Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 77 Favor
"I am not going to disobey the orders of the temple."

"Firstly, I am ill and cannot leave easily."

"Secondly, a murder case just happened in the city recently. Yesterday, I found several bodies in Murong's house in the east of the city. The county officials are still trying to determine their identities. The matter has not been resolved, so I dare not leave easily."

"I will write a letter to inform Mr. Yang of these things. Please don't worry, Mr. Lu."

Gao Changgong spoke slowly.

After hearing the other party's explanation, Lu Qing's face looked much better. He nodded, "I see."

Then he asked, "Is the Murong family in the east of the city safe now?"

Gao Changgong narrowed his eyes, "Of course it's safe. What's the matter? Are you friends with the Murong family?"

"Oh, we don't have much of a relationship. It's just that before I came to Cheng'an this time, King Gaoyang specifically told me to go to Murong Mansion on his behalf to check out the situation. I heard that King Gaoyang and Duke Murong are quite close friends."

Gao Changgong was silent for a moment, "I see."

"If the county lord allows, I would like to go to the Murong family before leaving to complete the instructions of King Gaoyang."

"Okay, please do as you please."

The two exchanged greetings for a moment, and then Lu Qing lowered his head and walked out of the backyard.

As soon as he walked out, he met Lu Qubing who was waiting there.

The two looked at each other, and Lu Qubing bowed again, "Uncle."

Facing Lu Qubing, Lu Qing's attitude was completely different. He looked up and his attitude was very stiff.

"Why, you want to greet me here?"

"Uncle, please follow me."

Lu Qubing respectfully led Lu Qing back to his residence and walked into the county magistrate's residence. Lu Qing looked around with disdain in his eyes.

"Nine grades."

He looked around, walked a few steps to Lu Qubing's position, and sat down. Lu Qubing just stood in front of him.

"Road to Disease"

Lu Qing called him by his name, "Over the years, I have had great expectations of you."

"We sent you to study the classics, found a teacher for you, and sent you to earn merit. The entire family has done its best for you."

"Even your current position is the result of our negotiation with the Murong family."

"But you not only don't know how to be grateful, but you disappoint me and the clan time and time again."

Lu Qubing frowned and said nothing.

"I sent you to study classics, but you got into trouble with the scholars. I found a teacher for you, but you got into trouble with the famous scholars. I sent you to the frontier, but you said you didn't want to steal credit. I asked you to come to the county government, but you insisted on offending the county magistrate. Now that I let you become a county magistrate, you dare to take action against the Murong family?"

"Do you know the relationship between our two families?!"

"Among the clan's disciples, there has never been someone as rebellious as you!!"

Lu Qing's face was very fierce. "I'll give you one last chance. Go and persuade the county lord to leave Cheng'an, and then go and apologize to the Murong family."

"If you can do these things, I will find a way to get you a small county magistrate. You don't have any big ambitions, so being a seventh-rank official and living a muddle-headed life is a good match for you."

"If you dare to disobey me again, I will no longer recognize you as a person. Then, you will know how capable you are."

Lu Qubing immediately spoke up, "Uncle, what the Murong family did was definitely not the behavior of a gentleman. They seized the public land of the temple and forced the people to give up their granted land and become their slaves. They occupied the two cities of Cheng'an and the pastures and mines outside the city."

"If someone is unwilling to obey, they will send people to kill, set fire and use various methods to monopolize the monopoly."

"How can you ask me to bow down to such a family?"

"Nonsense!!"

Lu Qing was furious. "The public land granted is all in the register. How can it be occupied by others? Moreover, the land added by the Murong family is designated as mulberry fields, which can be exchanged for market. This is a cost, so what's wrong with it? As for the tenants, the people can't survive, and the Murong family is kind enough to give them a way to live. Is this a bad thing?"

"Even if your accusation is true and the Duke's family has violated the law, the Three Dukes should come forward to hold them accountable. You are a mere ninth-rank official, not even worthy of carrying the Duke's shoes or holding his arrows. What qualifications do you have to speak nonsense here?"

"You lost your parents when you were young, and it was the clan that raised you, fed you, taught you, paved the way for you, and brought you to where you are today. You don't want to repay them, but you still want to harm our family? What kind of books have you read all these years? How could you be so ungrateful!!"

Lu Qubing's face was solemn. "Uncle, when I was young, you taught us that our ancestors earned their way through military merit, and that several generations of governors have always performed their duties conscientiously and with integrity and kindness as their foundation. You told us not to lose face for our ancestors."

"In all these years, I have never done anything against my conscience, and I have always remembered your teachings."

"Therefore, I will never go along with villains."

"As for what I've read in recent years, I've read a lot of history books. I've discovered that justice always comes back to you."

"Back then, the Sima family murdered Cao Mao in the street, and their clansmen were also massacred. Later, the Yuan family massacred the former royal family, and now they have suffered the same fate!"

"People who do evil will never have a good ending. Even if they are prominent for a while, they will definitely suffer retribution one day."

"Uncle, please don't be stubborn!"

Lu Qing's eyes widened, his face kept changing, sometimes flushed, sometimes livid, his lips trembled uncontrollably, the atmosphere was very depressing, after a long time, Lu Qing stood up, "Okay, I won't care about you anymore, just treat you as if you don't exist in the Lu family." "I want to see how well you can do without the support of the clan, if one day you are taken to die in a prison car, don't send anyone to beg me!"

After Lu Qing finished speaking, he walked out angrily.

Lu Qubing did not go to see him off.

After walking out of the mansion, Lu Qing suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the anger on his face dissipated a little.

"This kid has some character."

He took a few steps in this way and suddenly pulled up a kneeling clerk from the ground.

"I ask you, where is the residence of the guard?"

Lu Qubing quickly walked out of the house, dressed neatly, and walked quickly towards the backyard.

This time, the soldiers did not stop him and let him go.

When he walked into the backyard, Gao Changgong was looking through something with a worried look on his face.

"County Lord!"

"Come and sit."

Lu Qubing sat aside.

Gao Changgong asked: "Lu Qing is your relative?"

"It's my cousin."

"Well, I'm afraid we're going to lose this time."

"Ah? County Lord, even if the Prime Minister sent an envoy, we have reasons to delay, why bother..."

"It's not this, it's my uncle."

Lu Qubing was a little confused, and Gao Changgong said, "Prince Gaoyang is my father's younger brother. He is in a high position and has great power. You must have met him."

"I have seen it."

"He is the most harsh to the royal family. He always finds reasons to beat the kings and tries every means to make suggestions in front of Your Majesty. He enjoys bullying the royal family. He is friendly with Duke Murong."

Lu Qubing was silent for a moment, "What is your relationship with King Gaoyang?"

"Very bad."

Gao Changgong looked at him again, "If he shows up, then nothing else will work. I, a member of the royal family, can scare Murong Zeng, but I am nothing in front of my uncle."

Lu Qubing looked at him and said in a heavy tone, "What about what we are doing now?"

Gao Changgong did not reply, and the atmosphere was even more depressing than before.

At this moment, Lu Qing actually walked directly into the Youjiao Mansion.

When he walked in, everyone in the mansion was startled and at a loss what to do.

Liu Taozi slowly walked out from the inner room, looked at the distinguished person in front of her, and bowed.

Lu Qing just looked at Liu Taozi in front of him and couldn't help nodding.

"Like, very much like."

"Liu Youjiao, may I come in and talk in detail?"

Liu Taozi nodded, and the two of them walked straight into the house.

Yao Xiong and Kou Liu stood in the courtyard, staring at each other in bewilderment.

Lu Qing sat down in the house casually, and then continued to look at the peach in front of him boldly.

"When Murong-jun told me about this, I was a little skeptical, but now I believe it. Brother Liu is like my father! He really is like my father!"

Liu Taozi sat in front of him, a head taller than him, and gave him a familiar look of condescension that was extremely oppressive.

"When I came here, Murong Jun told me something. I heard that someone in the court had arranged for his family to live in a village in Cheng'an. Although this matter is easy to handle, there are more troubles in the countryside, including corvée labor and thorough investigation. Therefore, that person came to Murong Jun and asked him for a small favor."

Lu Qing grinned, "Come to think of it, the Murong family is still indebted to your family, and your father also has some friendship with Murong Jun."

"Liu Youjiao, you are not the kind of ungrateful person, right?"

"Besides, if this matter gets out, it will be considered as a crime of deceiving the emperor, which is not good, right?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Your Excellency."

"My grandfather's name is Liu Da, he was a hunter in Zhang Village, he is no longer alive, it is impossible for him to have any friendship with Murong Jun."

"As for deceiving the emperor and hiding the family, I have been to the backyard of the Murong family, but I have never seen any family. You said someone deceived the emperor and hid the family. It should not be his Murong family, right?"

(End of this chapter)