Chapter 640 He Family's Restoration

Upon receiving the order, the executioner slowly raised his broadsword, took a mouthful of wine, and sprayed it onto the blade.

Upon hearing the voice, Madam Meng burst into laughter and shouted almost frantically, "Father, Mother, in my next life, I will never marry below my station again."

Meng's voice stopped abruptly as the broadsword fell, followed by cheers from all around. Only in death did tears of regret finally well up in Meng's eyes, but unfortunately, these tears were too cheap, and no one saw them.

After the execution of the Meng family, the entire He family, young and old, embarked on their journey to the frontier.

Before leaving, He Bi secretly took his hidden money with him, planning to buy a small courtyard after arriving at the frontier, so that even if it wasn't as wealthy as Suzhou, it would still be enough to make a living.

But who knew that not long after leaving Suzhou City, the group encountered bandits. The bandits not only robbed him of his money, but also beat up several of the men.

In the dead of winter, He Bi, already old, was further injured by bandits. These new wounds aggravated his old ailments, and he died on the way before he could even settle down on the frontier.

Without He Biyou, the He family members were like a lost pillar, looking dejected and forced to make a living by doing manual labor.

Of course, that's all in hindsight!

After He Biyou left, Lu Yuanbin and Lu Changqing, looking disheveled, hurriedly returned.

"I heard you're going back to Beijing, is that true?" Lu Yuanbin asked excitedly as soon as he entered the door.

Although Lu Changqing, who was right behind him, did not have the same exaggerated expression as Lu Yuanbin, it was not hard to tell that he was also happy.

"It's true."

Yun Yichen's words were concise and to the point, and he did not intend to explain anything to the two of them.

Fortunately, Lu Yuanbin didn't care. In his opinion, as long as he could leave this godforsaken place of Suzhou, the reasons behind it didn't matter at all.

Previously, Yun Yichen found the two princes and Ouyang Biao, the Vice Minister of Revenue, to be too much of a hindrance, so after Gu Shuyan arrived, he sent them to help the people outside the city to clear and rebuild the roads in the towns and villages.

If the emperor hadn't sent someone to deliver an imperial edict ordering everyone to prepare to return to the capital, Yun Yichen would probably still be making them contribute to the people right now!

"Lord Yun, when shall we depart?"

Compared to Lu Yuanbin's constant excitement, Lu Changqing was more rational.

With such a large group of people coming to provide disaster relief, it's not something they can just leave on a whim to return to the capital. Moreover, the people from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War also need to help rebuild Suzhou, so who should stay and who should leave still needs to be discussed.

After listening to Lu Changqing's words, Yun Yichen glanced at him and replied, "It is tentatively scheduled for five days from now. I will make arrangements for the follow-up matters in the next two days. Your Highnesses can also take a good rest in these few days."

Upon hearing that he could rest, Lu Yuanbin's smile widened even more.

You know, it's one thing for a prince to be repairing roads for the common people, but he also had to do physical labor under the sun, which exhausted him.

Lu Yuanbin was even thinking that once he returned to the capital, he would definitely impeach Yun Yichen severely.

However, upon hearing Yun Yichen tell him to rest, Lu Yuanbin suddenly realized that with these few days of rest, he wouldn't have to impeach Yun Yichen.

Yun Yichen was naturally unaware of Lu Yuanbin's inner thoughts. Seeing that the prince of the dynasty was as slovenly as a servant doing rough work, Yun Yichen, unusually merciful, prepared clothes and food for them and found two people to bathe them.

After Yun Yichen left, Lu Yuanbin, who was soaking in the bathtub, said to Lu Changqing, "Actually, Lord Yun is quite nice. Knowing that we were going back, he not only gave us time to rest in advance, but also gave us a milk bath. There are probably not many cows left in Suzhou now, yet he was willing to give them to us."

Lu Yuanbin was unusually relaxed, and his evaluation of Yun Yichen was higher than ever before.

In the past, when Yun Yichen was mentioned, Lu Yuanbin would either hate him to the core or never think of him as a good person.

However, just a few days of rest and a milk bath caused Lu Yuanbin to completely change his temporary opinion of Yun Yichen.

Yes, only temporarily! The reason Lu Yuanbin thinks Yun Yichen is alright now is because of Suzhou, a place that doesn't belong to him. Once he returns to the capital and has his own people, Lu Yuanbin will naturally no longer care about Yun Yichen's actions.

Looking at Lu Yuanbin's expression of enjoyment, Lu Changqing couldn't help but curse inwardly: idiot.

He was bullied like this, yet he was still smug about this little favor; he's incredibly stupid.

"If Fifth Brother feels comfortable, then soak a little longer!"

Lu Changqing would never tell Lu Yuanbin that Yun Yichen gave them milk baths because he wanted to nourish their skin.

For the past few months, they have been exploited by Yun Yichen every day, and the skin on their faces and bodies has darkened considerably. Even their palms have developed calluses from physical labor.

Now that his father has ordered him to return to the capital, Yun Yichen naturally cannot let anyone know that he bullied the princes, so he must seize the time to nourish their skin.

Everything went as Lu Changqing had expected. After the two finished their bath, someone brought out the prepared food.

"Wow, it's actually meat!" Lu Yuanbin's eyes lit up.

He has been eating and living in the homes of ordinary people these days. Besides the hardship, he hasn't seen meat for more than ten days.

Being able to eat meat at this moment made Lu Yuanbin feel like he was on cloud nine.

Seeing Lu Yuanbin's mouth covered in grease, Lu Changqing couldn't help but criticize Lu Yuanbin's stupidity once again.

As a privileged young man raised in luxury, when did he become so humble over a little meat? He used to call Gu Shuyan a country bumpkin, but compared to Lu Yuanbin now, it's hard to say who truly looks like a country bumpkin.

After dinner, as Lu Changqing was not surprised, Gu Shuyan brought them two girls.

As for this girl, Gu Shuyan naturally couldn't just pick any random one, so she found Zhen Meiniang and asked her to give her two beautiful women from the shop.

Lu Yuanbin hadn't touched a woman for months, but now that he was relaxed, he immediately carried her into the house.

Lu Changqing, however, was politely refused. Seeing that he was very insistent, the woman went back to find Gu Shuyan, somewhat disappointed.

When Gu Shuyan learned of this, she didn't say much, but simply sent the woman back to Zhen Meiniang's side.

The next day, Gu Shuyan found an opportunity to go to Zhen Meiniang again. Zhen Meiniang thought that Gu Shuyan had come for girls, so she found two more girls for her, but Gu Shuyan shook her head and sent them away.

"It seems that Madam has not come here today to ask for a girl. She is not the owner of my little brothel. Is there anything I can do to help Madam?" Zhen Meiniang seemed to have naturally prominent brow bones, and every move she made was full of charm.

Gu Shuyan smiled upon hearing this, "It's not really about helping, but we can benefit each other."

"Oh? Mutual benefit? Does the Prime Minister's wife also covet my flesh business?" Zhen Meiniang smiled, her eyes crinkling, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.