Chapter 15: People Hate Dogs
Everyone was still silent when Shangluo was the first to shout out, "No, no, no, I'm not leaving! I finally managed to escape from their clutches. I must stay here. Every day is a day!"
Xue Xiyang said, "Even if I go home, I can't sleep peacefully. I can only rest in the county lady's backyard. No matter what the county lady thinks, I will never leave until the choice of husband is decided."
Jin Tang immediately said, "The county lady rescued me from prison, and I want to help repair the house in the palace as a reward. Now that the house in the palace has not been completed, I will definitely not leave!"
Ji Linyou scratched his hair and said in annoyance, "If I dare to run, my family will break my legs!"
Yan Penglai also said: "My family is too noisy, now I am in the palace facing the shadow of the pagoda, quietly studying Taoism and gaining a lot of benefits. This..."
Meng Lanxi stroked the white rabbit and said, "My mother and I have always been unacceptable to our clan. Now that my mother has passed away, I don't want to go back there to live."
Shi Jingning looked at Qiandeng behind the curtain without saying a word. If he left the palace with his brother and sister-in-law, where could they go in such a cold day?
Ling Tianshui crossed his legs with a half-smile, "I don't have a place to stay in the capital. If I leave, I'll have to live in the military camp. The tents are dirty and smelly with a bunch of grown men. How can it be as comfortable as the county lady's backyard?"
Only Cui Fufeng remained silent. After all, he was the one among the group of men who had the least reason to stay.
Yang Huaijiang stroked the scars on his face, sneered and said nothing.
Seeing that no one showed any intention of leaving, Qian Deng said, "Anyway, you can stay or go as you please. In the next few days, the authorities and I will question you and investigate your past actions and backgrounds. Gentlemen, don't worry. This is all normal official procedure. It's also necessary to follow the procedures. Just proceed as usual."
All the gentlemen in the room responded respectfully, but Cui Fufeng and Ling Tianshui knew that with this excuse, Qiandeng could investigate these suspicious husbands in a natural way without alerting the enemy.
After the discussion, Qiandeng signaled everyone to go back and rest.
Yang Huaijiang was extremely shameless and went back to pack his things and prepare to move into the backyard.
Shangluo went to the door to buy some candied haws. When he returned to the mansion, he saw Liuli walking around with a bucket of water, so he ran over to help her carry the water. "Sister Liuli, are you feeling unwell?"
Liuli said angrily, "Isn't it all because of that Yang Huaijiang? I fell and my whole body hurts."
"Ah? Is it the county lord's cousin from today?" Shang Luo immediately shared her hatred. "That guy is so annoying. He was so arrogant the moment he entered the mansion and kept saying he wanted to drive us away!"
"Tsk, I think he'll be the one to be driven away!" Liuli sneered and raised her palm. "Yesterday, the county lady even asked me to slap him twice. Look at his face, isn't it still swollen?"
Shangluo's eyes widened with curiosity: "Really? Did he offend the county lord?"
Liuli looked around and lowered her voice to him, "Where do you think the whip marks on his face came from? Wasn't it because he did something bad that the county lady whipped him? This guy is a bastard, and he just came back from the brothel this morning!"
Shangluo's little heart couldn't bear this. He immediately opened his mouth wide in shock. "Then...then how can he be a candidate for the County Lord's husband?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's because he's related to the county lady. Alas, seeing how confident he is, I hope the county lady won't be intimidated and won't make a hasty decision."
Shang Luo silently helped her carry the bucket without saying a word, but his hand holding the bucket subconsciously tightened.
After pacifying the young men who were feeling the undercurrents in the backyard, Qiandeng returned to the main hall, where a dusty guard came over to ask for a meeting. It was the messenger sent to the northwest last month.
"According to the order of the county lady, I went to Kucha and Shuofang. Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission and have returned safely."
As the county lady, Qiandeng naturally had all the ceremonial guards, salaries and guards required by regulations. The guards who had followed her for many years were also very loyal.
She gestured for him to sit down and comforted him for his hard work.
The guard said, "Luckily, the Shuofang Army has cleared the road from the northwest to Chang'an, and they've paid special attention to the post stations and official roads. They've been repairing the post stations I've stayed at along the way, so I haven't had too much trouble."
Qian Deng knew that Prince Linhuai's rule was very strict and that the Shuofang Army had always maintained strict discipline, so he asked, "What is the current situation in the northwest? Is the task entrusted to you going smoothly?"
"I followed the county lady's instructions and went to Kucha, but Kucha is currently at war with the Turks, and the domestic situation is in turmoil. The king is exhausted from presiding over the war and says he simply cannot spare the time to travel to Chang'an to preside over his wife's funeral."
After saying that, he took out a letter from his arms and handed it respectfully to Qiandeng.
Qiandeng took the lantern apart and took a look. He found that the situation in Kucha was roughly the same as what he had described.
The current King of Kucha is her great-uncle. In the letter, he expressed condolences for the passing of Lady Qi. However, due to the chaos of war, most members of the royal family are on the front lines and are too busy to attend. He believes that the court will be able to help Qiandeng properly handle the funeral and allow her to mourn in peace.
The war in Kucha was tense, so how could they have the energy to travel thousands of miles to attend the funeral, let alone that the victim was just a cousin's wife who lived far away in the Tang Dynasty.
Now her only choice is to find a son-in-law for her mother as soon as possible.
Seeing the guard return alone, Qian Deng already knew this would be the outcome. After putting the letter away, he asked, "What's the situation with the Shuofang Army?"
"I went to visit the injured Prince Linhuai on behalf of the county lady and also delivered a gift. The Prince Linhuai was recuperating and did not see me, but he sent me a handwritten letter to present to the county lady."
The letter from Prince Linhuai was different from the one from Kucha. The envelope was a standard Shuofang military letter. To maintain secrecy, it contained no information about the sender or recipient, and the blank, heavy envelope was sealed with wax.
She opened the intact wax seal and took out the letter inside. The handwriting was sloppy and thick, not neat, but the vigor and strength of the hastily written words were exactly the same as the imposing aura of King Linhuai. She knew at a glance that this was undoubtedly a handwritten letter.
The letter was short, saying only that the gift had been received, thanking the county lady for her concern, and that he would be recuperating for more than a month, and that his illness was over. He was always thinking about her since we parted at the village, and hoped that the county lady would take good care of herself to comfort her family and friends. He also wished the county lady to find a suitable husband and would prepare gifts and congratulations on the wedding day.
The reply was polite but perfunctory, without revealing any personal emotions.
The cloak wrapped around her by the cold pond, the hasty embrace in the dark room, and his promise of "Li Yingshang, I will definitely help you" all seemed to be just trivial things that were forgotten as soon as they turned their heads.
Qiandeng silently stuffed the letter back into its envelope, feeling ridiculous about the secret expectations in his heart.
This was the man who indirectly killed her father and grandfather, leaving her a helpless orphan; this was the man who had appeared in her dreams and saved her from her nightmare for the first time. His life belonged to the vast battlefield and the boundless world. What connection could he have with her?
Anyway, the face that appeared in her sad and helpless nightmare did not belong to him, but to Ling Tianshui.
Ling Tianshui...
Like Prince Linhuai, he possessed an aggressive nature mixed with blood and fire; but like her grandfather and father, he also gave people a sense of security that he was strong enough to protect them from the wind and rain.
Unfortunately, Bai Qiandeng, you no longer have any relatives in this world, and there will never be anyone who will care for you, pamper you, and protect you for no reason.
Once she realized what she was secretly craving, she immediately raised her hand to press the wound on her eyebrow that seemed to still hurt, trying to squeeze the shameful desire to avoid it out of her mind and force herself to face everything.
Thinking about it again, she felt that her previous suspicions were absurd and ridiculous.
Prince Linhuai was recuperating in Shuofang, thousands of miles away, and she actually suspected that Ling Tianshui in the mansion had some connection with him.
What's more, when Prince Linhuai came to Beijing before, the Princess of Gao State should have met him, but during the conflict in the mountain mausoleum, Xiao Fuyu asked Ling Tianshui to kneel down and apologize, and the princess did not stop him.
She smiled silently, sent the guards away, and locked the letter from Prince Linhuai in a drawer.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com