Chapter 311 Winter Gossip Days Are Hard

"Yes, we have won the battle. Logically, when the army returns to the capital or the court returns to the north, our life won't be too difficult..."

"Ghost! How can it not be difficult? Haven't you heard the song about serving the country with loyalty? It's even more miserable than the ending of Guo Da Xia in The Legend of the Condor Heroes."

"Shh, brother, stop talking, be careful."

"Bah, what's up there? I'm not afraid!"

"Yes, yes, you are a good man, you are not afraid, but we are afraid. Didn't you see that the Nanshanju Teahouse was closed down by the Five Cities Army a few days ago because of irresponsible remarks about the court?"

"Is this true? It's just a play and a book, and it's banned? It shouldn't be that serious, right?"

"Huh, what do you mean by not being able to? Brother, you haven't heard about it, have you?"

"What did you hear? Brother, I just came from Southern Xinjiang yesterday, I really don't know the inside story, please tell me, come, I'll buy you a drink."

The man took the wine glass handed to him by the other party, drank it down heroically, wiped his mouth, leaned forward, lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously.

"Brother, let me tell you something, don't say it was me who said it."

"Hmm, you say it, you say it."

Someone nearby was not convinced, "Tsk, you're crazy, what's there to hide, brother, give me a glass of wine and I'll tell you, I'm not afraid anyway, now the news has spread all over the streets and alleys in Kyoto, what's there to be afraid of, it's just that the court is not human, General Ren Dingbei is fighting on the front line, but his family members are framed behind the scenes, and they died innocently in front of the general, how tragic!"

Not only did the imperial court not reward or appease him, it only summoned the general to return south. How could he be happy with that?

Isn’t that what the opera lyrics say? Who knows what rabbit died.”

"That's the good bow hidden when the cunning rabbit dies!"

"Oh, yes, yes, that's what you mean. His achievements are greater than his master's! The Shen family is in trouble! No wonder the general didn't dare to go back. The city is in a panic..."

"That's right. Haven't you heard enough of the stories that have been told in the streets and alleys recently? If I were a general, I would have rebelled long ago..."

"Shh, that's fatal! Is it okay to say that?"

"Humph, why can't I say it? I'll say it! It's obvious that the people above and the court are a bunch of cowards! We have obviously won the battle, but everyone's life has become even harder. Not only can we not have enough to eat, but we can't even survive. And you won't let people say it, bah!

My eldest brother was conscripted the other day. You said the war is over, what kind of soldiers are they conscripting? Won't our own people fight against each other?"

"Well, yes, the war is over, why do we need to recruit soldiers?"

"I'm afraid..."

"I heard that life in the north is better now, and there are large tracts of vacant land. If I return home or immigrate there, I can own land. I wonder if it's true?"

"That shouldn't be the case. Didn't the court say that?"

"Hey, in this world, the court didn't say anything, but didn't the court go north? To be honest, I would rather believe General Dingbei. After all..."

"Oh, stop talking about it, stop talking about it. These are all fights between the higher-ups. We don't know what's going on below. To be on the safe side, let's wait and see..."

"That's right." Li Yaoguang and Ji Mo ordered a few dishes and ate while listening. What they got from the people coming and going were all these groundless rumors.

The two tried their best to extract useful information from these messages. However, Li Yaoguang became more and more worried about his relatives in the north. He could not help but ask Ji Mo to see if he could ask Qijitang, which was still operating in the north, to contact his uncle. Ji Mo naturally agreed and worked hard to do it.

While waiting, the situation continues to change.

Before the new year, the imperial court raised taxes again, and conscription for soldiers and grain made things even worse for families who were already struggling to make ends meet. Many wealthy merchants were also deprived of their income.

They couldn't bear it, let alone ordinary people? How many families had to sell their children in the middle of winter?

However, what is worse is that Xinjing and even the Qijitang in the vicinity of Xinjing, including Jishiditang in Kyoto, were inexplicably targeted and attacked, which gave Ji Mo a headache. After secretly investigating, he found out that the mastermind behind it was actually Duke Han Guo. Ji Mo understood it instantly.

When he poisoned Zhou Gaishi that day, he wanted to kill him.

So when Duke Han Guo took out the Yama Luo Order, which he got from somewhere, and asked him to treat the disease, Ji Mo broke the purpose of the Yama Luo Order for the first time. He used the excuse that he was trapped in the north and could not return for a while, and only let other doctors from Qijitang treat the disease.

That poison was his latest development, and none of his senior brothers had ever seen it. There was an incubation period from the time the poison was administered to the time the poison took effect. Once it broke out, it would be too late to treat it.

He was very confident that his subordinates would go and treat the disease. He was not afraid even if his senior brother took action. The person who deserved to die still died. He was just angry at that mad dog Han Guogong. His only son died and he went crazy. He couldn't find his enemy, so he was like a lunatic. He took his anger out on Qijitang at all costs and used all his strength to attack Qijitang.

He could use his connections to fight back, but there was no need because the current situation was extremely chaotic. Ji Mo anticipated that something bad might happen, so he deliberately went with the flow and pretended that Qijitang had been hit hard by Duke Hanguo and was unable to continue. All the Qijitang in Xinjing and the surrounding areas went into shadow escape like the north.

To be on the safe side, Uncle Dong, Grandpa Wu and others were arranged by Ji Mo to hide in the headquarters of Qijitang in the rear. Only Ji Mo was worried about Li Yaoguang and left him alone, and for a while he lost a lot of sources of information.

After everyone left and the matter was settled, Ji Mo sighed afterwards, thinking that this old dog Han Guogong was really right!

However, Ji Mo did not touch this guy for the time being. After all, their losses were not great, and Duke Hanguo... At this moment, the court needed such a mad dog to maintain the triangular situation in the court with Prime Minister Qin and his party. If possible, he did not want the world to become more chaotic.

Ji Mo watched these changes coldly, but he became completely idle and had nothing to do. Even Jishidiang was closed. It was cold, so he stayed in Xinhai Pavilion. He did not even stay in his own yard, but stayed in the Li family yard next door all day long.

Poor Li Yaoguang, he is forced to learn this and that every day by his father and brother.

Especially her father and brother, seeing that her calligraphy was so ugly like dog crawling, they became obsessive-compulsive and, together with their serious and responsible brother Li Qifeng, like General Hengha, they forced her and the three little ones to practice writing big characters every day.

It was the same today. After dinner, a few people huddled in the warm room to start classes. They were concentrating on their work when suddenly, there was a banging noise at the courtyard door from outside.

Aunt Qiu, who was busy in the kitchen, did not dare to delay. She wiped her apron with her wet hands and hurried to open the door. Black Whirlwind, who had fully recovered, followed behind diligently.

As soon as the door was opened, Lu Qing rushed in. When Black Whirlwind saw that it was an acquaintance, he turned around, left a trail of paw prints and went back to his nest.

Aunt Qiu was puzzled when she saw Lu Qing in a hurry. Just as she was about to ask about his purpose, Lu Qing shouted anxiously, "Aunt Qiu, is Mr. Ji also here at Mr. Li's place?"

Aunt Qiu saw that Lu Qing had a strange expression on her face and nodded quickly, raised her hand and pointed towards the warm room in the yard. Lu Qing didn't bother to say anything more and ran towards the warm room.

In the warm room, Ji Mo had sharp ears and moved when he heard the noise outside. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Lu Qing running towards him and almost slipping. Ji Mo hurriedly held him up.

"Brother Lu, be careful."

Lu Qing managed to stand still, holding Ji Mo's arm tightly with both hands, and looked at the person behind Ji Mo who was looking up at him.

"Boss Ji, Boss Li, something terrible has happened. A group of people are coming from the front with two mouths on their heads. They are here with bad intentions and want to attack Xinhai Pavilion. Boss Gu and Madam Cheng are blocking their way. You two should go and take a look."