Chapter 681: If You Can't Be Like Your Father, If You Like Your Father, You Will Die
In the middle of the night, the lights in Pingyanghou Mansion were brightly lit.
There were soldiers standing at the door, guarding each layer, and traces of the soldiers could be seen along the road.
There were three people in the room, fully armed and wearing swords, standing against the wall, but their eyes were fixed on the few people who were attending the banquet and drinking.
There were not many people at the banquet, only four.
Cao Qi, the Marquis of Pingyang, was sitting in the main seat, looking quite uneasy. Originally, it was not his turn to sit in this position. However, Cao Mi, the Marquis of Pingyang, was seriously ill. He had been in the house since he returned from the poison.
I don’t know how long I can last for recuperation. He is already old and contracted an illness on the way. He has no choice but to be the master. However, Cao Qi has no talent, let alone courage. He doesn’t even have the ability to run a household.
There wasn't much, but it made Cao's mansion a mess and almost became Chao Cuo's key target.
Today, he appears here because of the noble man's entrustment.
Originally, the nobleman invited his father, but Cao Mi couldn't walk, so he had to take his place. Sitting next to him with a solemn face was the distinguished guest Liu An.
Opposite Liu An, there were also two important figures sitting. One of them was Li Ji, the Marquis of Quzhou, and the other was Lu Chan, a relative of the emperor.
The three people were sitting below, which made Cao Qi even more uneasy. He wanted to get up several times and let Liu An sit in his seat, but Liu An refused. In the name of a private banquet, he asked him to sit in the main seat.
Cao Qi didn't know why Liu An held the banquet, let alone why so many soldiers came. All of this frightened the dandy who was no longer young.
Li Ji and Lu Chan didn't have many smiles on their faces either.
The two people were somewhat at odds with each other. Li Ji was "exiled" to the Tang Dynasty because he openly opposed the Lu family's behavior in the temple. He did some military service there and then returned to the temple again. However, his relationship with the Lu family was not the same.
It's no longer possible to get along with him, and even the Lu family doesn't like him very much.
Not long after he came back, another conflict broke out with the Lu family. The Lu family obviously underestimated the ability of the Yushifu. In the name of attacking powerful people, Li Ji severely injured everyone in the Lu family, and later even triggered the Lu family to assassinate Chao.
In the wrong incident, Chao Cuo went straight to the end and killed everyone.
The Lu family is so large that it is currently called the Zhong family, the second largest wealthy family after the Liu family.
Lu Chan came over with a smile. After seeing the Qu Zhouhou, his expression changed drastically, and he became sullen and stopped talking. Li Ji was fine, but he looked worried.
The banquet suddenly became a little awkward, and it was unusually quiet. None of the four people spoke, and no one touched the wine and meat on the table. It was really a waste.
Cao Qi plucked up the courage and said with a smile: "Your Majesty the Crown Prince... if you don't eat this, it will be cold." "Yes... the master can use chopsticks first."
"Ah, Your Highness the Crown Prince is here, how can I get my turn first?"
"Today is a private banquet. There is no prince. It's just personal affairs. You are my elder brother, so naturally you have to eat first." Cao Qi looked at Lu Chan, "I'd better ask the prince to eat first!"
Lu Chan was not polite and started eating directly.
"An, why do you need to invite outsiders when you have a family dinner?" Lu Chan said while eating, pointing his finger at Li Ji.
Li Ji sneered and couldn't help but said sarcastically: "As an outsider, you know how to do things for the king, but what if you are a relative of the emperor? It's just robbery and oppression of innocent people..."
Lu Chan was furious and grabbed the hilt of the sword at his waist, glaring angrily.
Li Ji was not afraid at all, and said with a sneer: "Lü Gong's sword is fine for frightening the lower class people, but it is not so good for frightening the officials of the Yushifu... The sword in your hand,
I don’t know how many have been broken!!”
"You dog..." "Okay."
Liu An opened his mouth to persuade the two of them, and Cao Qi also hurriedly said: "Both the Marquis of Jian and the Marquis of Quzhou are virtuous men of the country, why should they be like this? There is a banquet in my house today, and I hope you won't get hurt because of my thin face.
So kind."
The two of them remained silent.
But Liu An laughed, "The virtuous man of the country..."
Lu Chan heard the ridicule in Liu An's words and was immediately unhappy. He stopped saying "An" and asked directly
He said: "Your Highness, what do you mean by this? Are you calling us here specifically to humiliate us?"
Li Ji looked at the soldiers in the distance, and then at the three servants next door, and said with a sneer: "Didn't Mr. Lu see it yet? This banquet is a farewell banquet for the two of us... There are people outside.
Fifty or sixty soldiers are guarding the place. The three here, Ju Meng, Zhang Fu, and Cheng Bushi, are all brave men under His Highness. What humiliation are you still thinking about here? Eat yours!"
Li Ji said and started eating directly.
Lu Chan's expression changed drastically. He looked at the three people around him, "What does this mean? They are not here to protect..." Cao Qi's eyes were also full of fear, and he looked at Liu An beside him, trembling.
Asked: "Your Highness...what are you..."
Looking at the three people with different expressions in front of him, Liu An smiled and ordered them to eat, but Lu Chan and Cao Qi were not in the mood to eat. Looking at the three people with ferocious faces, these two people became more and more frightened.
"An..." Lu Chan spoke again.
Liu An frowned, "You two know about Zhao Yu's case, right?"
Li Ji, who was eating, trembled all over, and then lowered his head to eat again. Lu Chan wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Of course you know, isn't the case closed?"
"Yes, Wang Tianqi has closed the case, but my father feels that there is something fishy here... For example, Zhao Yu is not an official in the Yushi Mansion, but just a subordinate of Chao Cuo. How can he do this?
Such a big thing happened without alerting anyone? Why doesn't that ranger have any record of entering the city?"
Looking at the two gray-faced people, Liu An continued: "My father asked me to find out about this matter."
"I specially asked these three wealthy family members to investigate. Their investigation was very clear. Some people used their power to let in the assassins because of the request of their friends... and even put in four more in a row. Some people wanted to
If you can't be restrained, or maybe you want to go further, you allow your subordinates to act nonsense, pretend not to know the situation, and murder your superior... Such a crime can be punished by death."
Lu Chan was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground, his face was pale, and he couldn't hide the fear in his eyes. Li Ji was much calmer, with a straight face, and just sighed.
"An... you listen to my explanation. I didn't know those people were here to kill Chao Cuo. Zhao Buyao lied to me. He said he was a ranger who killed people because his parents were humiliated. He couldn't enter Chang'an... I really don't know.
...I didn’t mean it!”
"Shua~~~"
Zhang Fu suddenly pulled out his sharp sword, and Cao Qi almost jumped up in fright.
"Your Highness! Your Majesty has asked you to investigate this matter. Now that you know the real culprits, you cannot let them go! Please give your order and let me execute them now!"
Zhang Fu is very notorious in Chang'an. This man has an inexplicable hostility towards everyone. He is a bit similar to Chao Cuo, but completely different. He himself has a very violent character and likes to kill cruelly. When he pulls out
When he drew his sword, Lu Chan had already silently thought about his last words.
With tears in his eyes, he stopped explaining.
"An... let me go home after this meal. I will commit suicide at home so as not to bring you a bad name..."
Liu An looked at him and sighed, "I didn't tell my father about these things...Jianhou is my elder. Qu Zhouhou is upright, brave and resourceful. I have been friends for a long time. How can I bear to see him?"
Are you going to be executed like this?"
Lu Chan and Li Ji had both given up. After hearing these words, they looked at each other with blank expressions.
Zhang Fu then spoke again: "Your Highness! This is not something you can't bear to do. Assassinating the Third Duke is a heinous crime, how can it be forgiven? Besides, this is His Majesty's order. If you don't tell them because you care about them, you are not committing a crime.
Is it the crime of deceiving the emperor? Besides, as a son of man, how can you hide the truth from your father? This is an unfilial act!!"
The moods of Lu Chan and Lu Chan were like a roller coaster at this moment...
Liu An stared at the two people in front of him, "Logically speaking, if you commit such a mistake, you should be executed, but...how can I do it, because of my love and talent!"
"Your Highness!! They must be killed!
!」
"Well, during the period when my father was away, did I bear enough notoriety? The Che princes hated me, the officials thought I was radical, and the foreign kings didn't like me... I'm not afraid of having to bear another one.
It’s just that I can’t let them be killed again because of me.”
Lu Chan's eyes were dull and tears kept falling.
He didn't care about his image, he just wiped his tears, crying and laughing. "An... I always thought... I was wrong. I made a lot of mistakes!" Li Ji was also a little moved at this moment.
His Royal Highness actually wants to let him go??
He looked at Liu An in astonishment. Although he was not as affectionate as Lu Chan, he was still quite grateful. "Today is a family banquet. We don't care about anything else, so we can eat and drink in peace!"
Liu An waved his hand and started eating with his head lowered. Li Ji hurriedly saluted, "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"I am fully aware of my mistakes. I swear to God that from today onwards, I will change my past mistakes and will never do anything to disappoint His Highness! If I violate this oath, I will not die well!!"
Li Ji looked serious and swore solemnly. At this moment, the nobles still cared about their oaths very much, at least they did not dare to swear easily. The complete collapse of the oath was when an old man swore on the water and then regarded his oath as
After the fart, the entire Chinese concept of oaths was completely destroyed. Breaking the agreement and not keeping the oath became the norm... and there are still many people who lick this behavior of swearing like farting, thinking it is the old thing.
What is extraordinary is that it is a heroic act, which is really laughable.
The heroic knights of the Han Dynasty died with their oaths. Even a less-than-excellent knight like Emperor Gao would never despise his oaths. Talents like Ji Bu were the mainstream and should be the mainstream.
Why did Shen Tujia believe Tian Zhong when he swore to Shen Tujia that he had found the letter from the Yushi Mansion? Because people in this era would not swear easily, and Tian Zhong indeed found the letter in the Yushi Mansion.
Although he played a word game, he paid the price with his life, and he paid such a price because he had received favor from Zhao Buhao's father.
Facing Li Ji's oath, Liu An hurriedly stood up and returned the gift.
Lu Chan was different. He cried for a long time, and finally shook his head, "I can't let you bear such a bad reputation because of me. I will go to His Majesty tomorrow. I want to plead guilty... whether it's death or not, I admit it."
.”
Marquis Lu, who was not that timid, seemed to have regained his father's heroic spirit at this moment, and suddenly became particularly determined.
Liu An was a little surprised. He could feel that his elder was not just putting on a show, he really regarded him as a youngster who needed to be taken care of.
Something was burning in Liu An's chest. He was silent for a moment, "Uncle, you don't have to be like this... Since Mr. Chao is fine, it's not a big crime, and I won't bear anything. Don't do this again in the future."
Just do your duty and don’t let bad people sneak in again.”
Lu Chan wiped his tears and said, "I used to think that you were ruthless and not like your father. I didn't expect that I was wrong about you. You are your father's child... You also value friendship..."
"Don't worry, I won't do such a thing again. I will definitely fulfill my duties!" "In a few days, I will hold a banquet at my house, and you must come!"
The atmosphere gradually became harmonious, and the two of them had finally reached an agreement. There was also a King of Qi. King Qi could just use a letter, and there was no need to intimidate him too much. With the current situation, he must be extremely frightened. As long as Chao Cuo
The fact that he did not take action because of this incident is enough to prove Liu An's sincerity, and he will never dare to make such a fuss again in the future.
Liu An's matter was finally done. His relatives, ministers, and kings each got one, which was enough to accomplish the task. Cao Qi gradually became less afraid and forced a smile.
By the time the banquet was over, the three of them were already very drunk.
Lu Chan was swaying, being supported by several soldiers, and was still muttering Liu An's name. Li Ji was not much better, sometimes cursing at left and right, sometimes lowering his head and crying to himself.
His revenge was not carried out. Liu An seemed to be the most sober among them, but at this moment, he was also pulling the maid aside to pour the wine. He was asking something, and he was already dizzy.
Cao Qikan
Upon seeing the situation, he hurriedly said: "It's already very dark. Your Highness might as well stay at my house and rest today..."
None of the housemates objected. Liu An entered the room drunkenly. Just as he was about to sit down, he saw a beautiful-looking woman walking in and was about to take off his clothes. Liu An woke up suddenly and pulled her away.
He took the woman's hand and shook his head to wake himself up.
Through the candlelight, he could clearly see the face of the woman in front of him.
She is not too old and is quite beautiful, but her face is pale and she looks a little pitiful. "Who are you?"
"Your Majesty, I am a servant of the Pingyang Hou family, and I have come specifically to serve Your Highness..." the woman said, with tears in her eyes.
Liu An looked at her for a moment, "Aren't you the maid who poured the wine just now? Looking at your age, you don't seem to have a family... What does Cao Qi mean?!"
The woman wiped her tears and said slowly: "Your Highness, I am married. My beloved was once rewarded for escorting the Marquis of Pingyang, but he was poisoned twice and contracted an illness. He died a year ago.
.The family left an eldest son and three daughters...the eldest son was less than five years old, and the youngest daughter was less than one year old..."
The woman talked about her current difficulties. After losing her husband, it became her responsibility to raise four children independently. However, the old head of the family had long been seriously ill and ignored him. The current young head of the family didn't care at all about the past achievements of these servants.
, allowing their orphans and widowed mothers to be bullied, and even taking away the credit that their husbands had received, and taking away their farmland. In order to feed their children, the woman worked day and night, but four children were not that easy to feed.
Yes, in despair, she could only...use other methods to gain the favor of the family owner and gain the livelihood of several children.
The more Liu An listened, the darker his face became. "How can this be true in the world?!"
"Your beloved ran away to protect Marquis Pingyang and died young. How dare Cao Qi treat you like this?!" "How unreasonable! How unreasonable!!!"
"Deserves to be killed!!!"
Liu An was furious. He whipped out his sword and rushed to the door in a few steps. He was trembling all over and gritting his teeth, but he could not rush out of the door. His hands trembled and he put the sword back in his hand.
In the hilt of the sword, he wanted to say something, but he held it back tightly. Veins popped up on his forehead. He sat in front of the woman again. The woman had been frightened by Liu An's behavior, and her eyes were full of fear.
But he didn't dare to speak.
Liu An was silent and sat for a long time.
"I remember your beloved, when Marquis Pingyang went to seek medical treatment, there was a retainer who protected him with all his strength. His name was Wei Ying, right?"
"Yes...."
Suddenly hearing her husband's name, the woman cried again.
"Follow me... From now on, you can serve my family in my mansion." "My wife is a kind person and will not bully your family."
"If you are interested, I can choose a qualified husband for you and let you get married."
The woman was stunned and hurriedly saluted, "I am not a good concubine, I don't expect to have a family... As long as I can raise four children, I will be satisfied..."
"Okay, follow me."
When Liu An took the woman out of the inner room, Cao Qi came over in a hurry, his eyes a little surprised, so fast?? Liu An suppressed his anger, "I want to take this woman away."
"Of course, of course, it is her blessing that the prince can like her..."
Liu An did not look at him again, but just walked out. When he reached the door, Liu An suddenly stopped and said, "Pingyang Marquis, tell me why I am holding a banquet here today?"
"this...."
"In these days, I have repeatedly heard others impeach you, saying that you did many ridiculous things while Marquis Pingyang was seriously ill. I hope that you will not be sitting in front of me next time...
If you sit in front of me, it's hard to say whether I can stop Mr. Zhang."
Liu An dropped these words and left here in a hurry.
In the prince's palace, Chunyu Tiying looked at the woman in surprise. The one beside her
The eyes of the little boy and the two little girls in the little girl's arms were full of astonishment.
Didn’t you say you were going to a banquet?
Why did you go to a banquet and bring back four children??
Liu An explained. After learning the whole story, Tiying couldn't bear it. She looked at the woman, but there was no contempt in her eyes. "You can live here from now on. Don't worry. There is no one here."
I will bully you, look at how beautiful your child is...Have you ever given it a name?"
"The eldest son's name is Wei Wenjun, this is the eldest daughter's name is Wei Junru, this is the second daughter's name is Wei Shao'er... This is the third daughter's name is Wei Zifu..." "I understand, go back and rest.
.”
It was already dark, and Liu An was sitting on the bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time. His expression kept changing, Lu Chan's words rang back and forth in his ears, and the woman's cries were still vivid in his mind.
When Tiying carefully lit the wax and came to Liu An, she saw his eyes closed tightly and two traces of tears on his face.
"My beloved?? What's wrong with you?!" "Tiying..."
Liu An opened his eyes, with serious tears in his eyes. "Huh???"
"I am neither a heartless person nor a timid person..."
Tiying hugged him suddenly and whispered: "I know...I know..."