CHAPTER 549: CHAPTER 280: NEIGHBORS SHARING A GRAVE

Li Duoji also chimed in, the two acting more real than reality.

Han Gui couldn’t refuse, so he maintained an honest smile and accepted with thanks.

When the few of them returned to the school, it was still Han Gui carrying the lumber.

Li Duoji and Cui Big Mouth, on the other hand, each clung to their own bundles and went to claim the day’s wages with the freshly picked mushrooms.

Midway, Han Gui, whether intentionally or unintentionally, while carrying the lumber, touched his waist with his hand, causing the mushroom bag at his waist to fall to the ground.

With the bag on the ground, Han Gui shrugged, straightening up instantly, walking with more ease than when among outsiders.

No one knew that shortly after Han Gui left, the bag was picked up by a daughter with delicate features.

Xu Qing, seeing this, specifically took out a cloth bag from the Mountain and River Map to compare, and it turned out to be the bag Boss Liu had picked up.

This matter wasn’t over yet. Greedy and impatient, Li Duoji, before dawn the next day, brought Cui Big Mouth and blocked Han Gui’s house door, grinning and asking, "Brother Han, were the mushrooms delicious? So fresh they reach the bones, right?"

Han Gui remained silent for a moment and mumbled, "Delicious, even better than fish and meat."

The neighboring families, upon hearing this, were reassured and went home, instructing their families to cook those mushrooms and feast heartily.

However, within just an hour, both families were writhing in abdominal pain, some murmuring loudly, exclaiming, "Don’t take my silver" and fighting as if entangled.

Only one elderly man from the Li Family remained clear-headed, urgently slapping his thigh, but helpless.

By the time the villagers came hearing the commotion, the five members of the Cui Family and seven of the Li Family were all poisoned and lying down, clearly beyond saving!

Yet, only Li Duoji’s father, Old Li, was alive and well.

Suddenly, everyone’s eyes fell on Old Li.

The villagers had heard about the Li Family. Old Li, over sixty, had an unfilial son who found him useless and wouldn’t even share a bowl of hot soup, feeding him leftovers fit only for dogs.

It was hard for everyone not to suspect that this was Old Li’s deliberate poisoning.

However, faced with such accusations, Old Li thumped his chest and, with tears and snot, cried, "My son, no matter how unfilial, is still my son. How could I harm him? It’s that Han Gui! Han Gui, the killer thief, he knew the mushrooms were poisonous but claimed they weren’t, leading to the deaths of my seven children and grandchildren. Heaven will not tolerate this!"

After the uproar, a group came to Han Gui’s house, escorting both Han Gui and Old Li to the government office, asking the county magistrate to judge.

In the public court, Han Gui said nothing on his way up and knelt, saying, "My Lord, I deserve to die! It was I who dropped the mushrooms gifted by Cui and Li, and out of a soft heart, afraid to break neighborly ties; I lied and said I ate the mushrooms, causing two families’ deaths!"

Chen Guangrui was a discerning person; as Han Gui spoke, he caught the information and thus asked Han Gui how he blankly concocted the lie and how he got the mushrooms.

After questioning Han Gui, Chen Guangrui verified between Old Li and the villagers, then the constable Zhao Zhonghe rushed to the school, seeking some craftsmen who saw Cui Big Mouth and Li Duoji return from mushroom picking.

After clarifying the cause, uncovering the origin, Chen Guangrui hit the gavel, declaring: "Though Han Gui lied, he had no intent to harm; Cui Big Mouth and Li Duoji’s own scheming is to blame and has nothing to do with Han Gui!"

With a few words, Chen Guangrui declared Han Gui innocent.

Han Gui remained aside with a wooden expression, truly like the aloof simpleton, good-natured person described by villagers.

Old Li, hearing Chen Guangrui declare Han Gui innocent, was furious!

He had hoped for justice from the ’impartial magistrate,’ only for it to end in a verdict of "Those who do more wrong will perish themselves."

Old Li was sent home by fellow villagers that very day, told to prepare coffins and burial materials promptly, but when he found no one at home, he couldn’t take it and, seeing an opportunity with no one around, found a rope, hung it from a beam, and by the time people discovered him, he’d already passed away.

To speak of this world’s affairs, ironically, ’plans can’t match providence.’

Cui and Li, their cleverness backfired, in the end, good-hearted people lived, the treacherous met their end, and Old Li lost his life too. Truly, this was a confusing case, all stirred by the Heart Demon!

But, did Han Gui really not know those mushrooms were poisonous?

Or, in other words, were good-hearted people really as naïve as they appeared?

Xu Qing recalled crossing paths with that honest carpenter at the school and shook his head.

It’s said that good and evil follow people’s deeds, and misfortune and blessings are self-invited. Cui and Li’s acts brought their downfall, whether Han Gui did it intentionally or unintentionally, Xu Qing wouldn’t care to investigate.

As for what kind of person Han Gui really was, it probably had nothing to do with him, the Funeral Master.

After the thirteen corpses were expiated, Xu Qing tallied the rewards, all strange mushrooms like Wet Dream Mushrooms, Fighting Mushrooms, Weeping Mushrooms, Immortal Mushrooms, Laughing Mushrooms, and the like.

Wet Dream Mushrooms cause wet dreams in men and nocturnal emissions in women; Fighting Mushrooms cause people to lose their minds, mistaking all around as enemies, and start fighting; Weeping Mushrooms make people cry non-stop; Immortal Mushrooms let people become immortals in their dreams; Laughing Mushrooms make people laugh uncontrollably...

Xu Qing held a pile of multi-colored mushrooms, speechless for a long time.

What kind of peculiar and bizarre species are these?

Xu Qing suddenly remembered his flower cultivation and blooming technique and wondered if these mushrooms could be cultivated in large amounts...

After tallying the rewards, Xu Qing checked the bodies again, no longer any trace of mushroom toxins remaining.

...

Bai Family Village, inside Han’s courtyard.

Han Gui packed his bags, picked up the walking stick he often used for carrying lumber, and pulled it firmly — revealing a cold blade!

Closing the wooden cane that hid the blade, Han Gui looked up at the thatched hut and earthen house before him, and left without looking back, with no signs of attachment.

When he reached the village entrance, a flashy swordsman, wearing a silver crown, draped in a plain white cape, dressed in a dark blue cloud-patterned brocade robe, with a sword slung diagonally at his waist, stopped Han Gui.

"Celestial Heart Sect’s Holy Master Han Renshan, once wiped out Lady Salt King Cao Xiuying’s entire family, seized the Six Route Salt Gang of Jin Sect, invincible in Jin Sect..."

The swordsman sat astride a tall horse, deliberately stooping down, looking down at Han Renshan, "A master of a generation, a hero of sorts, how did you become a farmer in such a poor place?"

Han Renshan looked up at the middle-aged swordsman ahead, expressionless, "Ji Lingzhou, Jin Sect isn’t as simple as you think. How powerful Celestial Heart Sect once was! Yet, three of our five Protectors fell, and we still don’t know who the enemy is."

"As far as I know, your Cangyi Group’s Incense Master in charge of managing the Rizhao Hall in Jin Sect and the Squad Leader of Linjiang County’s branch have been missing for a long time, and what Zuo Zixiong has taken are just some irrelevant pawns."

"Heh heh..." Always showing a simple and honest expression, Han Gui finally chuckled twice with his throat.

"Do you think I, Ji Lingzhou, am someone to be frightened?" The middle-aged man’s eyes narrowed slightly and suddenly asked, "Celestial Heart Saint Master, hiding outside Linjiang County, dressing like this, are you afraid of the so-called enemy, not daring to enter the city?"

"..."

"You’re right, I’m indeed afraid!" Han Renshan said after a moment of silence, unashamed, "Someone whose gender and even name is unknown, yet knows us thoroughly. Isn’t Marshal Ji also afraid?"

Han Renshan grinned, "If I’m not mistaken, Marshal Ji came personally to find me because of this, right?"

Ji Lingzhou paused for a moment, then said sternly, "Brother Han, with such a formidable enemy now, we also have a common enemy, why not join forces and face it together..."