Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 1252 Serpent Carving

Xu Yunyan's consciousness was still stuck at the moment the silver needle pierced her skin.

Almost the instant the stinging pain hit him, his thoughts began to wander.

He seemed to remember struggling to stay conscious and fighting the thugs while waiting for the constables; then he felt as if he hadn't had time to do anything before everything went black and he lost consciousness.

What about Huai Shaoyong?

What happened to Huai Shaoyong, who was lying behind him at that time?

He tried hard to recall, and suddenly, an image flashed through his mind.

"snake......"

As his consciousness returned, he mustered the last bit of strength he had regained and grabbed Shen Zheng's sleeve: "My lord, the carved zither... there is a snake-shaped carved zither in the tiger's mouth of the opponent's hand."

"Carved Green?" Shen Zheng took a moment to react.

It's a tattoo.

In the previous dynasty, tattooing was one of the five punishments of the court, also known as "tattooing punishment" or "ink punishment"—writing or patterns were carved on the face of the criminal with a knife, and then ink was applied so that the mark would accompany the criminal for life.

But from some point onwards, a trend of "execution" gradually emerged in the martial arts world, and those martial arts practitioners even gave it a nicer name - Carved Green.

People with carved blue decorations are not to be trifled with—this is the perception of most ordinary people.

In reality, this is not absolute, but those who possess carved blue patterns are indeed mostly people from the martial arts world.

This was a very valuable clue, but Shen Zheng couldn't help thinking—they've already sent someone to silence them, couldn't the organization behind "Ling San" have chosen someone with a clean record? Why did they have to choose someone with tattoos and leave behind such a significant clue?

Could it be... a common trait among villains?

—Arrogant.

--furious.

—Fearless of death?

“Snake-shaped carvings on the tiger’s mouth…” Yu Shizhang lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment, confirming that he had never seen anyone with snake-shaped carvings on their tiger’s mouth before. He couldn’t help but ask again, “Besides carvings, are there any others?”

Xu Yunyan loosened his grip on Shen Zheng's sleeve, his fingertips turning white.

He tried to recall something, but as soon as he tried, he felt dizzy and his chest tightened.

"I..." He took a breath, then shook his head. "It seems like he's gone... Oh, right, Huai Shaoyong, he..."

Yu Shizhang glared at him: "You just had a brush with death yourself, and you still have the mind to care about others?"

He paused, then realized he'd spoken too harshly, adding, "That kid is well protected by you, so don't worry about him. Taking care of yourself is the most important thing. You have no idea how scared you've been these past few days. Even the antidote you drank earlier was something Shen Zheng rushed to Yuanzhou to retrieve. She almost..."

“Lord,” Shen Zheng tugged at Yu Shizhang’s sleeve, stopping him from continuing, “Xiao Xu just woke up, let him rest.”

Xu Yunyan, however, was unwilling and struggled to get up: "My lord..."

"Get some rest!"

Shen Zheng reached out and pushed back, intending to press Xu Yunyan back down, but she underestimated Xu Yunyan's current weakness.

Without realizing it, Xu Yunyan used too much force and crashed back onto the bed with a loud "bang".

"!" Yu Shizhang was shocked.

Before the others could react, Xu Yunyan closed his eyes and became completely still.

"!" Everyone was shocked.

"Why are you using so much force!" Yu Shizhang glared at Shen Zheng while pulling Li Shiyuan over: "Take a look!"

Li Shiyuan was also quite frightened. With trembling hands, he pried open Xu Yunyan's eyelids and looked at him for a while before placing his fingertips on Xu Yunyan's neck pulse.

"How is it? How is it?!" Yu Shizhang was extremely anxious.

"..." Li Shiyuan looked around for a while before finally confirming: "She's asleep."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Zheng was still in shock, staring at her left hand in disbelief.

"Let him sleep." Li Shiyuan covered Xu Yunyan with a blanket and comforted Shen Zheng, "He just woke up and is still quite weak. After he wakes up from this nap, he can eat some light liquid food and he will gradually get better."

Shen Zheng nodded blankly.

After a long pause, she remembered something very important: "Will there be any long-term effects?"

According to her understanding, wouldn't such a potent toxin usually damage the nerves, liver, and kidneys?

“No, it won’t happen.” Li Shiyuan shook his head with a smile: “Although this poison is potent and rare, your… no, my family’s secret antidote is top-notch. Once the poison is neutralized, he will gradually recover to his previous health.”

Yu Shizhang chuckled, speaking to Li Shiyuan, but glancing at Shen Zheng out of the corner of his eye: "Then your family's unique skill is really quite good."

"Hehe..." Li Shiyuan chuckled ingratiatingly.

With Xu Yunyan now completely out of danger, everyone was finally able to sit down and relax for a while.

Yu Shizhang looked at the empty jade bottle on the table and asked Shen Zheng, "How much silver did you buy it for?"

Shen Zheng held up three fingers.

"Three thousand taels?" Yu Shizhang nodded. "That's about right."

Shen Zheng shook her head.

"What do you mean?" Yu Shizhang was incredulous: "Thirty thousand taels? And all for this small bottle?!"

He'd feel better if he just asked for a bigger bottle!

Shen Zheng nodded and then shook her head: "Thirty-two thousand taels."

“…Goodness.” Yu Shizhang looked at the sleeping Xu Yunyan and sighed, “This kid’s life is worth a lot now. He might not be able to pay back the debt even if he worked for you for a lifetime.”

Shen Zheng never intended for Xu Yunyan to pay it back.

She uttered a sentence she had dreamed of saying in her past life: "Money is just ingots and paper. You can't take it with you when you die. If it can save your life, that's really good."

Yu Shizhang clicked his tongue: "That's true, it's good that he's back."

"It's good that everyone is alright" is probably the most common phrase people use after experiencing a disaster.

"By the way, about your journey..." Yu Shizhang was about to ask something more when he saw Shen Zheng's eyelids trembling and her head nodding, almost hitting the table.

“…What?” Shen Zheng forced her eyelids open, her eyes glazed over.

Yu Shizhang suddenly realized that Shen Zheng probably hadn't slept a full night during the period from the disaster in Fuzhou to Xu Yunyan's awakening.

Looking at her dirty white clothes, Yu Shizhang belatedly felt a pang of heartache.

"Go to sleep." He lowered his voice and got up to shield Shen Zheng from the candlelight. "We can talk about other things tomorrow."

Shen Zheng's mind gradually became muddled. She vaguely felt someone carrying her on their back, and the person's hair brushed against her neck, making her feel a little itchy.

"Hua Duo..." Smelling the scent, Shen Zheng recognized the person carrying her and mumbled, "You...you should rest well too..."

Hua Duo gently lifted her up and whispered, "Your Highness, please sleep. I will take you back to the manor."

Shen Zheng had a very long dream.

In my dream, Tongan County had a bumper harvest, and every household had more new rice than they could eat.

One day, Zhou Lizheng came to the county government office in a mysterious manner and said to her in a cryptic tone, "Your Honor, I have found a great treasure and have come to present it to you..."

She asked, "What is it?"

Zhou Lizheng took out a rice cooker and said to her, "Plug it in and it will only take half an hour to cook rice."