Chapter 25: Who Cares About Being An Upright Gentleman?
Xishan Hunting Ground!
All the blood in his body surged straight to Zhang Shaode’s head the moment these four words entered his ears.
By the time his consciousness was forcibly pulled back to clarity, it was already a moment later!
Zhang Shaode, as a military general, had a body that could not be called anything but robust, yet at this moment, facing Yue Tang whose figure was only half his thickness, he involuntarily retreated a few steps!
The face of a six-year-old child still has a huge difference from that of an adult, and he could not possibly still remember her appearance from back then.
But the composure of this woman before him as she walked through danger, the cold ruthlessness toward her enemy who had harmed her body, was exactly the same as that golden branch and jade leaf who had been invincible with thunderous fury on that night three years ago!
Who else but the person involved could remember the details from three years ago so clearly?
Who else but Princess Yongjia, who should have died three years ago?!
He clenched his trembling hands into fists.
But his fists were still shaking.
She had actually escaped from such a tight encirclement and killing three years ago?
He turned his gaze back to her, his mouth opening several times, wanting to say he didn’t believe it.
But the facts left no room for him not to believe.
No one could possibly resemble that person more than the one before him!
“……Whoever dares to block, kill them all!”
Sweat poured down his forehead like rain, and at that moment from outside came the low roars of the assassins mixed in with the sounds of clashing blades and swords.
After standing in panic and at a loss for a moment, he suddenly grabbed the fallen knife, and without another word slashed at Yue Tang, then turned and rushed toward the doorway!
Since the person who should have died didn’t die, he now understood everything about the He family, and the token under He Jianzhong’s corpse!
The Du Family might not have valued him and He Jianzhong very much, but before this they had never even thought of making a move against them!
He had been completely deceived!
And all those people from the He Family who died were just paving the way as stepping stones for today’s trap!
It was the lives of everyone in the He Family, and Zhang Shi’s life, that had set up Yue Tang’s killing trap today!
She had come to demand his life, and his only chance of survival right now was to rush out immediately and tell the Du Family everything!
Even if the Du Family had already decided to silence him, Zhang Shaode firmly believed that Princess Yongjia was still alive and was the real mastermind behind the entire murderer case—this news was even more important to the Du Family!
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
A sword stabbed out from the side, perfectly blocking right in front of his neck!
And at this time, he was only one foot away from the hall door!
He immediately flourished his knife, his eyes shooting out ferocious light as he slashed at Yue Tang!
Yue Tang just stood with arms crossed, sneering coldly.
Beside her, Huo Yun had already flown up with a kick to his back, and by the time he knelt sprawled on the ground, the sword in her hand had already pierced his throat!
Zhang Shaode’s moves could not be called slow, but he was just a third-rate general—how could he withstand the power and speed of Huo Yun, who had been personally trained by Wei Zhang?
After all this, Yue Tang’s clothes hadn’t even been touched by him. And blood was already seeping from his neck.
Zhang Shaode ground his teeth: “I, Zhang, have been cautious for half a lifetime, yet today I still fell into your trap. It must be my fate. Kill me!”
Yue Tang snorted coldly, extending her right leg to kick out a bound person from the shadows.
Zhang Shaode took one look and was shocked pale again: “Ying’er!”
Zhang Ying cried out: “Father, save me!”
Zhang Shaode’s face twisted as he looked at Yue Tang: “Let her go! Come at me if you have anything!”
Yue Tang cut the ropes on Zhang Ying, grabbed her collar with her left hand and lifted her up, stroking her tear-streaked face with her right hand: “What, feeling heartbroken? When you killed my A Li back then, did you ever think there would be today? I hear she isn’t betrothed yet? A fine untouched young lady! The brothels would have plenty of people fighting over her!”
Zhang Ying trembled nonstop in her grasp, crying so hard she was about to faint.
All color drained from Zhang Shaode’s face: “You dare!”
Huo Yun stomped a foot on his back: “You dared to do it, so why wouldn’t the princess dare?!”
Zhang Shaode was forced to prostrate on the ground.
Zhang Ying screamed in terror.
At this, the guards who had seen what was happening and wanted to come rescue also stopped in their tracks.
Yue Tang pinched Zhang Ying’s chin, pulled out the hairpin from her head, and a cascade of black hair fell down: “Truly raised so delicately tender! But on what basis? Your father killed my A Li, let you become the Zhang family miss, yet made my son suffer underground. If I don’t destroy your family, sell you into slavery to taste the suffering my A Li endured, how can I vent the hatred in my heart?”
Zhang Ying was on the verge of fainting.
Yue Tang laughed: “Scared? If you’re scared, make your father beg me.”
Zhang Ying looked at Zhang Shaode with tear-filled eyes: “Father, Father, save me quickly…”
Zhang Shaode ground his teeth to the point of shattering: “Bullying a weak girl, you’re no upright gentleman either!”
Yue Tang burst out laughing: “When you dog bastards teamed up to encircle and kill our mother and son, you didn’t curse yourselves as despicable and shameless! Now that you’re in my hands, you turn around and hypocritically reproach me!
“Then open your dog eyes wide and take a good look—do I seem like someone who cares about being an ‘upright gentleman’?”
Zhang Shaode was speechless!
Three years ago she had quietly married into the wife’s family outside, and in the capital city no one except the former emperor and Prince Duan had witnessed it; a year later she bore offspring, then immediately left her husband, took the child back to the capital to inherit the throne— she had done such rebellious things, so now carrying hatred for revenge, would she really care about morality?
His face instantly turned ashen.
“A bunch of trash! Break in for me!”
The shouts of killing from outside grew even more intense, and the guards who had been distracted watching this side had no choice but to concentrate fully on responding.
And the roar from outside the window—this voice sounded just like He Hui!
Zhang Shaode was dazed and lost in thought, suddenly understanding the Du Family’s intentions even more deeply!
The Du Family father and son he followed not only wanted to kill him, but also wanted to borrow He Hui’s hand to do it!
He Jianzhong was already dead, He Hui was a good-for-nothing, even if he survived, he could no longer rely on his parents for life—the Du Family was his only hope, so whatever orders the Du Family gave, he would definitely carry them out at all costs!
In this way, he, Zhang Shaode, would not die at Yue Tang’s hands today, but would surely die at He Hui’s and the Du Family members’ hands!
He struggled to lift his head a little, gritting his teeth: “You must already know that the Du Family was the mastermind back then! So now, now, whatever you want to know, I will tell you everything I know without hiding a single word!”
Yue Tang just glanced at him: “Who said I still have things I want to know?”
Zhang Shaode swallowed saliva: “The princess calculates without omission, the He Family, Zhang Family, Du Family, all became people in your trap. If you only wanted to kill for revenge, there was no need to show yourself to me tonight. But since you came, there must be some unresolved doubts, and I perhaps can answer them for the princess.”
Yue Tang’s hand stroking Zhang Ying’s neck paused, then she sneered coldly: “You’re so ‘smart’, so you can naturally guess what I want to know without me saying. Yet you still wait for me to ask—clearly you’re still playing tricks!”
Zhang Shaode hurriedly said: “If the princess wants to know who is behind the Du Family, this one truly does not know!”
Yue Tang sneered: “You also know Du Minghuan is not the mastermind?”
Zhang Shaode’s gaze flickered: “I only guessed, no solid evidence—the Du Family father and son are tight-lipped, not a whisper leaked in years…”
“Then why do you have this guess?”
Zhang Shaode swallowed another mouthful of saliva but said nothing.
Yue Tang suddenly yanked Zhang Ying’s sash!
Her brocade clothes immediately loosened, and Zhang Ying let out a shriek.
Yue Tang wrapped an arm around her, looking coldly at Zhang Shaode.
Held like this, Zhang Ying naturally wouldn’t be exposed. But if she let go…
Zhang Shaode’s cheeks twitched several times, and he gritted out: “The Du Family’s huge family fortune has a suspicious origin—that’s one. Second, these two years the Marquis of Guangling has also been secretly pulling in scholars in the court, painstakingly building his own faction!
“This year’s batch of new jinshi from the Spring Examination, including the top scholar, many are people he pulled in.
“The key is, the scholars he pulled in are exactly those nominated by the Imperial Secretariat!”
Yue Tang’s fingertip twirled Zhang Ying’s hair: “Imperial Secretariat?”
“Yes!” Zhang Shaode nodded emphatically. “Before his death, the former emperor left a decree entrusting Empress Dowager Shen to temporarily hold the imperial seal for succession, not to assume full power until the new emperor has been on the throne for three full years.
“In other words, before the emperor turns twenty, the empress dowager has the right to participate in government affairs.
“This year’s Spring Examination is the first after the emperor’s ascension; except for top scholar Xu He who was personally selected by the emperor in the palace exam, the rest were almost all nominated by Empress Dowager Shen and the Imperial Secretariat.
“Xu He was transferred to the Imperial Secretariat’s criminal officials department; he is a close minister of the emperor and also has connections with the Imperial City Department.
“The Marquis of Guangling then arranged for his wife’s maternal family’s niece—his own niece by marriage—to be matchmade to Xu He, and they are currently going through the betrothal rites!
“All this seems normal, but the Du Family was ordinary for decades in the past, and the Marquis of Guangling had no success in his official career for many years—only after that incident three years ago did he suddenly have a large sum of silver money to send me and He Jianzhong to commit murder, and now in this first Spring Examination three years later, he is so blatantly cozying up to the scholars…
“I think, if the Du Family had no one backing them, they wouldn’t dare be so high-profile!
“In other words, what the Du Family did only makes sense if someone is instructing them from behind!”
Yue Tang’s fingers, entwined in Zhang Ying’s hair, now stopped right at her throat.
