Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 665 - 421 Huizhou County

Chapter 665: Chapter 421 Huizhou County

The early morning sun had just begun to rise, the warm rays of the east barely shedding the first glimmers of dawn, while the closely-packed houses and streets were still shrouded in a dense fog, the heavy city gate had already been opened by the watchful guards.

After a night of turmoil and splendor, Huizhou County once again slowly awakened from its silence.

The influx of vegetable farmers and small vendors heading into the city for the market, along with porters transporting goods, instantly filled the human world with the bustling vitality along the spacious bluestone-paved roads into the small town.

The overwhelming aftermath of the barbarian calamities and natural disasters in the Northern Frontier hadn’t truly affected Huizhou County, but the war had still exerted a certain influence on it.

The unrest in the Northern Frontier, which had continued for several years, led many merchants and sword-wielding heroes of the Jianghu to use this small county town, located at the intersection of two provinces, as their transit station for traveling north. The arrival of these opportunists brought business opportunities and development to this otherwise unremarkable county town, but also a fair amount of chaos.

With the crowing of chickens in the backyard,

Tang Si, like any other day, opened the doors to his small eatery as the dawn was yet to fade. He was moving the prepared tables and stools out onto the street for business when he discovered that there was another dead body at the door of his house.

A Jianghu person...

By the calluses on the corpse’s hands and the wounds stained red with blood, Tang Si recognized the identity of the deceased at a glance.

Quiet for a short time, he silently moved the massive corpse to the doorstep of the neighboring shop, then fetched two buckets of clean water to wash away the bloodstains at his own doorstep.

He had no intention of reporting to the authorities, because it was pointless.

On the contrary, he would even have to be extorted by those constable lords for a sum, billed as the fee for dealing with the body.

And following the bad omen of finding a dead body upon opening his door, Tang Si no longer felt like conducting business.

With the body lying there, it was highly likely that no one would come to eat at his restaurant.

As he thought this, Tang Si’s eyes became somewhat numb as he prepared to close the door again.

After all, this was already the second time this month.

There were no stationed troops in Huizhou County, or rather, the troops that had been here had all been dispatched northward to fight the barbarians.

For those martial artists from all over the world, the only force the county magistrate could rely on were those pampered and privileged constables.

And was it realistic to expect these young soldiers, who had been operating in Huizhou County for generations, or even for dozens of generations, to risk their lives against those desperados?

It wasn’t realistic.

In the years since the barbarian menace surged, the occasional curses and clanks of halberds in the inns of Huizhou County had become the norm, and so had death...

Sighing in his heart, Tang Si slowly closed the wooden door of his home.

"You, not going to report this to the authorities?"

Just as the wooden door was about to close, a gentle male voice suddenly came from the front of the shop on the side where he had placed the body.

Tang Si was momentarily startled.

He remembered that there had been no one on the street just a moment ago.

Pausing his door-closing action subconsciously, Tang Si looked in the direction of the voice and then his gaze fixed in place.

On the empty street at dawn, still dimly lit, a long-haired man had somehow appeared in front of the Jianghu guest’s corpse and was looking with great interest at the wound.

A rather fine-looking man...

Just as this thought arose in his heart, Tang Si recognized the man’s attire, and he felt weak at the knees.

He was wearing a waist-cinched purple-black brocade garment.

Although the rough-hewn Tang Si didn’t know its exact value, he could tell that it was even more expensive than the official robe worn by the county magistrate.

Panic uncontrolled, sprawling from the depths of his heart, Tang Si immediately knelt on the ground, banging his head forcefully on the floor, his voice stuttering:

"Great... Great one, this... this was not done by... by someone of low status like myself..."

"...."

The man looked somewhat bemused at the vendor.

All he did was ask why the vendor didn’t report the incident; was such a reaction necessary?

Thinking this, the man subconsciously prepared to use Origin Qi to lift the vendor up, but then restrained himself.

He saw the deep-rooted fear in the eyes of the man looking at him.

Helping him to his feet at this moment... might as well be akin to killing him outright.

Glancing in the direction of the county government office, the man’s eyes revealed a contemplative expression as he continued to speak:

"I know it wasn’t you, a commoner like you couldn’t possibly have killed a martial artist."

Hearing this, Tang Si’s trembling body did not cease:

"Your Excellency’s discernment..."

"Your Excellency’s discernment....."

As he spoke, he forcefully knocked his head on the ground.

Witnessing this scene, the man lost his urge to keep questioning. Sighing to himself, his figure flashed and disappeared from the street.

Tang Si had not heard the mysterious gentleman speak for a long time. He quietly raised his head only to discover that the other was nowhere to be seen, and along with his disappearance, so had the corpse that had been burned to ashes....

Not daring to get up immediately, Tang Si continued to kneel for a while. It wasn’t until noise came from the neighboring shop that he hurriedly got up from the ground, quickly shut the door, and mumbled tremblingly under his breath:

"Immortal Lord... what brings you to the county at this time...."

...

...

...

Though it was a county town, Huizhou County’s walls still loomed several zhang high.

Amidst the bustling crowd entering the city below, a handsome man casually sat on the city gate tower, gazing at the sunrise on the horizon.

Occasionally, another figure leaped over and landed beside the man.

The handsome man, upon seeing the newcomer, showed no surprise. Patting the spot next to him, he greeted cheerfully:

"I’ve said it before, Prince, asking that person for the reason was a waste of time. You might as well have stayed here with me to enjoy the sunrise."

Watching the playful Li Junqing, Xu Yuan bent down to sit by his side, saying:

"The townspeople have become accustomed to exposed corpses in the streets, an act that tramples on the laws of Dayan. Don’t you, as a prince, have anything to say about this?"

Li Junqing glanced sideways at Xu Yuan’s calm expression, his lips curling into a smirk:

"What is there to say? The Northern Frontier has been at war for so many years, and the fact that there haven’t been any major upheavals here is already impressive. Don’t expect too much."

As he spoke,

Li Junqing curled his lips again:

"Moreover, the welfare of the common people isn’t my responsibility, that’s for my imperial brother to worry about."

Xu Yuan gave the young man a deep look and shook his head gently:

"Actually, that’s not what concerns me."

Li Junqing raised his eyebrows. He had seen what happened below and said with a smile:

"Are you bothered by that person’s attitude towards you?"

"Yes," Xu Yuan did not deny it. "It’s as if I could kill him at any moment."

Li Junqing rolled his eyes, snorting disdainfully:

"You’re being overly sentimental."

Xu Yuan glanced at the young man, frowning:

"What do you mean overly sentimental? If murder in the city has become so commonplace, then outside the walls..."

"I know, but what can be done about it?"

"....." Xu Yuan.

A complicated look flickered in Li Junqing’s eyes as he knocked on the city gate tower beneath him and said with a ghost of a smile:

"Changtian, do you think our Imperial Father and the rest are unaware of these matters?"

Xu Yuan, feeling somewhat irritated, rubbed his temples:

"They’ve known from the start; after all, it’s the inevitable consequence of indiscriminate martial cultivation among the populace."

Introducing cultivation techniques among the common people had broken the monopoly of the Sects, but it also brought great turmoil to the lower class, or rather... necessary growing pains.

However, these growing pains for Dayan, when they fell upon any individual among the common dawning populace, became a disaster.

"If they already knew, then why are you angry?"

Li Junqing still maintained his carefree demeanor as he spoke leisurely:

"Without destruction, there can be no establishment. Sacrifice is a necessary condition for creating a peaceful and prosperous era.

"If such deaths now trouble you so much...

"Changtian, what will you do when great chaos arises in the future?"