Chapter 90 Forged Letter
The official roads and post stations leading to Luozhou have been restored, but progress is still slow.
Carrier pigeons were something only the wealthy and powerful could afford.
However, such rare items were merely tools that Zhou Zhining and Zhan Xingzhuo could use whenever they wanted.
She wrote him a letter almost every three days.
In each letter, the first thing to do was to let the other person know that he was safe, and then to express how much they missed him and hoped that he would return to Beijing soon.
Every letter was an encouragement to Zhan Xingzhuo.
But today's letters are different.
After reading it, Zhan Xingzhuo only frowned slightly.
In her letter, Zhou Zhining mentioned that people had found out she was hiding in the villa, and she was very scared.
However, Lian Chengtian had already informed Zhan Xingzhuo about this matter and made arrangements, so he was not so worried.
Zhan Xingzhuo wrote a reply and asked Minglu to send it back by carrier pigeon.
He held Zhou Zhining's letter and looked at it again and again.
Yes, it was Zhou Zhining's letter that had been encouraging and supporting him.
Once he returns to the capital, he will make sure Zhou Zhining walks openly on the street and worships her as before, making her once again the most dazzling noblewoman in Shengjing!
He also wanted to show Yao Qingling that only his woman, Zhan Xingzhuo's woman, deserved such honor.
Then she will regret leaving him.
It definitely will...
Definitely!
...
Yao Qingling sent someone to the market to find a child who had just started learning to read and write a letter of denunciation.
The letter stated that she was a member of the Shen State Duke's household.
She said she knew that Zhou Zhining was hiding in Hengwu Villa, where she played the zither and composed poems every day, living a life of luxury.
Her reason for reporting Zhou Zhining was that Zhou Zhining was acting arrogantly in the villa and scalded her hand with boiling water over a trivial matter.
The letter also stated that she had received kindness from Princess Deyang, had a deep memory of her, and wanted to repay the favor.
Princess Deyang received a letter of denunciation that had been secretly placed in the mouth of a stone lion at the entrance.
For a mother, it's heartbreaking to see her son suffering while the culprit lives a carefree life.
How can we tolerate this?
Princess Deyang was also calm.
This letter alone will not lead to the authorities arresting people.
She showed the letter to Duke Zhan: "Do you think it's true?"
After reading it, Duke Zhan asked her, "When did you save anyone from the Duke Shen's mansion?"
For the powerful and wealthy, a single word can take a person's life, or it can save a life.
There are too many such things to remember, so Princess Deyang would not bother to remember something so trivial.
But Rong, the old woman behind her, seemed to remember something and said, "Princess, eight years ago, the Duchess of Shen invited you to her mansion for her birthday banquet. At that time, a servant in the kitchen accidentally knocked over Madam Tao's longevity peaches. Madam Tao was angry and wanted to chop off her hands. It was you, Princess, who said something and spared her hands."
Even after being reminded, the princess didn't remember: "Really?"
She glanced at the letter.
The handwriting on the letter was crooked and messy, not like someone who had received proper education. Few servants knew how to read, let alone write. If it was written like this, it was probably learned by stealing.
Princess Deyang said coldly, "Madam Tao relies on the Emperor's boundless grace and puts on a show at every turn."
The Duke of Shen had a daughter who was a favorite concubine of the late emperor.
If she really saved that servant, it was only because she couldn't stand him and deliberately embarrassed her in front of others.
The Duke of Shen was once at the height of his fame because of this daughter, but his fame faded after the death of the late emperor.
Princess Deyang's eyes flickered slightly as she asked, "Duke Shen harbored Zhou Zhining in secret. Did they also commit embezzlement back then?"
With a daughter who is a favored concubine, it's not surprising that the Duke of Shen felt emboldened and accepted bribes.
She had heard that the Duke of Shen had once received tributes from the local areas.
The powerful and influential have intricate relationships, intermarrying and exploiting each other; but they also have their own agendas.
Princess Deyang had only two sons and one daughter, and Duke Zhan had no other children. However, Princess Deyang adopted several daughters and sent them to other powerful and noble households as concubines.
The Zhan family was a large clan, and the children of other collateral brothers and sisters could also be used to establish kinship ties.
The Duke of Zhan had a cousin's illegitimate daughter who was a concubine of the Duke of Shen's cousin.
The two companies are neither close nor distant, but that doesn't mean they belong to the same faction.
The Zhan family has always wanted to crush the Tao family.
Princess Deyang handed the letter to Duke Zhan and said, "This is an opportunity."
...
Yao Qingling cast the fishing line and waited for it to succeed.
After finishing that matter, she couldn't just wait for news; she also had to continue dealing with Ruan Da Hu Zi.
Ruan Dahuzi did not entirely trust Qingling.
This time, Yao Qingling and Tao Ye entered the mountain alone.
She met many bandits, some of whom were the very ones who had committed the massacre at Yongning Temple.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't nervous.
The nightmare from that night still lingers in her heart.
But fear wouldn't make her strong. She silently reminded herself that she was leading these people onto the right path.
By the stream, Qingling pointed to the stream and clearly said that she wanted to open shops all over the country and even in the neighboring country.
She wants to form caravans and do freight transport; she needs many, many people.
Yao Qingling painted a huge picture of a pie, one that everyone could eat.
She didn't know when this wish would be fully realized, so she gave people other options.
"...Of course, you can also go home. I will give you some money so you can go home and farm, or do some small business, or marry a woman and live a stable life. The premise is that you must become normal people again."
“But if you take this silver and continue to do evil elsewhere, I will not save you. You will also lose the chance to be human.”
She glanced at Ruan Sheng: "If you betray us, Ruan the Bearded Man will make sure you live no matter where you are."
Yao Qingling told them to decide for themselves whether to stay or leave.
Those who remain stay on this side of the stream; those who must leave wade across, as if washing the blood from their hands, to reach the other side.
And so they parted ways, each wishing the other well.
She gave these people three days to consider.
Just as they were about to disband, Ruan Da Hu Zi suddenly jumped out.
He said he wanted to work in the canal transport industry.
Those who are willing to follow him, go with him; those who are willing to follow Yao Qingling to work as a handyman in the shop, go with her.
Ruan Sheng had no objection to Yao Qingling's decision; otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed her to enter the mountains.
These people live a life of constant danger following him. He himself doesn't want to live a good life anymore, so he won't stop others from doing so.
But he was unwilling to be a subordinate to a woman and let her be the queen.
He wanted to run his own canal transport business and become a boat owner; naturally, all of Yao Qingling's goods had to be transported by his boats.
Yao Qingling was somewhat surprised by Ruan Sheng's sudden change.
This disrupted her plans.
The others watched as the two disagreed, glancing at one and then at the other; their hearts began to waver, and the noise grew.
In the end, Yao Qingling made a concession and agreed to let Ruan Sheng work in the canal transport.
Given her current situation, she can't do that much. Besides, Ruan Sheng is from the banks of the Yellow River and is familiar with the waterway; his bandit nature is also difficult to change.
Now that we're separated, each in our own sphere, yet sharing common interests, we must take the first step.
After the agreement was reached, Yao Qingling took Taoye down the mountain and said she would come back in three days.
Pregnant and physically demanding, Yao Qingling was exhausted. When she was almost at the foot of the mountain, she could barely stand and had to rest against a tree.
Taoye was worried about her and was so anxious that she was about to cry.
If only she were stronger, she could carry the young lady down the mountain.
“Miss, it’s getting dark… I’ll go up the mountain again and ask Big Beard Ruan to send someone to carry you down.”
"No need." Qingling shook her head. "I'll rest for a while longer."
If those bandits knew she couldn't even walk down the mountain, they would only laugh at her. Without prestige, how could she lead those people to do anything in the future?
As soon as he finished speaking, a tall figure slowly walked up the mountain path below.
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