After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 48: The Forty-Eighth Day

Chapter 48: The Forty-Eighth Day

During the time when Ye Fuguang was in a hazy state, many things happened.

As the emperor’s personally appointed third special envoy sent to the south of the Yangtze River to handle this flood disaster, responsible for overseeing the case, and also the highest-ranking envoy dispatched by the court, after the incident of being attacked by displaced people at Jiming Mountain, he finally arrived leisurely at Yingtian Prefecture, the area most severely affected by this disaster.

During the days when the carriage and horses stayed in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the prefects of several prefectures and the magistrates under their jurisdiction jointly held a banquet to welcome Prince Qi and wash away the dust of travel. Because the flood disaster had disrupted everything, the banquet was simplified. Just as the wine had not yet passed three rounds at the table, Prince Qi described the scenes he had seen along the way and directly asked them how they were conducting disaster relief and why the relief efforts were ineffective.

The transport commissioner of Hangzhou was drenched in sweat and put down his wine cup. He stepped out, knelt on the ground, and shed tears profusely. He said he deserved ten thousand deaths, but he earnestly begged Prince Qi to allow him to retain his position for inspection first. Previously, he had implemented relief through labor, letting those displaced people build some city defenses, with the government providing two meals a day. If he were replaced at this time, causing overlapping administrative orders, those common people who had just found laborious work to do and meals to eat would likely return to dire straits—

The county magistrate of Hongxia County under him also spoke up for his superior, recounting the past efforts in Hangzhou over the past few years to continuously dig ditches and widen the channels of several rivers. However, the reason for the severe disaster this time was, first, because the rainfall often exceeded that of previous years, and second, because it was not long after the beginning of spring when the government had just handed over the grain needed for the court this year to the Suzhou-Hangzhou Transport Office, emptying several granaries, which had not yet been refilled.

The sudden continuous heavy rain caused the remaining official grain storage warehouses to become damp. After the water receded, the soldiers rescued it, but it was already inedible. They could only buy grain from merchants and great families in the city who had stockpiles. However, the Yang and Li families were unwilling to sell even a bit, saying that this flood was rare in a hundred years, and with many descendants in the clan, although they had the intention to cooperate with the government, they did not know when the court’s relief grain would arrive. They could not starve their own children to death just to feed their bellies full for those ruffians outside.

Those minor aristocratic families had always been ones to follow the wind and steer the rudder. With the leading ones not giving, they had even less reason to give. Nowadays, in appointments, to avoid local powers becoming too strong, the chief official of a prefecture must not be a native. Northerners go south to serve as officials, and southerners go north to serve as officials; this is common practice. This enhanced the central government’s control over the localities, but it also resulted in the prefects having authority yet lacking actual control over the area when facing powerful local prominent clans. The governance of prefectures and counties was merely nominal; in reality, it was self-governance by the aristocratic families.

The prefects and magistrates also dared not use force against such families that had prime ministers in the court. After all, their promotions and appointments for the coming year still depended on the face of the Ministry of Personnel.

Shen Jinglan listened with a very calm expression, as if she could not see the soup on the table that had already cooled. She turned a welcoming banquet into a major debriefing session for the chief officials of two prefectures.

Contrary to the expectations of these chief officials in Suzhou and Hangzhou, they had thought that Prince Qi would come with great momentum and, having encountered the attack by displaced people on the road, would surely be thunderously angry. At the banquet, relying on the emperor’s order, she would suspend them from duty or imprison them as appropriate.

As a result, after she patiently listened to the disaster reports from each prefecture and county, she showed no reaction at all. It was as if she suddenly remembered something; she personally helped them up and stated that the disaster this time was serious and that she had already understood it. After a few days, when she inspected the rising water level of the river embankments, she would naturally plead their case to His Majesty on their behalf. The ministers should first rise and dine.

This appearance, completely different from the rumors of her decisive and ruthless nature, left these chief officials unable to react.

They exchanged glances and all suddenly remembered that before this dispatch, Prince Qi had suffered a serious injury from the defeat in the Yancheng battle and had recuperated in the mansion for a long time—

Regarding that major battle, the factors of the defeat actually had some explanations circulating in officialdom. Some said it was because too many useless and mediocre generals, descendants of meritorious nobles, had been stuffed into the army, leading to poor defense of the city. When Prince Qi led troops to pursue, a large portion of the enemy forces surrounded the city, scaring them into directly opening the gates and surrendering. This caused Prince Qi’s troops to suffer an enemy ambush upon returning to the city, resulting in direct defeat.

Others said it was because the prefectures and counties along the way handling grain transport were ineffective, leading to insufficient rear grain reserves when Prince Qi penetrated deep into the borderlands to pursue the Dikun royal court. Thus, the frontline soldiers went hungry. Moreover, at that time, the Dikun drove common people as vanguard suicide squads, causing the people in the city to be unwilling to see their relatives die. So, they rioted, seized power from the defending soldiers, and opened the gates to welcome their relatives, only for the Dikun cavalry to trample the city, killing and plundering without mercy.

In short, the turning point of the battle was when Shen Jinglan received secret intelligence on the Dikun royal court’s location on the grassland and led her personal guards out of the city for a night raid. Meanwhile, the people in the city surrendered to the enemy overnight, causing them to fall into an ambush upon return, and eventually leading to a complete rout.

As for the specifics, the court had already sealed the files. Shen Jingming had long been in a thunderous rage and executed all those who abandoned the city, those responsible for grain transport, and everyone connected to the defeat. At that time, the bloodstains on the streets of the Noon Gate market in Yong’an City took three months to wash clean.

…Could it be that Shen Jinglan had learned a lesson from the defeat and from then on acted less aggressively?

They thought this to each other.

…

“Your Highness.”

After the banquet ended, Shen Jinglan mounted the carriage and returned to the prefect’s mansion in Jiangning City. Because her carriage and horse troops were all left in Jiangning City, and her official rank was higher than that of the Jiangning prefect and transport commissioner, it was only natural for the city lord’s mansion to be given to her.

The prefects of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Taizhou, and other places near Jiangning led their personal guards who protected the prefectural offices and returned to their territories overnight. Fortunately, these places were very close, and carriages and horses could reach each other in a day.

When Shen Jinglan first arrived at the mansion, the personal guard leader belonging to Shen Zekun who was guarding the door, Jinyang, greeted her. She dismounted and sized him up for a moment, then glanced at the personal guards who had come with him, all wearing armor similar to that of the imperial guards and surrounding the area quite securely. After pondering for a moment,

“Uncle Jinyang.” She showed a smile. “We have just arrived in Jiangning, and the people here probably cannot guess that this king would bring His Royal Uncle’s people. While they have not yet familiarized themselves with your faces, help this king with a matter.”

“Please give your orders, Your Highness.” Jinyang immediately said.

Thinking of the scene at the banquet where each one had done their utmost for disaster relief and everyone had their own difficulties, and how they pushed the only unfavorable factor onto the local prominent clans, hoping she would first take action against those fellows, and their appearance of clashing with these aristocratic families that had elders in the court, after Shen Jinglan gave the order, she spoke again. “Let this king see whether they are all dutifully performing their duties under the natural disaster or whether someone is fishing in troubled waters.”

Jinyang had no objection to her instructions. Whether it was tracking the prefects’ convoys or dispersing into the ranks of the displaced people to gather information, these were all appropriate measures. There was just one point. “If this subordinate dispatches two-thirds of the men out, only about a hundred will remain here.”

He said, “Your Highness, this subordinate fears that in case of an unexpected event, they will be insufficient to protect you.”

Jinyang had been by Shen Zekun’s side and, although he had never set foot in the power center of the Chenji Hall, could not help but their Duke of the State was a nagging one. Every time he returned from court, he would nag and chatter, using his not-so-adept mind to speculate on court politics. Although he was wrong most of the time, his great worry was something even those who did not understand court politics could discern a bit: the struggle between the emperor and Prince Qi, the only two remaining bloodlines of the late emperor.

The reason Shen Zekun had given his personal guards to Prince Qi was precisely because he was concerned that the imperial guards harbored disloyal intentions toward this mission and would handle affairs ineffectively.

Shen Jinglan smiled, and it was unclear whether he did it intentionally or not, but when he said this, the person who had previously been kicked by Prince Qi was nearby glaring at Jinyang.

This incitement was well done.

She said, “The imperial guards are not so useless. You may lead the mission, Uncle Jinyang.”

–

In the days after Jinyang left, Prince Qi stayed behind closed doors in the Jiangning prefect’s mansion and did not go out, as if planning to complete the mission of supervising local disaster relief in the mansion, or even wholeheartedly caring for her side consort.

Until recently, the personal guards who had returned from the surrounding counties of Jiangning to the mansion nearly fell from their horses. Their bodies were mixed with mud and water in red, and it was unknown where the wounds were under their armor—

“Report!”

“Your Highness, Fufeng County two hundred li outside the city has been flooded for three days without receding. Countless common people and livestock have died or been injured, and an epidemic has already broken out. The Fufeng county magistrate leads troops to defend to the death. The city gates are held by the Jiangning garrison troops and cannot be entered or exited by anyone. Within fifty li, those who approach are killed.”

After he finished speaking, he gasped heavily, as if trying to force himself to stand up but still failing. He was pounded by the not-so-intense rain from the sky and could not stand, nearly falling over.

Shen Jinglan personally went to support him and said “hard work.” Then she turned her head and instructed someone to fetch the mansion doctor to treat his wounds.

On the second day, she did not wait for other personal guards returning from the road. After pondering for a moment, she led the imperial guards to Fufeng County. Before leaving, she left fifty imperial guards and fifty personal guards to guard this prefect’s mansion and even instructed in advance that if there was any disturbance in the city, they must defend to the death awaiting her return. No matter where it fell, there must be no mishap at this prefect’s mansion.

The imperial guard leader, Zhong Luming, upon hearing this, said, “We are all elite imperial guards. Leaving a hundred here just to guard Prince Qi’s side consort— is this not somewhat a waste of talent?”

Shen Jinglan was mounted on horseback. Before she could speak, White Snow seemed to understand his words, raised its head, and let out a mocking snort toward him.

Then it was gently patted on the head by its master, signaling it to quiet down. “Everyone knows that after this king arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, she stayed in this Jiangning City and resides in this prefect’s mansion. If petty people occupy the prefect’s mansion during this king’s absence, and while this king is away, release some rumors such as ‘the court envoy is already dead,’ causing the common people to fall into panic and become alienated from the court, what would you do then?”

Zhong Luming was quiet for a moment.

He seemed still somewhat unconvinced but could not find words to refute.

Seeing him like this, Shen Jinglan could not help but think that indeed too many generals had died in the Yancheng battle.

Not only hers, but also some descendants who had previously been enfeoffed as marquises for military merits; at the very least, they understood military tactics. This Zhong Luming, which noble family was he from? Was he still from the Jiangnan faction?

There seemed to be too many from the Jiangnan faction in the court already.

…

“So—”

The story reached this point, and Su Wanqiu gently patted Ye Fuguang’s cheek.

With a very relaxed expression, she said, “Come guess how I smuggled you out of the mansion. If you guess right, I will reward you.”

In a short time.

The patient little Ye, who had been rubbed, pinched, and patted by her until her cheeks were red and nearly swollen, did not even dare to cry out in pain. After being silent for a while, she asked, “If I guess right, will you let me go?”

Su Wanqiu pretended to think and then readily agreed, “Sure.”

She turned and pointed to the door outside. “If you guess right, I will let you walk out of this room.”

Then she should be able to hear the sound of this little princess consort crying in pain and wailing from being tormented. That would not be bad either.

Ye Fuguang fell into thought.

But she was not guessing how to answer Su Wanqiu’s question correctly; instead, she was recalling the plot of this part in the original work. This was the highlight plot where the female protagonist gathered the people’s support. Because the two special envoys dispatched by the court failed to reach the south of the Yangtze River, the emperor later sent his royal uncle, the Duke of Yongguo, but the Duke of Yongguo’s health was too poor, and he unfortunately contracted the epidemic soon after and passed away en route to the relief efforts.

In the plot, the female protagonist, bringing some江湖 people she had befriended during her years of wandering outside, found ways to transport grain from other places for the local people, set up sheds to provide porridge, and even used her charm to conquer the local aristocratic families, making them willing to sell the grain in their hands at low prices.

Later, the people, grateful for her grace, spontaneously wanted to cast a stone statue for her. Because her scent was the fragrance of lotus flowers, they spread her character as pure and lofty like a lotus, emerging from the mud unstained, as a saintess sent by the divine to save them, thus also giving rise to a Lotus Flower Divine Cult.

She did not want her fame to spread too far, after all, preaching religion was illegal, and although she was very happy to be supported and loved by the people, she also felt apprehensive. She only said that everyone should in the future help those around them as much as they could, just like her, and there was no need to cast a statue for her or offer any incense.

In short, the female protagonist was beautiful and kind; it was just her identity that was so unfortunate, happening to be a remnant of the previous dynasty. This also made many readers sweat for her and the male protagonist’s romantic line, feeling that there would be much more虐恋情深 to watch.

However—

Ye Fuguang now felt that something was off.

For example, pyramid schemes are also organizations that at the beginning do not seek any money from you and do not require any major publicity from you. But at critical moments, such as those people who rushed at Prince Qi’s carriage and horses in Jiming Mountain, they had only eaten two bowls of porridge from her and then had to die for her.

As a Ye university student transmigrated into Prince Qi’s camp, for the first time, she empathized with her mentor not passing her thesis, because spring and autumn brushwork was indeed deadly.

From the court’s perspective, Su Wanqiu was a thorough rebel!

What Lotus Flower Divine Cult was also a cult fishing in troubled waters!

Ye Fuguang had really been stunned for too long, and that blank gaze of giving up struggling made Su Wanqiu somewhat unhappy. She pinched her chin, with her fingernails digging into her soft flesh, making her lift her head. “Are you zoning out in front of me?”

How much did Shen Jinglan treasure her to tolerate this temperament of hers and treat her like a treasure—there must indeed be other reasons, such as not being able to live normally without her.

Su Wanqiu looked left and right, up and down, but could not see any merits from this idiot vase. Hmm, even this little waste was not as beautiful as her.

Ye Fuguang felt pain and sucked in a breath of cold air. She wanted to dodge her actions but could not move, so she subconsciously answered, “No… I, I just cannot guess.”

After all, she was the female protagonist, with the world’s favor and halo all on her.

Was it surprising that she successfully stole away a cannon fodder like herself?

Making a fuss over nothing.

Hearing her words, the smile on the female protagonist’s face faded a bit. With a cool expression, she sized her up for a moment and said meaningfully, “Answering like that is very boring.”

And she did not like boring people.

–

That night.

Miyun came to report to Su Wanqiu that some infected people had also been discovered in the city. They had completed their task and it was time to leave this place. If they stayed longer, infecting their own people with the disease would be bad.

He had just said this when he unintentionally raised his eyes and glanced toward the inner room. Seeing what seemed to be a figure half-sitting behind the heavy curtains, he raised an eyebrow and said to Su Wanqiu, “You put that little princess consort on the bed?”

He paused and reminded her pointedly: “Even though I have already sealed the acupoints around her scent gland for you, making her pose no threat to you, Little Princess, play as you will, but if Prince Guishuang learns of your behavior, he probably will not be very pleased.”

Miyun bared his teeth in a smile at her, like an eagle falcon reminding its prey, “After all, you know that our family’s prince has always had a bad temper.”

Su Wanqiu also smiled at him. “Yes, if you did not remind me, I would have almost forgotten this matter.”

Then she raised her hand and slapped Miyun.

After that, she shook her hand. While Miyun was looking at her with several finger marks on his cheek, she answered softly and weakly, “So you also know that the one with the bad temper is him, not you.”

She asked with a smiling face, “Or do you think that I have a good temper?”

Miyun answered expressionlessly that he had overstepped.

In his heart, however, he thought that when the Dikun cavalry trampled this central plains land flat, when their king became the common lord of the world, he would definitely help Prince Guishuang get rid of this woman before him who did not know death from life.

But Su Wanqiu had already lost interest in appreciating the ferocity of this little eagle falcon. She had the maid see him out, while she herself rose gracefully, walked around the translucent screen with lotus flower patterns, lifted the shark gauze curtain, and headed toward the bed.

She sat on the edge of the bed and extended her palm, which had turned red from using violence just now, toward the person inside. With a shallow smile, she instructed, “Rub it for me.”

“Ah, I forgot you cannot free your hands—”

Su Wanqiu’s eyes reflected the appearance of the person with her head hanging down. Seemingly magnanimously, she answered, “Then blow on it.”

…

In her presence.

The person with a listless expression and slightly pale complexion had sweat all over her forehead. She felt that she was almost unable to feel the existence of her two hands anymore, because she had not exercised much before, so at this moment, with both hands tied by cloth strips to the horizontal bar above the bed, just like this for two hours, they hurt to the point of numbness and even loss of sensation.

She now regretted so much that incense stick she had lit at Xiangguo Temple before.

Dog author—

Why did you not say your female protagonist is a yandere?! You pitted the readers to death!

But now she could not say a single word and could only move her eyeballs a bit, then obediently and meekly blow on Su Wanqiu’s hand that she had beaten red.

“It seems a bit more obedient than before.”

Su Wanqiu looked at the bit of wetness on her eyelashes, lifted her hand to brush her eyelashes, then laughed. Out of great mercy, she had the person beside her come to untie this restraint for her, and at the same time said, “You really are the most useless Qianyuan I have ever seen.”

As if to strike Ye Fuguang, she casually gave an example. “Previously, there was a fellow who offended me. When he was dragged out for caning to death, he endured over two hundred strokes.”

Ye Fuguang: “…”

She swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Dog author, now, immediately, right away, take her away painlessly!

Where was her bento?

Su Wanqiu leaned back into the bed. When the maid came to undress and remove her shoes for her, she glanced at Ye Fuguang again and casually pointed to the position of the bedside cabinet. “I am going to sleep, and I still have to rise early tomorrow. You pick any book from there and read it to me.”

Ye Fuguang slowly crawled over on her knees.

But she could not lift her hands.

Because she had no strength at all.

She stared at that cabinet for a while, then lowered her head and used her chin to press against the handle in the middle of the cabinet, slowly rubbing the cabinet door open.

This action made Su Wanqiu laugh. She casually pulled over Ye Fuguang’s wrist, which had left terrifying bruises and even worn through the skin surface, and rubbed her fingertip near the injury. “No wonder Shen Jinglan cannot bear to even punish you by making you kneel. It turns out it is such delicate skin and tender flesh— does she know how nice your skin feels to touch?”

“…”

With pervert this word, Ye Fuguang was already tired of shouting in her heart.

However, this sentence made something flash in her mind, but she could not grasp it for the moment.

This yandere female protagonist did not like it when others did not answer questions. Ye Fuguang did not dare to zone out again. After pondering for a moment, she nodded.

Su Wanqiu was even more amused by her and suddenly changed her mind. “Forget those books; after all, they are all ones I have read, nothing heartfelt. Change to some interesting stories—”

She pulled Ye Fuguang to her side, as if thinking that using such a Qianyuan without the strength to truss a chicken as her own pillow was not bad. Closing her eyes, she said, “Come tell me about your bedroom matters with Prince Qi.”

Ye Fuguang: “…”

Ye Fuguang: “?”

She blankly widened her eyes.

***

This was… conjuring erotic literature out of thin air?