Chapter 26 Duan Gan, you traitorous scoundrel!
The cart wheels rolled over the gravel road and gradually came to a stop at the mortuary, which was surrounded by weeds.
The person at the door bowed and greeted the person alighting from the carriage with clasped hands, saying respectfully, "Sir."
The hem of the magnificent purple robe embroidered with the Yazi beast pattern swept across the doorway with each step. The man entered with his hands behind his back, his face indifferent. He carried neither a knife nor a sword, showing that he did not take the impending crisis seriously.
The dark sky was occasionally streaked with silver lightning, accompanied by muffled thunder, signaling the approaching storm.
This was destined to be no ordinary night.
The elite cavalry were in the open, while the Privy Council was in the shadows.
The remnants of Zhao's forces knew perfectly well that saving someone wouldn't be easy, but they had no choice but to do so because the person they had captured was Zhao Yinchen, the son of the former dynasty's royal family.
This is truly a pleasant surprise.
Duan Gan, with great interest, bound the man's hands and feet, leaving him unable to move on the bed, a smile playing on his lips.
Zhao Yinchen glared angrily, his mouth gagged with a rag, his face showing obvious resentment and arrogance, showing no self-awareness as a prisoner.
The reason why this royal son was captured can be attributed not only to Zhang Cheng's quick thinking, but also to Zhao Yinchen's arrogance and disdain for the court officials who came to arrest him.
He thought they were just clowns who couldn't catch him at all, and he didn't learn the lesson that pride comes before a fall. Instead, he ended up in the enemy's hands because of it.
"Let's see what your subordinates are capable of doing for you..."
He dragged out the last syllable, sounding lazy and nonchalant.
Seeing that the person in front of him was sobbing as if he had something to say, he reached out and pulled the rag out of Zhao Yinchen's mouth.
Once his mouth was free, he immediately burst into a tirade: "Duan Gan, you lackey! You traitorous scoundrel who betrayed the State of Zhao!"
"You wait! I will surely set things right, uphold justice, and slaughter all of you rebellious traitors."
More than a hundred years have passed, and the remnants of the Zhao state are still thriving. If they had simply eked out a living in secret and hadn't stirred up trouble, he could have chosen to let them go.
But that doesn't mean they'll amount to anything.
They were complacent, thinking that they had survived and continued their bloodline entirely because of their own abilities.
Little did they know that they were the real clowns, like lice jumping on a tiger's fur, too small and weak to even be seen by the tiger.
Now it's just that there are too many lice, and they're too itchy, so it's time to get rid of them.
The aristocratic families existed even longer than the Celestial Empire at that time. The unification of the Celestial Empire was largely due to the assistance of the aristocratic families; otherwise, how could the founding emperor have easily unified the country?
What betrayal is nothing but the debauchery of the former Zhao emperor, who, in order to please a beauty, built the Moon Tower, wasting resources and causing natural disasters, man-made calamities, and war, yet ignored the people until dawn, thus unworthy of being a king.
When faced with loyal ministers' advice, he executed them on the spot in the imperial court. This act of tyranny chilled the hearts of countless officials.
As the head of the aristocratic families, the Duan family could not ignore the situation. If the monarch was incompetent, they had to choose another wise ruler.
They chose the State of Qi, which was then a vassal state. The King of Qi loved his people like his own children and was kind and benevolent. The head of the Duan family personally went to persuade him. At that time, many talented people emerged from the aristocratic families, especially the Duan family. With the help of both inside and outside, they destroyed the State of Zhao, gathered together the small states in various places, and unified them into the Celestial Empire.
To forge a lasting bond, the capital of the Celestial Empire was chosen to be located in a place where the Duan family lived, and they later became in-laws. In this sense, Duan Gan had some royal blood.
Upon hearing this, Duan Gan's eyes were filled with mockery, and he let out a contemptuous sneer.
"When it's time to beg for food, you should be a good begging dog, instead of biting your owner while they're sleeping."
"you!"
With a snap.
“…Waaah…”
One sentence instantly enraged Zhao Yinchen, who was about to utter foul language when Chen Jinghe, who had come over, slapped him across the face and then quickly covered his mouth.
He could only glare at Duan Gan with hatred and anger in his eyes, desperately trying to get up, but Chen Jinghe kicked him back down.
He turned and walked to the armchair Chen Jinghe was about to sit on in front of the door. He then sat down with a flourish, picked up the silver needle cedarwood tea that Zhang Cheng had soaked in spring water, and took a sip.
Quietly waiting for the show to begin.
Suddenly, a loud splashing sound rang out, and a torrential downpour began from the gloomy, gray sky. The large raindrops stung the skin as they pounded against the ground, and within moments, puddles of water formed on the ground.
Just then, the rumbling sound of a carriage rolling over something came from outside.
Tao Tao saw a house ahead and quickly told Yu Shan to stop the carriage. After jumping off, she said urgently, "Hurry up, the rain is too heavy."
"Wait a minute, let me tie the carriage up!"
Yu Shan braved the heavy rain to tie the carriage to a tree; the carriage was too valuable to be lost.
Tao Tao also felt that they couldn't lose them, so she told the younger Yu He to go in first, while she would wait for Yu Shan to join them.
Yu He ran ahead first, but stopped abruptly when he reached the door.
Tao Tao and Yu Shan arrived later, looking puzzled. Although there was a canopy at the entrance to shelter them from the rain, the rain was too heavy and the wind was too strong, so standing there was no different from being in the rain.
She shouted, "What's wrong? Why aren't you going in?!"
When she looked up, she saw his ghost-like expression. Following his gaze, she froze on the spot.
Duan Gan paused, then raised her beautiful eyebrows, her pure, dark, cold eyes reflecting a sharp, fierce aura as she met a pair of bright almond-shaped eyes.
Upon seeing the person who had arrived, a fleeting, indescribable light flashed in his eyes.
Tao Tao's eyes darted around, looking at the guards with swords hanging at their waists. Her expression was unfriendly. When she saw them, she instantly drew her sword and pointed it at them.
"Holy crap..."
She sighed to herself.
She raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, a sweet and ingratiating smile spreading across her fair face.
"Gentlemen, we are just passing by and have no intention of disturbing you. It's just that the rain is too heavy and we can't leave. Don't worry, we will leave as soon as the rain subsides."
"Please, have mercy on me."
The sky was gloomy, and with the rain casting shadows, she couldn't see who was sitting at the door. But the fact that only that person was sitting while everyone else was standing was enough to tell her that he was their leader.
Only the sound of rain and endless silence answered her.
Tao Tao took their silence as tacit agreement and breathed a sigh of relief.
A gust of cold wind mixed with rain suddenly blew in, causing her to sneeze and shiver involuntarily.
What kind of weather is this?!
Suddenly, the two people beside him also trembled, their clothes so soaked that they could be wrung out with a bucket of water.
She then mustered her courage and said, "Gentlemen, the doorway can't keep out the rain, shall we go inside for a bit, please?"
After she finished speaking, she told Yu Shan and the other man to follow behind her, while she walked in the corridor ahead.
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