Chapter 930: Young Beggar
Traveling west along the official road near Bailu Village, the three finally reached the territory of Yunzhou.
To spare Yue’er the hardships of a long journey, Li Qingmu specially purchased a carriage for the three of them to use, yet they encountered three or four groups of bandits along the way.
These bandits wore tattered clothes and were so thin they didn’t resemble the fierce bandits of legend. Li Qingmu, seeing them as displaced people with no way out, did not make things difficult for them.
"Alas, it’s said that when officials push too hard, the people rebel; these mountain bandits only resort to crime because they have no other choice," Qi Jingyu sighed deeply, realizing that the reality exceeded the reports from the ministers.
In the reports, they always preach about peace and prosperity, saying that the people live in happiness, thriving, and sometimes flattering him as unmatched in wisdom and virtue.
But truly stepping into the grassroots, he realized just how wrong he had been.
Long Yue also felt helpless about these displaced people. If they hadn’t lost their land or been forced into ruin by local gentry, who would willingly resort to robbery and murder?
Seeing that among the bandits were children barely in their teens, starving, Long Yue had Li Qingmu distribute fifty taels from the silver note obtained from Zhao Wanqing to them.
The reason for not giving too much at once was the fear of them having internal conflicts leading to bloodshed.
When people are starving, any moral bottom line can be crossed, not to mention killing a few people.
Fortunately, the situation in Yunzhou City was slightly better, with guards at the city gates and patrols inside, the security conditions were much improved.
Looking at the vendors on the streets selling their goods, Long Yue couldn’t help but reminisce about the days of starting from scratch, when she relied on her own efforts to help make ends meet; this environment of constant shouting felt very familiar to her.
Li Qingmu, seeing her lingering look, teased with a smile: "Feeling nostalgic?"
"A bit, it reminds me of our days of poverty," Long Yue picked up a paper windmill from a stall and blew on it a few times, her face showing the smile of a child.
"If you like, we can buy a house here and stay for a few days each year," Li Qingmu suggested.
Long Yue put down the windmill with a laugh: "Maybe not, I don’t want to go back to those hard days."
"Haha, it’s easy to go from frugal to lavish, but hard to go from lavish to frugal," Li Qingmu shook his head with mixed emotions.
Recalling the poor days in Qingshui Village, Li Qingmu also felt sentimental. If it weren’t for the chance of marrying Long Yue, he might have been a poor bachelor with nothing but the walls, far from today’s good life.
Seeing the two whispering sweetly to each other, Qi Jingyu felt a bit jealous, not knowing where his Gao Mingyue was, another purpose of this tour was to look for her.
Yet the other party always avoided him, refusing to show up. Though he was a king, he was powerless in this regard.
The Imperial Uncle had promised to use Yulong Pavilion’s resources to help find her but still hadn’t received any news, which made him anxious.
"Ah, Ming Yue, where are you?"
He sighed as he looked up and touched his belly, suggesting: "Imperial Uncle, we’ve been traveling all day, let’s find a place to eat?"
"Alright, Yue’er is hungry too, let’s go to that tavern up ahead,"
"Yu Xian Building?" Long Yue looked up at the sign and felt the place had a decent environment.
The shop assistant seeing customers approaching, quickly greeted them with a smile: "Please come in, what would you like to eat?"
"Bring us one of each of your signature dishes!" Li Qingmu didn’t bother to look at the menu.
The shop assistant was delighted and quickly said: "To the elegant room on the second floor, please watch your step on the slippery stairs."
Seeing their attire, they looked like wealthy people. A little sweet talk might earn some tips.
Climbing up the stairs, other waiters helped wipe tables and pour water, Long Yue walked to the railing, watching the slow-moving pedestrians and the distant trees and green moss on the tiles.
Overall, the scenery was not bad.
The kitchen was quick; as soon as the three sat down, the dishes started coming out, while they were talking about their journey, suddenly a slovenly beggar came up the stairs.
"Shop boy! Bring me some wine!"
He looked young but wore tattered clothes emitting a pungent odor.
His matted hair made it hard to see his face, yet he carried a fine sword at his waist.
The shop assistant quickly brought a jar of wine, placing it before him along with some coarse porcelain bowls.
"Sir, here’s the aged daughter’s red wine you asked for, enjoy it."
Given the shop assistant’s humble yet disdainful demeanor, this beggar must be a regular customer.
But how could such an elegant tavern allow a stinking beggar to come in and eat?
Long Yue discreetly covered her nose, feeling her appetite greatly affected.
Li Qingmu, seeing this, unhappily stood up to ask the beggar to leave, but Long Yue hurriedly stopped him: "Let it be, let’s finish quickly and leave early."
The young beggar used his thumb to pop the seal, pouring three full bowls of wine and downing them in one gulp, then passionately recited a poem: "Ten years of hard study without success, where to hide in the chaos of this world? I am but a grain in the vast sea, burp... Who is foolish and who is wise?"
The poem wasn’t bad, Qi Jingyu nodded discreetly, understanding why this young beggar was drowning his sorrows here.
Presumably, he has great skill but no place to showcase it, preferring to drown in obscurity rather than compromise his integrity.
Thinking this, he praised with a smile: "Does this friend aspire to become an official?"
"To hell with it, those leeches will eventually devour the Dazhou Dynasty, what official would I want to be?"
"Then why compose such a poem?" Qi Jingyu asked, puzzled.
"Isn’t it that Dog Emperor, indulging in pleasures, with a harem of beauties and revelry day and night, ignoring state affairs, leading to displaced people, driving them to crime, and people can’t live! They can’t live!"
Qi Jingyu smiled lightly without anger, asking him again: "Have you met the Emperor? Know that he indulges in pleasure daily?"
"Haha, since ancient times, isn’t every dynasty like this? The founding Emperor establishes the kingdom, the descendants get progressively worse, eventually overthrown and replaced by new dynasties, how can Dazhou be exempt?"
Finding the beggar interesting, Li Qingmu was intrigued and asked him: "Then what’s your high opinion, how to change the situation?"
"I don’t care which dynasty it is, even the Jinshi was taken from me, taken by that Dog Emperor..."
The young beggar collapsed onto the table, chuckling self-deprecatingly, then began to snore.
Long Yue and Li Qingmu both turned their gaze to Qi Jingyu, the meaning was clear, was it your doing?
Qi Jingyu quickly gestured: "Not me, I don’t know anything about this, it must be the ministers!"
Dissatisfied scholars are everywhere, but few drunkenly curse the reigning Emperor as the one before them does, as it’s easy to incur capital punishment.
Qi Jingyu decided to wait until he sobered up and ask what’s really going on.