Chapter 39: I will never allow Tongtong to end up like me...

When Feng Fuliu rushed into the Jiang family's house, Jiang Tong was repairing Huang Gongwang's "Fuchun Mountain Residence". It was said that this painting was originally hidden in the south of the Yangtze River and was brought to the capital not long ago. Perhaps due to the sudden change in humidity and dryness, it caused water and soil incompatibility, and there were signs of cracking at the joints of the long scroll.

In fact, such minor damage can be repaired by any restorer, but the owner of the painting cherishes the painting so much that he would rather spend a huge price and find the best restorer to repair it.

Hearing the noise outside, Jiang Tong didn't even raise an eyebrow and continued with what he was doing.

Zhao Quesheng was copying her master's "Double Immortals Picture". When she heard the voice, her expression remained motionless, and her brush tip was lifted and drawn without any confusion.

Feng Fuliu made a scene all the way from the main entrance to the study, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Let me in! I want to see the eldest lady!"

"No one can disturb the young lady when she is doing something!" Seeing the study right in front of them, the servants tried their best to stop him.

Feng Fuliu howled:

"Miss, Su Guanqing is dying, do you want to do anything about it?"

The next moment, the door of the study suddenly opened, and Jiang Tong strode out with the wind.

"What happened to Guanqing?"

"I don't know who took him away," Feng Fuliu said, pushing away the servant who was holding her waist. "Someone at the alley saw him and said the person who took him away claimed to be a servant of the Jiang Mansion. They said you were injured and tricked him into taking him away."

Jiang Tong frowned: "Has Guan Qing offended anyone recently?"

Feng Fuliu said, "He never leaves the house all day, how could he offend anyone? Even when he was in the band, he was always friendly to everyone, how could he offend anyone?"

Jiang Tong caught a glimpse of Jiang Huaishan outside the Moon Cave Gate not far away. He turned around with a gloomy face, walked out hurriedly, and soon disappeared behind the low wall.

She was so upset at the moment that she couldn't care less about Jiang Huaishan. She remembered that A Qiao had told her that the Jinyiwei were also staring at Su Guanqing. Without thinking, she blurted out, "Could it be someone from the Jinyiwei?"

"It can't be the Jinyiwei." Feng Fuliu said.

"How do you know?"

"If the Jinyiwei were arresting someone, how could they be so secretive?"

"That's right."

As soon as Jiang Tong finished speaking, a flash of lightning suddenly struck her mind -

Judging from Jiang Huaishan’s reaction, he must know who took Su Guanqing away!

As soon as she thought of this, she ran in the direction Jiang Huaishan left.

However, she was a step too slow. When she reached the stable, she found it empty. The horse she had just bought had been ridden away by Jiang Huaishan!

…

Su Guanqing was stripped of his outer clothes and tied tightly to a bench.

A piece of moistened paper was stuck tightly to his face, and the surface of the paper rose and fell rapidly with his breathing, but as more wet paper was stuck on, the rising and falling of the paper became weaker and weaker.

Just when the ups and downs of the papers were so subtle that they were barely noticeable, all the papers were peeled off.

Su Guanqing suddenly got some air and began to breathe heavily.

"Tell me! Where is the bloodline of the late emperor?"

"I have no idea."

The paper "slapped" and stuck to Su Guanqing's face again.

The fear of having his breath taken away made Su Guanqing struggle instinctively, but he struggled until the veins on the back of his hands bulged, and he was unable to move at all.

Just when he was about to suffocate, the paper was peeled off again.

"Will you tell me?"

“…I…don’t…know…hmm…”

"Bang!"

The wet paper was put up again.

Time and time again, Su Guanqing was exhausted and even had no strength to struggle. The only sound in the room was his labored breathing.

Jiang Huaiyan scolded him bitterly, "Lord Su's loyalty will be remembered for eternity, but I never imagined he would give birth to a coward like you! Coward!"

Su Guanqing sobbed miserably, "Yes... yes, my... father was devoted to his country and forgot his family... He was devoted to the public and forgot his own interests. I... I am nothing but a waste, unworthy of being his son."

"If you can just tell me where the heir is hiding, you'll be worthy of being Lord Su's son," Jiang Huaiyan grabbed his hair and forced him to look up. "Speak!"

"I really... don't know. How about... you kill me so I can go down and ask my father..."

Jiang Huaiyan was completely enraged by him. He suddenly pulled Su Guanqing's hair down and shouted, "Humph! You want to die! I'll grant your wish!"

Su Guanqing felt pain on the back of his head, and before he could even scream, he was suffocated by the thick stack of wet paper.

And this time, even after reaching the limit of what he could bear, the pile of wet papers was still not opened.

Jiang Huaiyan really wanted to kill.

Just before Su Guanqing lost consciousness, he suddenly felt an infinite melancholy in his heart.

Is this how my life will be?

If I had known this would happen, I should have moved with Tongtong. After all, I could have stayed with her for a few more months, talked with her about the past and present, and pointed out the landscape in her paintings.

He regretted it. He shouldn't have gotten into such a fight with Tongtong. Tongtong had been refusing to come see him. Was she still mad at him?

My head hurts so much, I feel so uncomfortable.

I really want to hear Tongtong’s voice again.

A tear slid down from the corner of his eye and merged with the wet paper before it hit the ground.

Su Guanqing's strength was completely drained away, his whole body went limp and he lost consciousness.

…

Two fast horses galloped out of the city, Jiang Tong and A Qiao followed one after the other, running towards the small mountain village hidden outside the city.

The strong wind kept blowing on her cheeks. Aqiao turned her head to avoid the wind, and her eyes fell on Jiang Tong who was walking side by side with her.

Because of the strong wind, Jiang Tong narrowed her eyes slightly, her thin lips pressed into a line, and her brows furrowed slightly. Su Guanqing's precarious situation clearly made her extremely anxious, yet she remained unfazed. She lowered herself low, her left hand firmly gripping the reins to guide the horse, her right hand whipping her to the helm, fully utilizing the horse's speed advantage.

If Jiang Tong's movements were a little unfamiliar when he first left the city, now they are very familiar.

The cooperation between the man and the horse is seamless.

Aqiao was a little surprised.

She and Jiang Tong had known each other for two lifetimes. In her impression, Jiang Tong was at least a scholar, but she never expected that Jiang Tong's riding skills were so superb that even she had to give her all to avoid being left behind.

…

Just when Su Guanqing was unconscious, the door of the hut was opened from the outside, and Jiang Huaishan rushed in breathlessly. He glanced at Su Guanqing trapped on the bench, his face changed in shock, and he hurriedly grabbed the paper covering Su Guanqing's face. Seeing that the other party was still breathing weakly, he sat down on the ground exhausted.

Jiang Huaishan ran too fast, and his vision was getting darker and darker. He was too weak to get up. For a moment, he felt sad.

Back then, he was also a majestic general, but today he is like an old man, and he almost lost his life just by walking this short distance!

He raised his hand and pointed at Jiang Huaiyan. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't utter a word. After a long while, he took a deep breath and said:

"I've already told you, Guan Qing knows nothing! Why did you insist on bringing him here?"

From the moment Jiang Huaishan rushed in and rescued Su Guanqing until now, Jiang Huaiyan had not made a move to stop him, but had just watched coldly. At this moment, Fang said bitterly, "You'd better pray that he knows something. If he really doesn't know, all our arrangements over the past few years will have gone to waste."

"Skipping stones!" Jiang Huaishan suddenly laughed, his laughter harsh and unpleasant. "Since Brother Su's death, I'm afraid this thing of ours will never be accomplished. It's God's will, not our fault."

"That's easy for you to say! When Lord Su died, you fell too. I've been holding on all these days. I've struggled for so long, and you're just going to let go like that?"

Jiang Huaishan slammed the ground in anger. "You think I don't want to continue? I've invested all my wealth in this. I've even written a divorce letter! But now there's no heir. What can I do? Even if we succeed without an heir, who do you want to make emperor? You? Or me?"

Jiang Huaiyan exploded upon hearing this. He pointed at Jiang Huaishan and cursed, "When Lord Su was imprisoned that day, I told him to take action, but you insisted on waiting. If you had taken action earlier, Lord Su might still be alive!"

When this matter was mentioned, a trace of guilt flashed through Jiang Huaishan's heart. It was true that he was trying to be safe that day, but only he knew that when the time came, he was indeed afraid.

Seeing that he remained silent, Jiang Huaiyan raised his voice even louder: "Let's not talk about that. After Lord Su died, if you hadn't suddenly fallen ill, we would have missed the opportunity to pick up the heir and wouldn't be so blind now."

"If Jiang Meng hadn't poisoned me, why would I have fallen ill at this critical moment!" Jiang Huaishan finally couldn't help but defend himself.

They used Jiang Ming as a decoy, but although Jiang Ming was stupid, he was not completely stupid.

Although he did not find out what Jiang Huaishan was doing, he had already sensed the crisis and took the initiative to poison Jiang Huaishan.

I don’t know if he was too soft-hearted when he poisoned Jiang Huaishan, or if he lacked experience, but he didn’t give enough poison. Jiang Huaishan didn’t die, but just fell into a coma.

Jiang Meng told all this when he fell into the hands of his creditor, in order to make the creditor believe that the Jiang family still had money.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that one of the "creditors" who caught him was Jiang Huaiyan's man.

——If Jiang Huaishan wants to transfer the money to Jiang Huaiyan in a legitimate way, he will always need some help like this.

"I never thought we'd be defeated by such a fool. It's pointless to talk about this now. The heir has already been moved. Who else knows where the heir is, besides Su Guanqing? Don't tell me you really believe Su Guanqing didn't have a hand in this?"

"You're desperately trying anything!" Jiang Huaishan said angrily, "The kid has already said he doesn't know!"

"He doesn't know, so what should we do?!" Jiang Huaiyan paused, then suddenly seemed to react and grabbed Jiang Huaishan's collar, "Are you thinking of getting away? Your daughter is very capable now, and you, Jiang Huaishan, can still live a good life, so you can't bear to die!"

"Don't spit blood! For the late emperor, I won't hesitate to sacrifice anything!"

Just as the two were arguing, Su Guanqing's weak voice came from behind them:

"Uncle Jiang, please stop. Do you want to follow in the Su family's footsteps? Even if you are so cruel, I will never allow Tongtong to suffer the same fate as me."

"You really do know where the heir is!" Jiang Huaiyan threw Jiang Huaishan aside, rushed over, and grabbed Su Guanqing's neck, "You have to tell me today even if you don't want to!"

"I don't know." Su Guanqing said with difficulty.

"Why are you forcing him to do this! Let go!" Jiang Huaishan said.

Jiang Huaiyan roared, "He clearly knows!"

Jiang Huaishan pushed Jiang Huaiyan away and said to Su Guanqing, "Guanqing, don't be afraid. You don't need to get involved in this matter. You just need to tell your uncle where the heir is hiding now."

"I'm sorry... Uncle Jiang... Guanqing really doesn't know." Su Guanqing still gave the same answer.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter if you don't know." Jiang Huaishan sighed and was about to untie the rope for Su Guanqing.

Jiang Huaiyan held him back: "What do you want to do?"

"Let him go." Jiang Huaishan said.

Jiang Huaiyan said angrily, "We can't let him go! As long as he doesn't tell us, we can't let him go!"

"He doesn't know. No matter how hard you try, he won't know!"

Jiang Huaiyan's eyes turned red. "How could he not know? I went to see the place where Lord Su hid the heir. There were no signs of looting or fighting. It was obvious that they left on their own. After Lord Su's death, who would those warriors who protected the heir listen to? Only him!"

Jiang Huaiyan turned around and grabbed Jiang Huaishan's arms: "Brother, this is our only chance! If we don't help restore the late emperor's bloodline, how can we face the late emperor in the afterlife!"

Every word is heart-wrenching and extremely sad.