Caning in court
The next morning, Fu Huaiying came out of the side hall and saw Ji Yuan standing outside the courtyard waiting for her.
"Ji Yuan, why are you so early?"
Ji Yuan looked at her sleepy face and was distracted. "Aren't we going to the Fu family? Come on, come with me to deliver the imperial edict."
Fu Huaiying was still sleepy, and she left the palace with him in a daze, even forgetting to say hello to Chen Huanli.
It was not until she saw the Fu family's house in the distance that she came to her senses. She raised her hand to her chest, feeling inexplicably relieved.
"Wait me a moment."
Fu Huaiying got off the horse. She had to go to the clinic. She stayed in the palace yesterday and didn't know how Dahu was doing. Lin Yan'an only said that his life was not in danger, but he didn't know how serious his injury was.
She almost fell when she ran in.
Da Hu held a bamboo slip in one hand and hung it around his neck with a piece of cloth. He sat on a chair, crossed his legs, and had a lot of cloth strips stuck on his face. He was playing mahjong with three people who had broken legs.
Fu Huaiying held his forehead helplessly. Seeing that she was fine and still so lively, he felt relieved. He walked out of the clinic, got on his horse, and continued to go to Fu's house.
Ji Yuan rode beside her on horseback, watching her sit steadily on the horse's back, "Don't you know how to ride a horse?"
Fu Huaiying smiled and said, "So I went to learn it. How could I not know something?"
Ji Yuan laughed, "You're still so unwilling to admit defeat. He's been protected. You're not in a good mood, are you?"
Fu Huaiying glanced at him and said, "I'm in a good mood. He wasn't my original intention. Besides, the house His Majesty gave me this time will definitely not be worse than the previous one."
"After all, I gave you such a big scare."
Ji Yuan looked at her, emphasizing the word "shocked", as if he saw through everything.
Fu Huaiying lowered her eyes and said nothing. She just gave Wen Shuangye some medicine to make her more and more crazy. Every time she returned home, she would sprinkle some on her. Sooner or later, she would go crazy and die. However, she didn't expect that she would be so crazy that she would set fire to the house without caring about her son's future, and die much earlier than she expected.
However, all the servants in her house were missing, and it just so happened that an assassin broke into Prince Huan's mansion last night, and the patrol team had all gone there. It was particularly coincidental that no one noticed the fire in her house until the fire grew bigger. She didn't believe that this had nothing to do with Prince Huan.
In her previous life, King Huan was quite easy to talk to and was willing to give her convenience in many things, but it was different in this life. He was determined to kill her, and there was nothing she could do. After all, she had promised Hu Li that it would be okay even if a few princes were killed. They could only fight to the death.
"arrive."
After hearing Ji Yuan's reminder, Fu Huaiying came back to his senses, got off the horse, and slowly raised his eyes to look at the plaque given by the late emperor. The fire in the previous life burned the entire house to ashes, including this plaque.
"Things change over time."
Ji Yuan looked back, "What?"
"nothing."
Things change. In the previous life, it was she who set fire to the house, but in this life, it is Wen Shuangye. She is the one who becomes a female official, and it is Fu Huairou who dies.
Fu Liusong waited tremblingly at home for the emperor's punishment. He only prayed that he would not be demoted. Even if he was beaten with a stick in the court, it would be fine as long as he was not demoted.
But the moment he saw Fu Huaiying, his heart sank.
Ji Yuan put the knife in his hand on his waist, took the imperial edict in his sleeve, unfolded it, took a look at it, and closed it again. The emperor wrote in a very literary way, and he was too lazy to read it.
Fu Liusong knelt down with his son. Fu Huaiying stood beside Ji Yuan, lowered his eyes to look at the two kneeling people with an expressionless face.
"Master Fu, His Majesty says that you have failed to educate your wife. A woman must obey her husband after marriage, but you have failed to control her. You will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane and dismissed from your post as acting clerk."
He extended his hand and handed the imperial edict to Fu Liusong, "Master Fu, please accept it and read it yourself."
Fu Liusong broke out in a cold sweat, but he had to accept it respectfully.
Fu Tingyun looked up and met Fu Huaiying's gaze. The latter raised his eyebrows and looked at them laughing at him with complacency.
Seeing that the order had been accepted, Fu Huaiying took a step forward and prepared to walk towards his own courtyard.
Ji Yuan Yu Guangzhong saw that she didn't know where to go, so he quickly reached out and grabbed her, "Where are you going? We have to go back to the palace."
"Oh, I'm going back to my yard to get something."
"Go ahead, I'll wait for you here."
Ji Yuan said this, looking at the Fu family father and son with a warning look in his eyes.
Fu Liusong felt a little aggrieved, but he couldn't say anything. Ji Yuan was clearly telling them not to have any ideas about Fu Huaiying, but he hesitated for a moment and still followed.
Fu Huaiying entered the yard and found it deserted, with weeds growing vigorously in the yard and the house covered in dust.
She only took a quick look and then went into the cabin.
He took out a long box from under the small table, took out a stick of incense from it, took fire from the eternal lamp on the table, and lit the incense.
She held the incense sticks and bowed three times in front of her mother's tablet.
"Mother, I haven't been home for a long time. Do you miss me? We haven't seen each other for many years. I have almost forgotten what you look like. If you miss me, come and see me in the evening."
As Fu Huaiying spoke, her eyes suddenly became a little moist. She lowered her eyes and tears fell. The flame of the burning incense stick trembled, but did not go out.
"I used to think it would be great if they were all dead. Now they are slowly dying one by one, with only two left. But I don't feel happy at all. They have died hundreds or thousands of times, and you can't come back. If the soul is immortal, can you come back to see me..."
Fu Huaiying raised her hand and inserted the incense stick next to the one that had burned out previously. She locked the hut and then walked out of the yard.
When she stepped out, she saw Fu Liusong standing not far away waiting for her.
She ignored him and walked past him.
"Huaiying, wait, Daddy has something to tell you."
Fu Huaiying looked back, "Your Majesty's decree cannot be changed."
"Dad heard that you entered the palace last night. I know that your mother's actions were too extreme, but she seems to have gone a little crazy recently, so she is like this. She has paid the price for her actions."
"so what?"
"Dad knows you were the one who got me fired, but I don't blame you. You just have to understand that we're a family, and we share both our success and failure. Over the years, I've been so busy with government affairs that I haven't paid much attention to you... But Dad still loves you. It's been a while since we've had a chat together."
Fu Huaiying walked slowly to the lakeside, too lazy to listen carefully to his nonsense, just lowered her head and looked.
"When you were little, you were so cute, always calling me daddy and clinging to me. Every time I went to your grandfather's house, you would sit aside and glance at me... You were such a clever little girl back then..."
Fu Huaiying listened to the old stories he mentioned, but none of them were what she remembered. The older she got, the clearer her mother's painful look became. She had completely forgotten her original appearance, her once gentle appearance, not to mention the words from Fu Liusong's mouth, which she couldn't tell whether they were true or not.
"Daddy prepares your favorite peanut crisps every day, just waiting for you to come back so you can eat them ready-made. Your brother misses you too, and he's saved all the new ingredients from the shop for you. We are a family, and we must always live in harmony..."
Fu Liusong stood behind her, trying to comfort her earnestly, hoping that the warmth of his words would soften her attitude.
Fu Huaiying stood by the lake, lowering her eyes to look at the leaping fish below, with a half-smile on her face, "Father, what you care about most is your and Big Brother's future, but do you know what I care about most?"
Fu Liusong was speechless. How could he know? After a while, he finally found his voice. "No matter what we care about, we must live a good life as a family."
Fu Huaiying scoffed, scattered a handful of fish food, and said coldly, "For all these years, I have never forgotten my mother's death. In my dreams at midnight, I always hear her crying out in pain and coldness. Father, her pain, her coldness, have you ever felt the same way?"
Fu Liusong almost couldn't keep up his hypocritical mask. "Let's not talk about these old things. Why do we still need to bring them up?"
"Father, I can't forget these old memories at all. My mother died so tragically, and you, your children, your wife, and your whole family are living in harmony and happiness. Do you think I would happily let you continue to live such a good life?"
"What are you talking about? I am your father, Shuangye is your mother, and your biological mother is just a concubine! What is a concubine? A slave! How can you recognize her as your mother?"
Fu Huaiying was too lazy to get angry. "It doesn't matter. Whatever you say, at least now, I'm not the one asking for help."
She threw the remaining fish food in her hand away and turned away.
Ji Yuan was still waiting for her there, "What took you so long?"
"Oh, Lord Fu bribed me to avoid the beating in court."
Fu Liusong was following behind him. When he heard this, his legs tripped and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Fu Tingyun helped him up.
Ji Yuan glanced at him calmly and said, "Master Fu, please come with us into the palace."
Fu Liusong said nothing, waved his sleeves, and walked in front of them.
Fu Huaiying glanced at him sideways, "I want to go back to the palace too?"
Ji Yuan lowered his eyes and glanced at her, "Didn't you say that? You want to see the thirty lashes of caning that His Majesty awarded him?"
Fu Huaiying looked at him in surprise, "Didn't you tell me not to push my luck?"
Ji Yuan coughed twice and said, "Stop talking nonsense and let's go."
Fu Huaiying thought he was just joking, but she didn't expect that he actually took her to sit aside and watch Fu Liusong get beaten.
After five blows, Fu Liusong felt so painful that he wanted to die. He glanced sideways and saw Fu Huaiying sitting leisurely beside him. He was so angry that he gritted his teeth and didn't say a word.
Fu Huaiying took the mung bean cake handed to her by Ji Yuan and put it in her mouth. "Will he be beaten to death?"
Ji Yuan glanced at Fu Liusong who was not far away. He heard the sound of the court cane hitting flesh. He shook his head and said, "No, control the force. He won't die."
"oh."
Ji Yuan glanced at her sideways and said, "From your tone, it seems like you feel very sorry."
Fu Huaiying nodded and spread her hands honestly, "Yes, you just discovered it."
Ji Yuan was speechless. "Yes, I found out too late. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Seeing that you specially brought me here, made him kneel before me, and let me watch such a good show, I forgive you."
Ji Yuan laughed, "Just forgive me? You're not going to reward me?"
"I'll treat you to a meal."
"when?"
"Now."
Ji Yuan was speechless. He looked at the blood seeping out of Fu Liusongyue's white robe, dripping from his body to the ground, and there was already a pool of blood underneath.
"Can you still eat?"
Fu Huaiying followed his gaze and said, "I suddenly have a big appetite."
"Next time."
"Okay, I'll owe you that for now."
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