Chapter 77

  The fire at the prefectural government office almost killed Lu Xiaofeng, and the execution ground almost beheaded Chen Qian, the magistrate of Shezhou. He embezzled disaster relief funds, oppressed local gentry and wealthy families, and trampled on human lives... In short, every case involving Zhao Qiutang was extremely heinous.

  With both human and material evidence being unfavorable to Zhao Qiutang, Jing Shan Wangye's idea of taking him away scot-free was simply a pipe dream. His two sons, due to the unfinished business of the imperial envoy and the pending lawsuit, could not return to Beijing with him either. In the end, he had no choice but to head back to Beijing alone.

  Because Zhao Qiutang and his brothers left Beijing with the imperial gift of a purple gold hammer, Bao Zheng had no right to behead Zhao Qiutang in public. After the disaster relief was over, he took Zhao Qiutang back to Beijing to report to the emperor.

  Little Phoenix's original Huangshan winter tour was also cancelled due to the reason that she was one of the parties involved and had to return to Beijing to provide evidence.

  Damn it!

  Zhao Qiutang this bastard!

  It's simply a disaster, dragging down even the dead.

  As for Yanzhi Wushuang, he quietly left.

  It's best if everyone just understands and forgets about it; that's the safest approach.

  A group of people, by land and water, all the way smooth sailing, soon returned to Bianliang City.

  It was already early February of the new year by then.

  Time flies, another year has passed.

  As soon as the boat landed, Lu Xiaofeng was taken away by people from the Taishi Mansion.

  Although Jing Shan Wang Ye had the nerve to ask for help from Tai Shi, Tai Shi knew that Zhao Qiutang had sent someone to set fire and try to burn his daughter to death, how could he possibly agree to help him? Don't even think about it!

  However, because the Zhao brothers were originally appointed as imperial envoys by him and Wang Chengxiang, Grand Master Pang found it difficult to go back on his own words, so he could only wait and see what Wang Chengxiang decided to do before determining his own course of action.

  King Chengxiang this good old man, indeed does not want to make this matter clear.

  It's okay, but don't try to deceive Judge Bao with this trick.

  As a result, this matter naturally reached Emperor Renzong.

  This made Emperor Renzong unable to pretend ignorance anymore, and he had to let the Kaifeng Prefecture work together with Chancellor Wang and the Eight Virtuous Kings to jointly try the case.

  The result of the trial was that Zhao Qiutang was beheaded.

  Zhao Qiujie, however, was not sentenced to death and was the only remaining heir of the Jing Shan royal family. After confiscating the silver they had embezzled and bribed with, the Jing Shan royal family also paid a large fine to Shezhou to atone for their sins, and that's how it ended.

  "What? An invitation from the Jingyuan Wangfu?" Lu Xiaofeng's face was full of surprise.

  Xiaohe nodded, "Yes, that's what the manager said. The people from the Wang mansion are still waiting for Miss's reply."

  "Sister, we can't go, who knows what they have in mind?" said Anle Hou, who came with Xiaohe, opposing the idea.

  Lu Xiaofeng ignored him and asked Xiaohe: "Was it King Jing Shan who invited me?"

  Xiaohe shook his head and said, "It's said that Princess Wang invited Miss."

  "Queen?"

  "Yes, the visitor said that his family's Princess Wang wants to invite Miss over for a chat."

  "If San Jie wants to go, I'd rather accompany you together."

  "What are you stirring up? The princess has invited her, this is an internal invitation among the imperial harem, what are you doing, an outsider, going to stir up trouble?"

  "Let's take a walk with you for your daughter."

  "Mother!" Lu Xiaofeng looked towards the door, and Mrs. Pang was being supported by a maid as she walked in.

  "The King of Jing Mountain's wife is a gentle and kind person. She must have invited us with good intentions, so let's just go along with it, mother and daughter."

  "Alright." Since her stepmother had said so, Little Phoenix naturally wouldn't go against her face, so she went.

  The mother and daughter agreed on it, and the next day, they took a sedan chair to Jing Shan Wang Fu for dinner.

  After the most polite and courteous exchange, Princess Jing Shan suddenly bowed deeply to Lu Xiao Feng, startling her into hastily extending a hand in greeting, "Your Highness, what do you mean by this?"

  "This is what the girl deserves. If it weren't for the girl, I'm afraid my two sons would not have been able to survive. Now that we can still save Autumn Jade's life, it's all thanks to the girl's help."

  "How could I have such ability? You are really tormenting me, Your Ladyship."

  Madam Pang also said: "This is a great honor for the young lady, she doesn't have the qualifications to receive such a grand gift from Your Ladyship."

  "Zhao Fu returned and told the old lady about what happened in Xuanzhou that day. If it weren't for Miss's thoroughness, Qiu Jie might have also made an irreparable mistake."

  Unfortunately, Autumn Hall was unaware of the situation and actually intended to kill the young lady, which is a debt that our Jing Shan Wang Fu owes to her.

  I should have thanked you earlier, but with the recent loss of my child, I only now have the spirit to invite you over and thank you in person.

  "Girl, you really are being too serious." I didn't actually want to save that Zhao Qiu Jie guy with all my heart, but just wanted to minimize the harm, and as for ending up in this situation now, it was also beyond my expectations.

  "Has Little King not arrived yet?"

  "Here." Zhao Qiujie's somewhat reluctant voice came from outside the door.

  Madam Pang's eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  "You bastard, kneel down now."

  Zhao Qiujie looked at Lu Xiaofeng with some trepidation, but still listened to his mother's words and knelt down obediently.

  "This child is stubborn and spoiled by me and the king, coupled with my husband's mistakes in teaching, resulting in their brothers being fearless and reckless, causing a huge disaster thinking that their parents can help them get away with it." The queen's expression turned sorrowful as she spoke.

  Lu Xiaofeng understood that she was thinking of Zhao Qiutang, who had been beheaded, and her heart couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. Losing a child in old age is always heartbreaking. But what about such a villainous son? Wouldn't it be better for him to die?

  "Happy Girls' Day." Mrs. Pang could only comfort her like this.

  "It's fortunate that this child still knows fear, at least he's not beyond salvation."

  Lu Xiaofeng looked at Zhao Qiujie with suspicion.

  "In this way, Niangniang can rest assured." said Mrs. Pang.

  "But it still depends on whether Miss Pong is willing to agree or not."

  Mrs. Pong's heart tightened at once, could it be...

  The King of Jing Mountain scolded his son in a low voice, "You unfilial son, don't you go and kowtow to your sister yet?"

  Zhao Qiujie made a wry face, turned around on the spot, and rushed towards the beautiful Pang girl who made him feel uneasy from the bottom of his heart. He bowed deeply and said, "Elder sister is above, please accept Zhao Qiutang's bow."

  Madam Pong felt relieved in her heart, but she couldn't help feeling shocked.

  Lü Xiao Feng: "......" What kind of godly development is this?

  "Your Ladyship, this..." Pang Fu was at a loss for words to describe the situation before him.

  "The queen of Jing Shan said: 'Since ancient times, one thing has been suppressing another. I'm afraid that Pang young lady is indeed the natural enemy of this child. I am also really unable to think of a solution and can only ask Pang young lady to teach him a lesson on my behalf.'"

  Zhao Qiujie looked pitifully at his mother, "Mother..." This Pang girl was quite ferocious, she would scold and beat people, and even pretend to be a ghost...

  In short, in the heart of Zhao Qiu Jie, the young master of Jing Shan Wang Fu, this fat girl in front of him is the most terrifying creature in the world, without exception!

  "If Pang Niang doesn't agree, you'll just have to keep kneeling."

  Zhao Qiujie suddenly became even more miserable, "Yi jie——" just nod your head.

  Mrs. Pang was also a bit hesitant, although it wasn't what she had thought of the quiet mountain king's mansion wanting to form an alliance with the Pang family, however, acknowledging Zhao Qiutang as her adopted younger brother...

  Lu Xiaofeng went to see Mrs. Pang, "Mother?" What do you mean?

  Mrs. Pong said to her, "Yu'er, you decide this matter yourself." The daughter had always been a decisive person and would not go wrong.

  Lu Xiaofeng nodded and looked down at Zhao Qiuji, who was kowtowing on the ground. "I don't mind acknowledging you as my sworn brother, but we need to set some rules."

  "What's up, Second Sister?" Zhao Qiujie thought to himself that it wouldn't be so easy and simple.

  "Article 1: When my words conflict with those of King Seong of Jing Mountain, mine shall take precedence."

  Zhao Qiujie: "......"

  Lu Xiaofeng naturally explained to him, "Because the result of listening to Jing Shan Wang Ye's words is that your brother Zhao Qiutang is gone. If you hadn't relied on the power of Jing Shan Wang Fu back then, it wouldn't have ended up like this today. So, his words are not right."

  Madam Pang smiled apologetically at Queen Jing Shan, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I was too outspoken."

  Queen Jing said: "No, it's not Miss Pang who is wrong, it's our king's fault."

  "Article 2: In case of conflict between the words of King Jing and Queen Wang, the Queen's words shall prevail."

  Zhao Qiujie: "Dad says women's views -" His words stopped under Lu Xiaofeng's half-closed phoenix eyes.

  "Firstly, you were born by a woman," Little Feng said, stating the facts and reasoning with him. "Secondly, as your sworn sister, even if I'm not yet considered a woman, I will eventually become one; thirdly, the wife you'll marry in the future is also a woman, the maidservants who serve you are women, and the first words you spoke as a child were probably taught by your wet nurse. In this case, what right do you have to discriminate against women?"

  Women's hair is long, but their knowledge is short?

  From head to toe, which part of you wasn't made by a woman? What they know and understand is probably much more than you, the young master of this mansion. What makes you think that as a man, you are stronger than them?

  "A sage once said, 'Among three people walking together, there must be one who can be my teacher.' Ah, forget it. I reckon you haven't even finished reading the Three Character Classic. Explaining these things to your brain capacity would be quite a challenge, so I won't make things difficult for you."

  Zhao Qiu Jie: "......" You're making a personal attack!

  "Article 2, will you comply?"

  Zhao Qiutang nodded like a small chicken pecking at rice under the intense gaze of a group of "women" in the room. He once again deeply felt the wrath of the crowd, and when he left Shezhou for the first time, he had already been frightened by the outbreak of anger from the common people.

  "Article 3: From now on, when going out, you are not allowed to recklessly swing the banner of Jing Shan Wang Fu. If you dare to bully men and women, or cause injury or loss of life..."

  "I didn't dare." Zhao Qiujie hastily explained and guaranteed, the scene of his younger brother being beheaded was too bloody, it was too deeply etched in his memory.

  "Alright, as long as you can stick to these three principles, I can still acknowledge you as my sworn brother."

  "Elder sister is above, please accept younger brother's one bow."

  Lu Xiaofeng accepted his gift.

  "I won't be leaving the capital for now, so you'd better make an appearance at that 'small shop' on the street in front of Kaifeng Prefecture's government office, or else I might turn around and forget that I have a sworn brother like you."

  The street in front of Kaifeng Prefecture Government!

  Zhao Qiujie felt his body chill again, heaven knows, what he feared most now was hearing the three words "Kaifeng Prefecture".

  "Remember to come find me tomorrow, I'll take you on a three-day tour of Bianjing."

  Three days' trip to Bianliang?

  Zhao Qiujie instinctively felt a strong sense of crisis.

  It turned out his instincts hadn't lied to him.

  His sworn sister brought him "Three Days in Bianliang" and the first day was very cruel.

  A brothel is not a place that respectable women would enter, so Little Phoenix only had someone summon the madam outside and gave her instructions before letting Zhao Fu, the steward of the Jing Shan Wang Fu, lead Zhao Qiu Jie inside to have fun.

  After Zhao Qiutang was exhausted by several red cards in the building and was supported out by Zhao Fu, Xiaofeng girl led him to a place while cracking melon seeds.

  A place full of people with the same disease - syphilis!

  Patients at various stages of illness were all there, and the scene was so shocking that Zhao Qiujie's face turned pale to the point of transparency.

  Then each returned home and found their own mother.

  The next day, Zhao Qiujie stuck to the gate of Jing Shan Wang Fu and refused to leave. As a result, he was kicked out by the guards at the order of Jing Shan Wang Fei and forced to continue the second-day tour.

  This time, Little Phoenix changed into official attire and took her newly acknowledged younger brother on a tour of a prison under Kaifeng's jurisdiction, taking the opportunity to observe the miserable state of certain convicts.

  Zhao Qiujie went back and had a nightmare for a whole night.

  On the third day, his footsteps were light and floating, his face was waxen yellow, he was simply hopeless.

  However, the third day of Bianliang's trip was still waving at him.

  The young master of Jingyuan Wangfu, Zhao Qiujie, began to have a kind of illusion - he must not be his mother's own!

  Xiaofeng girl customized " Bianliang three-day tour" for Zhao Qiujie, the last day's destination is - Yizhuang!

  A gloomy and eerie charity house, coffins and incense everywhere in the charity house.

  The young master of Jingyuan Wangfu rolled and crawled back to Jingyuan Wangfu.

  Sister-in-law is absolutely the most terrifying creature in this world!