spoiled brat

Chapter 68, Section 67: Xiu Ning (Part 7)

"Go ahead and fight," Xiu Yi sneered. "Fight all you want."

Why couldn't hold back any longer? She rushed forward to protect him and advised, "Master, if you apologize to the Prince, he won't really punish you severely."

“He’s punished me severely enough already.” Xiu Yi took off his white shirt, revealing his scarred shoulders and back, and mocked, “It’s only natural for a father to beat his son. I was just letting him beat me for fun.”

Zhan Ruoshui was truly enraged. She personally took the riding whip and struck with extreme force: "You've been willful and reckless since you were a child, and after all these years, you're still as wicked as ever! Your impulsive actions are unbecoming of your status. Have you forgotten who you are?!"

The only son of the current emperor's younger brother, Prince Ning, the young general of the Dingbei Army, the eldest grandson of Yan Ping, one of the seven founding dukes... So many identities weighed on Xiu Yi, yet he gritted his teeth and said, "I am nobody."

Zhan Ruoshui stopped whipping the whip, pointed at his nose and said, "Who you are is not up to you! You acted recklessly before, and you are still unscrupulous now. Just what kind of mess do you want to make of this family?!"

Xiu Yi turned to look at him, his pale face covered in sweat from the pain, but a disdainful smile played on his lips: "Is it my fault that our family has come to this state, or your soft heart?"

When Xiu Ning arrived outside the courtyard, she heard the sound of a whip striking flesh coming from inside the wall, a sound so loud it made her heart pound.

She went inside, and the guards dared not stop her. Zhan Ruoshui paused for a moment when she saw her, her expression softening instantly, but quickly hardening again: "It's chilly at night, what are you doing out here?"

Xiu Ning didn't answer, but coldly stood in front of Xiu Yi: "Brother did this for me."

The father and son were like oil and water, each doing their own thing. Zhan Ruoshui never asked Xiu Yi what he was thinking, and Xiu Yi was too lazy to say anything.

Xiu Ning made quick hand gestures, and He Bi, who was next to her, understood sign language and helped explain what was going on that night.

After listening, Zhan Ruoshui remained silent for a while, then pointed to He Bi, who had been subjected to military law a few days ago and was lying on the ground unable to get up, and asked Xiu Yi, "Do you know why I used military law to beat him?"

"Because you're a coward. They're already riding roughshod over us, and you're still thinking about backing down and playing along," Xiu Yi sneered.

"Why panic?" he hurriedly said. "My lord, it was I who tortured and interrogated Lord You's two lieutenants, causing them to bite their tongues and commit suicide. It has nothing to do with Your Highness!"

Xiu Yi, enduring the pain in his back, slowly stood up, unwilling to kneel before this father any longer: "He entrusted you with guarding the northern border, and you were utterly loyal. He ordered you to surrender cities and territories, and you handed them over without hesitation! Now that he's used up his resources, he wants you dead, he wants your wife and children dead, and you still treat him like a brother!"

Zhan Ruoshui, unusually, did not interrupt Xiu Yi, who continued to rebuke, "Xu Feng is just his watchdog. Even a dog dares to bare its teeth at us, which clearly shows that he is determined to kill! You're at your wit's end, don't you dare to fight back?"

"Go all out?" Zhan Ruoshui shook her head with a bitter smile. "You make it sound so easy. Do you know how many lives will be lost once war breaks out? The dynasty is rotten to the core and cannot withstand infighting."

"Nowadays, civil officials are incompetent, military generals are cowardly, and those who enter office do so solely for personal gain, treating their positions as mere trade. The imperial family is rife with corrupt officials, powerful nobles sell official posts, and treacherous eunuchs cause mining disasters. The people are already overburdened," Xiu Yi questioned. "How can there be reform without discarding the old?"

"You read so many books when you were young, how come you don't understand this principle?" Zhan Ruoshui still smiled bitterly, "The main beam and the pillars are both rotten and about to break. If you lift them, they will collapse. You can't touch them. It's better to leave them as they are."

Xiu Yi sneered, "This dilapidated court is better to be torn down quickly than to be used to serve my short-tempered uncle." Zhan Ruoshui stared at him for a long time and sighed, "Heretical."

Xiu Yi found it absurd: "Who wrote the scriptures? Who established the Way?"

Zhan Ruoshui, too lazy to argue further, sighed and rubbed her forehead regretfully: "You're too arrogant and too straightforward. You can only be a general charging into battle; to lead a region, you need to strategize from afar—"

“There’s Xiu Ning.” Xiu Yi held up his sister’s hand. “There’s also Xiu Ning at home.”

Zhan Ruoshui looked at Xiu Ning. She looked very much like Yan Zonglian when she was young, cold yet gentle, with a hint of pity amidst her pride.

Unfortunately, she was frail and sickly, and could not gallop across the battlefield like Yan Zonglian, becoming a white eagle that looked down upon the world.

Zhan Ruoshui sighed, and Xiu Ning met his gaze, gesturing indifferently with his fingers.

What she wanted to say was exactly what he didn't need to say: "Your Highness, we can get rid of Xu Feng. When the court reassigns a prefect, we can take the opportunity to contact Minister Jiang and recommend a close confidant for the position."

Since moving to Yunzhou, Zhan Ruoshui and Yan Zonglian have been busy settling the army and establishing camps, and have not had time to plan anything. Upon hearing this, he frowned and asked, "How do we eliminate them?"

Why not answer in a hurry? Instead, he kept everyone in suspense and asked, "Your Highness, what do you think of Xu Feng as a person?"

"A parasite that curries favor with the powerful."

Zhan Ruoshui looked down on this kind of person, but was forced by circumstances to keep a low profile.

"What if he is not only a parasite that plunders the people's wealth, but also a beast who disregards human life and bends the law for personal gain?"

After saying this, He Bi clapped his hands, and two soldiers came out of the courtyard carrying the earthenware jar that he had shown to You Ming a few days ago.

"What is this?" Zhan Ruoshui asked.

He pulled out a rotten iron plaque from his pocket and presented it to Zhan Ruoshui, saying indignantly, "In that jar is a person who was dismembered alive. A while ago, a section of the Xun'an River dike collapsed, and many such unspeakable things were buried under the dike. Xu Feng is superstitious and believes in ghosts and witchcraft, using ordinary people as human stakes!"

Zhan Ruoshui's expression was solemn: "Tell me in detail."

He Bi had been flogged fifty times a few days ago, and now he was lying on the ground, talking about this matter so angry that the wound on his back reopened: "A year ago, His Majesty had the idea of ​​making us move south to Yunzhou, and sent Xu Feng to be a spy. That old bastard Xu Feng is good at acting. As soon as he took office, he tried to win the hearts of the people, opened the granaries to distribute grain, and built water conservancy projects. Later, he even requested an imperial decree to rebuild the river embankment."

"The money was issued by the imperial court, but half of it was gone before it even reached the river management office. The river management office was poor, but it still had to do its job, so it delegated the procurement to the big merchants in Yunzhou... It was passed down layer by layer, and in the end it still fell on the forest households and stone households."