Chapter 35 A Storm is Brewing, People Are Restless "The Cui family is probably in big trouble this time..."
The weather in Beijing can change in an instant. What was once a bright and sunny day is now dark and gloomy, with thick clouds and a sense of impending storm.
In an instant, a fierce wind and torrential rain swept through the city.
The doors of Yutang Courtyard were tightly shut at the moment, but the moisture from the torrential rain still slowly seeped into the room through the cracks.
Because of the heavy rain, the servants in the courtyard stood far away under the eaves to avoid the rain, watching with heartache as the rain ravaged every flower and blade of grass in the courtyard.
Suddenly, the doors and windows in Cui Fuyu's room were tightly shut, and the bright light dimmed instantly. Ju Ning was lighting candles one by one with a tinderbox.
Meanwhile, Ru Niang was still tearfully recounting everything that had happened to her.
As my mother said, her name was Xiao Peiru. She grew up in Sichuan and was a famous beauty. After marrying into her husband's family, she stayed at home to take care of her husband and raise their children. The two were a harmonious couple and had a son.
My husband's family was originally from Sichuan. They were not a wealthy or noble family. They ran a blacksmith business and had a skill passed down from their ancestors. They were a well-known blacksmith family in Sichuan, so their life was relatively comfortable.
However, one day, Wu Yongwang's eldest son, Wu Changhao, came to the house and ordered about ten knives. Her husband and father-in-law were still in the shop, so she and her mother-in-law had no choice but to receive this distinguished guest.
She ordered her servants to hurry to the shop to find her father-in-law and take him home.
When Ru Niang respectfully served a cup of hot tea, little did he know that Wu Haochang, who appeared to be handsome and refined, was actually worse than a pig or a dog, and had a penchant for taking advantage of married women. Seeing that Ru Niang still had her charms, he was overcome with lust at first sight.
He reached out to take the tea, deliberately rubbing Ru Niang's hand without letting go. Only when she frantically called out "Young Master Wu" did he slowly release her, but his eyes remained glued to Ru Niang, following her every move.
Seeing this, Ru Niang dared not wait in the hall any longer and returned to the inner courtyard, leaving her mother-in-law alone in the hall to receive Wu Haochang.
Ultimately, the family accepted Wu Haochang's order.
After that, Wu Haochang would come to her home every few days under various pretexts, and he would get along very well with her husband, but he would deliberately run into him and then secretly coerce her.
Ru Niang was filled with anxiety and fear, and avoided Wu Haochang at all times.
Perhaps it was Ru Niang's resistance that gave him a different feeling, because Wu Haochang insisted on clinging to Ru Niang.
Wu Haochang is such a scoundrel, but he does things in a way that leaves no room for criticism.
Her husband's family caught them entangled several times, leading them to believe she was seducing someone. Ru Niang was speechless, as it was clearly Wu Haochang's fault. As a result, her life at her husband's house became increasingly miserable, and her husband grew increasingly disliked her.
Her husband also broke up with Wu Haochang.
Then one day, Wu Haochang came to her home and asked her husband and father-in-law to close down the family's blacksmith shop so that they could work for him.
The blacksmith shop was a family business, and the two men refused to comply. They rejected Wu Haochang on the spot, scolded him, and revealed that he had been eyeing another man's wife, thus embarrassing Wu Haochang.
Unexpectedly, Wu Haochang led his troops into the house in the middle of the night, killed the servants, and had her husband and father-in-law tied up, forcing them to hand over their ancestral craftsmanship. The two of them fought desperately to the death.
To force them to hand over the items, Wu Haochang actually killed her mother-in-law in front of them.
He threatened that if the two did not comply, the next step would be to kill the child.
In order to protect their child, they had no choice but to agree to work for Wu Haochang.
When Wu Haochang left, he also took Ru Niang with him.
From that day on, everything changed.
Wu Haochang already had a legitimate wife at home, but he forcibly took Ru Niang without daring to bring her home to let his legitimate wife know.
As a result, Ru Niang was kept as a concubine by Wu Haochang.
He humiliated me every day.
She wanted to die but couldn't. Wu Haochang was still interested in her and even sent someone to watch over Ru Niang.
Ru Niang had no choice but to submit to Wu Haochang. Every time he did something in the bedroom, Ru Niang would wash herself clean with water.
She also spent her days in tears.
She misses her child, and she wonders how her husband and father-in-law are doing.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye. One day, a maidservant let slip the secret, and Ru Niang learned that her child had been murdered and that her husband and father-in-law had disappeared.
Ru Niang completely broke down. She cried and made a scene in front of Wu Haochang, but he beat her in anger.
Not long after, Wu Haochang brought a man with him, which he humbly addressed as "Young Master".
The person Wu Haochang brought back was naturally Zhao Jinghuan.
She overheard their plot and was horrified. They were talking about weapons and private armies; they were clearly planning a rebellion.
Only then did she understand why Wu Haochang had his eye on her husband's family.
Ru Niang quickly wrote it down. One day, when Wu Haochang was not around, she secretly slipped into his study, which he didn't allow anyone to enter. After searching around, she obtained evidence of his plot to rebel.
Ru Niang hid everything she had written down, along with the evidence. After doing all this, she resolved to escape and go to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor.
Ru Niang coaxed Wu Haochang for days, letting him have his fun and begging him to take her out for some fresh air.
Fortunately, Wu Haochang finally agreed.
On the day she left, Ru Niang escaped with the evidence...
Then Wu Haochang realized he had been deceived, that Ru Niang had run away, and that something was missing from his study.
In his panic, he told Zhao Jinghuan, which led to the story of Cui Fuyu rescuing Ru Niang.
Ru Niang mentioned evidence of treason, but did not say where the evidence was now.
Hearing the key point, Cui Fuyu became anxious and repeatedly asked, "What about the evidence of treason? Did you hide it or was it destroyed by Zhao Jinghuan?"
Ru Niang simply shook her head: "After I brought it to the capital, I hid it away, and they haven't destroyed it yet."
Ru Niang was aware of this, which is why she did not put the items on her person.
No one but herself knew where she was hiding. She was hiding evidence the day Cui Fuyu rescued her, which is why Zhao Jinghuan's men found her.
“By the way, Miss Cui.” Ru Niang pondered for a moment, then hesitated before saying, “I overheard them talking about the Black Dragon Society that day. The person who came to kill me must have been from the Black Dragon Society. He also had a jade token on him.”
Ru Niang's words shocked Cui Fuyu once again. Zhao Jinghuan's schemes were so grand, not only disrupting the court but also harming the people together with the Black Dragon Society.
The Black Dragon Society was the one that harmed Chi Yanzhou's mother, and it's likely that Zhao Jinghuan was the one who gave this order.
Cui Fuyu recalled that Zhao Jinghuan also came on her birthday, empty-handed. As soon as he arrived at the Cui residence, the group of thugs appeared.
He was also very purposeful, his sole aim being to kill her.
Cui Fuyu pieced everything together and instantly understood that the thugs were sent by Zhao Jinghuan from beginning to end.
He probably did this because he got in his way by something.
Zhao Jinghuan, you will not succeed.
I won't give you the chance to harm the Cui family.
Cui Fuyu's gaze was deep and thoughtful; she needed to think carefully about how to get rid of this scourge.
"Where did you put the evidence?"
Cui Fuyu needs to obtain this evidence first.
She wanted to make good use of this evidence to ensure that Zhao Jinghuan had no chance of redemption.
Ru Niang stepped forward and quietly told her, "It's at Bailong Temple, but I need to go get it myself."
Ru Niang had her own selfish reasons for saying that. She wanted to keep a backup plan so that Cui Fuyu could protect herself. She didn't know what was happening to her husband's family now. If they were still around, she hoped that the family could live a good life together in the future.
Besides, she didn't trust anyone to handle the most important evidence.
Only she herself could take it and place it in Cui Fuyu's hands, so that she could sue Zhao Jinghuan and Wu Haochang on her behalf.
Give her and her husband's family justice!
——
Upon learning that Ru Niang had entered the Cui family mansion, Zhao Jinghuan, with a stern face, threw down the teacup in his hand.
“Ru Niang has entered the Cui family.” Zhao Jinghuan frowned, his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. “Cheng He, what did I say? She still has leverage over us, and this is how you do things? You killed a woman who couldn’t even kill a chicken, and she still got away.”
Cheng He knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head. He had failed in this matter. He had been careless with Ru Niang, thinking that a weak woman could not cause any trouble. He casually pointed to a few people to look for her, but he did not expect to make things worse.
His master was already angry when he heard the news that Cui Fuyu was still alive, and now that he knew Ru Niang had entered the Cui family, he was even angrier.
Cheng He was still a little flustered.
"Young master, rest assured, I will personally go to the Cui residence to eliminate your greatest threat, Cui Fuyu, along with Ru Niang, and retrieve the evidence she has hidden. After I return, I will personally accept the punishment."
Cheng He spoke with loyalty and humility, thinking that Zhao Jinghuan might give him another chance because of his loyalty.
"Chenghe, it would be best if you went yourself, but you should know that you are my most capable person. Of all the people around me, you are the one that the young master likes the most."
"Go ahead, I'll be waiting here for your good news."
Zhao Jinghuan began his usual brainwashing of his subordinates. He had said this rhetoric many times before, and Cheng He listened to it every time, then became emotional and immersed in the lies woven by Zhao Jinghuan.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Division was investigating the anomalies Li Da had mentioned, questioning the guards on duty that night to see if there were any unusual occurrences. At the same time, their subordinates were keeping an eye on the Ministry of War officials and closely investigating the people these people had come into contact with. After several days of surveillance following the incident, Wang Fei actually discovered something amiss.
Today is the sixth day of the deadline given by the Sage. Due to the urgency of the situation, we cannot make a big show of arresting him. Wang Fei can only sneakily arrest him on his way back from the morning court session.
This person was Meng Pingqiu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.
When Wang Fei's men knocked him unconscious and brought him back to the Enforcement Division, preparing to interrogate him...
The informant Zhao Jinghuan had planted in the Meng family to keep watch over them came to his door today.
The informant truthfully reported that Meng Pingqiu had not returned home for quite some time after court, but given his behavior, he must have been home long ago.
Zhao Jinghuan frowned. It was Meng Pingqiu who secretly made a copy of the blueprint at the Ministry of War.
Because of Zhang Chaijie's kindness, Meng Pingqiu secretly helped Zhang Chaijie without telling anyone.
He is not one of Zhao Jinghuan's men.
Zhao Jinghuan wondered, how could Meng Pingqiu have disappeared out of the blue?
Unless the news of the border region and the ancient kingdom of Hu has already reached Yongping.
Zhao Jinghuan has been preoccupied with matters concerning Ru Niang, Cui Fuyu, and the private soldiers these past few days.
Having no time to consider anything else, he immediately concluded that the matter of switching weapons had been exposed.
The Enforcement Department is investigating this matter, which is why Meng Pingqiu disappeared; he has already been taken to the Enforcement Department.
Zhao Jinghuan got up from the stool and paced back and forth in the room, looking deep in thought.
If we want to investigate, the Enforcement Division is capable enough to find out, but we need to make a fuss about it to cover it up.
What if we investigate the Cui family and Ru Niang?
Zhao Jinghuan had an idea in an instant. After calling the person in and giving him a few instructions, he slowly smiled.
He said, "The Cui family is probably in deep trouble this time."
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Author's Note: I'm late again today. I frantically wrote in front of the computer as soon as I got off work. I'll probably be updating every other day for a while, so please don't wait. You can stock up on updates. This is just some childish political maneuvering from the author, so please just read it and have a laugh. Thank you all for your support!!! [Heart eyes] (I'm really grateful to have you all here, love you all, my darlings)
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