Chapter 118 Chapter 118 is the only genuine version...

Patriarch Ji was shocked and confused.

The Ji family was also known as a "gentlemanly family" in the previous dynasty. After two dynasties, the Ji family's Tongshan Study was still the best academy, attracting countless scholars and students.

Even among the civil and military officials of the Great Qi Dynasty, nearly 30% of the emperor's disciples came from Tongshan Academy.

Patriarch Ji has always believed that as long as they can hold on for three generations, the Ji family will be able to prosper like in the previous dynasty, with someone serving as a prime minister.

"I didn't know that Ji Ruo was marrying in his place."

Patriarch Ji thought that what he meant by the family having no integrity was this incident.

The eldest son acted on his own, and the daughter of the Ji family was demoted to a concubine. This was the greatest shame the Ji family had ever experienced in its history.

If they had not been captured by the Gu family, when he received the imperial edict, Patriarch Ji would have wanted to expel the eldest branch of the clan.

"Miss Gu, on behalf of the Ji family, I apologize to the Zhenguogong Mansion." The Ji clan leader ignored her and said, "Any conditions are acceptable, as long as the Ji family can meet them. The Ji family is willing to write a book for the Duke."

"Patriarch Ji, there's no need to waste time." Gu Zhizhuo turned and glanced back at the direction Ji Huacheng had fled. "Where he passed, branches and leaves trembled, and birds took flight in fright. Even if he ran for another cup of tea, I'd still be able to find him. Otherwise, why would I waste my breath on you?"

When his thoughts were exposed, the old face of the Ji clan leader turned red.

Gu Zhizhuo didn't want to listen to his nagging anymore, so he said calmly, "Patriarch Ji, do you dare to follow me?"

"I……"

"Clan leader, please save Cheng'er." Master Ji Er burst into tears.

Their second branch was implicated by the eldest branch. If the eldest branch had not acted on its own, they would never have provoked an evil star like the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.

Patriarch Ji held the belief that he would die: "I will go."

"Meow."

The cat lay on Gu Zhizhuo's shoulder, meowing at the forest, eager to try.

Gu Zhizhuo patted the cat's head soothingly, winked at Lao Dan, supported himself with one hand over the railing and climbed out of the pavilion, slowly chasing in the direction where a large number of birds were flying.

Gu Cancan said that whether the repeating crossbow is useful or not still depends on its accuracy in continuous shooting during actual combat, and whether it will disintegrate.

I originally planned to try it out at the hunting ground.

But Gu Zhizhuo thought it would be better to try it on a human.

Ji Huacheng was limping and running slowly. It didn't take long for Gu Zhizhuo to spot the stumbling figure in the woods ahead.

Gu Zhizhuo didn't aim specifically, but raised the crossbow and fired continuously in the direction of Ji Huating.

From hitting one arrow per hit to hitting ten arrows per hit.

The sound of breaking through the air was sharp and piercing, and the black iron arrows shot towards Ji Huacheng like a flood. After a while, wounds of various sizes appeared on his face and hands.

Ji Huacheng was on the verge of tears. He'd expected the Zhenguo Mansion to force a confession from him. But he was a member of the Ji family, and the name Ji represented his status among the students. If the Zhenguo Mansion dared to torture him, they should at least be prepared to face condemnation.

What's the result?

She only asked him three questions in total, right?

How did it become like this?

She should at least ask again, maybe she would be willing to tell him.

He was a harmless rabbit in the wild, helplessly hiding from the slaughter behind him.

He stuck out his tongue and gasped for breath. He didn't know whether he should be glad that Miss Gu's archery skills were not accurate, or he was afraid that the next arrow would hit his heart. He didn't dare to stop. With such a bad guy right behind him, he would definitely die if he stopped.

run.

Run quickly.

Click.

Gu Zhizhuo stepped on a branch on the ground and broke it.

She stroked the cat's head and said to herself, "If this were still being tracked, it would be a huge mistake."

Ji Huacheng was too useless, which prevented her from taking things seriously.

Gu Zhizhuo kicked away the branches and walked slowly.

After shortening the length of the quiver and the iron arrows, the entire crossbow became lighter. She chased with it all the way, and only her arms felt slightly sore, which did not hinder her movements at all.

She followed behind Ji Huacheng, and whenever he slowed down, she would immediately pull the trigger, forcing him to continue running forward.

"Meow!"

The tabby cat became more and more happy. Its black whiskers stood up, its little nose arched and sniffed, and the unicorn tail hanging on her chest was shaking wildly.

It really loves the bad luck that lingers around. Meow~

Bang!

Another row of ten arrows.

When Ji Hua Chengguang heard the sound, his whole body trembled. His right foot tripped over a branch and he fell heavily to the ground. An iron arrow pierced through his hair and nailed him to the tree trunk behind him.

His body was covered in blood, and there was no fatal wound, but the pain made him want to die.

Fear and pain had pushed Ji Huacheng to the point of being a captive.

Ji Huacheng looked at the direction where the iron arrow came from with fear and trepidation. The meowing sounds echoing in the woods were like wronged spirits demanding revenge. Gu Zhizhuo's red clothes appeared and disappeared in the dense woods.

A chill ran up his spine. Ji Huacheng used all his strength to pull out the iron arrow and continued to run forward while rolling and crawling.

"Run down the hill."

"There is a village at the foot of the mountain."

"No matter how brutal the Zhenguo Mansion is, they wouldn't dare to kill someone in public."

He kept repeating this to himself, this thought sustaining him as he moved forward with all his might. He ran for an unknown amount of time before his mind went blank and suddenly a bright light appeared ahead of him. In the slightly dark woods, the light was so bright that it was almost blinding.

Did he run away?

Ji Huacheng was delighted. He glanced behind him, but Gu Zhizhuo was nowhere to be seen. Then he realized that no iron arrows had been fired at him for a while.

He really succeeded.

He got rid of Gu Zhizhuo!

Ji Huacheng twitched the corners of his mouth, the excitement of surviving the disaster made his expression a little crazy.

After running away, he must find Ji Ruo quickly! The emperor will not watch the scandal exposed, and will definitely punish the Gu family severely. He will definitely...

Ji Huacheng lowered his head and rushed out of the woods.

The joy on his face completely disappeared in an instant, his expression became stiff, and despair of total despair appeared in his eyes.

There is no road and there is a cliff ahead. He has been fooled!

"I was clearly running along the mountain road." Ji Huacheng muttered to himself.

No, was he really running along the mountain road? He was at first, but later on, he panicked and lost his way.

"Meow!"

The joyful cat's meow made Ji Huacheng shudder. He looked in the direction of the sound blankly. When he saw the slim figure wearing a veil walking out of the woods, his heart broke.

"Don't come over here."

Ji Huacheng is fragile and powerless.

He stepped back, step by step, until he stood on the edge of the cliff.

He looked down tremblingly. It wasn't very high here; he could see the village not far from the foot of the mountain, and wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys. It wasn't low either; if he jumped from here, he would definitely die.

When he looked back, Gu Zhizhuo was already very close to him. His smiling eyes were like a sharp blade, full of danger and death.

Ji Huacheng couldn't stop trembling: "If you come over again, I will jump down."

"Jump," Gu Zhizhuo said nonchalantly, "Down there is the Zhuangzi you've been dreaming of. Jump down, and if you survive, you'll get what you want."

Ji Huacheng swallowed and said, "If I jump, you won't be able to ask anything."

His heartbeat roared in his ears, and he inched his feet back, hoping she would change her mind.

After all, he knew a lot, and she certainly wouldn't let him die so easily, right?

He was at the edge of the cliff. Even with all his caution, he took only two steps before missing a step. He lost his balance and fell backward. In the nick of time, he grabbed a protruding rock and hung there precariously.

The fear of weightlessness shattered his last bit of sanity.

He cried out in despair, "Save me! I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything! Save me!"

"Drag him up."

Gu Zhizhuo didn't want to pull it herself. She gave an order and Lao Dan, who was following behind, stepped forward.

Lao Dan and the others came with Patriarch Ji and followed her the whole time.

Chief Ji was so anxious that he was mad with worry. He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the person being pulled up. His throat was tight and he said in shock, "Miss Gu, you asked me to come and see this?"

"Come here."

Gu Zhizhuo called out, then stood on the cliff and pointed in the direction of the rising smoke: "Do you see the village ahead?"

"I saw it, so what."

"Ji Ruo is right there." Gu Zhizhuo said with a half-smile, "Do you know who is with her?"

Patriarch Ji looked puzzled.

"It's the current emperor. The two of them are like husband and wife."

Patriarch Ji was struck by lightning, with a complicated expression.

Even if Ji Shi was a replacement bride, she was still married into the Zhenguogong Mansion. Zhenguogong was dead, but as long as Madam Gu did not make the decision to divorce his wife and concubine, she would be a member of the Gu family until her death.

He said sternly, "Miss Gu, don't talk nonsense."

"You don't believe it?" Gu Zhizhuo curled his lips. "Why not ask him? Maybe you'll believe what he says."

Patriarch Ji looked at Ji Huacheng who was kneeling on the ground, his old face revealing a fear of the unknown.

He also wondered why Miss Gu was so persistent with Ji Huacheng. If she wanted to hate or blame Ji Ruo for marrying in her place, she should have taken her anger out on the eldest wife, or even on herself. Ji Huacheng was from the second wife, further removed from Ji Ruo. There was no reason for her to keep targeting him.

"Hua Cheng, go ahead."

Patriarch Ji couldn't wait to know the truth.

Gu Zhizhuo raised the crossbow in his hand. The light of the iron arrow reflected on Ji Huacheng's face, piercing his whole body and making him feel even more painful. He said in horror: "I. I will tell you."

"Clan leader. My second cousin Ji Ruo had an affair with the emperor and gave birth to a son."

"No!"

Patriarch Ji shook his head uncontrollably, his face as pale as paper, and his heart almost stopped beating.

"This is impossible, absolutely impossible!"

The Ji family, a family of scholars, has a clean family tradition, and is known for its honesty, integrity, and filial piety. They are respected by scholars and students, and it is absolutely impossible for them to have an affair with a daughter who is immoral!

"No."

Chief Ji rushed over, grabbed Ji Huacheng's shoulders with both hands, and his face twisted: "Who is talking nonsense!?"

"Yes, it was my cousin and I who saw it with our own eyes."

Ji Huacheng finished speaking in one breath, using up all his strength and completely collapsing.

Gu Zhizhuo closed her eyes and sighed, "As expected." The only thing she, her uncle, and the others hadn't figured out yet was whether Gu Yan was actually a member of the Gu family. Even if they had an 80% suspicion, before they had complete certainty, they still held onto a glimmer of hope.

But now, this glimmer of hope has completely disappeared.

"Meow~Woo."

The tabby cat rubbed her cheek, and its furry little head pressed against her.

Chief Ji felt a dull pain in his chest, and a sweet and fishy taste rose in his throat. He gritted his teeth and said, "Go on."

Ji Huacheng hung his head, feeling hopeless. "Six years ago, in the twenty-second year of Taiyuan, my eldest cousin and I came to the capital to give New Year gifts. I thought it was my eldest cousin, Ji Yuanchu, who was marrying into the Zhenguo Mansion."

It was the will of the late emperor to let Ji Yuanchu marry into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. At that time, the clan was speculating whether the late emperor was finally going to relax the ban and allow the children of the Ji family to take the imperial examination and enter the officialdom.

But in the following two years, the imperial court remained silent, so the clan took the opportunity of sending them festival gifts to allow them to live in the capital.

"After we arrived in the capital, the Gu family helped my eldest cousin get a job as an editor in the Ministry of Rites. You still remember that, right?"

Patriarch Ji nodded.

The letters they sent back at that time gave him hope for the Ji family's rise. However, within a few months, they returned and Ji Huazhen died of illness on the road.

Patriarch Ji's hands tightly gripped his shoulders: "...You said it was the Gu family who drove you back."

Ji Huacheng didn't dare meet his eyes, and muttered, "The other day, my eldest cousin and I heard that Ji Ruo was ill and living at the manor. We thought she was bullied and driven out by the stepdaughter of the Gu family, so we wanted to go to the manor to see her and support her. Who would have thought that when we arrived at the manor, we happened to see Prince Rong there. My eldest cousin quickly took me and hid so that Prince Rong wouldn't find us."

Patriarch Ji's face turned even paler, his breathing became rapid, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Prince Rong left at daybreak, and we hid until daybreak. As soon as he left, my eldest cousin rushed in to question Ji Ruo, and Ji Ruo admitted it herself. When they were arguing, Ji Ruo said that Gu Yan was Prince Rong's biological son. If my eldest cousin dared to expose her, whether it was the extermination of all nine clans or the exile of the entire clan, my eldest cousin himself would not be able to escape."

"Ji Ruo said that he was a coward. When Prince Rong was here, he didn't dare to come in and only dared to shout and accuse her."

"My eldest cousin was very disappointed and slapped her, saying that she was indeed a fake and shameless."

"After leaving the village, my eldest cousin resigned from his job and asked us to pack up and leave Beijing for Jiangnan."

Ji Huacheng felt that the hands that were pinching him were gradually losing strength. Chief Ji fell backwards and sat on the ground. Then he spat out a mouthful of blood, which splashed on Ji Huacheng's face.

"Chief."

Ji Huacheng was afraid that if something happened to him, no one would protect him, so he crawled over and carefully sniffed his breath.

"Miss Gu, please go get a doctor."

Ji Huacheng spoke nervously.

Gu Zhizhuo took out a silver needle and inserted it into his Baihui acupoint.

Her movements were so fast and steady that Ji Huacheng didn't even see it clearly. When he came to his senses, there was a silver needle on the top of Patriarch Ji's head.

Patriarch Ji took a deep breath, his eyes were empty and lifeless.

"Chief Ji, do you want to go down and take a look?" Gu Zhizhuo asked with ill intentions.

Patriarch Ji shuddered, and he stared at Zhuangzi below, with red at the corners of his eyes.

His hands, hanging by his sides, were tightly gripping the soil on the ground, and blood was flowing from between his nails.

Gu Zhizhuo looked in Zhuangzi's direction and said, "Three days ago, there was an earthquake in Qingzhou, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties. Did you know about this?"

"I know."

"However, the Emperor has not attended court for three days, has not dealt with state affairs, and has not paid attention to the tens of thousands of casualties in Qingzhou, nor to the impending riots and epidemics. Chief Ji, do you know where the Emperor is?"

Patriarch Ji's lips trembled and he raised his head stiffly.

"With you, the daughter of the Ji family, by my side, I am so happy that I will never want to leave."

"Let me think about what the history books will say." Gu Zhizhuo nodded his lips and said condescendingly, "There was a daughter of the Ji family in Jiangnan who betrayed her husband. When the earthquake occurred in Qingzhou, she seduced the emperor. From then on, the emperor stopped attending court early in the morning, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties in Qingzhou."

Chief Ji used his hands as feet and slowly moved backwards, his face pale.

Gu Zhizhuo smiled lightly: "From now on, the Ji family will no longer have the face to gain a foothold in the literati community."

She walked over step by step and said sternly: "You disdain your descendants."

Patriarch Ji almost collapsed, holding his head in his hands.

Before him appeared a solemn ancestral hall, filled with hundreds of tablets, all of which were for the ancestors of the Ji family. These tablets fell down before him, crumbling and turning into dust and powder, like ruins.

He heard his ancestors scolding him.

The glory of the Ji family that had been guarded by more than ten generations was destroyed in his hands.

“Ah, ah…”

Patriarch Ji let out a short gasp, and then another mouthful of blood spurted out.

"The Ji family motto is loyalty and integrity."

Gu Zhizhuo supported his knees with his hands, leaned forward, and his voice was full of temptation.

"Do you dare to beat the drum and announce to the world that the king has committed the crime of stealing the wife of his minister?"