Chapter 358: The Day Of Retribution
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
At first, the young woman looked a little flustered, but she quickly calmed down after she didn’t sense any malice from Su Ying.
“May 1 know what instructions Madam has?”
Su Ying fished out a small piece of silver and handed it to her. “Take the silver and rent a horse carriage to go to Prince Qi’s Manor. Tell the caretaker to bring people here immediately. Tell them that Su Ying asked for them.”
The young woman didn’t realize that Su Ying was able to command the people of Prince Qi’s Manor so readily and the way she looked at Su Ying changed at once. She took the silver and solemnly said, “Madam, don’t worry. I’ll definitely get them to come here.”
With that, Su Ying gestured for the old woman to open the gate for her and let her out.
Zhang Shuming was aware that Su Ying was bored out of her mind and had gone to the streets to join in the fun. He was the one who had booked the private room at the teahouse, but he was a little curious as to why Su Ying was still not back after noon.
Just as he was wondering whether he should send someone to look for her, he saw a horse carriage stop outside the manor.
An unfamiliar girl alighted from the horse carriage.
A hint of wariness flashed across Zhang Shuming’s eyes and the way he looked at the woman also became more wary.
When the guard saw the young woman approaching, he went forward to stop her. “Who are you? You are not allowed to approach Prince Qi’s Manor.”
Upon seeing this, the young woman immediately knelt down. “It was a madam who asked me to come. She said that she wanted me to tell the caretaker in the residence to bring some people to follow me.”
Zhang Shuming was a little puzzled when he heard this. “Which Madam?”
The woman recalled Su Ying’s features and briefly described them. She then added, “She’s very highly skilled.”
That last sentence made Zhang Shuming immediately believe that the Madam she was talking about was Su Ying.
Zhang Shuming called the young woman over and asked her to tell the whole story. After listening, Zhang Shuming roughly understood what Su Ying meant by bringing people there.
He chose a few guards with good martial arts skills and led them to leave together with the young woman.
When Zhang Shuming arrived, Su Ying was sitting in the main room of the courtyard, listening to the girls explain their origins one by one.
Zhang Shuming walked into the room and bowed to Su Ying. “Your Highness.”
Su Ying glanced at him. “Did that girl explain everything to you?”
Zhang Shuming said, “1 have a general understanding of the situation.”
Su Ying nodded slightly. “These girls were all captured. Later, you take those with families to make reports at the government office and lodge a record.”
Zhang Shuming replied, “Then what about the rest…”
“The rest will stay here for now. The other party will come once every half a month for the transaction. Anyway, they don’t have any place to go. We’ll let them wait here to avoid arousing the other party’s suspicion. We can decide on their lodging and food requirements later.”
“Your Highness, are you making a long-term plan to catch the leader?”
Su Ying gave a soft chuckle. “That’s right. What’s the point of catching these small fry and shrimps? I’ll just treat it as performing a good deed to accumulate merit for myself.”
Zhang Shuming wanted to say that while this was indeed a small matter for Su Ying, for these captured women, it was their whole lifetimes.
“Your Highness is compassionate.”
Su Ying’s smile deepened. “You’re right.”
Zhang Shuming was an efficient person. He immediately found a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone to register the information of these women.
Su Ying’s gaze swept across the room and landed on the old woman. “Granny, what’s your relationship with that gang of people?”
The old woman opened her two eyes lethargically. “This is my house. Because there was no one left in the house, I rented out the other rooms. I didn’t know that these people engaged in that kind of unlawful business. I also wanted to report them to the authorities, but after they found out and beat me up, 1 became afraid. I have been guarding the gate for them in the courtyard. I have been keeping myself alive to see the day these people get their retribution.”
A trace of sorrow flashed across the old woman’s eyes.
“Where’s your family?”
“My girl is gone, and so is my old man. They were all killed by these bastards. I don’t have the ability to avenge them, so I just keep myself alive to see the day they get their retribution.” As the old woman spoke, she raised her turbid eyes to look at Su Ying. “Are you Princess Consort Qi?”
Su Ying nodded.” Yes.”
The old woman’s turbid eyes became slightly red-rimmed. She knelt down in front of Su Ying and kowtowed. “I beg Your Highness to punish those damned villains.”
“You’ve been guarding the gate for so long, but you didn’t see any loopholes?”
The old woman raised her head and said, “They’re also guarding against me. I tried to save the girls before, but I was almost found out. Thereafter, 1 didn’t dare to take risks anymore. However, 1 registered some of the people they capture. Their details are in a book. I will show it to you, Your Highness.”
She stood up shakily, walked into a small room, and came out with a book.
The book looked a bit old, and when she opened it, Su Ying could see different styles of handwriting on it.
“These were all written by the captured girls themselves. I am illiterate myself, so I told them to write down their details. Perhaps it might come in useful one day.”
Su Ying flipped through the book in her hand. There was actually more than a hundred women’s information on it. From the old woman’s mouth, Su Ying discovered that these names were not exhaustive. The old woman only came up with the idea of making records after the event, and those girls captured right at the beginning were not included.
“This book is very important. Thank you for your effort.”
Su Ying put away the book and walked into the room to stand in front of Ming Yu.
When Ming Yu learned that Su Ying was Princess Consort Qi, she was terrified. She never thought that she would be so unlucky as to select a target who turned out to be Princess Consort Qi.
“Your Highness, please spare me! Please spare me!”
“If you want to live, cooperate obediently, understand?”
Ming Yu nodded. “Yes, yes.”
Su Ying reached out and pulled Ming Yu’s lapel. Ming Yu felt a slight pricking pain in her neck, and she raised her head in fright to look at Su Ying.
Su Ying snapped her fingers and Ming Yu felt an indescribable pain all over her body. It was so unbearable that she almost died from it.
“Remember the pain you’re in now. Otherwise, I’m worried you won’t listen to me.”
“Your Highness, spare… spare me. I… will listen…. I will definitely listen…”
Su Ying snapped her fingers lightly, and the pain quickly faded away.
Ming Yu collapsed to the ground like a heap of mud and panted heavily.
Su Ying turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the rest of the matters to Zhang Shuming.
“Your Highness, are you going back to the manor?”
Su Ying looked at the sky. If she went back now, she should be able to reach home before dark. She could only visit the shops another day. “Mm-hmm. I’ll go back first.”
“I will prepare the horse carriage to send Your Highness back.”
Emperor Kangze was furious when he found out that Xiao Jue had been rescued.
“This unfilial son is going to rebel!” Emperor Kangze was so enraged that he swept all the memorials on the dragon desk to the floor.
“Your Majesty, please calm down. After the criminal was rescued, my men and 1 immediately ordered people to seal the city gates. The criminal is definitely still inside the city.”
“Send more people to search. You must capture that unfilial son for me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After the Minister of Justice left, Emperor Kangze ordered everyone in the Imperial study to leave.
The moment the door closed, Emperor Kangze came to the heavy bookshelf and gently turned a jade sculpture of a mythical dragon-lion creature on the bookshelf.
Click! With a soft sound, the bookshelf slowly slid aside, revealing an eerie opening..
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