Chapter 32: Open Strife and Secret Rivalry

  Fei Yi indeed returned to the Qingquan County government office first, accompanied by the two thousand garrison troops stationed in the suburbs.

  As soon as the prison riot broke out, the clerk took it upon himself to send the news to the military camp. The commander claimed that he had not received orders from his superiors and that sending troops without authorization would be a rebellion, and he flatly refused to dispatch any soldiers. The clerk had no choice but to return dejectedly, never suspecting that someone had already persuaded the commander ahead of time.

  After Wang Huailie's staff had arranged the matter of the hunter's robbery, he came directly to the military camp and showed the relevant certificates to the commander, indicating that he was an intermediary sent by the joint dispatch of Peng Yinxin, the new inspector of the Censorate, and Zhu Youcheng, the county magistrate of Sanhua County, responsible for repairing the Louzi opened by Wang Huailie.

  Na Daliang was also a general who had left his name on the account book. He did not receive much of the stolen silver, about a thousand taels. When he heard that no troops were needed, he was delighted and stopped advancing after the chief clerk came to report the news.

  In the dead of night, after the chief clerk, a carriage driver from the Fei Yi faction came to seek help from the Duwei, representing the second son of the Zhen Nan Wang Fu. If the Duwei still refused to send troops, they would not let him off easily on the surface. The Duwei felt caught in a dilemma and was hesitating when his aide called him to discuss in the back of the tent, avoiding the driver's ears.

  The attendants said: "The account book is in the hands of the second young master, he must have seen the names inside, and knows that the adults are also on it, but still wants the coachman to come and rescue, has the adult thought about the connection between them?"

  Dou Wei was indeed stunned.

  The staff carefully persuaded him, without considering how much truth was in his words: "Second Master is using a trick of 'borrowing a knife to kill someone', wanting to use the adults' hands to stab the Crown Prince, and no matter whether the matter succeeds or not, he will not have to bear any responsibility. Adults think about it, Second Master is not a fool, would he not understand that once the adults send troops to rush to the Crown Prince's side, what kind of chaos will arise? - He still sent someone over, naturally having already made up his mind, determined to kill the Crown Prince this time."

  "Then... what should I do now?"

  The attendants stepped back a few steps, considered for a moment, and then said: "Why not follow the second young master's intention, take advantage of the situation to kill him, and push the blame onto the second young master if something happens. This time the expedition has a good reason, killing people is justified, and it can be used to deal with Wang Huaili and his group. Even if King Zhen Nan blames us afterwards, Your Excellency can take out the fireproof certificate brought by the carriage driver tonight and report to King Wang that it was their own brothers who rebelled, and all these consequences have nothing to do with Your Excellency."

  Douwei was moved by the words of his staff, and in the dead of night, he led two thousand troops to rush to the county government office, surrounding the entire building so that no one could escape, trapping all the prisoners, officials, and members of the prince's mansion.

  He didn't know that someone else had reacted faster than him and rushed into the county government office before him, so from start to finish, there was no scene of brotherly enmity as he had hoped.

  At the end of Hai hour, he rushed back to Qingquan County on horseback after handling the unexpected event on the mountain road. He learned everything from the mouth of the guards at the inn. He didn't expect things to develop so fiercely, and after some consideration, he turned his horse's head and ran towards the county government office with Min An, who was drowsy.

  He did so because he lost to the four words "can't bear in his heart". After interrogating the hunter on the mountain path, he figured out many things and knew that he had been set up by Li Peinan again. He dispatched the Qingyuan garrison as a counterattack, which was considered a more severe method of mobile warfare. Before this, he would always avoid confrontation with Li Peinan whenever possible, and his respect for Li Peinan was greater than their familial relationship.

  Since his mother's death, Fei's thoughts have changed a lot. He no longer deliberately avoids Li Peinan's authority and even wants to fight for Min'an when it comes to dealing with him.

  Fei Yi attributed the reason for all these changes to the blow caused by his mother's passing, and he didn't dare to think deeply about why he couldn't bear to see Min An being disciplined by others, not even Li Peinan's rightful discipline.

  Apart from the four words "cannot bear to", Fei Yi couldn't think of any other reason, thinking that if he had such a standard for Min An, he should also have it for Li Peinan. Fei Yi naturally knew that Li Peinan had left some hidden cards, and relying solely on the Qingyuan garrison troops he had dispatched would not be enough to deal with Li Peinan, so after a moment's thought, he rushed to Li Peinan's side.

  Even if he wanted to fight, he would want to do it openly and fairly. If something really happened, he would still be willing to stand on Li Peinan's side, after all, the bond between them was stronger than anything else, even though Li Peinan didn't value this point at present.

  Fei Yi drove the horse as if it were a flying dragon, with Min An rushing into the county government office first, leaving the Qingyuan guards and others behind. Li Peinan ordered the gate to be opened and saw Min An motionless leaning on Fei Yi's back, raising his eyebrows and asking: "Has someone been killed?"

  Fei Yi untied the reins and pulled Min An down from the horse. Min An finally woke up with a start. His face was covered in dust and blood, his clothes were torn to shreds, and there were bandages wrapped haphazardly around his head, looking utterly disheveled.

  Li Peinan waited until Min An snapped out of it and directly asked: "Where's the account book?"

  Min An got up from the ground and adjusted his hat: "On Second Master's body."

  "Didn't you take a look?"

  Min An replied in a low voice: "I'm dizzy and can't see the words clearly, besides, Second Master won't let me read it."

  Li Peinan heard this and waved his hand: "Go wash up first, then sneak into the yard later."

  Although Min An was dizzy, it didn't mean that his bright eyes hadn't seen the changes around him. Li Peinan's cold command had just fallen when he suddenly threw a thunderbolt at Min An, making his scalp tighten: "My head is heavy and my spirit is not good, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete the task entrusted by the young master——"

  Li Peinan turned back to look at Min An, who wisely shut his mouth. Following Lijun to the county yamen's living quarters, he simply washed up with some water. He took out a medical kit he had prepared earlier and applied a hemostatic paste to his head wound. As he carefully listened to Lijun recounting the events in prison...

  At this time, a burst of horseshoes suddenly came from outside the county government office, and it was Duwei who brought two thousand garrison troops to surround the place.

  The entire county government was filled with lanterns, Li Peinan stayed in the big yard, standing with his back to the dark and heavy gate. He had already heard the movement outside the county government, knew that Fei's move was a step ahead of him, and was slightly surprised at heart, looking sideways.

  "Long brain, knows how to borrow strength and strike." Li Peinan's face was calm, but his voice was low as he spoke, just loud enough for Fei Yi beside him to hear. Fei Yi understood what Li Peinan meant, didn't look at him, and calmly replied: "Compared to the Xizang barbarians, these two thousand guards are like ants, the young master won't be afraid now, will he?"

  Li Peinan sneered: "Afraid or not, you'll be the one taking the hit first."

  Neither clothes nor push away: "Uh-huh."

  The two men were silent for a moment, listening to the flames crackling in the evening wind. They each had their own thoughts, but didn't bother to express them to each other. Fei's intention was indeed to help Li Peinan deal with the situation, and seeing how intense things had become, he was willing to stay and assist him, hoping to calm down the turmoil he had brought about. Li Peinan thought that Fei's method of leading his troops had coincidentally hit the mark, which could also be called "mistakenly achieving success". Wang Huaili was taken into custody, the name of the school officer appeared in the account book, and Peng Ma Dang and Zhu Youcheng's faction would take action next. The development of tonight's chaos would become clear soon.

  The two people in the main courtyard were calm, but the commotion in the second courtyard grew louder and louder. The voices carried over to the yamen, urging Min An to hurry up. Min An couldn't dawdle any longer, so he put down the handkerchief and headed towards the prison's main courtyard. His steps were a bit unsteady, and Li Qun hastily reached out to support him, asking, "Young Master, are you alright?"

  Min An weakly waved his hand, muttering to himself in his heart, "The prince is pushing me into the fire pit of our dynasty, how can I be okay?" Thinking this way, he swayed and came before Li Peinan, lifted his head, revealing a pale face covered with sweat, his lips moved twice but hadn't had time to say anything when he fell forward onto Li Peinan's feet.

  Fei's expression changed slightly, and after some thought, he decided it was best not to intervene and see how Li Peinan would handle this sudden situation.

  Li Peinan didn't even look up from his seat and coldly said to Li Qun, "Call Wu Ren over. If he dares to say a single word out of line, kill him."

  Min's body on the ground didn't move at all, still completely pale.

  Li Qun hesitated: "Young Master has lost too much blood, it doesn't seem like he's faking it. Young Master should take care of him first."

  Li Peinan said coldly: "Wu Ren is also a coroner, and there is no one else in this place who can examine Mr. Li's body."

  Min An, who was dizzy on the ground, quickly got up and muttered: "I'll go in myself, why drag my master into the water."

  Fei Yi watched as Min An rushed towards the Second Institute, and couldn't help but admire Li Peinan's methods for dealing with this kind of person. Min An walked to the railing, waiting for the chief scribe to help him dress up. The firelight cast a glow on his back, making his already thin shoulders seem even more gaunt. He probably sensed the chill in the air and hugged his arms, shivering slightly.

  Fei Yan thought of Min An, who was injured at the moment. Her heart softened and she walked to his side, handing over a shiny and moist jade pendant: "This is the Han Cui Yu given by Empress Dowager, it's said to be able to cure all poisons. You go in and hold it in your mouth, no one can harm you."

  Min An gazed at the pale white jade, his face involuntarily tightening. But he had lost too much blood, his complexion was pale, and it stubbornly concealed his reaction.

  Fei Yi still held onto the jade pendant and asked: "Aren't you going to accept this kind gesture?"

  Min An accepted the jade pendant and tied the green silk cord around his neck, thanking him in a low voice. He didn't dare to ask about the past of this piece of cold cicada jade, hoping that Fei Yi was young at the time and didn't remember the joke the Empress Dowager had said back then.

  The person who lent out the treasure of the ages, Non-Ui, didn't have any unusual color, just as usual, calm and peaceful. Disguised as a servant, Min-An walked into the second courtyard with other servants from the county government office to distribute night snacks to the prisoners. He lowered his head, smudged his face, trying not to draw attention to himself. Silently serving the serious offenders eating rice balls and noodles, he raised his head secretly looking towards the corner of the yard, setting his sights on that green leafed tree.

  Wang Huai was tortured to the point of exhaustion, paralyzed and sitting at the base of a tree. Min An held a gourd ladle with rice porridge and fed it to Wang Huai, taking the opportunity to secretly rub some pieces of yew tree bark onto his skin. According to ancient texts, applying yew tree bark to the skin would cause swelling and wounds that resembled unknown symptoms of boils. Min An squatted in front of Wang Huai, blocking his line of sight, and rubbed the yew tree bark on Wang Huai's wrist, then vigorously scrubbed it onto her own arm and neck. After a while, deep black and red wounds appeared on their skin.

  Liu Er and Liang Shang Jun came to the second courtyard to check on the situation, and found a green-clad slave squatting under a tree for a long time without getting up. Next to him was Li Fei's cold corpse. Liu Er became suspicious, walked to the front of the tree, grabbed the green-clad slave's collar, pulled him up, and took a look. He couldn't help but shout: "Everyone come quickly, I recognize this person! He used to be Bi Si's follower, now he has climbed up to the Town South Wang Fu and became the son's housekeeper! He sneaked in here, definitely to spy!"

  A repeat offender threw down the noodles, walked over with big strides, wiped clean Min An's face with his dirty sleeve, held his chin in his hand and looked left and right, sneering: "This face is so white and delicate, it really looks like a rabbit's! Why don't I take a bite of this fresh stuff first!"

  Min An spat a mouthful of blood onto the face of the repeat offender.

  Thank you coco, Rong Yaya, Xiao Bai, Yiyiyi, Ri Yue Ming, Zhu Er Duo beauty for the hand grenades (*^__^*)

  Thank you very much, Little White and Pig Ears' two landmines (*^__^*) l3l4