Miao Chu

Chapter 186 Unjustly Accused
Friendly reminder: This chapter is also NOT suitable for viewing during mealtimes.

***
After the scope expanded from one person to an entire state, how could the people of Weizhou tolerate it?

It only took a moment for the verbal sparring to escalate into physical pushing and shoving.

The man was shoved and yelled, "People from Weizhou are hitting people!"

He shouted again, "Not only did the people from Weizhou steal our Huazhou's jobs, but they also dared to beat us up! They're taking advantage of us because we have no one else to rely on!"

After shouting, he didn't forget to curse at the middle-aged man: "If you want to talk nonsense, go back to your own riverbed! How dare you come here to bully us Huazhou people! You've taken advantage of us and you're still acting innocent, you bastard!"

For the river affairs in Huazhou, they actually recruited civilians from Weizhou and even offered them subsidies.

These subsidies should rightfully belong to the people of Huazhou if they weren't given to the people of Weizhou—this claim has been circulating frequently in and around the city in recent days.

Even though many people in Huazhou didn't think much of it at first, they became unhappy after being fanned into it.

The pancake is only so big; it was enough for my family to eat. But you, an outsider, insisted on sharing it, so naturally, you ended up taking food from my mouth.

That's bad enough, but they even came to bully people.

Once a matter involves a region, it's no longer a matter of right or wrong.

The people of Huazhou behind them naturally couldn't stand by and watch their own people being bullied, so they all stepped forward to help.

This was a construction site, and it was during the peak of the workday. Everyone was carrying either a hoe or a shovel. Inevitably, a fight broke out. At first, everyone was somewhat cautious, but then someone grabbed a shovel and slashed wildly. Someone opposite was hit squarely, letting out a scream of pain as blood gushed from his arm.

In an instant, everyone seemed to be enraged by the blood, and everyone raised their iron weapons.

Seeing that the fight was about to break out, Han Li had already pushed his way through the crowd to the front. He pushed aside the person in front of him, strode forward, and blocked the shovel that had caused the incident. Then he turned to the patrol team behind him and ordered, "Blow the whistle!"

The others who came with him hesitated for a moment before quickly bringing the iron whistles to their mouths and working together.

The whistles blew incessantly, sharp and piercing, making one's ears ache.

When a group fight breaks out, everyone has to talk and everyone has to curse. Everyone is fighting their own battles, and no one's voice can drown out the voices of others.

But when the whistle blew, it was sharp, urgent, and unbearable, causing everyone in the arena to frown, cover their ears, and shut their mouths. Many people even stopped what they were doing to cover their ears.

Taking advantage of the pause in the whistle, Han Li frowned and shouted loudly at the field, "What are you doing! Are you not going to work or not!"

He patrolled the river seven or eight times a day, and most of the people present recognized his face. Some of the people from Weizhou knew that he was in charge of this job, and the people from Huazhou also knew that the subsidy this time was secured by the head of the Water Conservancy Bureau. When they heard Han Li call, although they did not stop immediately, they all stopped.

Only a man in his early twenties stepped forward, pointed at the middle-aged man opposite, and shouted: "Sir, it's not that we're causing trouble, but this stuttering man from Weizhou is extremely filthy. He defecated in our river!"

Judging from the voice, it was the same person who had started the trouble.

As he spoke, he spat at the person opposite him.

This action was so provocative that the Weizhou civilians, who had already stopped, couldn't help but stir again, with sporadic shouts of anger escaping their lips.
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man, already furious, became even more hesitant in his speech, calling out "Scholar" but unable to utter a coherent sentence for a long time.

When Han Li saw the provocative young man, heard him call him "official," and heard him speak in a way that was full of contempt and disdain, he frowned. He turned to look at the young man and asked, "What is your name? Where are you from?"

The young man was taken aback, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I live in the east of the city, and my name is Li Erjing."

Han Li asked, "Are you new to the job? I've never seen you before?"

Li Erjing was clearly taken aback by the question, but he quickly recovered and said, "Sir, you are joking. There are thousands of people on this river. You are a busy person, how could you possibly have seen them all?"

As soon as he said this, he felt everyone around him looking at him, most of them with strange expressions. He felt a little uneasy, so he just coughed and pointed behind him, saying, "Sir, look, this man's excrement is still here. Are we just going to ignore it? Should we, the people of Huazhou, have to put up with this humiliation?"

Han Li looked in the direction he was pointing and, without avoiding or giving way, went straight forward.

The sun was half-rising at this time, and although it illuminated half the sky, there was still a layer of mist.

Han Li asked someone to bring a torch, then squatted down on the spot, took a branch, and started turning it over.

That puddle was already a bit rotten, and rotten excrement is always more smelly. After he turned it over, the stench became even stronger, and the few people who had followed him forward couldn't help but take a step back.

After observing carefully for a while, Han Li stood up and returned to his original spot. He first asked the middle-aged man his name and background, then asked him when he started work, what he had done last night, what he had done this morning, and whether there were any witnesses.

He asked questions slowly, one by one, breaking them down into detailed sentences, and the person answered them one by one.

Because the questions were asked in such detail, I naturally had less to say in my answer, and I became much less stuttering and more fluent.

This man was named Liu Yang, and everyone who knew him called him Liu Laoba. He was from Bajiao Village, Linghe Town, Weizhou. He was thirty-eight years old this year. He came to work on the very first day that Huazhou started asking for workers and has been living in the shed ever since.

He then explained what time he finished work yesterday, how he ate in the kitchen with more than ten other people in his room, and how he went back to his room, washed his feet and wiped away the sweat. Since it was his early shift today, he went to bed early.

"I relieved myself last night! There are several people in my room who can testify to that!"

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, people came forward to respond.

The man said, "Scholar, Liu Laoba wasn't lying. He really did have a big night last night. Because he went on for so long, I waited for him to join in and urged him several times!"

"Exactly, exactly! Lao Ba took too long, and I almost wet my pants!"—This is someone who didn't hesitate to smear himself to clear his fellow townsman's name.

However, Li Erjing on the other side scoffed and said, "You're just talking to your own people, all you do is spout nonsense. Who knows if you're lying!"

Almost every sentence was a nitpicking remark.

The people of Weizhou were naturally furious and couldn't help but glare at him fiercely. They were about to shout, but the hot-tempered one was pulled back by the people next to him as soon as he opened his mouth, with a pursed lip and a sidelong glance.

—It turned out that Han Li was still asking questions, completely unaffected, with everyone around him listening.

"As soon as the clapper sounded, I got up and went out the door with my roommate."

“The plot we were assigned was ahead of the others. Yesterday, I saw them digging layer by layer, while we were digging piece by piece. I said, since we were passing by, let's go see who's digging faster. So I jumped down to watch. They were waiting for me ahead. But as soon as I went down, a little while later, he yelled at me…”

Han Li listened and asked questions as he went. After he finished asking, he casually asked, "What did the kitchen serve last night?"

Liu Laoba replied that it was millet and bean cake, served with clear bone broth.

Han Li asked, "Are you full? Would you like something else to eat?"

Liu Laoba hurriedly replied, "I'm full! I'm full! The bean cakes are really filling, and the soup is good too. I drank two bowls. Although it was a bit clear and didn't have much meat flavor, the bone broth was quite fragrant!"
Upon asking around, everyone in the room could testify that he hadn't gone out that night.

After asking all the questions, Han Li turned to Li Erjing.

This person is very eloquent, deliberately avoiding the important points and answering everything else, only wanting to gloss over the rest.

Han Li, however, did not listen and asked, "What day did you arrive at the construction site? If you don't remember, I'll ask the foreman. Li Erjing from the east of the city, right?"

Li Erjing dared not be negligent and had no choice but to say, "This is my first time here this morning."

"So you didn't eat in the kitchen last night? What did you eat?"

"Sir, what I eat has nothing to do with him defecating anywhere! Punishing him first is more important, isn't it?"

Before Han Li could speak, a member of the patrol team angrily retorted, "Just answer my questions! Stop with the nonsense!"

Li Erjing hesitated for a moment, and before he could speak, someone behind him suddenly said, "When I went back last night, I think I saw Li Laizi eating at Yuxianlou!"

A low murmur rippled through the crowd, and people began to whisper among themselves.

"When did Li Laizi become able to afford to eat at Yuxianlou?" "Damn, who is this guy? He eats at Yuxianlou, so why is he still here earning a couple of copper coins? He can't even order a single dish after working all day!"

Upon hearing this, Han Li didn't press the matter further, but instead asked, "What did you eat at Yuxianlou last night? How many dishes? How much meat?"

Li Erjing had no choice but to bite the bullet and count out two or three dishes to eat.

Han Li had been serious in his earlier questions, but as he spoke, his tone gradually softened. He even asked a few questions about the seasoning of the dish, which finally put Li Erjing at ease. He then began to answer with a shameless smile.

After asking about everything, Han Li suddenly asked, "Is there no appetizer? How about some wild bracken, daylily, or wood ear mushrooms?"

Li Erjing flattered, "Hey, sir, it's as if you have eyes! There really are two dishes of cold dishes, one of cold daylily salad and the other of vinegar-dressed black fungus!"

"Is it really that simple? No other expensive cold dishes?"

Li Erjing immediately gained confidence and puffed out his chest, saying, "I can't afford anything expensive. I just happened to run into an acquaintance, so I'm just doing him a favor. There are only a few dishes. If you don't believe me, sir, just ask the waiter from yesterday!"

He urged again, "Why ask this? The most important thing is to punish him for defecating in our river first!"

Upon hearing this, Han Li's face hardened, and he addressed the patrol teams on either side, saying, "Take Li Erjing away and send him back to the yamen. Please have the Ministry of Justice arrange for someone to interrogate him carefully."

The two team members were stunned for a moment, but without questioning it, they stepped forward and pinned the person down.

Before Li Erjing could react, his arms were suddenly grabbed and twisted around. He froze, struggling and shouting, "Are you blind, sir?! These people from Weizhou are causing trouble, why are you arresting me? I was clearly doing a good deed, why are the ones who made the mistake not being arrested, but I am?! Just because he's from Weizhou and I'm from Huazhou?!"

Many people rushed forward to speak in their defense.

The man asked, "Scholar Han, what did he do wrong? Why is he being arrested?"

One of them said, "If you're going to arrest someone, shouldn't you arrest them all? Why are you only arresting our side?"

Someone else said, "Isn't that incredibly unfair?"

Han Li ignored him and simply gestured to the two patrolmen, saying, "Bring him here and let him die knowing why."

He led the way, guiding the three people behind him, and then a large crowd that followed, until they reached the pile of rotten excrement.

As soon as the sun came out, the fog dissipated in no time, and the excrement was clearly visible even without a torch.

It really was human excrement; it was already rotten, but Han Li poked at it, making it even more unbearable to look at.

Han Li ordered his men to forcibly bring Li Erjing to the latrine. Before the man could even protest, Han Li said, "You clearly urinated and defecated in your own river, and now you're framing someone else and stirring up trouble. Who else should we arrest if not you?"

After these words were spoken, the place was unusually quiet for a moment, but after only a breath or two, a buzzing conversation began to rise.

Li Erjing looked extremely angry and said, "Fine! Fine! Not only did the official let those Weizhou people go, but he also used me, a Huazhou native, to take the blame! You should have said earlier that you didn't need Huazhou people here..."

Before he could speak, Han Li stepped forward, pointed at the excrement, and said, "Isn't this the daylily and wood ear fungus you ate last night? They came out of your own stomach, and you don't acknowledge them?"

Then, turning to Liu Yang behind him, he said, "He eats mixed bean cakes and bone broth, so he can't possibly conjure daylilies and wood ear mushrooms out of his excrement, can he?"

Li Erjing was about to shout in a high-pitched voice, but upon hearing this, the sound was abruptly stuck in his throat. He looked down, but before he could make out the details, he heard someone behind him pointing and saying, "Oh my, this makes me chuckle! There really is long-rooted daylily in there!"

"So the cold black fungus salad at Yuxianlou is shredded, and it's so thin! No wonder it's so expensive!"

"They charge tens of coins for just a slice of shredded meat; why don't they just rob people!"

"What is Li Erjing doing! Why did he do something wrong and then falsely accuse someone else!"

"No wonder he's a leper, with a bad stomach and poor blood circulation, and he doesn't even grow hair on his head—look at his diarrhea, it's a complete mess!"

The thought of his own excrement being analyzed and discussed in public, even though Li Erjing himself considered himself willing to go all out, made him feel as uncomfortable as if ants were crawling all over his body.

Han Li then pointed to the ground and said, "I just asked you which direction you came from this morning, and you said you came from the southeast. No matter which direction you came from, this place is a dead end. There is a big rock blocking the way in the Jia-Gui area—how did you see someone squatting on the ground here?"

As he spoke, he casually pointed to a few people from Huazhou and Weizhou, saying, "Go and take a look from the direction he came from."

The group left, and soon returned almost running, panting, but they couldn't help but exclaim, "Sure enough, there was a rock blocking the view!"

"And the protruding patch of soil has been blocked too!"

"You can't see him at all! Even with Scholar Han standing so far apart, you still can't see him!"

Someone else angrily shouted, "Li Laizi, you've only been here for one day, what are you doing taking a dump in our own river? What are you trying to achieve?"

Li Erjing stammered and made excuses with various words.

Han Li said coldly, "Take your time to think. Once you've figured it out, tell the officials from the Ministry of Justice!"

Then he ordered his men to take the man away.

After Li Erjing left, the place remained quiet for a while.

Han Li addressed the people of Huazhou, saying, “Fellow elders, I know you all feel that the refugees and the able-bodied men of Weizhou have taken away your livelihoods—but the summer floods are unpredictable, and perhaps next month there will be ten or twenty days of heavy rain upstream, and the river will rush through, leaving no way to avoid it.”

"The sooner we dredge this river and repair the dikes, the more stable things will be when the water comes. If we are really flooded again, there will be no work for a month or two, crops cannot be planted, and everything will be more expensive. Can you be happy about that?"

"Thinking about it this way, we should be very grateful to the brothers and sisters from Weizhou and other places who have come here to suffer and gather in this place, shouldn't we?"

He gathered his strength and spoke loudly.

The people from Huazhou in the arena all lowered their heads, looking speechless, while the people from Weizhou behind them also became embarrassed.

"Hey, scholar, don't talk about that! We've benefited too!"

"That's right. Besides, the river channel has been opened, so if the water flows smoothly, it won't flood our Linghe Town. We're happy about that!"

"It was that Li Laizi who caused the trouble. I don't know why he had such a bad intention. Everyone else was deceived by him!"

"Exactly!"

But the man who had injured someone with the shovel earlier rushed forward and said, "Which brother just shoveled my hand? Before we start work and the kitchen delivers the food, I'll go with you to find the doctor at Zhang's clinic to see if he's injured any bones or tendons!"

He sighed again, "Alas! This is still the same shoddy work! If it really doesn't work, I'll call one of my brothers over to do today's work for you, as an apology!"

The man whose arm was bleeding stepped forward upon hearing this, saying, "It's nothing. We're all on the same side. Let's not let the bad guys stir up trouble and ruin our harmony. It's just a minor injury. I'll go and check on it myself in a bit!"

***
In the river, a group of people were chatting and laughing, while in Huazhou City, Qian Zhongming was also chatting and laughing with Chief Ding.

“Let’s wait for the message from the river management office. Cen Dezhang will definitely not be able to handle it on his own. Just tell him that I’m not feeling well yet and make him anxious for another day.”

"Give a heads-up to the Li family and say that they might be able to take over the kitchen work on the river, and ask them what they would like to offer in return, how much benefit they would provide."

Ding, the head constable, nodded hurriedly, then raised his smiling face, his face full of fat, and praised, "It has to be Kong Mu! What is a 'open scheme'? This is the 'open scheme' sung in the play!"

"The kitchen on the river suddenly had a problem, and then there was a brawl between people from two different states. That's enough to give that Han Wenji a hard time! Kong Mu made a move, and with a gentle pinch, he crushed them to death!"

Even knowing it was deliberate flattery, Qian Zhongming was still pleased by the crude compliment. He snorted and squinted his eyes as he slowly sipped his tea.

As he sipped the tea, he thought to himself, "What excellent tea!"
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