CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER 24: REALLY FELL INTO THE PIT?

EDITOR: ATLAS STUDIOS

"Li Qingmu, I damn your mother!"

Qian Yi clutched his panting chest and cursed viciously in his heart. He was at a loss for tears, his escape route was blocked, what should he do?

"I just saw Mr. Qian, he went over there, probably to the bathroom."

"Thanks, miss!"

Voices came from far away, Qian Yi’s heart shivered, and within, a thousand alpacas ran wild. Damn it, I’m trapped like a dumpling!

He quickly glanced at the back door; it was impossible to go there. People were pursuing him from the front, where should he go? Then he spotted a bathroom not far away.

His eyes twitched, his heart steeled, and he dashed into the bathroom.

Then, those two students came in.

"Strange, this backyard is empty, no one here?"

"Yeah, could it be that Li Qingmu misjudged?"

The two students muttered to each other. At this time, someone pointed towards the bathroom: "Could he be hiding in the bathroom?"

"Who cares, let’s go in and check."

A few students rushed into the bathroom, Qian Yi thought by hiding inside, they wouldn’t brave the stench to find him, but he underestimated this group’s shamelessness.

He had no choice but to move toward a position over the squat toilet. He carefully stepped onto a plank and lowered his body, trying to keep his head below the pit’s mouth.

The bathroom was already stinking when he entered, holding his nose with all his courage. But hiding in the pit brought the stench straight to his face, making him feel nauseous.

"No one... Ugh..."

"Ah, it stinks, smells like hell, who the heck would hide here? Let’s go, I can’t stand it, let’s move!"

"..."

A group of students rushed in, took a glance, but were repelled by the stench, then searched elsewhere.

Qian Yi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he somehow managed to escape. As long as he wasn’t immediately taken to the government to be judged, he had ways to get away.

Moreover, the inkstone was aimed at Li Qingmu, but Mr. Xu got hit. Shouldn’t he take some responsibility? Why didn’t he block it?

Thinking this way, Qian Yi felt at ease, relieved by his miraculous survival. As he relaxed, he was a bit smug, spat, and cursed "Li Qingmu, you bastard," then prepared to climb up.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound came from beneath his feet, like something being broken. Qian Yi felt a sinking feeling, thinking this was bad.

He quickly climbed up, trying to use a bit of strength with his feet, then...

"Crack!"

"Splash!"

The plank broke, and he fell completely in.

"Help..."

He only shouted one word before shutting his mouth, couldn’t let them catch him, sob sob...

Li Qingmu waited at the back door for a long time, but didn’t see him come out, couldn’t help frowning, had he misjudged?

Someone nearby muttered: "We’ve been guarding here for so long, where’s the person? Haven’t seen him, could he have already run away?"

"He definitely hasn’t run, just hiding. Didn’t you find him in front either? This brothel isn’t that big, where could he hide? Keep looking!" Li Qingmu said calmly, without a hint of panic. He saw the crowd show impatience and immediately said, "Let’s retreat first... go across the street to the teahouse for a cup of tea, my treat!"

Free tea, plus the chance to sit together and chat about the exams, the students were very satisfied and followed him.

Tea and snacks, everyone ate with enjoyment, during which Xiang Yin brought two government officials.

"Where’s the person?"

"He’s definitely in the brothel, just hiding very well."

Li Qingmu replied to the two impatient officials, and after speaking, noticed the back door of the brothel was open, and a man, soaked and covered in filth, came out with disheveled hair.

"Achoo—"

He sneezed, sending out a string of muck from his nose.

Li Qingmu looked at the familiar robe, his mouth twitching slightly. It’s said you can’t find him, but in fact, he... hid in the bathroom pit?

The latrine pit... Does he feel no shame hiding there?

His facial muscles twitched slightly, gestured the two officials towards downstairs, they looked out the window and saw the filthy man emerge from the brothel’s back door.

"Oh my, did this guy hide in the dung pit?"

One official shouted, followed by a student muttering: "Could it be he accidentally fell in while hiding in the bathroom?"

Everyone looked at him uniformly, offering him a "you’re brilliant" expression.

...

"What?"

Long Yue stared at Aunt Liu cozy under a big tree, animatedly sharing tales with other villagers, wondering if she had heard wrong?

"Let me tell you, Qian Erniang’s son got into a spat with the third son of the Li family, grabbed an inkstone to bash people. But the Li rascal dodged quickly, hitting Mr. Xu instead, who’s still unconscious! Later, when the government came for him, Qian Yi hid all the way into the brothel, couldn’t withstand the students’ and officials’ search efforts, so he hid... Haha, he actually hid in the dung pit, and when he came out, oh the stench, hahaha..."

Aunt Liu and Qian Erniang had a spat a few days ago and even wrestled a bit, holding grudges. Now with her rival’s misfortune, she spread it around like storytelling.

Someone among the villagers joined in the jeering: "Hiding, must be crazy! Who hides in a dung pit? I think he ran too hastily and slipped in!"

"Right, slipped into the pit, hahahaha!"

Laughter erupted again under the tree, Long Yue found it bewildering but couldn’t doubt it.

She thought of her man’s temper, very petty, Qian Yi got into a spat with him? Asking for trouble?

She felt this dung pit fiasco couldn’t be unrelated to Li Qingmu.

"This man is really sneaky!"

She muttered, and then happily returned home.

"You, the third family’s wife, where have you been all day, teaching them embroidery or not?"

Mrs. Li Zhou saw Long Yue finally return and quickly offered a smile, mentioning teaching embroidery.

Long Yue could tell it was a casual question, what Mrs. Li Zhou wanted to ask was, where she had been idly wandering all day, abandoning the embroidery work that made money?

Where would she roam? She just took advantage of the approaching autumn to fiddle with some herb spores on the back hill, planning to plant them at her doorstep.

Yes, she planned to grow medicinal herbs!

She remembered deeply, her death in her past life was because of a rampant plague, sickened and frozen to death in the cold!

That plague engulfed most of the Great Zhou Territory, taking many lives. Part of its devastating impact was the scarcity of medicinal herbs; many had preventive prescriptions but couldn’t source the herbs!

Now, given a second chance, Long Yue had to prepare in advance.