Chapter 386 Counterattack

The girl was completely stunned by what Haitang said. The situation changed too quickly; before she could even speak, things had already developed in a direction she didn't want to see.

Now she has a chance to speak, but what can she say?

Does that mean, "I don't need you to report me to the authorities; I just want you to take me back to the princess's residence"?

Isn't it obvious that he has something to hide?

While she was struggling with her decision, the yamen runners from the Jingzhao Prefecture and the soldiers from the Five Cities Garrison arrived one after the other.

She subconsciously looked at the burly man in the lead. The man made a gesture and took a step back, trying to slip away. However, as expected, four guards from the princess's residence precisely blocked their way out.

This delay meant that not only did the group of burly men fail to escape, but even the girl who had just been crying her eyes out was forced to stop in a panic after taking a few steps.

Having already figured things out, Haitang gave one of the guards a wink, and the man immediately stepped forward and recounted the whole story.

He had no bias or preconceived notions; he simply stated the facts objectively.

After finishing his statement, he nodded slightly to the yamen runners of the Jingzhao Prefecture and the officers and soldiers of the Five Cities Garrison, and then swiftly retreated back to his own ranks.

Haitang didn't waste any time. She told everyone to "take a detour" and immediately turned around and went back to the carriage.

The soldiers of the Five Cities Garrison sighed and tried to detain the men, but the yamen runners of the Capital Prefecture were all keeping a close eye on the group of burly men.

One of them said, “I advise you to be sensible and obediently follow us back to the yamen. If you haven’t done anything wrong, the officials of our Jingzhao Prefecture will naturally not wrong you. But if you have done something wrong and are fleeing with your crimes, that will be an even more serious offense.”

Upon hearing what the constable from the Capital Prefecture said, the minor leader of the Five Cities Garrison immediately turned his gaze to this side.

He called to his subordinates, "Don't just stand there, come and help."

The officer from the Five Cities Garrison who had tried to stop Haitang and the others from leaving had no choice but to reluctantly follow the others to support the yamen runners from the Capital Prefecture.

What he didn't know was that his actions had already aroused suspicion.

When faced with danger or unusual situations, the guards of the princess's residence were all very alert. Although they ignored him, they always kept a portion of their attention on him.

As members of the Princess's household, they couldn't interfere in how the yamen runners of the Jingzhao Prefecture and the soldiers of the Five Cities Garrison would handle this matter. However, since it concerned their own family, they would definitely arrange for manpower to keep a close eye on things afterward.

In addition, Haitang reported the matter to Jiang Yuan immediately.

When Jiang Yuan heard that someone was plotting against his son and daughter, he could no longer suppress his anger.

He not only sent people to investigate and find out which heartless scoundrel dared to lay a hand on his children, but also decisively increased the number of guards accompanying the children.

To prevent anyone from targeting the two children through their classmates, Jiang Yuan specifically instructed Haitang and the others not to let either of the children be alone.

Haitang and the others responded without hesitation. With everyone working together and remaining extremely vigilant, they carefully protected the two children.

Jiang Yuan then identified and exposed all those who had planned to harm the two children.

Jiang Yuan didn't dare to attack those who hadn't yet danced in front of him, but he didn't miss any of those who had already started jumping around, and he gave them all a good beating.

Considering that everyone cares about different things, Jiang Yuan did not use the same "return" method on everyone. Instead, he would target the person who was most vulnerable.

Because they were impatient and jumped the most enthusiastically, they directly became the chicken in Jiang Yuan's play of killing the chicken to scare the monkey, and were successively and accurately struck down by Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan dealt a severe blow not only to the family that was the first to harm the two children, but also to the group of "actors" they sent.

Being impeached in court and demoted two ranks at once was already frustrating enough, but now even the henchmen and beauties he had carefully cultivated, as well as the once thriving brothel, have all been ruined by Jiang Yuan, either being beaten and shackled in public, or suffering from deserted business and meager income. It can be said that his future and his wallet have both been damaged.

But that's not what bothers them the most. What bothers them the most is that Jiang Yuan has revealed different secrets about each of them.

One of them was demoted for embezzlement and bribery, breaking the law for personal gain; another was demoted for bending the law for personal gain, destroying evidence and covering up a murder case for his son; and the last was demoted because he not only frequently visited brothels but also kept more than one mistress.

In previous dynasties, a breach of private morality might only result in a salary deduction or a reprimand, but in the Great Wei Dynasty, where it was clearly stipulated that officials could not patronize prostitutes, such behavior would inevitably be severely punished.

It should be noted that for this person with questionable private morality, being demoted was not the worst thing. The worst thing was that he actually got his current status and power because of his wife's family.

A man who has maintained an image of being exceptionally affectionate and loyal to his wife for many years has now been exposed to have five or six illegitimate sons and daughters. In fact, his oldest illegitimate son and daughter are half a year and a year older than his eldest legitimate son, respectively.

What does this tell us?

This shows that this scumbag was acting from the very beginning.

There was no love at first sight, no unwavering loyalty, and none of the deep affection he had touted for his marriage over the years. All that existed was a meticulously planned, colossal deception.

His wife was pampered since childhood, and her brothers from her family were always very helpful, which gave her a lot of confidence.

She used to use her family connections to help this scumbag climb the social ladder, because he acted so well. Now that she realizes she's been fooled by him, she's furious and naturally wants to ask her brothers for help to get justice.

It's easy to imagine the chaos that will ensue at this scumbag's house.

To make an example of them, Jiang Yuan not only made no attempt to conceal his series of retaliatory actions, but also went all out, openly telling them in public, "Yes, the evidence against you was given to the censor by me."

His madness terrified the guy who thought he was clever enough to take a different approach and use the two children as a breakthrough point, causing him to have nightmares for several days in a row.

Naturally, besides hatred and fear, this guy was also quite regretful at this moment, regretting that he shouldn't have been careless and chosen the wrong move.

Fortunately, there were two other people like him. Whether they were inspired by him or thought it was easier to bully children than to scheme against adults, they also chose to target An'an and Linlin.

Jiang Yuan naturally wouldn't show any mercy to such people, and soon three officials in the capital appeared with bitter faces, all of whom had been demoted and suffered financial losses to varying degrees.

Jiang Yuan, who no longer passively defended but instead chose to take the initiative, greatly refreshed people's preconceived notions about him.

Many people only realized at this point that this man, who usually had a low profile and was even subconsciously looked down upon because he married Xie Wanniang, a formidable wife, was actually no less capable and cunning than those who looked down on him and tried to scheme against him.

This is not a point that is easy to overlook, after all, Jiang Yuan climbed up the ladder through his own hard work. But there are always some people in this world who, due to some subtle psychology that cannot be explained to outsiders, attribute other people's success to luck.

Because the other party only "luckily" rose to power, they were resentful. So they used the excuse that the other party was "unworthy of the position" to scheming against them with a clear conscience.

This kind of thing is quite common, so before these people made a move against An'an and Linlin, Jiang Yuan was only on the defensive and didn't spend too much energy on this matter.

But they actually stooped to using the children as a weak point. If Jiang Yuan doesn't teach them a lesson, who knows how his two children will be schemed against and exploited in the future.

Thanks to him, Xie Wanniang's journey back to the capital was filled with plenty of juicy gossip.

Although two of the main characters in this gossip series were herself and her husband Jiang Yuan, she listened with great interest and enjoyed it very much.

Cunyu was furious. "Princess, how could these people do this?"

If Lord Jiang wanted to take concubines and frequent brothels, that would be one thing; at worst, the princess could simply divorce him. But what's going on here? Is this like forcing a cow to drink water? Do they think their princess and Lord Jiang are easy to bully?

Xie Wanniang laughed, "They're just here for profit, with ulterior motives. There's no need to get angry with them."

Unlike those families with low-ranking officials, or even just merchants or ordinary people, this group, while also trying to use women as a breakthrough, did not intend to take advantage of their position. Instead, they aimed to create an opening, gather dirt on her and Jiang Yuan, and then use this dirt to either threaten them into working for them or frame them, removing these two obstacles that were blocking their path to advancement.

Unlike other wealthy families, the inner quarters of the princess's mansion were exceptionally clean. Not only did Jiang Yuan never take concubines, but he and Xie Wanniang also disliked being surrounded by servants.

It's incredibly easy to plant spies in the homes of other officials who rise from the bottom. Not to mention that at least eight out of ten of these suddenly successful officials will take concubines or even divorce their wives and marry others for various reasons, the number of servants in their households has been steadily increasing as their status rises.

These servants, bought temporarily, have limited loyalty to their masters, and their suddenly wealthy masters are generally not very good at managing their subordinates.

In such circumstances, it would be very easy for someone with ulterior motives to bribe or coerce the concubines and servants of those officials.

Looking at Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan, these two have been in the capital for so long, yet they haven't bought a single new servant in their household, which is truly outrageous.

The only one who successfully "planted" people around them was His Majesty, who, when bestowing Princess Xie Wanniang's residence, also granted her a group of officials, guards, and servants.

Going back further, the retired emperor and the Chang family also did the same thing.

Of course, this is the subjective perception of these people. In fact, neither the retired emperor, the current emperor, nor the Chang family, whose entire family was diligently guarding the border, had any intention of having their former subordinates or servants monitor Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan.

The Chang family never actively placed anyone by their side; all the guards from the Dingbei Marquis's mansion were recruited by Xie Wanniang herself.

These people are also very discreet. Even if they have special feelings for their former masters, they will not secretly betray their new masters while receiving their monthly salary and various benefits from them.

Otherwise, Xie Wanniang wouldn't have let them stay in her house all this time.

The same applies to the servants and guards bestowed upon them by the retired emperor and the emperor. If they were truly the kind of people who betray their own people, Xie Wanniang would have already found a way to eliminate them.

After all, although she and Jiang Yuan never intended to do anything harmful to the country or the people, they still didn't like being watched every move, constantly risking being reported on or even framed.

The servants and guards in her mansion clearly understood Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan's bottom line. Regardless of where they came from or what their past status was, after coming to Xie Wanniang's place, they all tacitly abided by the various rules set by Xie Wanniang.

However, while they got along well, the trouble lay with others who harbored ill intentions towards Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang.

In the past, Xie Wanniang stayed in the capital. Her fierce reputation made her feared. However, she did not have to work and had plenty of time to investigate and fight back against those who harbored ill intentions towards her family. Therefore, those people did not dare to make any rash moves or let their family reveal any secrets.

Finally, Xie Wanniang left and went back to her hometown. Everyone thought they had finally found an opportunity, but unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan was still as unyielding as ever.

Many people, especially men, simply don't believe that there really exists a strange person like Jiang Yuan who is willing to live his life with only his wife.

Especially those who keep their wives at home while having affairs outside, they believe from the bottom of their hearts that there is no normal man in this world who can truly live a life of "self-discipline and integrity".

They firmly believe that if someone is praised for being "clean and upright," then either he or she has a physical problem, or she needs to create such a persona to facilitate her obtaining greater benefits.

For example, the one whose secrets were exposed by Jiang Yuan.

Humans cannot understand others, but they are often very good at judging others by their own standards. Whether intentional or unintentional, they will always make wrong judgments because of this.

And that's the real reason why those people ran into a brick wall.

After all, who could have imagined that Jiang Yuan was truly determined to spend his entire life with Xie Wanniang?