"Should I abandon my mother's long-cherished wish just to preserve my father's reputation after his death?"
"Should I be worthy of my father, but also unworthy of my mother?"
Jiang Yu looked at them, her voice cold.
Who can say that this is the case?
Yan Gong and Zhang Liao did not answer.
Fu Cong'an watched from the side, his eyes shining. Who said that one must choose the father and abandon the mother?
When Jiang Yu closed her eyes and opened them again, the inside had returned to calm.
"It is not necessary to do this to save face for my father. If it is the best of both worlds, I, Jiang, can choose to have a clear conscience."
Yan Gong sighed; naturally, he did not object to Jiang Yu doing so.
But since he chose to seize the world.
Naturally, we cannot leave behind any behavior that is deserving of criticism.
He simply looked at Jiang Yu calmly and said, "Is the Prefect not afraid that the world will condemn you for selling your mother for personal gain? Is the world not afraid that people will use this to attack you?"
Jiang Yu said, "This matter is a matter of opinion."
That's the truth. Since some people are talking about it, Jiang Yu isn't afraid of what others say. He knows the truth for himself.
As for...
He looked at Zhang Liao and Yan Gong.
“Since I made a promise to my godfather in front of everyone, I should keep it. If I am a person who does not keep his word, who in the world would dare to trust me? Trusting Shangjun is a gentleman’s promise, and a word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.”
"Furthermore, who would follow an ungrateful person?"
If he disregards Song Jingning's dying words and is unwilling to fulfill even his last wish, then he is not doing so.
What difference is there between him and an ungrateful person?
Seeing this, Yan Gong and Zhang Liao had nothing to say.
"Since Your Excellency has considered everything so thoroughly, then please make proper preparations for the funeral."
When Wang Bo heard their conversation and confirmed that the Fourth Miss and the Young Master could be buried together, tears welled up in his eyes.
That's good, that's good.
"Next, we only need to deal with the Jiang family. You don't need to worry about that, Lord. I will keep a close watch on the city gates. Not even a mosquito from the Jiang family will be able to get in."
Jiang Yu and Yan Gong shook their heads.
The Jiang family will not cause trouble at the funeral.
Now that the situation has become a fait accompli, they will not expose their true colors to the world.
They are guarding against people with malicious intentions.
The day of the funeral soon arrived.
The city of Shangjun was filled with white sails.
As dawn broke, the sound of suona horns echoed from inside the city all the way to the outside.
Accompanied by cries of sorrow from the crowd.
Jiang Yu, dressed in hemp clothing and wearing a coarse cloth headdress, carried the memorial tablets of Song Jingning and Jiang Yu's mother in her hands as she walked in front of the coffin.
Behind him were Qi Nuan and Qing Qing, as well as the sons of officials from Shangjun and young children from the common people who had come spontaneously to wear mourning clothes for Song Jingning.
Then, a double coffin made of camphor wood was carried by sixteen people.
Behind them was the funeral procession.
Almost all the people of Shangjun spontaneously attended Song Jingning's funeral.
The funeral procession was incredibly long, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Solemn and sorrowful.
The people who witnessed this scene had mixed and unpredictable thoughts; who wouldn't want to be seen off by thousands after death?
If Song Jingning can go to such lengths, who would dare to cause trouble at his funeral?
and……
The old man beside Jiang Qi looked at Jiang Yu, who had a cold and stern expression, at the front.
He has the blood of the Jiang family flowing through his veins, so what else is there to care about?
Perhaps they should send more people to Shangjun, after all, investing in others is nothing compared to investing in one's own people.
A funeral was enough to make them realize that Upper County would inevitably become their biggest rival in the future.
After the coffin was placed in the tomb and gradually buried by the soil.
Zhang Liao and Wang Bo both breathed a sigh of relief.
Their anxious hearts were finally buried in the soil along with the coffin.
Besides the people of Shangjun, there were also people from other forces around.
Yuyang, Langya, Changsha...
People from the Jiang and Song families were also present, but no one spoke; everyone watched the funeral in silence.
After the funeral, the real main event began.
Jiang Yu had already prepared a banquet in Shangjun, and all the guests were seated there.
Jiang Yu sat at the head of the table, holding a wine glass in both hands. He looked at everyone present and said loudly, "I am here to thank you all for coming from afar to see my father off."
After saying that, he drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.
"You are too kind, Your Excellency. Lord Song is a man of great righteousness. It is our honor to be able to see Lord Song off on his final journey."
The speaker was Wang Chongyi from Kuaiji, and the others echoed his sentiments.
After a few rounds of drinks, the conversation turned to the main topic.
Sheng Xiao gestured to his subordinate, who understood and walked to the center of the banquet with the bright yellow imperial edict in his hand.
Sheng Xiao then stood up.
"I and you all serve in the same court, and all we seek is to bring happiness to the people. The world is in chaos today, and when His Majesty thinks about it, he realizes that he has done too much wrong. I wish to apologize to Heaven and ask you all to work together to support the Great Zhou and protect the world."
Jiang Yu and the others exchanged glances and remained silent, their expressions towards Sheng Xiao quite strange.
Does he really believe that everyone present is a subject of the Great Zhou?
I doubt he's that naive.
Sheng Xiao smiled bitterly to himself, having anticipated everyone's reaction.
Regardless of whether the crowd responded, he glanced at Jiang Yu, Gu Yucheng, and the others present, and continued, "A great calamity has befallen Your Majesty, causing you great sorrow. All those present here are heroes of the land who have repeatedly rescued the people from dire straits, and Your Majesty will always remember this."
Jiang Yu toyed with the wine glass in her hand, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Sheng Xiao's words.
The others remained silent; having said all that, everyone knew what Sheng Xiao was trying to hide.
I'm afraid he'll be disappointed today.
Now that things have come to this, there is absolutely no intention to go back on one's word.
Sheng Xiao's actions indeed revealed the Zhou Emperor's fear, and those who were originally afraid of the Great Zhou have now lost all fear.
Sheng Xiao knew this was inappropriate, but since Emperor Zhou insisted, he had no choice.
He seemed to have already foreseen the end of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At this moment, he was truly in a predicament, as the people present were fierce tigers and wolves guarding their prey, not docile lambs.
He looked at the people at the banquet and saw that they were all ambitious and ruthless, not easily lured by petty gains.
But he had no choice but to proclaim His Majesty's decree.
"His Majesty wishes to appoint you all as feudal lords to jointly govern the realm. Please accept this decree."
Upon hearing this, no one present made a move.
If they accepted the decree, it would be considered that they acknowledged that they were still subjects of the Great Zhou; if they did not accept it, it would be an open act of defiance.
Qi Nuan frowned as she observed the attitudes of everyone on the field.
They had long since broken ties with the Great Zhou. Was the Zhou Emperor's action today intended to seek peace, or did he have other motives?
The one who came from Yuyang was Chu Guanzhi, and his face was full of mockery.
He didn't believe anyone would accept the imperial edict.
He looked at Jiang Yu in the chief seat. Their forces were now intertwined, and conflicts occurred from time to time, but that was not important. What mattered was his purpose in coming here.
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