Chapter 99 This is unfair!

A mental disorder?

Demoted to commoner status?

He shall never be allowed to enter Korea again!

These words, strung together, felt like huge rocks crashing down on his head, leaving Minister Song completely bewildered.

For someone who has studied for decades, passed the imperial examination, and served as an official in the court for more than a decade, this is the most painful punishment.

It was worse than death for him!

Song Shilang, oh no, now he's a commoner named Song Cheng.

Song Cheng suddenly jumped up and grabbed the eunuch delivering the imperial edict, his pupils turning scarlet from the force of the contraction.

"I'm not insane, Your Excellency. Please tell His Majesty that I am not."

The eunuch was startled and struggled to back away, his voice unusually shrill.

"Let me go, Song Cheng! Are you defying the imperial decree?"

Song Hui and Zhang Shi realized what was happening and hurriedly got up to pull Song Cheng away.

"Master, please don't do this."

"Father, calm down."

Unfortunately, Song Cheng was surprisingly strong at this moment, and the two of them couldn't pull him apart even though they used almost all their strength.

Song Cheng held onto the eunuch tightly, veins bulging on his neck, and roared incessantly, "I haven't lost my mind."

"Your Majesty is innocent! I request to see Your Majesty. I will go to the palace to see Your Majesty now."

"Outrageous! He looks like he's gone mad! Guards, pull him away!"

The eunuch repeatedly called out to the imperial guards who had come with him to deliver the imperial decree.

A tall imperial guard entered and kicked Song Cheng in the stomach.

Bang.

Song Cheng was thrown a full ten feet away, landing awkwardly on his back.

Due to inertia, Song Hui and Zhang Shi were also dragged down and fell to the ground.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Father, how are you?"

Ignoring their own pain, the two quickly got up to help Song Cheng.

Song Cheng gripped Zhang's hand tightly, his voice urgent.

"Why did Your Majesty say I have lost my mind? Why did you dismiss me from my post?"

How could Zhang know why?

Song Hui turned her head and pulled Zhao Hong, urgently asking, "Husband, what exactly happened? Tell me quickly, why did His Majesty dismiss Father from his post?"

Zhao Hong's eyes darted away as he lowered his voice and said, "His Majesty heard about what happened between my father-in-law and me in the Red Land and said that we were spreading rumors and disturbing the people's peace of mind."

His Majesty was furious and wanted to kill me and my father-in-law. It was... in order to save my father-in-law, I said in a moment of desperation that he had suffered a mental breakdown due to the shock.

His Majesty then spared my father-in-law's life, and with the Left Chancellor's intercession, he only dismissed him from his post, gave me a beating, and ordered me to go to Changyuan for disaster relief first thing tomorrow morning.

Song Hui's lips trembled uncontrollably, but she couldn't utter a sound.

how so?

Zhao Hong moved his body with difficulty, getting closer to Song Cheng.

He lowered his voice and said, "Father-in-law, the imperial decree has been issued. His Majesty has acknowledged that you have lost your mind, or else not."

"The fact that we're still alive is already the greatest mercy His Majesty has shown. If we don't accept the imperial decree, we'll all die!"

Song Cheng's pupils contracted sharply, and his face turned deathly pale.

After a long while, he closed his eyes briefly, then lay trembling on the ground.

"Your subject Song Cheng... receives the imperial decree."

The eunuch shoved the imperial edict into his hand with annoyance and turned to leave.

Song Cheng's hand holding the imperial edict trembled incessantly, finding the bright yellow color particularly glaring.

This imperial edict foreshadowed the end of his official career!

A metallic taste rose in his throat, and he could no longer hold back, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Bang.

As the imperial edict fell to the ground, he collapsed headfirst.

"master."

Zhang cried out and rushed over.

Song Hui was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses and quickly called the servants to carry Song Cheng and Zhao Hong into the room.

It was pouring rain outside, and we couldn't get a doctor to come.

Song Hui could only instruct the servants to find the medicine prescribed by the doctor after Song Cheng vomited blood last time, decoct it, and have Zhang Shi feed it to Song Cheng.

They then found some wound medicine and applied it to Zhao Hong.

Although Zhao Hong had been stationed in a remote area for many years, he had never suffered much hardship. After being beaten with twenty strokes of the cane, his entire buttocks were covered in blood and flesh.

His outer clothes were soaked in blood and clung tightly to the wound.

When Song Hui applied the medicine to him, she had to first cut open his clothes with scissors.

"Ouch~ That hurts, be gentle."

Upon hearing this, Song Hui quickly composed herself, softened her movements, and asked him questions while applying the medicine.

"Why is His Majesty so furious? Logically speaking, even if the dam didn't breach, we foresaw the torrential rain, so even if we didn't have any merit, we shouldn't be blamed, right?"

Zhao Hong's face darkened.

"King Xuan kept asking us when we received news of the rainstorm and why we didn't inform the people in advance to take precautions."

King Xuan's words led His Majesty to mistakenly believe that we harbored ulterior motives, which is why...

Song Hui gripped the ointment tightly, her face turning pale.

It's Shen Cong again. He was the one who secretly intervened in Li Mu's embezzlement case last time.

It's happening again!

Song Hui gritted her teeth and cursed Shen Cong for meddling in other people's business, but suddenly heard Zhao Hong pounding the bed and sighing in frustration.

"Looking back now, we could have made many arrangements if we had received the news of the rainstorm a few days in advance, but we chose the stupidest one."

"You still can't listen to a woman's opinions; your idea is utterly stupid."

Song Hui sensed the resentment in his words and her eyes welled up with tears of grievance.

"Is my husband complaining about me? You and Father both agreed to this idea in the first place."

Besides, my husband only acted after seeing it raining, isn't that because he didn't believe there was really a downpour?

Is my husband worried that if we issue an early warning, and the torrential rain and dam breaches don't occur, it will only lead to more complaints?

Zhao Hong's thoughts were exposed, and his face turned bright red.

"you......"

“When something happens, my husband only blames me. Doesn’t he ever think about who I’ve been working for all these years? Just because the information was inaccurate, my husband has forgotten all the contributions I made in the past?”

Besides, I really heard the divine instruction to breach the dikes in the land of China; I couldn't possibly have misheard."

Song Hui said.

As Zhao Hong recalled the past, he took a deep breath, and his expression softened slightly.

"I don't mean to blame you, Madam, nor do I say that your information was inaccurate. We were just too hasty and didn't investigate thoroughly enough."

Magistrate Xue of Chi County is the Empress's brother. They received news of the torrential rain a few days ago and repaired the dikes ahead of time.

The upstream counties all repaired their dikes, but Changyuan, located downstream, didn't, which is why the dikes breached.

Song Hui raised her voice in surprise.

"How did they get advance warning of the rainstorm? From whom...?"

She was halfway through her sentence when her expression suddenly changed.

"Did they get the information from Song Yi?"

Zhao Hong: "I'm not sure either, but Song Yi did harvest the grain ahead of schedule and sent people to notify the Duke of Xin's Mansion, the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, the Prince of Xuan's Mansion, and many other people."

Even Lord Wei of the Bianjing government received advance notice and took preventative measures ahead of time.

His Majesty also praised Song Yi today, saying that he would reward the Marquis of Anping's residence after the rainstorm.

Bang.

The ointment in Song Hui's hand fell to the ground.

Her eyes widened in anger, her chest heaved violently, and a scream escaped her lips.

"Why? We both predicted heavy rain, so why was Song Yi rewarded while we were punished?"

Song Hui was so overwhelmed that she almost went berserk, and she didn't even bother to give Zhao Hong the medicine. She kept pacing around the room.

She had hoped that the downpour would bring her husband and father a meteoric rise in their careers.

As a result, some of them were punished, and others lost their positions or were removed from their posts.

Song Yi merely offered a few words of advice and did nothing, yet she still received a reward!

That's not fair!

Is God blind?

No, she still has hope!

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in Song Hui's eyes.

No worries, she still has grain, a full 100,000 shi of grain!

If the food supply doubles, she can earn even more money.

Money is the most tangible thing. With money to pave the way, my husband and father's official careers can be reopened!