Chapter 85 Shaking
"Hmph, I never knew that my General's Mansion had become a place of fire and water." Shen Yan snorted coldly, clearly displeased with Shen Jiao's description of him.
"Oh brother," Shen Jiao realized that she had tarnished her brother's image in front of Fu Yunxiu, so she stepped forward and affectionately hugged her arm and shook it, "Just consider it a small sacrifice for your sister's happiness!"
“But he has someone else in his heart, are you really going to marry him?” To be honest, even now, Shen Yan doesn’t really approve of this marriage.
He didn't want to break up the couple, much less force this marriage that was clearly doomed to fail, but Shen Jiao insisted, and her mother doted on her. In order to force him to comply, she even threatened him with his life.
He had no other choice but to sacrifice Fu Yunxiu and play the villain.
Everything that happened today was part of their plan. He played the bad cop, using threats, while Shen Jiao played the good cop, feigning weakness to lure him. With this strategy, they were confident that Fu Yunxiu would be tempted.
"What's the big deal? As long as I marry him, there's nothing I, Shen Jiaoping, can't handle." She's just a concubine; she can be sold off later. Men, once the novelty wears off, they're really nothing special.
As the Shen siblings had predicted, Fu Yunxiu was indeed moved by Shen Jiao's words.
If what Shen Jiao said is true, her marriage would not only not shake Aman's position, but also solve his current predicament, which would indeed be a very good thing. However, he still had some hesitation.
Some things are easy to say but not easy to do.
As Fu Yunxiu pondered this, he looked up again and found himself already in the Jingzhao Prefecture prison.
As the sun sets, the five characters "Jingzhao Prefecture Prison" on the gate tower shine brightly, inspiring awe and fear.
Mantou followed Fu Yunxiu the whole way, worrying the whole way. He was afraid that the young master would accept the general's offer and betray Aman, and he was also afraid that the young master would stick to his own heart and end up hurting himself.
This imposing prison of the Jingzhao Prefecture not only imprisoned the Third Young Master, but also the Young Master.
"Young master, you..." Mantou wanted to ask if you wanted to go in and take a look, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a sudden angry shout.
"Get out of here! If you dare cause trouble again, I'll break your legs!" The angry shout was followed by the throwing of an elderly man, well past sixty. His hair was white, his face wrinkled, and his clothes were patched and filthy, with faint traces of blood seeping through.
The old man wailed and wailed, but after a long while he fell silent, as if he were dead.
"Young Master?" Mantou was somewhat at a loss, but Fu Yunxiu made a decisive decision: "Save people first."
The two took the old man to a clinic. The doctor examined him and said there was nothing seriously wrong; it was just superficial injury, and he would recover after a few days of rest and some ointment. The reason he had fainted was because he hadn't eaten for several days and was starving.
Knowing that the elderly man couldn't eat hard food, Mantou specially went to the noodle shop across the street to bring him a bowl of noodles.
The old man looked at the bowl of soup noodles, which was covered in oil and steaming hot, and immediately wanted to kneel down before Fu Yunxiu.
"Thank you, young master!"
"Old man, you mustn't, you mustn't." Fu Yunxiu hurriedly helped the man up.
"Thank you so much, young master, you are such a kind person!" The old man's voice choked with emotion, tears welling up in his weathered eyes.
After finishing a bowl of noodle soup, the old man finally regained some strength and sighed as he told Fu Yunxiu about his experiences.
He lived in the suburbs. His son had been drafted into the army years ago and they hadn't heard from him since. The elderly couple relied on their daughter-in-law and granddaughter for a living. This March, when their daughter-in-law brought their granddaughter to the market, they were stopped by a group of thugs.
The daughter-in-law was beaten half to death, and the granddaughter was also taken away. According to onlookers, the men who arrested them were henchmen of Gao Zhao, the son of the Left Prime Minister.
"Xu'ertou, she's only thirteen years old!" the old man wailed, tears streaming down his face.
He went to the Prime Minister's residence to demand people, and he also went to the government office to file complaints. Without exception, he was always beaten up and thrown out.
Last month, my daughter-in-law fell ill with worry and passed away. My husband also fell seriously ill and is still bedridden.
"I don't ask for anything else now, I just beg the Prime Minister's Mansion to do me a favor and tell me where my granddaughter's body has been dumped!"
Fu Yunxiu frowned upon hearing this, "You mean, your granddaughter might already be..."
Fu Yunxiu was a little reluctant to continue.
"Waaah..." The old man burst into tears again when he said this. He felt sorry for his son, his daughter-in-law, and his young granddaughter.
Fu Yunxiu felt a pang of sadness. At thirteen, Gao Zhao was still just a child, yet he dared to rape a woman—this was a grave crime.
"Since the government is useless, old man, haven't you thought of beating the Dengwen Drum and appealing to the emperor to seek justice for your granddaughter?"
"How could I not have thought of that? Everyone knows that when the drum of petition is sounded, the emperor himself witnesses it. But have they not heard of how many wronged souls are nailed to that bed of iron nails?"
To appeal to the emperor directly, the petitioner had to roll on a bed of nails three times before they could strike the drum for petitioning. Countless people seeking justice ended up dying on the bed of nails, never even having the chance to see the emperor and plead their case, let alone raise the drumsticks for the drum.
Even though he wasn't afraid of rolling on a bed of nails, he still had a bedridden wife at home who needed his care.
The old man sighed, a mixture of a smile and helplessness in his voice, and said, "For us powerless people, justice is a distant dream!"
After taking the elderly man home, Fu Yunxiu remained silent on the way back. Upon arriving at the inn, the waiter told him that a guest had arrived.
Fu Yunxiu went upstairs and saw that the person who came was Ji Qing.
"Uncle Ji," Fu Yunxiu greeted him, "What brings you here?"
"I just happened to be passing by, so I thought I'd stop by and take a look," Ji Qing said, then asked Fu Yunxiu, "Where did you go? What happened to you?"
Ji Qing reminded him that Fu Yunxiu then noticed a large stain on his robe, which must have been accidentally caused by helping the old man earlier.
"He probably accidentally got something on his skin," Fu Yunxiu casually patted the chair and pointed to it. "Uncle Ji, please have a seat. Have some steamed buns and tell the waiter to brew a pot of good tea."
Ji Qing was an old friend of Marquis Cheng'an. Fu Yunxiu was able to visit Fu Yunting in the Kyoto Prefecture prison through Ji Qing's connections. Ji Qing had practically watched Fu Yunxiu grow up. When Fu Yunxiu was diagnosed by a doctor as not living past the age of twenty-five, Ji Qing was quite saddened by it for a while, but thankfully he pulled through on his own.
After Fu Yunting got into trouble, Ji Qing tried to help him everywhere, but he had been out of office for many years and his voice carried little weight. Moreover, Fu Yunting had offended the Left Prime Minister, so he was powerless to do anything about it.
“I went to see Yun Ting at the Kyoto Prefecture prison yesterday, and the situation is not good.” Ji Qing frowned. Judging from the situation at the Kyoto Prefecture, they were trying to extract a confession through torture.
Fu Yunxiu sighed and remained silent.
Ji Qing added, "I heard that Gao Zhao's funeral is in three days."
In other words, after Gao Zhao's burial three days later, dust to dust and ashes to ashes, Fu Yunting's charge of murder will likely be finalized.
"What did General Shen say?" Ji Qing asked.
Now, the only one who can help Fu Yunting overturn his case is probably Shen Yan. He is the head of the military and a former close friend of His Majesty. If he were to plead for leniency, perhaps the matter could be turned around.
"Chen Yan said he could help me, but on the condition that I marry Miss Shen."
Upon hearing this, Ji Qing nodded. "Miss Shen is indeed of marriageable age. What are your thoughts?"
"I...I don't know," Fu Yunxiu said. He was completely confused and desperately needed someone to guide him.
Ji Qing noticed Fu Yunxiu's confusion and understood where it came from.
When he visited him before, he had mentioned the girl Aman who had pulled him out of his predicament. He knew that Fu Yunxiu was now struggling with the fact that agreeing to the marriage with the Shen family was tantamount to betraying that woman, and he couldn't get over that hurdle in his conscience.
“But Yun Xiu, let’s be objective. Right now, nothing is more important than Yun Ting’s life.”
Ji Qing said, "The current Left Prime Minister holds absolute power in the court, and only Shen Yan can rival him. If you want to overturn Yun Ting's case, marrying Miss Shen is your only chance."
"Then... what about Aman?" Fu Yunxiu asked. He had married Miss Shen, so what would happen to Aman?
“Yunxiu, is this the time to be so preoccupied with love and romance?” Ji Qing said with a look of disappointment. “Since that Miss Aman is in love with you, she must be able to understand your difficulties and predicaments. If she can’t understand and still makes a fuss, then I think she is not a good match for you, and she is even less worthy of the title of Lady of the Marquis.”
Yes, Miss Shen was willing to disregard her reputation and pretend to marry him in order to help him. Although it was to escape his brother's forced marriage, she was the one who ultimately benefited.
I imagine that Aman, knowing his predicament, would understand him.
"Mantou, you said Aman is such a good person, he will definitely understand me, right?" After seeing Ji Qing off, Fu Yunxiu slowly asked this question.
The steamed bun didn't know how to answer.
He understood the young master's choice, and he knew that the young master already had the answer in his heart. He was just gambling, gambling on Aman's love for him.
Just as Master Ji said, since Aman likes the young master, she will surely understand and forgive him.
Mantou had never liked anyone, but he also knew that if it were someone he liked, he would absolutely not want to see her marry someone else, no matter what her purpose or difficulties were.
"Young master, perhaps we should think of another way?" He really didn't want to see the young master and Aman go down that path unless absolutely necessary.
"Steamed buns, I have no other choice," Fu Yunxiu said.
As he spoke, he handed over the note in his hand.
The note had a special mark on it; it was a letter from the secret guards, saying that Chen was dead.
"It's the Second Master." Mantou made the conclusion almost without thinking.
"I underestimated his ruthlessness." Fu Yunxiu snorted coldly.
With Chen dead, Fu Ang has no worries and will surely take advantage of this time to unite with the clan chief and elders to inherit the title. He can even harm his own wife; once he becomes the head of the family, the fate of their main branch is predictable.
Therefore, he must save Fu Yunting, and he must also protect the eldest branch of the family.
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