Gu Yan hurriedly kept her word and brought Qi Fu over early the next morning.
When Song Wan casually swung the golden whip to the ground and looked at the obvious whip marks, Qi Fu finally surrendered.
What could he do? He couldn't fight back, and he couldn't run away either.
"Don't worry, I won't let you learn anything complicated." Song Wan waved the golden whip and said leisurely, "Your small body isn't suitable for fighting, but you could learn some escape skills."
If you can't fight, run away. It sounds shameful, but it can save your life.
"There is no master in this world who would teach his apprentice how to escape right away." Qi Fu turned his head away and said.
"How dare you say that? What disciple in this world would talk to his master with his nose turned upside down?" Song Wan nodded at the handsome boy's head and said bluntly, "You shouldn't think about yourself."
Qi Wu: "...be careful or I'll regret it!"
Song Wan: "What do you regret?"
Qi Wu: "If I change my mind and don't learn, you won't get any money!"
Upon hearing this, Song Wan said indifferently, "Oh," "Then you should pay for your food, clothing, housing, and transportation during this period. My mother, my sister-in-law, and Aunt Liu spent quite a bit of money on the clothes and shoes they made for you.
"By the way, I rescued you from Chunfeng Tower. There's a saying that goes, 'A life-saving favor should be repaid with a thousand gold coins.' Pay the tuition first, and then we'll talk about regretting not learning."
Qi Wu, currently penniless, was losing confidence. "I can read. Don't try to fool me. There's no such thing as 'a life-saving favor should be repaid with a thousand pounds' in any book!"
"If I say yes, then yes!" Song Wan said fiercely, like a mountain bandit. "What do you know, little brat?"
Qi Wu couldn't argue with her and immediately felt wronged, "I'm not small!"
He is already thirteen!
Song Wan didn't care about him. Instead, she pulled Gu Yanji, who was watching the show, over to the boy and said, "You said you are not young, but the way you two stand, you can be called father and son."
Her words successfully made both of them look unhappy.
Gu Yanji never expected that she, who was less than 21 years old, had a 13-year-old son, who was not very obedient.
"Did you hear that? She said you are old enough to be my father." Although Qi Fu was annoyed, he suddenly became less angry when he saw the dark face of the man named Gu.
"Really? From what Awan said, it sounded like you were so weak that you were no better than a three-year-old child." If you wanted to be his son, maybe you could have been born ten years later.
"That's what I mean, little rebel. Sowing discord is not what a good disciple should do."
"No master would ever speak ill of his disciple like this." Qi Fu muttered softly.
The little rebel wasn't really that rebellious. Song Wan looked at the handsome young man with red lips and white teeth, and suddenly felt that it would be a good idea to take him in as a disciple. It would definitely be very impressive to take him out in the future.
"So do you want to become my disciple or not?" Song Wan pretended to be serious.
"……bye."
Qi Fu knew that he was weak and not suitable for martial arts, but without a strong body, how could he protect the huge Qi family business.
His elder sister and father are both gone, and Ping'an is so young, so he must worship this master.
Compared to the deserted and desolate Guizhou, the capital city is extremely prosperous. Not to mention the restaurants and teahouses of all sizes, the street vendors look much more energetic than those in Guizhou.
Yao Xu's letter was finally delivered to the capital.
At the same time, another letter sent from Yuzhou also arrived in Beijing, passed through the hands of several people, and successfully entered the Linyuan Marquis Mansion.
Prince Xiang, no, it should be said that the current Emperor Jianming, was seen hunched over a desk in the magnificent palace, holding a thin letter in his hand. He said to the people below, "This is a letter that Yao, the governor of Xinzhou, urgently sent to the capital. Can Chief Minister Wei guess what it says?"
"This old minister is stupid." The person who answered was wearing a first-rank official uniform, with gray hair without a single strand of black hair. This person was none other than Wei Xuezhi, the Prime Minister who had served two dynasties.
"What are you talking about, Chief Minister Wei?" Emperor Jianming smiled. "Zhang Fuzheng, take the letter and show it to Chief Minister Wei."
"Yes." Zhang Fuzheng was once the personal eunuch serving the late emperor. After the late emperor passed away, he was retained by Emperor Jianming to continue serving him.
He bowed, took the letter, turned around and walked to the Prime Minister Wei, and handed the letter to him in a serious manner, "Prime Minister, please."
Chief Minister Wei opened the envelope and looked at it with his eyes lowered. He had seen the handwriting of the prefect of Xinzhou, so this letter was real.
"Prime Minister Wei, do you see clearly?" Emperor Jianming drummed his fingers on the table, his eyes dark. "The Song and Gu families were traitors, and my father was merciful and only sentenced them to exile. Since I ascended the throne, I have always abided by my father's will and have not increased the punishment for these two rebel families. But Prime Minister, look at what they have done?"
"Stealing, kidnapping, and even threatening a prefect!" Emperor Jianming looked at the aging Prime Minister and said with a half-smile, "Prime Minister Wei, how do you think I should deal with the Song and Gu families?"
It is said that the Wei family has been loyal to the emperor for generations and is a true royalist.
When the Song and Gu families were sentenced to exile, Emperor Jianming thought that this prime minister who had served in two dynasties would definitely seek marriage for his granddaughter who was marrying into the Song family.
But what he really didn't expect was that the first thing the Prime Minister did was not to write a letter to beg for mercy, but to send people to burn down a courtyard in the mansion.
I heard that the courtyard was the boudoir of the Wei family's daughters before they got married.
Afterwards, no one in the family was allowed to visit him in prison.
As expected, as the Prime Minister who had served in two dynasties, he was decisive and ruthless enough. Emperor Jianming needed such a minister who was loyal to him.
"I remember that the general stationed in Guizhou now is a fourth-rank general named Jiang." Wei Shoufu said with his beard trembling slightly.
"What does Chief Minister Wei mean by this?"
"I remember that this general made a trivial mistake and was demoted by the late emperor and sent to guard the city of Qian."
"My father is too inflexible. If a minister makes a small mistake, he will be severely punished." When mentioning the late emperor, Emperor Jianming's eyes were gloomy.
In fact, Emperor Jianming never liked the previous emperor's style of doing things. He was too solemn and could not tolerate any sand in his eyes.
Whether as a father or an emperor, he never felt any warmth from the other party.
There was only solemnity during the academic examinations, and disappointment and sighs when checking the homework submitted by the princes.
Whether it was him, Prince Yu, or Prince Yi, none of them was the crown prince that his father was most satisfied with.
But so what? The emperor only has three sons, and he has not visited the harem for a long time. The position of crown prince has always been chosen by the eldest son or the legitimate heir in every dynasty.
My father has never even had a queen, so how could he have a legitimate son? As the eldest son, there is nothing wrong with him inheriting the throne in the future.
He didn't understand why his father, who had never thought of appointing a queen in the ten years since he ascended the throne, suddenly had this idea after his trip to Jiangnan.
How could a merchant girl, and a widow whose husband had just died, become the queen of Dai Viet?
But his father, the emperor, insisted on making a merchant girl his queen, no matter how the court ministers tried to dissuade him.
Emperor Jianming really didn't understand, she was just a widow, until one day he went to the palace to visit his mother and passed by the imperial garden. He saw his father lying on the slightly protruding belly of the new queen like a child, with a tenderness in his eyes that he had never seen before.
Why? He worked hard for twenty years, but finally failed because of the word "Di".
Emperor Jianming suppressed his emotion and said to Wei Xuezhi below, "Does the Prime Minister want me to recruit this general from Guizhou?"
Chief Minister Wei leaned forward and lowered his eyes, saying, "It has been less than a year since the late emperor passed away. Now is not the best time to move against the Song and Gu families, but—"
"But we can put more effort into this general from Guizhou, Prime Minister Wei, am I right?"
"Your Majesty is wise." Prime Minister Wei bowed his head again.
"Hahahahahaha!" Emperor Jianming suddenly laughed out loud, "Master Prime Minister is indeed a good minister who can share my worries!"
Now is indeed not a good time to take action. He has not yet completely subdued the armies in the southwest and northwest. Taking forceful action will only backfire.
"I am deeply troubled. It is my duty to share the emperor's worries."
"Minister Wei, there's no need to be so cautious. I know you're wholeheartedly devoted to Dai Viet." Emperor Jianming waved his hand, signaling him to withdraw. "It's getting late. Minister Wei, please return home and rest. Zhang Fuzheng, please see him off for me."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Wei expressed his gratitude.
Zhang Fuzheng came over and said respectfully, "Master Prime Minister, I will escort you out of the palace."
Chief Minister Wei nodded slightly and then retreated outside the hall.
Along the way, the two of them did not speak until they were about to leave the city gate, when the young eunuch accompanying them had a stomachache and needed to go to the toilet.
Zhang Fuzheng told him to go and come back quickly, while he led Wei Shoufu slowly towards the city gate.
"I heard that the crabapple blossoms at the Prime Minister's residence are in full bloom."
"Eunuch Fu is so kind."
When they reached the city gate, the eunuch who had been using the toilet came back, and Zhang Fuzheng said the second sentence, "Goodbye, Prime Minister."
Chief Minister Wei bowed and said, "Eunuch Fu, please stay."
After entering the palace, the fifty-year-old Prime Minister Wei was exhausted both physically and mentally.
Madam Wei entered the room at the right moment and helped him take off his heavy and cumbersome official uniform. She asked casually, "Why did the emperor summon you?"
Chief Minister Wei closed his eyes and did not immediately answer his wife's words. He knew what she was planning.
He opened his eyes, and glanced around the room with his slightly cloudy eyes. Madam Wei seemed to have sensed something and said, "Don't worry, I've sent everyone outside away."
Minister Wei finally relaxed and sighed, "The Emperor summoned me because of the Song and Gu families who have arrived at the place of exile."
"Already arrived?" Madam Wei was quite excited. "Does that mean—"
Wei Xuezhi patted the back of his wife's hand, and said, "Everything is fine."
Mrs. Wei's eyes were filled with tears. She stopped asking further questions and just nodded repeatedly, "That's good, that's good."
"I'm going to Tangyun Courtyard in the evening." Prime Minister Wei was silent for a long time and suddenly said.
"I understand." Madam Wei bowed slightly.
Tangyun Courtyard was the boudoir of the eldest wife's second daughter before she got married. It had been burned down to the point that only the outline of the house remained.
Linyuan Marquis Mansion, inside the outer study.
Marquis Linyuan sat in the first seat, tapping his index finger on a letter, and said regretfully, "King Yu sent a letter saying that the Qi family boy has escaped."
"Escaped?" Xu Tian, the third son of the Linyuan Marquisate, had just passed the imperial examination last year and was currently serving in the Hanlin Academy. "Didn't they say he was captured by the Yao family? Could it be that Yao Xu didn't escort him to the capital?"
"I heard he was rescued by a group of masters from some unknown faction." Linyuan Hou narrowed his eyes. "Prince Yu said that his men encountered Gu Yanji's former personal guard on their way to Xinzhou, but unfortunately, he was seriously injured and escaped."
"Gu Yan is anxious?" Xu Tian, who knew the truth, couldn't believe it. "Could it be that our people didn't succeed at the beginning?"
"The poison was given, but it's a pity that he escaped." Marquis Linyuan knew the Gu family well. If the master died, his personal bodyguard would definitely not survive alone.
"The letter says that the Song and Gu families have arrived in Guizhou safely."
"Didn't King Yu say that he had bribed the escort officers and would have them 'die of illness' quietly on the way?"
"King Yu's men investigated along the way and found hundreds of bodies, most of them headless, near several cliffs deep in the mountains."
Xu Tian was horrified. "So, Father thinks someone is secretly helping the Song and Gu families?"
"Even if Gu Yanji managed to escape, he was seriously injured and could not have resisted so many officers, not to mention such cruel attacks." The shrewd eyes of Marquis Linyuan flickered slightly.
A fatal blow seems like the method used by those specially trained assassins.
"But now, the only one who holds military power in the court is Prince Yu, besides the emperor." Needless to say, Xu Tian knew that it couldn't be these two people.
"Not necessarily." Marquis Linyuan is not Emperor Jianming. He is a meritorious official who followed the late emperor all the way to the capital. Although he may not be the person who knows the late emperor best, he knows him better than Emperor Jianming, his son.
He always felt that the late emperor had a backup plan.
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