Chapter 1570 Extra: Except for Wushan, there are no other clouds (Part 2)
For a full six months, the royal court was shrouded in Gu Chi's oppressive aura.
Everyone from top to bottom was on tenterhooks.
Those with children at home should keep a close eye on them.
It's better for a child to be crippled by their own hand than to fall into Gu Chi's hands and lose their head. This guy is a killing freak, showing no mercy whatsoever. The unspoken rules of officialdom they imagined—official protection, turning big problems into small ones, and small problems into nothing—are completely useless. Gu Chi is only concerned with his own achievements. After half a year, it's not that no one has thought about secretly getting rid of Gu Chi, but their lofty ideas meet harsh reality.
"I'll let you make a mistake, I'll let you make a mistake, I'll let you make a mistake—"
For every insult, there's a slap in the face.
"Little beast, little beast, little beast——"
Before long, the ground was covered with several splattered bloodstains.
After a few slaps, the one who was hit felt like his head was spinning, and he couldn't even utter a beg for mercy. The husband was too scared to step forward and plead for him. He had considered throwing himself on his son to take the blow for the other man, but the moment the thought crossed his mind, the enraged man slapped him away, replacing it with a merciless command: "Are you all dumbfounded? What are you standing there for? Watching the show? Take him down!"
He reacted after being hit.
He asked his father for help, his speech unclear.
The father and son were kept at bay by their servants and were unable to have any contact with each other.
"You beast, you still have the nerve to beg for mercy? You have the nerve to shout, but I have no face to listen!" Seeing the father and son struggling to hold hands, she kicked her son in the shoulder. Even though she held back, it still sent the wretched son rolling backward two or three times.
"No one was killed, after all!"
"Yes, no one was killed, and he doesn't like women, but he's greedy for money, and that means he picks Xun Hanzhang's pockets. Getting caught for greed is one thing, I'll just sell everything I own to pay his fines and beg for leniency, a suspended sentence!" Some things just get angrier the more you talk about them, it seems like even the top of your head is burning. "Listen to this, what kind of money did he covet!"
The man shrank back in fright, a guilty look flashing across his face.
Seeing her husband's reaction, she instantly understood and laughed angrily: "Fine, fine, so you knew. Has this little beast been showering you with gifts? Are you that short of money? Is he that short of money? The wealth I've accumulated over so many years of fighting isn't enough to support you all, it could support ten more of you without worrying about food and drink! I gave birth to these sons, how many can I have in my lifetime? Doesn't all this wealth belong to this little beast? You can't eat a child's inheritance like this! If I fall, who will you rely on?"
Even though childbirth wasn't a heavy burden for a martial arts expert, she didn't really want a second child after having one. Ten months of pregnancy meant ten months away from the front lines, hindering her from earning military merit. She also felt some guilt towards the child and the child's father who was taking care of the child at home. Furthermore, Kangguo law required monogamy, so she thought this way was acceptable for the rest of her life. Even if she were to take two wives, she would wait until her ordinary husband died. But then, good heavens, those two idiots secretly pulled off a major operation behind her back!
Gu Xiang went mad from having abortions.
But at least he only aborted other people's grandchildren's fetuses.
When it came to my turn, it was my sons who were arrested.
She didn't know how to face her colleagues when she went to court.
This is incredibly embarrassing!
It wasn't a scandalous affair, nor was it bullying; it was about embezzling the monthly salaries of lecturers at public schools in a county under the jurisdiction of a certain prefecture. More than seven hundred lecturers in total hadn't received their full salaries for sixteen months, with the most recent payment only covering one month's work. An investigation by the censor revealed that this man had pulled a dirty trick: he had just paid the lecturers their full salaries, then immediately found an excuse to take them back.
Is that all?
Oh, there's more.
She grabbed her son by the hair and half-lifted him up: "Can you repeat your exact words, you little beast? What do you mean by not allowing any lecturer to beat the drum to appeal, not allowing any lecturer to block the carriage to file a complaint, and forcing lecturers to write an IOU to get back their misappropriated monthly salary, only to secretly destroy the IOU afterwards? To make it so that there's no way to prove anything? Hmm? What else? Is it also threatening the future of local officials? Who do you think you are? Even Her Highness the Crown Princess wouldn't dare to do this so openly!"
This little bastard dares to do something just because he has some connections!
In a fit of anger, the husband broke free from his restraints: "What are you doing?"
Seeing the father and son huddled together, the woman was so angry her eyes ached, and her head throbbed. She clutched her forehead, and a moment later, her trusted aide rushed in, carrying a box that looked very familiar to the father and son. The husband's face changed drastically upon seeing it…
"What's this?"
She opened the box.
It contains bank notes, land deeds, letters, and accounts.
"Don't look!"
The husband roared and tried to rush forward to snatch it.
Without even looking up, the woman kicked the man away, sending him tumbling several times. At the same time, her face was cold as she opened the letter and then looked at the accounts. What should have been something even more infuriating had miraculously calmed her. The letter was a family letter, written in her husband's own handwriting.
The letter contained nothing more than ordinary, trivial matters.
Ask about your child's studies, and your spouse's and parents' health.
But the problem is—
This man married her more than 20 years ago.
Seeing the little brat standing there, still clueless about what had happened, she laughed and threw the account book and family letter directly at his face.
He said bluntly, "You idiot!"
The money given to his father as a sign of filial piety was all used to support his mistress's family...
Oh no, I've had several mistresses.
She's too angry to even muster the energy right now.
"You, you, are you stupid? Or are you just plain dumb? You can't even see who you truly need to rely on. He's a man, and aren't you a man too? How can you not understand what men are thinking? When he was secretly urging you to make money, didn't you ever think about what would happen to you if he found out? Or do you think that just because I only gave birth to you, you can act with impunity?"
After reading the content, the son's already distorted face became even more contorted.
He was so angry that both his hands were trembling.
The woman said, "I thought you had some talent for cultivation and good comprehension. After twenty years of hard study, you really wanted to make something of yourself... But now it seems that it would be better to let you be a playboy who only knows how to eat and drink, at least you won't cause any big trouble."
Even if human life is treated like dirt—
That would only kill one person, not implicate the whole family.
He embezzled and withheld lecturers' monthly salaries by abusing his position, and even obstructed their right to appeal, which is a different matter altogether. The embezzled money was mixed with household cash, turning clean money into tainted money, making it extremely difficult to trace. To serve as a deterrent, the laws of Kangxi (the Republic of Korea) directly punished the entire family in such cases. Whoever spent the ill-gotten gains could be convicted, regardless of gender or age!
Of course, this seems normal to everyone.
Families and clans are an integrated whole. It seems too lenient to target such a serious crime as embezzlement only to the immediate family unit instead of implicating three or nine generations of relatives. She sighed deeply, "It's better to be ashamed than to lose my life."
She didn't die on the battlefield, but was dragged down to death by her bastard son and his unfaithful father. She must have died with her eyes wide open in disbelief.
She acted first, before Wang Ting could make a move.
He led his servants to search out all the outer rooms.
The little beast turned pale when he saw his dozen or so younger siblings.
Qin Li had just returned to the Phoenix Court when he was greeted by this chaotic scene. What did this have to do with him? Well, it did—this woman was the youngest sister of one of Qin Li's former subordinates. When their homeland fell, his former subordinates only had time to carry her, an infant, as they fled with Qin Li. Afterwards, she continued to practice martial arts, securing a logistics position in Zhao Feng's army, and finally joined Qin Li and others in surrendering to Shen Tang.
She already possessed a foundation in martial arts, and after training, her progress, while not instantaneous, was far smoother than that of ordinary soldiers. After Zhao Feng's deputy was killed in action, she rose through the ranks to become Zhao Feng's adjutant. In other words, Gu Chi targeted Qin Li's camp this time.
They even made sure to do it during the break when Qin Li was on duty again.
The local performance review process is not yet over, and the new appointments have not yet been made.
Qin Li wanted to protect people, but he couldn't do anything about it.
After learning about the events of the past six months from Zhao Feng, he closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time. Zhao Feng sat opposite him, looking like a wall that had made a mistake, and said awkwardly, "We don't need to protect her child and the man, but she is, after all... We absolutely cannot let Gu Wangchao and Xun Hanzhang join forces to bring her down... If she is made an example of, her future will be... Not to mention her, even you and I will have a hard time."
Qin Li's network of connections is truly vast.
Leaving aside Zhao Feng's old buddies, Zhao Feng's daughter, Zhao Wei, is married to Xu Jie's cousin, Xu Quan. Xu Jie has been making money for his lord for years, accumulating considerable wealth. This profit alone has attracted the envy of countless people, and Xun Zhen has wanted to get involved for more than a year or two—Xu Jie controls a vast and complex industrial chain; even a small leak in the upstream or downstream could support countless people.
Xun Zhen did not entirely trust Xu Jie either.
Even Xu Jie himself probably doesn't believe in himself.
When Zhao Feng learned of this, he suspected that Gu Chi was targeting Qin Li directly. If she succeeded this time, Gu Chi would be even more direct and ruthless next time, targeting someone of greater importance. Qin Li didn't say much, only asking, "What is she thinking about this?"
Zhao Feng wanted to sacrifice a pawn to save the king.
But that doesn't mean she thinks that way.
Qin Li wanted to hear her choice first. After all, he was the man she had been with for over twenty years, and her son was her own child, whom she had raised for over twenty years. Human hearts are made of flesh and blood; after so many years of living together, even a heart of stone would be moved.
"I sent someone to the prison to ask, and they said it's entirely up to you to decide."
Besides those words, he also apologized to Qin Li.
If she hadn't been away from home so often, either fighting or working on construction projects, neglecting to supervise her family and son, this might not have happened. If it had been dealt with before the Censorate launched its attack, things wouldn't have turned out this way, implicating Duke Qin.
Qin Li said, "Have someone use her name to pay the unworthy son's overdue monthly salaries to the lecturers. Remember to also make a separate payment privately to gain their understanding. See if you can figure out the exact amount of embezzlement before the Ministry of Revenue's audit, and pay the principal along with the fine. Try to get him exiled to the border. As for her man, find an opportunity to kill him. Don't let him live."
Zhao Feng asked, puzzled, "Why is that?"
Qin Li took a sip of hot tea: "Do you believe that someone would take such a risk to embezzle funds simply because an ordinary man from the inner quarters instigated them? The family is quite wealthy, and as the only son, what difficulty would it be for him to transfer any funds from the treasury to subsidize his father and family? Why gamble his future and take this risk? The amount embezzled is huge, but not so huge that he's never seen anything like it in his entire life. What do you say?"
"Is it a trap?"
"I'm afraid someone is taking advantage of the situation."
On the surface, it's just embezzling a few lecturers' monthly salaries, but behind the scenes, someone is probably using this route to do much more.
If the truth comes out someday, it will be perfect to expose Xiaoyu.
This little fish could also implicate Qin Li and others.
Once the waters are muddied, it's easy to get out.
What Qin Li needs to do now is to silence them.
Take advantage of the moment when the other party is off guard, and then capture them all in one fell swoop.
Zhao Feng hesitated: "Silencing them means there will be no way to prove anything?"
Qin Li: "How much could a mere soldier know?"
Keeping this pawn around and letting him spout nonsense is just troublesome.
Qin Li put down his teacup, got up and had someone prepare his attire for entering the palace, and then instructed Zhao Feng: "Remember to make sure it's clean."
Zhao Feng nodded; he would almost never disobey Qin Li's orders.
only--
"If the lord finds out..."
Qin Li: "Isn't this exactly what we were about to do—enter the palace to plead guilty?"
The steward had already prepared the horses outside the gate. Just as he was about to mount his horse, he saw someone coming from the palace. The emperor invited him to go boating on the five seas.
A light drizzle began to fall from the sky.
The Five Seas are open to the public today, and at this time of year, visitors can already be seen in short sleeves and t-shirts at the Phoenix Palace. Ordinary people can take a boat trip for seventy or eighty coins each. If you don't want to share a boat with others, you can also buy a private boat for a reasonable price.
At this moment, pleasure boats and ducks float on the lake together.
No one expected that one of the simple-looking boats was carrying King Shen Tang, who was wearing a sleeveless summer dress that was currently in fashion, with her black hair piled on top of her head and not wearing any gold, silver, or jade.
"Gong Su has finally arrived. Please have a seat."
Qin Li sat down properly in the empty seat, while Shen Tang ate grapes: "Why are you wearing such thick clothes in this season? Aren't you afraid of getting a heat rash?"
"I am a scholar with a literary heart, and I am not afraid of the cold or heat."
As long as one has sufficient internal energy, there is no distinction between the four seasons.
In the early years, to save money, they never specially made new clothes for any season; they wore only spring clothes, and in winter they would wear a thick cloak to block the wind. Actually, they didn't even need to wear the cloak. They wore it to avoid looking cold in other people's eyes.
Shen Tang: "But it looks hot to me."
Qin Li recalled the tourists he had seen along the way.
I really can't bring myself to wear a sleeveless cardigan and expose my chest.
He chose to remain silent on the matter, politely declining.
"Did Your Majesty summon me for any instructions?"
"No, it's just that I knew you came back but didn't come to the palace to see me right away, so I had no choice but to call you here. Have you had any interesting experiences or encounters while you've been away these past two years? If you've been wronged by the local bullies, you can tell me, and I'll kill them for you."
Qin Li was startled.
"To kill someone beyond the bounds of the law is illegal and ungentlemanly."
Shen Tang did not speak.
The cabin was completely quiet.
All the two could hear was the lively noise outside.
Qin Li's hands, resting on his knees, clenched tighter and tighter in this suffocating atmosphere, until his knuckles turned white. Even though his heart was churning like a lake disturbed by oars, his face remained calm. After a long silence, Shen Tang said, "Knowing it's not gentlemanly behavior, shouldn't you, Qin Qing, cherish your reputation? Why put yourself in danger for such a lowly soldier? You are among the masses, yet different from them all."
Even so-called gods have some degree of favoritism.
Shen Tang tossed him a grape.
Gu Chi's actions in this matter were also unethical.
but--
Shen Tang rested her chin on her hand, her thoughts becoming hazy in the warm breeze from the lake.
Qin Li: "I have come to plead guilty."
Shen Tang squinted wearily: "What crime has Qin Qing committed?"
He and Zhao Feng worked together to fabricate the illusion of murder to silence witnesses, wasn't that just to lure the snake out of its hole? It would be best if their side also cooperated and reprimanded Qin Li, sending him home to be confined.
(ω)
(End of this chapter)
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