Chapter 14: Inviting a god is easy, sending him away is hard

  Min An stood at the gate of the post house, watching the carriage disappear into the distance. He thought to himself that Fei Yi's patience was probably wearing thin, and when he saw his master later, he would have to mediate a few more sentences... Letting his master go see Fei Yi, this matter had only a few tenths of a chance of success... His master had never been one to listen to control...

  Min An walked with his head down, thinking about his worries, all the way to the front of Qingquan County government. He went to the study room to retrieve the transmitted official documents. Since they were colleagues, he smiled and was friendly. A clerk grabbed his sleeve and took him behind the bookshelf, telling him two things in a low voice: Wu Ren went to Ma Mie's house last night to perform an exorcism, but Ma Mie suddenly died. Before dawn, the Ma family came to deliver a complaint, giving some silver to County Magistrate Wang Huaili and asking for a severe trial of Wu Ren for this mysterious murder case. Wang Huaili did not hold court, directly throwing Wu Ren into prison, specifying that he would be tried on a later date. Currently, he had gone to the guest house to pay respects to the crown prince.

  Min An listened, and his forehead couldn't help but sweat. Wang Zhi County had always disliked people from Huangshi Prefecture, from the officials to the ordinary people, no one had ever been able to walk half a mile in Qingquan County with ease. Now, even Master was caught by Wang Zhi County, and the consequences were self-evident. Min An took out the largest piece of silver from his waist bag and handed it to the officer Li Fei Ge, asking him about the ins and outs of Master's case...

  Ma Mieyu resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown to recuperate from illness, but his condition did not improve. Last night, his family heard that Wu Banzhen in the market could perform rituals and divine medicine prescriptions, so they hastily invited Wu Ren to the mansion to treat Ma's illness. Wu Ren saw that Ma Mieyu was a retired official who had returned to his hometown, and insisted that he would not diagnose illnesses, but only perform a ritual to expel evil spirits. During the ritual, Wu Ren circled around Ma Mieyu's bed as usual, performing a dance to invoke the gods. Unexpectedly, soon after finishing the dance, before Ma Mieyu had even finished drinking the herbal medicine prepared by Wu Ren, he passed away.

  Min An knew that the prescription of herbs by his master was a universal formula, no matter who he met, his master would prescribe it in the same way. The herbs were mostly Tuckahoe, White Poria, and Trichosanthes, which could help patients invigorate their spleen and produce blood, benefit their Qi and generate flesh. Even if they didn't work, they wouldn't suddenly take the patient's life.

  Min An thought to himself, since the herbal medicine was not a problem, his master disliked officials and had never been close to Ma Mieyu's body, let alone jumping out of bed to perform a big god dance that could jump people to death. So Ma Mieyu's death must have some hidden circumstances that couldn't be seen in the light of day. He hastily bid farewell to the officer and walked towards the county government gate.

  The servants of the Ma family were coincidentally blocking the door, clamoring for Wu Ren to pay with his life. Min An originally wanted to slip away through the western gate, but a young woman dressed in extremely luxurious attire suddenly rushed out from behind the servant and shouted: "That little squire is also Wu Ren's apprentice, he's not a good person either, beat him hard for me!"

  A group of servants rushed up with sticks, and Min An didn't want to cause trouble in front of the county government office. He quickly ran away, his feet moving swiftly. His specialty was escaping through alleys, and after dodging around for half a day, he finally managed to shake off the crowd.

  But the Ma family also had a follow-up. The young woman divided half of the people and waited outside the street of the Hangguan, specially waiting for Wang Zhixian to return. When Min An walked out of the alley with his hat on, he couldn't help but meet them again.

  Min An dodged the clubs on the street, his face cold as he shouted: "If you're unreasonable again, I'll fight back!" The servants of various families had tangled with him twice and saw that the clubs almost didn't touch his body. They knew his hand and footwork was stronger than theirs. Just as they were hesitating, the woman took a wooden club and quietly hit Min An on the head from behind.

  Min An hastily dodged, but was still hit on the back, and couldn't help stumbling forward. The strange pain on his back suddenly made him realize that the woman in front of him had kung fu skills. He asked the woman her name, and she coldly sneered: "Hmph! You don't even recognize Miss Lian, and yet you dare to let Wu Ren's old dog into my family's house, taking my father's life!"

  Min An patted the dust off his sleeve and replied, "There is a woman named Liu Linglong who persuades people to drink on Flower Street, could it be you? But I once stayed overnight in her red silk soft tent, and didn't see her beating her husband with a stick like a mother night demon."

  "How dare you say such nonsense! Shameless! Give me a good beating!"

  Linglong Liu's eyebrows were upside down, shouting at the servants to attack Min An. Min An was more than enough to deal with the servants, but he rarely used his fists and feet to hit Linglong Liu. After all, he still pitied women. Linglong Liu seized the opportunity to heavily hit Min An several times, hitting him until he was dizzy and fell forward with his head covered.

  Min An stumbled and fell, falling in front of a pair of dark green satin boots with spiral patterns. He was a discerning person, familiar with the clothing and adornments of the Imperial Court, and knew that these were official boots. At this point, he didn't even care about his back pain, and like a drowning man grasping for a lifeline, he hastily reached out to grab the left foot of the person wearing the official boots.

  The person who was caught stood still and didn't move, and the commotion behind him seemed to have subsided a lot.

  Everything around fell silent.

  Min An looked up and saw a piece of purple brocade with intricate cloud patterns embroidered on the hem. His face brushed against the bottom of the robe, and he caught a whiff of subtle fragrance that was definitely not from ordinary incense. He immediately realized that the person who had been captured was no ordinary official, but someone with an even more impressive background.

  Min An fell to the ground, stirring up some dust that stuck to the hem of his brocade robe. His body still carried the smell of smoke from burning mugwort to repel mosquitoes when he was lodging overnight, mixed with the smell of dust, forming a murky odor that suddenly reached Li Peinan's nostrils.

  Li Peinan furrowed his brow, pulled his left foot back and said in a low voice: "Let go, what kind of behavior is this."

  Min An hastily let go, using his hands to prop himself up and kneel on the ground, bowing deeply. "I've been too presumptuous, please forgive me, Your Highness." He was drenched in sweat, his scholar's hat had gone who-knows-where, and his hair had been mussed by the Ma family members - he looked utterly disheveled.

  Li Peinan didn't even glance at Min An, and walked towards the carriage prepared by the attendants, ready to depart. Wang Huaili carefully waited on the side, lifting his head to reveal a dark face. Min An didn't need to look to guess that Magistrate Li was blaming him for causing such a big commotion, disrupting the noble guest's departure, and tarnishing the reputation of Qingquan County's governance.

  Ma's family servant saw from a distance that the elegantly dressed young master didn't care about Min An at all, while Wang Zhixian seemed to be in a state of great indignation and didn't dare to speak out. Emboldened, he raised his stick and bared his teeth at Min An.

  Min An stole a glance at the faces of the Ma family, and felt an increasing pain in his back. He let out a loud cry, shouting towards Li Peinan's back: "I beg of you, Master, to uphold justice and clear my teacher's name."