Chapter 99 Chapter 99 [VIP]

Chapter 99

Qian Tong heard the noisy sound outside, but couldn't move. She turned around and saw the old lady of the Qian family sitting next to her.

"Grandma." Qian Tong said nothing, only begging, "Let me out."

Madam Qian didn't explain to her. As she wished, she removed the silver needle from her neck and said, "Go and see for yourself."

Last night, she was stabbed unconscious by Song Yunzhi. She had no idea what happened afterwards. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious or what time it was. But whether it was morning or dusk, the sky looked the same in her eyes.

She walked out quickly.

Then he saw that the gate of the mansion was tightly closed, and he could clearly feel the tense atmosphere of being surrounded by soldiers.

She forgot that her men had stormed into the city last night and killed civilians. She could not escape blame, and the Qian family was naturally not free from blame either. They should have had their property confiscated and been imprisoned long ago.

Behind the door stood the five sisters of the Qian family.

Of the seven girls in the Qian family, except for the eldest and sixth wives, the rest were married to other places. Because of her signal flare, they are all together today.

Seeing her coming, the five ladies of the Qian family silently made way for her.

"I wonder how long you're going to protect her?!" a gruff voice boomed from outside the door. "Do you know what you're doing? The Qian family colluded with bandits and killed over a hundred city dwellers. They've committed such a heinous crime, and you're still covering for them?"

"Less than a hundred." A cold voice said, "Fifty lightly injured, three seriously injured, and two dead."

Duke Dingguo was annoyed: "What? Do you think the death count is too low?"

Song Yunzhi: "I didn't mean to object. I just addressed the matter and corrected the Duke's mistake."

Duke Dingguo laughed angrily, "Do I need you to correct me?"

Wang Zhao advised: "There are still many doubts in this matter, please don't be anxious..."

"I'm not anxious?! If I'm not anxious, it's too late. Look what he did!" Duke Dingguo said angrily, "The prefectural government sent troops to suppress the bandits, but he surrounded the stronghold and wouldn't let them move. I came to ask the Qian family to leave, but he surrounded the Qian family again. Does this prince want to cover up everything with one hand? If I don't intervene, and you make a heinous mistake, it will be too late!"

Duke Dingguo was too lazy to discuss this with him. "It's fine if I don't confiscate the property, but I won't touch the Qian family members for now. Hand over Madam Qian. I'll investigate whether she's been wrongly accused. If she's innocent, I'll release her."

The Qian family colluded with bandits, which was a capital crime, and this was already his biggest concession.

Song Yunzhi said calmly: "She is not free."

Duke Dingguo had been irritated several times by his words since last night, but now he was able to remain calm and asked, "What do you mean?"

Song Yunzhi stood at the door, holding the black iron sword in his hand from last night to today, without letting go for a moment. He looked up at him and said clearly, "Today is my wedding with Tong'er. She doesn't have time to go with the Duke. After I marry her, I will take her with me to apologize for the casualties."

The voice passed through the crack in the door and reached the ears of everyone in the Qian family.

The five sisters looked at Qian Tong one after another and saw that his expression was dejected and he was standing there blankly, motionless.

Several people arrived last night. If these officers and soldiers were really unreasonable, the only way out would be a fight, but they were stopped by the old lady. After that, the prince's troops protected the Qian family's house and had been in a stalemate with the Duke for a whole night.

At that moment, Duke Dingguo seemed to have heard the most absurd words. He looked at Song Yunzhi, convinced that he had become possessed. "You still want to marry her? You are the heir of a marquisate, and you want to marry a bandit leader with blood on his hands? You are truly crazy! You still have a chance to turn back from what you have done so far, but if you marry her today, you will never be able to wash away your guilt. Do you understand? Even the Yong'an Marquisate will be implicated by you..."

Song Yunzhi remained indifferent, lowering his eyes slightly, and said coldly, "What happens to me and what happens in the future has nothing to do with the Duke."

"Good!" The Duke was so angry that he spun around on his horse. "How can you, Prince Song, have nothing to do with me? What about last night when bandits broke into the city and killed civilians? And you, the Minister of Revenue, are protecting the suspects? What do you say?!"

Song Yunzhi said nothing.

The Duke then asked Feng Yuan, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, who was standing beside him, "Sir Feng, you are the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple. Please tell me, is his action appropriate or not?"

Feng Yuan knew that Madam Qian was the fiancée of Prince Song. Although he didn't want to interfere, since someone had died, he couldn't just ignore it. He said, "Prince, this matter does require Madam Qian to come with us. Don't worry, if Madam Qian has nothing to do with the stronghold, none of us would dare to make things difficult for her."

Song Yunzhi did not respond.

After a while, he closed the sword in his hand, suddenly knelt in front of the door, and said to Feng Yuan: "Qian Tong and I are about to get married. Husband and wife are one body. If the wife commits a crime, the husband will bear the punishment. Today, I, Song Yunzhi, am willing to accept a hundred lashes. I hope that Feng Shaoqing will give me two days' grace. If I cannot give you an explanation after two days, I will die as an apology."

Feng Yuan was stunned.

This, who dares to fight this.

Duke Dingguo's face turned ashen, and it seemed that he was beyond redemption.

Song Yun ordered in a cold voice, "Sir Wang, order someone to punish him!"

"Shi, Shizi..."

"Meng Qing, come here!"

——

When the voice came, Qian Tong's body suddenly shook. The second lady was the first to rush to the door and was stopped by someone who had not known when. "Come back!"

The second lady gritted her teeth.

The old lady glanced at the Qian family members in the yard. Some were crying, some were silent. Mrs. Qian had already collapsed on the ground, supported by her two sisters-in-law, covering her mouth and crying bitterly. The three masters of the Qian family, their children and servants were on guard, staring at the door.

, fight to the death.

The old lady said calmly: "It's just a disaster. I have stabilized it."

The Qian family has been rooted in Yangzhou for a hundred years, and this is not the first time they have gone through a disaster. When there is no other choice, there is always a way out.

Prince Song came back last night and looked for her. He said to her, "Old Madam, please don't move. Trust me and let me try it first."

The old lady agreed to his request.

After being scolded by the old lady, everyone fell silent, silently counting the whip sounds in their hearts. When they reached the tenth whip, Qian Tong suddenly rushed to the door and shouted, "Song Yunzhi! Listen, my Qian family's affairs have nothing to do with you, leave!"

She followed the door panel and shouted to the people outside, "Duke Dingguo, Lord Feng, as everyone knows, this marriage was forced by me, Qian Tong. Prince Song is a sincere and upright man, and he sticks to his word. Even if it was just a joke, he had to fulfill his promise and marry me. Now I, Qian Tong, am willing to let him go. You take him back, and I, Qian Tong, will cooperate with you in the investigation!"

Duke Dingguo and Feng Yuan outside heard it.

Duke Dingguo was about to leave, thinking out of sight, out of mind. He was stunned when he heard this and turned to look at Song Yunzhi.

Song Yunzhi's forehead broke out in sweat, and veins bulged out on his neck. He met the Duke's gaze, gritted his teeth, and said resolutely, "Keep fighting!"

Qian Tong: "Song Yunzhi, did you hear me? I don't want to marry you. I don't like you..."

Song Yunzhi: "It's too late!"

Qian Tong pushed the door but couldn't open it, so he pounded on it. "Open the door and let me out, Song Yunzhi, I will kill you..." The sound of the whip didn't stop. Qian Tong finally broke down, collapsed at the door, and admitted defeat. "I was wrong... Yun Zhen, I was wrong. I should have listened to you and let Duan Yuanjin accept your offer of amnesty. I was conceited and self-righteous, and never wanted to believe you. I was wrong... I know you can protect me. Go, go back to Kyoto, be your prince, and just pretend you never knew me, okay..."

Song Yunzhi clenched his teeth tightly, and a tear in his eye, mixed with cold sweat, dripped onto the crimson wedding dress, quickly leaving a dark mark.

His entire back was soaked in blood.

Song Yunzhi endured the pain and called out, "Old Madam!"

Before the old lady came up, Qian Tong suddenly called out the name of Duke Dingguo: "Pei Liangying, go and kill Duan Yuanjin, go! Go and kill him now. If you didn't want him back then, why did you keep him in the world? You should have killed him with your own hands back then. What's the point of keeping him here? This idiot is hurting others and himself! He has been raised in a bandit's den for more than ten years, but he hasn't developed a cruel heart. Why doesn't he kill them..."

Duke Dingguo never expected that the seventh lady of the Qian family would call out his name.

What did she mean by that? What did she not want?

But Madam Qian inside suddenly lost her voice. Seeing that she was too excited, the old lady used a silver needle to knock her unconscious again and asked her sisters to carry her back to the house first.

——

When Qian Tong opened his eyes again, he heard a deafening sound of firecrackers.

Her makeup was already done, and Madam Qian helped her sit on the edge of the bed. Madam Qian had cried countless times. After pulling out the silver needle from behind her neck, she sobbed, "Tongjie'er, it's because I'm useless. Sometimes I want to take this head off and open it to see if it looks different from you. Why am I so stupid?"

Qian Tong was able to move this time, but he couldn't speak.

Madam Qian said, "If I had been smarter, I wouldn't have said those words to hurt you. I, I didn't mean that. I saw you were disobedient, and I got angry, so I asked you to repay me for raising you. But I, I never raised you..."

"You seem to have grown up on your own. You only stayed in my arms for a few months when you were a child, and you grew up in the blink of an eye." Madam Qian said, "Now you are getting married..."

Qian Tong was very smart since she was a child, so Mrs. Qian always thought she was omnipotent.

It was not until that night when he saw her brought back by the prince and lying on the bed, her body covered in Fu Yin's blood and her eyes filled with death, that he realized that she was just a twenty-year-old girl.

She has not experienced the separation of life and death.

Mrs. Qian suddenly regretted it at that moment. She said, "Mother actually hopes you can be a little dumber."

It wouldn't be so painful if you were a little dumber.

Just like her, I knew nothing and spent most of my life in a daze. I didn't have to worry about anything, let alone be sad.

Mrs. Qian never dared to call her by her nickname because her nickname was Zhaodi.

After the eldest wife passed away, the Qian family no longer had a male heir. Everyone wanted the Qian family to have a baby boy after her, so they placed their hopes on her name.

She had to bear this burden alone for twenty years.

Seeing her tears, Madam Qian hugged her distressedly and comforted her, "We are all human, who doesn't make mistakes? Besides, my Tong'er was right too, he just missed a step in his calculations, but that's what being human is like. The human brain is not infallible. We can calculate how things will develop, but how can we calculate people's hearts? You are not wrong, don't blame yourself..."

Madam Qian said, "The prince is fine. He received sixty lashes, and the remaining forty were taken by Young Master Shen. He is waiting outside for you to go out and get married."

Madam Qian wiped the tears from her eyes and covered her head with a veil. "Once a merchant falls into the hands of an official, there's no way they'll have a good end. He's determined to marry you because he's determined to protect you and our Qian family. Tong'er has finally found happiness after all the hardships she's endured. He knows how to protect you better than your mother ever did..."

"The auspicious time has arrived! Welcome the newlyweds!"

When the master of ceremonies' voice came, Mrs. Qian stood up and supported Qian Tong's arm. "Let's go. Mother will take you out to see him."

——

When Prince Song married Qian Tong, the Duke had already returned to the prefectural government.

He couldn't control Song Yunzhi anymore and could only wait for the Marquis and the Princess to come and discipline him personally, but he kept thinking of the words that Qian Qi Niang shouted in his mind.

What does it mean?

Has he met that Young Master Duan?

What don’t you want?

She called his name in a shrill and angry voice, which made the Duke think more.

He turned around and asked his subordinates, "Where is the young master?"

The subordinate reported: "He was sick the day before yesterday and has been staying in his room ever since."

Was he able to rest for two or three days after being kicked by that maid? Was he really that weak?

For some reason, the Duke felt restless and got up to go see his frail son. As he reached the door, he saw the two guards, their faces trembling with panic, rushing forward to stop him. "Duke, the young master just took his medicine and is resting..."

As soon as Duke Dingguo saw the expressions of the two men, he knew something was wrong.

"Why, he's resting, so I can't go in to see him?" He walked past the two of them. As soon as the door was pushed open, the guards behind him knelt on the ground. "My Lord, spare me. Two days ago, the young master said he wanted to go out and relax. He was afraid that the Lord would blame him if he knew, so he asked us to keep it a secret for him..."

oh?

Isn't this at home?

He wasn't so weak as to lie down on the bed. He turned around and asked the guard, "Where did he go?"

The guards looked at each other and shook their heads, "We don't know... The young master only said that he would be back in two days." But today is already two days, and he still hasn't come back.

Yangzhou is a mess right now, it's chaotic enough, and he comes to make things worse.

Duke Dingguo was too lazy to care about him.

After returning, he said to Wang Zhao: "I'm going to the mountain stronghold."