The Marquis Is Innocent

Jiang Meng followed Diao Mo’s gaze and saw a woman with a masked walking toward the middle age slaver under the escort of several people beside her.

……

The Han and Qiang have always had a deep grudge, but the reasons different from the conflict with the Xiongnu. Apart from fighting for space, there was also the historical reason because of the Han Dynasty’s misconduct.

Xiao Qiao could not bear to look at the scene, but considering that since this thing was common practice and was a newcomer, although she had Wei Shao as her backer, it was not easy to move the well-established interests of these local forces, so after some hesitation, she finally decided to leave.

Unexpectedly another incident occurred. Xiao Qiao heard the boy shouting ‘Sister.’ The boy was beaten but refused to yield. For some reason, he reminded her of her brother, Qiao Ci. She could not stand it anymore, turned around, and walked over quickly.

The steward saw the Lady did not listen to his advice. She seemed like she wanted to intervene, and he had no choice but to follow.

The middle age slaver beat the boy until his eyes were bruised and swollen and his mouth was bleeding, but he was still not satisfied. He kicked away the Qiang girl who was crying on the side and wanted to beat him again, but suddenly he heard a woman’s voice coming from behind him: “Stop!”

The slaver turned around and saw that the person who spoke was a woman with a mask and was stunned.

The Western region was windy and sandy, and it was common for women to cover their heads with scarves to shield them from the wind and sand when they went out. He took a closer look. Although unable to see her face through the thin layer of silk, he could vaguely glimpse the general outline of the features. He perceived that the woman was beautiful, and according to her voice, she was not too old. And then he examined her clothes, although the material was good, but nothing exceptional. Finally, he looked at her entourage, a bearded middle-aged man and a maid. He guessed she was a young woman from an ordinary family.

This slaver surnamed Hu had a backup and did not put these ordinary large families in Jin Yang city in his eyes. But he was lustful and wanted to lift the veil to see her face. After that, he said, “From which family do you belong? Instead of working at home, what are you doing here?”

The steward was furious and scolded in a stern voice: “How dare you! Do you know–”

Xiao Qiao stopped the steward, looked at the dozens of Qiang people tied up on the ground, and said coldly, “How much do you want for these people? I’ll buy them all!”

The steward was stunned. The middle age slaver and the people watching next to him also froze. He hesitated and said, “You want to buy them all?”

Xiao Qiao said, “Did you not understand my words?”

After thinking about it, the middle age slaver quoted a slightly higher amount, expecting her to make a counteroffer. But, before he could blink, she said, “Send all the people to the government office in the north of the city! The money will be given to you when you get there!”

The middle age slaver was truly surprised.

Last year, Wei Shao, the Marquis of Yan, replaced Chen Xiang as Lord of Bingzhou. The local families were waiting for Wei Shao to come and make friends. They waited patiently until a word came that the Marquis of Yan had arrived in Jinyang and settled in a government office in the north of the city. In the first few days, Jinyang families competed to see him, sending beauty, gold, and silk, almost breaking the threshold. Wei Shao lived in the government office in the north of the city. The slaver naturally knows about this.

When this woman opened her mouth, she said to send the people there…

The middle age slaver hesitated and said, “Madam, are you kidding me? How can you send things randomly to the government office?” He had already changed his tone and called her “Madam.”

Xiao Qiao said coldly, “I told you to send them, so send them to me. Why are you so nosy?”

The middle age slaver immediately heard the irrefutable tone that only a distinguished person would unconsciously bring out. He did not dare to be reckless, changed his face, and respectfully agreed. Then, he turned his head to loudly reprimand the Qiang people on the ground, who were tied and ordered them all to stand up.

These captured Qiang people were not war prisoners, as the boy had said earlier, but came from the Huangshui area. This group actually had over a hundred people. From Huangshui to this place, many had fallen ill and died. Finally, only a few dozen people left. Most of them do not speak Chinese and do not understand it. They only know that this young woman with a mask bought themselves. Without knowing how this would go, they stumbled and moved forward.

Xiao Qiao came to the boy’s side and saw that he seemed to be dying, so she ordered the steward to bring him along with her to the carriage.

The steward saw the boy was dirty and covered with blood, and he hesitated. But to his surprise, the boy slowly got up from the ground, bowed to Xiao Qiao, and said. “I will never forget the kindness of saving my life, my benefactor! My body is dirty. I don’t dare to defile your carriage. I can still walk by myself.”

Xiao Qiao saw that although his face was dirty and wretched, his eyes were clear and bright, and his speech was courteous, like an educated person. She felt more positive about him, smiled, and nodded.

Chun Niang was kind-hearted and already looked sad on the side. She hastily went over and untied the Qiang girl’s hands. The Qiang girl kowtowed seven or eight times to Xiao Qiao, then crawled to the boy’s side. A long series of words came out of her mouth that Xiao Qiao could not understand, maybe asking him about his injuries. The boy shook his head as if to comfort her, then turned to follow the group of Qiang people, hobbling forward. The Qiang girl helped him, looking respectful.

Xiao Qiao felt these two were not like siblings anymore. A thought flashed in her mind, but Xiao Qiao didn’t want to think about it anymore. Under the gazes of countless eyes, she left the market and boarded the carriage to return to the government office.

The people who were watching began to talk about the origin of this mysterious little woman. After a while, they gradually dispersed. The last few people left standing in the same place.