Chapter 121 The Scholar Who Favored His Concubine Over His Wife (Thirteen) Taking Pure Love to...
“Father! Even if I have made a terrible mistake, how could you… how could you treat me like this? From childhood to adulthood, you have never been able to say a harsh word to me, but now… now…” Liu Xinhui covered her burning cheeks, tears streaming down her face, her voice filled with grievance and resentment.
Master Liu trembled with rage, his voice as cold as well water in winter, "Do you know that once the matter of the Lingdang Silver is verified, it will implicate far more than just our family! My Liu family has stood here for generations, and now you, this wretched daughter, have dragged us into this mess. We'll be doomed forever!"
"Father, daughter... daughter really didn't know it would be like this..." Liu Xinhui murmured as if waking from a dream, slumped on the ground.
Upon hearing this, Master Liu became even angrier. He grabbed a teacup from the table and smashed it on the ground. "You wretched girl! You wretched girl! Guards! Take the young lady to the ancestral hall and make her kneel! Without my order, no one is allowed to step out of the ancestral hall!" He threw down these words and paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back.
"Master, Master, what are you doing!" A quick-witted servant saw this and immediately ran to Yingni Courtyard to inform Madam Liu. When Madam Liu arrived in a hurry, she happened to see the servants carrying Liu Xinhui out of the ancestral hall.
"Are you all dead? Stop right now!" Madam Liu stepped forward, her gaze sweeping over her daughter's swollen cheeks. Her heart skipped a beat, and she angrily stopped the crowd heading towards the ancestral hall.
"Mother...please save your daughter..." Liu Xinhui threw herself into her mother's arms, pleading with tears in her eyes.
"Master, what mistake did Hui'er make that warrants such anger from you? She is our only daughter, raised with the utmost care and affection since childhood. No matter how angry you are, you can't take it all out on Hui'er!" Madam Liu said urgently.
"What wrong did she commit?" Master Liu glared at Liu Xinhui, who looked aggrieved, and said angrily, "Do you know how much trouble she caused our Liu family at the poetry gathering today? She not only offended Lord Wang, but also exposed the Lingdang Silver matter! If Lord Wang investigates further, our Liu family will be the first to be implicated! Just think about it, the Tong and Bai families were also involved in this plot. Master Tong's second wife's godfather is the governor of this prefecture, and Master Bai's daughter has even entered the palace and has now been granted the title of Beauty! To put it more grandly, Bai Zijiang is the father-in-law of the Emperor of Great Wei! Both of them have powerful backers, while our Liu family has no foundation at all! This wretched girl has cut off the Tong and Bai families' source of income, and with this one incident alone, she has offended them all! If this matter comes to light, will they still stand up for our Liu family?"
“My lord, you are mistaken. Our Liu family has a long-standing relationship with the Tong and Bai families. Back when the new dynasty was first established, if it weren’t for your mediation as the advisor, Master Tong probably wouldn’t have been able to keep even a small part of his family’s wealth… Why don’t we start with the Tong family?” Madam Liu hurriedly said.
"To put it nicely, it's a matter of friendship; to put it bluntly, it's nothing more than mutual benefit. Back then, our family received most of the benefits from them before we even managed to save them. Now, how can you expect me to repay that kindness?" Master Liu said coldly.
After hearing this, Madam Liu was speechless for a long time, her hand gripping the doorframe tightening suddenly. Liu Xin Hui knelt on the ground, only then realizing the gravity of the situation she had caused. She hurriedly grabbed Madam Liu's clothes with trembling hands, choking back tears, "Mother, I really didn't mean it... It was Song Ce who said it in public, not me... I just accidentally hit Lord Wang with a water chestnut..."
"Enough!" Master Liu turned around with a flick of his sleeve and said angrily, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and take Miss to the ancestral hall! Madam, if you continue to protect this wretched girl, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Madam Liu was taken aback upon hearing this, glanced at Liu Xinhui with tears in her eyes, and then turned her face away.
"Mother! Mother! Please tell Father, I didn't mean it! I..." As the servants took Liu Xinhui away, her words became increasingly inaudible.
“Song Ce! It’s Song Ce! Master, you heard it too. Just now, Hui’er said that it was all Song Ce’s doing! He must know the inside story of the marriage exchange and harbor resentment, which is why he’s targeting our Liu family in everything! Hui’er… Hui’er was just being used by him!” Madam Liu said in a mournful voice.
"Do you think I don't know? If she weren't stupid, how could she have been so foolish as to be used as a pawn?" Master Liu slammed his fist on the table and said angrily.
Upon hearing this, Madam Liu wrung out her handkerchief, tears dripping onto her clothes, and choked out, "Master, is there any way to remedy this now? If Lord Wang really investigates..."
"A way?" Master Liu turned around abruptly, veins bulging on his forehead. "What way is there now? Our Liu family has been carefully managing our affairs in Qizhou for so long since losing our official positions. The family fortune we've painstakingly built up is going to be destroyed by this wretched girl!"
Looking at the mess on the floor, Madam Liu suddenly remembered something and hurriedly approached Master Liu, saying, "Master, have you forgotten? Last year, because of the Lingdang silver matter, didn't we give Zhou, the clerk at the yamen, a bribe? We even got him to put in a good word for our family with Lord Wang, otherwise..."
"You ignorant woman, shut up!" Master Liu shoved her aside and sneered, "Do you think Clerk Zhou still dares to protect us? Right now, he's in dire straits, barely able to save himself. That wretched girl just said that the ignorant woman Wang Su encountered has already explained the whole story! Our magistrate isn't someone to be trifled with! Just watch, the first people he'll arrest are these traitors and parasites in the yamen!"
After saying this, Master Liu waved for Madam Liu to leave. He sat in the main seat for a long time before finally picking up his pen and writing two invitations by hand, secretly ordering servants to deliver them to the Tong and Bai families.
That night, at the Bai residence.
Master Bai glanced at the invitation and sneered, "The Liu family's daughter cut off our source of income, and now she wants me to clean up her mess! In such an emergency, instead of offering benefits, she's only thinking about currying favor. What an old fox!" With that, he took a candle from the side and burned the invitation to ashes.
"Master, what's wrong with you..." Madam Bai asked, puzzled.
"Madam, as long as the Empress is safe and sound in the palace, no one in Qizhou County will dare to touch our Bai family! This time, if we don't squeeze a good bite out of this old fox, I will not have made this move for nothing!"
Meanwhile, the Tong family members politely accepted the invitation and immediately handed it to the Tong family patriarch.
Master Tong stroked his beard and said to Madam Tong beside him, "Madam, if I remember correctly, does the Liu family have a daughter who is still unmarried?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Tong wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief and said sadly, "So what? I only pity my Mi'er..."
"Madam, don't cry." Master Tong sneered and flicked the invitation in his hand: "Truly, fortunes change! Even Liu Tieyuan has to ask me for help! Don't worry, Madam, our Mi'er will be alright."
"What does the master mean?" Madam Tong asked.
"My godfather has no sons of his own, and has treated our Mi'er as his own grandson since he was a child. Now that Mi'er has fallen ill with a strange illness, he must need a marriage to bring good luck. In my opinion, this daughter of the Liu family is quite suitable," Master Tong said with a smile.
"But...but the Liu family only has one daughter. Would Madam Liu agree to this?" Madam Tong asked in surprise.
"Hmph! The Liu family is in a crisis right now. If they don't agree, the Liu family will be destroyed overnight. Madam, believe me, Liu Tieyuan will definitely do his best to make this happen. As early as tonight, or at the latest tomorrow morning, our Tong family will have another good daughter-in-law."
The couple chatted for a while longer before Master Tong finally wrote a reply and instructed his servants to deliver it to the Liu residence immediately.
...
Late at night, inside the Liu Family Ancestral Hall.
Liu Xinhui's legs were swollen from kneeling, her knees numb and devoid of feeling. Apart from her breathing, the only sounds in the ancestral hall were the occasional crackling of the white candle wicks. She stared at the winding cracks in the blue bricks of the floor, her mind filled with the image of her father's eyes, filled with a murderous intent that seemed to want to devour her alive. On the offering table beside her lay a plate of pastries that Caiyu had secretly brought in, long since gone cold.
Suddenly, Liu Xinhui vaguely heard footsteps outside the ancestral hall. She struggled to get up and saw her mother, Madam Liu, quietly enter, carrying a bowl of hot medicine.
"Hui'er, good child, quickly drink this medicine," Madam Liu said, her voice choked with emotion and her eyes red.
Looking at the brown dregs floating in the medicine bowl, Liu Xinhui suddenly felt a pang of fear. She involuntarily took a small step back and asked in a trembling voice, "Mother, what...what kind of medicine is this?"
Madam Liu turned her face away, tears dripping onto her clothes. "Hui'er, don't ask. You drink first, and Mother... will explain everything to you in detail..."
"Mother..." Liu Xinhui was even more frightened when she saw this. "I...I won't drink it."
Just then, Master Liu strode into the ancestral hall, stepped forward to restrain Liu Xinhui, and said with a terribly gloomy face: "Madam, don't say anything more, just do it quickly."
"Father! Mother! What are you doing..." Before she could finish asking, Madam Liu bit her lower lip and, with tears in her eyes, poured the entire bowl of medicine into Liu Xinhui's mouth.
"My dear Hui'er, from now on, you... you'd better pray for your own good fortune!" After saying this, Madam Liu smashed the medicine bowl in her hand on the ground with a "thud," covered her face with a handkerchief, and began to sob.
Soon, Liu Xinhui felt a darkness before her eyes and fainted in Master Liu's arms.
Three days later, the Qizhou County government office was brightly lit with candles.
Wang Sushou flipped through the "Tax Records" open on his desk with a rustling sound, the brush in his right hand hovering in mid-air, the ink dripping down and spreading into a stain on the nearby record book.
"Excellent, truly excellent! Silver for water chestnuts, silver for lake fish, silver for river products, silver for mountain products... I had no idea that Qizhou had so many different kinds of taxes! They're levying taxes privately and enriching themselves; they've got some nerve!"
“Father…” Wang Hechuan stood to the side, hesitant to speak.
Upon hearing this, Wang Sushou glared at him fiercely and said angrily, "Speak your mind! Why be so coy?"
“Son, it seems this matter involves a wide range of people, and I’m afraid it will be difficult to handle. Why don’t you take things slowly, Father?” Wang Hechuan said in a low voice.
"Afraid? I, Wang Su, have sworn an oath to the Emperor since the day I became an official." With that, he sneered, cupped his hands in a gesture towards the north, and said with suppressed anger, "If any of them commit crimes, even if I die, they will not be able to absolve themselves of their crimes! The laws of our dynasty are strict. Do you intend to let these wicked people off lightly? What will happen to the people of Qizhou then? Will they just grit their teeth and wait to die?"
“Father! Too much rigidity leads to breakage! You have been an official for many years and are still a county magistrate. Are you going to offend all the councilors this time? You know in your heart that with just a mere clerk like Zhou, how dare they be so bold? They must have powerful backers that we can’t afford to offend! Father! You have taught your son since childhood that an official should respect his predecessors and not act rashly. But now, you…you…your son is worried that if you thoroughly investigate this matter, not only will you not find out the truth, but you will also ruin yourself!” Wang Hechuan knelt on the ground with a thud and pleaded through gritted teeth.
After a long silence, Wang Sushou suddenly looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot: "If an official in a region doesn't even dare to investigate corruption within his own jurisdiction, what kind of official am I? I might as well resign and go home to farm!"
“But if you thoroughly investigate this matter, you will surely lose even the position of county magistrate! In the future… how will you talk about upholding justice for the people?” Wang Hechuan said, his voice choked with emotion.
Wang Sushou remained silent for a long time before saying with a heavy heart, "Hechuan, my son, remember this: an official must put the people first. Even if there is an abyss ahead, your father... will still take this journey."
Wang Hechuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but ultimately swallowed his words back.
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Author's note: It's so windy today! [question mark]
Thank you so much for your support, my little cuties! [Sprinkling flowers]
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