tallest building

Chapter 137 Informing

When Wen Mingqian returned home, he ran into Sang Er.

"Has Chang'an not returned yet? The weather outside looks different. Find his clothes for tomorrow, so he doesn't catch a cold in the morning or evening," Wen Mingqian said.

"Young Master is back. He said he was too tired and went to bed. We'll wake him when dinner is ready," Sang Er said with a smile. "I've found all his clothes. I'll tell Heming to remember to add or change them at school."

Wen Mingqian knew that Gong Chang'an had gone to the Prince of Zhao's residence today, but since he was accompanied by the Duke of Qiao, he assumed that nothing would happen.

She had no idea that Gong Chang'an had gone off to play football.

After changing his clothes, Wen Mingqian came to see Gong Chang'an.

I saw him sleeping in bed, with only half of the blanket covering him.

"He's never a peaceful sleeper." Wen Mingqian said, pulling the blanket up for him, then feeling that the pillow wasn't quite flat, he reached out and tugged at it again.

But they found something under the pillow. When they took it out, they found it was a bag filled with gold melon seeds.

"Mother." Gong Chang'an woke up and, still half asleep, saw Wen Mingqian. She then leaned her face close to Wen Mingqian's hand.

"Where did this come from?" Wen Mingqian asked.

“It was a gift from the King of Zhao,” Gong Chang’an said. “He also gave me a string of white jade prayer beads, which I gave to the old lady.”

"Why would the King of Zhao reward you with so many things?" Wen Mingqian immediately sensed something was wrong. "Tell the truth, and don't lie."

At this moment, Gong Chang'an was fully awake and carefully sat up: "It was my son who won it while playing polo."

"Taju? You competed with Song Xiang?" Wen Mingqian immediately sensed something was wrong.

“Yes…” Gong Chang’an bit his lip. “Mother, don’t be angry. I didn’t mean to hide it from you. It was the Kunlun slaves trained by the Duke of Qiao’s family who were presented to the King of Zhao, so we just joined in the fun.”

"How could you be so reckless? What if you get hurt? Song Xiang already sees you as a thorn in his side." Wen Mingqian's worry was evident. "It's also my fault for being so busy with Cuiyi's affairs these days that I neglected you. I should have thought of that sooner."

"Mother, don't worry! I've already dealt with that Song fellow. He's broken his leg and can no longer curry favor with the King of Zhao." Gong Chang'an's tone was filled with undisguised smugness.

"Chang'an, do you think you're so capable that you can do anything without consulting me?" Wen Mingqian's expression was more serious than ever before.

“Mother, your son knows he was wrong and will never dare to do it again.” Gong Chang’an lowered his head. “I want to avenge you. Song Xiang kidnapped me last time, causing you to fall seriously ill. Of course, I have to settle this score with him.”

"Do you think I'll just let this go? With him around, he'll always be tempted to plot against you," Wen Mingqian sighed. "But I haven't even made a move yet, and you've already beaten me to it."

"Isn't that exactly what we, mother and son, were thinking?" Gong Chang'an laughed. "But I wonder what Mother's plan is?"

"There are some things that children shouldn't hear." Wen Mingqian didn't tell him. "Just remember, you're not allowed to make decisions on your own about such dangerous things in the future."

In fact, Wen Mingqian had been keeping an eye on Ma Daguang. Once, when Ma Daguang was drunk, he told the jailer that Song Xiang was having an affair with a concubine in the Prince of Zhao's mansion.

Wen Mingqian originally planned to find a suitable opportunity to expose this affair, so that Song Xiang would be disgraced and even lose his life.

Unexpectedly, Gong Chang'an struck first. However, Song Xiang only lost his leg but is still alive. There's no guarantee he won't cause trouble in the future.

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to see him off one last time.

After leaving Chang'an's room, Wen Mingqian ordered Sang Er to summon Ma Ping'an and gave him a few instructions. Meanwhile, Song Xiang, after receiving medical treatment at the Prince of Zhao's residence, was carried home.

When his wife, Madam Ge, saw this, she couldn't help but weep and wail.

"Good heavens! What are we going to do? The pillar of our family has collapsed. How are we, the legless crabs, supposed to survive?"

"Quiet down! I'm not dead, why are you wailing like this!" Song Xiang was full of resentment, and with his leg hurting terribly, he found his wife's crying extremely grating.

"I'm heartbroken for you!" Madam Ge said, wiping away her tears. "How could things have turned out like this?"

"It was all that brat from the Gong family's doing! That little beast is full of evil schemes; we should have killed him long ago!" Song Xiang said bitterly.

"Huh?! What did you say?!" Ge was so shocked she stopped crying. "You're the one who made Ma Daguang..."

"Shut up!!" Song Xiang glared at her. "Things aren't as bad as you think. Even though I've broken my leg, the King of Zhao won't treat me unfairly."

"He'll definitely give me a large sum of money, and combined with what I've earned over the years, it'll be enough for you to live comfortably."

"Alas, this is truly..." Madam Ge felt aggrieved and distressed, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She could only hope that the Prince of Zhao would give them more money so that they could live a worry-free life for the rest of their days.

Song Xiang was not worried about this. King Zhao was always generous, and besides, he had broken his leg at his birthday banquet, so he would certainly not treat him unfairly.

"Stop crying and go brew the medicine quickly," Song Xiang said. "Take good care of my leg. At worst, I can still do some business with a cane. I'm at this age, and I can't play for many more years anyway."

Madam Ge wiped away her tears and got up to prepare the medicine.

She knew her husband would be bedridden for a long time this time.

A day later, Mama Chi, who was in charge of the flowers and trees in Prince Zhao's mansion, found Mama Jiang, the steward in front of the princess, and whispered something in her ear.

"Is that really true?" Jiang's mother's eyes widened.

“How could I dare to lie? Would I be so reckless?” Mrs. Chi said in a low voice. “I bumped into her once before in the garden, but it was a bit far away, so I didn’t see her very clearly.”

Song Xiang broke his leg this time, and Bai Xiaoniang cried until her eyes were swollen. Last night, after the mansion was locked, she sent her servant Yu out, most likely heading towards Song Xiang.

"If you don't believe me, call Granny Yu over and interrogate her properly. Once she speaks, Bai Xiaoniang won't be able to deny it anymore."

“I’ll call Granny Yu over later, but this matter must not be told to anyone,” said Jiang’s mother. “You must not tell anyone else.”

"Don't worry! I know, how could such a shameful thing be publicized?" Mother Chi swore to the heavens.

Actually, her son told her the news, saying it was absolutely true.

But this was a private matter, and her son couldn't say anything about it, so she was asked to expose it.

Mother Chi knew this was a good opportunity to climb the social ladder. Since Song Xiang was already a cripple, she had nothing to fear from him.

And then there's Bai Xiaoniang, who, relying on her youth and beauty, doesn't take these servants and old women seriously at all.

More importantly, she had offended Jiang's mother in the past, and now that she had brought this up, Jiang's mother would be grateful to her.

He will inevitably speak well of himself in front of the princess.