Ci Jinzhi

It’s almost noon, and the busy farmers come to the fields. Someone carries the food on a load and prepares it for the meal.

 This is the time that everyone is most looking forward to.

Since I was hired to farm for Miss Xin, this lunch has been the most solid meal. Not only is there enough rice and noodles, but there is also meat.

“Uncle Xiao, what are you busy with? Come on after you eat.” Someone shouted to a person squatting in the ground.

“There seems to be something wrong with these vines.” The people in the field squatted and did not move.

Xin You and He Qingxiao were going back to Zhuangzi, but when they heard that there was something wrong with the vine, they walked over.

 “What’s wrong with the vine?”

The man called Uncle Xiao was an old farmer in his forties. Seeing Xin You coming over, he pointed at the vine leaf: "Miss Xin, look, the leaves of these vines are all withered, and there are still spots on the leaves, like It’s an insect pest.”

In Xin You’s impression, Uncle Xiao is an old farmer who is busy with work. He doesn’t talk much and works very neatly.

She glanced at Uncle Xiao and squatted down: "The leaves are withered? When did you find out-"

A cold light flashed, and the dagger hidden in Uncle Xiao's sleeve was revealed and stabbed straight into Xin You's heart.

His movements were fast and steady, and his strikes were decisive and cruel, without any trace of the naivety and stiffness of an old farmer.

 Such a distance and such a sudden assassination, it would be difficult for even an expert to avoid it. However, Xin You seemed to have been prepared, and rolled on the spot to avoid the attack at the moment the opponent's dagger was revealed.

Before she could stand up, Uncle Xiao was blocked by He Qingxiao.

This change happened so quickly that the farmhands did not react at all and remained in their original postures of carrying bowls or fetching rice.

 Qian Feng and Ping An, who were like shadows, rushed over, one stood in front of Xin You, and the other went to help He Qingxiao.

Uncle Xiao made a move, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

He Qingxiao’s expression changed slightly, but she was too late to stop it.

It wasn’t until Uncle Xiao fell down that the farmhands screamed in surprise.

A young farmhand ran over, looking panicked and not daring to come forward: "Uncle Xiao!"

Ping An leaned over to check and confirmed that the person was dead.

"Miss Xin, are you okay?" Bai Ying rushed over.

"It's okay." Xin You glanced at the body lying on the ground and said to Bai Ying, "Let's gather all the farmhands together and control them temporarily."

 She felt a real murderous intent the moment she dodged. Uncle Xiao must be a carefully trained killer.

"Yes." Bai Ying responded and reminded in a low voice, "Miss Xin, we have brought less than sixty people. Although it is no problem to control these farm laborers, Zhuangzi is so big, I don't know if there are other situations..."

It is unknown whether the local government, which can mobilize government officials, is reliable.

 “Well. Control these people first and then we’ll talk.”

Bai Ying hurriedly gathered people.

He Qingxiao motioned to the young man to come over, pointed at the body of Uncle Xiao and asked, "Are you uncle or nephew?"

The young man said hurriedly: "Secret Uncle Xiao is Xiaomin's neighbor. He married a daughter-in-law who died of illness in his early years, so he never married again. He has always lived alone..."

 “Is he really your neighbor?”

The young man was so frightened that he knelt down and swore to the sky: "A commoner will never dare to lie to an adult!"

He Qingxiao squatted down and reached out to touch Uncle Xiao's face.

 The young man got closer, thinking he was testing Uncle Xiao's breath, but suddenly his pupils trembled.

 In his sight, Uncle Xiao’s face was lifted up little by little with two slender white fingers.

The young man screamed in fright and backed away. When Uncle Xiao's entire face was uncovered, an unfamiliar face was revealed. As soon as the screams stopped, the whole person seemed to be restrained by magic.     “Do you know this person?”

 The young man seemed to be waking up from a dream and shook his head violently: "I don't know him! I've never seen him before!"

 After that, they gathered farmhands to identify the person, but no one recognized this unfamiliar face. They then went to search Uncle Xiao’s house and found a corpse in the cellar, which was the real Uncle Xiao.

"He has been dead for a few days. The killing method was very simple and there was not much blood." He Qingxiao checked and the situation was clear.

 The dead men killed Uncle Xiao, who was living alone, and pretended to be him working in the fields, looking for an opportunity to assassinate Xin You.

Zhixian Zhang rushed over and apologized repeatedly: "Miss Xin, don't worry, I will definitely find out who was behind the scenes!"

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang." Xin You dismissed Zhang Zhixian with a few polite words, but in fact, he had no hope that the local government could find out the real culprit behind the scenes.

Although Zhang Zhixian is not a local, who knows whether he may have been bribed by those people.

"Actually, there is no need to investigate further. It is just the big families whose interests have been harmed."

 The Wang family and the Liu family were found. There were too many people who wanted her life. This would not solve the fundamental problem.

He Qingxiao said: "I asked a few experienced farmers for advice. At this time, there is not much work in the fields. If there is enough rain, watering can be saved. In the next month or so, our own people can take over. Handle."

 Stop letting outsiders get close to the fields, most of the plans will be killed.

Bai Yingze said: "If we just take care of these fields, we have more than enough people. But the fifteen acres of fields are scattered in three places. To protect the fields from being destroyed, the manpower is far from enough. We also need to consider those people who are willing to risk their lives, regardless of the situation." As a result, I will attack Miss Xin..."

It is very likely that the assassination will fail and the sweet potato vines will be destroyed instead.

“So we need to mobilize troops to support.”

 “Move troops?” Bai Ying raised his eyebrows.

Now that the Marquis of Changle is no longer the envoy of Jinlin Weibei Town, it is unlikely that he has the military talisman delivered by the emperor. Can he still send troops to support him?

 He Qingxiao and Xin You looked at each other.

 There are some things that are difficult to say to a courtier. Xin You can say: "As far as I know, the Changping Guards are stationed nearby. Just ask them to help."

That person attaches great importance to growing sweet potatoes. Whether he wants to protect her or is afraid that she will take advantage of the opportunity to go south and fly away, Changpingwei must have received a secret mission to keep an eye on the goings-on here. I'm afraid it won't be long before she is assassinated. It will be passed on.

 Sending people here to ask for support just gave Changpingwei a legitimate reason to send troops.

Upon hearing this, Bai Ying volunteered to ask for support.

 The next day, the sky is just getting bright.

 “Miss Bai, bring more people with you.”

 Bai Ying waved her hands smartly: "Two people are enough, and the rest will protect Miss Xin and the sweet potato field."

“Miss Bai, be careful on the road.” Xin You warned, stared at Bai Ying for a moment, and whispered in her ear.

Bai Ying looked surprised, but she was always calm and nodded without asking any more questions.

The Changping Guard garrison is not far from here. If you set out early in the morning and work hard without stopping, you can arrive there the same day. Bai Ying did not dare to delay, so he took two personal guards and rode off.

Xin You waited until no one was in sight before she looked away and said to He Qingxiao: "Those people may have set up an ambush on the road to prevent Miss Bai from sending the message. You can take some more people with you."

He Qingxiao shook his head: "If you were assassinated, the Changping Guards would definitely know about it. Even if no one of us went to ask for support, the Changping Guards would not dare to stand by and watch with the emperor's orders. It is impossible for those people not to understand this truth, and they want to stop them Miss Bai, the only possibility is to delay Chang Pingwei's arrival."

Xinyou looked at the field and whispered, "I know."

The other side needs to buy time and attack the sweet potato field when they are short of manpower. This was also an important reason why she gave up on pursuing the "Second Uncle Xiao" line.

 Investigating these things will consume a lot of energy and manpower, and loopholes in the sweet potato field can easily be exploited.

 She entrusted the Sixth Master to travel across the ocean to bring back these precious sweet potato vines. Today, we only have green fields. We must not put the cart before the horse and forget what is most important.

 (End of this chapter)