"Even though I'm your brother and the steward in this Marquis's mansion, have you ever trusted me for a single day? Every single thing you've done, you've personally instructed me on. If I do anything wrong or fall short, you scold me! Hmph! Haven't you been watching me all along? Hmph, it's no use saying anything now. Do whatever you want!" Nan Aoyu had no desire to talk to him anymore. Anyway, she was going to die, so she wasn't afraid!
Ji Wushang stepped forward with a smile, "Second Uncle, you had already taken two hundred thousand taels of gold from the Marquis's mansion and hidden it in Madam Qi's rural bank. I always thought of your hard work, so I didn't tell you. I also thought of your continued service to the Marquis's mansion, so I had people clean and repair the mansion in the countryside long ago, and sent people to guard it. I believe that Ji Wushang has fulfilled his filial duty, but Second Uncle, why do you insist on putting Ji Wushang to death? Is Wushang really so worthy of dying?"
"Hmph, don't give me that nonsense! Since ancient times, the victor is king and the loser is a bandit! All this talk is useless!" Nan Aoyu sneered. He had just glanced at the black-clad assassins kneeling there, and heavens, the leader of the black-clad assassins was bleeding profusely from his thigh! It was a truly gruesome sight! The rest were being held captive, unable to move! He figured that arguing would only result in a standoff and insults, so he gave up! If he was going to die, he was going to die!
"It's tragic that Hao'er and Yan'er have a father like you." Ji Wushang's eyes were cold as he looked outside the courtyard. A hint of panic flashed in Nan Aoyu's eyes. Could she be planning something bad to Hao'er and Yan'er?
"You, you wouldn't do anything to Hao'er and Yan'er, would you? They are innocent!" Nan Aoyu immediately shouted.
"Second Uncle, you're just as suspicious as Aunt Liu again." Ji Wushang laughed, but his laugh was extremely sinister!
At that moment, a voice rang out, "Guards, take them away!" The Marquis of Jinnan's tone was cold, "Lock them up until they die!"
"Please spare my son!" Aunt Liu cried out. "The one who committed this sin is Nan Aoyu, not me! Not me! You must see clearly that it wasn't me!"
"Separate ways," the Marquis of Jinnan said coldly. "A married woman follows her husband. Concubine Liu, what else do you have to say?"
Aunt Dou remained calm, looking at Ji Wushang with a slight smile. She hadn't fought for it, yet she hadn't escaped this fate. But it was all just a matter of dying of old age… It was alright! She had no regrets…
"Please wait!" Aunt Dou said at this moment.
"What is it?" the Marquis of Jinnan asked impatiently.
"I wish to become a nun. I wonder if Your Excellency would grant my request? In that dark and gloomy woodshed, why not grant me a lamp to pray for the well-being of all people?"
“Auntie is so kind-hearted. This matter has nothing to do with you. Father, why don’t you agree to her request?” Ji Wushang stepped forward and said.
"Hmm!" Marquis Jinnan waved his hand and ordered someone to take Aunt Dou away.
Aunt Liu immediately shouted, "I didn't do anything! Why am I locked in the woodshed? It's not fair, it's not fair!"
"You're the one who framed Aunt Leng. What, you say you didn't do anything?" Ji Wushang said. "You pushed Aunt Leng to the ground, almost harming her child. Aunt Liu, tell me, don't you bear any responsibility? And in the pavilion, you, Aunt Leng, and Aunt Jin were wrestling... almost scratching their faces. I think Aunt Jin felt it the most!" Ji Wushang looked at Aunt Jin as he spoke. Aunt Jin immediately flew into a rage. Yes, that's exactly what she did! Now, she deserved it!
"That's right! Let me tell you, Aunt Liu has secretly concocted many drugs, and she drugged Aunt Dou! This is why Aunt Dou hasn't been able to give birth to a single child! She secretly drugged Aunt Dou, causing her to miscarry before she was even two months pregnant! I saw it by accident! Humph! She's been threatening me, telling me not to tell anyone!" Aunt Jin, seeing this as an opportunity to expose everything, was determined to spill everything! Otherwise, how could she die willingly? In this mansion, every death is a blessing! The fewer enemies we eliminate, the fewer enemies we have!
Before the servants could completely lead Aunt Dou out of Moxuan Garden, she heard these words and was immediately stunned. She rushed forward and demanded, "What are you saying? You're saying that Liu Yanyan killed my child?"
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me!" Aunt Liu cried out as she saw things were going wrong, which only made Aunt Dou more agitated. She stepped forward and grabbed Aunt Liu by the neck, yelling, "Give me back my son's life! Give me back my child's life!"
Nan Aoyu stared in shock at the two women beside her. She never expected that Aunt Liu would do such a thing! She had thought that although Aunt Liu came from a brothel, she was still a kind person at heart, but she never expected that... Aunt Dou had always been quiet and unassuming, never vying for anything, and yet she had been poisoned like this just because she was pregnant!
Aunt Dou gripped Aunt Liu's neck tightly, using all her strength. "I'll fight you to the death! You vicious woman, you'll die a horrible death! I'll kill you!"
The Marquis of Jinnan paused for a moment, then said, "Quickly, separate them!"
Watching from the sidelines, Aunt Jin was in a very good mood. She had gained quite a lot today, how wonderful! Once she dealt with Aunt Leng and her ilk, she would be the mistress of this Marquis's mansion! As for Ji Wushang, she would leave her alone for now, and once she lowered her guard and was lulled into a false sense of security, she would eliminate her!
Thinking of this, Aunt Jin felt rather smug!
Ji Wushang took all of this in stride, his expression calm.
Aunt Dou grabbed Aunt Liu's hair and clothes. When she was pulled away, Aunt Liu looked like a ghost, with scratches on her neck, showing that Aunt Dou harbored a lot of resentment.
Should we grant Aunt Dou's wish to vent her anger? Ji Wushang thought coldly to himself.
Aunt Dou was dragged away by several rough-looking old women while she was cursing and swearing, and the cursing gradually stopped.
The Marquis of Jinnan waved his hand, ignoring them, and ordered them all to be taken away.
Those black-clad assassins kneeling to one side trembled, wondering if Ji Wushang would slice them to pieces.
"Tie Feng, take them away! What you do with them is up to you." Ji Wushang smiled innocently. Before the men in black could even beg for mercy, Tie Feng had already taken them all away.
How to handle it? Of course, do it the way it was originally said. That order was given a long time ago!
Lord Jinnan felt a terrible headache coming on. Nan Jinxue had just died, and now this had happened. Oh well! Without saying anything else, he walked outside.
Gradually, everyone left. The vast Moxuan Garden returned to tranquility once more.
Seeing the pool of blood on the ground, Ji Wushang immediately said, "Hongfei, quickly, clean it up."
"Yes." Hongfei immediately ordered someone to clean up.
Ji Wushang returned to Moxuan Garden, went into the inner room, and sat down at the desk.
“Cuiwu,” Ji Wushang said.
"This servant is here." Cuiwu immediately ran in from outside.
Ji Wushang whispered a few words in her ear, and finally said, "Go and do it!"
"Yes." Cuiwu went immediately.
Nan Xuzong and Huangfu Xuan arrived at the palace one after the other, and then headed directly into the depths of the palace. The two walked swiftly, and soon arrived in front of a palace.
The palace was completely dark at night, without a single ray of light.
Nan Xuzong felt his breathing become heavier.
"Go in, your mother's things are all in here," Huangfu Xuan said, and then immediately went inside.
Nan Xuzong took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then followed Huangfu Xuan inside.
The peach blossoms were in full bloom, but no one was there to admire them. Nan Xuzong looked at the largest peach tree in the courtyard, and it was as if he saw his mother weaving clothes for children under this peach tree. He could not see her face, but now he could almost smell her fragrance.
He didn't know what she looked like. She had vanished into thin air in this palace on the day he was born, yet the peach blossoms bloomed more profusely each year.
It must have been arranged by God!
Nan Xuzong stroked the peach tree, and the peach petals suddenly fell down.
Seeing that he hadn't followed, Huangfu Xuan couldn't help but turn around and urge, "Cong, hurry up." But when he saw the peach petals suddenly falling, he was momentarily stunned.
This is truly unprecedented! Since entering this palace, I've never seen a single peach blossom fall! Some blossoms only bloom on the trees, never falling. Occasionally, when I come back to look, the trees are bare and desolate, and I've even assumed that some palace servants have swept away all the fallen petals!
This is truly strange.
But at that moment, a dark shadow flashed past them! Fast as lightning, impossible to catch!
☆、226 Wu Shang, don't leave me! (Excellent)
Nan Xuzong's sinister eyes immediately locked onto that spot, and he flew out in an instant. Huangfu Xuan naturally followed suit and rushed over from another direction. The two of them immediately formed an encirclement, blocking the man in black in the middle.
"Since you've been here for so long, why don't you sit down and have a talk?" Nan Xuzong said coldly.
The man in black didn't speak, but instead looked Nan Xuzong up and down, a hint of disbelief flashing in his eyes! He hadn't expected him to be able to stand up? And his lightness skill was so exquisite! It was impossible to find a single flaw!
Huangfu Xuan stepped forward coldly, a powerful force gathering in his hand. "If you don't speak, then never speak again!" His tone was icy, and his murderous aura was even stronger than Nan Xuzong's!
Nan Xuzong also stepped forward, the golden thread now wrapped around his hand. No one knew how powerful his palm was.
The man in black retreated, trying to avoid being exposed to their attacks, but damn it, this path turned out to be a narrow alley! Everything in this palace was extremely strange! Nan Xuzong stepped forward, and Huangfu Xuan's tone was quite cold, "Go to hell!" As he spoke, his palm struck the man in black!
Nan Xuzong cooperated perfectly, the two of them working together from above and below, forcing the man to retreat steadily! The black-clad man's martial arts were also quite strange. Nan Xuzong and his companion both knew that this was not the martial arts of the Great Xia Zhou Dynasty. Specifically, it should be the martial arts of Fusang, or the Western Regions or Bohai!
The man in black was no match for Huangfu Xuan. He was struck in the chest by Huangfu Xuan's palm and was forced to stagger backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood!
Just as Nan Xuzong was about to step forward, he heard Huangfu Xuan exclaim in surprise, "A woman?!"
Nan Xuzong immediately looked at Huangfu Xuan, who was staring blankly at his palm. But at that moment, the man in black threw a smoke bomb at the two of them, and they were immediately sent flying!
Huangfu Xuan slammed his fist against the wall. "Damn it, she got away!"
"It's all your fault! But she's seriously injured and doesn't have much of a chance of survival!" Nan Xuzong looked at the blood on the ground and knew that Huangfu Xuan's skills were profound. If he were to fight him, they would probably be evenly matched.
Nan Xuzong snorted lightly, "Hurry up, we don't know who this person is, and we don't know if the fight just now will alert the guards. Let's leave quickly!"
Huangfu Xuan remained silent and followed Nan Xuzong forward. However, he stopped, glanced back at the ground, stepped forward, placed a piece of black gauze torn from the black-clad man in his bosom, and then simply covered the bloodstains on the ground with soil using his feet.
Nan Xuzong turned to look at him, then took out a small bottle from his pocket, poured out a pill, crushed it in his palm, and immediately scattered it into the air.
"Let's go!" Nan Xuzong snorted coldly, walking back to the original Zhenfei Palace. "That's a medicine that can eliminate all smells. Don't worry, no one will notice the fighting here!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Huangfu Xuan followed Nan Xuzong inside, quite annoyed.
The peach blossoms had stopped falling petals. Nan Xuzong glanced at the peach tree again. "I feel that my mother is right under this tree, sewing my clothes, but I have never worn them."
"Come in quickly!" Huangfu Xuan said coldly, and gently opened the door to the house. "That woman just now, her martial arts are very strange. I don't know who she is, but she was hit by my palm. She must have my antidote. She will definitely come to visit again within three days!"
"Then it's up to you!" Nan Xuzong scoffed. "You seem to have taken a liking to her."
"Don't joke like that!" Huangfu Xuan snorted coldly. The two went inside.
Nan Xuzong surveyed everything around him. The dressing table, bed, desk, and everything else were covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Nan Xuzong frowned. Indeed, emperors throughout history have been fickle; after Consort Zhen's death, she had been completely forgotten!
Nan Xuzong swept away the spider webs with both hands. Huangfu Xuan looked at him and said, "Don't move. If Empress Yao finds out we were here, she will definitely become suspicious. Do you want her to destroy this place?"
"I will kill her!" Nan Xuzong sneered. His mother's death back then must have been inseparable from Empress Yao's scheming!
"Whatever you want! But you must listen to me now! Don't forget the purpose of this trip!" Huangfu Xuan immediately walked into the inner room. Nan Xuzong glanced around and followed.
Huangfu Xuan rummaged through the cabinet for a long time, and Nan Xu Cong was also looking.
"Think about it, where would your mother keep important things?" Huangfu Xuan asked, but after asking, he looked at Nan Xuzong in silence. "I'm sorry." For a moment, he had forgotten that Nan Xuzong's mother had been murdered right after giving birth to him. But Huangfu Xuan also thought of his own mother, Consort Yuan, a woman who had also endured much suffering, who had held on until he returned to the capital, only to die before his eyes!
At this moment, Nan Xuzong went into the wardrobe and found a garment—a baby's garment. Nan Xuzong was lost in thought. This was probably left to him by his mother. The embroidery was so dense, so exquisite; there were thirty-six stitches in total. Nan Xuzong thought of Ji Wushang. These two women who loved him shared the same way of doing things. Those thirty-six stitches—how dense, how warm!
Nan Xuzong touched the little dress, a slight smile playing on his lips, but then a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. They had stolen his happiness! They had killed his mother! Whoever had hurt them back then should pay the price!
Just as I was about to put it down, I touched a bump. It wasn't very obvious, but it was definitely there!
Nan Xuzong immediately exclaimed, "Found it!"
Huangfu Xuan immediately stepped forward, "The child's clothes? Did Consort Zhen make them for you?"
"Hmm." Nan Xuzong picked up the scissors, but when he thought about cutting it, he found it difficult to bring himself to do it. This was the only thing his mother had left him! Although it was so insignificant, it was all he had...
"Let's go first, don't stay here!" Huangfu Xuan said immediately when he saw that he needed time to think. "Let's go back first."
"Okay." Nan Xuzong nodded, stuffed the child's clothes into his arms, and quickly left in another direction.
Finally, after taking one last look at everything around him, Nan Xuzong left at Huangfu Xuan's urging.
The two parted ways. As he was leaving, Huangfu Xuan said, "There's no time to lose, so watch your time!"
Nan Xuzong nodded solemnly, and then hurriedly returned to Moxuan Garden from the secret room.
The lights were still on. Nan Xuzong gently entered the Moxuan Garden, a warm and comforting feeling washing over him. He carefully put away the child's clothes before entering the inner room.
The lights in the inner room slowly came on, and Nan Xuzong saw Ji Wushang sitting under the light, propping his chin up with his hand, dozing off. A medical book was placed in front of him.
Nan Xuzong's heart stirred, and he stepped forward to pick her up. Ji Wushang woke up as he held her, then looked at Nan Xuzong smiling at her and said, "You're back."
"Okay, if you get tired, go to bed and rest. Don't sit here waiting for me." Nan Xuzong picked her up in his arms like a princess. She listened without saying anything, but buried her head in his chest.