sbdcsierra Chapter 448 She Wasn't Wrong Either
Chapter 448 She Wasn't Wrong Either
Lu Yangyang's fingertip landed on the mountain range, tracing a path all the way to Yuming Mountain. "So, those so-called girls who married into the Immortal Palace were all transported away from the Immortal Temple and went all the way to this so-called Immortal Palace."
Prefect Ling frowned: "If that's really the case, then many villages along the way have probably fallen into the trap."
Having served as a county magistrate for many years, Prefect Ling knew these villagers all too well. What truly controlled them was not some magic elixir, but forced labor.
What they yearn for is not to live to a ripe old age, but to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
It would be incredibly easy to manipulate these villagers under the guise of forced labor.
Yuzhou was already sparsely populated, with most villages nestled at the foot of mountains. Even entering the city was difficult for them, let alone reporting to the authorities. If something could be resolved within the village or clan, virtually no one would want to report it to the authorities. That was one reason; secondly, given the current situation in Yuzhou, reporting to the authorities would likely yield no results.
So for those villagers, it was practically a case of crying out to heaven and earth in vain.
As for him, the prefect, he was now of no use to these people. The county magistrates below had all run away, or they didn't care about anything. Even if he emphasized that there was no such thing as forced labor, it was still a great difficulty to get the government order down.
After listening to their conversation, Luo Jing thought for a moment and asked Lu Yangyang, "So you mean that it's very likely that most of the Immortal Temples were built along this mountain range, choosing suitable locations in the settlements of several villages, and then sending those girls to the Immortal Palace on Jade Mountain through the Immortal Temples?"
Lu Yangyang nodded: "Possibly, but not accurately. Yuzhou is so big, it's impossible for them to fool all the people in just a few years. They would definitely choose the most convenient route and then slowly extend it to other places."
"In that case, we'll take a dozen or so people and head through Poisonous Snake Ridge to the village from yesterday. Once we find the location of their temple dedicated to the immortals, we'll be able to confirm my guess. Then we'll search along this mountain range. As long as we shut down all the temples dedicated to the immortals, the forced labor issue will fall apart on its own."
Upon hearing this, Prefect Ling replied, "Yangyang's words make sense. In that case, we will go to the village you visited last night first. I will arrange for the others to travel along the mountain paths to all the nearby villages to find out the situation. We must resolve the issues one by one and not alert the enemy. Otherwise, if word gets to the Immortal Palace, the girls who were taken away may be in danger."
Prefect Ling said angrily, "That evil Taoist priest has concocted countless poison pills; he's utterly depraved!"
Lu Yangyang suddenly had a thought, but after thinking about it, she decided to deal with the matter of the Immortal Temple first, and deal with the rest when she saw His Highness.
After discussing and deciding on their plan, the three ordered their men to cross the Poisonous Snake Ridge and head towards the village they had visited the previous night.
When we arrived at the village, it was nearly noon, but there wasn't a single wisp of smoke rising from the chimneys.
It's obvious that those who went to Xianren Temple this morning haven't returned yet.
Prefect Ling assigned a few men to guard the village entrance to prevent anyone from tipping them off, and then followed Luo Jing to Huan Niang's house.
In the courtyard, a woman with gray hair and a haggard face was repeatedly pounding dirty clothes in a basin of water. She seemed dazed, as if she was venting something rather than actually pounding clothes.
"Sister-in-law, are you all alone at home?" Magistrate Ling asked as he stepped forward.
Hearing the commotion, the woman slowly raised her head, then, like a frightened bird, grabbed the mallet she was using to beat clothes and pointed it at Magistrate Ling, asking in a trembling voice, "What... what do you want to do?"
Prefect Ling hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, don't misunderstand. We were just passing by and saw that there were hardly any people in this village, so we thought we'd come and ask for some water."
As he spoke, he asked curiously, "Where have all the villagers gone in the middle of the day?"
Upon hearing this, the woman frantically waved the club in her hand, shouting, "Go away! Go away! If you don't leave, I'll call for help! Get out of here!"
Just as Magistrate Ling was about to tell her not to misunderstand, Lu Yangyang, who was following behind him, suddenly tugged at him: "I think I heard something."
Lu Yangyang's eyes quickly scanned the simple courtyard, finally landing on the water vat on one side of the courtyard: "It came from there."
Lu Yangyang walked over quickly, intending to move the water vat, but the woman rushed over like a madwoman and hugged the water vat tightly: "What are you doing? What are you doing? Go away, go away! Get out, get out!"
As she got closer, the sobbing she had just heard became even clearer.
She called out to Luo Jing, who was waiting outside the door, and quickly pulled the woman away, making Luo Jing move the water vat. Sure enough, below was the cellar of the house. Luo Jing lifted the cellar lid and jumped down. After a short while, he brought Huan Niang, whose hands and feet were bound and whose mouth was stuffed with strips of cloth, back up.
As the woman watched Huan Niang being brought up, she recognized Luo Jing as the man who had come looking for Huan Niang the night before. In despair, she struggled to pounce on them and beat them, but Luo Jing tore off the gag from Huan Niang's mouth and the ropes binding her body.
As soon as Huanniang was free, she knelt down in front of the woman, crying, and hugged her legs: "Mother, Mother, I know you're doing this for my own good, but if I just run away like this, I'll never have a clear conscience for the rest of my life. Xiuniang is only thirteen, it's not her turn to go. I was wrong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have run away. I was scared too, I wanted to marry Brother Anian and live a good life, but I can't hurt Xiuniang, she's such a good girl..."
As Huanniang spoke, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
She wanted to elope because she didn't want to marry into the Celestial Palace. No girl who married into the Celestial Palace ever came back. She had a sweetheart, and she wanted to be a little selfish. So, after changing into her wedding dress, she regretted it and ran away. She thought, "Run, run, run as far as you can, run out of the city, run out of Yuzhou. As long as I run far enough, I won't be caught again, right?"
But when she actually ran away, when she heard that her running away had implicated others, she couldn't find peace of mind for a moment. When she learned that the person who replaced her was Xiu Niang, she was filled with regret. She never expected that her momentary selfishness would actually harm Xiu Niang.
So when she returned early in the morning and learned about this, she thought of going to the Immortal Temple to exchange Xiu Niang for her. But before she could leave, her mother took the opportunity to tie her up and throw her into the cellar.
Huanniang looked up at her mother with tears streaming down her face: "Mother, I know you can't bear to part with me, but Xiuniang is innocent too, she did nothing wrong..."
The woman's eyes were red and filled with despair.
Just then, a shrill scream rang out from the village.