Apart from Yi Qing, Xiao Jinghan had never looked at another woman directly, let alone knew who they were or whether they were beautiful or ugly.
"Who knows? Maybe our general is so famous that some young ladies in the boudoir admire him very much," Yi Qing said jokingly.
Xiao Jinghan stared at Yi Qing. "What about you, my lady?"
Yi Qing felt that Xiao Jinghan's look was rather dangerous. "I'm tired after wandering around for a whole day," she said and was about to leave.
"Then I'll take my wife to have a rest," Xiao Jinghan said and directly picked Yi Qing up horizontally.
The Xie family encountered two groups of assassins in one night. This time, they dared not say anything when sending the Duke of Xie to the general's mansion. They thought that if something happened to the Duke of Xie in the Xiao mansion, the Xiao family would surely be involved.
Early in the morning, Lady Xie came to visit the Duke of Xie. Yi Qing didn't let anyone stop her. She wanted to see what tricks Lady Xie was up to.
Lady Xie tried several times to get the servants of the Xiao mansion out of the way, but they just refused to leave. She was so angry but had no way out. Finally, she secretly put some medicine into the Duke of Xie's tea.
After doing this, Lady Xie left.
As soon as she left, Jushuang led some people to check all the things in the room. They found that there might be something wrong with the tea and reported it to the lady.
Yi Qing knew that the Duke of Xie was conscious, but she still gave him acupuncture to make him more awake.
"This was left for you by Lady Xie. It should be aconite," Yi Qing said as she poured a cup of tea. "Before, the excessive heart - nourishing pills she wanted to give you might have killed you. This time, it will surely kill you."
The Duke of Xie gritted his teeth.
"You don't need to be angry. You are all family," Yi Qing said with a smile. "Think about how beneficial it would be for the Xie family if you died in the Xiao mansion. They could not only bring down the Xiao family, but also gain the emperor's pity because of the queen. But what's the use of the emperor's pity? They are just a bunch of good - for - nothing people."
The Duke of Xie couldn't move. He stared at Yi Qing tightly, his teeth clenched.
"You don't need to stare at me like this. Do you know about retribution? Especially the retribution between father and son. After all, it was you who taught him how to do things," Yi Qing said without any care. "Evil people live long. So don't think about dying. Just live on and let others know that you are an evil person."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Duke of Xie spat out a mouthful of blood. He gasped and stared at Yi Qing.
"Damn it!" Yi Qing put down the teacup and stood up. "Clean up the Duke of Xie."
"What on earth do you want to do?" Although the Duke of Xie couldn't speak clearly, he could talk now.
Yi Qing smiled. For a patient like the Duke of Xie, a bit of stimulation might do him good. "I want the Duke of Xie to live," she said and then left.
Although the Duke of Xie could talk, he couldn't speak smoothly and his body couldn't move freely.
Xiao Jinghan, Deng Xiao and Xu Maozhi were investigating the fraud case of that year together. With the three of them working together, no matter how old the case was, the truth would surely come to light.
The imperial guards who went to Xue Bozheng's hometown brought his descendants to the capital and also brought the stone carving of Xue Bozheng's early articles.
Xue Bozheng's family said that when Xue Bozheng left Yunyang Academy, their house caught fire. All of his father's things were burned, only this stone carving was left.
After that, some strange faces appeared around their house. They didn't leave until his father died.
Although this couldn't be regarded as direct evidence, it could be regarded as indirect evidence.
The jailer of the Ministry of Punishment's prison of that year was also found. Xue Bozheng was originally supposed to be exiled. But because of the interference of the Duke of Xie, he wasn't exiled and was locked up in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. No one could visit him except the Duke of Xie.
The official in charge of this case that year was also found. He proved that the Duke of Xie had personally inquired about this matter and the case files were written under the Duke of Xie's hint.
After all, Xue Bozheng was just a small teacher, while the Duke of Xie was a duke of the country. They had no choice at all.
"Where are you going?" Lady Mu saw her daughter sneaking out.
"Just going out for a stroll," Mu Lixue said in a low voice. She didn't tell her mother about bribing the servant in the Xiao mansion.
"Your father is going to invite General Xiao to dinner tonight. How's your dance practice going?" Lady Mu looked at her daughter lovingly. She felt sorry that her daughter had to please a man like this.
"It's already good. I'll just go out for a while. I'll surely be okay tonight," Mu Lixue said and then ran away in a flash.
Yi Qing wrote out a prescription and asked Jushuang to calculate the cost. After meeting the Mu family, she deeply realized that she was very poor. Mu Lixue didn't even blink an eye when giving out 50,000 taels of silver, while she had to hide her identity. This made her feel very uncomfortable.
"Madam, are we really not going?" Ruo Hong asked in a low voice.
"What for?" Yi Qing didn't even plan to get the 50,000 taels from Mu Lixue. One shouldn't be too greedy. "To tell her that she's been cheated?"
Ruo Hong held back her laughter and stood aside.
Mu Lixue didn't realize that she had been cheated until afternoon. She was so angry that she almost smashed things.
She was so generous because the silver note belonged to the Mu family. After she got what she wanted, she just needed to make the silver note invalid.
"Miss, the silver shop said that the silver has been taken away," Dongyu said in a low voice.
"50,000 taels?" Mu Lixue gritted her teeth. "When I marry into the Xiao family, I'll surely make that maid beg for death but can't get it."
Dongyu let out a sigh. A servant getting 50,000 taels of silver would probably have left the capital long ago.
As soon as Xiao Jinghan left the imperial guards, he was stopped by the Duke of Mu. "General Xiao."
Xiao Jinghan nodded and saluted.
"Thanks to General Xiao for keeping Licheng stable. Only then can our Mu family do business in Licheng. We've prepared some simple wine at home to thank General Xiao. Please do us the honor," the Duke of Mu said loudly.
It was the time when the officials got off work. Many officials passed by here. The Duke of Mu had put himself in such a low position. If Xiao Jinghan ignored him, it would be a bit unreasonable.
"Pacifying the border is my duty. If the Duke of Mu wants to show his gratitude, he should thank the emperor for his wisdom," Xiao Jinghan still refused.
The Duke of Mu wasn't angry either. "Everything is ready at home. I've come here personally to invite General Xiao. Won't the general give me some face?"
Since the matter had come to this, Xiao Jinghan couldn't refuse. Otherwise, people would say that he was too arrogant. Who knew what kind of trouble it would cause.
"Thank you," Xiao Jinghan had no choice but to follow the Duke of Mu.
Deng Xiao came out of the yamen. He saw Xiao Jinghan following the Duke of Mu to the Mu mansion and laughed. The Duke of Mu had been scheming for a long time. It seemed that Xiao Jinghan was going to be in trouble this time.
Xiao Jinghan didn't know much about the Duke of Mu, but Deng Xiao, who had been in the capital all the time, knew him very well. For the Duke of Mu to go to such great lengths without any sense of shame, it must be for his daughter.
Thinking of this, Deng Xiao found it quite interesting. He took the horse led by his subordinate and rode towards the Marquis of Zhenbei's mansion.
Yi Qing saw the servant helping the Duke of Xie walk. Actually, rehabilitation mainly relied on willpower. Yi Qing had known before that if the Duke of Xie did rehabilitation well, he might be able to walk again, but she didn't want to care about him. She didn't expect that a bit of stimulation from her would make him recover so quickly. It seemed that he might be able to stand up soon.
"Madam, Commander Deng is here to visit," Ruo Hong saluted.
"What does he want?" Yi Qing said angrily. "Hold the Duke of Xie steady." After giving this instruction, she turned around and went to the front hall.