"Do you think you still have the right to negotiate with me? My second uncle was killed by you, you vicious woman, and the Li family was almost wiped out." Li Ting said angrily.
"It's time to reclaim the favors your family received from the Li family."
"What a joke! When did my family ever receive any favors from the Li family? If my maternal uncle hadn't refused to help, why would I have had to marry so far away in Lizhou?"
"How could I possibly submit to the merchant Ma Chongning! I clearly, clearly already had someone I loved!" Fu Qing shouted hoarsely as she recalled the past!
"Whose family is your beloved? Don't you even have eyes to look at them? If it weren't for the Li family, do you think that bastard would even give you a second glance?"
[Fu Qing has such a past? Who was the person she loved?]
Xu Ningyou: That's Yu Chengzhu.
[Okay, she's a villain too. Fu Qing's taste isn't great either.]
"I'll only ask you one last question: how exactly did Second Uncle die?" Li Ting stepped on Fu Qing's ankle.
Fu Qing was in so much pain that she couldn't speak.
"I was... I was forced to drink poison by Feng Deneng and then thrown in front of Ruyi Tower," Fu Qing answered through gritted teeth.
"Where did the poison come from?"
"I don't know, they'll be wary of me!"
"Look, you're so loyal to them, yet they're still wary of you. You're such a fool."
“Fu Qing, you reap what you sow. I will seek justice for my second uncle. I will not let any of those who harmed him go. Those who harmed my Li family will soon get their retribution.”
"You harmed my wife before, but because some things weren't investigated clearly, I spared your life. Now, go and live happily ever after with Ma Chongning. You two are a perfect match."
"I forgot to tell you, I've already got hold of the Ma family's secrets, but unfortunately you won't see it."
With a hint from Li Ting, Leng Bing appeared. Li Ting gave her a few instructions, and Leng Bing took Fu Qing to Leng Yu's room.
Leng Yu dressed Fu Qing up nicely and then sent her to Yu Chengzhu.
Yu Chengzhu's opium addiction is too deep to be eradicated, so now he only seeks pleasure and no longer thinks about anything else.
However, his concubine was ruthless; any woman who appeared before Yu Chengzhu was beaten to death by her.
Yu Chengzhu went out drinking every day, and that night, someone set him up.
Fu Qing and Yu Chengzhu were both drugged with aphrodisiacs and spent the night in the same room, thus beginning their affair.
The next morning, when Yu Chengzhu woke up, he found himself naked and embracing a familiar woman. Just as he was about to shout, his concubine, Fang Qianqian, entered the room with a group of servants.
Ignoring everything else, Fang Qianqian had someone drag Fu Qing off the bed and beat her severely.
Fu Qing was beaten and then Yu Chengzhu pointed at her and cursed her, calling her shameless and asking why she had seduced her.
"Chengzhu, are you sure you won't marry anyone but me in this life?" Fu Qing had woken up and was overjoyed to find that her wish had been fulfilled.
"Marry you? You should take a good look in the mirror. Do you even deserve it? If it weren't for the fact that your mother's family is the Li family, I wouldn't even give you a second glance."
"The Li family is ignorant and blocked the way of the important person. They were almost wiped out. Who would still care about you?"
Yu Chengzhu spat on Fu Qing's face.
Fu Qing then realized what was happening.
All of her past misdeeds stemmed from her connection with the Li family; with the Li family's downfall, her future was ruined.
It's just that she was foolish back then, blinded by hatred.
"So that's how it is!" Fang Qianqian, Yu Chengzhu's concubine, clapped her hands and cheered when she saw this scene.
This is a tricky matter to handle.
Fu Qing is still a respectable woman, while Yu Chengzhu slept with a respectable woman. Both of them will be imprisoned, but Yu Chengzhu's crime is more serious.
She didn't want anything to happen to Yu Chengzhu.
Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. As long as she still manages the household affairs, she can make a few more years of money and then fly far away.
With a heavy heart, Fang Qianqian bribed the restaurant owner to cover up the matter.
As for Fu Qing, she was sold to a notorious brothel in the capital.
Unable to bear the torment, she took her own life.
Upon hearing the news, Li Ting could only sigh that Fang Qianqian was a ruthless person.
Fu Qing has already paid the price for her actions, but the Ma family is still active in Lizhou.
Li Ting took Leng Bing with him and personally went to Lizhou.
Cut off all of the Ma family's businesses.
The Ma family lent money at exorbitant interest rates, ran pawnshops, and made clothes in Lizhou.
Before going to Lizhou, Li Ting instructed Dong Qi to order a batch of winter clothes for the soldiers from the Ma family in the name of the Southwest Army.
Because the Ma family often made armor and clothing for Zhao Yunchen's soldiers, they had no suspicions.
The equipment for the regular army has always been provided by the imperial court; it cannot be custom-made by private individuals.
Li Ting took out the luminous pearl that the founding emperor had given to the Xiao family when the Li family ancestors helped them conquer the country from the storeroom, intending to pawn it at the Ma family's pawnshop.
The pawnshop owner, accustomed to treasures, knew this luminous pearl was a rare gem and reported it to Ma Chong'an, the younger brother of Ma Chongning, the head of the Ma family.
When Ma Chong'an saw the luminous pearl, he didn't think about how much silver it was worth; he only thought about how to possess it.
Recently, his eighteen concubines have been angry with him, and he can't appease them no matter what he does.
Ma Chong'an made a "kill" gesture to the pawnshop owner.
The shopkeeper understood instantly.
So he exchanged the money for Li Ting in full, but immediately contacted the Qinglian Society. He said he urgently needed money and exchanged it for 800,000 taels of gold.
The gold was delivered at the dock in Lizhou, with an agreement that 850,000 taels of gold, including principal and interest, would be returned one month later.
Once the gold was loaded onto the ship, it was transported by water towards the South China Sea of Nanchen Kingdom.
The bandits blocked Li Ting's path.
After a fierce battle, all the bandits were wiped out. Three waves of bandits had come from all sides.
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