37. Framed

Whether I can leave this Pei residence or not is not up to you.

When Xiao Pingchuan rushed to the so-called Dark Fragrance Courtyard, a number of female guests had already gathered there.

Standing at the front were Madam Pei, Princess Shi, and Shen Suqiu, but Prime Minister Pei and the others were nowhere to be seen.

Someone had sent servants to bang on the door, but it was bolted inwards and couldn't be broken open for a while.

Without wasting a moment, Xiao Pingchuan forcefully pushed through the crowd and walked towards the door.

"General Xiao has arrived."

Someone shouted.

The crowd quickly moved aside to make way for him.

Without looking to the side, Xiao Pingchuan rushed to the door, kicked it open, and hurriedly went to find Shen Suqin's whereabouts.

When the door opened, the onlookers swarmed towards it, eager to see the general's wife make a fool of herself.

But Xiao Pingchuan didn't give them any chance. He immediately turned around and closed the door, cutting off their view.

"Shen Suqin!" he shouted.

The room was dimly lit, and he couldn't see clearly for a moment.

"I'm here," came Shen Suqin's voice.

Xiao Pingchuan followed the sound and saw her squatting next to a man, staring at him as he wrote something.

"Who is he?" Xiao Pingchuan asked.

Shen Suqin looked up and smiled. "My lover."

Xiao Pingchuan: "..."

Xiao Pingchuan: "What is he doing?"

“Write a confession,” Shen Suqin said, then turned to the stranger and said, “See? This man is my husband, General Xiao Pingchuan. Even if you don’t believe me, you should believe him. If I say I can protect your family, I will.”

Xiao Pingchuan was completely confused: "What do you mean?"

At this moment, a servant was banging on the door frame with such force that it almost knocked the door down.

"General, I'll explain later. Now, could you please buy me some time? I need him to finish writing his confession."

"good."

Without a word, Xiao Pingchuan walked to the door, opened the swaying door with a whoosh, went out, closed it again, then crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, raised one foot to brace himself, and said slowly, "Today, anyone who wants to enter must first step over my corpse."

“General!” Madam Pei spoke first, “This is the Pei residence. Such a shameful incident has occurred here. You must let me, the master of this residence, handle it personally.”

"No." Xiao Pingchuan didn't waste any words.

"Xiao Pingchuan, your newlywed wife is cheating on you inside, and you're actually here guarding the door for her. It's truly an eye-opener."

"Exactly, this is the first time I've ever seen someone cheat on themselves."

"Maybe they just like this kind of thing, don't they?"

The young ladies from prominent families present spoke increasingly vulgar and offensive words, but Xiao Pingchuan acted as if he hadn't heard a thing, guarding the door without moving.

"Guards, pull the general away from me," Madam Pei ordered.

When a servant rushed forward, Xiao Pingchuan kicked him directly, causing him to vomit blood and faint on the spot.

The remaining servants dared not approach, and merely circled around him in a perfunctory manner.

Xiao Pingchuan grew impatient, crouched down and swept his leg across the ground, sending all seven or eight servants sprawling to the ground, clutching their legs and wailing in agony.

Such formidable fighting power was something these pampered people in the capital had never seen before. They looked at each other in bewilderment and dared not speak recklessly any further.

Except for Shen Suqiu.

"General, you must not lose your dignity for a woman who is not virtuous," Shen Suqiu said.

Xiao Pingchuan glanced at her sideways and said coldly, "I don't hit women."

Shen Suqiu took a deep breath: "Do you know who you're going against today?"

Xiao Pingchuan: "It can't be the Emperor himself."

Some things can't be said outright, and Shen Suqiu couldn't do anything about it for the time being, so she had to bring up the promise he made outside the Shen residence that day: "General, do you still remember that you owe me a request?"

Xiao Pingchuan asked warily, "What are you trying to say?"

"The literal meaning," Shen Suqiu said, "I want you to be forbidden from protecting Shen Suqin today."

Xiao Pingchuan was furious: "Shen Suqiu! Don't go too far!"

Shen Suqiu laughed: "Is that going too far? I haven't even asked you to kill her directly yet. I'm just forbidding you from protecting her. Is that going too far?"

"I won't agree."

"Does the general intend to break the agreement?"

So what if we break the contract?

"Then I'll have to tell everyone something, such as the Black Flag Army over the past two years..."

"Shen Suqiu!"

Xiao Pingchuan knew that she actually wanted to threaten him by claiming that the Black Flag Army and the Crown Prince had been secretly colluding.

"Xiao Pingchuan!" Shen Suqiu retorted in the same volume.

Suddenly, with a creak, the door opened.

Shen Suqin stepped forward, picking her ear, and said unhappily, "What are you shouting for? Just because you have a loud voice doesn't mean you're so great. It's so noisy."

After saying that, she patted Xiao Pingchuan's shoulder, signaling him to pull his leg back, and whispered to him, "Promise her, I can handle it myself."

"real?"

Trust me.

Xiao Pingchuan withdrew his leg, took a step back, and said to Shen Suqiu, "I promise you."

Shen Suqiu raised an eyebrow, about to say something, when she saw Shen Suqin step aside, making way for the door.

Curious, everyone craned their necks to peer inside, only to be met with the unseeing eyes of a man with a curved knife stuck in his chest.

"ah!"

Everyone was startled.

Someone died.

"Shen Suqin committed murder."

The courtyard was immediately thrown into chaos.

Shen Suqiu swallowed her words and looked at Madam Pei.

"Quiet!" Madam Pei spoke, and everyone immediately fell silent. "Madam Xiao, aren't you going to give an explanation?"

Shen Suqin looked at her expressionlessly, "Explain what?"

"Explain why you were alone in a room with a man? And why you killed him?"

"You saw me make a move?"

"Then tell me, who killed him?"

Shen Suqin sneered, "Does Madam Pei really not know?"

"have no idea."

Shen Suqin threw out a blood-written letter, "Then let me tell you, the one inside is called Gao Tianbao. Three days ago, someone came to him and said they wanted one hundred taels to buy his life. Gao Tianbao naturally refused, but the person threatened him with power and said that if he didn't agree, his whole family would die. If he agreed, only he would die, and he would get one hundred taels to buy his life."

"And so, Gao Tianbao was brought here. Do I need to go into the dirty tricks of the backyard? I'm afraid you all know them better than I do."

"Why did Gao Tianbao die? Because he knew that even if he succeeded in this matter, his parents, wife, and children would not survive in order to be silenced. So he begged me to help him protect his family. He was willing to give his own life to save his parents, wife, and children. All of this is written in a blood letter. Please take a look."

Shen Suqin unfolded the blood-written letter and presented it to everyone.

Although the handwriting was messy, the cause and effect were quite fluent.

Shi Yunzhu, who had been silent until now, glanced at the letter and said coldly, "According to you, how could a lowly commoner who has never been to school write such a fluent blood letter? You must have staged it yourself."

“When did I say he had never been to school? It was the princess who specifically looked for him when she was searching for a target.”

Shi Yunzhu hated her, so naturally she couldn't find her a decent-looking, well-educated person. She chose Gao Tianbao precisely because he was ugly and illiterate, so that she could humiliate him severely.

Shen Suqiu chimed in, "You don't need to tell me. If you knew even a couple of words, you wouldn't look so poor and shabby."

"The person is dead, have some decency." It was rare that someone present couldn't stand it anymore.

"that is."

"Listen if you want, get out if you don't," Shen Suqiu said.

Upon hearing this, several people quietly left.

"I'm a little curious, Princess, Madam Pei, Shen Suqiu, do you value human life so much? You're willing to kill an innocent person just to frame me."

“Nonsense, you clearly killed him,” Shi Yunzhu said. “Whether it was rape or murder, there must be an explanation. Shen Suqin, you will never leave this Pei residence cleanly today.”

"Whether I can leave this Pei residence or not is not up to you." Shen Suqin crossed her arms. "The death of someone in the Prime Minister's residence is just bad luck for me. I just happened to be passing by. What does it have to do with me?"

“But is the princess really sure she wants to investigate Gao Tianbao’s death? What if it turns out he committed suicide? The Prime Minister’s wife colluded with the princess to force innocent people to their deaths. This unbelievable miscarriage of justice, if written into a story and circulated among the people, could probably be talked about for years,” Shen Suqin continued.

"Should we call a coroner to examine the body now? Everyone knows that only when someone stabs themselves will the blade slant upwards... plus the blood oath."

“Alright,” Madam Pei spoke up at the right moment, “Respect for the deceased is paramount. Since Madam Xiao says he committed suicide, then let him commit suicide.”

Shen Suqin knew that the Pei family dared not invite a coroner to examine the body. If it was confirmed that Gao Tianbao had committed suicide, then the Pei family would not be able to hide the series of events that followed.

"Someone, collect the remains," Madam Pei said.

“No,” Shi Yunzhu jumped in again, “Shen Suqin, the person died because of you, you can’t be completely without responsibility.”

Shi Yunzhu is determined not to let Shen Suqin have an easy time today, repeatedly jumping out to cause trouble.

Before Shen Suqin could say anything, Xiao Pingchuan stepped forward, shielding her behind him, and said, word by word, "Princess, although I don't hit women, I can make an exception for you."

"Xiao Pingchuan! How dare you!"

"You can give it a try."

Shen Suqiu, who hadn't said much until now, suddenly spoke up: "Let them go."

Shen Suqin glanced at her. "I'm going to bring Gao Tianbao along."

"Sure, exchange it for a letter written in blood."

Shen Suqin threw the blood-written letter at her.

Shen Suqiu took the blood-written letter, examined it closely, and then handed it to Madam Pei.

After confirming that everything was correct, Madam Pei gestured for a servant to go in and check.

The servant bent down to check Gao Tianbao's breathing, and after finishing, pulled the knife out of his chest and stabbed him hard in the heart.

Shen Suqin glared at him angrily.

"Now you can take the body away."

Madam Pei spoke, then tore up the blood-written letter in front of everyone and left as if nothing had happened.

Soon, only Shen Suqin and Xiao Pingchuan remained in the entire Anxiang Courtyard.

Shen Suqin sighed deeply, turned and went into the house, squatted down beside Gao Tianbao, closed his eyes, and sighed, "In the end, we still couldn't save his life."

The knife she taught Gao Tianbao to stab didn't actually hit a vital spot; he could still be saved with some effort.

Who would have thought that Madam Pei would be so meticulous in her work?

The room reeked of blood, and the sweet, pungent smell made one's heart ache.

Xiao Pingchuan stood behind her, wanting to pat her shoulder and comfort her, but after raising his hand, he hesitated for a long time and then withdrew it.

Shen Suqin pulled the curved knife from Gao Tianbao's chest, wiped the bloodstains off his own body, put it in his bosom, and said to Xiao Pingchuan, "Please do me a favor, General, and accompany me to deliver a corpse."

"good."

After delivering the bodies to the Gao family, Xiao Pingchuan arranged for people to help with the burial, gave them the full amount of silver, and discreetly sent the Gao family out of the capital to hide their whereabouts. But that's another story.

By the time the two finished doing this, the capital city was already brightly lit, with lights gradually illuminating the city.

They walked side by side without saying a word.

As they passed a run-down little tavern, Xiao Pingchuan suddenly said, "Shall we go in and sit down?"

"good."

The tavern had low eaves, and the further inside you went, the darker it got. The two of them sat in a corner, almost half of their bodies buried in the heavy shadows.

The surroundings smelled slightly musty from the thatch. The wooden tables and chairs were old, with cracks filled with black, aged mud. Shen Suqin looked down at them indifferently, lost in thought.

Soon, the boss came over to greet them.

"Sir, what would you like to order?"

"Give me two jars of your best wine," Xiao Pingchuan said.

"Wait, bring ten jars," Shen Suqin said.

The boss looked at Xiao Pingchuan.

Xiao Pingchuan nodded.