My Demon Lord Junior Sister Is Pretending to Be Good to Seduce Me - Chapter 28

Lin Yumo’s heart clenched, and she unconsciously squeezed her fist. She stood before the man, her expression unreadable.

The man sized Lin Yumo up and down, saying, “What are you doing? Don’t you know the rules of Qingzhou?”

At this shout, the surrounding guards instantly encircled Lin Yumo. The people who had been gathered below the pavilion watching the commotion scattered, not daring to stay a moment longer.

Yin Ke glanced up at the pavilion and gestured to his subordinates, “Why aren’t you bringing that young woman down yet?”

Lin Yumo looked around at them, seeing right through them, and felt confident.

Hmph! Even without magic, I can beat them!

She stood downstairs, gazing at Mu Xuewei, and for some reason, the thought that the person standing next to her wasn’t herself made her very unhappy.

This made her distracted, allowing the embroidered ball to fall into someone else’s hands.

In this situation, running into her was their bad luck.

She was just looking for a place to vent, and they had walked right into the line of fire.

Lin Yumo pretended to be polite and said, “Since when has Qingzhou been a place for people like you to cause trouble?”

“Oh ho!” Yin Ke rolled up his sleeves. “People like us? Do you know who is standing in front of you?”

He beckoned, and a subordinate suddenly grabbed a passerby. The person immediately fell to their knees with a thud and kowtowed three times, “Second Master Yin, please spare my life, spare my life—”

The passerby was elderly. His withered hands tremblingly reached inside his clothes and nervously pulled out a pouch of silver. “Please, Second Master Yin, spare my life. My whole family relies on me to support them—”

“This is all I have—”

Lin Yumo watched the scene.

Corrupt officials, tyrannical government, and the people suffering.

This was the first time she had grasped the true meaning of those words.

Yin Ke curled his lips. “If you kneel and kowtow three times like him, I’ll let you go, and I can even…”

“…also spare that young woman…” He opened his folding fan and covered his mouth, but even through the fan, one could imagine how lewd his smile was.

Shameless!

Lin Yumo rotated her wrist, but before she could start, a person flew out of the pavilion, directly hitting Yin Ke. The two embraced as they tumbled to the ground.

She turned her head and looked at the doorway.

Mu Xuewei had already taken off the red dress and walked out with a calm expression, “Senior Sister, I’m scared.”

Her tone was flat, and her eyebrows were slightly lowered.

For a moment, Lin Yumo had the strange feeling that the person standing before her was not the little junior sister of the Purple Bamboo Forest, but the high and mighty Demon Lord of the Nine Abyss Killing Prison.

Lin Yumo raised her eyebrows, seeing the shadows of the aloof Demon Lord and the gentle little junior sister overlapping. She shook her head, dismissing the notion.

Is Mu Xuewei really scared? Someone almost died by her hand, alright.

Lin Yumo gave a slight laugh and said indulgently, “I’m here, nothing will happen.”

Hearing these words, a slight smile appeared on Mu Xuewei’s lips. She lifted her eyes and looked at the climbing Yin Ke, saying, “I have something I want to talk about with Prefect Yin. I wonder if your father is present?”

“Attacking the son of a court official in the street, I think you don’t want to…” Before Yin Ke could finish his sentence, a sword was already held at his neck.

“Aiyoh, I, I have been blind and failed to recognize a superior. Please, young lady, don’t be angry—” Yin Ke gently pinched the tip of the Yangshan Xue sword and pushed it a few inches away from himself.

He gave a look to his subordinates, “Hurry up and lead the way!”

Lin Yumo looked at Mu Xuewei’s back and felt a bit pleased. In less than half a year, Xuewei had changed so much. She was no longer as timid as before, and this fierce streak… Lin Yumo actually liked it a little.

Lin Yumo kicked Yin Ke in the rear and shouted a challenge, “Hurry up!”

Yin Ke quickly said, “Yes, yes, yes.”

He kicked the person in front of him, “Hurry up! Hurry up!”

…

A single autumn leaf drifted past Lin Yumo’s eyes. The enormous mansion stood before Lin Yumo, with a magnificent plaque above it bearing the characters “Yin Fu” (Yin Manor).

Stepping inside, there was a splendidly built lotus pond, pillars made of reddish-gold nanmu wood, and golden bricks underfoot coated with a layer of grey paint.

The Xuanling Mountain has been around for ten thousand years, yet its structures are only the most common wooden houses. But looking at the scale of this Yin Manor…

Well, well! It’s even richer than Xuanling Mountain’s ten-thousand-year foundation!

Following the small path further inside, they entered the main hall.

Sitting in the main seat was none other than Prefect Yin, Yin Chao.

And sitting below the main seat was someone Lin Yumo was all too familiar with—Shen Zhuli.

Shen Zhuli had a composed posture, her fingertip tracing the rim of her cup over and over. When she saw Lin Yumo arrive, she seized the moment when no one was looking and winked at Lin Yumo.

Lin Yumo struggled to process it, cleared her throat awkwardly, and pretended not to know Shen Zhuli.

Shen Zhuli had just arrived as well. She handed a stack of papers to a servant, who presented them to Yin Chao.

“Three years unseen, Prefect Yin has certainly risen in status.” Shen Zhuli’s voice was low, carrying a hint of sarcasm. “Three years ago, Prefect Yin was just a poor scholar traveling to the capital for the imperial examination.” She intentionally emphasized “poor scholar,” making sure Yin Chao understood her veiled meaning.

Yin Chao flipped through the stack of notes Shen Zhuli handed over, page by page. They recorded Qingzhou’s taxes, land subsidies, amounts due, amounts collected, and the discrepancies for the past three years, all listed in detail.

Lin Yumo watched his face turn ashen, guessing the general content of the papers.

The Shen family of Qingzhou truly deserved their reputation as the wealthiest in the land. Even after their decline, a formidable person like Shen Zhuli could lead them to rise again.

It had to be said, she even had a knack for dealing with officials.

Shen Zhuli gazed outward, assessing his mansion from top to bottom. She pointed casually towards the courtyard outside and said, “Apart from this mansion of yours, there shouldn’t be much else that can be taken out in all of Qingzhou, right?”

Mu Xuewei deftly returned her sword to its sheath and sat down next to Lin Yumo.

Seeing the supposed “villain” sheath her sword, the surrounding guards immediately gripped their staffs, encircling Lin Yumo and Mu Xuewei. However, they dared not get too close, only performing some intimidating gestures.

“Who are you people? How dare you threaten me in my own mansion!” Yin Chao demanded.

Sure enough, misfortunes never come singly. Shen Zhuli had just come knocking, and now two more unexpected visitors had arrived.

Lin Yumo said, “In broad daylight, Prefect Yin, you are engaged in activities that harm the people and disregard human life!”

Yin Chao’s eyes darted around. He stroked his beard, his smile strained, “What evidence do you have?”

Lin Yumo curved her eyes and sneered internally: He’s truly an old fox who has become a spirit; he won’t admit it until the evidence is right in front of him.

“There is a small turret outside Qingzhou City. Not far from the turret is a river. Following the river for ten li is a secret tunnel. Those guarding the secret tunnel and its interior are all your Qingzhou soldiers.”

Lin Yumo pulled out a token and tossed it toward Yin Chao. “This token is not the only one I have.”

Yin Chao gripped the token, the smile on his face frozen. “What does having this Qingzhou soldier token prove?”

His tone remained gentle, like an elder posing a simple question, but his words were sharp.

“It’s not just that, is it…” Lin Yumo smiled. “Guarding the secret tunnel requires quite a few men, yet there is no sign of manpower shortage in the Qingzhou barracks.”

“That means, Prefect Yin, you…” Lin Yumo elongated her words, stood up, and walked toward Yin Chao, facing the drawn weapons. She leaned in and whispered, “You are illegally raising private troops. This is an act of rebellion.”

“Reporting this to the Emperor will result in the execution of nine generations of your family.” Lin Yumo spoke sensationally. In truth, she knew nothing about civilian laws but had only heard a few such plays in operas, thus having a concept of “execution of nine generations.”

Yin Chao stood up and said, “Tell me, what do you want?”

As he stood up, the guards immediately dropped their staffs and retreated, taking Yin Ke with them and closing the door.

“I want you to disperse your wealth, and for the next three years, cease all tax collection.” Mu Xuewei stood up, her clear and decisive voice ringing out.

Yin Chao looked at her. Among the three people in the hall, based on appearance, the woman in white should have been the easiest to bully. Yet, those two sentences were neither subservient nor arrogant, and every word carried weight.

Shen Zhuli took out another letter from her sleeve and opened it in front of Yin Chao. “If you agree to this, the debt you owed my Shen family three years ago can also be written off.”

She walked toward a candle and held the paper above the flame.

Three years ago, when Yin Chao traveled to the capital for the imperial examination, it was Shen Zhuli who took pity on him and kept him from starving to death. The money then was not worth as much as it is now. The IOU he gave Shen Zhuli, converted to today’s value, could not be repaid even if he sold his mansion.

Of course, the golden bricks he painted grey should be calculated separately.

Yin Chao hesitated repeatedly, then finally said, “Alright. Let’s do it.”

He called for people and instructed, “Disperse all the gold and silver in the treasury, and furthermore, for the next three years… cease all tax collection.”

Yin Ke was astonished. He looked at the grey bricks paved in the courtyard and swallowed.

Good, good. His Yin family still had some reserves left.

Shen Zhuli set her teacup down on the table, brushed off her sleeves, and walked out.

She paused as she stood on the grey bricks, “Prefect Yin…”

Yin Chao clenched his fist, realizing something bad was coming.

“I haven’t been back to Qingzhou for three years, and the Shen Manor is dilapidated and needs to be renovated. I see that your stone bricks are quite nice. At that time, I hope Prefect Yin will lend a hand so I can move into the Shen Manor soon.”

Yin Chao forced a smile and cupped his hands, “Haha, certainly, certainly.”

How ruthless. She’s not leaving him a thing.

On the street where silver was being distributed in Qingzhou, the elderly man held the silver up high, examining it closely under the sun, and said, “Truly divine people.”

…

Dusk settled, and the night gradually replaced the last afterglow. The bright moon hung high, mingling with the flowing starlight.

With the official business settled, the nights in Qingzhou became incredibly lively, with every household brightly lit.

Lin Yumo sat on the eaves, idly gazing at the star-filled sky, looking quite carefree.

Mu Xuewei jumped up and sat beside Lin Yumo, watching her. She suddenly spoke, “Senior Sister, what kind of life did you want to live?”

The wind carried the chill of the waning moon. Mu Xuewei’s hair ribbon tied to her braid fluttered in the breeze, lightly brushing against Lin Yumo’s face, making her feel a tickle in her heart.

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