“Brother Gu, you promised me earlier that when we reached Yicheng, you’d let me enter the city freely.”
Gu Mang pondered for a moment before taking out the travel permit and handing it to her.
“But let me be clear – if you don’t return before dark, it will be treated as an escape!”
“Got it!”
Shang Yueli quickly agreed.
She changed out of her prisoner uniform into ordinary clothes and hurried to the city gate.
The queue to enter the city was quite long. After waiting just a short while, she saw Su Moli approaching from the same direction.
Su Moli found her familiar and narrowed her eyes.
“I recognize you! You were the one at the post station yesterday!”
“Aren’t you a prisoner? What are you doing here, and why have you changed clothes?”
She dramatically covered her mouth in feigned shock: “Oh! Did you escape?”
The people waiting in line immediately turned to look.
Shang Yueli: “.”
“Maybe you should speak a little louder?”
Su Moli clicked her tongue and suddenly moved closer intimately. “Don’t worry, sister, I won’t tell anyone you escaped~”
Shang Yueli glanced at her, mentally cursing for a full year’s worth.
She put on a professional fake smile and mimicked Su Moli’s tone: “Darling, no one will think you’re mute if you don’t speak~”
Su Moli suddenly widened her eyes and shouted: “How do you know that phrase? Are you also a transmigrator?”
The inspecting officer ahead had enough of Su Moli’s loud voice and snapped impatiently: “Stop making noise! Either enter the city or get lost!”
“Sorry, officer, it won’t happen again.”
After saying this, she leaned close to Shang Yueli and whispered tentatively: “Odd changes to even?”
Shang Yueli: “If you’re sick, go see a doctor.”
“You don’t know this one?”
Su Moli, unwilling to give up, continued: “Before my bed, the moon shines bright!”
Shang Yueli looked up at the overcast sky, then turned to survey the desolate surroundings.
She pretended not to understand: “There’s no moon or well here, miss. Are you out of your mind?”
The excitement in Su Moli’s eyes instantly transformed into three parts disdain, three parts indifference, and four parts nonchalance.
She breathed a long sigh of relief. “Just as I thought. How could someone like you – with your antiquated thinking, only knowing how to cling to men – possibly be a transmigrator like me.”
Shang Yueli suddenly laughed, amused by her foolishness.
Just because she transmigrated and knew the plot, did that give her the right to look down on everyone from her high horse?
She looked forward to seeing what expression Su Moli would make when dragged down from the pedestal she built for herself.
“Miss Su, instead of spending time reciting poetry, you should think more about how you’re going to enter the city later.”
In the novel, although Su Moli got the chance to enter the city, she didn’t have money for the entry fee. If not for the male lead paying for her, Su Moli wouldn’t have been able to enter Yicheng at all.
Shang Yueli took out the money and travel permit she had prepared in advance and handed them to the officer. She was cleared to enter shortly after.
Before going in, she looked back at Su Moli, who was stopped outside the city, and triumphantly flipped her the middle finger.
She teased: “Dear sister, you’re not some escaped prisoner, are you? Otherwise, how could you not even have five coppers for the entry fee~”
After saying this, she tossed her hair and turned to leave, leaving Su Moli stomping in anger behind her.
……
Shang Yueli entered Yicheng, which was exactly as described in the novel – filled with beggars and refugees everywhere.
The poor couldn’t eat their fill or stay warm, while the officials partied every night, drinking like water.
“Miss, please have mercy, my son is starving to death!”
“I beg you, spare some coins!”
Shang Yueli lowered her gaze.
A gaunt woman knelt on the ground, clutching a child of about five or six in her arms.
Her skin was sallow, cheeks sunken, as if she hadn’t eaten a full meal in ages.
Shang Yueli couldn’t bear the sight, but when she looked up, she realized the entire city of Yicheng was crowded with such people!
“Please, I beg you.”
“Save me.”
“Mother, I’m so hungry…”
“Waaah…”
Cries and wails came from all directions, enveloping Shang Yueli without leaving a single gap.
“Hey, instead of wasting time crying here and begging others for money, why don’t you find ways to work and earn it yourselves!”
Su Moli had followed unnoticed and, upon seeing the “wretched scene,” showed not an ounce of compassion. Instead, she spoke arrogantly from her high horse.
“Do you think we want this?”
“If that corrupt official hadn’t withheld the imperial grain reserves, we wouldn’t be in this state!”
Su Moli remained unmoved. “Then take your case to the Emperor. What’s the use of crying here?”
“With consecutive years of famine and officials protecting each other, we can’t find work, we can’t save our parents, we can’t feed our children. What means do we have to appeal?”
Shang Yueli recalled that in the novel, the male and female leads jointly resolved Yicheng’s famine. Perhaps Su Moli actually had something useful in that little brain of hers?
“Since you say that, do you have a method?” she asked.
“Hmph, as for methods, I do have one. It just depends on whether you’re willing to cooperate.”
Someone urgently asked, “Tell us, what is it?”
Su Moli chuckled lightly. “It’s simple. Just unite and go together to that greedy official’s place. Block his main gate, and if that doesn’t work, break in and take all the valuable things. At least that should solve your basic needs.”
“But there are guards there. It’s not like we haven’t tried before.”
“What are you afraid of? You’re going to starve to death anyway. Better to fight your way through. Besides, if things really escalate, you’re in the right. The Emperor won’t punish you.”
The more Shang Yueli listened, the more wrong it felt. In this era where imperial authority was supreme, how could such actions be tolerated?
She grabbed Su Moli’s arm. “Miss Su, if they really do this, they’ll just go from being victims to becoming perpetrators. The court won’t let these people off!”
Su Moli shook off her hand and faced the crowd.
“If you follow my plan, you might have a chance at survival. Otherwise, you can only wait here to die!”
Her impassioned speech stirred the people’s anger.
No matter how much Shang Yueli tried to persuade her, Su Moli wouldn’t listen. She dramatically led the crowd to blockade the County Magistrate’s Mansion.
Watching them leave, Shang Yueli pondered for a moment and decided to strike first.
She inquired about the location of the County Magistrate’s Mansion, bypassed the guards at the entrance, and directly climbed in through a window.
“Hahaha, whose little treasure is this?”
“It’s mine, darling. Mwah~”
A man sat at a desk, holding a jade ruyi scepter with a smug, cunning smile.
Shang Yueli drew a dagger from her space, quietly approached, and pressed it against his neck.
The jade ruyi fell to the ground, shattering to pieces.
Zhang Zhen had no time to mourn his treasure, instinctively holding his breath as he slowly turned his head.
“Are you Yicheng’s County Magistrate, Zhang Zhen?”
“How dare you!”
Zhang Zhen wanted to escape, but as soon as he moved, crimson liquid trickled down his neck.
Shang Yueli moved the blade slightly away, afraid she might accidentally kill the man.
“Where did you hide the relief grain allocated by the imperial court?” she asked.
“In… in the secret chamber!”
“Take me there.”
Shang Yueli withdrew the dagger and hauled him to his feet.
Zhang Zhen stumbled toward the bookshelf, trembling as he rotated a scroll.
The next moment, a rumbling sound echoed through the room as the bookshelf split open to both sides, revealing a hidden passage leading underground.
Shang Yueli followed him down.
The basement, spanning hundreds of square meters, was completely filled with stockpiled grain!
She turned toward a concealed door nearby and gestured with her chin. “Open it.”
Zhang Zhen glanced at her, pulled out a key, then suddenly twisted around to snatch the dagger from Shang Yueli’s hand…