Chapter 138: First courtesy, then force? I'm your father!
The Lu family's excitement had just ended during the day, and the gossip had not yet finished, when some people in the capital who were still immersed in gossip suddenly discovered that a large number of black-armored guards from the Privy Council poured out and gathered towards the place of power and wealth in the east of the city with a ferocious look.
The last time there was such a big commotion, the Duke of Song's mansion was destroyed, and the time before that, a third-rank court official had his house ransacked. This time, many people were frightened and quietly sent people to follow those black-armored guards from a distance.
When they saw the leader, Xiao Yan, who was dressed in a crimson robe and as pure as the moon, heading straight towards the place where the Lu family was gathering, the faces of the people following him changed slightly.
Didn’t Governor Xiao just take a piece of skin from the Lu family? What is he doing here with such a threatening attitude?
The Qian family was closer to the Lu family, as both families were located in the east of the city. In addition, the Qian family's servants gathered faster. Before the black-armored guards arrived, Qian Baokun and the Qian family's three sons led forty or fifty strong men to the Lu family's gate.
The second brother of the Qian family had the most violent temper. When he saw the Lu family's gate, he shouted angrily: "Smash it down!"
"Who are you... Hey, what are you doing?"
"you……"
The Lu family's doormen were shocked when they saw this, and hurried forward to stop them. They saw those people swinging sticks at them, and a group of people screamed in pain after being beaten. The Qian family took the opportunity to kick open the Lu family's door.
The eldest brother of the Qian family stood at the door and shouted sternly, "Everyone, go in and find that Lu guy. Except for Lu Chongyuan and the old lady of the Lu family, anyone else who dares to stop me will be beaten!"
The guards of the Qian family were all brought to Beijing from the Lingnan clan. Not only are they extremely loyal to the Qian family, but also because the Qian family now has only Qian Baokun, the only "son of the family" who holds an important position in the court, and the Minister of Revenue has protected the entire clan for ten years, so the guards sent to protect him and his wife and children are all the best among the Qian family.
Those people were either big and strong or nimble. After they rushed into the Lu family with bamboo poles and wooden sticks in their hands, they would swing the sticks at anyone who tried to stop them. This would not only avoid killing the person but also temporarily "disable" the person.
By the time the three Qian brothers had fought their way to the front hall of the Lu family and destroyed almost half of the front yard, the Lu family's guards, who had been exhausted from the day's work, hurried over.
Seeing the servants lying on the ground, Lu Qin's face turned pale with wailing outside the courtyard. "Where did this bastard come from? How dare he come to our Lu family and make trouble?!"
Lu Zhao was also furious: "Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Lu family..."
"I'm your father!"
The second elder brother of the Qian family was angry with Lu Zhinian, and naturally he also took his anger out on Lu Zhinian's father. He usually liked to "bully" Qian Qiyue and tease his sister. When he was mean, he could make Qian Qiyue so angry that she jumped up and down, but that was just teasing. He would never allow anyone to touch his precious sister.
He swung his stick and knocked over the valuable white porcelain on the Lu family's table with a "bang": "Tell that bastard Lu Zhinian to get out here!!"
Lu Zhao's heart sank.
Lu Qin's eyes suddenly darkened.
It’s Lu Zhinian again!!!
It's him again!
Lu Zhao looked at the young men in front of him who were dressed in elegant clothes and did not look like they were from ordinary backgrounds. In particular, two of them looked familiar. He quickly suppressed his anger and said:
"Whose sons are you? Is there any misunderstanding here? My son has been away from home for a while, and there is no way he could have done anything to offend you..."
"Of course we know that he has been in the imperial prison during this period!"
The third brother of the Qian family was a smooth talker: "Who in the capital doesn't know that your Lu family's eldest son committed a crime, trespassed into a restricted area, was arrested and imprisoned, and was caned by His Majesty?"
"You!" Lu Qin was furious.
Lu Zhao was also furious at the ridicule, but the Lu family had just encountered an incident, and Lu Chongyuan had just recovered from his illness due to anger, so the Lu family could not afford the current turmoil.
He stopped Lu Qin and frowned at the three Qian brothers: "Since you know, why did you come to see Sanlang?"
"Of course, we should break the legs of this shameless and despicable bastard!" The second brother of the Qian family sneered.
Lu Zhao was furious after being scolded: "I am talking to you nicely. If you continue to use foul language like this, don't blame me for being rude to you!"
"How does Lu Langling want to be rude to us?"
The eldest brother of the Qian family, who had remained silent the entire time, spoke coldly, "Your Lu family is a poor parent. First, you humiliated the Princess of Yiyang, and then you broke the rules. The Princess of Yiyang was so kind as to allow Lu Zhinian to be released temporarily because the Lu family presented a book and broke off the engagement. But as soon as he was released, he stopped the Princess of Yiyang and my sister in the street, touching them and insulting them in every way."
"You, the Lu family's servant, dared to injure the daughter of the Qian family and nearly killed the daughter of the Rong family in the street. Could it be that Lu Langling wanted to kill the three of us brothers in the Lu family like your subordinate did?"
money……
Lu Zhao looked at the young man who spoke coldly and suddenly remembered who he was: "Are you Minister Qian's eldest son, Qian Qingran?"
Qian Qingran, the eldest brother of the Qian family, raised his eyes and said, "Thank you, Lu Langling, for remembering this."
Lu Zhao's face instantly turned ugly. Qian Qingran was not very famous in the capital, probably because he was different from other children of aristocratic families and officials. Although he entered the officialdom early, he did not choose to stay in the capital. Instead, he took the initiative to choose to be sent out when he was in his early twenties.
Few people in Beijing knew his name, but the Lu family knew it, only because he had made remarkable achievements in the place where he was in office. Lu Chongyuan once told him that when this person returned to Beijing in two years at most, he would become a new noble in the court. He knew that Qian Qingran had returned to Beijing some time ago to report something, but he had never met him.
But now, when he heard the surname Qian and looked at the two younger young men beside him with angry eyes, he recognized that they were the other two young men of the Qian family whom he had seen from afar.
If someone else dared to break into the house and smash things, or even pointed at his nose and scolded Lu Zhinian for being disrespectful to their daughter, he might not believe it, but this was the Qian family, and what was at stake was the reputation of the Qian family daughter. How could they treat this matter as a joke?
Lu Zhao's face turned pale as he whispered, "Is there some misunderstanding here? Sanlang and Miss Qian don't know each other..."
"What a bullshit misunderstanding!"
The second brother of the Qian family grabbed the stick and said, "My sister was sent back covered in wounds, and the girl from the Rong family was carried back covered in blood. You tell me it's a misunderstanding? Hurry up and tell Lu Zhinian to get out of here. If I don't break his legs today, I'm not named Qian!"
The third brother of the Qian family also shouted angrily: "Hand him over, now!"
Lu Zhao opened his mouth and said hurriedly: "He is not in the mansion..."
The third brother of the Qian family sneered: "Are you kidding me? How can he still fly when he is not in the Lu family? I think you are just relying on your status as a noble family to bully our Qian family girls, but have you forgotten that our Qian family is not easy to bully."
The second elder brother of the Qian family turned around and said, "Brother, why are you talking nonsense to them?" He angrily shouted at the Qian family servants who were following him, "Smash it for me. If the Lu family doesn't hand over the people, I will smash their house for me."
As he was speaking, the second brother of the Qian family took the initiative and knocked over two other pieces of porcelain on the table beside him with a stick.
The other members of the Qian family also followed suit, waving the bamboo poles and wooden sticks in their hands and smashing them at the things in the house. The Lu family was the head of aristocratic family, and they thought that no one would dare to break in. As the most conspicuous place and the first place that visitors could see, the entire front hall was filled with countless valuable items.
Porcelain vases, cups, wall paintings, jade railings...
Everything was in tatters. Seeing how violently the Qian family members were smashing and destroying things, the servants of the Lu family quickly surrounded them and rushed forward. Lu Qin's heart was bleeding as he watched: "Stop them, stop them quickly!!"
“Don’t hurt anyone!”
Lu Zhao said hurriedly that it was wrong for the Qian family to come and provoke trouble, but the Lu family was more at fault first. If the three sons of the Qian family were hurt, the Lu family would suffer the consequences. Moreover, if the matter got out of hand, there would be no possibility of reconciliation between the Lu and Qian families.
Unfortunately, he spoke too late.
The second and third brothers of the Qian family rushed towards the inner courtyard like crazy. There was friction between the two sides when the servants of the Lu family tried to stop them. When the second brother of the Qian family almost hit one of the Lu family's men in the face with a stick, that man reflexively drew his sword and slashed at the second brother of the Qian family.
The stick that almost hit his face suddenly stopped. The second brother of the Qian family grinned, turned around to avoid the vital points and rushed towards the sword.
"don't want……"
Swish!
The second brother of the Qian family was hit on the side of the arm by a sword, and blood gushed out instantly. He fell to the ground, covering his arm with his hands, and screamed in pain.
“Second brother!”
"Qingyu!"
The eldest and third brothers of the Qian family immediately surrounded them. The servants of the Qian family stopped smashing things and retreated to their master with caution. Then they looked at the confused man from the Lu family with a sword in his hand with caution.
Lu Zhao's face darkened when he saw the blood: "Who told you to use the sword?"
“It’s them…”
“Bang!!”
Lu Zhao interrupted the man's defense with a slap in the face. He was so angry that he wanted to kill someone. Just as he was about to step forward to comfort the three brothers of the Qian family and ask a doctor to treat the man's injury, he heard a sneer coming from outside the door.
"What a Lu family! What a head of an aristocratic family! Not only did they bully my daughter, but they also want to kill my son?"
Lu Zhao looked up and saw Qian Baokun standing in front of the yard, and behind him, densely packed black-armored guards rushed into the yard. In just a moment, they occupied the entire Lu family's front yard. What frightened him the most was Xiao Yan, who walked in wearing brown deer boots and with a murderous look on his face.
"Minister Qian, this is a misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding? Is it a misunderstanding that you, the Lu family, bullied a girl in the street, or is it a misunderstanding that you wanted to kill my son?" Qian Baokun no longer had any of his former warmth.
Lu Zhao opened his mouth: "Minister Qian..."
"What did you say to them? Can't you see they're here to cause trouble for our Lu family today?" Lu Qin, standing by, interrupted Lu Zhao's attempt at defense with a cold look in his eyes. "Qian Baokun, even though you're the Minister of Revenue, you don't have the authority to allow your son to trespass into the Lu family's residence. You should know the punishment for trespassing into the residence of the Minister of the Central Secretariat."
Xiao Yan was calm beside him: "So what if I break in?"
Lu Zhao couldn't help but get angry: "Xiao Yan, you want to go back on your word?!"
"You've already done what you wanted the Lu family to do. You've also taken all the books. Our Lu family hasn't refuted the outside world's rumors. You've held Song Tangning high. You promised my father that the previous matter would be over. What do you want to do now by bringing the Black Armor Guards into the Lu family?"
"The previous matter is indeed settled, and now we are dealing with something else."
Xiao Yan raised his eyes with a solemn expression, "This Governor has long said that if anyone embarrasses my children, I will not let them get too happy. It's a pity that you, the Lu family, don't learn from your mistakes."
Lu Qin clenched his palms tightly to suppress the resentment in his heart. Even though he was paranoid, he knew that he could not push Qian Baokun to Xiao Yan's side. Although he was angry that Lu Zhinian kept causing trouble, he also knew that he could not let Qian Baokun join forces with Xiao Yan at the moment.
Lu Qin said in a deep voice, "Minister Qian, do you really want to join Xiao Yan in making things difficult for the Lu family?"
"Regardless of whether the matter between the Lu family and your daughter is true or not, the Lu family will investigate it thoroughly and give you an explanation. However, you have come here with Xiao Yan, and you have allowed the three young men of the Qian family and the Black Armored Guards to trespass into our Lu family. If His Majesty knew..."
Everyone in the capital knows that Qian Baokun is a fence-sitter who doesn't cause trouble. The reason why he has been able to sit firmly in the position of Minister of Revenue over the years is that he never gets involved in matters in the court that he shouldn't get involved in, and he never gets close to anyone.
The Black Armor Guards are indeed Emperor An's henchmen, but if the Ministry of Revenue has any connection with them, that would be another matter.
Lu Qin was certain that Qian Baokun, with his usual cautious nature, would retreat. However, who would have thought that Qian Baokun would sneer upon hearing this? "Little Lord Lu, you have a powerful tongue. Are you trying to accuse me of collusion with Governor Xiao?"
"It just so happened that before I came to the Lu family, I went to the palace."
Lu Qin and Lu Zhao's expressions changed. Xiao Yan didn't waste any more time talking to them. He suddenly raised his hand and waved his finger: "Break his legs."
"Xiao Yan, how dare you..."
The black-armored guards rushed forward, and Lu Qin screamed sharply.
Seeing this, the servants of the Lu family wanted to stop them, but they were no match for the Black Armor Guards. Moreover, with what happened to the second brother of the Qian family before, no one dared to draw their swords. In just a moment, Canglang was in front of Lu Qin.
"What do you want to do, Xiao Yan, you mad dog? If you dare to hurt my Lu family, we will not let you go..."
ah! ! !
Canglang hit Lu Qin's leg bone with the hilt of his sword. After hearing the crisp sound as if the bones were broken, Lu Qin screamed and fell to his knees with a "bang".
"Second brother!" Lu Zhao's expression changed drastically and he wanted to step forward.
Cang Lang, however, backhanded his arm and rammed Lu Zhaoma's tendons, pushing him away effortlessly: "Lu Langling, it's better not to come close. Otherwise, if I hurt you, I won't be able to explain to the governor."
Unlike his gentle voice, he raised his foot and stepped heavily on Lu Qin's calf. Lu Qin, who was about to get up, knelt down again and screamed in pain.
"Little Lord Lu, I'm truly sorry. It's been a long-standing principle that a son's debts are paid by his father, and a brother's debts by his younger brother. Lu Zhinian injured my daughter, and since Lu Langling is a high-ranking official, I can't dismiss him. So, you have to do it for me. Who told you to be such a useless person?"
Canglang was crushed under his feet.
"Don't threaten my girl next time. The governor will be angry."
Lu Qin only felt the stinging pain of his bones being stepped on, and he wanted to struggle but couldn't. However, even though he was sweating profusely from the pain, he was still so unruly that he refused to give in, and instead swore at everyone.
"What kind of governor is this? He's just a half-witted bastard who climbed to a high position by fawning over the emperor. He's so protective of Song Tangning, so he's probably trying to keep a pet..."
ah--
The sharp scream frightened the Qian family father and son, who shuddered, and saw that a thin blade appeared in Xiao Yan's hand.
The blood-stained sword tip, along with half of the fallen ear, pointed directly between Lu Qin's legs.
"I didn't hear clearly, Lord Lu, please say it again."
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