Chapter 196: Small town legend

By daybreak, she had already reached a small county town more than two hundred miles away from the capital.

Lin Qingyue wasn't tired, but the horse needed a rest; otherwise, it would be troublesome if it ran itself to death early.

On the long street of the county town, there were many eateries, with delicacies from both the north and south.

She almost subconsciously stepped into a noodle shop and threw a few dozen coins to the waiter who welcomed her: "Please, help me feed the horse, I want the best forage."

On one wall of the noodle shop hung rows of menu boards, but Lin Qingyue looked around and couldn't decide what to eat.

The waiter had just received the reward and was diligently introducing: "Our shop is best at noodles, soup noodles, fried noodles, mixed noodles, braised noodles, we have everything. The toppings are also complete, chicken, mutton, pork, fish... customer, which one do you want?"

Lin Qingyue was a bit troubled, wanting to taste them all, but not wanting to order too much and waste food.

She couldn't help but think of the last time she ate noodles in a noodle shop with Dongfang Qi; it seemed she was just as troubled then.

In the end, she ordered several bowls, and sure enough, she couldn't finish them, and they were given to the beggars outside the door by Dongfang Qi.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a single beggar outside this shop.

"A bowl of mutton braised noodles." Lin Qingyue ordered a bowl casually.

Eating and eating, she felt it tasted like chewing wax.

Could it be that her taste had become picky during this period? Or was it for some other reason?

Lin Qingyue put down her bowl and chopsticks and sighed.

The horse was still eating grass leisurely, and she waited for a while before setting off again.

In this way, after more than ten days, she arrived in the territory of Feng Kingdom.

Although Prince Ling Zhen had already started to return to his country, their entourage and baggage were slow, and they hadn't left the borders of Qi Guo yet.

However, the crackdown on the Guiyuan Sect was clearly starting to intensify.

Official documents promoting that the evil sect bewitched people's hearts and should not be easily trusted could be seen everywhere.

Beside the notice board where the documents were posted, there were also people specifically reading them aloud.

In this way, it could be considered that the Feng Kingdom court had put its heart into it.

As a country belonging to the Central Plain region, the folk customs of Feng Kingdom were much the same as those of Qi Guo.

The biggest difference was that Feng Kingdom was located on the west side of the Central Plain, bordering several small countries in the Western Regions, and wars of various sizes often occurred.

Therefore, although the land area of Feng Kingdom was far superior to that of Qi Guo, the national treasury was not abundant, and the people were not as wealthy as those in Qi Guo.

Thus, marriage alliances became the most cost-effective appeasement policy. Therefore, the tragedy of Princess Ling Xue was born from this.

It's just a pity that once some paths are taken wrongly, there is no chance to turn back.

Lin Qingyue rode without stopping, and after walking for a few more days, she arrived at Shu'an Xian on the border of Feng Kingdom.

Shu'an Xian, although a border town, could pass through three countries: Guifang Kingdom, Wan Guo, and Rong Kingdom, so there were many merchants coming and going, and the small county town was extremely prosperous.

It was just that when Lin Qingyue, dressed in black and wearing a black veil, stood under the archway at the entrance of the county town, she couldn't help but frown.

Archways were not uncommon, and their functions were varied, such as: merit archways, memorial archways, identification archways, decorative archways, etc.

The archway at the entrance of Shu'an Xian was engraved with the two characters "Shu'an", and there were some inscriptions on both sides. It was clear that it belonged to the identification type of archway, serving as a boundary marker.

The strange thing was that the shape of the archway was very peculiar, a row of six, each one shorter than the other. Looking from below, one didn't feel anything, but if one looked down from high altitude, it looked like an open coffin mouth. Plus, six was an extremely yin number.

Therefore, Lin Qingyue saw at a glance that this was not a simple boundary marker, but a feng shui array.

People coming and going, passing through here, were like being swallowed by a coffin, and their luck was taken away unknowingly.

Things like luck were invisible and intangible. But in the dark, they could affect many things.

Lin Qingyue stood under the archway, lifted the black veil in front of her, and chuckled: "Bullying the people for their ignorance and stealing luck? Truly a good scheme!"

She lifted her foot and walked under the archway.

Others couldn't see it, but she could feel the changes in the surrounding aura with every step she took.

The first, the second, the third... When she walked under the sixth boundary marker, her fingers turned quickly and quickly formed a talisman, and with a push of her plain hand, the golden talisman fell onto the pillar of the last archway.

In this way, not only was this feng shui bureau broken, but it could also produce the opposite effect. The more people passed under the archway from now on, the more the person behind the scenes would be backlashed.

She didn't care who that person was or what their purpose was, anyway, she liked to treat others with their own way.

Clapping her hands, she walked out from under the last archway with elegant steps. The carriage was driverless, but followed her obediently.

Arriving in the county town, she found a restaurant to eat.

The waiter came to greet her: "Miss, do you want to stay at the inn? There are many people coming and going in the county, if it's any later, the guest rooms will be full. Better book one early."

Lin Qingyue said: "I still have to hurry after eating, I won't stay at the inn."

Seeing that she was a young girl without a companion, the waiter kindly said:

"In another hour or so, it will be dark. Once you leave Shu'an Xian, you are out of the territory of Feng Kingdom, and the road ahead is mountainous and wild, and it will take a whole day of mountain road to find human habitation. Therefore, guests passing through here usually stay in the county town for one night. It will be easier to walk tomorrow morning."

Lin Qingyue took out the map she bought earlier, unfolded it, and pointed: "According to the map, going west from Shu'an along this road, there is a Ping'an Town in an hour or so, and passing through this small town, you can go straight to Guifang Kingdom."

The waiter glanced at the map and said: "This road is now closed, you can't walk it."

He pointed to another road and said: "If you want to go to Guifang Kingdom, it's better to take this mountain road, take the route through Wan Guo, and then turn to Guifang Kingdom. Although it adds two days of travel, it's safer."

Lin Qingyue was puzzled: "Why is the road closed for no reason? It's really troublesome to go around for two more days and still be a mountain road."

The waiter explained: "Miss looks like someone who has come here for the first time and doesn't know the inside story. That small town is called Ping'an, but it's not peaceful at all."

"How do you explain that? Why don't you tell me in detail."

"Ping'an Town originally belonged to Long Xian in Guifang Kingdom, and it was considered prosperous, with many travelers from all over the world..."

However, it was 11 years ago. In Ping'an Town, a great monster suddenly appeared.

That monster was truly cunning, putting on a human skin to disguise itself as an ordinary person, and I don't know what kind of bewitching trick it used, but it actually became the county magistrate of Long Xian.

That monster was vicious and greedy, and after becoming the county magistrate, it stirred up trouble locally, causing a flood.

That year, the entire county of Long Xian was flooded. Even our Wu'an was affected, and the water rose to our ankles. Fortunately, our terrain was higher, and the water receded in two days.

But Long Xian was miserable, with farmland flooded, houses collapsed, and the people had nothing to eat or drink, and were about to starve to death.

The prefecture saw that the disaster was serious and applied for disaster relief grain and funds from the court.

But the hateful thing was that the money and millet allocated all flowed into the pocket of the monster magistrate as soon as they reached the county, and the people were only given rice mixed with sand... ===== CHAPTER 197 =====