The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 1007: Chapter 984: Prestige Amid Chaos 52

Xiao Yuan hugged Anning tightly: ”Are you okay? Are you hurt? Were you scared?”

Anning was still crying softly: ”I was so scared, it was really terrifying, we didn’t provoke anyone and yet we were captured, husband, you must stand up for us.”

The soldiers behind Xiao Yuan: ...

These people all looked bewildered.

Could it be that their mistress’s clean and decisive killing of Yu Youcai earlier was an illusion? Or were they dreaming?

Xiao Yuan looked furious: ”That Yu Youcai is truly hateful. It’s bad enough that he incited the mob to rebel during the earthquake, but he even dared to capture my wife and try to threaten me. He deserved to die.”

He said to Dong Da: ”Brother Dong, take some men and hang Yu Youcai’s corpse on the city gate tower. Let it serve as a warning to those rioting people.”

”Yes.”

Dong Da cupped his fists.

He felt a bit overwhelmed and even more shocked.

He thought to himself, sir, if you and your wife are going to act, you have to do it convincingly. You can’t just be this reckless.

Mistress, at least act a bit scared when we arrive, and then let master heroically rescue you and kill the thief. That’s how you act.

But you?

Oh dear, that one strike...

Dong Da’s neck even felt sore from just thinking about it.

He thought to himself that Yu Youcai was truly unfortunate, getting schemed against by this couple.

They plotted against him so openly, acting so casually. Were they sure the brothers who came along wouldn’t spread rumors?

Dong Da led the men to take Yu Youcai’s corpse away.

Xiao Ying and the others snapped back to their senses and quickly comforted their sisters.

Xiao Ling, with a flushed face, approached Yuan Family: ”Are you okay?”

Yuan Family was still a bit dazed. She looked at Xiao Ling, then at Anning, and then at Xiao Jin and Hui Family, who looked calm. Suddenly, she cried and hugged Xiao Ling: ”Husband...”

She wanted to say she was scared, but she really didn’t feel afraid.

”Husband, I, I...”

Yuan Family struggled for a while and finally said: ”I missed you.”

Xiao Yin pulled Xiao Yi aside to giggle.

Xiao Yuan comforted Anning, then ordered the soldiers to suppress the unrest. He also had those who committed many crimes captured and imprisoned, planning to publicly try them in three days in front of the entire Prefecture City.

As for Yu Youcai’s home, since his house was quite nice, Xiao Yuan requisitioned it directly.

When all the men went to Prefecture City to deal with the chaos, Xiao Yin went to find Anning.

At that time, Anning had just finished grooming, sitting at the dressing table tending to her eyebrows and hair.

”Mom.”

Xiao Yin approached and asked: ”Mom, did you always think Yu Family’s house was nice, so you brought us here? After all, this way we don’t have to move later.”

Anning turned back, winked at Xiao Yin with a smile: ”Yin’er, sometimes you see things as they are without speaking out, do you understand?”

Xiao Yin nodded dumbly.

She walked out of the room, sat on the steps under the porch, resting her chin as she pondered life.

Honestly speaking, her parents seemed much more advanced than she thought.

She originally thought her parents would directly rebel, gathering a force to fight east and west. She even calculated how long it would take from Lai County to Prefecture City, estimating perhaps more than half a year before they could capture Prefecture City.

But she never expected that from Jingtian Village to Prefecture City would take them only half a month, such a speed was truly amazing.

Moreover, their rebellion even occupied the moral high ground this time.

After all, they didn’t instigate the trouble, they were merely quelling the rebellion.

But what happens after quelling?

The Magistrate fled, leaving the entire Nanyi Prefecture leaderless. Without someone to stabilize it, it might become chaotic again.

Her parents, for the sake of all the common people in Nanyi Prefecture, would have to reluctantly take charge.

By then, it would be easy to invite a god but hard to send one away. No one would likely be able to easily oust her parents.

Thinking this way, Xiao Yin sighed heavily again.

She thought she had become quite smart during her years in ancient times, yet she still couldn’t see through her parents.

She clenched her little fists, determined to study harder in the future, striving to become exceptionally smart, just slightly less than her parents.

As for surpassing her parents, Xiao Yin didn’t even dare think about it. Those two were already beyond human comprehension, she’d be out of her mind to compare herself to them.

Anning, dressed gorgeously, went to find Hui Family and Yuan Family.

She took them to collect all the treasures and the gold and silver that Yu Youcai had buried underground from the Yu Family’s private vaults.

Honestly, Yu Youcai did acquire quite a number of good items over the years.

Anning, along with Hui Family and Yuan Family, picked some favorite jewelry and some exquisite fabrics stored in the warehouse. The rest of the gold and silver items were handed over to Xiao Yuan to fund military operations.

Xiao Hui had already taken her sisters to occupy the kitchen in the Yu Residence.

Being a student of medicine, Xiao Hui understood the importance of carefulness with food. Since Anning had just killed Yu Youcai, it was possible that Yu Family’s servants might hold grudges and try to poison them in revenge by tampering with their food.

Xiao Hui inspected all the ingredients in the kitchen, then had Xiao Ying drive all Yu Family’s servants away.

It was chaotic outside, and Xiao Hui couldn’t find more servants, so she and her sisters prepared the meals themselves.

They worked tirelessly until the evening, when the family finally settled down.

Aside from suppressing the unrest in Prefecture City, Xiao Yuan also selected a few servants from the homes of rich families destroyed by vagrants and brought them back.

Upon seeing these servants, Anning began to allocate tasks, dividing them among the kitchen, cleaning, and heavy labor. She showed the girls at home how to select and manage servants, how to handle household affairs, and so on, taking advantage of the occasion to teach them.

After dinner, Xiao Ling brought over a large trunk filled with various ledgers.

”Third Sister-in-law, these were taken from the Nanyi Prefecture government’s office. My third brother asked you to organize them so you can manage all the affairs of Prefecture City afterwards.”

Anning nodded: ”Just place them here.”

Later, Xiao Ying brought in another trunk of ledgers: ”Mom, dad sent these with me. They are the ledgers of the troop dad leads, recording all the military supplies. Dad said you would be responsible for managing them.”

Anning sighed: ”Alright, put them here. I’ll look at them later.”

She had enjoyed an easy-going life for many days, but now she had to get busy.

That night, by lamplight, Anning worked half the night sorting out the military and civilian accounts.

Xiao Yuan, however, stayed out all night.

The next day, Xiao Yuan returned saying he had already subdued the stationed troops in Nanyi Prefecture.

Indeed, there were stationed troops in Nanyi Prefecture.

However, the Prefecture City was usually under the jurisdiction of the Magistrate; any issues in the city were handled by the Government Official, similar to modern police maintaining order.

The stationed troops were generally based in camps some distance away from the city.

Because Xiao Yuan acted so quickly, the stationed troops only received news when the city was already in chaos. Before they could even gather their forces, Xiao Yuan had already seized the city.

The first thing Xiao Yuan did after taking over was to cut off the army’s grain supplies.

If they didn’t surrender, they’d face starvation.

If the lower-ranked soldiers were starving, any mutiny would mean certain death for the higher-ranked officers.

The leader of the stationed troops in Nanyi Prefecture was surnamed Ma, and he was a guerrilla general, often called Guerrilla Ma.

Despite commanding many soldiers, Ma Guerrilla actually rose through connections and lacked the backbone. Xiao Yuan only had to threaten him slightly, and he couldn’t hold on, surrendering.

Xiao Yuan absorbed Ma Guerrilla’s troops, mixing them with his own soldiers and having his men brainwash those troops.