Chapter 20: Be patient and it will pass

Beijing Guard Division.

Cui Rushi had just finished his afternoon nap. The blanket on his knees had slipped down his legs. His eyelids were twitching in his sleep, so he quickly called Old Yang:

"Where's Chai Heng? Is she still in the office? I told you to ask Qian Xiaoqi to keep an eye on her and have her stay in the office today. Where is she now? Is she still in the office?"

Old Yang patted his chest to reassure Cui Rushi, "She's here. This morning, I asked Xiao Qi to watch her, and later I tied her up with a rope. You can't let a girl take the blame for something like this. I've been with you for so long, and you still don't trust me with what I do."

Cui Rushi felt relieved: "That's good." As he said that, he was about to continue his nap which had not yet ended, but after thinking about it, he still felt that something was wrong.

"No, I have to go and see. Where did Xiaoqi tie Chai Heng to?" Cui Rushi asked.

Old Yang recalled: "It should be the woodshed."

Hearing this, Cui Rushi hurried to the woodshed. Through the thin window paper, he glanced and saw someone sitting there tied up. He felt relieved, but when he opened the door, it was Qian Xiaoqi. The child's hands and feet were tightly tied. At this moment, he had his eyes closed, his mouth wide open, and was snoring soundly.

Cui Rushi: "Why did you fall asleep?!"

Qian Xiaoqi was startled awake by the loud shout and shuddered. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw his boss's gloomy face, which looked as if he had eaten shit.

"Yeah, how did I fall asleep?" he murmured to himself, "When did I fall asleep?"

"Where's Chai Heng?" Cui Rushi asked, suppressing his anger. "How can a grown man like you not be able to take care of a girl?"

Qian Xiaoqi also felt very wronged: "I saw it, but I don't know when the rope was in my hand. It's all because Deputy Envoy Chai is too flexible!"

Cui Rushi couldn't help but kick Qian Xiaoqi twice, but was stopped by Old Yang in time: "Forget it, forget it. It's not easy for anyone. Xiaoqi is still a child. It's normal that he is not very smart." After saying that, he dragged Cui Rushi out.

"What should we do now?" asked Old Yang.

Cui Rushi sighed, "It's already late, and it's too late to stop her. You don't know, I've known Chai Heng since she was fourteen, and I've watched her slowly mature over the past two years. Her mother didn't like her, and she later married a man who wasn't very kind to her. She was originally planning to leave Beijing, but I forced her to stay and help me. When she told me she was going to the Ministry of Justice yesterday, I was thinking that I must stop her today, but I didn't expect to stop her after all."

Old Yang thought Chai Heng was very young and had never been married, but he didn't know that she actually had a husband.

"What about her husband? What does he do for a living?"

When Cui Rushi mentioned this, she became furious: "You know her husband, the newly appointed Minister of War, Yang Yan."

Old Yang was stunned for a moment: "This shouldn't be the case. Lord Yang should have a good personal relationship with the Ministry of Justice. How could this happen?"

Cui Rushi sneered, "Divorced."

"Even if they're divorced, they should still have love for each other. How could this happen?"

Cui Rushi continued, laughing: "Who says it's not true? Back then, this Yang was a hostage in Xirong, and Chai Heng traveled thousands of miles to accompany him. For a girl to do this is already the most benevolent thing she can do. It's a pity that our Minister of War has a good face but no conscience. As the saying goes, you only know whether a person is a dog after a divorce, and he is obviously the latter..."

*

The room where Liang Yuanjing handled official documents wasn't far from the prison; it took only a short walk to get there. Tea brewed after rain always tasted good, no matter how you brewed it.

The two chatted about court affairs for a while and drank two cups of tea before Liang Yuanjing suddenly remembered what happened yesterday. "I almost forgot to mention it. Didn't you ask me to take care of that girl surnamed Xue and let her in to see her brother? I'll do it all for you in one go. I've released the person. I also dealt with that little bitch from the Beijing Guards today. She's being whipped in the jail right now. Miss Xue was kind enough to say five lashes, but if it were me, I'd definitely whip her twenty times to let her know who she can and can't offend."

Thinking of Chai Heng's stubbornness, Liang Yuanjing still felt disgusted. A petty official from the Imperial Guards had the audacity to talk back to him.

Yang Yan stroked the teacup in his hand, and after hearing Liang Yuanjing's words, his brows furrowed deeply. When he was silent, he always gave people an invisible sense of oppression, and his whole body exuded an inexplicable coldness.

Liang Yuanjing didn't know what he was thinking, whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied. After all, this was a case of executing first and reporting later, and it was possible that others might feel that the punishment was too light.

So, he changed the subject: "I heard that the Saint is not as strong as before. A while ago, the eunuchs in the womb said that the Saint often has nightmares at night. He often dreams of Emperor Li, crying and laughing at the same time. When he laughs, he calls me brother, and when he cries, he also calls me brother. Even though he is old, he can't forget his youth."

As he spoke, his emotion grew stronger. "My father told me that the Saint and the Li Emperor were born of the same mother, both raised in the cold palace. The Saint was young at the time, and the Li Emperor raised him, feeding him mouthfuls of rice porridge. He himself endured hunger and humiliation, but he always protected his brother. Who could have imagined that he would later die at the hands of his own brother?"

A new emperor appoints new ministers.

It has been a long time since the palace upheaval sixteen years ago, but those palace secrets and secrets of the previous dynasty are still hidden in the hearts of every citizen of Da Qi.

It’s just that no one dared to say it openly before.

As Liang Yuanjing spoke, he couldn't help but mention it again: "The Li Emperor's child, the Second Prince back then, if he were still alive, he should be about the same age as us."

More than just about the same size.

Lu Shichu's face flashed through Yang Yan's mind, but he still said nothing.

He was particularly silent today, so silent that Liang Yuanjing was frightened.

"What's wrong with you today? You were fine on the road just now, why do you suddenly look so uninterested here?" Liang Yuanjing finally asked.

Yang Yan lowered his eyes and did not directly answer his question. He just asked, "Have you finished your tea?"

"I've finished drinking it."

"Come with me to the prison," Yang Yan said, "to interrogate the Water Supervisor."

Liang Yuanjing was stunned. Yang Yan always liked cleanliness. The cell was filled with a strong smell of blood. In the past, when he invited Yang Yan to go, Yang Yan never took the initiative to go. Did the sun rise from the west today?

"Why do you have to go there in person? He's just a water conservancy official. As usual, I'll send someone to bring him here from the prison to avoid getting your clothes dirty." Liang Yuanjing was very considerate.

"No, I'll go with you."

The cell was dimly lit, and a narrow passage stretched all the way to the end. Inside were prisoners who had been tortured. They were either bloodstained or half-naked, wailing. The vast space was filled with the smell of mold, dust, sweat, and the rich smell of blood.

As soon as Chai Heng arrived at the cell, Xue Ruyue came.

She went home yesterday and thought about it all night, still worried that something might go wrong today. In her memory, although Chai Heng was good at wielding swords and guns and doing some fighting, he wasn't that strong either. After thinking it over, she decided to come here with her medicine box.

The jailer saw Xue Ruyue and knew that she had come here last time and that it was Lord Liang who had greeted her, so he treated her with extra care. He moved a chair for her, washed her teacup, poured her a bowl of water, and told her to wait.

For Chai Heng, Xue Ruyue's appearance in front of her was just to make her laugh. But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that she just had to endure it and get through it.

Chai Heng held onto the rack. The jailer came over to tie her hands, but she gently shook her head to refuse.

Five lashes, not too many, not too few either. Even though Chai Heng had prepared herself with her eyes closed and her eyelashes trembling, the burning pain of the flesh bursting open when the first lash hit her back still made her tremble.

There's no use crying out.

There's no use crying out in pain.

This was a principle Chai Heng had understood long ago, so she simply gripped the rack tightly with her fingers and endured it. Fortunately, the five lashes came swiftly, and the jailer didn't give her too much trouble. Afterwards, he just shook off the blood on the whip, and that was it.

Her back ached, and her throat was dry and sore. When she released the rack and walked down, her steps were unsteady, and her vision went dark. She almost fell down. It took her a while to recover, and she slowly walked out of the torture chamber, enduring the pain.

"There is an inn outside the Ministry of Justice, not far from here. I will book a room for you nearby and clean your whip wounds." Xue Ruyue was waiting for her outside the torture room.

Chai Heng said hoarsely, "Put away your pretense. I don't need it."

"I've never been hypocritical."

Xue Ruyue tried to continue following her.

"Stay away from me."

Chai Heng originally felt that the pain was so severe that even her vision was blurry. It was already difficult for her to see the road ahead clearly. Xue Ruyue was still making noises in front of her, which made her feel that she was blocking the way.

So when Xue Ruyue tried to block her for the second time, Chai Heng pushed her away. Xue Ruyue was originally a weak and fragile female doctor, and she fell down easily when pushed. She was pushed to the ground, and her waist hit the stone beside her, which immediately swelled up and she couldn't stand up.

Yang Yan and Liang Yuanjing were walking over from a distance. Seeing Xue Ruyue being pushed down by Chai Heng, Liang Yuanjing hurried forward to help her up and said in disbelief:

"You are truly the most ungrateful person I have ever met. How could the Jingwei Division teach you such an ignorant person?"

Chai Heng subconsciously raised her head, ignoring Liang Yuanjing's words, and met Yang Yan's eyes. The moment she looked at him, he was also looking at her.

Their eyes met, and Yang Yan's calm and complex gaze first fell on the back of her hand, which was still a little red and swollen, and then fell on her back. His eyes were dark and sharp.

Chai Heng thought, she had just been punished, and now she had gotten into trouble again, pushing Xue Ruyue down again. He must be very angry, and now he probably thought she was stubborn and was thinking about how to teach her a lesson again.

“I pushed the man.”

"I have nothing to explain."

"If you still want to be punished, just tell me before I leave."

She actually didn't have the energy to argue with this group of people. She was very tired and in pain, and just wanted to go back and have a good sleep.

It would be best if they could show mercy and let her go, but if not, I hope they can act quickly.

The author has something to say:

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The next article will be titled "Whoever looks back first is a dog", and I'll roll around in a cute way to ask for your collection.

Liang Songnan had been in high spirits for half his life, but he suffered a major setback in love when he was in his early twenties and almost lost the Liang family's century-old fortune for a woman.

Meng Zhuyu is a rare smart person in the jade business, and everyone in the Liang family admires her.

She coaxed Liang Songnan for five years, and he thought she really loved him. But when it came time to get married, Liang Songnan found out that he had been tricked by this clever woman.

Since you said you want to break up.

That's fine.

Whoever looks back first is a dog.

…

The story of a henpecked husband who finally stood up again but fell back to his knees after abusing his wife.