I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 231 - 199: Letter Home

Sang Que stayed with Xia Chan, watching her drain two buckets of pig blood, leaving not even a bone fragment of half a pig. Her hair entwined, and the pork vanished quickly.

Xia Chan still unsatisfied, her hair had grown back to waist length, shiny and black with a healthy luster and texture.

Indeed, Xia Chan needed fresh blood and raw meat to replenish herself after consumption; the everyday food she consumed provided limited nutrients and had to be supplemented with quantity.

"Little Chan, sister knows you’re a good child, not a bad person. Sister hopes you won’t care about what others think of you, alright?"

Xia Chan tilted her head, not quite understanding Sang Que’s words.

Sang Que spoke more directly, "Eating people is indeed not good, but in this world, not harming others doesn’t mean others won’t harm you. If someone wants to hurt you, eating them is not wrong."

Xia Chan’s eyes turned cautious, "Sister says, Little Chan can eat bad people, eating bad people won’t make Little Chan a bad Little Chan?"

Sang Que nodded earnestly, telling Little Chan firmly, "Yes, protecting yourself is the most important thing, nothing else matters beyond that."

What Sang Que said was different from what her mother said. Xia Chan’s mother only told her to run, to hide, to suppress her craving for blood.

Xia Chan didn’t understand much logic, but she trusted Sang Que.

"Alright, if someone wants to harm Little Chan, Little Chan will eat them, and those who harm sister, Little Chan will eat them too."

Sang Que patted Xia Chan’s head with satisfaction, and Xia Chan gave a shy smile.

"Also, if there’s an emergency and there are dead people around you, you can eat them too, remember that staying alive is most important, don’t burden yourself mentally. No matter what others say about you in the future, in sister’s eyes, you will always be the best and most well-behaved Little Chan."

"Mm! Little Chan will remember!"

Xia Chan smiled happily, the guilt from wanting to eat children disappeared at night, and she cleaned up the carriage with Sang Que.

Seeing the small box of money, Xia Chan remembered her purse, counting on her fingers, "Sister took three taels and four maces of silver from Little Chan, and seventeen copper coins."

Sang Que’s expression froze, Xia Chan wasn’t asking her to repay, she merely felt a strong responsibility towards her role as ’financial manager,’ needing to keep their accounts clear.

"In eight days, sister will find a way to reimburse you."

Sang Que couldn’t help but laugh, the black donkey brayed outside, and Sang Que smacked her forehead.

Darn it, the donkey and cart were nominally also hers, so Sang Que immediately found pen and paper and had Xia Chan sign and seal to transfer ownership of the donkey, cart, and even her clothes to Xia Chan.

Thinking it through, Sang Que had an idea and retrieved a red thread, stringing the copper coins one by one and handing them to Xia Chan.

"Next time I ask you for money, hand them to me one copper coin at a time, don’t give too much at once, okay?"

Xia Chan nodded, no matter what her sister said, it was right to follow her instructions.

Sang Que thought, the cursed dice wanted to make her poor, not so easily, even a copper coin counts as money, fitting the rules of using the dice.

Next time, she won’t throw the dice, just place them with four points facing up or weigh them down beneath the four-point side.

Breaking conventional thinking, finding loopholes in the rules.

Sang Que laid warm bedding in the donkey cart and let Xuan Yu accompany Xia Chan, then returned to find He Buning.

In the private school hall, He Buning sat in the only chair, hugging his arms, resting with his eyes closed.

Hearing footsteps, He Buning knew it was Sang Que and didn’t open his eyes, "Did you contact your master?"

In the Deceit Dynasty, the Taoist Sect had the Paperman Communication Method, cutting a small paperman from yellow paper, writing on it, and using a special incantation to call upon a Little Ghost to deliver the message.

This belonged to the Magic Technique of the Taoist Sect’s "Five Ghost Transport Technique," a high-level Taoist Skill.

Normally, distance across several counties was not an issue, skilled ones could instantly communicate within a state.

"Preparing the medicinal materials will take a day."

He Buning opened his eyes, somewhat surprised. He initially thought it would take at least three to five days and didn’t expect it to be possible in just a day, proving that Sang Que’s master was indeed capable.

"When we reach Fengning City, you will receive three hundred merit points for your primary contribution regarding the Sickness Ghost issue."

Sang Que nodded, being a Night Traveler was dangerous, but earning merit points was quick. Including the eight hundred merit points she already had, she could exchange them in Fengning City for an Exorcism Red Candle like Yan Daozi’s, which could fend off a Five-layered Evil Ghost. One candle required a thousand merit points.

The night passed uneventfully.

Early the next day, Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu brought people from the relay station, delivering two carts of grain and two carts of warm bedding.

The relay station people refused to enter the village, willing only to leave the supplies at the village entrance. Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu couldn’t force them but also didn’t let them leave, asking them to all go chop wood in the forest.

Boiling the medicine required a lot of firewood, and the old, weak, women, and children in the village didn’t have much strength.

They toiled until the afternoon, filling the courtyard of the private school at the end of the village with chopped wood, all done by Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu, with Xia Chan’s considerable help.

The grain was handed over to the village chief, and there wasn’t much more He Buning and the others could do.

Sang Que still awaited the medicinal materials. Not wanting to waste time staying put, He Buning decided to take Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu to patrol nearby villages and towns, checking for any deceitful cases that needed handling.

They agreed to meet at noon the next day at the fork leading to Shikeng Village.

After He Buning and the others left, the village chief Yang Jisheng found Sang Que, kneeling and bowing in thanks.

Sang Que was kind, she cooked porridge with the rice for the villagers yesterday, and she was the one who defeated the Sickness Ghost so that it had no chance to retaliate and promised to help with the medicinal materials.

Yang Jisheng overheard their talk about going to Shikeng Village and Fengning City yesterday. He didn’t dare to ask He Buning, so he waited until He Buning left to beg Sang Que.

"The old one humbly asks the maiden to help send a letter to the family members doing hard labor in Shikeng Village and Fengning City, if possible. No other task, just sending a letter."

Yang Jisheng kneeled on the ground, teary-eyed, with his little granddaughter kneeling beside him.

"Xiang’er misses her father and mother."

Inside the private school, other women and children, yet to catch the pox and helping around, all looked at Sang Que with anticipation.

"Elder, please rise first."

Sang Que helped the little girl and Yang Jisheng up, "Such a small task like sending a letter, just say the word, it’s a small favor."

Yang Jisheng wept with joy, "Thank you, thank you, the maiden is a great kind person, may good deeds beget good fortune, this old one will certainly implore the Daoist Lord to bless you."

Sang Que thought, with the Witch Lady over her, it hardly needed the Daoist Lord’s blessing.

"Where’s the letter?"

"Not written yet, the old one will write it now." Yang Jisheng wiped his tears, then turned to the villagers, "If anyone wants to write a letter, think about what to write now, I’ll find some paper."

Yang Jisheng, in his excitement, almost tripped over the threshold, eventually finding a stack of yellowed straw paper in a small room of the private school.

Sang Que became alert, "Village chief, did the children who once studied here give these papers to the private school?"

Yang Jisheng nodded, "Yes, they were tuition gifts from each household for the private school, kept there without daring to use; now there’s no other paper, so we have to use these."

"Can you give me these papers? I’ll exchange them with other papers for you."

Sang Que had previously promised to help her mother find paper used as tuition in private schools, but discovered in Wangshan City that such paper wasn’t given to outsiders or allowed to be traded, so the matter was delayed.

Yang Jisheng paused, pondered, then nodded, "Alright, these papers are useless in this old one’s hands, if you don’t mind, feel free to use them."

Sang Que had Xia Chan assist by retrieving the bamboo paper she had prepared from the donkey cart.

Yang Jisheng took the paper, set up a table, and ground ink, letting the villagers who wanted to write letters come one by one, with them dictating and Yang Jisheng writing.

First came a white-haired elderly woman, dressed in thin clothes, barefooted in straw shoes, her feet covered in frostbite, holding a little boy about three years old, emaciated to just bones. The boy wore a shabby adult’s garment, with vacant eyes, leaning in the old woman’s arms.

Yang Jisheng readied his pen, and the woman began speaking.

"...Bao Fu, mother and Hu’er are well at home, Hu’er has even fattened up a bit this winter, his clothes are tight now, don’t worry about us at home. Be careful with your work there, but be cautious, don’t ever think of escaping — escape means losing your head. Don’t fret over home, think more of Hu’er, grit your teeth and get through this; you’re the only man left in the family. Mother and Hu’er will wait for you at home..."