could hear the murderous intent in the prince’s tone and crawled over to Qi Chen in abject terror, tugging on the hem of those luxurious robes for mercy.

Qi Chen sent the magistrate flying with one kick and took a deep breath in before asking slowly, “Was it really robbers?”

“Absolutely, Your Highness! They were all ferocious without parallel. They’re definitely robbers who live in the mountains.” The magistrate swallowed hard. His back was already soaked with sweat, and he shuddered when he looked at the vicious expression on Qi Chen’s face. He was deathly afraid that the prince would want to kill him. But Qi Chen wasn’t even thinking about the magistrate at all. He was still trying to console himself over his lost silver.

Jun Huang looked at the fellow tailing her and sneered. She actually did take a loop around the yamen, comforting the terrified servants as she did so. The sky had already brightened when she left. She rubbed her temples and went back to her room to sleep for a few hours.

It was already noon when she next opened her eyes. Qi Chen had left with his men, leaving only her and Nan Xun in the inn. Nan Xun was waiting for her downstairs when she went in search of food. She took a seat across from him, “Has everything been taken care of?”

Nan Xun nodded. “It actually was real bandits who broke in last night. They’d likely been oppressed too long by the local n.o.bility and was driven to robbing the yamen. They’ve should’ve already taken the silver to help the people.”

“We’re not really at liberty to do anything in this situation either, so it’s just as well they’re taking action,” Jun Huang remarked.

Nan Xun looked at Jun Huang and saw that his lunch companion was focused on her tea with a lowered head. She didn’t seem to be in good spirits. “Are you alright?” he asked with a frown.