Chapter 99 The imperial edict rolled to the ground.
Huo Yunzhan walked back to the small courtyard where Shen Qingci lived and continued to knock on the door.
Still, no one came to open the door.
Huo Yunzhan frowned and subconsciously looked at the wedding procession that was still slowly passing through the main street outside the alley. Suddenly, a strange thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that the one marrying Chu Jichen is Shen Qingci?
In the past month or two, Shen Qingci seemed to have suddenly had some interaction with Chu Jichen.
Previously, Shen Qingci had a miscarriage after falling down the steps at Putuo Temple, and happened to meet Chu Jichen, who then took her back to the Regent's Palace.
A few days ago, when he reclaimed his identity as Huo Yunzhan and brought Liu Ruolan and his mother over, Chu Jichen was also there...
Chu Jichen is the regent; these repeated coincidences are a bit too much.
When did Chu Jichen start getting involved in these kinds of things?
However, this thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before Huo Yunzhan quickly dismissed it.
How could that be? Shen Qingci is still observing mourning for him.
Shen Qingci was unaware of his faked death and still adhered to the custom of observing a hundred days of mourning for him.
If she remarries during her mourning period, he can stir up rumors and use his spittle to make it impossible for her to ever stand in the capital again.
Moreover... no matter how incompetent Chu Jichen is, he is still the Regent.
How could the regent possibly marry a... a widow who had been married before, had been pregnant, and had a miscarriage?
I don't know why, even though I've already rejected this obviously unrealistic conjecture, I still feel inexplicably uneasy.
Huo Yunzhan raised his eyes, staring intently at the slightly dilapidated gate and the low wall before him. He narrowed his eyes slightly, then gathered his strength and leaped over the wall...
Before he could even land, two guards suddenly sprang out from the shadows, one on the left and one on the right, each kicking him away.
Huo Yunzhan fell to the ground and couldn't help but groan.
pain.
It hurts so much.
His body was covered in bruises from the beatings he received during Chu Jichen's interrogation. Now, as he fell to the ground, it felt as if every bone in his body was aching.
The courtyard gate was finally opened.
Two guards stepped forward: "How dare you trespass into our young lady's courtyard!"
Huo Yunzhan gritted his teeth and looked at the two guards.
The guards were strangers, people he had never seen before, and possessed extremely high martial arts skills.
Aside from the private soldiers secretly trained by Shen Jingxuan, he didn't think about anything else.
Huo Yunzhan felt a little irritated. Wasn't Shen Qingci already deeply in love with him, even willing to die with him after his death? Why wouldn't she tell him the secret of the Shen family's private army?
What kind of love is this?
That woman is far too scheming.
Huo Yunzhan felt increasingly frustrated: "I am the Marquis of Yongning, Shen Qingci's elder brother-in-law. I have something to discuss with Shen Qingci! Go and inform him!"
A strange glint flashed in the eyes of the two guards, but they said in a stiff and formal tone, "Miss is not here."
Huo Yunzhan frowned. Shen Qingci was a newly widowed woman. She couldn't attend any banquets or visit other people's homes. Where else could she go?
Where did she go?
The guard scoffed, "We are merely Miss's subordinates. How could we possibly inquire where she has gone?"
Anyway, Miss isn't here.
"If you dare to trespass again, don't blame us for being impolite."
"Even the Marquis of Yongning cannot trespass into someone else's courtyard. Besides, our young lady is no longer a commoner who can be easily manipulated!"
The guard's eyes were full of meaningful glances. Huo Yunzhan frowned and gritted his teeth. So what if she was just a third-rank imperial consort?
So what?
Ultimately, it was he who earned this third-rank imperial title for her.
Now, that vile woman Shen Qingci is actually using this third-rank imperial title to threaten him.
But he's only just been rescued by His Majesty; if he were to be imprisoned again because of Shen Qingci...
Huo Yunzhan gritted his teeth and stood up, supporting himself.
It's alright, he's not in a hurry.
Once he gets out, he'll have plenty of opportunities.
Huo Yunzhan found a carriage and returned to the Marquis's residence, only to find that the white flowers that had been hanging there for several months had been taken down.
Huo Yunzhan frowned and asked the butler, "Why were those white silk and white flowers removed?"
The steward hurriedly replied, "Your Excellency, yesterday marked the hundredth day since the General's passing. The hundred-day mourning period has ended, and the Old Madam instructed us yesterday to remove all the firecrackers after midnight."
Has a hundred days passed?
He had been imprisoned by Chu Jichen, and was frequently arrested, interrogated, and tortured. He would wake up and then faint, then wake up and faint again, completely oblivious to the world around him. He didn't even know...
Can……
Huo Yunzhan recalled the wedding procession he had seen earlier with Chu Jichen, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.
The date Chu Jichen chose to get married was too coincidental, wasn't it?
Just as General Huo Yunzhan's hundred-day mourning period was over, he suddenly got married.
His heart was pounding faster and faster. He turned around instinctively, wanting to go to the Regent's Palace to verify what he had in mind.
But as soon as he turned around, a servant rushed over: "My lord, the old lady heard that you have returned and requests that you go to her place."
Huo Yunzhan paused, frowned, but still turned around and headed straight for the old lady's courtyard.
"Mother."
As soon as Huo Yunzhan entered, he saw the old Lady Hou sitting high in the main seat. The old Lady Hou looked haggard and pale. When she heard the voice, she only raised her eyes to look at him. That look... made him feel a little... uncomfortable.
"Mother...what's wrong?"
Madam Hou pursed her lips: "Today is the day your...brother's 100-day mourning period ends. Go to the ancestral hall and kneel for two hours to offer him incense."
On what grounds?
Huo Yunzhan's face immediately turned ugly: "Mother, I just got back from prison! You have no idea how sinister that cripple Chu Jichen is, what he did to me! I..."
As he spoke, he met the old lady's gloomy gaze.
Huo Yunzhan's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason. Why... was his mother looking at him like that?
Could it be that she... knows something?
But... that shouldn't be the case.
Huo Yunzhan was silent for a moment, then softened his voice slightly: "Mother, as everyone knows, it was my younger brother who passed away. As the Marquis of Yongning and the eldest brother, how can I, as the elder brother, kneel in the ancestral hall to observe the hundred-day mourning period for my younger brother?"
Old Madam Huo pursed her lips: "But you and I know who died, and why..."
She paused, but ultimately didn't say the last few words.
She took a deep breath and said, "If you still consider me your mother, then kneel down. If you kneel down today, I'll pretend some things never happened."
“I can tell outsiders that you have recently been imprisoned several times, and I suggest you ask your ancestors for protection to eliminate the disaster.”
Huo Yunzhan's heart skipped a beat, but he still replied, "Yes, Mother."
Huo Yunzhan got up and went to the ancestral hall, where he knelt down. However, the look in his eyes as he gazed at the memorial tablet was extremely gloomy.
He didn't know what his mother knew that she shouldn't have, but... he had to see her attitude. If... she was prepared to betray her own family...
Then he has no choice but to strike first.
Huo Yunzhan knelt in the ancestral hall for two hours before getting up. However, he had been tortured by Chu Jichen and then kicked twice by Shen Qingci, causing him to fall down and kneel for another two hours.
As soon as he stood up, he felt dizzy and weak in the knees, and he stumbled forward, knocking down the two scrolls of imperial edicts that were placed on the altar.
One of the imperial edicts fell to the ground, rolled twice, and then fully unfolded...
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