Chapter 284: Chapter 251: The Huang Family’s Doomsday

"The young lady of the Sun Family has returned..."

"Aunty, I’m back. Thank you for taking care of me all these years. This is a gift for you..." Sun Youwei and Yun went door to door distributing gifts to their neighbors.

The gifts mainly consisted of four kinds of pastries made at their own Furong Garden and ten taels of silver.

Everyone who had ever helped the Sun Family received a share.

The news of Sun Youwei’s success less than a year after leaving Qingping Town spread throughout the town like wildfire.

After all, she was the descendant of the town’s only Physician.

Now, when people in town fall ill, they can only go to the county or wait for a visiting Wild Physician, which is much more inconvenient than before.

Upon hearing that Lin Miao had passed the "Physician" exam, many expressed a desire to seek his medical help.

According to the state regulations, Lin Miao did not yet have full qualifications to practice medicine; he could only see patients at the "Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point" in Dongshan City. Even for emergencies, he had to stay within a certain area, as he did not have the qualifications to diagnose independently.

He had not received the official "Physician" certification.

If someone found a fault and reported it to the authorities, it could easily lead to him being stripped of his "State-selected Physician" eligibility.

Those looking to cause him trouble would be waiting for him to make this mistake if he agreed to treat the townspeople, digging his own grave.

So, Lin Miao refused. It wasn’t that he was unkind, but he simply couldn’t do it.

For him to play the nice guy would mean to destroy everything he worked hard to achieve. He knew what was more important.

Rules are rules, no matter how unreasonable. There are definitely hard-learned lessons behind establishing such rules.

Otherwise, why wouldn’t the authorities allow those who passed the Physician exam to practice medicine directly?

Even with the qualifications, he couldn’t act recklessly.

The townspeople understood after the explanation; they wouldn’t report to the authorities, but what about the Huang Family?

That wasn’t certain.

One cannot destroy someone else’s future due to selfishness, which goes against the honest and simple customs of the town.

...

Huang Baiyuan came again.

This time, he only brought two of the Huang Family’s sons with him.

He offered a thousand taels of silver straight away to buy the land belonging to the ancestral hall, and of course, the non-existent medical cottage on it.

Lin Miao directly refused.

The land was his, and so was the medical cottage. This so-called ancestral hall, he planned to tear it down and rebuild the medical cottage.

Enraged, Huang Baiyuan left after uttering harsh words.

...

The members of the Huang Family were still being held in the ancestral hall, although Lin Miao didn’t mistreat them. Every day, they were given two steamed buns and two bowls of water.

After all, being indoors meant minimal activity; they didn’t need much food or water, and there was no sun exposure.

The issue of relieving themselves wasn’t very convenient, though.

Lin Miao provided them a chamber pot, which was relatively humane.

...

Three days had passed since Lin Miao and Sun Youwei returned to Qingping Town. Apart from going out once on the second day, Lin Miao had spent all his time in the ancestral hall.

Whenever he had nothing to do, he practiced martial arts or read Buddhist scriptures to cultivate himself.

He also guided Lin Mao in martial arts, along with the two sisters, Liansuo and Lianxin.

Since it was confirmed these two sisters would become his people, Lin Miao no longer deliberately kept his distance from them.

Occasionally flirting could even add a bit of spice.

Sun Youwei also knew that Lianxin and Liansuo would become her concubines. Never underestimate a woman’s wisdom.

They might be slightly less sensitive in politics and military matters, but when it comes to affairs between men and women, they are extremely astute.

When Bai Feng arranged for Lianxin and Liansuo to come over, she immediately guessed what the twins were there for.

Otherwise, why not send older and more stable experts from the Snow Mountain Sect?

Surely the Snow Mountain Sect had such disciples.

The use of beauty as a tactic was too obvious.

While her junior brother was excellent in many ways, the beauty tactic was almost one hundred percent effective on him, unlike her father who was far from susceptible.

What could she do? She and Lin Miao had long been engaged, and their relationship was known to all. Lin Miao treated her well, even handing over the household’s finances to her.

Even if he sought another woman and took a concubine, he respected her opinion and informed her in advance. If she disapproved, he even said he would refuse.

Such an arrangement brought no harm to her.

At least the household would be livelier with more people, and besides, she was the rightful wife, the principal woman of the Lin Clan—an unshakable position.

Expecting an accomplished man to be exclusively devoted was quite unrealistic; could you prevent those attracted to him like moths to a flame, with ulterior motives?

However, she had to establish some rules with her junior brother. There were already enough women in the family, with three whose relationships were clarified and several more unclarified.

Whether for household harmony or for her junior brother’s well-being, future additions must be limited.

Currently, although she was the principal woman, she was not yet married, lacking due legitimacy. After marriage, such rules must be implemented.

...

Ring, ring, ring...

The alarm bell suddenly rang.

"Liansuo, go check it out!" Lin Miao instructed Liansuo, who was holding a sword nearby.

Liansuo glanced at Lianxin, meaning, why don’t you ask my sister to go? Aren’t you biased? But she still leaped towards the direction of the ringing.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Liansuo brought someone to the hall.

"Someone from the Huang Family?" Lin Miao didn’t even lift his eyelids, asking.

"..."

"Quite a tough bone." Lin Miao chuckled, put down the Buddhist scripture in his hand, and raised his head, "If you don’t want to talk, then be locked up with the Huang Family people. Either way, there’s no escape from a head and body separation fate."

The Huang Family secretly hoarded weapons, intending to rebel. It’s a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations, for theft, such a minor crime doesn’t even need a trial.

...

A cloud of dust rose on the official road.

A troop of three hundred government soldiers galloped down the road, their destination being in the direction of Baihe County.

"Sir, up ahead is Tang Family Castle. How about we rest for the night and set off early tomorrow? We’ve been on the road for a day and a night, and the brothers are all exhausted!"

"Alright, then let’s enter the castle and rest for the night, and set off early tomorrow!" Zhuo Qingfeng nodded and ordered.

"Thank you, Sir!" The leading Captain gratefully cupped his fist and went to pass on the order.

Entering Tang Family Castle.

The army stationed at the military camp of Tang Family Castle.

There were well-equipped camps here for the passing government troops to lodge. Three hundred people were no problem for the spacious Tang Family Castle military camp.

Here they could also replenish feed and drinking water for the warhorses, all on the government’s dime, naturally free of charge.

"Mr. Zhuo, as soon as we camped, someone used the pigeon station here to send messages out!" Just as Zhuo Qingfeng settled down, the head of the escort came in to report.

"Where’s the homing pigeon?"

"It has been shot down." The head handed a bamboo tube to Zhuo Qingfeng.

Zhuo Qingfeng took out the rolled-up note inside, glanced at its contents, and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Immediately find the person based on the handwriting on this note!"

"Yes!"

Zhuo Qingfeng pondered for a moment, wrote a note himself, rolled it up, called a personal guard, whispered an order, and then handed the bamboo tube to him.

About midnight.

A traveler quietly entered the already sleeping military camp.

The leader lifted his hood, entered Zhuo Qingfeng’s tent, and it turned out to be Pei Jian, the Chief Administrator of Dongshan Prefecture. He did not come with Zhuo Qingfeng, pursuing one after another.

This was to avoid alerting Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion. If Pei Jian led troops out of the city, it would have been noticeable.

"Mr. Dong, you’ve come."

"Hmm, we are arriving in Qingping Town tomorrow. We agreed to meet here, how could I not come?" Pei Jian nodded.

"Mr. Dong, please."

"Tell me the situation you have at hand." Pei Jian asked.

"Tonight, as soon as we camped, someone used homing pigeons to send messages out. Most likely, they’re people from Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion." Zhuo Qingfeng said.

"Have you revealed the purpose of this trip to anyone yet?"

"No, I haven’t told anyone. It’s been strictly confidential. Additionally, I had Mr. Xie set off back to Qingping Town overnight to notify Lin Miao to cooperate with our actions in advance," Zhuo Qingfeng explained.

"Good, tomorrow I’ll hide among your retinue and head out together." Pei Jian said.

"Mr. Dong..."

"When coming over, I found people from the Green Blade Sect tailing you. Did you notice?" Pei Jian asked. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"People from the Green Blade Sect?"

"Yes, there aren’t many of them, just three to five people. It’s normal you didn’t notice."

"If that’s the case, it should be a reactive move by people from Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion. They must have taken action upon Lin Miao’s return and misjudged our actions. But now they’ve followed us to Tang Family Castle. Should we apprehend them? If they notify the Huang Family before us, wouldn’t that be a ruinous failure?" Zhuo Qingfeng said.

"We should avoid direct conflict with both Marquis Lingyang’s Mansion and the Green Blade Sect for now..." Pei Jian lightly closed his eyes, tapping his fingers gently on the table.

"Then we must hurry up and move fast!"

"Hmm, get up at third watch to cook, and set out at fifth watch!"

"Yes, I’ll arrange it immediately."

...

"Mr. Du, something doesn’t feel right. This is Tang Family Castle, and ahead is the boundary of Baihe County..." At the Tang Family Castle inn, Ye Jie entered Du Ziyu’s room, frowning.

"Yes, something is amiss. Lin Miao is from a small town under Baihe County, yet Zhuo Qingfeng actually brought a battalion here. Could Lin Miao have returned to Baihe County?" Du Ziyu was also surprised.

Trailing along, they did find traces left by Ye Mi Yuan, but they disappeared midway. But to catch up with Zhuo Qingfeng’s team, they gave up the trail.

According to the Green Blade Sect’s plan, Lin Miao’s team shouldn’t have been allowed to return to Baihe County. Has something really gone wrong?

Moreover, the Ye Family couldn’t contact Ye Mi Yuan, nor could he contact his brothers from the Green Blade Sect.

Vaguely, an unease grew in their hearts. Could something have happened?