Chapter 64: The beast doesn’t feel pain until the needle hits its flesh.
The gamblers clamored to invite Mrs. Jiang and Zhao to come and have some fun, and the gambling house was in an uproar.
Suddenly, there was a deafening roar. The guard outside was kicked in the head, broke through the gate, crashed through layers of screens, and hit the gambling table, clattering together with the gambling chips and silver coins.
The gamblers were startled and immediately shouted, "Someone is ruining the place, someone——"
The sunlight outside was wrapped in flying dust and swept in. In the rolling waves of light and shadow, a tall and stern man walked in. He was wearing red clothes and holding a silver sword, half of which was hidden in the sheath and the other half was pushed out. The cold light was as cold as his gloomy face.
He was young and handsome, but his eyes were chilling and cold as he swept coldly among the gamblers.
Immediately afterwards, the golden-armored Fengchen Guards rushed in and surrounded the gambling house. The gamblers trembled in the cold light of their sharp swords. Not only did they not dare to resist, they didn't even dare to cry out.
Only Jiang Congqian, who had just been ridiculed and panicked, saw the newcomer and rushed to Xie Xuanlan as if he had seen a divine general. With tears in his eyes, he cried out, "Brother-in-law! Brother-in-law, save me!"
At this moment, Ji Caibing also ran in breathlessly: "Don't worry about this brat for now, Ying is missing!"
Zhi Guanyin saw her and hurried forward to ask about the situation. She handed over two IOUs signed by Jiang Congqian. Xie Xuanlan took them and saw that one was used to pledge the house deed, and the other was used to pledge his own mother as well.
Xie Xuanlan grabbed Jiang Congqian by the collar and lifted him up: "Did you write this IOU?"
Jiang Congqian nodded: "They forced me to write it, they insisted that I write it..."
"Where is your sister?"
"I... I don't know, I didn't see her..."
The hand gripping his collar creaked, as if it was going to break Jiang Congqian's neck. "You inhuman beast, you dare to sell out your own mother, how could you let your sister go? I ask again, where is your sister?!"
Jiang Congqian was so scared that he started crying: "I don't know!"
Xie Xuanlan swung his hand, and Jiang Congqian flew out, smashing an armchair. He suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
Xie Xuanlan then gave the cold order: "Surround and search them. Anyone who acts unruly will be killed on the spot!"
The tables, chairs, and screens of the gambling house were all smashed, and the gamblers squatted in the corner with their heads in their hands as they were interrogated one by one. Of course, Zong Ying heard the commotion below, but the King of Jin only allowed her to watch, not to shout, and certainly not to go down to stop it.
He picked up a white piece and gently placed it on the chessboard, saying in a gentle tone, "Aying, they all deserve a lesson."
Cong Ying said somewhat displeasedly, "But San Lang shouldn't have done it."
The Twenty-Four Guards were the sharpest weapon in Yunjing City, and even though they were now in Xie San's hands, they couldn't stop others from watching them with envy. During the bandit suppression at Guikuzhang, Princess Chun'an, using the Feihong and Yueyu Guards, successfully surrounded and suppressed the heavily armored cavalry Wang Zhaoshen had brought back from the northwest. This made it clear that the Twenty-Four Guards were no longer the flimsy, underhanded guards of the previous dynasty, and would undoubtedly attract much scrutiny.
Cong Ying had learned from Du Rupan's impeachment that many court officials felt that Xie Xuanlan controlled the Twenty-Four Guards and that the imperial power was in danger. If the news that he had led the Fengchen Guards to raid the gambling houses without going through Jingzhao Prefecture today were to spread, many people would probably impeach him again.
The first floor of the gambling house was quickly plundered and ransacked, and even the rats hiding in the holes in the wall fled in panic.
Xie Xuanlan looked up and glanced around, waved his hand, and led his people to the second floor.
Zong Ying's eyes were flashed by his sharp blade, and she was shocked to see his cold and murderous expression.
She turned to Prince Jin and said, "Sanlang is not in a good mood. Your Highness, please step aside for the time being."
The King of Jin asked with a smile, "Are you worried about him or me?"
As he said this, he still sat calmly, picking up the chess pieces and placing them casually.
Cong Ying simply couldn't understand how he could be so confident as to embroider despite being in such a hurry. She asked anxiously, "He's coming this way. Does Your Highness want to cause trouble here?"
The King of Jin looked at her and asked, "Why are you so afraid of him? Could he dare to get angry at you out of impotent jealousy?"
Cong Ying said, "I'm not afraid of San Lang getting angry, I just can't bear to see him sad."
The King of Jin was slightly startled when he heard this, his eyelids drooped, and the chess piece hovering between his fingers did not fall for a long time.
This time, Prince Jin didn't let Zi Su stop her. Cong Ying pushed open the door and bumped into Xie Xuanlan who was about to kick the doors of each room.
"Aying!" Xie Xuanlan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Seeing that Congying was safe, he heaved a sigh of relief, sheathed his sword, and quickly explained, "I didn't take the initiative to disrupt the situation. It was Shopkeeper Ji who said you were missing, so I—"
Before he could finish his words, he caught a glimpse of another figure in the room behind Ying.
The wind blew his black cloak loose, and the Prince of Jin, who was holding the white chess piece, and Xie Xuanlan, who had a silver knife on his waist, looked at each other from afar through the swaying pearl curtain.
The light in Xie Xuanlan's eyes gradually darkened, like a long night of dark clouds engulfing the moon, a chilling feeling of impending storm. He could sense the King of Jin's silent smugness and Cong Ying's subtle nervousness. He looked from one to the other, then suddenly sneered.
He said to Congying, "Actually, I can help you with these things. You should have come to me first."
Cong Ying explained in a low voice: "I didn't ask His Royal Highness Prince Jin for help."
"So he's here to mess with you?"
"That's not the case. Perhaps His Royal Highness Prince Jin has other important matters here."
Cong Ying held Xie Xuanlan's hand and said, "Sanlang, let's go."
Xie Xuanlan stared at Prince Jin with an unexpected look on his face. Seeing that Cong Ying had no intention of lingering, he hurriedly followed her and went downstairs together.
Prince Jin stood by the window where Cong Ying had passed, watching them leave the gambling house. During those short steps, Xie Xuanlan, under the guise of protection, had held Cong Ying in his arms, his hand protectively behind her neck, forbidding her to even glance back.
In his previous life, when he was jealous of Du Rupan, she had never been in such a good mood to coax him.
It would be a lie to say that he didn't care, as King Jin silently closed the window.
There was no need to stay here for long, so he slowly walked down the stairs with the help of his jade cane, passing by the messy wood chips on the ground and a group of gamblers who had not yet been released by the Fengchen Guards.
Two people were kneeling beside the original gambling table on the first floor. One was the owner of the gambling house, and the other was Zhou Ma, a maid of the Jiang family. They had just been tortured and signed confessions, and both were beaten with bruises on their faces.
They trembled and bowed to the King of Jin, saying, "We know we were wrong. Please forgive us, sir! We will never do it again!"
The King of Jin's gaze fell on them, a look of gentle compassion. However, his eyes were dull, their pupils as dark as ink dripping on rice paper. Upon closer inspection, they were so cold and indifferent that it chilled one's heart.
"You know you're wrong? It's a pity that things in this world are always hard to turn back once you've missed them."
He left with his sleeves fluttering, leaving behind a sigh: "Kill him."
＊
Something went wrong in the gambling house, and this time Xie Xuanlan insisted on following Cong Ying no matter what.
To avoid provoking him, Cong Ying explained the idea of selling her mother to pay off gambling debts as her own: "...Although this is indeed a bit cruel, the current Jingzhao Yin and the two Shao Yin are people who value filial piety and virtue. They would never really do this. I just wanted to scare them. Maybe it would make my mother understand why spoiling a child is like killing him."
Xie Xuanlan lowered his eyes and listened, then said, "Even if it's true, so what? If I were in the gambling house today, I might be even more ruthless than the King of Jin."
Cong Ying said awkwardly, "...It was really my own idea."
Xie Xuanlan sneered coldly.
The group went straight to Jiang's house. Cong Ying stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, then straightened her clothes and walked in.
Mrs. Zhao was sewing new clothes for her youngest son.
Last year, when the shopkeeper of Rose came to deliver the monthly salary from the cloth shop, he also gave her two rolls of new cloth, which were new styles that her husband had bought from the south. He said he wanted to leave them for Aying and Ahe to make new clothes for them to wear when they went out for an outing.
The new cloth had a moon-white base and was embroidered with large, winding, water-patterned patterns in silver thread. It looked both noble and elegant. Not only did Mrs. Zhao think it was good, but the maids around her also praised it highly.
"A Ying should be getting married in a year or so. Her husband's family will make her new clothes. As for Ah He, she's ignorant and doesn't know what's important. Giving her such good material would be a waste."
Zhao stroked the new cloth and had her own reasonable plan: "I'd better make Ah Qian a pair of tube sleeves and a single shirt. He's been running around lately, saying he's going to his playmates' houses to study. He can't be without good clothes. It would make people look down on him."
She immediately abandoned all her chores and began to trace the pattern, cut the cloth, and sew. Fearing she would stray from the pattern, she would measure the garment after every few stitches, sewing with extreme precision. She would not continue until all the maids around her were satisfied.
I sewed like this for most of the day, and by noon, I had only finished half of the upper body with tube sleeves.
She was just about to ask someone to bring lunch to the embroidery room and take a few bites when she suddenly heard a shrill cry:
"Mother—mother—"
Then, a disheveled Jiang Congqian ran in, his clothes torn and tattered, his forehead bruised and bleeding. Zhao was so frightened that she dropped the scissors in her hand: "Ah Qian! What happened to you? Who hurt you like this?!"
Jiang Congqian threw himself into Zhao's arms, crying breathlessly: "It's my sister... It's my sister!"
Zhao was struck by lightning. She looked at Cong Ying who walked in behind him in disbelief: "Are you crazy? How dare you do such a cruel thing to your own brother!"
The expression on Ying's face was quite intriguing. "Ah He was injured more severely than his brother when he was young, but I haven't seen mother so worried. Shouldn't mother first ask him what trouble he got into outside?"
"What kind of trouble can a half-grown kid like him get into?"
Zhao hugged Jiang Congqian, her heart aching with pain. While she called for a doctor, she also burst into tears and accused Congying: "Are you trying to beat him to death so that you can monopolize the family property in the future? Don't forget, without Ah Qian, we mothers can't even enter the Jiang family. In the future, only Ah Qian can shoulder the responsibility of the Jiang family! How can you be so selfish and vicious!"
Hearing this, Cong Ying sneered and showed Zhao the IOU for the Jiang residence, which was used to pay off the gambling debt. "The entire Jiang family has been used as gambling money by him. How can the Jiang family still have a foundation?"
"What stakes?" Zhao was stunned and looked down at Jiang Congqian: "You actually learned to gamble outside?"
Jiang Congqian hesitated, "I went there to win money. I wanted to give it to my mother... I don't know why I lost in the end..."
“You, you!”
Zhao sighed deeply and asked Congying worriedly, "Aying, what should we do now?"
Cong Ying said, "It's only natural to pay back a debt. Mother said this house will belong to my brother sooner or later, so if he loses it, he should give it back to the owner."
Zhao looked embarrassed. "But this is the house that the emperor gave to your grandfather. It's worth several thousand taels. If we use it to pay off the debt, where will we live?"
Cong Ying said, "You can go back to Xuzhou."
Zhao flatly denied it, "No! I never want to go back to Xuzhou again!"
She was born in Xuzhou, a music school, and had had enough of her lowly status and the contempt she received. Many of her old friends in Xuzhou still recognized her, but she would rather stay in Yunjing and be a mere official wife than return to Xuzhou.
She thought quickly and said, "I heard that Mr. Xie came to deliver the betrothal gifts a while ago, but why did he take them back? Ah Ying, is Xie's betrothal gifts enough to pay off these gambling debts?"
Although Cong Ying no longer had any expectations for this mother and son, she was still surprised by their shamelessness when she heard this. She even laughed in anger for a moment: "I accept the Xie family's 88-cart dowry and then marry into the Xie Mansion empty-handed? Mother, do you think I can fetch so much money?"
Zhao lowered her voice and discussed with her, "Mother, please, I only have this one son, and you only have this one brother. When he becomes successful in the future, I will return the money to you. If he is gone, who will support me in the future?"
Cong Ying looked at her indifferently and said, "Of course it's the patrons from the gambling houses and brothels who provide for them—here's an IOU, mother, take a closer look."
"Why is there another one?"
Zhao was puzzled. After reading the IOU word by word, her pupils suddenly constricted and her body trembled uncontrollably.
"This is... this is impossible... this wasn't written by Qian..."
How could the son she raised with so much trouble write such a thing and even sell his own mother as collateral?
She eagerly grabbed Jiang Congqian and said, "Ah Qian, this isn't something you wrote, is it? Did someone force you to do this? Speak up!"
Jiang Congqian just kept crying. In front of Congying, he didn't dare to lie, fearing that the terrible brother-in-law would come and beat him again. So he could only stammer and defend himself, "I will win. The Guanyin dice says I will definitely win this round. Mother... I really will win..."
Zhao's face was pale, her lips were trembling, and she couldn't speak for a long time.
Suddenly, she burst into laughter, but her expression was uglier than crying. She raised her hand and slapped Jiang Congqian: "You beast——!"
Then he couldn't catch his breath, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
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