But fate had other plans, and his ending in the book was not good.
Shen Muzhi wasn't the only rebel in Qing Kingdom; there were several others. Among them, the one who had fought Shen Muzhi the longest was Qi Chengfeng, the city lord of Yanyun City.
This person is different from Shen Muzhi; he is a smiling tiger. On the surface, he is friendly and polite, like a gentleman, but in reality, he has no moral bottom line. He is willing to pay any price to achieve his goal, even sacrificing everyone else except himself.
And Mo Antong died at his hands.
It's unclear how he knew Mo Antong, the one who destroyed the Duke's mansion, but he somehow managed to capture Mo Antong's daughter and lure him to Yanyun City, ostensibly to take care of and treat her.
In reality, he was forcing Mo Antong to work for him, to develop various powerful crossbows and hidden weapons, and to set up defensive devices for the city.
His daughter was Mo Antong's only weakness, and he couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to agree.
In the end, he naturally produced a lot of good things, causing a lot of trouble for Shen Muzhi, the male protagonist, but he didn't know that his daughter was not being taken good care of.
Although his daughter was mentally challenged, she was very beautiful. Qi Chengfeng only wanted to use him and didn't really care about his daughter. Some of his subordinates, seeing that his daughter was mentally challenged, naturally had dirty thoughts.
Unfortunately, his daughter was being bullied but didn't understand and couldn't tell him. He only realized something was wrong when she got pregnant.
He demanded an explanation from Qi Chengfeng, but Qi Chengfeng only killed a few servants and let it go. He comforted him, saying that there was nothing he could do about his daughter's current situation, and that having a child was a good thing, so that after he passed away, there would be someone to take care of his daughter.
What's done is done, and there's nothing he can do about it. He can only accept his fate and think that what Qi Chengfeng said makes some sense.
My daughter is mentally challenged; she won't be able to survive after he's gone. Having a descendant means she'll have someone to rely on in the future.
However, after ten months of pregnancy, her daughter did not give birth safely; instead, she suffered a difficult childbirth and died along with her unborn child.
Now he was completely hopeless, and he only hated himself for being useless, unable to even protect his last daughter.
Having lost all will to live, he only wanted revenge. But by then, he had already helped Qi Chengfeng create many good things. In addition, because of his past actions in destroying the Duke's mansion, Qi Chengfeng had people keeping a close watch on him, so he couldn't do anything.
In the end, he wanted to avenge his daughter, but instead lost his own life.
"Madam, Madam?"
"Um?"
Yanxiao was so engrossed in recalling the plot that Qianqiu had to call her twice before she snapped out of it.
It was only then that she realized she had been staring blankly at that face that could cure a child's crying, all along.
Fortunately, she was wearing a hat, so others couldn't see her expression; otherwise, it would have been quite impolite.
Even someone as thick-skinned as her felt somewhat apologetic at this moment, and quickly said to the man who resembled Mo Antong:
"I'm sorry, Master. I was just lost in thought."
The man seemed used to being treated as an oddity; he nodded nonchalantly and asked:
"My apprentice told me that Madam wants to commission something. May I ask what Madam would like to commission?"
Judging from the man's appearance and current profession, Yan Xiao could already tell that he was the tragic mechanic Mo Antong.
Unexpectedly, this person had actually settled in Jiangbei City before being targeted by Qi Chengfeng.
At this moment, she really wanted to ask Shen Muzhi: as the male lead, with all the protagonist's halo, how could he turn a blind eye to such a powerful weapon right under his nose and let someone else take it? Didn't he feel ashamed?
However, this is not the time to think about these things. Now that she has encountered this person, she can't let that smiling tiger Qi Chengfeng get away with it again. But this matter needs to be considered carefully.
It would be better to reach a cooperation agreement with this person first.
Thinking this through, Yan Xiao then revealed the purpose of her trip:
"I need some molds, but I don't know whether to use iron or wood. I want to make a few first to test the effect. If they work well, I will order a large quantity later."
The man became somewhat interested after hearing Yan Xiao's words:
"A mold? What kind of mold does Madam require? And what will it be used for?"
Yanxiao tried to gesture a couple of times, but felt it wasn't quite clear, so she asked the other person to get her paper and pen, and explained while drawing.
"What we need is a long, cylindrical object that can be opened and closed, similar to a bamboo tube, except it can be square, heart-shaped, flower-shaped, or any other shape..."
By the time Yanxiao finished speaking, the drawing was complete. Although it was a bit rough, the other party understood what she meant.
"I understand what you mean, Madam. May I ask how much you require and when you will receive it?"
Yan Xiao thought for a moment about the prepared alkaline water and asked directly:
"I want to see the finished product and try it out tomorrow. Can you make it overnight? I can give you extra money for your hard work."
The man glanced at the blueprints, calculated the time, and nodded.
"Yes, but we can only make two or three finished products."
"Okay, I'm just trying it out, two or three items will be enough."
Yan smiled and handed a string of copper coins to the man:
"This is a deposit. If I'm satisfied with the result, I'll place many more orders later."
The man accepted the string of copper coins without hesitation.
"Don't worry, Madam. Just have someone come and go first thing tomorrow morning."
"Okay, I'll have someone come and pick it up tomorrow."
After Yan Xiao finished speaking, he didn't linger. He nodded politely to the other party and led Qianqiu Wandai out of the shop without looking back. It seemed like a very ordinary transaction.
After boarding the carriage, Bandai couldn't help but clutch her chest and whisper:
"Madam, that shop owner is too scary. I'm frightened just looking at him. Do you really want to buy his stuff?"
Yan Xiao glanced at her lightly:
"I'm looking for a craftsman, not a street performer. Why should I care about their face?"
"If I were interested in looks, there are plenty of prettier and smarter maids in the manor than you."
Yan Xiao's tone was calm, but it made Wan Dai lower her head in shame, remembering how she and Qian Qiu had been isolated by the other maids in the mansion because they were relatively strong.
If the lady hadn't chosen them as her personal maids, they would probably still be doing hard labor in some remote corner.
She had only enjoyed a few good days with the lady for a short while, and she had already learned to judge people by their appearance, just like everyone else. That was truly wrong of her.
Seeing that she looked ashamed and didn't seem to be faking it, Yan Xiao reached out and handed her a pastry, saying:
“I know you don’t mean anything by it, but you are mine now, and your words and actions represent me.”
I understand that emotions and desires are uncontrollable, but some things are better left unsaid, understand?
"knew."
Bandai quickly accepted the snacks with both hands, nodding repeatedly to indicate that she understood, while Chiaki on the side also looked thoughtful.
Yan Xiao ignored them and jumped off the carriage as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the General's Mansion.
Before turning to leave, she hesitated for a moment, then called Zhao Qian aside and whispered her instructions:
"Later, go and find out who the owner of that shop is, and see who else is in his family, but don't disturb him."
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