Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 261 Sleep Now (Bonus chapter for Yong Su's Alliance Leader)
Qian Yaozu's piercing screams echoed in every corner of Pingyang City.

That was no sound a normal human could make; even the common people who deeply hated Qian Yaozu felt their scalps tingle.

They watched helplessly as the rusty iron claws scraped strange things off Qian Yaozu's body, watched his body convulse violently like an earthworm, and watched the flesh turn white instantly when boiling water was poured on it. They all felt a chill run down their spines.

This... this is what they call the "combing and washing punishment"?

I thought that slow slicing was the cruelest punishment in the world, but who would have thought that the punishment of combing and washing would be even more cruel.

Even just watching it makes me feel an indescribable discomfort all over my body.

Zhang Ci, the head of the Zhang family, was also among the many onlookers.

Having witnessed some of Song Yan's methods, he realized that Song Yan was not easy to get along with, so he wanted to learn more about Song Yan. That's why he appeared in such a filthy place as the head of the Zhang family.

Seeing Qian Yaozu's miserable state, even Zhang Ci, who was well-informed, had never seen such a brutal scene. He got goosebumps all over and immediately raised Song Yan's danger level by several levels.

"Hurry, hurry, get out of here."

With his throat churning violently, Zhang Ci quickly called out to the other members of the Zhang family beside him: "Have you prepared one million taels of silver? Add another ten thousand taels of gold, and also increase my grain supply to four hundred thousand shi..."

"Don't dawdle. I don't want this butcher to find an excuse to target the Zhang family."

The torture of grooming—just looking at the scene made him feel excruciating pain all over his body; he had no desire to experience it himself.

Riding in the carriage, they returned to the Zhang family home. With the doors and windows tightly shut, Qian Yaozu's screams were somewhat subsided, and Zhang Gong's face gradually regained some color. However, his eyes still revealed a deep sense of fear.

Not to mention Lord Zhang, even the other members of the Zhang family who were watching the execution looked extremely grim.

A demon lord descended from heaven.

The God of Slaughter Reborn.

Such a person is definitely not someone the Zhang family can afford to offend.

The old man didn't want Song Yan to find an excuse to attack the Zhang family, but the Zhang family had been entrenched in Pingyang Prefecture for over a hundred years. Although they were better than the Huang family, they were by no means clean, and there were quite a few evildoers among their members.

If Song Yan really wanted to take action against the Zhang family, he could have as many excuses as he wanted.

"Did your family take advantage of the fact that many farmers were short of food these past few months and exchanged a lot of farmland from them at extremely low prices? Damn it, give it all back to me, don't leave a single acre of land."

Zhang Gong slammed his cane heavily on the ground and said in a deep voice, "There was a time when I thought that exchanging a bag of grain for an acre of fertile land was a great deal, but now I only feel that the land deed in my hand is burning hot."

"After the land deeds were returned, each farmer received an extra ten taels of silver as compensation, and they were told that they could receive free grain from the Zhang family for spring planting next year."

"We just need to make sure that the farmers understand what they should and shouldn't say."

"Second son, I'm leaving this matter to you." Zhang Gong suddenly looked up at his second son, a middle-aged man in his forties: "If you dare to embezzle even a single penny of the money in here, I'll send you straight to Song Yan. You don't want to experience the torture of being groomed, do you?"

When Zhang Yushan, the second master of the Zhang family, recalled Qian Yaozu's miserable state, his body trembled violently, his face turned pale instantly, and his head shook like a rattle drum.

He truly dared not touch a single penny of that money.

"Boss, didn't that little bastard Shao Yan kidnap a farm girl a while ago? How many did he kidnap in total?"

When Zhang Yuliang, the eldest son of the Zhang family, was suddenly called out, his face stiffened. Zhang Shaoyan was his eldest son and the eldest grandson of Zhang Gong. He was a womanizer who loved beautiful women and occasionally abducted women. Among the second generation of many aristocratic families, he was a breath of fresh air, at least he would not take people's lives so easily.

Normally, I don't think this is a big crime.

But if this falls into Song Yan's hands, it might become the Zhang family's death warrant.

Grandpa Zhang's throat bobbed violently: "A while ago, it wasn't just one robbery, it was three at once, a total of seven or eight..."

Zhang Gong's vision went black, and he almost fainted. After finally calming himself down, his face became even more grim, and he almost gritted his teeth: "Find all these girls for me, and get married tomorrow. Seven or eight of them, marry them all at once, properly and formally."

“Each girl’s family should send me three thousand taels of silver as a betrothal gift. You must handle this personally and make sure it is done well today.”

Old Master Zhang's face was stiff. He was marrying eight women at once, and all of them were to be married with proper ceremony?
The Zhang family was, after all, a powerful and influential clan. These women were mostly daughters of merchants and farmers. For the Zhang family, being a maid was already a great favor. They weren't even qualified to be concubines. To marry them openly would really damage the Zhang family's reputation.

Just then, a servant of the Zhang family entered the room. His face was deathly pale, as if he had suffered a great shock. His eyes were wide open, and even though he was already in the Zhang family's main hall, surrounded by burning charcoal, his body was still trembling uncontrollably.
"cut……"

“They’ve stripped him clean… Qian Yaozu’s hands and legs… are just bones left.”

"A person, a person is still alive."

"That pervert Song Yan actually fed Qian Yaozu ginseng soup to keep him alive!"

hiss!
For a moment, the entire Zhang family's reception hall was filled with gasps of astonishment.

Old Master Zhang shuddered and hurriedly ran out the door: "I'll take care of it right away. I guarantee it will be a grand wedding with eight sedan chairs and proper ceremonies."

Zhang Gong's fingers, gripping his cane, trembled. His gaze swept over the third, fourth, and fifth sons of the Zhang family: "You lot are the same. I don't care what kind of bastards you did before, settle all your scores. If any of you leave any loose ends and cause trouble for Song Yan, don't blame me for not showing any fatherly affection. To protect the Zhang family, I have no choice but to put aside my own family ties."

The third, fourth, and fifth masters of the Zhang family were also terrified and repeatedly said they dared not.

After a brief silence, Fifth Master Zhang's throat bobbed: "Old Master, shouldn't we think of a way to get on Song Yan's good side?"

"Build connections? How do you do that?" Zhang Gong took a big gulp of tea and asked casually.

Fifth Master Zhang turned his head and looked around. He found that his eldest brother had already gone far away, and then said, "My niece Yan'er has also reached the age of marriage."

“Song Yan is the son-in-law of the Princess’s household. As a son-in-law, he certainly doesn’t have much status.”

"I also heard that Song Yan's wife is suffering from an illness. It seems that Song Yan has not slept with his wife for a long time."

“Now that Song Yan is a viscount and controls the entire Liaodong region, the status of a son-in-law is certainly not worthy of his status. I suppose the Princess’s mansion will not interfere much with things like taking a concubine. Why not marry our niece Yan’er to Song Yan? From then on, Song Yan and our Zhang family will be considered in-laws. Even if something happens, Song Yan might be lenient.”

The third and fourth masters of the Zhang family had strange expressions. "You fifth brother, you are truly cunning."

With Song Yan's twisted personality, are you sure you're not pushing your niece into a fire pit? Don't you have a daughter yourself?
Zhang Gong, on the other hand, frowned deeply, as if he was seriously considering this suggestion. His expression was hesitant yet somewhat tempted, clearly weighing in his mind whether his eldest granddaughter or the Zhang family was more important.

After a long silence, Zhang Gong finally let out a heavy sigh: "I'll talk to the boss about it later..."

"By the way, from today onwards, all female members of the Zhang family are forbidden from using the words 'combing' or 'washing'."

Proper grooming and dressing up became a taboo subject in the Zhang family.

There's nothing I can do; the old man is getting on in years and he has nightmares.

……

the other side.

Governor's Mansion.

A room temporarily prepared for Luo Yuheng.

Everything in the room was brand new, showing no signs of having been used.

This was supposed to be a woman's bedroom, but there's something that shouldn't be here.

It was a shrine.

Inside the shrine was a Buddha statue.

Luo Yuheng knelt before the Buddha statue, devoutly chanting scriptures, her face filled with sorrow and pity...

Yan'er carries too heavy a burden of bloodshed. In just a few months, how many people have died at her hands?
I think it's at least 50,000.

This is not a sin of killing and karma that Yan'er should bear.

Luo Yuheng knew that Song Yan was a very obedient and good child. If he tried to persuade him, he would probably listen... But on the other hand, Yan'er was also a very stubborn child. Even if he agreed to her, he would still try his best to achieve his goal through other means.

Especially when facing Japanese pirates and Jurchens, Luo Yuheng could clearly feel the uncontrollable hatred in Song Yan's heart.

Before this, Song Yan should have never had any contact with Japanese pirates or Jurchens, so he didn't know where this hatred came from.

Luo Yuheng couldn't change anything. In fact, the future of the royal family depended on Song Yan's power. The more ruthless Song Yan was, the more room her brother had to maneuver. All she could do was eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist prayers, hoping to alleviate some of the bloodshed Song Yan carried.

Footsteps could be heard inside the courtyard.

But it was Song Yan who returned.

Luo Yuheng then got up, picked up a piece of silk cloth, and covered the shrine.

Moving his limbs, Song Yan's face was full of fatigue.

It must have been almost forty-eight hours since Song Yan had closed his eyes. Even though he was Song Yan, his body was still very stiff, but his eyes were full of excitement.

Qian Yaozu is dead after all.

I glanced at the sky; it was already dark.

Qian Yaozu was quite resilient. Lei Yi's soldiers each grabbed him with their claws hundreds of times, and he managed to hold on for nearly two hours before finally dying.

He yawned, preparing to deal with some more trivial matters.

Although Qian Yaozu is dead, the mess he left behind is not easy to deal with.

Just then, a creaking sound came from not far away, and Luo Yuheng, dressed in a fox fur coat and white fur, stood at the door and waved to Song Yan.

Song Yan smiled and moved closer.

"mother."

Seeing the undisguised fatigue between Song Yan's brows, Luo Yuheng felt a pang of heartache. He reached out and ruffled Song Yan's somewhat messy hair, which was a bit frizzy, perhaps because it hadn't been styled in a long time.

"Tired?"

Song Yan grinned: "A little, but I can manage."

"There's no need to work so hard. You can take your time to manage Liaodong. Why rush things?" Luo Yuheng sighed.

"Every extra day means many more people will die."

Luo Yuheng pursed his lips, ultimately unable to say anything. He turned and went back into the house, sat down on the animal skin carpet, and patted his side. Song Yan then sat down next to him.

He reached out and patted Song Yan's head again, with a little more force than before.

Song Yan looked a little unnatural: "Mother, I still have things to take care of."

"We'll talk about those things later."

"Now, get a good night's sleep."

In the end, she couldn't resist Luo Yuheng's insistence, and after a brief hesitation, she lay down in her mother's arms.

As soon as my eyelids closed, a wave of weariness washed over me.

In the quiet room, soft snoring could be heard.

He was really... tired.

(End of this chapter)