Chapter 716: Released from Prison

Cai Cheng ran out of the county office with an excited face, heading straight for the Tudimiao to release Wang Xiaojing's family.

The government office runners guarding the place had only just woken up not long ago; wearing blank expressions, they followed behind Cai Cheng, opened the fence, and dragged the five members of the Wang family out of the Tudimiao.

Cai Cheng had come to release the prisoners himself, so the government office runners didn't think anything was wrong, but after letting the people go they vaguely felt something was off, and immediately sent someone to notify Advisor Wu.

Cai Cheng, still caught up in his excitement, grabbed Old Man Wang's arm and said: "Come, let's go see Wang Xiaojing together. You have to tell him he can't cause any more trouble."

Old Man Wang's face went pale; thinking they were being taken to threaten Wang Xiaojing, he was about to refuse when he caught sight of someone standing at the corner of the street.

He looked closely. Because his eyes were farsighted, the person was extremely far away, yet he saw them very clearly—it was Pan Yun.

Pan Yun's voice sounded in his ear: "Agree to him, leave first. I'll be waiting for you outside the city."

Old Man Wang immediately stopped struggling.

The other members of the Wang family also heard Pan Yun's words. They looked around in panic and realized only they could hear Pan Yun's voice; the other government office runners, including the county magistrate, showed no reaction.

The Wang family silently agreed to Cai Cheng, then followed two government office runners toward the city gate.

The government office runners vaguely felt today's county magistrate was a bit strange, so they deliberately slowed their pace.

The two of them even huddled together in front of the Wang family and whispered: "Something just feels off. There's not even a written order."

"The county magistrate came to release them himself, so of course there's no need for a written order or official document, right?"

These few were all newly recruited government office runners. The moment they took office they were thrown to the Tudimiao to guard prisoners. Only in the last two days had they taken turns going out to relieve the disaster victims, and they had never learned the proper procedures for handling cases in the government office.

But they knew that when in doubt, find Advisor Wu.

The thought had barely flashed through their minds when a pair of shoes appeared in front of them. The two looked up and found themselves face-to-face with Pan Yun, dressed in a Daoist robe and beaming with smiles.

The two government office runners immediately put on smiling faces, warm and friendly: "Daoist Priest Pan, why are you up so early too?"

Pan Yun smiled and said: "Today a batch of medicinal herbs was delivered. I plan to invite the masters from several Daoist temples and monasteries to hold a free clinic together with Mount Sanqing, to give the folks who've come to collect relief grain a checkup.

After a great flood, plagues easily break out. Especially since the folks have gone hungry for a while, their bodies are weak—they need to be extra careful."

The two government office runners gazed at Pan Yun with starry eyes: "Daoist Priest Pan, you're truly kind."

"The whole of Yushan County is relying on you to hold things together."

Pan Yun said with a slight smile: "You should go back and tell your families to line up early by the county office. They can be seen first, and they can choose to have my senior fellow disciple examine them."

The two government office runners were greatly tempted, but they looked at the five members of the Wang family and didn't move.

Pan Yun said gently: "The imperial inspector is about to arrive. The imperial court wants to grant amnesty to the rebels. Since the county magistrate has chosen to release them, you can see he wants to settle this matter before the inspector arrives. Leave them to me—I'll take them out of the city."

The two government office runners hung their heads, their hearts a tangle of complicated feelings. Looking at the Wang family, thin as bamboo poles and utterly wretched, they couldn't bring themselves to say anything resentful. They could only call out past Pan Yun to Old Man Wang: "Please tell Wang Xiaojing that in the future he and Song Dalin had better be careful. If they cause trouble and fall into our hands again, I will definitely avenge my second uncle!"

The other said: "I'll avenge my brother!"

Old Man Wang's face went pale. He bowed deeply to the two government office runners, and the other members of the Wang family hurriedly bowed as well.

The two government office runners turned aside, their faces sullen, but they didn't stop Pan Yun from taking the people away.

They only hated Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing—no, they didn't even hate them that much.

In their hearts they both understood: they had been pushed to the point of having no choice, while their uncle and elder brother had only been doing their duty.

One government office runner said through gritted teeth: "Blame whoever you want, the county magistrate is the most hateful of all!"

"Why did Magistrate Ming get promoted and leave? If only he could have been the county magistrate of our Yushan County forever."

"Sigh—"

They found Cai Cheng so annoying that they felt that bit of strangeness wasn't worth keeping in mind.

He had never been a normal person to begin with; whatever Cai Cheng did, they wouldn't find it strange.

So the two of them didn't rush back to report. They simply turned around, went home first to tell their families about the free clinic, and only then returned to the Tudimiao.

There were no prisoners left at the Tudimiao, so the government office runners all had to pack up their things and withdraw back to the county office.

Advisor Wu heard the news and hurried over, only to see Cai Cheng with an excited face—the people had long since been released and gone.

Seeing the two government office runners return, he hurriedly asked: "Where are the Wang family?"

"Sent out of the city."

"How could it be so fast?" Advisor Wu had no time to wonder what Cai Cheng was thinking. He quickly gave the order: "Hurry and go catch them back!"

The two government office runners exchanged glances: "But they've been gone for quite a while…"

"No matter how long they've been gone, head in the direction of Mount Sanqing and search—you must catch them back!" Advisor Wu told them to take every government office runner in the office.

Cai Cheng shouted loudly from the side: "Can't catch them, can't catch them! They are my people's hearts, they are my achievements!"

"Oh no!" Advisor Wu stamped his foot: "County Magistrate, you're being foolish! Even if you wanted to release them, it should be done when negotiating with the rebels. How could you release them at this time?"

Cai Cheng saw Advisor Wu flitting back and forth in front of his eyes, and even turning into little flying figures fluttering all over the sky, so he pointed at him and laughed out loud, waving his big hand: "The rebels have already surrendered. Keeping them around is just a waste of grain. Old Wu, don't worry. Rest assured—when I become Prefect, you'll still be my advisor."

Advisor Wu looked at the county magistrate, who had his back to him pointing at the sky and shouting nonsense, and his whole person was left disheveled in the wind: "County Magistrate, I'm right here."

Cai Cheng kept pointing at the sky: "I know you're right here. Stand still, stop flying around!"

Advisor Wu lunged forward, grabbed his collar, and sniffed. He faintly smelled a whiff of alcohol, and his whole person went blank: "County Magistrate, are you drunk?"

"Drinking in the early morning? No, you never had the habit of releasing prisoners while drunk before!" Advisor Wu jumped in place and shouted at the two government office runners: "What are you standing around for? The county magistrate got drunk and released the wrong people—hurry and go catch them back for me!"

Catch them back, they could not.

Pan Yun hadn't even let them leave the city, directly bringing them to the courtyard where they lived. Without alerting anyone, she stuffed them straight into the back courtyard.

Wang Feiyin was practicing boxing in the courtyard when he heard rustling outside the wall. He held himself back and ignored it.

Then a little girl of five or six was tossed in from over the wall.

It was called being tossed in, but she landed steadily.

After she steadied herself she was still a little panicked, but upon seeing Wang Feiyin frozen in place, she immediately felt at ease and ran toward him at full speed: "Uncle!"

The little girl hugged Wang Feiyin's thigh and burst into loud wailing.

Wang Feiyin's heart ached terribly. He stopped practicing boxing and hurriedly picked her up to soothe her: "Alright, alright, don't cry, don't cry. Our little sister has been wronged."

Then Wang's parents were tossed in, and then Pan Yun leaped over the wall carrying an old person in each arm.

Wang Feiyin: "…Couldn't you just use the door?"

"We can't!" Pan Yun said with self-righteous conviction. "Once Cai Cheng comes to, he'll definitely look for people. We can't let anyone know they're here."

Wang Feiyin was very curious: "Comes to? You used an illusion technique on Cai Cheng? But an illusion array only works inside the array — did you set up illusion arrays all the way from the county office to the Tudimiao? Did you strike it rich?"

Pan Yun looked at the sky, looked at the ground, just not at him. "That's none of your business. Just hurry up and check their bodies for them — look how thin they've gotten." (End of chapter)