The meal left all three of them feeling uncomfortable. Even the meat, which was usually an indispensable part of a meal, was left untouched.
The prefect asked nervously, "The economy of the prefecture is tight. Is the food not to your taste?"
Ji Yunxi reacted quickly and shook her head. "No. We've been fasting for a long time, so we're not used to it."
Hearing this, the prefect thought to himself that they must be immortals if they could fast. He got excited immediately and laughed. "I was being stupid. Hahaha."
Li Jiuge gave a faint smile but didn't say anything.
After the meal, the prefect cheerfully sent a maid to show them to their accommodations. Ji Yunxi tugged at Li Jiuge's sleeve and whispered, "Let's observe the situation in the prefecture and figure out the layout."
Li Jiuge was immediately overjoyed. She knew Yunxi wasn't the kind of person who didn't care about the common people.
Her eyes sparkled like stars as she nodded vigorously at Ji Yunxi.
They slowly followed the maid to the villa in the prefecture. Along the way, they observed the situation inside silently.
There were many family members in the prefecture. In just a short distance, they had already seen several concubines, each followed by a number of maids. Although the concubines and maids saluted them when they saw them, most of them had arrogant looks in their eyes.
Ji Yunxi noticed that all the female family members in the prefecture were dressed in gold and silver, and even the servants were dressed neatly and cleanly. There was no sign of financial hardship at all.
The more Ji Yunxi observed, the colder her eyes became. It was truly a case of "the rich feast while the poor freeze to death" outside.
They were arranged to stay in a courtyard. Li Jiuge and Ji Yunxi shared a room, while Feng Xingzhi and Qing Xuan shared another.
After everyone left, Qing Xuan immediately set up a barrier around the courtyard so that they could talk freely inside the house.
Li Jiuge invited Feng Xingzhi and Qing Xuan into the room and voiced her confusion. "Yunxi, cousin, why didn't you let me ask about the refugees just now?"
Ji Yunxi put down the teacup in her hand. "It's not that I didn't let you ask. It's just unnecessary. There are dead bodies lying everywhere outside. The prefect can't be blind. He must have seen it. But inside the prefecture, it's all peaceful. Such a sumptuous meal with a lot of meat and fish. Even in the prime minister's mansion before, Father rarely allowed us to be so extravagant."
There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone. Feng Xingzhi rarely saw Yunxi like this. He thought even her look of disgust was quite cute.
"Judging from the atmosphere in the prefecture, this matter must have something to do with the prefect. But if we show that we care too much about this, we may attract trouble. It's better not to tip off the enemy for now."
Qing Xuan murmured in a low voice, "We're not afraid of him."
Ji Yunxi raised her eyebrows. "Qing Xuan, there are laws in the mortal world. Even if we want to do something, we have to consider that we're in the Eastern Jin Dynasty now, not in the territory of the Southern Yan. Besides, we don't know the situation in the prefect's mansion yet. If we act rashly, not only will we have no just cause, but we may not succeed either."
Qing Xuan pouted. He was just a mysterious bird that had slept for a long time. He really didn't understand much about the mortal world.
"Are we just going to watch these people starve and freeze to death outside?" Li Jiuge finally couldn't hold back after a long time.
As the most noble princess of the Southern Yan, she had been kind-hearted since childhood. Under the guidance of a wise king, she took the safety of the common people as her own responsibility.
Seeing the miserable situation of the common people now, she felt extremely sad.
Ji Yunxi certainly wouldn't sit back and watch this tragedy continue. After thinking for a while, she suddenly took out a bamboo flute from her bosom and summoned a kingfisher in front of everyone. "This is the communication token of the owner of the Bamboo Intent Pavilion. I'll ask Zhu Linyun to bring people here."
"The Bamboo Intent Pavilion? What do you want them to do?" Qing Xuan was completely confused.
Ji Yunxi said, "I'll ask the people from the Bamboo Intent Pavilion to distribute porridge. It will also be beneficial for the Bamboo Intent Pavilion to develop in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the future. So that people won't always regard the Bamboo Intent Pavilion as a place for entertainment."
Feng Xingzhi nodded. "That's good. The bigger the Bamboo Intent Pavilion is, the more help it will be in the future."
Li Jiuge suddenly understood. "Yunxi is really amazing. You can not only help people but also promote the good name of the Bamboo Intent Pavilion!"
Ji Yunxi felt a bit embarrassed under their gazes. "Okay, stop just complimenting me. This matter can't be achieved overnight. There are strange phenomena in the sky. We can help one place, but we can't help everywhere."
Li Jiuge immediately thought of what Rong Hua had said before and suddenly had a bold guess. "Yunxi is right. Immortal Venerable Rong Hua said before that your mission is related to the world. Could it be that only after your divine power recovers can you save the whole world?"
Ji Yunxi immediately shook her head. "Impossible. There are still so many great gods now. How could this task fall on me, a mere mortal?"
Seeing that she seemed reluctant, Feng Xingzhi immediately chimed in. "That's right. Let's not think about it so much. The most important thing now is to find all the herbs."
Everyone nodded. "Then we'll go to Guangwu Mountain, the highest mountain in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, to look for the Dongwei tomorrow."
Li Jiuge looked embarrassed. "But we don't know what the Dongwei looks like. It would be great if we had brought Jiang Linyin with us. It's a pity that he ran away."
Ji Yunxi suddenly found some paper and a pen. "I remember seeing it in the library."
Saying so, she drew the appearance of the Dongwei for everyone. "I remember it looking like this. It's already very late. Let's rest early and set off tomorrow morning."
Everyone went back to their rooms. At this time, in the dungeon of the Moon-Watching Pavilion.
Jiang Yaoji was hanging from the ceiling, covered in whip marks.
The man who had appeared by the Blue Water Lake that day was wearing a silver mask. He was holding a cup of tea and looking calm.
"Tell me."
Jiang Yaoji was trembling all over, in so much pain that she could hardly stand it. She gasped for a few breaths before saying, "Your subordinate..."
"Don't say you don't know. You clearly had a perfect opportunity to kill Ji Yunxi and Feng Xingzhi, but you stopped and ran away like a fool?"
As he said this, his anger flared up. He raised the whip and lashed it at Jiang Yaoji.
She endured the pain and didn't cry out. She just gritted her teeth and replied, "Reporting to the great god, it's not that your subordinate didn't want to kill them. It's just that the Lushu had already brought people there at that time. I was afraid that Ji Yunxi would take the opportunity to kill me instead, so I withdrew first, thinking that there would be more opportunities in the future."
The man looked at her coldly and didn't believe her at all.
Jiang Yaoji saw his look, but she had no other choice. She could only continue to defend herself. "Great god, besides, even if Ji Yunxi is killed, she can be reborn, right?"
The masked man swept the teacup to the ground. "I don't care if she can be reborn or not!"
He stepped forward and grabbed Jiang Yaoji's chin. "Didn't I say? Let her end this life first! Her spiritual power has increased so much that it's already very difficult to control. When she comes back, her spiritual power and cultivation will be weak. When to kill her is still up to me! You stupid fool!"
He almost crushed Jiang Yaoji's chin. "You still have feelings for Feng Xingzhi in your heart, don't you?"
Jiang Yaoji trembled all over and didn't dare to say a word.