Stinky Bandit, I’m Pregnant! - Chapter 21:

Chapter 21: The Empress Fainted Again

The patrol officers immediately greeted him respectfully, “Lord Gu, this man is too lazy and filthy. His neighbors reported him, and we’re preparing to take him for disinfection!”

Gu Fei replied, “Check how many points he has left. If his points aren’t enough, make him leave Shangyuan County. We don’t need people like him here. It’s bad enough that he’s lazy, but he’s also filthy.”

“Yes, Lord Gu!”

The empress, standing to the side, was stunned by Gu Fei’s words. 

Points? Disinfection? 

So this was why she hadn’t seen any beggars in Shangyuan County—they had all been driven out.

So this place wasn’t as flawless as it appeared after all.

Once the patrol officers carried the man away, the empress immediately switched into mockery mode. “You damn bandit, so this is your method of covering up the truth. No wonder! I was wondering why there wasn’t a single beggar in the whole city—it’s because you drove them all out. You don’t have a shred of compassion!”

Gu Fei knew this woman was having another outbreak of saintly kindness. He snorted coldly and said, “How I govern this county is my business. I don’t tolerate beggars because they’re filthy and easily spread bacteria, which could cause an epidemic.”

“If you think I lack compassion, fine. I’ll take you somewhere so you can see for yourself.”

With that, he reached out and grabbed the empress’s hand. 

No matter how she struggled, he refused to let go. Eventually, she gave up and let him hold her hand.

Besides, the empress had noticed that in this city, many men and women strolled through the streets hand in hand. If this were Dadu, they’d be drowned in spit by the onlookers, but here, it was a common sight.

Gu Fei led Xiao Lingshuang all the way to a building about 100 meters outside the west gate of the city.

In front of the building, a line of raggedly dressed people—men, women, young and old—stood in a row. Several city guards from Shangyuan County, their mouths and faces covered with strange masks, were calling out, “Line up properly, register clearly, and figure out what kind of work you can do!”

The empress asked, “What are they doing?”

Gu Fei snorted, “No point in talking. Just watch for yourself.”

The empress, furious, yanked her hand away from his just as Ye Anlan walked over and saw them.

Seeing the two holding hands earlier soured Ye Anlan’s mood instantly. But with her cold personality, she didn’t show it outwardly. She simply added another layer of resentment toward Gu Fei in her heart and walked over gloomily.

“Lord Gu, why are you here?”

Gu Fei chuckled, “This Lady Leng said our Shangyuan County can’t tolerate beggars, so I brought her here to see how we deal with beggars.”

“Why don’t you explain to her how we handle them?”

Ye Anlan glanced at Gu Fei, silently thinking: Hmph, even if that’s the case, did you really need to hold hands?

Still, she replied with a calm “Alright,” and said, “Today, thirty-nine people came—twenty men, twelve women, and seven children. All of them meet the requirements. After being quarantined outside the city for half a month and passing the epidemic safety inspection period, they’ll be allowed to work in the west side workshops.”

“After one year, based on their work performance, they can become official residents of Shangyuan City.”

The empress frowned, confused by what Ye Anlan said. 

Quarantine? Inspection period? And they had to prove their work performance just to become residents?

Xiao Lingshuang asked, puzzled, “How do they survive in the meantime? Winter is coming. Won’t they starve before even getting into the city?”

Ye Anlan sneered, “Lady Leng, you’re overthinking. Do you see those houses in the far west? Those are temporary residences for them. As long as they work hard, do you think they’ll starve?”

“Of course, if they’re lazy and just want handouts, then even if they starve, it serves them right.”

Xiao Lingshuang looked in the direction Ye Anlan pointed and saw rows of white houses. She was shocked. She hadn’t expected those clean and beautiful homes to be for beggars.

Her heart was overwhelmed. If all the common people of Northern Heng could live in such houses, she would be satisfied.

But here in Shangyuan City, these homes were given to beggars…

At this moment, Empress Xiao Lingshuang felt utterly shaken.

Gu Fei had been secretly observing her reaction. Seeing her stunned expression gave him a deep sense of satisfaction.

But something was off—the number of people today seemed unusually high, and they didn’t look like typical beggars. He frowned and asked, “Why are there so many people today? And they don’t really look like beggars either.”

“Lord Gu, they’re all refugees from Dao County in Yunzhou!”

The empress exclaimed, “How is that possible? How could they have come from Yunzhou? That’s where the capital is!”

“Hmph, if you don’t believe it, I’ll call two people over, and you can ask them yourself!”

“You two, come over!”

Ye Anlan called out, and a man and a woman ran over quickly.

Before they could get too close, Ye Anlan stopped them, “Just answer from there. Don’t move around!”

“Lady Leng, you ask them.”

Gu Fei was satisfied with Ye Anlan’s caution.

The empress looked at Ye Anlan’s face covered by a square-shaped mask and thought to herself, could that really prevent disease?

But her main concern right now was what was happening in Yunzhou.

She cleared her throat and asked, “You two came from Yunzhou?”

The man bowed and said, “My lady, we’re a married couple, and we did come from Dao County in Yunzhou.”

The empress’s expression turned cold. “Nonsense. Isn’t Dao County quite wealthy? How could you end up begging for food?”

“My lady, you might not know… At first, we could barely get by in Dao County, but a few days ago, officials suddenly showed up at our door, demanding five taels of silver from every household. They said it was for celebrating the new emperor’s coronation. If we couldn’t pay, my wife would be taken to a brothel as a prostitute.”

“So we ran away overnight.”

“What! A new emperor’s coronation? That’s impossible!” The empress felt like she’d fallen into an icy abyss, her face filled with shock.

“Sigh… We don’t know what’s going on either. Everyone is saying the empress passed the throne to the second prince, Xiao Yang. He’s going to ascend the throne on the third day of next month.”

“If he wants to become emperor, fine, but why doesn’t he leave us commoners a way to survive?”

“The third of next month—that’s only seven days from now!”

The empress froze in place, her heart in despair.

Then she suddenly collapsed.

Fortunately, Gu Fei reacted quickly and caught her in his arms.

“Hey, hey… wake up!”

Her collapse startled the two refugees from Yunzhou.

They thought, what’s her problem? Someone else is ascending the throne, so why is she fainting?

Thankfully, Ye Anlan quickly ordered them to return to the line.

Gu Fei carried the unconscious Xiao Lingshuang and ran back immediately.

Ye Anlan tore off her mask and followed closely behind.

Gu Fei thought, You’re not the empress, so why are you so worked up?

But then he recalled Ye Anlan might not have fully recovered yet, especially after their activities last night… Fainting kind of made sense.

Luckily, the carriage wasn’t far, and they returned home quickly.