Chapter 16: Courting Death (2) Taking this opportunity, let her know that Jing...
be punished?
She dared to divorce him, leave the Marquis' Mansion, and rashly join the Beijing Guards, a place that even dogs wouldn't go to. Was she afraid of being punished?
Yang Yan didn't respond to his words, but just pinched his tired brows and said, "You go out first."
Zhou Jiu didn't know what he was thinking, but he still said respectfully, "Okay."
Xue Ruyue sat in the main hall. Two maids who knew her well came to make tea for her. She preferred magnolia tea, and the maids in the mansion remembered this. After pouring the tea, they let her sit down and wait for Yang Yan to come.
Not long after, Yang Yan changed his clothes and slowly walked out of the bedroom.
After their separation from Xirong, Xue Ruyue and Yang Yan hadn't seen each other for over two weeks. Back then, he and Chai Heng hadn't divorced yet. Although she harbored feelings for him, she didn't want to risk gossip, so she'd wanted to ask him several times if his leg was feeling better, but she held back. Now, hearing about their divorce, Xue Ruyue couldn't help but recall some memories from her youth.
Before Chai Heng was found by the Chai family, before the arranged marriage was finalized, her father, Xue Huaiyuan, had considered arranging a marriage for her. He was aware of the discussions between the Marquis's and Xue's families, and he never refused. He must have had some feelings for her back then. Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them, wasting more than half a year. Now, everything should be back on track.
"How's your leg?"
As soon as they met, Xue Ruyue spoke with concern.
"Much better. Tuoba Yuanli's arrow didn't hit him anywhere vital, so he can walk without any problems." Yang Yan replied calmly. Then he remembered what Zhou Jiu said, that she came to see him for something important, so he went straight to the point, "Are you here today for your brother?"
Xue Ruyue sighed and then began to tell the story: "A few days ago, the Imperial Guards were working with the Ministry of Justice to investigate a case of illegal salt trafficking in Huaihai. My brother, Xue Congli, is in the grain business, and as you know, he's not a very courageous person. Selling illegal salt is a crime punishable by exile, so he wouldn't dare. But for some reason, yesterday his grain cart was filled with illegal salt. It was originally destined for the east city to be delivered to Shopkeeper Feng, but it was intercepted by the Imperial Guards on the way. After discovering the illegal salt, he was taken away by Ah Heng."
She originally wanted to use the five words "people from the Beijing Guards" to refer to Chai Heng, but then she thought, it was she who captured her unfortunate brother, so there was nothing she couldn't say.
When mentioning Xue Congli, Yang Yan's expression was somewhat intriguing.
Xue Huaiyuan has five children in total. The other four are useless, and only Xue Ruyue is a capable one.
Xue Congli wasn't a standout among her brothers, but he was certainly timid. The Xue family wasn't short of money, so they certainly didn't want to engage in illegal salt trafficking.
As Zhou Jiu said, the Beijing Guards arrested the wrong person and should be punished.
Taking this opportunity to let her know that the work in the Beijing Guards is not easy, it would be good for her to come back and beg him to be her wife in the Marquis' Mansion.
"How do you want me to help you?"
Xue Ruyue said, "I know that the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice are in charge of different things. So, I came to you not to ask you to show favoritism, but to ask you to help me put in a word with the Ministry of Justice. The Imperial Guard arrested my brother because they were investigating a case for the Ministry of Justice. I just want to see my brother now, at least to clarify the whole story."
"Can."
"I'll inform Liang Yuanjing of the Ministry of Justice about this matter. If you want to visit your brother after lunch today, feel free to go."
Yang Yan stroked the cup in his hand and spoke in a deep voice.
Xue Ruyue was stunned. She had thought that Yang Yan was more or less concerned about Chai Heng. After all, no matter how much he disliked her, they were once husband and wife. So before coming, she had prepared for the possibility that he might reject her. Unexpectedly, he agreed so easily and had no intention of considering Chai Heng at all.
This made her taste a bit of ruthlessness.
"Thank you very much."
Xue Ruyue thanked him gently and was about to leave the mansion when she suddenly remembered something. "Aunt Chai's birthday is coming up in a few days. I'm sure you've given her invitation. I've chosen two birthday gifts for her. Thinking of how much the old Marquis has taken care of me, I bought a few things for him too. Are you free to go with me tonight?"
The meaning of her words was very clear. She felt that since he and Chai Heng had divorced, it meant that there was still some possibility between her and him.
Yang Yan had no time to care what she thought. At this moment, he suddenly recalled what Yang Shiduo had said to him yesterday. He had indeed not seen Chai Heng for several days.
"good."
…
In a small house outside Beijing, Chai Heng returned from a busy day. Lu Shichu also left the government office and brought a few live fish for Chai Heng to kill. Chai Heng was sitting in the yard, just hanging up the clothes, when he was happily given the task of killing fish.
The house had been vacant for a long time, and the kitchen had been unused. For the past few days, Chai Heng had been eating wontons at a wonton stand near the Imperial Guards. Lu Shichu felt that even if she only stayed in the capital for a month, she wouldn't be able to make do with it, so he chose this less busy afternoon to clean the stove and light the fire for her.
Chai Heng was very skillful in killing fish. In no time, he had cut up a clean fish.
After Lu Shichu wiped the stove, he came out to help her chop firewood. While chopping, he looked around the yard.
"You can't go to the Youzhou branch of the Beijing Guards. What if Master and his wife don't want you to go back to Furong Mountain?"
Lu Shichu was always thoughtful and used to thinking things through. Before Chai Heng decided to do something, she would always ask her several times.
"Then I'll beg them."
"If begging once doesn't work, just keep begging."
They were unwilling to take her away simply because they thought she could live a better life here. But in fact, the capital was a place that was unsuitable for her. If she said a few more bad things about Yang Yan in front of her master and mistress, calling him worse than pigs and dogs, and said a few more bad things about her mother, calling her not a human being, her master and mistress would always take her away.
This is also a method.
Lu Shichu burst out laughing, then quickly added, "How have you been doing in the Beijing Guards these past few days? Cui Rushi said he received intelligence yesterday that there were illegal salt dealers in the downtown area, and you caught them in just one morning."
"That's Xue Ruyue's brother."
Chai Heng didn't have any ability to predict the future. It was just that after receiving the tip-off about the private salt dealer from Cui Rushi yesterday, she and some other brothers from the Beijing Guards were watching in the street. As luck would have it, they caught a glimpse of Xue Congli.
Xue Congli is a person who is very hostile to Xue Ruyue because of her relationship with her.
To be precise, the Xue family was very hostile to her.
Normally, when Xue Congli met her, although he would not seriously provoke her like his other brothers, he would still roll his eyes at her. But this time, it was very strange that when he saw her, he panicked and avoided her. She followed him and found that his grain-carrying cart was full of contraband salt.
That same day, she sent Xue Congli to the Ministry of Justice prison.
"Is Xue Ruyue causing you trouble?" Lu Shichu asked with concern.
Chai Heng was stunned for a moment and said, "She never takes the initiative to cause trouble for me. She usually uses the opponent's strength to attack me, and lets Yang Yan and my mother cause trouble for me. However, I have now severed ties with the Pingling Marquis Mansion, and I don't visit my mother either. If they cause trouble for me, I am not afraid of them."
After saying this, she suddenly realized that she had completed a big task for the Beijing Guards yesterday. No matter what, it was time to celebrate. So she turned around and went into the room where she kept the wood, picked out a piece of wood she had recently carved and gave it to Lu Shichu.
It was a wooden sculpture that looked like a raccoon, with a round head and a chubby body, and looked very pleasing.
"This is for your brother."
"I also bought a pot of soju, a roast chicken, and a few boxes of cakes today. When you finish cooking the fish, we'll have dinner together."
Lu Shichu took the small wooden sculpture from Chai Heng's hand, fastened it around his waist with a rope, and said sincerely, "Your carving skills have improved recently. You are much better than when you were a child."
"As a person, if you keep doing something, you will get better and better at it." Chai Heng smiled, patted the dust off her skirt, turned around and went into the house to start setting the dishes.
Lu Shichu went to light a fire for her and stew fish.
In the evening, smoke curled up from the small courtyard. Yang Shiduo returned from the market, holding Yang Qingping in his arms. Yang Qingping was holding a rattle in her hand. Although the little girl was young, she could already talk. When she saw Chai Heng coming out of the house to draw water from the well, she called out vaguely, "Sister-in-law."
Yang Shiduo smelled the aroma of stewed fish and wanted to go for a free meal. But he couldn't bear to lose face, so he asked Yang Qingping: "Do you want to go to your sister-in-law's house for dinner?"
The little girl nodded.
Yang Shiduo laughed and walked in shamelessly: "Chai Si."
This old and shameless voice woke Chai Heng up, and she looked up suddenly, and saw her former father-in-law, who was looking at her with a smile.
Chai Heng: “…”
She remembered him smiling like this in her past life. That time, he'd claimed to be gravely ill and dying, forcing the young Yang Qingping onto her and Yang Yan's care. Yet, he'd managed to survive for another decade, at least outliving her.
Chai Heng was stunned for a long time before he managed to call out, "Old Marquis."
She didn't call him father-in-law, but Old Marquis, which made Yang Shiduo's old but fragile heart ache. But the heartache was only for a moment, and soon he put on his old face again:
"Can I eat at your place?"
"Actually, my courtyard is close to yours, and the food the servants there cook is pretty good too. It's just that Qingping saw you and insisted on coming over to eat, so I had no choice but to come over."
Yang Shiduo stretched out the hand that wasn't holding the child and stroked his beard. Chai Heng had always had some issues with this father-in-law. Not only was he unreliable, but he was also violent, and most importantly, he hit hard. In the past, when Yang Yan had confronted him head-on, he had beaten him until he was covered in blood. She felt sorry for Yang Yan at the time, so naturally, she didn't want to be nice to this father-in-law.
But then again, she now felt that the punishment he had given Yang Yan before was too light.
"Can."
"Just come in and sit down."
Chai Heng had no experience in chasing customers away. When Lu Shichu brought out the freshly cooked fish and saw that she was hesitant, he made the decision for her.
The moment he saw Lu Shichu, Yang Shiduo's heart was filled with despair. He was just lamenting that it was all over, and that his son would never have a wife, when he glanced outside and saw his son.
Not only did he see his own son, but he also saw the one from the Xue family.
"Father."
Yang Yan stood outside the yard and called him indifferently.
Just this one sound made Yang Shiduo feel like he was caught.
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