Chapter 78 - Terrorise One, and the Rest Would Fall in Line

This happened too suddenly. Qing Que was too far away from Shen Ninghua and did not react in time. Seeing that the man was about to pounce onto Shen Ninghua, Chu Junyi felt killing intent surging in his heart. He moved at lightning speed and blocked in front of Shen Ninghua, sending the man away with one kick.

The man fell to the ground and immediately cried out loudly, “Murder! Help! You villains! You killed my brother, and now you even want to kill me so that there won’t be any eyewitness left. Is there any justice?”

Baili Jinchuan walked over. If it weren’t for the people around him, he would step on the man’s chest. “Who are you? Why did you suddenly charge out?”

“Who am I? I am the victim! You liars, what kind of medicine did you give us? My brother died not long after he drank the medicine. Free medical consultation and disaster relief? You are clearly deceiving the people.” As he said that, the man stood up and looked at the surrounding people. “Why don’t you open your eyes and see for yourselves if that little girl looks like she is capable of treating illnesses? You can believe what they say, but aren’t you afraid that you will lose your life just like my brother?”

Baili Jinchuan narrowed his eyes and said, “How dare you? I came to relieve the disaster on the orders of His Majesty. It’s fine if you are just ungrateful. But you openly obstructed the free medical consultation. If you can’t provide evidence, I will have you properly punished today!”

Chu Junyi ignored the noise and lowered his head to look at Shen Ninghua. “What happened to you? Why is your face so pale?”

Qing Que and the other maids surrounded them. Bai Ruo hurriedly took out a pill and fed it to Shen Ninghua. “Miss, you haven’t had a good rest all the way. The moment we arrived at Ping City, you started to prepare for the free medical consultation. Do you think you’re made of iron? You should go back now and have a rest.”

Shen Ninghua leaned on the table, and darkness flashed in front of her eyes. After a while, she finally recovered. “I’m fine. I’m just exhausted. Let’s deal with this matter first.”

The man was still shouting about his innocence. Some people were instigated by him and began to doubt whether the medicinal ingredients in their hands were effective.

Shen Ninghua walked forward and swept her cold gaze over the corpse on the ground. “You said that the person on the ground is your brother?”

“That’s right, you liar. Your medicine cost my brother’s life. Now give my brother’s life back.” As he spoke, he wanted to pounce on Shen Ninghua again.

This time, Qing Que seized the opportunity. When the man ran forward, she sent him away with a vicious kick in the chest.

The man was kicked three meters away before he landed on the ground. This time, his shout was really ear-piercing. “Ah, my bones are broken. You guys are disregarding human life as if we are worthless grass. Is there still justice? We have suffered so much, and now you even want to kill us. Is there no justice and retribution”?

Shen Ninghua looked at him expressionlessly. She waited until the man’s voice became hoarse and said, “Drag this troublemaker down and give him 30 strokes.”

The surrounding people were stunned. That man had clearly come to seek justice. Now, he was going to be punished. Were these people really liars? Thinking about it, people became enraged and stared at Shen Ninghua with hatred. If it weren’t for the guards around them, many people would have already made their move.

Baili Jinchuan was also stunned. “Ninghua, you…”

Shen Ninghua turned around and looked at the guards who were hesitating. “What, are you rejecting to follow my order?”

The guards hurriedly shook their heads and immediately went up to flog the man.

“Ah…murder…”

The man first screamed extremely miserably, and soon his voice weakened. After receiving the thirty strokes, he fainted from the pain. The guards dragged him to the front of Shen Ninghua and splashed cold water on his face to wake him up.

The moment the man opened his eyes, he cursed incessantly, “You…you have no regard for human life. You will die a terrible death…”

Shen Ninghua glanced coldly at the people around her. “You should be curious why I beat him. Let me tell you. First, the person standing beside me is the His Majesty’s second son, Commandery Prince De. I am His Majesty’s adopted daughter, Prefectural Princess Ninghua. This man showed disrespect to the royal authority by saying those words. Even if he was beaten to death, it was no more than a reasonable punishment.”

People paused, and the anger on their faces was forcefully suppressed. That was right. They almost forgot that the people in front of them were from the royal family. They were just commoners, and even if their gazes weren’t respectful enough, they could be beaten to death. The common people couldn’t fight against the officials, let alone these people who were above the officials.

Shen Ninghua continued, “However, I hadn’t punished him because of his offensive words, but because of you!”

Because of us? People were stunned. How come the man was punished because of them?

“Because this person wanted to murder you all. I’m here to save lives, not to see dead people. So how can I stand by and watch without doing anything? You don’t understand, do you? Then I’ll prove it to you.”

Shen Ninghua gave orders as she walked directly to the man who was beaten. “Qing Que, cut off this man’s sleeves. Be careful not to touch him.”

“Yes, Miss.” Qing Que carefully cut off the man’s sleeves and casually put it on a board and handed it to Shen Ninghua.

Shen Ninghua took the board. Under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, she threw the piece of sleeve onto the corpse that had been pulled here by the man.

The breathless body suddenly jumped up, covering its neck and beginning to cough. “Ah, water, water …”

People were scared and dodged backwards. The man pinched his neck and his face blushed. He soon fell to the ground, with foams of blood flowing from his mouth.

Everyone was shocked. The man clearly said that the person on the ground was his brother and was poisoned to death by Shen Ninghua’s medicine. How come he was revived by a piece of sleeve?

Shen Ninghua’s voice was icy. ‘”These two men are real liars. They deliberately came to disrupt the relief work. One of them disguised as a corpse to gain sympathy. Then, the other man secretly applied poison to his sleeves. If I hadn’t had the other man injured, I’m afraid many of you had been poisoned to death. This way, the man would have more evidence to claim that the medicine I prescribed was poisonous!”

“Heavens, why is this person so vicious?”

“Yes, thanks to Her Highness’s protection, otherwise we would be deceived.”

“Thank you, Your Highnesses.”

People all knelt down to express their thanks. The anger in their hearts now turned into gratitude.

Shen Ninghua did not ask them to get up. “Everyone, you should think clearly that you are in Ping City. If we really wanted to harm you, we could simply leave you alone. In less than half a month, few people here would be alive. We have come here with good intentions. If anyone doubts us for no reason, then don’t blame us for being merciless. Jiangnan is so big and there are so many places affected by the disaster. We can just go to another place to relieve disaster!”

After saying that, Shen Ninghua directly left with Bai Ruo.

“Your Highness…”

“We’re wrong…”

Seeing that the imperial doctors were also following Shen Ninghua out, many people knelt in front of Baili Jinchuan and apologized.

Chu Junyi watched from the side and faintly curled his lips. Shen Ninghua’s trick of making an example of this person was truly clever. After this, if anyone else wanted to cause trouble, these people would be the first to stand up and beat him away. After all, none of them wanted to die.

Qing Que protected Shen Ninghua and directly returned to their temporary residence.

As soon as she entered the door, Shen Ninghua sat on the chair and gasped for breath. Cold sweats continuously dripped down her smooth forehead.

Bai Ruo was shocked. “Miss, what’s wrong with you?”

Shen Ninghua shook her head and said weakly, “Help me pour a bowl of water with sugar and bring some food over.”

Chu Junyi walked in. Seeing her abnormal expression, he touched her forehead and felt the intense heat. He frowned tightly. “You really don’t care about your own life!” After saying that, he directly picked her up and placed her on the bed beside.

Qing Que wanted to step forward to stop him, but Chu Junyi waved her away. “What are you still waiting for? Didn’t you see your miss is having a fever? Bring a basin of cold water.”

Chu Junyi wet the towel and put it on Shen Ninghua’s forehead. The discomfort in his heart became more and more obvious. This girl was not only ruthless to others, but also to herself. She didn’t know how to take care of herself at all.

Shen Ninghua felt a fire burning in her heart, but her body was icy cold. The feeling of switching between heat and coldness made her feel especially uncomfortable. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ve caught the plague and will infect you if you take care of me closely like this?”

Chu Junyi changed the towel on her forehead and said disdainfully, “The plague is going to be scared away by a black-hearted girl like you.”

Shen Ninghua smiled slightly, and felt a sharp stab of pain coming from her head. “Oh …”

Chu Junyi pulled down her hand that was rubbing her head and said, “Now I also suspect that you are a liar. If you knew medical skills, how could you make yourself so sick?”

“Although I was detoxified, my body is still much weaker than usual. I’ve been too tired these days, so getting sick is almost inevitable.”

“If you know that you are weak, then you shouldn’t try to be brave.”

Shen Ninghua twitched her lips and pulled the quilt that covered her chest upwards, revealing only her head. Perhaps because of the severe headache, her pale face was wrinkled and she slowly said, “I see.”

Bai Ruo brought the medicine over. Chu Junyi used the silver needle to confirm that it was safe. Then, he pulled Shen Ninghua up and forced her to drink it. Maybe the medicine was taking effect, or maybe she was too tired, Shen Ninghua soon fell asleep.

Chu Junyi looked at her with increasingly softened gaze.

Her clear and dark eyes were closed and no longer as cold as usual. Her slender eyelashes trembled, making her look even more fragile. Chu Junyi reached out and smoothed out a strand of hair on her cheek. He suddenly found that her beautiful face was not even as big as his palm. He couldn’t help but raise his palm to compare with it and chuckled softly.

Qing Que and Bai Ruo looked at Chu Junyi with caution, afraid that he would do something to offend Shen Ninghua.

Chu Junyi stood up and looked at them. “Take good care of your miss. Don’t let her be stubborn again.”

Bai Ruo immediately put down the bed curtain to block Chu Junyi from seeing Shen Ninghua. “Yes, we will. Thank you, Master Mo, for your concern. Miss is having a rest, so we won’t keep you here anymore, so as to avoid the unnecessary gossips.”

Chu Junyi didn’t care. He turned around and walked out.

About two hours later, Shen Ninghua suddenly opened her eyes. Her entire body was covered in sweat, making her extremely uncomfortable. But her headache almost disappeared. “Bai Ruo?”

“Miss, are you awake?”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About two hours.”

Shen Ninghua frowned. “How is the situation outside?”

‘”After you said those words and left, the people all apologized. They were worried that Miss and the imperial doctors would leave. They waited outside until the imperial doctors continued the free medical consultation in the afternoon. Many people came to ask why you did not go out.”

“Well, I’ll change my clothes and go out. You ask Hong Ling to interrogate the troublemaker who was arrested to find out his boss.” The troublemaker hid poison in his sleeve in order to kill her. It seemed that he had come with ill intentions.