Chapter 700, You Come to Me
The people of the capital were indeed excited for several days because of the great achievements made in the war in the northern border. However, this excitement did not last long and was suppressed by the Ministry of Justice's large-scale arrest of the Eight Kings' followers.
Zhou Mansion.
Zhou Jingyun thought about her mother's recent loss of appetite, so she cooked two snacks herself and sent them to her. As soon as she reached the door, she heard her mother's suppressed crying.
"I heard that the Ministry of Justice has tortured several officials to death due to interrogation. My master is a weak scholar. The torture instruments of the Ministry of Justice are so powerful, how could my master endure it? Unfortunately, our family can't even get close to the door of the Ministry of Justice. I don't know how my master is doing now."
After hearing the intermittent words in the room, Zhou Jingyun's face turned pale instantly. After a moment of silence, she ran out of the yard holding up her skirt.
"Jingwan, please help me."
As soon as Zhou Jingyun entered Zhou Jingwan's room, she pretended to kneel down.
Zhou Jingwan was startled when she saw this and quickly supported the man: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
Zhou Jingyun quickly told Zhou Jingwan what she had just heard: "Jingwan, the eldest son of the Minister of Justice's family is a close friend of Peng Mingchi, your fiancé. Can you accompany me to find Peng Mingchi and ask him to intercede for me to go to the Ministry of Justice to see my father? He has been imprisoned for over two months, and I am really worried about him."
Zhou Jingwan looked embarrassed. Her family had arranged the marriage for her without even asking for her opinion. By the time she found out, the Peng family had already made the decision.
Later, with the help of her family, she met Peng Mingchi twice, but she really couldn't get along with him. After that, when her second uncle got into trouble, her mother and second aunt took her to the Peng family. She still remembers Mrs. Peng's cold and distant attitude.
"Jingyun, even if I beg Peng Mingchi, he may not agree."
Zhou Jingyun shook her head: "No, it's been a long time since our family was in trouble, but the Peng family has never come to cancel the engagement, which shows that he likes you."
Zhou Jingwan smiled bitterly, "The Peng family didn't cancel the engagement because of me, but because the Minister of Works was my grandfather's student. They didn't cancel the engagement because they didn't want to be known as treacherous."
Zhou Jingyun said anxiously: "No matter what, you and Peng Mingchi are engaged now. If you go to find him, he won't be able to refuse you."
Looking at her tearful sister and thinking of her uncle and aunt's concern for her, Zhou Jingwan's heart softened and she nodded: "Okay, I'll go with you."
Hearing this, Zhou Jingyun immediately smiled with joy: "Jingwan, thank you."
Just as Zhou Jingwan and Zhou Jingyun left in their carriage, a group of guards came and surrounded the Zhou Mansion: "The emperor has ordered that from now on, only people are allowed to enter the Zhou family but not leave."
Zhou Jingyun grew up in the capital and had her own way of collecting information. She soon found out that Peng Mingchi was attending a poetry reading at Yunhe Tower.
"Jingwan, let's go over there quickly."
At the same time, on the second floor of Yunhe Tower, Peng Mingchi and several young men and women were playing a poetry recitation game called Qushui Liushang.
The young men and young ladies were divided into two areas, separated by a screen. Everyone sat beside the winding canal, placed wine cups on the canal, and let them float downstream. Whoever the wine cup stopped in front of would write a poem, which would then be commented on by everyone.
When Zhou Jingyun brought Zhou Jingwan here, the atmosphere here was at its climax.
The reason is simple: someone has created a masterpiece and everyone is vying to applaud it.
"Mr. Peng is truly a rare genius. I must copy down the poem he just wrote and take it home to enjoy." Du Qing from the Tongzhengshi family did not hesitate to praise him.
In response, Peng Mingchi just smiled and had no other reaction. Just as he put the wine cup into the canal to prepare for the next round, his eyes swept across Zhou Jingwan and Zhou Jingyun at the entrance of the building.
Peng Mingchi was delighted and was about to get up and go over, but then he remembered the instructions given by his parents and brothers before he left. He hesitated for a moment and sat back down.
He actually quite liked Zhou Jingwan, the girl who loved to be in a daze all the time. Although she was not well-educated and her appearance was not the best among the ladies in the capital, he felt very relaxed and comfortable when he was with her.
Isn’t home a place where people can rest and put down all their armor and masks after being tired?
He felt that Zhou Jingwan could give him such a home.
He originally thought that he could marry Zhou Jingwan this year, but who would have thought that Minister Zhou would be involved in the case of the Eight Kings' gang.
He had just learned from his good friend that the Zhou Mansion was now surrounded by guards.
Although he didn't know how the Zhou sisters got out, he knew why they came to find him.
Although he wanted to help, he was powerless.
In addition, due to the special nature of the Eight Kings' gang case, his father and brother had repeatedly warned him that if he became too involved with the Zhou family, their family might also be implicated, and he had to be responsible for his family!
Peng Mingchi forced himself not to look at the two figures coming out of the building entrance. However, he didn't look, but Zhou Jingwan, at Zhou Jingyun's pleading, mustered up the courage to walk over.
Just as Peng Mingchi saw Zhou Jingwan's figure getting closer and closer from the corner of his eye, suddenly, a pink figure blocked his sight.
"Miss Zhou, why are you here?"
Du Qing looked at Zhou Jingwan with arrogance. If she had to give the girl from the Zhou family some face in the past, she didn't need to do that anymore.
Zhou Jingwan glanced at her and said, "I'm here to see Mr. Peng. Please make way."
Du Qing looked back at Peng Mingchi, who was sitting still, and smiled sweetly. She lowered her voice and said to Zhou Jingwan, "Miss Zhou, you should be more discerning. Don't you see that Master Peng doesn't want to see you?"
Zhou Jingwan also noticed Peng Mingchi's reaction. She couldn't describe her feelings. If she said she was sad, she had no feelings for this man and she had no expectations of him since the engagement; if she said she wasn't sad, he was her fiancé, and now that the Zhou family was in trouble, he was so indifferent, how cold!
Zhou Jingwan looked back at her cousin who was about to cry, took a deep breath, and shamelessly walked past Du Qing and towards Peng Mingchi.
Unexpectedly, he was stopped by Du Qing after taking just two steps.
Zhou Jingwan frowned: "Miss Du, what are you doing?"
Du Qing: "I invited everyone to this poetry gathering today. I'm the host. As the host, I don't want to see some unscrupulous people coming in and disrupting everyone's fun. Please leave."
"Du Qing, don't go too far!"
Zhou Jingyun walked over and looked at Du Qing angrily.
Du Qing sneered, then rolled her eyes and took the wine pot beside her: "You need a ticket to attend a banquet. You can't come to my poetry meeting empty-handed. So, as long as you drink this pot of wine, I will move aside and let you go to see Master Peng." As she said that, she handed the wine pot in her hand to Zhou Jingwan.
Seeing Zhou Jingwan standing still, Du Qing smiled provocatively: "Why, you don't dare?"
At this time, everyone else present started to make a noise.
Peng Mingchi couldn't bear to see this and wanted to stand up to stop it, but was stopped by his friend next to him.
"Do you really want to marry a girl from the Zhou family? You should know the Emperor's hatred for the Eight Princes' followers. The Zhou family is finished. Listen to me, leave them alone, and let Miss Du drive them away. If you show any mercy, they will cling to you like a lifeline, and you won't be able to get rid of them even if you want to."
After hearing this, Peng Mingchi sat back down from his half-raised position.
On the other side, Du Qing noticed Peng Mingchi's hesitation and frowned.
She has always admired Peng Mingchi, but before she could express her feelings, the Peng family and the Zhou family got engaged.
She knew that Peng Mingchi didn't like aggressive girls. After a moment's hesitation, she glanced at Zuo Meng, the daughter of the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, and motioned her to help her.
Zuo Meng received her friend's pleading look and immediately walked over with the other girls. She looked at Zhou Jingwan aggressively, "What? You don't dare drink? This attitude is not acceptable when asking someone for help."
The others immediately started to make a noise, "Yeah, it's just a pot of wine, Miss Zhou, drink it quickly."
One of them took the wine jug and poured it directly into Zhou Jingwan's mouth.
Zhou Jingwan naturally didn't want to drink, but there was only Zhou Jingyun by her side and she couldn't stop her at all, so she could only keep backing away.
The girls pushed each other and unknowingly came to the fence.
"ah!"
"Jingwan!"
I don't know who pushed Zhou Jingwan, and she bumped into the fence and fell backward.
This scene scared everyone!
The moment Zhou Jingwan fell from the second floor, her mind went blank. She looked at the people retreating on the second floor and closed her eyes in despair.
Just when everyone thought Zhou Jingwan was going to die, suddenly, a figure flashed over and caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Sister Zhou!"
The expected pain did not come. Instead, she heard a familiar voice that she had not heard for a long time. Zhou Jingwan thought it was an illusion, but she could not help but have extravagant hopes.
If the third brother were here, he would definitely not let anyone bully her.
Zhou Jingwan carefully opened her eyes. When Yan Wentao's nervous and anxious face came into view, her eyes instantly turned red. She called out in a mixture of grievance and surprise: "Third brother, you came to see me?!"
(End of this chapter)
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