Chapter 63 Raid The House

When the monarch and minister came out from the inner hall, Zhao Luli had changed into a clean robe, then walked quickly to Old Master Guan and Guan Father and knelt down.

“Son-in-law has pleaded guilty to the crime, and now will go to Department of Justice to assist in the investigation of Ye Quanyong’s case, and the title has been stripped off and demoted to a commoner, it’s indeed  reaping what ones has sown. However Suyi is also implicated in this great hardship with son-in-law, so the heart is uneasy and remorseful, especially ask grandfather and father-in-law for forgiveness. Son-in-law is confused, and every misconduct, oversight, and blunders has make Suyi grieved and sad. In the future son-in-law will definitely make up to her, treat her well, and if repeat the same mistake, immediately will be strike by thunder!”

Old Master Guan and Guan Father looked at each other, waved their hands, and said, “Get up. There is nothing better than knowing your mistakes and correct them, and I hope you will do what you say. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the title, only hope you get back on the right path, forget the past, to take pity on the people in front of you.”

“Son-in-law understands, thank you grandfather and father-in-law for your teachings!” Zhao Luli kowtowed three times in a row, and then his eyes turned red.

Emperor Sheng Yuan sat on the side and watched coldly, unable to tell what he felt in his heart. He never thought that if Zhao Luli lost his title, the Guan family would look down on him and ask for reconciliation; he never thought that even if he had the heart to repent, the Guan family would not give him a chance.

The Guan family were tough, loyal, and seemingly decisive, but in fact they always gave people a chance to survive. This was exactly their benevolence. The Guan family loved talent but not wealth, gold and silver, pearls and jade, high post and generous salary were just optional embellishments, achieved it honestly and lose will be indifferent. Zhao Luli could marry their daughter, even if he fell to this point, in the future as long as he kept his promise and treated her sincerely, they would be able to get rid of the grudges before and lived in harmony.

So Madam was a treasure, no matter who married her. Wasn’t a stupid insect like Zhao Luli also awakened by her? No, he was not a stupid insect, he was just pretending to be confused. When he realized how precious Madam was, even if he had a deep affection for Ye Zhen, he would slowly wake up, slowly forget, and then devote himself to the present.

Emperor Sheng Yuan has no doubt that Madam had that charm. As long as she wanted, she could conquer any man in the world.

The more he thought about it, the more fear and anxiety in Emperor Sheng Yuan’s heart, he couldn’t help but look up at Emperor Teacher and Chief of Ceremonies. The two had stood up and saluted to bid farewell, without showing the slightest desire to ask for reconciliation decree, and when they were far away, Emperor Sheng Yuan cursed “bastard” with red eyes.

The low and hoarse voice was full of hatred and unwillingness, as well as a strong sense of self-loathing.

Baifu was taken aback and wondered who the emperor was angry with. Did the Emperor Teacher and Chief of Ceremonies offended him?

In fact, Emperor Sheng Yuan hated both Ye Zhen and Zhao Luli, as well as himself. This ‘bastard’ word, scolding himself weight more heavily. He desperately wanted to take the initiative to let Madam reconcile, but he was the one who bestowed the marriage, and he was also the one who demanded for divorce, then in the Emperor Teacher’ and Chief of Ceremonies’ mind, they would probably think of him as a dimwitted monarch who was unsympathetic with his courtiers and regarded the lifelong happiness of their daughter as a child’s play.

So he couldn’t mention it himself. Madam was now living a comfortable life, it didn’t matter whether to mention it or not. Emperor Teacher and Chief of Ceremonies were too tolerant, so they unlikely mentioning this. And Zhao Luli, who had experienced the benefits of Madam, would not mention it. If his chaotic home didn’t have Madam to take care of it, afraid it would fall apart overnight.

It was as if the beast took the initiative to jump down to the trap, walked into the cage, and trapped himself to death. Emperor Sheng Yuan’s mind was in a mess, and his temper was about to explode. However, he seemed to have no other way but to endure, and he had to endure it until his heart bleed.

“You bastard!” In desperation, he could only curse fiercely, holding back his heart.

Baifu didn’t know who the emperor was scolding, but looking at his gloomy complexion, he must have encountered something that was difficult to solve, so he didn’t dare to attract his attention, and silently walked to the corner and stood still. After a while, he didn’t know if it was an illusion, he seemed to hear the emperor whispering, “When I want you to wake up, you are confuse, and when I want you to be confuse, you understand! Do you two husband and wife have any grudges against Zhen?”

——-

Since Zhao Luli went to the palace with the thorns on his back, the Zhao family and the Ye family’s had stretched out their necks in hope for his safe return, however, after waiting for a whole morning, there was still no movement. So they all returned disappointed and were preparing to have some lunch, when suddenly heard a loud noise from the main entrance, and then there was a burst of crackling. After a while, a servant woman shouted, “Killing! The officers come killing!”

The officers? The Ye family, who had suffered from the disaster of imprisonment, was extremely sensitive to these words, and quickly locked the door to hide. On the contrary, the Zhao family was unprepared and injured by a group of imperial guards. The cries, shouts, scolds, and screams were incessant, interspersed with loud noise of hitting and smashing things.

Zhao Chunxi hid in the study to protect her younger brother, and anxiously ordered, “Hexiang, go and see what happened at the main entrance.” With such a big disturbance, she immediately remembered that it seem to be the same on the day when Ye Mansion was raided. Can’t daddy come back? Could it be that Marquis Mansion will also follows suit?

She repeatedly told herself to be calm, don’t think too much, but tears flowing out uncontrollably. Zhao Wangshu was also so frightened that he clung to her arm and said in a trembling voice, “Sister, I’m afraid!”

“Don’t be afraid, Daddy will come back soon, nothing will happen to our family.” even Zhao Chunxi didn’t believe these words, let alone others.

Hexiang panicky ran to the front yard. From a distance, she saw several guards holding long halberds hitting the plaque with the words “Marquis Zhenbei Mansion”, breaking it in half. Another man, wearing a blood-red official robe with silver armor, which indicate the grade was not low, was grinning and stomping the cracked plaque into pieces, his eyes full of hatred.

She took a breath of cold air and ran back to report quickly. In her panic, she heard the man screaming loudly, “Arrest all the Ye family members one by one for trial, and don’t let a single fish slip through the net!”

Sure enough, Madam had hit the nail on the head, even the womenfolk of the Ye family were involved in Ye Quanyong’s case, which attracted these devils! Out of breath, she ran to the study, truthfully stated what she saw and heard, and finally mentioned the point, “Miss, with such a big matter why don’t you hurry to find Madam? Now she is the only one who can handle this messy situation.”

“Yes, yes, go to mother, she will definitely have a way.” Zhao Chunxi was completely helpless, and when she heard the word “Madam”, it was like a beam of light descended from the darkness, making her whole body bright. She took her brother and ran to the west side, hiding from left to right, and then saw the Ye family being caught one by one, tied up and kneeling in the open space, the officers groped their whole bodies with sinister smile on their faces, tearing apart their collars, belts, and even their undergarment, and the room was also turned in a mess.

Of course, there were also servants of the Marquis Mansion who were mistakenly arrested and humiliated as well, but no one would believe them no matter how much they explained, so they could only cry and kowtow.

If she was caught and suffered such torture, wouldn’t it be better to die than living? Zhao Chunxi’s heart was beating wildly, her mouth and tongue were dry. Taking advantage of the cover of the rugged rockery and the familiarity of the terrain, she finally dangerously reached the main house. The officers seemed to have received order, and did not dare to approach this place. When she saw Jinzi and Minglan under the porch from a distance, she avoided the officers, and even her shouts were lowered a lot.

When they turned around, Zhao Chunxi rushed out from behind the rockery, with disheveled hair, looking rather embarrassing.

“Yo, where’s this little lunatic came from?” Jinzi raised her hand to stop her and joked.

“Sister Jinzi, I beg you to go in and report, say that the mansion has suffered a great disaster, ask mother to come help!” Zhao Chunxi burst into tears, her expression was terrified, she was indeed quite frightened. Seeing that Jinzi was indifferent, she added, “Those officers arrested people when they saw one, beat them up when they saw one, and dragged the womenfolk for a body search, all their clothes were taken off…”

Before she could finish speaking, the door opened in response, and Guan Suyi walked out slowly, wiping the ink on her fingertips with a handkerchief, and said solemnly, “Let’s go, let’s take a look. Have the old madam and my younger sister over there been disturbed?”

“Answering Madam, they have not been disturbed. This servant have already explained to the officers that the Ye family only lives in the east end, and we don’t have one in the west courtyard.” Jinzi bowed and replied.

Just explain and not check? Guan Suyi glanced at her thoughtfully, continued walking towards the noisy place, and ordered a few maids to let the old madam and the Ruan shi stay still, so that they would not be frightened.

Minglan was a little scared and persuaded in a low voice, “Miss, there’s a lot of chaos at the front, you better don’t go, lest you be hit by someone who doesn’t have long eyes. The Ye family humiliates you like that, why do you care about them?”

Guan Suyi said in a low voice, “This and that are different matter. The old feud between me and the Ye family will be put aside for the time being,  it’s injustice for those officers to treat weak women like this. I am not here for the sake of mercy, nor for retribution, only for the dignity of those women and for keeping the innocents from being implicated.”

Minglan thought for a while, then lowered her head in shame. Jinzi also bowed her head deeply, and her eyes flashed with worship, reverence, and admiration. It was only now that she finally understood why the master was so fascinated with Madam that he couldn’t extricate himself. Her thoughts, vision, and mind were more open than men’s. She looked so weak, but inside she was extremely strong, and she had an unsullied heart. She truly deserved the words “having a clear conscience”.

Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu followed behind her step by step, looking at her not tall nor strong back, somehow they felt extremely relieved. It turned out that this was the meaning of “mother”. Someone who corrects you when you make mistakes; someone who guides you when you are confused; someone to rely on when you are helpless. Although she was no much bigger than them, she was able to carry the family by herself, and she perfectly fulfilled both benevolence and righteousness for the Marquis Mansion.

After a while, the group entered the front yard, and they saw a fierce military general leaning on a soft couch, with his feet on the back of a kneeling Ye family’s second young master, his attitude was very aggressive. By the side there was a little eunuch reciting the decree, to the effect that Ye Quanyong had helped the remnants of the former dynasty to secretly rescue a prince and send it to Xue The Thief in exchange for the imperial family’s treasure of the former dynasty. Now that the treasure map was in the hands of the Ye family, as long as they hand it over, they could avoid the death penalty, and if they didn’t hand it over, the nine clans would be executed. And because the Marquis Zhenbei helped bad people to commit crime and slaughter the common people, his title had been stripped off and demoted to a commoner, and was being held in the Heavenly Prison awaiting trial.

After Zhao Chunxi listened carefully, a blackness came before her eyes and her heart was screaming madly – grandfather, you are indeed killed by your own greed, and even the prince of the previous dynasty dared to touch it! You did your sins, why do you still drag my father into the water? The Ye family ending up like today, they are not wronged at all!

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