Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 420 I wish you all the best

The man's condition gradually stabilized and he regained consciousness at daybreak.

Meng Changqing was not in a hurry to return to Liangzhou. She could see that this man had fallen into such a state and there must be something hidden behind him. Since she had already helped him, she had to find out his identity.

As he looked at the porridge in front of him, he bowed to everyone beside the bed and expressed his gratitude, "I, Hong Sifang, will repay you all for your kindness even if I work like a slave in my next life."

"Don't say that." The old man in the village sat down beside the bed. "Do you feel better now?"

"Much better." Hong Sifang took the porridge, tears in his eyes and choked up, "I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."

"Thanks to this doctor." The old man pointed at Meng Changqing, "You were burning hot before, and it looked dangerous. Thanks to this doctor who gave you medicine, you woke up."

At this time, although the sky outside was gradually getting brighter, the house was still dim, and Hong Sifang could only see the rough outlines of the people in the house.

Hong Sifang lifted the quilt and kowtowed in the direction of Meng Changqing, "Thank you for saving my life. If I can come back alive, this life will be yours."

The person who heard this frowned, and it was obvious that he was preparing to do something that could easily cost him his life.

"Young man," the old man asked, "where are you from and what are you going to do?"

Hong Sifang lowered his head, and the words came to his throat several times, but he swallowed them back.

The host advised: "If you have any difficulties, tell us so that we can help you find a solution."

Hong Sifang's body was shaking, perhaps because of the pain or because of the emotional shock.

"I will avenge the murder of my father and mother no matter what." Hong Sifang's voice was full of determination.

"What? Your parents were killed?" The host also became excited, "Why didn't you report it to the police?"

Hong Sifang said in a miserable voice, "If reporting to the police had worked, my parents wouldn't have died."

Meng Changqing then asked, "Where do you live? Why were your family members killed?"

"Yes." The old man followed up, "Why were your family members killed?"

Hong Sifang was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke, "My family originally lived in Yangmen County in Liangzhou. For many years, there have been bandits blocking the road and robbing us, but it only happened on the country roads. For people like me who live in the county town and run a small shop and sell groceries, as long as we pay enough money to the escort agency, we will not be affected too much. But last year, I don't know what happened, a group of bandits actually went straight into the county town and occupied my house.

They occupied my house and asked us to serve them." When Hong Sifang said this, his eyes were red and tears fell uncontrollably, "They don't treat us as human beings and beat us up at any time.

I took advantage of their carelessness and escaped to report to the police. But who would have thought that our county magistrate ignored me and ordered his lackeys to send me back to the bandits.

Only then did I realize that they were in collusion.

My parents couldn't stand their torture and beatings and passed away. I fought with them several times but was no match for them.

They kept me alive just to torture me."

The people beside the bed all felt sorry for his plight, but were also curious, "Then how did you get out?"

"I didn't run away." Hong Sifang said, "It was that group of people who disappeared for some reason."

These words were puzzling, but Meng Changqing understood instantly. She knew who those people were.

Last October, she led people to encircle and suppress Xianshan. The leader who was hacked to death by her once said that some of their people lived in the county seat of Yangmen County.

Unexpectedly, the mistake she made because of personal relationships would come back to haunt her again.

Meng Changqing was in mixed emotions. "Why did he disappear?" the host asked.

"I don't know. I just know that one day they left and never came back."

"Poor guy." The old man sighed, "What a poor guy."

Hong Sifang said, "As long as I am still alive, I will avenge our entire family."

"How are you going to deal with those robbers by yourself?"

Meng Changqing moved his feet uneasily a few times, and then he heard Hong Sifang say, "I want to go to the capital to file a complaint! I want the emperor to know that the officials he keeps are bandits!"

One of the old man's sons asked, "The county magistrate in your place is colluding with bandits, you can report it to the state government."

The light from outside came in through the window and shone on Hong Sifang's face. Meng Changqing saw that his eyes were red and his body was tense. He gritted his teeth and said, "I've been there! I've beaten the drums and been beaten by him. All the officials in the world are one family. There is no good official in the world!"

Meng Changqing lowered his eyes, not daring to look at him.

"Your prefecture master doesn't care?" The old man sighed, "Liangzhou is really dangerous."

The host remembered the identities of Meng Changqing and his group, and turned to Bafang and said, "I think you should be careful. There is no business that you can't do. After finishing the business at hand, leave Liangzhou."

Bafang laughed dryly twice, "Thank you for your kindness, Master. We will leave after completing our mission."

"Are you going to Liangzhou?" Hong Sifang became alert.

"Businessman, you have to go since you were called by the county government. We are also very worried about the situation in Liangzhou after hearing what you said." Meng Changqing said this and tried to divert the other party's attention. "You said you wanted to go to the capital, do you have a pass with you?"

"Who among them doesn't know what I'm thinking? Who dares to open the way for me?"

"Without a pass, how are you going to pass the checkpoints along the way?" Meng Changqing asked.

Bafang also asked, "That's right. How did you get through Liangzhou Pass without a pass?"

"I was lucky. I met a hunter who led me out of the mountain path."

Everyone looked at Meng Changqing, then quietly looked at Chu Mufeng's expression.

Meng Changqing asked again, "It's over a thousand miles from here to the capital, do you have enough money?"

Hong Sifang shook his head. "It doesn't matter. If I'm hungry, I can eat leaves and roots. If I'm thirsty, there's river water. I just want to stay alive until I get to the capital."

If a soldier is angry, two people will be killed and blood will flow for five steps.

The old man advised Hong Sifang, "Now that those people have left, why don't you stay at home and live a down-to-earth life? We ordinary people want to sue the officials, but how can we win..."

Meng Changqing didn't listen to the rest of the words, she knew Hong Sifang was determined.

Meng Changqing returned to the kitchen, untied the package on her body, leaned over the stove and wrote a fake travel permit, stamped it with her seal as the magistrate of Beishan County, and stuffed it into a small cloth bag along with a ten-liang silver note.

Before leaving, Meng Changqing handed the small cloth bag to Hong Sifang and said, "This is a gift from me. You don't have to open it. If you are caught by the soldiers guarding the border, just say you are going to visit relatives in the capital and hand over this bag. Maybe it will keep you safe."

Hong Sifang felt strange and looked at the bag in his hand with some hesitation, "What is this?"

Meng Changqing did not explain, just said "I wish you all the best" and left the village.