Chapter 190 Extra (13)

Zhao Luli rested at home for a day, and the next day brought many precious gifts to visit his father-in-law and mother-in-law, which made the several elders very happy. After lunch, he was not in a hurry to be on duty. Instead, he took Guan Suyi to go shopping, walking slowly along the way, with a smile on his face.

“What exactly do you want to do?” Guan Suyi asked suspiciously.

“I want to treat you well.” Passing by a jade shop, Zhao Luli pulled her in and said in a low voice, “When quelling the chaos outside, I wrote a letter to Madam every three days, but I guess you burn it without even reading it? No matter how Madam thinks about my sincerity, you only need to look at my future performance.”

Guan Suyi was silent. Now that she was married to this person, whether he was good or bad, sincere or false, she had to bear it all, as there was no room for resistance or struggle. Life was always going to pass, even if he had a dead person in his heart, what could she do? The last time smashing his head she didn’t get punished, but the next time she certainly would not be so lucky.

Seeing that Madam did not respond, Zhao Luli was a little frustrated, so he quietly went to hold her hand when he entered the store. Guan Suyi struggled a few times, but failed to break free, so she had no choice but to go with him. When the two of them stepped into the inner hall side by side, they saw a tall, ordinary-looking Jiuli man staring at them, a little anger seemed to flow from his eyes.

Zhao Luli looked at the other person without a trace, and judging from his clothes and aura he seemed to have an extraordinary background, so Zhao Luli led Madam to the side hall to avoid him. This was at the foot of the emperor, he didn’t want to cause trouble, and attracted people’s attention. However, he was willing to lay low, but the other person was unyielding, unexpectedly followed wherever they go, and his eyes became colder and colder.

Zhao Luli couldn’t stand it, had no choice to pick a piece of jade pendant with excellent appearance and hand it over to the shopkeeper to pay for it. This was a three-color jade pendant, with a red beak, yellow wings, and a white belly. Whether its carving or color, it was very unique. A loosed buckle in the middle could be disassembled and divided into two pieces, each tied with a red tassel.

Guan Suyi liked it so much that she kept playing with it in her hand, but she didn’t expect that the Jiuli man suddenly walked up to her, snatched one of them, and said loudly, “Shopkeeper, how much is this jade pendant?”

“Customer, someone has already bought the jade pendant. If you like it, there are still a few pieces that are in better condition in this small shop, how about letting people fetch it for you?”

“I only want this piece, how much silver he gives, I will double it.” The Jiuli man’s attitude was very tough, and the attendant that followed him had already taken out a thick pile of silver tickets, licked his fingertips to count.

The shopkeeper was surprised, he looked at the person in front him, then looked at Zhao Luli, rubbed his hands together and laughed dryly. Zhao Luli had never liked to fight with others, and it was just a piece of jade pendant, not worth making trouble for, so he took back his silver ticket and said warmly, “If this benevolent brother likes it, then let’s give it to him, and I’ll go to another place to take a look.”

Guan Suyi had no choice but to put down the mandarin duck pendant and leave with him, but then heard a sarcastic voice from behind, “Marquis Zhao is so brave, clearly sees what he loves at first sight, but also can say to let it go. If I were you, as long as I liked it, let alone buy it from me, even if I took a knife around my neck, I would never compromise.”

Zhao Luli paused slightly, then pulled Madam away quickly. Guan Suyi looked back with an unpredictable expression on her face. The Jiuli man picked up the jade pendant she had left behind, put it together with the piece in his hand, and looked over and over for a long time.

—-

After such an interruption, Zhao Luli lost his mood to play, just bought a few sets of head ornaments for Madam, sent her back to the mansion, and then went to the yamen to do errands. Guan Suyi changed into casual clothes and sat down by the window to do some embroidery. She then heard that her senior brother came visiting, so she picked up her spirit and went to receive the guest.

This senior brother, whose name was Qi Yu, was the Zhuang Yuan*top scorer in the palace examination in the imperial examinations, and was later released outside to serve as an official. Now it had been three years, he returned to the capital to report his duties. He had taught Zhao Wangshu before he became Zhuang Yuan. Later, when the emperor assigned the errands, he got a recommendation from Zhao Luli to get a real position, so he had some friendship with Marquis Zhenbei Mansion.

Guan Suyi and he grew up together, and they were close to each other like brothers and sisters. After meeting, their eyes couldn’t help but get red, “Senior brother, you seem to be a lot haggard, did you encounter many difficulties? Why didn’t sister-in-law come?”

“Your sister-in-law is in the main courtyard talking to the old madam, and she will be there in a while. I’m all right, don’t worry.” Qi Yu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say more, but in the end, he didn’t dare to reveal it. He inquired carefully about his junior sister’s current situation, and chatted with her about Confucianism. In the end, they became very enthusiastic and went to the study to write some couplets.

Seeing that the two of them were quite engrossed, Minglan went to the pantry to prepare refreshments. On the way, she met a steward and was asked to go to the West Street to buy some. She didn’t think much about it, took the money and went away, only sending someone to bring a message to her miss.

Guan Suyi who didn’t realize that she had entered a set-up, finished the last stroke, and finally took a few steps back to take a look at the overall drawing. Suddenly, there was a clanging sound outside the door, and then the open window was closed from outside by Qi Yu’s wife, Song shi, and a copper chain was passed through the hollowed-out gap and tightly locked it together.

When Guan Suyi came back to her senses, she saw Song shi proudly holding up the key and scolded, “Very good, Guan Suyi, you steal my man in broad daylight! If I haven’t discovered it earlier, maybe you will even have a wild seed! Tell you what, I’m here today to deliberately catch the adulterer, I’m going to tell clearly to the old madam, and let her call the shots for me!” She then turned around and ran away.

Guan Suyi and Qi Yu looked at each other, unable to understand what she was talking about. But it didn’t matter, now they have to find a way to get out of trouble. Otherwise, when Song shi ran to the main courtyard and shouted, Qi Yu would still be fine, at most would lose his official career, but Guan Suyi would certainly have no way to live.

“I’ll smash the window open, senior brother, you go first.” She pushed the door first, but found that it was locked by the copper lock, so she had to pick up the stool and smash the window. Although the window was made of wood, it was divided into two parts, the inner and outer layers, and it was very strong that it would take a long time to loosen a little. The servants in the yard heard the sound and ran to watch, but they didn’t dare to approach, and only stood in the distance and point fingers. They were afraid that they would get into trouble, and they were unwilling to come forward no matter how much Guan Suyi called.

Qi Yu had been in the officialdom for three years and had seen a lot of slanderous tactics. Seeing that his junior sister was sweating with anxiety, he hurriedly stopped her, “Don’t smash it, even if you let me out, there are so many people watching, and with Song shi‘s constant slander, even if we have a hundred mouths, we can’t speak. This is yellow mud falling into the crotch, not shit is still shityellow mud is very similar to the color of feces, when it stained the crotch people still believe it shit even though it’s not, so it's metaphor for a misunderstanding that difficult to articulate.”

Guan Suyi calmed down and said dejectedly, “Senior brother, it’s me who implicated you.” She never imagined that Ye Fan would use such a sinister way to deal with herself.

“Who implicated who is still uncertain!” As if thinking of something, Qi Yu smiled bitterly and waved his hand.

The two sat opposite each other, their eyes showing despair, but at this moment, a deep and rich voice suddenly came from behind the screen, “It seems that you two needs help very much?”

Qi Yu was startled, but Guan Suyi’s eyes were full of light. She looked around and saw that Emperor Sheng Yuan was holding a cup of hot tea, this deity actually sitting in a soft chair on the ground.

“When did you come?” Guan Suyi didn’t dare to reveal the identity of the other person, she hurriedly walked over and knelt down, “Beg you to please save my senior brother.” Unless senior brother could fly and disappear from the house safely, this filth could never be washed away. But senior brother was only a mortal, where had such mysterious martial arts? But this person was different. In Wei Kingdom, there was probably nothing that he could not do.

“After saving him, do you think this is over?” Emperor Sheng Yuan put down the teacup and tapped the table lightly, “Today’s trap was laid out as early as two months ago. Do you think it was Ye Fan who started it? Wrong, it’s your good stepdaughter. She noticed that Zhao Luli has a gentle attitude towards you, and fearing that you will give birth to a di son and threaten Zhao Wangshu’s status, she had already made up her mind to get rid of you. You once made a copy of “Book of Songs”, many love poems in it were collected by your maid Mingfang and handed over to Zhao Chunxi, Zhao Chunxi then gave it to Ye Fan, and after a few words. Ye Fan fell into her trap, and bribed Song shi to put you to death. They are prepared, even if you let Qi Yu go, as long as Song shi takes out those love poems and proves that the two of you exchange things privately, you can’t wash away the filth all over your body.”

“This matter is not about whether you can get out of this room, but whether Zhao Luli will believe you.” He leaned over, stared at Guan Suyi’s tear-soaked eyes, and asked word by word, “Do you dare to bet on Zhao Luli’s heart? Bet he will stand firmly in front of you and defend you, blocking all criticism for you?”

Guan Suyi shook her head, tears finally falling down in large drops. Qi Yu’s eyes were also red, and his face was full of grief and anger.

Emperor Sheng Yuan wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his thumb, and continued, “Everyone in Yanjing knows how Zhao Luli treats you. If he finds out about this, within two days you will catch a foul disease, and you will be sent to a foreign country to recuperate, and after a few years you will die quietly, without even having a grave to be buried. This is probably the best ending, and there are more tragic ones, like sinking in the pond, or riding a wooden donkeyit’s a kind of torture in ancient China that comes from novels and other literary works, that doesn’t have any actual criminal case file to prove it. It’s said that the criminal’s hand and feet are nailed to the wooden donkeys, and then parade them around town, or even your family will be retaliated against by him.”

Hearing the last sentence, Guan Suyi trembled, took two steps on her knees, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Since you are here today, you must have a plan. What do you want in exchange for helping us?” She was not stupid, she had long felt that this person was having more and more passionate feelings for her. But the person didn’t mention a word, and she couldn’t expose it. She only hoped that after Zhao Luli came back, due to Three Principle and Five Constant ethics, he would calm down slowly and forget about it.

But the world was uncertain, and before he could forget this thought, Ye Fan and Zhao Chunxi would take another action. She was already inside the trap right now, which means half of her foot had stepped into the gate of hell. The way out was just like what he said before, only a dead end. But that was not all, what she was most afraid of was still involving her family. If her grandfather heard about this, would his newly recovered body collapse again? What kind of humiliation would her father and mother suffered? As a result, she didn’t dare to think about it at all. So no matter what conditions this person proposed, as long as he could solve this dead end, she had to agree.

Emperor Sheng Yuan gave a short laugh, then took out his handkerchief and slowly wiped away the tears on her face, his voice softer than ever before, “Since they insist on catching a couple in the act, how about letting Zhen be the adulterer?”

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