Chapter 36 Useful People
Li Nanke had expected to see his father lying on a pile of straw in the prison cell, his back covered in blood, a pitiful sight.
When they arrived at the cell, they found bloodstains and a person lying face down on a straw-covered wooden board.
He clenched his fists and pounded them on the wooden bed, his head bobbing rhythmically in response.
He muttered to himself.
"When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will first test their will, strain their muscles and bones, and starve their body... Hmm, that won't work, let's try something else."
"I'm not in pain, I'm not in pain, pain can make me sick, I'm not in pain, pain can ruin everything, I'm not in pain..."
Li Nanke blinked and called out, "Father."
Li Mu froze, then slowly raised his head.
The moment he saw his daughter, he grinned, but the movement aggravated the wound on his back.
"Ouch, Ke'er is here. Don't be afraid. Daddy just thinks it looks a bit serious, but I'm not in pain."
He gritted his teeth and shuddered, meeting Song Yi's eyes, which were swollen like walnuts, behind him.
His body, which had been gritting its teeth and persevering, suddenly went limp, and he collapsed onto the pile of straw, his eyes red with tears.
"No, it hurts so much!"
Song Yi rushed over, and seeing her husband's blood-stained back, tears streamed down her face.
Remembering something, she hurriedly wiped away her tears and quickly found the ointment she had brought.
"Husband, lie down quickly, I'll apply medicine and bandage you."
She struggled to hold back her tears, tore open Li Mu's clothes, which were almost ripped off his back, and carefully applied medicine to his wounds.
The moment the wound medicine was applied, Li Mu shuddered in pain.
Li Nanke reached out her small hand and grasped his fist.
"Is it very painful for Father?"
My father has never experienced hardship since he was a child and has always been very afraid of pain.
Li Mu looked up at his daughter, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and nodded with a pout.
"It hurts, it hurts a lot, it hurts terribly."
Li Nanke used her sleeve to wipe his sweat.
“If Father feels pain, he should cry out.”
"Will Daddy scare you?"
One sentence brought tears to Li Nanke's eyes.
In the dream, when her father was being beaten to death by those yamen runners, she stuffed her arm to her mouth and bit it hard, but she didn't make a sound.
Is Father afraid of frightening her and Mother?
She shook her head, half-lying on the edge of the bed, her forehead almost touching Li Mu's.
"Ke'er isn't afraid, Ke'er feels sorry for Daddy."
“Then I’ll call him Dad.”
Li Mu loosened his clenched fist and shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice almost piercing the roof of the cell.
"Ouch, my God, that hurts so much!"
"What do those yamen runners eat on a regular basis? How come they have such strong hands?"
"All I did was avoid going to the government office and asked someone to sign in for me. Was it really necessary to be beaten so badly?"
Li Nanke couldn't help but reach out her little hand to rub her ears, and looked up to see her mother crying again because she felt sorry for her father.
She couldn't help but puff out her cheeks and sigh.
"Would you like to keep Daddy company and chat?"
"Huh? Talk...talk about what?"
"Ke'er doesn't understand, why didn't Father just tell the Censorate that you hadn't been to the Ministry of Revenue when they were handling the case?"
Li Mu's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't feel embarrassed that his daughter had noticed his slacking off.
On the contrary, they were quite self-righteous.
"My father doesn't want to go to the government office even once a day, so he spent money to ask someone to sign in for me."
We agreed that this matter would only be known to him and me, and that we would never tell a third party. He took the risk to sign in for me.
"Since I promised, I must keep my word. How can I go back on my word?"
Li Nanke sighed, resting her chin on her hand.
"Does Father know that the one who embezzled the money was Lord Jiang, who helped you sign in? He was afraid of being punished, so he took the money and signed your name."
"ah!"
Li Mu was startled and suddenly sat up, which aggravated the wound on his back. He grimaced and lay back down.
"That bastard, he actually harmed me!"
Li Nanke watched him grit his teeth in anger, his face twitching in pain, and slowly delivered another heavy blow.
"It was Lord Jiang who embezzled the money, and it was your uncle who anonymously reported you."
"What? You mean there's also Zhao Hong...?"
Li Nanke reached out and covered his mouth, leaning closer to whisper, "Father, keep your voice down."
This is the Censorate.
Li Mu's eyes darted around, then he pulled down his daughter's little hand and angrily pressed her for an answer.
"Was it really Zhao Hong who reported me?"
Song Yi was also shocked. "Ke'er, is what you're saying true?"
Li Nanke nodded.
"Mother, don't you believe what I'm saying?"
"No... Of course Mother believes you."
Song Yi quickly replied.
No wonder her daughter wouldn't let her write a letter for help to her sister and brother-in-law; it turns out they were the culprits.
Perhaps because of the series of setbacks she had suffered in the past two days, Song Yi accepted this reality quite naturally.
On the contrary, Li Mu was unable to accept it for the time being.
"How could it be her? Aren't we brothers-in-law? Why would he want to harm me?"
While crying, Song Yi recounted everything that had happened in the past two days.
"...Waaaah, my husband, you don't know how lucky we are to have Ke'er. If it weren't for Ke'er pleading with Prince Xuan, our family would be finished this time."
"To save you, Ke'er was almost eaten by King Xuan's dogs."
Then she mentioned that her stepmother conspired with Granny Qian and Manager Liu to seize her dowry shop.
"...Fortunately, Ke'er was clever and filed a complaint with the Bianjing Prefecture, which helped her get the money back from the shop and pay your fine."
Li Mu never expected that so many things would happen outside during the three days he was imprisoned in the Censorate.
Compared to what his wife and daughter went through, the fact that Zhao Hong framed him was much easier to accept.
He held Song Yi's hand with one hand and Li Nanke's hand with the other.
"It's all my fault for being useless. I failed to protect you and instead dragged you down."
"Husband, don't say that. You were also framed."
Li Mu wiped away a tear.
"Our Ke'er is really amazing, and Madam is amazing too."
Song Yi burst into laughter through her tears, but was also somewhat annoyed.
"Ke'er is amazing. I... I can't help but cry, and I have to ask my daughter for help. I'm so useless."
Li Nanke curved her eyebrows and eyes, revealing two sweet dimples.
"Yeah, I think I'm pretty good too."
"I'm so awesome."
"However, Mother and Father are also very capable, otherwise how could they have such an amazing daughter?"
Li Mu and Song Yi exchanged a glance and were amused by their daughter's adorable appearance.
The annoyance in my heart lessened a bit.
Song Yi sniffed, clenched her fist, and made a solemn vow.
"I've made up my mind. Even if I have to cry, I'll be a useful crybaby."
Li Mu also clenched his fist.
"Then I also want to be a useful person."
Li Nanke leaned over and kissed Li Mu, then kissed Song Yi.
He smiled and said, "We are a useful family."
Nestled between her parents, she felt happy even in the dark prison cell.
She knew that neither her parents nor she herself would ever suffer the tragic end she had dreamed of.
When the visiting time was over, Li Nanke and Song Yi left the Censorate and returned to the Marquis of Anping's residence.
First, we went to the main courtyard where my grandmother lived.
Grandmother was very worried about Father. When they went to the main courtyard, they naturally went to talk to Grandmother about Father's condition first.
As soon as I arrived at the main courtyard, before even entering, I heard my grandfather, Marquis Anping, angrily speaking from inside.
"That's settled then. When Madam Song returns, have her hand over the silver she brought back from Bianjing Prefecture today to the family's public account."
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