Abandoned Woman Busy Farming
Chapter 1253 - 1255 The Damned Person_1

Chapter 1253: Chapter 1255 The Damned Person_1

Having confirmed their direction, Jiang Yichun arranged for his subordinates to search the town, and all suspicious characters found were temporarily taken to the County Government Office, where he and Bai Ruozhu would thoroughly interrogate them tomorrow.

Even though Bai Ruozhu suspected that the one using poisonous insects was an insider in the quarantine zone, it wasn’t certain, and the bewitcher couldn’t possibly be without accomplices. Previously, they were unsure about the cause of the plague outbreak, but now that they were certain, they must investigate thoroughly.

At night, Bai Ruozhu quietly gave a few instructions to Furball, who silently left her side and roamed the threshing ground.

The next morning, Furball returned on its own, looking listless, which told Bai Ruozhu that it hadn’t found any "dimsum."

She extended a finger to stroke Furball’s head and said softly, "Little guy, don’t worry, you’ll have plenty to eat someday."

Furball playfully rubbed against her, then snuggled into the Spatial Hot Spring to sleep.

Bai Ruozhu shook her head helplessly; this little one was much more comfortable than she was—she wanted to bathe in the hot springs and sunbathe in the space too.

After breakfast with Jiang Yichun, the two got busy with their own matters. She went to take the pulse of each patient. This time, it was not as simple as just treating illnesses as usual—she also kept a lookout for those who might be using poisonous insects.

Xie Er recovered the quickest, which aroused her suspicion. While administering acupuncture to Xie Er, she purposely targeted his energy dispersing acupoint to see if he would flinch if he was the hidden culprit.

Of course, she was careful not to penetrate too deeply, and for a regular person, being punctured in the energy dispersing acupoint wouldn’t cause much harm.

Her movements were slow, partly to give Xie Er time to react. But Xie Er didn’t dodge at all; in fact, he thought Bai Ruozhu was treating him and cooperated fully. Even as the needle went in, he didn’t show the slightest sign of nervousness.

After removing the needle, Bai Ruozhu was convinced that Xie Er was not related to those causing trouble behind the scenes.

She then used other methods to test the other two individuals and also ruled them out.

Bai Ruozhu raised an eyebrow; no matter, if necessary, she would use the process of elimination, one by one.

On Jiang Yichun’s end, he arranged for a second fake letter to be sent out and also deployed subordinates to lie in wait on the roads outside the city to see what was tracking the people delivering the letters.

By noon, Jiang Yichun rushed back to have lunch with Bai Ruozhu. Afterward, he took her to the County Government Office to observe the suspects. If any of the suspicious individuals captured were users of poisonous insects, only Bai Ruozhu could recognize them.

The officers had apprehended seven people, all of them without acquaintances and having recently arrived in Guangqi Town from other places, now bound to the town and unable to leave.

Since they had no clear social ties, their suspicion was the heaviest.

First, Bai Ruozhu took a look at them, then quietly shook her head at Jiang Yichun; none of the seven were raising poisonous insects, at least not in a way Furball could detect.

Jiang Yichun had Bai Ruozhu sit aside and ordered his men to interrogate the seven suspects one by one. The two of them closely watched the suspects’ reactions. Five seemed forthright, but two had elusive eyes and seemed particularly nervous when they saw Jiang Yichun.

"Drag those two out and give them thirty heavy beatings," Jiang Yichun suddenly commanded.

"Your Excellency, please spare my life! What crime have I committed to deserve a beating? I am wrongly accused!" one of the suspects cried out. The other, terrified, knelt on the ground shivering, only wailing for mercy, clearly more faint-hearted than the other.

Jiang Yichun stood up and walked over, "Fine, I’ll give you a chance to confess. If you come clean, I’ll consider leniency."

The more fearful one repeatedly kowtowed, "My lord, I confess! I confess everything!"

The man started talking in a trembling voice, revealing that he had come to Guangqi Town a few days ago to deliver a silver banknote to the County Magistrate Ma Jun. It turned out that the villagers living in the mountains west of Guangqi Town made a living by harvesting and selling herbs. However, Ma Jun imposed a herbalist tax, requiring these herbalists to pay money each season, and the man speaking was the one who ran errands for Ma Jun.

He indeed lacked courage, but because of his timid and honest nature, Ma Jun was not afraid he would take the silver and run away. Having delivered the silver to Ma Jun, he was supposed to return to the western mountains to oversee the villagers, but he couldn’t leave because Zhou Shu arrived and declared the town sealed off due to a plague outbreak, prohibiting anyone from leaving the town.

A couple of days ago, when Ma Jun got arrested, he was already scared to death. Today, when he was brought in, he had originally intended to bluff his way through, but the officer with the unidentified identity looked so fierce that a minor glance could have pierced and killed him. He thought this person must be a significant figure from the Capital, and since the officer did not hesitate to order a beating, he was terrified and quickly confessed.

After hearing all this, Jiang Yichun sneered, "Since you offer to be a witness, I, as the officer, may mete out a lighter punishment."

The man hastily kowtowed, "This lowly one is willing to testify, this lowly one is willing to testify."

Bai Ruozhu winked at Jiang Yichun, feeling that today they had indeed made a discovery, as another charge could be added to Ma Jun’s list of crimes.

"Send the man to Jinshui City to testify," Jiang Yichun instructed, but suddenly he gestured to stop everything, "Nevermind, he’d better stay with me."

Ma Jun had connections with the Prefecture, which meant there were influential people above him. Since he managed to escape and seek help, Jinshui City might not be reliable. If they sent a witness over now, there was a chance they would lose the witness altogether.

The officer withdrew upon hearing the command while Lightning went over to escort the man away.

One person still remained defiantly resistant. Jiang Yichun snorted coldly, "Drag him out and administer thirty heavy paddle strikes."

The man, like a tough guy, refused to confess. But as the paddling started and resounded clearly, by the tenth strike, he was screaming, "I’ll confess, I confess everything!"

Jiang Yichun raised his hand, signaling for the paddling officer to stop.

"I am a commoner, a commoner here to trade in illicit salt. I planned to continue towards the west, but then I got trapped here," the man confessed.

Compared to the previous man, this one indeed seemed more like a shrewd businessman.

Jiang Yichun glanced at Thunder, who quickly left the room, presumably to search the man’s residence to verify if he was indeed involved in the illegal salt trade.

Subsequently, the man disclosed a great deal more, including how much he had sold and how much he still had left. Apparently frightened by the beating, he provided his confession readily.

It wasn’t long before Thunder returned and whispered a few sentences to Jiang Yichun. Bai Ruozhu, who was close, heard enough to know it was consistent with the man’s confession.

"Trading in illicit salt is also a crime. Let the legal advisor handle it according to the law. Also, since he readily confessed, a lighter punishment may be warranted," Jiang Yichun said, glancing at the man’s buttocks and spoke with a merciful tone.

The other five were released outright. Since nothing else was found on them, it was not right to continue detaining innocent people.

"What a pity, we didn’t find much," Jiang Yichun sighed on their way back.

"Didn’t we find a witness to testify against Ma Jun? We could consider this serving justice for the people," Bai Ruozhu comforted him.

Jiang Yichun laughed upon hearing that. Such words coming from someone else wouldn’t have meant much, but from the mouth of his woman, they felt deeply satisfying.

As the two were talking, suddenly, a raggedly dressed, deranged-looking monk dashed from the street corner, pointing at Bai Ruozhu and shouting, "You are a person meant to die, how can you be here?"