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Chapter 135: Spreads 2/4
Chang Duan himself had no prejudice against Master Qiantose.
So what if Master Qiantose was an eunuch? In his view, Master Qiantose was much better than Prince Jin!
At least he hadn’t heard anyone say Master Qiantose harmed the people.
Outside, what people talked about the most was Lu Qingxi’s monopolization of court affairs, acting as a substitute for the emperor in handling memorials and the like.
Moreover… he wanted to save Magistrate Zhang, but he was even more eager for revenge against King Jin.
After some communication with Master Qiantose, Chang Duan had already noticed that Master Qiantose detested King Jin.
Chang Duan had always been eloquent and quick-witted. He bowed to Master Qiantose and said, “Master Qiantose, the Lou family and King Jin ruined my family, my parents and wife all died at the hands of the Lou family, and I myself was sold to a quarry, barely escaping with my life… Master Qiantose, I have a deep feud with King Jin. Being able to serve Master Qiantose is my fortune!”
At first, Master Qiantose thought Chang Duan had come for Magistrate Zhang, and he was considering how he had helped Magistrate Zhang, fearing Chang Duan might harbor resentment towards him. After all, those scholars cared a lot about their reputations and didn’t want to be associated with an eunuch like him.
But when Chang Duan spoke… it turned out he had a grudge against King Jin!
Interesting!
Master Qiantose personally helped Chang Duan up and spoke warmly to him.
In just one day, Chang Duan had made a leap to become one of Master Qiantose’s men.
“What skills do you have?” Master Qiantose asked Chang Duan.
Chang Duan replied, “Master Qiantose, my ancestors were chefs and ran a tavern.”
“A tavern… I happen to have one under my control, so I’ll give it to you!” Master Qiantose said, then instructed the shopkeeper Mu to take Chang Duan with her.
The shopkeeper Mu readily agreed.
Chang Duan, like her, had a grudge against King Jin… She now felt quite favorable towards Chang Duan.
The shopkeeper Mu arranged for Chang Duan to stay with her tonight, then tomorrow he would accompany her to meet people, and the day after tomorrow he would take over the tavern.
Chang Duan wanted to kneel down to express his gratitude.
The shopkeeper Mu held him up. “We’re all people working for Master Qiantose. You don’t need to kneel to me!”
After talking with Chang Duan, Master Qiantose gathered some literate people overnight and began copying “The Record of Injustice”.
Although he only had one copy of the book, by having several people copy it, one set could become several sets overnight!
He had a printing workshop under his control, and tomorrow he could have them typeset and printed.
King Jin’s uncle had done something unethical, and Master Qiantose had to help spread the word!
Although Master Qiantose was an eunuch, he was in excellent physical condition and full of energy.
He had been busy with many things all night, barely sleeping, yet the next day he still looked radiant.
Others were not the same.
Those who had been given “The Record of Injustice” yesterday, or those who had found it, some of them couldn’t sleep all night after reading it, feeling extremely distressed, and today they lacked energy.
They hadn’t expected ordinary people to be so miserable!
The Lou family was simply inhuman!
Some ordinary people shed tears for the characters in the story, while others, thinking deeper, saw the crisis facing Daqi in these stories.
For example, the monopolization of land by the privileged class.
In a school opened by a successful candidate, students were no longer discussing returning to their ancestral hometowns to take part in the imperial examinations, but were talking about “The Record of Injustice”.
“After I went home yesterday, I cried for a long time. My grandfather was startled and came specifically to see me, and he saw the book… The lamp in my grandfather’s house was lit all night yesterday.”
“I showed the book to my father, and he kept sighing as he read it.”
“That Wu Siniang is truly pitiful!”
“Wu Siniang? Who is Wu Siniang?”
“I don’t have Wu Siniang in my book!”
“Neither do I!”
…
After chatting for a while, they realized that the cases in the books they had were completely different!
The beginnings of those books were all the same, so they thought the content would be the same too, but it turned out to be completely different!
So… what did the books from others contain? They wanted to see!
The scholars who gathered in the teahouse yesterday are meeting again today.
“Yesterday’s book was really distressing to read.”
“After reading this book, I finally understand what the common people eat.”
“I used to mock some people for not eating minced meat, but now I see I’m the same.”
“I wonder who wrote this book!”
“Regardless of who wrote this book, the Lou family and that County Magistrate Yan are truly despicable!”
“A few days ago, there was a lot of talk in the capital, all about how Magistrate Zhang was not good… King Jin truly has a tight grip.”
“Fortunately, Magistrate Zhang acted decisively and took action against County Magistrate Yan and many people from the Lou family, otherwise… with King Jin around, the Lou family might have escaped punishment!”
“This matter of the Lou family encroaching on land…”
…
As they chatted, they also discovered that the stories in each book were different, so they exchanged to read!
In Lotus Lane, the two officials who had received books from beggars yesterday arrived at their duty station with the books.
Recently, His Majesty hadn’t been in good health and hadn’t attended the morning court, but these small officials still had to complete their tasks.
After being busy for a while… they seized the opportunity when no one was around and threw the books they had.
Not long after, someone found those two books. “Huh? Where did these books come from? Why do they look so shabby?”
Curious, they opened the books to read…
Meanwhile, Feng Da was still delivering books.
He arrived at a tavern and was looking for suitable people to deliver the books to when he suddenly heard the storyteller in the tavern start speaking, “Ladies and gentlemen, in this world, there are always some people whose lives are full of misfortune. Today, let me tell you the story of Wu Siniang…”
Feng Da was stunned.
Wu Siniang, wasn’t she a character from “The Record of Injustice”?
And just as he thought of this, he saw the storyteller take out some papers and start reading the story of Wu Siniang from “The Record of Injustice”.
Feng Da was shocked. He didn’t expect someone to be reading the cases written by Li Qingzhi in the tavern so soon!
He was both surprised and delighted, quickly finding the tavern keeper and taking out five books, instructing the tavern keeper to give them to the storyteller.
After completing this task, he turned and left!
This storyteller is one of Lu Qingxi’s people.
He only received the case recounted by Wu Siniang, originally intending to finish reading this case and then have no more to read, but unexpectedly someone sent him a whole set of books!
So, what were they waiting for? They continued reading!
After finishing the story of Wu Siniang, this person began to tell other stories.
Some people were dissatisfied: “What’s going on in this tavern? How can someone read such a tragic story?”
But there were also people in tears: “Don’t stop, continue reading!”
And some people realized what the storyteller was really talking about: “Are the common people in Linhu County really so pitiful?”
“No wonder Magistrate Zhang killed so many people!”
“The Lou family actually pretended to be innocent!”
“I knew Magistrate Zhang wouldn’t seek personal revenge! You can see, even women and children who haven’t committed any crimes, Magistrate Zhang didn’t harm a single hair on their heads!”
“In my opinion, wiping out the entire Lou family would be justified!”
…
King Jin’s people soon realized that something was wrong. Before long, some people came to drive away those storytellers.
But Lu Qingxi arranged for people to watch over those storytellers. Just as King Jin’s people were about to take action, Lu Qingxi’s people intervened: “These storytellers are only telling true stories, why do you have the right to take action?”
They protected those storytellers, saying that they were only telling the truth. If anyone took action against them, that person must have malicious intentions, perhaps even plotting rebellion. King Jin’s people dared not act again.
After all, King Jin was just a prince, and the current emperor was still in power!
The capital of Daqi was called Yingtian Mansion. The Governor of Yingtian didn’t dare to offend King Jin, but he also didn’t dare to offend Lu Qingxi, so naturally he wouldn’t help King Jin arrest people.
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