Chapter 240: Scheme
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling pursed her lips and smiled. She said in a low voice, “Uncle, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
Mu Yangling would only call Liu Ting ‘Uncle’ when she had something to ask of him. Liu Ting looked at Mu Yangling, who had already reached his chin and looked like a grown-up girl. He stroked her hair with mixed feelings and said, “Do you think the elders in the clan don’t know what you’re thinking?”
Mu Yangling snorted. “It’s fine as long as they don’t go around telling everyone. Besides, when have I ever let them suffer a loss?”
Actually, Mu Yangling could just carry the wild boar back to her house and call the 12 people who helped her work over to kill the pig and split the pork. This way, although the people in the clan would be envious when they saw them carrying the pork back, they would not be jealous. This was because they had received the pork for their work, which was similar to a salary.
However, when Mu Yangling carried the entire wild boar to Liu Ting’s house and everyone saw it with her own eyes, the impact was much greater.
This escalated into jealousy. Some petty people even felt resentment and regretted not helping the Mu family back then.
Mu Yangling was using this wild boar to tell the Liu clan that she, Mu Yangling, would not mistreat the people who sided with the Mu family. In the future, not only would the relationship between the Mu family and Liu clan not be estranged because of this, but they would actually become closer.
This would leave a mark in their hearts especially in the eyes of those teenage boys and children. If they followed Mu Yangling, they would have meat to eat!
In the past, Mu Yangling would never use such methods, or to put it more accurately, she deigned to do such things. Liu Ting did not know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but the child was indeed growing.
“Then go back. Other than what’s used for the wild boar feast, I’ll split the rest of the things and only give them to the 12 families.”
Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up as she nodded. “Thank you, Uncle.” It was precisely because of Liu Ting’s help that she dared to use this method. Otherwise, if Liu Ting offered to share the pork with everyone in the clan, her efforts would have been in vain.
The Liu Residence bustled with activity for half a night, and in the end, Liu Ting divided all the meat into 12 portions in front of the entire clan. Other than the pig offal and five catties of pork used at the feast tonight, Liu Ting divided all the remaining meat, but he left the pig trotters for the oldest elders in the clan.
The 12 portions were drawn by lottery among the 12 people.
There was not much difference between the 12 portions, so no matter which portion they got, plus considering they were drawing lots, no one had any objections.
Usually, when relatives went to help build a house, they would only get a bowl of decent dishes in the end. No one expected the Mu family to be so generous. The other families who had not gone were envious.
By the time everyone dispersed, many people from the Liu clan were already discussing that they would go over and help the Mu family if anything happened next time since Mu Yangling always made sure to reciprocate generously.
As Liu He sat on the steps and smoked, he said to Liu Daqian, “Your grandniece doesn’t resemble her grandfather or grandmother. Now, I don’t know who she takes after.”
Liu Daqian smiled nonchalantly and said, “Who cares who she takes after? I’ll be relieved if she’s good.”
Liu He looked at the lively crowd below and did not say anything.
When Mu Yangling returned to the Mu Residence, the lights were on in Shu Wanniang’s room. When she heard the commotion, she opened the door and came out. Seeing that Great-aunt had also come out, Shu Wanniang said with a smile, “Aunt, go back and rest. I’ll heat up the dishes for her.”
Great-aunt turned around and went back. She said, “Sleep early after eating. You’ve been tired all day.”
Shu Wanniang pulled her daughter into the room and asked: “How is it? Is everything going well with the Liu clan?”
“Mother, don’t worry. I handed it to my uncles. Someone was already saying sour words when I left.”
As Shu Wanniang heated up the dishes for her, she said, “I’m not afraid of them saying anything. I’m just afraid that they won’t say anything. That’s good. Don’t go over there for the time being. Just settle the matters at home first. This year, I’ll give your uncles 30% more gifts. I’ll arrange it later.”
Mu Yangling heaved a sigh of relief. Her mother was better at this kind of thing. Mu Yangling sat by the stove and ate as she whispered, “Mother, I have to go to the camp tomorrow. Father might be away on business again.”
Shu Wanniang was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, “I understand. I’ll prepare some things for you to bring to him.”
Early the next morning, Mu Yangling first brought Xiuhong and Xiulan up the mountain to chop a cart of dry firewood before going to the camp.
This time, Mu Yangling obediently walked through the gate. The soldiers on the southwest and southeast towers heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Mu Yangling obediently walk to the entrance of the camp to report. Fortunately, Miss Mu did not sneak into the camp this time.
Every time Miss Mu and the Little General played a game of ‘assassination and counter-assassination’, ‘infiltration and counter-infiltration’, they would always be the ones punished in the end because Miss Mu always had a way to sneak into the camp and into the Little General’s room.
Fei Bai personally came to pick Mu Yangling up. After bringing her to Qi Haoran’s study, he bowed and left.
Seeing that she was a little dirty, Qi Haoran knew that she had just come down from the mountain. He asked, “Do you want to eat something first?”
“Ask Fei Bai to bring some pastries over. Let’s talk while eating.”
Qi Haoran called Fei Bai over. “Go get two plates of snacks and a pot of tea. Stand guard outside. Without my instructions, no one is allowed to enter.”
Fei Bai agreed.
Only then did Qi Haoran take out a map and unfold it on the table. “This was marked after my field trip.”
“Is this what you went to Hanzhong Prefecture to do?” Mu Yangling looked at the map carefully and saw that some places were marked very carefully, but some only showed the general situation.
“This is just in passing.” Qi Haoran said, “I have a lot of things to do. It’s not like this is my only task on hand.”
“What do you want to do?”
Qi Haoran retracted the smile on his face and pointed at two routes. “I’m a little hesitant about these two routes. I want to split into two groups. One group will attract the attention of the West Xia soldiers. I’ll bring people to take a detour around their horse farm and chase the horses away. They’ll retreat after we’re three miles away.”
Qi Haoran pointed to a road and said, “This road is relatively close. There are no soldiers guarding or patrolling along the way, but the mountains on both sides are high and dense, and the road is also rugged. It’s not easy for us to walk with horses.” He pointed to another road and said, “This road is flat, but not far from here is the border with the Jin Kingdom. There’s a Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse here. If the commotion is too big, it will definitely alarm them. However, if we retreat with the horses and go via this route, we can reduce the time needed to travel by a third. Even if the West Xia soldiers chase after us on horseback, it’s very difficult for them to catch up with us with us having a lead of three miles. However, this is only effective for the cavalrymen. For the team that’s in charge of attracting the enemy, this road is too far…”
Hence, Qi Haoran could not decide which path to take.
Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up as she asked, “How do you plan to frame the Jin Kingdom?”
“Aren’t we wearing the Jin people’s clothes?”
“That’s not enough.” Mu Yangling said, “West Xia might suspect that we framed them.”
Qi Haoran was silent. He imagined that if he was from West Xia, he would indeed be suspicious.
“That’s why we have to be more realistic.” Mu Yangling said, “Let’s say we are Jin soldiers who rob the horse farm and want to frame Great Zhou. What do you think we would do?”