Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1372: Chapter 1374: Incredibly Ingenious Methods_1

If Bai Ruozhu were present, he would undoubtedly have applauded the second elder. He didn’t start by denouncing the great elder right away, nor did he evade the great elder’s targeting without fighting back and losing momentum. Instead, he turned around to question the great elder, which was simply splendidly done.

Of course, Bai Ruozhu also didn’t believe that the second elder was just a naively honest ”straightforward boy”. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve the position of the second elder, nor would he have so many loyal followers.

At this moment, many of the elders in the Council Hall were unhappy with the great elder. Indeed, the trouble was caused by the great elder, and he was the one everyone was pointing fingers at outside. Everyone was trying to help him solve the problem, but he just wanted to shift the blame.

The great elder was still fuming and wanted to argue with the second elder, but Honglian, sensing the dire situation, said, ”The great elder has been wronged by a deceitful person. At this moment, he is also befuddled with anger, and I hope all the elders will forgive him. While on the surface the adversaries are slandering the great elder, in reality, they are damaging the reputation of the Holy Hall and have even dragged me into this. Their likely objective is to create division among us, to stir up internal chaos within our Holy Hall so they can destroy us all at once.”

Honglian’s words made many elders withdraw their contemptuous gaze from the great elder and start to worry and ponder deeply.

The second elder had also worried about this issue, but compared with the great elder’s use of private power to harm the common people, he was more eager to eliminate this malignant tumor.

”The pressing matter is how to appease the people outside, we can’t delay any longer. I fear if it drags on, the people will storm in here,” said the second elder. ”Surely our Holy Guards would not massacre the people? Would we kill the children cherished by the gods?”

Initially, someone wanted to say that anyone who dared to break into the Holy Hall would be killed without mercy, but now they couldn’t voice such a statement. Would they not be afraid of divine punishment for slaughtering those cherished by the gods?

Despite the people of the Holy Hall loving to play the ghost and engage in superstition, most of them still believed in the gods and held them in awe.

Everyone fell silent, thinking of solutions. Then the sixth elder, who was close to the second elder, received a look from him and spoke out, ”Given the current situation, the Holy Hall must show a stance to the outside world. We need to claim that we will investigate this matter thoroughly. At the very least, we should make it seem like we have detained the great elder to quell public outrage, and then conduct a public inquiry. This will also give us time to prove that those miracles were man-made.”

”Are you targeting me, old man?” demanded the great elder, who had long wielded tyrannical power within the Holy Hall, now glaring with his eyes wide. But his words didn’t carry as much weight as before.

”It’s merely for show,” said the sixth elder. ”The great elder didn’t do those things, so why fear an inquiry?”

A coldness flickered in Honglian’s eyes as she cautiously said, ”If we detain the great elder just because someone outside played some tricks, wouldn’t we be playing right into their hands? What if they think our Holy Hall is easy to control? And wouldn’t this amount to admitting the issue to the people?”

”If you don’t admit it now, the people have already made up their minds,” the sixth elder pointed out. ”Isn’t this a strategic easing? Once we investigate and get to the bottom of this, won’t the truth be revealed?”

Honglian wanted to say more, but upon seeing the trace of mockery in the sixth elder’s eyes, a tightness gripped her heart, fearing her background would be exposed. At this point, it was better for her to protect herself wisely.

Looking at the assembly, the second elder said, ”Does anyone have a better proposal? We cannot delay any further. The crowds outside are growing.”

”Qiu Chen, I’ll remember you for this,” the great elder shouted, pointing at the second elder. ”You are behind this chicanery, right? Fine, fine, we shall see!” Seeing that no one opposed him, he started cursing at the second elder.

The second elder ignored him and began to discuss with others who should go out to explain the situation to the people and the subsequent resolution matters.

Soon after, a team of Holy Guards appeared and tied up the great elder. The Team Leader of the Holy Guards, naturally the second elder’s man, even purposefully saluted the great elder and said, ”Great elder, sorry for the disrespect, but this is just for the people to see.”

Having said their piece, they helped the great elder to his feet and pushed him toward the outside. The great elder cursed under his breath but to no avail. Many of his loyal followers dared not act rashly, and although others wanted to stop them, they were blocked by the followers of the second elder.

Everyone was afraid the common people would rush in, and then everyone present would be out of luck.

Soon, the doors of the Holy Hall flung open, and Bai Ruozhu in the private room excitedly said, ”Hurry up and look, the great elder is being escorted out, the real show is just beginning.”

People crowded around, amused, and from a distance saw the great elder’s mouth moving as if he was trying to speak. Unfortunately, the noises of the crowd and the pouring rain drowned out his voice completely.

The great elder, looking at the glaring three lines of red text on the ground, trembled with rage. In the next moment, something was suddenly hurled at him—it turned out someone had thrown a pebble at him. He glared back in fury, which immediately triggered more people to throw things at him. Rotten vegetable leaves, rotten radishes, pebbles from the roadside—everything was thrown in his direction.

Bai Ruozhu was laughing so hard by the window that she doubled over, saying to everyone, ”Look, the great elder has done so much wrong, and now his retribution has finally come.”

”Ruozhu, can this really bring him down completely? He has been steeped in the ways of the Holy Hall for so many years,” Qingyan asked with some concern.

”I don’t expect this alone to do the job, but there’s more to come,” Bai Ruozhu said, smiling like a fox. Jiang Yichun couldn’t help but go over and ruffle her hair, saying, ”Step back a bit, careful not to let the rain soak your clothes.”

”It’s okay, the rain is stopping soon,” Bai Ruozhu said with a smile. The rain had been predicted by the astrologer of the royal palace, who had also estimated when it would stop.

If Ning Yu had been here, he could have used astrology to predict the rain. Such knowledge was quite basic within the Astrology Tower. Unfortunately, Bai Ruozhu had come into contact with it late and knew only the basics.

As expected, after a while the rain lessened and then stopped. When everyone looked again at the Qilin at the Main Gate of the Holy Hall, it was no longer bleeding!

A member of the Holy Guard found this strange and went as far as to touch it, finding nothing on his hand—not a trace of red!

And the three lines of large characters on the ground had vanished without a trace, just like the red light atop the Main Hall!

”It’s the divine intervention,” someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. It didn’t take long for everyone to agree, and they threw things even more fiercely at the great elder, blaming him for angering the gods with his many misdeeds.

Even the Holy Guard that were escorting the great elder stepped aside, afraid of getting themselves involved. The great elder, looking at everything before him, was completely stunned. He naturally did not believe in any divine intervention but was shocked by the mysterious turn of events. How was he supposed to contend with Bai Ruozhu now?

Soon, the ruler, accompanied by the guards of the Imperial Palace, appeared and began to calm and disperse the crowd.

”I have heard of this matter and also find it extremely disheartening. Please believe me, I will work with the Holy Hall to thoroughly investigate this matter and provide everyone with an explanation,” the ruler promised the people personally. He then urged them to go home and rest, cautioning them against catching a cold.

After having been drenched in the rain for so long, many were indeed exhausted and cold. Touched by the ruler’s concern, they felt comforted, and many praised the ruler for caring for his people like his own children.