EES - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Linfang seemed vaguely familiar to An Lin. It wasn't especially far from the capital, Qiong'an, but an ordinary carriage would still take about ten days to get there. At that rate, Qiancai's round trip would probably take at least a month.

Sigh. At the end of the day, it all came down to slow transportation. If the roads were any better, they wouldn't have to waste so much time on the journey.

After locating Linfang on the map, An Lin tried to pick out the procession escorting the Top Scholar from the dense cluster of little figures. She scanned the area around the county office but saw no one. Wondering if they had already arrived home, she realized she didn't know where her Top Scholar's hometown actually was.

Hmm...

Not finding anyone didn't bother An Lin. In fact, she was quite interested in exploring Linfang, especially the villages around the county seat.

To judge whether a county was thriving and its magistrate competent, looking only at the county seat wasn't enough. One had to examine the smaller settlements too.

As she scrolled across the map, her gaze swept over a ring of small villages nestled around the mountains before settling on one in particular.

There was quite a commotion coming from this village. Even in zoom-out mode, An Lin noticed it. Listening closely, she caught clear, high-pitched suona notes drifting out of the village.

An Lin zoomed in. Many places throughout the village were draped in white, clearly indicating a funeral. One house's courtyard stood out, hung with the most white mourning banners, and inside sat a coffin.

An Lin wasn't fond of such scenes. Upon realizing it was a funeral, she intended to swipe away and look elsewhere.

But a second before she swiped the map, her eyes caught movement. In one corner of the village, a group had gathered, seemingly discussing something. Judging by how they instinctively leaned in close to speak, whatever they were planning was likely nothing good.

Well, now We are wide awake!

Curiosity getting the better of her, An Lin zoomed in closer, magnifying the village scene until she could clearly hear their heated discussion.

"It's true that Erya's grandfather belongs to your Sun family, but don't forget, Old Master Sun planned to marry Erya to my grandson while he was still alive. By all rights, she's already our Zhao family's daughter-in-law!" A shrewd-looking middle-aged man shouted, spitting with excitement.

Another woman, wearing a floral blouse, spat at the middle-aged man. With hands on her hips and brows furrowed, she retorted, "You shameless rascal. You yourself admitted it was just a plan. Erya hasn't even married into your family yet, and you're already scheming to split his estate? This auntie won't stand for it!"

"Heh. Don't think we don't all know what's going on. Spare me the 'auntie' act. Aren't you both after the estate Sun Zheng left for Erya? What can a young girl do to protect it? You claim you're taking her in out of pity since her grandfather died, but I bet you're really after Sun Zheng's wealth. Once Erya comes to your house, the money will naturally fall into your pockets! Don't think I don't know. When you went into the county town the day before yesterday, you visited a brokerage house, didn't you? My son saw it himself when he went to buy things!"

"No matter how you look at it, letting us raise Erya makes sense. You only claim Sun Zheng planned to marry her to your grandson. Who heard him say that? Who can testify to it? You probably made it up because you're greedy for what her grandfather left behind!"

Neither side could reach an agreement. The negotiation collapsed instantly, and the argument quickly escalated into shoving and pushing.

Good lord. Are they all villains?

One side was already coveting the inheritance before even marrying the girl off, while the other just wanted to keep the estate. Neither intended to raise the orphan; they were planning to sell her!

Watching the little figures brawl, An Lin heard a great deal in their argument. She took note of it and decided to keep watching the aftermath, to see whether the matter reached the county magistrate and how he handled it.

If the final outcome displeased her, well... she'd have no choice but to send an imperial edict to the magistrate of Linfang.

After all, no matter is a small matter. Every person on this land was her subject. Since she had seen it, she couldn't simply pretend she hadn't.

As An Lin pondered, she shifted the viewpoint upward, intending to check other parts of the village. But her gaze flickered, and suddenly, not far from the arguing group, past a corner, she spotted a girl of about ten or eleven standing pressed against the wall. Her eyes were large but vacant, giving her a somewhat dazed appearance. She listened to the argument without reacting at all.

If not for the name tag floating above the girl's head reading [Erya], An Lin might have doubted she was the same girl everyone was talking about.

...By the way, is "Erya" actually a formal name? Maybe it isn't even her real name. The duplication rate for this kind of name was genuinely high; a single village could easily have three, four, five, or six girls named Erya.

An Lin watched the girl stand there for a moment, dazed, before walking away. She didn't head toward the arguing group. Instead, she quietly turned and left in the opposite direction. Someone in the crowd noticed her departing figure, hesitated briefly, and then followed.

Seeing that events were still unfolding, An Lin kept her focus locked on the scene and continued to follow.

The dazed girl stumbled twice in mud puddles along the way. Biting her lip to hold back tears, she pulled herself up and brushed the dirt from her clothes. Finally, she reached the house draped in white mourning banners with the coffin inside, opened the door, and stepped in. Only then did An Lin confirm that this Erya was indeed the orphan being plotted against.

Just as the girl was closing the door after stepping inside, a hand jammed against the swinging panel.

The girl raised her eyes blankly. The one holding the door was a youth not much older than her.

After jamming the door, the youth glanced left and right furtively, as if checking for witnesses. Once satisfied the coast was clear, he gritted his teeth, leaned in closer, and whispered, "Erya, you need to leave right now. Get out of Xiaoliu Village! Leave immediately, don't let them see you!"

"?" The girl stared blankly at the half-grown boy.

"What are you staring at for? Your second aunt is going to sell you, do you understand? Hurry and pack up, run tonight. Don't pack anything else, just take the money your grandfather left you and go!" The youth sped up his words. Seeing that Erya still looked too dazed to comprehend, he stamped his foot in frustration and anger.

Just then, voices gradually grew louder from nearby. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder, dared not stay long, and hurried away.

The girl paused for a moment before closing the door. Though she appeared not to understand, after a brief hesitation, she followed the boy's advice, walked into the room, and began gathering silver and coins.

Sell her...? An Lin's gaze turned cold.

It seemed this edict truly needed to be issued.

An Lin had already lain down to look at the simulator map, as if idly playing on her phone in bed. But she sprang right back up, went to the desk in her bedchamber, sat down, spread a sheet of paper, and wrote down the precise location.

Xiaoliu Village, Linfang County.

After finishing, she paused, then lifted her gaze back to the map.

As the girl went inside to gather her money, the rest of An Lin's attention remained fixed on the courtyard. The white mourning banners fluttered faintly in the wind, resembling ghostly white figures in the deepening twilight. Joss paper lay scattered near the coffin. As she watched, An Lin suddenly noticed a pile of disordered wood in the corner of the yard.

From a distance, the pile looked oddly shaped. A cursory glance suggested it wasn't entirely random. Zooming in revealed two unmistakable large wooden wheels.

Between the two wooden wheels lay a complex interlocking joint structure and a load-bearing platform.

It vaguely resembled the prototype of a wheelchair, though the differences were considerable.

Additionally, two flat wooden pieces resembling bird wings lay discarded nearby, marked with numerous signs of modification.

Right. Based on the earlier conversation about the inheritance, the girl's deceased grandfather, Sun Zheng, seemed to be a renowned craftsman known throughout the region. It appeared that in his youth, he had been conscripted to help build the imperial mausoleum, the tomb of the emperor's grandfather, and returned safely, which allowed him to accumulate quite a fortune.

Having worked on the imperial mausoleum meant he excelled at intricate mechanisms. Judging by these leftover wooden components, he also possessed great imagination and creativity.

Considering this, he didn't seem like a transmigrator. He was more like an ancient artisan-inventor. In the ancient world of An Lin's original reality, he would likely belong to the Mohist school. However, here, An Lin had never heard of various "schools" like that; perhaps they just used different names.

It was a pity that by the time she heard of Sun Zheng, he had already passed away.

An Lin sighed.

As time passed, night deepened, both in the palace and in that village.

An Lin watched the dazed girl emerge from the room, a small bundle strapped to her back. Before leaving, she leaned over the coffin for a moment, wiping her tears several times, before opening the door and stepping out.

An Lin raised the viewpoint and looked down on the scene from directly above. The girl walked close to the wall toward the village entrance, and An Lin breathed a brief sigh of relief. But then she spotted a carriage parked nearby. A middle-aged man in brocade robes with a tuft of beard stepped down, while a shadowy figure slipped out of Xiaoliu Village to guide him inside.

"The birth chart is correct, right?"

"Rest assured, Butler Cai. That is exactly my niece's birth chart. It's definitely correct!"

The man addressed as Butler Cai stroked his beard with satisfaction. "Very well. Lead the way."

The guide's expression showed slight reluctance. "Why does your mansion need her so urgently? Didn't we agree to wait until after my second uncle's burial to take Erya away?"

"Our young master will be buried in two days. There are many wedding rituals to arrange, and he cannot wait that long. The fact that the grandfather and granddaughter can be buried on the same day is arguably a favor in itself." Butler Cai lifted his chin in dissatisfaction, casting a sidelong glance. "Just hand the girl over to me. No need to ask further questions."

"Yes, yes..." The guide nodded and bowed repeatedly.

Tsk.

An Lin had already guessed what Butler Cai meant to do with the girl: arrange a ghost marriage, not between a living person and a dead one but between two dead people.

As anger rose within her, An Lin's expression remained strangely calm, yet cold and severe.

By an unfortunate coincidence, Erya happened to take the same path Butler Cai had used to enter the village as she left. She trudged forward silently, head down. Her uncle, who was guiding Butler Cai, spotted the thin silhouette approaching, recognized her, grabbed her arm, and hissed in a low voice:

"Erya, where are you going?"

The girl jumped in fright. She looked up at the man and opened her mouth to speak, but heard her uncle, who planned to sell her for a ghost marriage, finish scolding and say, "Perfect. Saves me the trouble of looking for you. Butler Cai, the girl is right here. Why don't you take her now?"

Sensing the malice, the girl struggled violently. Butler Cai had already reached out to grab her. If two strong men pinned her down, a frail girl of ten or eleven would have no chance of escape.

So she sank her teeth into her uncle's arm. In the split second he loosened his grip from the pain, she threw a small sphere to the ground. It burst open, releasing a cloud of white powder that the wind blew straight toward the two men. Instinctively, they covered their faces. The girl tossed it and bolted.

"Erya, stop right there!"

Her uncle waved the powder away in front of him and broke into a run after her.

Unable to flee from the village, she was forced back the way she had come. Panicked, she ran home and locked the door. The next moment, it shook under repeated kicks, no one bothering to keep quiet. She tried to block it with furniture, but to no avail. Finally, the lock was kicked loose and fell off. The door flew open and slammed against the wall with a bang.

"Erya, why are you running? I'm sending you to live a good life!" Her uncle panted as he stepped inside, forcing a kindly expression and reaching out. "Be good. Come to your uncle."

The girl's eyes widened. Suddenly, with a tearful cry, she shouted, "Grandpa!"

Her uncle froze, instinctively glancing up toward the coffin. Seizing the fleeting opportunity, the girl didn't hesitate, turning and sprinting into the inner room. Her uncle recovered quickly and gave chase.

Run! Get outside!

An Lin's breathing grew shallow as she stared intently at the scene on the map.

As soon as the girl darted into the room, her uncle followed close behind. Seeing there was nowhere left to hide or run, An Lin watched as the girl suddenly ducked and dove under a table. Somehow, she triggered a mechanism. The small section of floor flipped open, swallowing her whole. Her uncle lunged for the table edge, but pounding on the floor did nothing.

A mechanism.

An Lin finally let out the breath she had been holding. She set down the memorial, rubbed her brow, and murmured, "That was nerve-racking..."

Then she called toward the outer hall, "Attendants!"

A figure answered and entered. "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

An Lin looked at the person and was momentarily speechless.

Sure enough, it was Wang Xiuwen again, even though he should have already handed over his shift and gone to rest.

Do you ever sleep?

...Never mind.

"I have an edict to send to Linfang. Could a fast courier deliver it within three days?" An Lin got straight to the point.

Wang Xiuwen considered for a moment, then shook his head. "Fast horses will take four days."

"It must be within three days. Is there any other method to achieve this?"

"Then the only option is to use the Carrier Pigeons," Wang Xiuwen replied, looking up. "Per Your Majesty's instructions, I assigned several Shadow Guards to escort the Top Scholar. Those guards can receive Carrier Pigeon messages."

"Excellent." An Lin nodded in satisfaction. She drafted the edict on the spot in her bedchamber and said, "Then deliver this letter directly to the Top Scholar. We appoint him Imperial Commissioner, authorizing him to call upon the officials of Linfang and even those at the prefectural office above it to handle this matter on Our behalf."

"Also, look into households in which a male family member recently died and whose steward is surnamed Cai."

Finishing the edict in one smooth motion, An Lin folded it and handed it to Wang Xiuwen. "Send it out tonight."

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