Chapter 139: Incognito Visit, Straight to He Wan County

The nearby refugees quickly added:

"The commoners originally were all Yu Guo citizens, fearing that if they spoke ill of the Daxuan officials in front of His Majesty, it would displease His Majesty."

"So… so I didn't dare to say it just now."

"Please forgive us, Your Majesty…"

Although Jinli Fairy stood beside them as a guarantor, everyone still felt somewhat uneasy in their hearts.

Xiao Qidi's face darkened instantly, he pressed his lips together, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Even though the refugees did not lift their heads to look at him, they still felt a bone‑chilling cold at that moment, and they all fell to the ground trembling, not daring to breathe.

"There's still this kind of thing?" Ning Jinli furrowed her brows.

The refugees panicked even more instantly.

It's over, even the Fairy doesn't believe it—what can we do?

Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli exchanged a glance, then said to the crowd: "Everyone, rise. I'm not angry with you; I just didn't expect the magistrate of He Wan County to make you feel even more terrifying than nomadic tribespeople. Tell me, what exactly is going on?"

For a moment, no one dared to get up.

Ning Jinli walked straight up to them and helped each one up, saying, "Don't worry, he's not that petty. Speak freely. If that county magistrate really has problems, I won't let him off, let alone anyone else."

Ning Jinli's actions and words gave everyone a reassuring pill.

Only then did the people regain their courage and relate what they knew.

However, they had not experienced it themselves; they only heard that the He Wan County magistrate treasures money as life, plucking profit like pulling feathers from a passing goose—even passers‑by from elsewhere must pay if they have money, or sell their children if they have none; the magistrate also threatens, beats, tortures, and imprisons people, with countless methods that make life worse than death, squeezing every last bit of profit from anyone.

Under such circumstances, for these people who are already so poor they can't even afford a meal, falling into the hands of the He Wan County magistrate would be unimaginably miserable.

They have reached the end of the road; they only want to survive, but they do not wish for a life worse than death.

"Hmm, I understand," Xiao Qidi waved his hand, "You may retreat now."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the people replied, backing away as they left.

"Jinli, what do you think the likelihood is of what they said?" Xiao Qidi asked.

Ning Jinli said: "Judging by how frightened they just looked, it doesn't seem like random fabrication, but they only heard it secondhand, so we cannot rule out errors in the rumor‑mill; the only way is to conduct an on‑site investigation."

Xiao Qidi gave a slight nod and fell into thought.

Ning Jinli leaned close to him and proposed: "I suggest you conceal your identity and personally go to He Wan County to get a feel for the place. This is called—incognito visit, to gauge the people's sentiments."

"All right," Xiao Qidi stood up, "I will set out for He Wan County today."

Ning Jinli linked her arm through his and said, "I want to go too!"

"No." Xiao Qidi refused outright without even thinking.

Ning Jinli wrinkled her nose and asked, "Why not?"

Xiao Qidi said gently: "The entire Xi Tun Guan region, beyond this Lin Xian Cheng, remains a vast barren waste; it takes several days of travel to reach He Wan County, and the environment is even worse than that of Lin Xian Village a few months ago—I don't want you to suffer alongside me."

Ning Jinli grinned broadly and said, "If we're talking about suffering, could anything compare to my time at Zhuiyingjian? I got through that, so what's there I can't endure? Besides, I'm no longer the weak girl you first met."

"Moreover…" Ning Jinli blinked her eyes full of feeling, "Don't you want me to stay by your side?"

These words were not only well‑reasoned; especially the last sentence, they struck a chord in Xiao Qidi's heart.

After a moment's thought, he said: "Then let's set out early tomorrow morning; you need to let your family know in advance."

Ning Jinli chuckled and said, "Okay, okay, okay, I got it."

The next morning.

Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi both dressed in ordinary commoners' clothes, each mounted a horse, carried necessary dry rations and water as well as self‑defense gear, and set off together.

Inside Lin Xian Cheng the landscape was lush and green, but once they stepped out of the city less than half a li away, the view was nothing but cracked yellow earth, as if they had entered another world.

Even a casual gust could kick up clouds of yellow sand.

The farther they went, the more scattered white bone remains they could see.

Some were animal remains, some human.

Apart from Ning Jinli, Xiao Qidi, and the two horses they rode, no living creature was to be seen.

Their silhouettes soon vanished into the endless yellow sands…

……

Several days later, at noon, the two arrived near He Wan County.

Even though they had initially brought enough food and water, they now looked as if they had been wandering in a desert wasteland for several months.

They were filthy all over, with dusty faces and eyes full of fatigue.

Not only had both of them grown thin, but even their horses were almost reduced to skin and bone.

There was still a stretch to go before reaching the county's checkpoint, and the surroundings were gradually no longer the desolate, lifeless scenery that seemed boundless a few days earlier.

"Good heavens…" Ning Jinli lay weakly on the horse's back, her cracked lips slightly parted, "At last we've made it out; if I didn't see even a hint of vegetation, I'd start hallucinating—everything I look at now seems filtered through a layer of yellow sand."

Xiao Qidi's eyes filled with pity, "There's a pavilion ahead; let's rest there for a while."

Ning Jinli lifted her eyelids, glanced, then swayed down from her horse, "All right, let's rest a bit."

Xiao Qidi also dismounted, took the reins of Ning Jinli's horse from her hand, led it to a small stream not far from the pavilion, and let the two horses drink some water and nibble fresh grass.

Ning Jinli, dizzy and disoriented, dragged her weary body toward the pavilion.

At this moment the sun was blazing, yet some passers‑by preferred to sit on the ground under the scorching sun to rest, or to wash their faces and drink water by the stream, and no one entered the pavilion.

It wasn't because the pavilion was overcrowded and impossible to enter; on the contrary, a glance showed it was completely empty.

"Excuse me, sir," Xiao Qidi asked an old farmer nearby, "Why don't you go into the pavilion to escape the sun?"

The old farmer, tugging at his ragged collar to fan himself, sized up Xiao Qidi and said, "Young man, you're from out of these parts, aren't you? You've never been here before, have you?"

Xiao Qidi bowed his hands and said, "Indeed, please instruct me, sir."

"Hehe," the old farmer chuckled, "I don't dare to give instruction; you look like you don't have much money either. Since you're not from He Wan County, I advise you to go back where you came from—don't even think about entering the county. Oh, and by the way, you'd better not go into that pavilion over there, or else—"

"Ah!" the old farmer hadn't finished speaking when a sudden cry of alarm from Ning Jinli rang out from the pavilion.

Xiao Qidi's face changed abruptly, and he lunged forward.

The old farmer hurriedly warned, "You must not offend the people inside, and don't go into the pavilion, or they'll charge you extra..."

Xiao Qidi leapt far away in an instant, didn't hear the old farmer's warning clearly, and rushed into the pavilion like an arrow from a bow.

Then he saw a fat and a thin county officer inside; the thin officer held a knife to Ning Jinli's neck, while the fat one was about to pull at the bundle on her back.

"Stop!" Xiao Qidi shouted.

Xiao Qidi wasn't worried that these two would harm Ning Jinli; he simply couldn't bear to see her treated this way.

Moreover, the situation was strange at the moment; before figuring out what was going on, it was inadvisable for him to act rashly.

"Yo, another one." The fat county officer laughed, his eyes narrowing into slits, "Kid, are you with this girl?"

"That's right," Xiao Qidi said with a cold expression, "You're government officials, yet you're robbing in broad daylight? Her bundle contains nothing of value; if you want something, come at me."

"What robbery! Watch your mouth, kid!" The thin county officer moved the knife to Xiao Qidi's neck.

"They're definitely not robbing," Ning Jinli said, "I had just entered the pavilion and hadn't even sat down when these two jumped out from the nearby bushes, startling me. Then they told me the county office was collecting a rest tax, I said I had no money, so they wanted to search me."

"A rest tax?" Xiao Qidi looked bewildered, "What kind of tax is that? I've never heard of it."

The fat county officer loosened Ning Jinli's bundle and said with a smile, "That's because you're inexperienced; now you know. Kid, cut the chatter—we're just doing our duty. As long as you pay the tax obediently, you can rest here, and we don't want to waste time either."

Xiao Qidi now understood why other passersby avoided coming in to rest.

It turned out that two county officers were hiding here, demanding money from anyone who entered.

"How much?" Xiao Qidi asked.

The fat county officer held out his hand, "Five wen."

"Holy crap!" Ning Jinli blurted, "Five wen? We just came in to sit awhile—are you charging a parking fee?"

Ning Jinli had roughly calculated before that the value of one wen here was about the same as a modern unit of currency.

So when the fat county officer said they wanted five wen, she was utterly shocked.

"You surely aren't completely out of five wen, are you?" the fat county officer sized them up, "If you don't have it, you can offer something worth five wen instead—I think your clothes are decent enough; take them off and give them to us. If you refuse to cooperate, well, sorry, off to jail you go!"

Xiao Qidi's eyes narrowed slightly, "I've really broadened my horizons—it seems the rumors I heard aren't mistaken. Fine, I'll give it to you."

In order to figure out everything going on here, he couldn't startle the snake, so for now he still had to comply.

After he paid the five wen, the fat county officer tucked it away and then extended his hand again.

"Hey! Didn't I just give it to you? What more do you want?" Ning Jinli frowned.

The fat county officer chuckled, "Five wen per person—you two, so you still owe another five wen."

"You..." Ning Jinli froze, then snapped, "Black-hearted bastard!"

"What did you say?!" the thin county officer glared, pointing his knife at Ning Jinli again.

The fat county officer immediately said, "Still dare to insult an official? Fine! Two hundred wen!"

"Your mother—" Ning Jinli, furious, opened her mouth to curse again, but Xiao Qidi quickly covered her mouth.

Ning Jinli also realized that she really couldn't make a scene now, or it would hinder her efforts to understand the local situation, so even if she was angry, she held back.

"Gentlemen, how much is this small piece of silver worth?" Xiao Qidi asked, producing a fragment of silver.

The two county officers' eyes instantly lit up.

"I didn't notice before," the fat county officer chuckled, "You're pretty well-off, kid—this silver fragment is worth... about three hundred wen."

Ning Jinli almost wanted to retort again.

Three hundred wen?

Even a blind person could see that this silver fragment is worth at least five hundred wen.

"Fine, sir, if you say it's three hundred wen, then it's three hundred wen," Xiao Qidi handed over the silver, "Can we rest here now?"

"Sure, sure, of course!" The fat county officer reached out to take it.

Xiao Qidi suddenly pulled back his hand, "May I ask you a few things? We've just arrived and don't know the rules."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." The fat county officer eyed the silver and said in one breath, "Anywhere the government builds, you should stay as far away as possible; otherwise, just touching or brushing against it incurs a tax. Seeing that you're somewhat sensible, kid, I'll give you a travel pass so you can pass through checkpoints more easily."

"Thanks for the advice." Xiao Qidi handed over the silver.

The fat county officer bit the silver to test its authenticity, then had the thin county officer hand Xiao Qidi a small bamboo stick with a tiny copper piece embedded.

"Just a reminder," the fat county officer pursed his lips, "don't break this bamboo stick, or you'll have to pay compensation."

"Yes, I'll remember." Xiao Qidi slipped the bamboo stick into his lapel.

Seeing that the dues had been paid, Ning Jinli and Xiao Qidi prepared to sit on the stone bench for a rest, but before their backsides even touched it, the two county officers brandished their knives and shouted:

"Scram! Scram! Scram!"

"Get lost! Don't hog the space here!"

The two of them were bewildered again.

Ning Jinli, suppressing her anger, asked, "Didn't we just pay the tax? Why won't you let us rest?"

The fat county officer chuckled, "How are we not letting you rest? You've already been in this pavilion; if you stay longer, we'll have to charge you again."

Ning Jinli clutched her chest, nearly unable to catch her breath.

"Forget it, we're leaving." She turned and stepped out of the pavilion, her small face, already weathered by wind and sun, now grew even darker.

Xiao Qidi gave the two county officers a meaningful look, "One last question: are these so-called taxes and fines really not something you just made up yourselves?"

"You outsider, you're really talkative!" the fat county officer grew impatient, "I've already taught you plenty of rules, and you still doubt me? If you don't believe me, go ask someone else!"

Xiao Qidi said no more and also left the pavilion.

"This time I've really opened my eyes," Ning Jinli said quietly, "When I was a kid traveling with my parents, even those shady tourist spots never ripped me off like this."

Xiao Qidi said softly, "We haven't even entered the county yet, and this tiny official road pavilion is already this outrageous; conditions inside the county will only shock us further—I want to see what kind of official the county magistrate is."

"Thanks to having sheltered those Yu Guo refugees earlier, and thanks to our coming here in person," Ning Jinli said solemnly, "Once we've clarified the situation, you must definitely set things right."

Xiao Qidi's eyes flashed with killing intent, "He Wan County really deserves to have a bunch of people lose their heads."

The two of them tidied up briefly, then led their horses onward.

After a few li, the checkpoint set up on the entry‑exit official road came into view.

Beside the checkpoint, several county officers stood guard, inspecting those coming and going.

When it was their turn to be inspected, Xiao Qidi produced the bamboo slip he had just gotten in the pavilion and said that he and the woman beside him were together.

"Oh, you two are together," the county officer glanced at the horses behind the two, "That means these two horses aren't with you, then? Hey, take them away, take them away!"