Chapter 106 Chapter 106 Attacking the heart is the best way to make him choose
The one who spoke was the guard who was guarding Zhao Huaijue. Seeing him hurriedly leaving the villa, before Nan Xu could do anything, Yin Ruizhu beside him had already rushed out like the wind.
Nan Xu followed closely behind, but was stopped in front of the moon arch.
Someone greeted her, "Madam, how are you? We are here to serve you and your uncle at your majesty's command. Please send someone to take us to your resting courtyard."
Another one knelt down and hugged her legs, "I will not compete with Madam for the master's position. Madam, please don't abandon me."
What the hell is going on? It's totally confusing. Nan Xu waved her sleeve lightly, brushed the two people away, and took a few quick steps to chase in the direction Yin Ruizhu left.
My feet were moving fast and my mind was working faster and faster.
Why did Qin keep two beautiful maids to sow discord between the couple? To disgust her? Or were they spies?
The couple went to check on Zhao Huaijue. How could he have died? Shouldn't Duan Wenpei's men have been keeping a close eye on him? Or, was it that someone deliberately didn't want Zhao Huaijue to live?
But this is Shu, the hometown where Zhao Huaijue was born and raised. He did not die in Kyoto, nor did he die on the cold road, but died today.
Looking at the gloomy sky, Nan Xu came up with a bold guess...
*
Unlike the secret pride she showed when she came, Qin held the hot water bottle in her hand and said nothing in the carriage on the way back.
Because it was raining, Zhao Mingcheng and Qin sat in the same car, both of them leaning against the innermost part of the car with their eyes closed.
There is a palm-width distance between husband and wife, as if it is the boundary between Chu and Han.
The carriage bumped into something and jolted. The hot water bottle in Qin's hand rolled out and landed right at Zhao Mingcheng's feet. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at it for a moment, then bent down to pick it up and handed it to Qin.
Qin's body trembled, and her dull eyes were instantly filled with fear and resentment. "Don't touch me with your hands stained with Jue'er's blood!"
Zhao Mingcheng loosened his hands and Qin Shi failed to catch it. The hot water bottle rolled even farther and no one picked it up this time.
Qin, however, seemed to come back to her senses and chattered incoherently.
"Why can't we wait a little longer? Jue'er can still be saved. Sima Xun wouldn't dare do anything to you. Even if he's a wanted criminal, so what? This is Shu, your territory, Zhao Mingcheng. I only have a few children. Jue'er is so obedient, he's your child too."
Her voice was hoarse and sad, like leaves blown by the wind. After she finished speaking, the carriage was still silent.
Like a one-man show, Qin stared blankly at her palm and began to talk to herself again.
"Jue'er did nothing wrong. Everything was my instruction. I hated that bitch and wished her son would die without a burial place. What did I do wrong? What did Jue'er do wrong? Letting that bitch's son die is what you wanted to see. Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. Zhao Mingcheng, you are not a human..."
She said a lot, but the man sitting in the carriage with his eyes closed didn't react at all. Until she said the word "bitch", Zhao Mingcheng's tightly closed eyelids trembled for a moment, and he slowly asked her, "Are you sure those two maids can climb into the bed of that rebellious son?"
His voice was like a thousand-pound stone falling, making it hard to breathe, but Qin seemed to have heard some signal and calmed down.
She still clenched her hands tightly, and kept answering, "I don't know, but it's at least one more chance. As long as Zhao Huaizhou is willing to take them, they will die of poisoning, and it will save us a lot of trouble."
Zhao Mingcheng snorted coldly, obviously dissatisfied with her answer.
"Is there no other way?"
Qin's palms clenched even tighter. "Or, let's do as I said before. Attack the heart first. Today, I've proven how much he values Nan Xu. He's alone now, and Nan Xu is his weakest point. If I use a trick to force him to give up Nan Xu, will he go completely crazy like you?"
As she spoke, her voice rose, with a hint of madness in it.
Zhao Mingcheng finally looked up at her and asked curiously, "What else can you plan?"
Qin curled her lips and smiled strangely, "You'll know when the time comes."
The cold wind blew up the carriage curtains, and in his peripheral vision he saw a pedestrian on horseback walking towards the carriage. Zhao Mingcheng looked at the face that looked somewhat like his own, and for the first time he showed some pity.
When Qin looked carefully again, there was nothing there.
No one paid any attention to her. The string in her head became tighter and tighter, and she began to talk to herself again, all about her Jue'er.
Her Juer hadn't even gotten married yet, how could she die?
*
When Duan Wenpei arrived outside the room where Zhao Huaijue was imprisoned, he happened to meet the coroner from the government office walking out.
The coroner said with a serious face that the death was indeed too serious and the cause of death was strangulation with a rope from behind.
The guard who was guarding Zhao Huaijue said that when Zhao Mingcheng came out, he was holding the palace belt that had been untied from his waist. So it seems that he was the most likely murderer.
It is unbelievable that a father killed his own son.
Yin Ruizhu stood under the eaves. Ever since she saw the miserable death of Zhao Huaijue, she bit her lower lip tightly and stared at the flowers and plants in the yard that were destroyed by wind and rain. Nan Xu stood with her, but didn't know what to say.
Jingyi rushed over after hearing the news, leaned against the door frame to take a look, and then leaned weakly into the arms of the palace maid.
Her face was frighteningly pale, and everything seemed out of her control. Did the Zhao family kill her as a bargaining chip, meaning they were refusing to cooperate with her?
Then why did she come to Shu?
No one answered her, just like no one told Yin Ruizhu who to avenge her.
Nan Xu wanted to comfort her, but Yin Ruizhu suddenly laughed out loud twice, patted her shoulder and walked into the rain.
The government wanted to send the body to the charity cemetery. Nan Xu looked at Jingyi and wanted to stop her, but then he saw her fear and disgust after seeing the body.
In the end, Zhao Huaijue was carried out.
Nan Xu couldn't describe the feeling in her heart. She thought of Yu Ming who was far away in Kyoto.
Someone approached her side, and a touch of warmth filled her eyes. "Don't look."
Nan Xu didn't refuse his kindness and asked him carefully, "Will you be sad?"
Duan Wenpei understood what she meant by that question. He hugged her tightly from behind and said, "I used to, but not now."
"Some fathers love their children, some don't. Ah Xu, having you is enough for me."
He whispered almost in her ear, his voice vague and disembodied, as if it would dissipate if he exerted any force.
Nan Xu felt a pain in her heart and turned around to hug him.
As if he had received tacit consent, he buried his head tightly in her neck, hugging her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. After a long time, she felt a dampness on her neck, like the falling winter rain, and the chill went straight to her heart.
Nan Xu stood there without moving, just gently stroking him again and again.
*
In the following days, everyone was busy.
Nan Xu and Yin Ruizhu were busy renting a shop, finding someone to renovate the shop, and finding someone to lobby the doctors and herbal medicine merchants in the city, as well as Sima Xun who was very busy.
Jingyi didn't know what evil had possessed her that day, and she stopped causing trouble and stayed in the house all day long with the dignity of a princess, never going out.
As for Duan Wenpei, Xie Jin and his group, they continued to work with Sima Xun to deal with matters related to the resettlement of disaster victims.
King Yi is sick again, and his condition is even worse than before.
In his free time, Xie Jin caught Duan Wenpei in a secluded place to discuss this matter.
But, is the King of Yi's illness real or fake? How could he rebel with such a poor body? Don't even bother rebelling, just bury half of your body in the ground first.
Duan Wenpei said that his men had tried it out and it was probably true, and asked him about any progress on Xiao Jing's side.
At first, Xie Jin would confront him and ask him what he was doing. He could just ask Xiao Jing directly. But after being asked so many times, he just let the conversation flow.
In addition to monitoring him, the people in the Dark Guard Camp naturally also need to find out the current situation in Shu.
Needless to say, although Xiao Jing was seen moving among the disaster victims every day, the best way to get information was to get close to the people.
The secret guards under her command were nowhere to be seen all day long. At this time, there were reports of servants disappearing from the Prince Yi's Mansion and the Zhao family from time to time, which easily made people think of these secret guards.
"Xiao Jing won't tell me, but I see she looks worried sometimes, so I guess things aren't going well."
Either they find nothing, or they find something but it’s not what they want.
The secret guards report the situation to Kyoto once every half a month. If this continues, Emperor Xuanwu will be angry.
Duan Wenpei was not surprised.
The Zhao family has always been very secretive. The fact that King Yi has been able to live in peace with the Zhao family for so long after entering Shu, and even Zhao Mingcheng sometimes gives him some face, shows that King Yi is not an ordinary person.
"Oh, right." Xie Jin patted him twice. "Why is Xiao Jing suddenly not so interested in you anymore? I heard it was something my sister-in-law said to her that day. Aren't you curious about how my sister-in-law made her change her mind?"
Duan Wenpei shook his head and said he didn't want to know, "Don't try to guess what a woman is thinking. It would be meaningless if you could guess it."
Xie Jin was stunned. He never expected that Duan Wenpei, who was always indifferent, could say such profound words. Sure enough, once you encounter love, you will always understand many truths.
Xiao Jing waved for him to come over. She had been like this recently, deliberately avoiding Duan Wenpei. Even if he was within her sight, she pretended not to see him.
In fact, he said something wrong, and Xiao Jing might not have changed her mind, she was just deliberately correcting herself.
Xie Jin waved her in response, shrugged his shoulders, and continued as he unbuttoned his trousers to relieve himself. "Never mind. I'm well aware of the principle of passing through a field of flowers without getting a single leaf on you. Now it's you who's suffering. What do you think of those two maids Qin Shi left behind? Every time I pass by your house, I see them staring eagerly at the gate. A few times, Master Nan saw them and wanted to punish them for his wife. My brother-in-law is here, so you better be careful."
Duan Wenpei didn't like to talk about this. Although Nan Xu didn't say anything in front of him, it was still a bit annoying. Fortunately, Nan Xu was short of a few people to do odd jobs in the decoration shop these days. He saw Nan Xu calling people away before dawn.
"You saw my eldest brother. I haven't seen him for several days. What is he busy with?"
"How should I know? Go ask your own uncle."
However, Duan Wenpei waved his hand nonchalantly and turned to go about his business. When he passed by the temporary tent set up at the government office, he met Li Zhan.
Li Zhan passed him with a gloomy face.
Duan Wenpei walked into the tent without stopping.
The heavy rain had stopped for several days and the weather had cleared up for several days. The people in the government office acted quickly and the disaster was under control. In addition, with the food shipped from Kyoto, women, children, the elderly and the young at least no longer had to worry about going hungry.
Sima Xun handed over a stack of accounts with a serious expression, pointing to one of them and asking Duan Wenpei to look at it. "The amount of silver approved by Kyoto doesn't match."
Duan Wenpei flipped through two pages and figured out the problem.
Not only did the numbers not match, but the fake accounts were also crudely made.
The disaster relief silver must go through the disaster relief factory, be distributed to the county government offices, and then be distributed to the victims by the county government offices. Now the amount is wrong, there must be something wrong in one of the links.
Someone was greedy for money.
Duan Wenpei closed the account book, tapping his fingers on the table in thought. "The New Year is coming soon. I'll find some silver to make up for it. The people are already suffering enough. Without money for the New Year, there's no hope."
Sima Xun was overjoyed, knowing he had found the right person. "Master is indeed worthy of being Master. He is better than that damned prince consort. He is clearly the chief relief officer, but he said that I didn't keep an eye on the money, putting all the blame on the lower officials."
No wonder Li Zhan's face was gloomy. Duan Wenpei sneered, leaning back in his chair with a tired look, and instructed: "Just don't make this matter public. Just pretend you don't know anything."
They were all smart people, so Sima Xun naturally nodded in agreement. Seeing that he was so happy, Duan Wenpei asked indirectly, "Madam, you discussed with the Lord earlier about the medicine store using the government's name. What do you think of it, Lord Governor?"
Sima Xun's smile faltered slightly, but he recovered in an instant. He rubbed his hands hesitantly, "Well... well, it's entirely up to Madam, Master Uncle to decide."
Duan Wenpei said "hmm" and breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
If he can't handle this, Nan Xu will kick him out of bed again.
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