Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 182 The Hatred of Having My Wife Stolen (A Super Long Chapter of 5,000 Words)
Fang Hai, the eldest son of the Fang family, a top aristocratic clan in Ningguo. The Earl of Songyang, the future heir to the dukedom and the future head of the Fang family.

This status is among the top in the Central Plains.

Yet this man of such high status disregarded all decorum and wanted to send his daughter to Song Yan's side, even if it meant becoming a concubine.

Hug your thighs?
Just kidding, there aren't many powerful figures in Ningguo with a stronger backer than the Fang family. However, Fang Hai genuinely believed that getting along well with Song Yan, and ideally having a marriage alliance, would be like clinging to a powerful backer.

Across the sea from Fanghai, there was a beautiful girl.

In her early twenties, she had a well-proportioned and slender figure, standing at 1.7 meters tall—a height few women in this era could match. Her long, shapely legs were long and shapely. She had delicate features, fair skin, and long, glossy black hair that cascaded down to her knees—perhaps her most beautiful feature, the strands swaying gently in the warm afternoon breeze.

This girl was Fang Lingyue, the eldest daughter of Fang Hai's branch of the family.

Although Fang Lingyue and Fang Jun are siblings, they don't resemble each other at all. Fang Lingyue's appearance is more like her mother's; her mother was once the top courtesan of the Qunyu Garden. Most courtesans sell their art, not their bodies, but this doesn't mean that courtesans are less attractive than popular prostitutes. On the contrary, courtesans have higher requirements for figure and appearance. After all, those young masters who have paid a lot of money are generally not interested in watching an ugly woman play music and sing.

This is still a world that judges by appearance.

Fang Lingyue inherited most of her mother's good looks; her face was almost flawless. The only flaw was that her chest was a little barren—about the size of a small bump on a vast plain.

Fang Lingyue looked somewhat surprised, her dark eyes staring strangely at Fang Hai. Her cherry lips parted slightly as if she wanted to say something, but for a moment she didn't know how to start. Her father's words had left her head in a daze, and she needed some time to sort things out.

The Luo family's son-in-law?

Isn't that a live-in son-in-law?

Is her father sending her to seduce a live-in son-in-law?
Was it because of this that she rushed from the Fang family's main clan home for hundreds of miles?
For a moment, Fang Lingyue even wondered if her father's brain had been damaged by the high fever he had recently had.

Although she was a concubine's daughter, her status remained noble since there were no legitimate daughters in the Fang family's main branch. Many noble young men pursued her, but she looked down on them all. Now, she was being asked to become a concubine for a live-in son-in-law.
She's not mentally ill!!!
Seeing Fang Lingyue's expression, Fang Hai understood what his daughter was thinking and sighed softly, "Lingyue, how old are you this year?"

“Twenty-two…” Fang Lingyue replied softly.

"I didn't realize you've grown so much. In ordinary families, a girl your age would probably have several children by now, right?"

Fang Lingyue bit her lower lip lightly with her pearly teeth and remained silent.

“You always say that you don’t want to get married until you meet someone you like, and I let you have your way. After all, the Fang family is big and wealthy, and it’s not a big deal to support another mouth to feed. If you can meet someone you like, you might be happier in the future.”

“But while you enjoy the generous conditions provided by the Fang family, when the Fang family needs your contribution, you have no right to refuse.”

Fang Lingyue pursed her lips. Her father's words were harsh, but true. Growing up in such a family, women rarely had a say in their own marriages. Many young ladies from wealthy families would lament and feel sorry for themselves because of this, but few would be willing to give up their comfortable lives in exchange for freedom.

It is extremely rare for someone like her to live freely to the age of twenty-two.

But she still didn't want to marry a man she didn't know who was already married. After a brief hesitation, she slowly said, "Father, although I am a concubine's daughter, I am still a woman of the Fang family. Wouldn't it be a disgrace to the Fang family for me to become a concubine for a man who has married into the family?"

Decent?

Fang Hai didn't care about these superficial things.

He glanced at his daughter casually, and he could see right through her little thoughts: "Don't overthink it. This isn't about whether you want to or not, but whether Song Yan will take a liking to you."

“If Song Yan doesn’t like you, I can’t force you to go.”

"In short, just do your best."

Fang Lingyue's eyes widened in shock. She simply couldn't understand why her father would value a son-in-law so much.

Fang Hai shook his head and said nothing more.

To be honest, his ability to handle government affairs is really not good. Since becoming the governor of Songzhou, all sorts of big and small things have given Fang Hai a lot of headaches. Fortunately, he has a secretary who is good at this. If he had to handle everything himself, he would probably have to petition the court to retire and return to his hometown in a few days.

But in some other respects, he saw things more clearly than anyone else.

Five years... at most ten years, and Ningguo will face unprecedented chaos. This chaos may even spread to the entire Central Plains, at which point the world will be in turmoil.

Ironically, he could see through these things, but his father and the other old foxes couldn't.

No, it's not that they can't see through it, but rather that they prefer to think and act in the same way that people in the imperial court do. This way of thinking leads them to mistakenly perceive the impending crisis as mere intrigue and backstabbing within the court, when in reality the situation is far, far worse.

Once the world descends into chaos, the methods employed by the imperial court become useless.

In times of chaos, the army is the most important force.

Using the methods of the imperial court to deal with the army? Trying to reason with the army using classical Chinese phrases? What a joke! Those peasants won't listen to reason. If you anger them, they'll slaughter your entire family.

It is said that dynasties last for a hundred years, while powerful clans last for a thousand.

Indeed, some powerful families have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years, but people often only remember those that survived, and forget those that were wiped out overnight by the chaos of war.

Managing the imperial court alone is not enough.

Since the Fang family lacked expertise in military strategy, aligning themselves with a promising warlord was their only option. Which of those aristocratic families that have endured for millennia didn't choose the right ally during times of turmoil?
Although Song Yan's army was small, it was an elite force that Fang Hai had never seen before. If Song Yan were given a few more years to develop his forces, when the chaos of the world truly descended, Song Yan's army would become an undeniable force that would determine the future of Ning Kingdom.

Therefore, in Fang Hai's view, it is entirely feasible to place all the blame on Song Yan.

Looking at Fang Lingyue's expression, Fang Hai knew that his eldest daughter probably hadn't listened to him. It was a pity. If he had a legitimate daughter, why would he place his hopes on Fang Lingyue?
"Alright, alright, you may go now." Fang Hai waved his hand casually and said with a hint of helplessness.

Fang Lingyue accepted the order and left.

Fang Hai then leaned over the table again and began to study the memorial in his hand.

The memorial was actually finished, but it still needed to be reviewed by Song Yan before a decision could be made on whether to submit it. Last time, Fang Haihai didn't have to go through this trouble, but now, the conflict that wiped out 20,000 Japanese pirates had proven Song Yan's importance, and he had to be more cautious than before.

He had a premonition that in a few years, many surnames would disappear from the history of the Central Plains.

Regardless, Princess Gaoyang is still the daughter-in-law of the Fang family, and Song Yan should call her cousin.

With this connection in place, even if things don't work out with Fang Lingyue, at least the relationship between the two sides won't deteriorate too much.

Thinking this way, he felt a little relieved. He stared at the memorial, but there was no focus in Fang Hai's eyes. He was thinking about something. In fact, in Fang Hai's eyes, Song Yan now had the most basic qualifications to become a warlord.

He had an army of three thousand men under his command.

Although small in number, they were all heavily armored soldiers with extremely strong combat capabilities, capable of taking on ten opponents at once.

The ability to mass-produce heavy armor was evident in the fact that, although Fang Hai did not ask the heavy armor soldiers for any after Song Yan left that night, he had personally touched them. The quality of the heavy armor far surpassed that of Ningguo's current armor. Each of the longswords was comparable to a hundred-times-forged sword, or even more robust and sharp. This indicated that Song Yan had definitely mastered a more advanced iron-smelting method, which would ensure that if he wanted to expand his army, he would have a guarantee of weapons and armor.

Having plundered the Japanese pirates' lair, he didn't know exactly how much wealth he had retrieved, but judging from the numerous boxes, the amount was probably no less than a million, meaning he wouldn't have to worry about money for a long time. Moreover, the sugar and tea businesses would continuously bring Song Yan an extravagant income, and with money came food.

The complete eradication of the Japanese pirates from Ningguo was the greatest victory Ningguo had faced against foreign enemies in decades. The people in the coastal areas would probably all want to erect longevity tablets for Song Yan, and that's how he became famous.

It has soldiers, money, food, and a good reputation...

If he were Emperor Ninghe, he probably wouldn't even be able to sit on the dragon throne in peace.

If he had gained further military merits in the war against the Jurchens while stationed in Liaodong, and had managed Liaodong for a few more years, he would probably have become a regional warlord, or even had the potential to contend for supremacy over the world.

Unfortunately, although Fang Lingyue was beautiful, she was stupid.

Although the second and third girls were more intelligent, based on the information they had, Song Yan seemed to prefer women who were a little older than him, the older sister type. For example... Gu Banxia.

For example, that young widow who recently appeared.

……

The weather in late autumn was somewhat bleak.

The once lush and green area is now completely bare.

Song Yan, carrying a scroll, walked through the streets of Songzhou City with Yang Siyao, Gu Banxia, ​​and Bu Yu by his side. The painting was said to be the work of a famous painter during the Han Dynasty. Although Song Yan couldn't appreciate it, Yang Siyao said it was worth at least tens of thousands of taels of silver and could be given as a gift when visiting someone's home.

Since we're going to the Fang family's house, it's better to give something more elegant.

Giving money directly is too vulgar, and Song Yan wouldn't be willing to do it anyway.

Liu Yisheng didn't come along. He was supervising the construction of a Jingguan outside Ningping County, saying he was preparing to design a novel and more aesthetically pleasing one... Although Song Yan couldn't understand where the aesthetic appeal of a huge pile of heads came from.

He arrived in Songzhou in the morning and first went to Xilin Academy.

Xilin Academy was the largest academy in Songzhou Prefecture, a place where the literary spirit of Songzhou gathered. Upon hearing of the invasion of Japanese pirates, Linghu Qingfeng, the dean of Xilin Academy, was old, but he could not sit idly by in the face of the invasion of Ningguo's territory. He led the students of Xilin Academy, carrying three-foot swords, to bravely resist the Japanese pirates, and then... they all died in battle.

He is truly a role model for students in Ningguo.

Song Yan blinked, wondering if such an excuse would be enough to fool them... Of course, no matter what, the Japanese were destined to take the blame, and dead men don't talk anyway.

However, my sister-in-law is still a bit careless in her work.

Everyone says Linghu Qingfeng went to fight the Japanese pirates, so why is there still blood everywhere in the academy? It looks like a slaughterhouse, and it took Song Yan half a day to clean it up properly.

The academy and the residence were quite far apart, but since there was nothing else to do and it was still early before the appointed time, Song Yan preferred to stroll around the city.

"What's going on with the Yang family?" Song Yan asked casually during their walk.

"It's very quiet. They didn't assign me any tasks, just told me to live a normal life in the Luo family." Yang Siyao shook her head: "However, I heard that recently, the Yang family has been significantly shrinking its power, restraining the behavior of its members, and even no longer confronting Emperor Ninghe in court, and has even ceded some benefits."

Yang Siyao's brows were furrowed tightly; this wasn't like the Yang family's usual behavior. However, there were too few clues at the moment. The only thing she was certain of was that the Yang family was plotting something.

"The Yang family also sent a message asking me to accompany you to Liaodong, but I don't need to provide any more intelligence. All the bandits along the way have canceled their cooperation."

"I feel that the Yang family is deliberately showing weakness, and when you relax even slightly, they will probably launch a fierce attack to completely eliminate you in one fell swoop."

"Then I really need to be careful." Song Yan smiled, not at all nervous.

He sensed that the Yang family's real target might not be him, but Emperor Ninghe, meaning that Emperor Ninghe was probably nearing his death.

The banks of the Yi and Luo River were bustling with activity. After the flood, the so-called young noblemen had resumed their usual lives. Painted boats drifted on the river, and a melody of a zither drifted over. Song Yan turned his head to look in that direction and saw that the painted boat with the words "Qunyu Garden" on it was the most lively. It was obviously holding some kind of gathering. Some young men in blue and white robes stood at the bow of the boat, each holding a folding fan, exuding the elegance of a scholar with a feather fan and a turban.

There were also some beautiful and charming women around him, quite a sight to behold.

Among them was a woman in white. Although her face was obscured by Song Yan's back, she had a rather attractive figure and was surrounded by many young men. She must have been the most popular girl in the Jade Garden.

Suddenly, the girl seemed to sense something and slowly turned around, revealing a pretty face. Who else could it be but Miss Mingyue?

Her exquisite face was like the bright moon hanging high in the night sky. Even though the girls in Qunyu Garden were all beautiful, they immediately lost their luster.

The moment Mingyue saw Song Yan, her eyes brightened even more. Then she saw Mingyue gently lift her skirt with one hand and step onto the wooden plank between the boat and the shore. Perhaps in order to better showcase her charm when dancing, the skirts were usually quite long. However, when walking normally, one had to lift them up like Mingyue did, otherwise one might accidentally fall over.

The action was somewhat unrefined, but Mingyue's mannerisms, while graceful, also revealed a touch of cuteness.

Gu Banxia smiled and glanced at her son-in-law with a hint of ambiguity: "Son-in-law, it's for you."

She couldn't help but think to herself: Which son-in-law could be as charming as her own, having female confidantes wherever he goes?

Song Yan shook his head; he could roughly guess what would happen next.

It's probably because Mingyue was getting impatient with those young masters, but didn't want to leave directly, and happened to run into me, so I became her shield.
This is how it is written in novels.

However, considering Mingyue's appearance and figure, she figured she wouldn't be at a disadvantage, so... Song Yan turned around and ran away.

That woman is really wicked.

As Mingyue walked towards them, the young men all turned to look in their direction, but none of them were familiar to them.

This is not normal.

Since the Qixi Festival, Song Yan has become acquainted with almost all the prominent young masters in Songzhou Prefecture, which means that these young masters came from other places.

Judging from their extremely luxurious attire, they must be of considerable background. Mingyue was previously a girl from the Dongling Jade Garden, so we can guess the identities of these young men; they are mostly nobles from the capital of Ning Kingdom.

Dongling is the place with the most nobles in the entire Ningguo. If you accidentally bump into someone on the street, they might just be the son of some duke.

To act as a shield for Mingyue, taking the brunt of these young masters' arrows?
Song Yan wasn't that stupid; she didn't want to get into trouble for no reason.

It was unexpected that Mingyue's charm was so exaggerated; even after traveling from Dongling to Songzhou, she could still make these young noblemen follow her for thousands of miles. Song Yan could already vaguely sense that some of the gazes directed at him were somewhat unfriendly.

Mingyue was stunned. He...he ran away?
She pouted. Although her status as a prostitute wasn't ideal, she was still the top courtesan of the Qunyu Garden. In Dongling City, countless people would spend a fortune just to see her.

Now look what's happened! She took the initiative to find him, and he actually ran away? This was the first time she had ever been treated like this, and in an instant, Mingyue felt her self-esteem had been severely damaged.

I'm a little bit unwilling to accept this.

For a moment, he didn't care about appearances and quickened his pace, jogging to catch up with the other side.

He ran, she chased, and he couldn't escape!
Why is this woman chasing after me? Song Yan thought to himself... and then suddenly stopped.

He heard a deliberately hushed voice behind him:
"help me."

"Liaodong intelligence."

"exchange."

A few short words struck at the heart of Song Yan's argument.

Song Yan was a martial artist and could control his body, stopping whenever he wanted, but Mingyue clearly didn't have that ability. Unable to stop in time, she crashed into Song Yan's back with a thud. A cry of pain rang out, and Mingyue staggered backward, accidentally stepping on the hem of her skirt. She lost control and fell backward, face up.

She's a great beauty after all; it would be quite pitiful if she were to lie sprawled on the ground like that.

Song Yan sighed helplessly, shifted his feet, and spun around, appearing gracefully beside Mingyue. He stretched out his long arm and hooked it around her slender waist.

In an instant, Song Yan could feel the group of young masters who followed behind him, their eyes seemingly spitting fire.

His eyes seemed to hold the hatred of someone who had stolen his wife.

(End of this chapter)