Chapter 73 - Seven Xiao Pings

Song Zhen sighed softly. The feeling of being blackmailed was not pleasant. He then reached up and touched the spot a little above his left cheek. It was probably from being scraped on the ground when his body was sent flying during the carriage crash the other day. A small piece of scalp and hair had been scraped off.

It actually wasn't a very serious injury.

Counting the days—the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today—it had been a full three days. If it hadn't scabbed over, at the very least it shouldn't be too painful.

But yesterday, he had insisted on personally dealing with Song Yun and had been drenched in the downpour for most of the night. Even with a straw raincoat, he was soaked through. The wound on his head had naturally been soaked in rainwater the whole time.

He was afraid it would get infected.

His expression couldn't help but become a little serious.

An infection, for Song Yan, was just a so-called inflammation; a few anti-inflammatory pills and it would be fine.

But for the people of this era, an infection was actually very fatal. Just like on the battlefield, a large portion of soldiers didn't actually die directly in battle. After being wounded by blades, the high fever and suppuration induced by infection also caused an extremely exaggerated number of casualties.

These two days, he had only been busy with the matters of Song Yun and Song Yan. He really needed to find time to see a doctor. He didn't want to finally get rid of a competitor only to lose his own life to an infection.

As for that one hundred thousand taels of silver, just as he had said, they have the life to take it, but not the life to spend it.

How could the Yang family's money be so easy to get?

The so-called 'money house' was actually just a shop front. The shop would only store a small amount of silver. Money houses all had special warehouses to store large sums of silver. The location was extremely secret, and there were loyal guards watching over it. For a sum like one hundred thousand taels, it required the chief manager's personal approval, and only then would the silver be delivered.

The whole process would take at least half a month.

Therefore, Song Zhen wasn't anxious at all right now. Once the matter here was dealt with, he would then borrow some masters from the Yang family to stand guard near the money house, and he would naturally be able to easily take down the other party, slit their throat, and this secret would enter the underworld.

Thinking this, most of the fear in his heart dissipated. Although he was hopping on a single foot with the support of two underlings, he inexplicably felt much lighter.

He didn't even notice that, perhaps because his mother had been instilling a certain idea in him for a long time, he had already begun to consider himself a member of the Yang family.

Just at this moment, a commotion suddenly came from up ahead. The crowd automatically parted to the sides. It was a group of bailiffs. At the head were Fang Hai, Ji Cheng, Lu Zhao, and Wu Xiao.

Plus Song Hongtao and Song Yan.

What were they doing?

While he was puzzled, he saw these people walk straight up to him. Song Hongtao completely ignored the two underlings and ripped the cloth strip from Song Zhen's head. A hideous, festering wound immediately appeared before everyone.

"Father?" Song Zhen cried out in shock.

Because the cloth strip had scraped against the wound, the raw pain made Song Zhen's face contort a little.

Fang Hai gave a look, and a bailiff stepped forward and took out a tuft of hair with scalp attached, holding it up to the wound for a brief comparison:

"A perfect match."

"The murderer is him."

Boom.

This sudden sentence was like a clap of thunder exploding in Song Zhen's mind.

Murderer?

What was going on? How did they know he was the murderer?

He had just paid the money.

……

The case of the murder of the Duke's mansion's Seventh Young Master, Song Yun, was solved in less than a day.

The murderer, Song Zhen. Although he strongly denied it during the trial, it was of little use. That piece of scalp alone was ironclad evidence.

Actually, under normal circumstances, there is a big difference between a three-day-old wound and a one-day-old wound. But who could blame Song Zhen for soaking his head in water?

The wound had decayed, and the scalp stank. For a time, it was difficult to determine the exact time. Under the manipulation of certain people, the criminal evidence was conclusive. He was temporarily thrown into death row, awaiting the approval of the Ministry of Punishments. If nothing unexpected happens, it will basically be execution after autumn.

As for his body with its broken arm and leg, whether it can last until after autumn in prison... probably, if the Buddha blesses him.

Yang Miaoqing raised a fuss for a period of time, crying, making a scene, and threatening to hang herself, but it was of little use. Instead, Song Hongtao seized the opportunity and stripped her of her power to manage the household in the name of her failing to discipline her son.

Nominally, she was still the main wife, but it was just a title.

Song Yun's body was not kept for too long. On the grounds that it was a stuffy summer and a stinking corpse was inauspicious, Song Hongtao hastily chose a remote corner outside the Song family's ancestral residence and buried him.

This world seemed to have more messy rules than his past life. Although Song Yun was an adult, he had never married. According to the rites, this was considered dying young, and no one would offer sacrifices to him after his death. To die before one's parents, for the white-haired to send off the black-haired, was unfilial. After death, one could not enter the ancestral tomb.

Song Jincheng also came back for a trip. For some reason, he cried even more sadly than Song Hongtao.

But because Song Jincheng was the Minister of Personnel and was busy with official duties, it was impossible for him to have a long leave for a nephew. He filled in a handful of dirt on Song Yun's grave mound and then left.

Song Yan didn't get a chance to meet this second uncle and still didn't know what he looked like. After all, when Song Yan was born, this second uncle had already become an official in the capital.

As for the four people who were hung to death at the inn's entrance, no one cared about them anymore.

……

Midsummer, afternoon.

Sunlight, a teahouse.

Fang Hai, Ji Cheng, Lu Zhao, Wu Xiao!

The days of an official were indeed relatively leisurely. In addition, Song Prefecture was an inner prefecture, not near the border. Besides the occasional harassment from Wokou, there was no need to worry about invasion from the barbarians on the grasslands.

[N: Wokou were Japanese pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th to the 17th centuries]

Therefore, the official duties were usually not heavy. It was fine to just hand them over to the people below to handle. Occasionally meeting up with colleagues to drink tea was also quite pleasant.

"That Song Zhen, was he really the one who killed Song Yun?" After half a month, Wu Xiao suddenly brought this up again.

"Is it that important whether he was or wasn't?" Fang Hai chuckled lightly.

"Don't be fooled by how hard that Yang Shi cried and made a scene, but one thing is certain: that Song Zhen is absolutely not innocent."

Ji Cheng also smiled: "That Song Yun was beaten quite badly at the time. How could he still have the strength to pull hair from Song Zhen's head? And Song Zhen had four guards by his side."

"Even if he really did pull out the hair, how could he stuff it in his mouth in front of Song Zhen? Although that Song Zhen is foolish, he wouldn't be so foolish as to watch this scene and not know to take the hair out, right?"

"That young son of the Song family has good methods. Two of the enemies he wanted to kill are dead, yet nothing has happened to him at all. Even those idiots from our own families were implicated."

If not for this, once the Yang family applied pressure and a careful investigation had to be conducted, who knows what would have been found out?

"Although it was a bit risky, and had many loopholes, and the method seemed naive, it just so happened to hit our fatal weakness. The feeling of being used is really a bit uncomfortable."

"Then what else can you do? It's not like you don't know Luo Yuheng's protective nature. Do you dare to go and beat that Song Yan up? If you dare to touch a single finger on Song Yan, Luo Yuheng would dare to have you hung from your own roof beam."

"This kind of woman who doesn't act according to reason is the most troublesome! Fortunately, although His Majesty is her full-blooded brother, he can be considered someone who abides by the rules. Otherwise... ahem..."

"Let's just take it as a lesson learned. Go back and properly restrain those stinking brats. Be a little smarter. Don't let your blood rush to your head just because someone provokes you. If this were in the official court, you wouldn't even know how you died."

"Hehe, what Brother Fang says is right... However, could it be that Brother Fang still has some lingering feelings for Luo Yuheng, to be so partial?"

"Don't speak nonsense, don't speak nonsense. If that tigress at home hears this, I'll be skinned alive."

The group burst into laughter.

This Fang Hai, although he was the legitimate son of the Fang family, the son of a Duke, and his father was the current President of the Department of State Affairs, a veritable Prime Minister, he just happened to be afraid of his wife.

Even his subordinates would occasionally tease him about it.

"That Duke Song is also a fool. This young son is so scheming. Even if he's illegitimate and can't inherit the title, if he had just treated him well when he was young, how could he not be grateful for the kindness?

And he's so talented. If he took the imperial examinations, let alone becoming the ‘Zhuangyuan’, entering the Golden Palace would not be difficult. He could very well become a great asset to the Duke's mansion. His branch of the family would have risen. A pity, a pity..."

[N: Zhuangyuan is a top scorer of the Imperial Chinese examinations]

"Indeed, his talent is astonishing. Hehe, 'A lonely flower, a person stands alone; in the light rain, a pair of swallows fly,' it reminds me of the time my request for marriage was rejected."

"I, on the other hand, prefer the line 'The bright moon was there then, once shining on the colorful cloud as it returned.'"

"The talent is there, but the arrogance is even greater. 'To compose a new verse, I forced myself to speak of sorrow'—he's simply looking down on all the scholars in the world."

"I'm more strange. That line 'and say instead, what a fine, cool autumn day,' how did he write that? At only sixteen, how could he write such a bleak, and even somewhat tragic, line?"

Somehow, the topic turned back to poetry. Even though they were dissatisfied with Song Yan for using their own stupid sons, they couldn't help but admire these two ci poems. They were truly excellent.

In the entire Ning Kingdom, let alone those youths, even the great contemporary Confucian scholars probably couldn't write such masterpieces.

To call him the number one talented scholar of Songzhou is absolutely not an exaggeration.

They heard that the brothels in Songzhou city have already put out the word: if Song Yan comes to visit, even if he orders ten girls, they won't charge him, as long as he can leave behind a poem.

"No, no, no, if we're talking about strange, I'm more strange about this: Song Yan is now living in the Luo Mansion. His mother-in-law Luo Yuheng and younger sister-in-law Luo Tianyi are both stunning beauties. Even the handmaidens by his side are as beautiful as flowers. Although that Luo Tianxuan hasn't shown her face, I imagine she's not bad either... So, who exactly is Xiao Ping?"

"To make the number one talented scholar of Songzhou so unforgettable?"

"There are now seven girls named Xiao Ping in the seven brothels of Songzhou city, but who knows which one it is."

……

Duke Song's Mansion.

Yang Siyao's brow was slightly furrowed. A letter lay before her.

These past two weeks, her days had not been easy. With Song Zhen imprisoned and the Yang family's plan falling through, it was only because she was currently in the Duke's mansion that she had been spared a reprimand.

Actually, she didn't care much about these things. Let alone just a reprimand, had she not suffered enough bullying since she was young? Compared to that, a few scolding words were not worth mentioning.

The only one she was worried about was her younger sister. She didn't know how much longer it would be before she could take her sister away from the Yang family.

That is a place teeming with beasts. My younger sister cannot stay there forever.

Yang Siyao was not a fool either. After reviewing the events several times, she understood. It was that youth, Song Yan, who was several years younger than her, who had used her hand to eliminate Song Yun and also take care of Song Zhen.

The Yang family's investment of more than twenty years in the Duke's mansion could be considered a failure.

Normally, with Song Zhen imprisoned, her continuing to stay at the Duke's mansion was useless. The Yang family should have chosen to recall her. As for Song Yan, who had ruined the Yang family's arrangements, the Yang family probably wouldn't have let him go either.

But this past half month had been quite peaceful.

It wasn't until she received this letter today that Yang Siyao finally understood. It wasn't that the Yang family hadn't arranged for people. In fact, all in all, the Yang family had arranged for a total of seventeen masters. Among them, the strongest was a Seventh-Rank martial artist, of which there were three, and the weakest was also of Fifth-Rank strength.

But the seventeen masters had died the moment they set foot in Ningping, before they even had time to find her.

And in this letter, a new mission was also arranged for Yang Siyao:

— Get close to Song Yan. Control him with seduction arts.

Originally, Yang Siyao had thought that the Yang family's new mission would be to have her seduce Song Huai, re-enacting the Yang family's setup from twenty or thirty years ago.

Among the eight sons of the Yang family, Song Huai was the youngest and easiest to manipulate. She had never expected the target to be Song Yan.

Idiots, idiots, idiots...

A pack of madmen. With those two women around, they still want me to control Song Yan?

Do they have a death wish?

Yang Siyao had not forgotten what it felt like to be stared at by those two women at that time.

In that instant, she had felt her blood was about to freeze solid. That was a fear that seeped into the soul. Either one of those two women could snap her neck.

She had reported this point before, but obviously, the Yang family side didn't care at all what would happen to her life.

Her somewhat fragile body curled up on the bed. Her fingers tore at the blanket. After venting with gritted teeth for a while, Yang Siyao finally, slowly calmed down.

In her mind, that slip of paper appeared again.

To this day, Yang Siyao still didn't know who had left that note, but the content of the note, and the mission on the Yang family's letter, were inexplicably aligned.

Perhaps it was time for her to make a choice.

……

The sunlight was warm and gentle.

The impact of the downpour from half a month ago had completely passed. People always have to live. They don't have much time to immerse themselves in sorrow.

One by one, the residences and shops on the bank of the Yi-Luo River were re-established, still in their original locations, still in their original styles.

Song Yan strolled through Songzhou city. By his side was Gu Banxia, behind him were Zhang Long and Zhao Hu.

As usual, his younger sister-in-law was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was in some unseen corner.

Song Yun was dead, Song Zhen was in prison... but, just in prison. He was still alive, after all... This is not good.

Perhaps he should make a trip to the jail…

Just as he was thinking this, he heard the sound of horse hooves from not far ahead. Just as it was approaching Song Yan, it suddenly stopped.

The carriage curtain was lifted.

A figure came into Song Yan's view.

Song Yan was slightly stunned. His expression was as usual. He cupped his fists towards the figure:

"Fourth Brother!”

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