That night, Ji Feiyu had a nightmare. In the dream, Yong Yaxuan was chasing after her.
In the dream, Yong Yaxuan grabbed her neck tightly and shouted at her to return the life of his child!
Ji Feiyu sat up from the bed in the middle of the night, sweating profusely from fear. Her chest heaved, and she gasped for breath. Involuntarily, she reached up and touched her neck. When she clearly saw the surroundings and heard the chirping of crickets outside, she realized that she had just been having a dream.
At this moment, the moonlight poured in through the window bars like a bolt of plain brocade. A gentle breeze blew, making her feel the chill of the early autumn night after sweating. Ji Feiyu couldn't help but hug herself tightly. Thinking of the scene in the dream, her heart ached dully.
Her child, her child was also gone. Who could return her child to her? She could somewhat understand Concubine Xin's resentment towards her at that time and her idea of asking Master Lin to stand up for her. But she had never done it, and that was that.
For a moment, feelings of grievance, loneliness, fear, and hatred welled up in her heart. All those emotions she had been suppressing, all those things she thought would never have happened if she didn't think about them, came at her with claws bared on this defenseless night, mocking her usual carefree attitude.
She didn't sleep a wink all night.
Early the next morning, Ji Feiyu went to find Butterfly Hua with huge dark circles under her eyes. Butterfly Hua was shocked and asked, "Did you go stealing last night?"
Ji Feiyu slapped him and said, "Can you be serious? I didn't sleep all night last night. Can you comfort me?"
Butterfly Hua said nervously, "You need comfort? What's wrong with you?"
Ji Feiyu said, "I dreamed that that person was chasing us. He also said that we were an adulterous couple and wanted to kill me."
Butterfly Hua said, "Wait a minute. Who's an adulterous couple with you? Have we ever had that kind of relationship?"
Ji Feiyu rolled her eyes at him and said, "That's not the point!"
Butterfly Hua asked, "Then what's the point?"
Ji Feiyu said, "The point is whether we should move to another place now. I think we're not safe anymore."
Butterfly Hua laughed.
Ji Feiyu asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Butterfly Hua said, "Have you ever heard the saying 'All under heaven belongs to the king'? If we choose to stay in the Great Yong, it's the same wherever we go."
Ji Feiyu looked at him doubtfully and asked, "What do you mean?"
Butterfly Hua said, "They should be conducting a large - scale investigation now to find out which places have had new arrivals in the past four months. Places with new arrivals will be the key areas for investigation. But there are thousands of villages in the world. We can't be the only new arrivals in the past four months. Yu'er, you're just worrying unnecessarily."
Ji Feiyu sighed, thinking that she might have been over - thinking. But Butterfly Hua was right. All under heaven belonged to the king. If she wanted to completely get rid of Yong Yaxuan's pursuit, she had to leave the Great Yong.
If she left the Great Yong, where could she go?
Her homeland? That was out of the question. The Northern Cold Region? It was the enemy's territory. But Ran Wei was there. Maybe it was really worth considering.
After talking to Butterfly Hua for a while, Ji Feiyu felt much better.
She thought that since they were still in the Great Yong and it was the same wherever they were, she might as well live a good life first.
So she went to the orange orchard to pick oranges and took them to the crossroads to sell.
At noon, the two men in bamboo hats who had come the day before came again.
The talkative one, as soon as he saw her, ran over and said, "We meet again."
Ji Feiyu smiled and said, "Yes! Are you here to buy oranges today?"
"No, no. I'm here to chat with you today." The man said, "I wonder what interesting news the people coming and going this morning have brought?"
Ji Feiyu scratched her head and said, "Well, there's a lot..."
She stole a glance at the man in black and a bamboo hat standing behind the talkative one. He had a cold aura and rarely spoke, so she regarded him as a big block of black ice in her heart. For some reason, she always thought that it was because she had seen his hands that she had the nightmare. So she just took a quick look and quickly averted her gaze.
"Tell me about it." At this time, the talkative one simply sat down on the ground beside her, determined to get some information from her.
Seeing his great interest, Ji Feiyu picked out a few rural gossips she had heard. It was nothing more than Zhang San's dog biting to death Li Si's chicken and Zhao Wu's wheat growing into Sun Liu's field.
She thought he would find it boring and leave with his companion, but unexpectedly, he listened to her with great interest. She thought that these two men's intention of approaching her was probably not just to buy oranges. She had to be careful about her words and deeds and create an image that they wanted to see.
As they chatted, they suddenly talked about an official case they had heard from passers - by. The man listened with relish and suddenly interrupted, "So, the county magistrate of Huiliang County is extremely muddle - headed?"
Ji Feiyu nodded and then poured out all the grievances of the common people she had heard during this period. "The common people say that they hate the three flaws in an official the most. One is being overbearing, the second is being domineering, and the third is being cowardly. The county magistrate of Huiliang County has all of them: He makes judgments based on his own preferences and doesn't allow others to say a single word against him. That's being overbearing; when he goes out, he bullies the common people. That's being domineering; when faced with the interference of his superiors, he is submissive. That's being cowardly. The civil officials in the court always lack the courage of men, which makes us common people unhappy."
"Oh? So, civil governance is not as good as military governance?" The silent black ice block beside her finally spoke. His voice was very low, and it was hard to tell his age.
Ji Feiyu couldn't help but shake her head. "Military governance? That's even worse! If there were more cruel officials in the world, the common people wouldn't be able to live. Just a few days ago, some soldiers came from nowhere. After saying just a few words, they started to harass us two decent women. If their superior officer hadn't come to urge them to go back, I don't know what would have happened to me and the Orange Beauty!"
The black ice block seemed a bit puzzled. "Someone would harass you?"
Ji Feiyu said curiously, "What, do you think I'm ugly?"
"Don't dare, don't dare." The other man interrupted and took over the topic. "But... isn't there anyone to manage this on a daily basis?"
"Manage? Who will manage? Haven't you heard? Away from the emperor's feet, all the soldiers are like jackals and tigers!" Ji Feiyu had fully entered the role and regarded herself as an ordinary commoner who had been bullied by the officials.
"Isn't it said in the storybooks that there will be imperial envoys who will travel incognito on behalf of the emperor to understand the people's livelihood? So will they come? Have you ever seen one?" The man asked curiously.
"I've never met one." Ji Feiyu answered sincerely.
"But you've just met one today." The black ice block suddenly said.
Ji Feiyu looked at him doubtfully and then at the man in front of her. Imperial envoys? Which one of these two was it? So the image she had created had finally lured out an imperial envoy?