Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 301 Song Yan, I swear to kill you (1)

Cool breeze.

Although it is winter, and this year it is particularly cold, this is Dongling, not Haixi or Mobei. Although the nights are cool, they are not unbearable.

The sky was overcast, as if it were about to rain again.

The drizzling rain has been falling for the past few days, making the New Year celebrations a bit less comfortable and less lively. Even the flower market for the New Year couldn't be held.

Inside, the lights flickered.

Just like Song Jincheng's heart.

There is probably some worry in them.

Worried about his future, Song Jincheng, though not directly demoted, had seen his power drastically reduced from Minister of Personnel to Minister of Works. Emperor Ninghe had long harbored resentment towards Song Jincheng's close ties with the Bailu Academy and powerful clans. While Emperor Ninghe had initially yielded to the weakening imperial power, his growing arrogance had forced Song Jincheng to tread carefully, daring not to utter the slightest mistake.

Emperor Ninghe was also a foolish ruler. The emperor should be a nobleman, and the scholar-officials should jointly govern the country. What was wrong with his association with aristocratic families and Bailu Academy?

Does he really think that being the emperor means he can wield absolute power?

An emperor like that won't live long.

Before Emperor Ninghe, Emperor Yuanjing and Emperor Longtai were the same; they all died.

Second Sorrow Song Zhe.

These were his and Yang Miaoqing's children. Because he couldn't take them with him and care for them every day, he felt he owed Song Zhe a lot. So after Song Zhe arrived in Dongling, he took good care of them, even more so than his other two sons.

The title of "the prodigy of the Song family" made Song Jincheng even more proud.

Back then, my father insisted on following the primogeniture system and handing over the family and the title of Duke to that good-for-nothing Song Hongtao. He originally hoped that Song Zhe would be talented and capable, and that he could also climb the social ladder by associating with the Yang family, so that he could be promoted to the position of Duke and the title could be returned to his lineage.

Now, Song Zhe is disabled, and all hope has been extinguished.

All the hopes and plans of the past years had fallen through, leaving Song Jincheng feeling somewhat disappointed. He also worried that Song Zhe, upon waking and learning of his condition, might find it difficult to accept. Thinking this, he suddenly heard a faint groan from beside the bed. Song Jincheng quickly looked towards the head of the bed and saw Song Zhe's eyelashes flutter slightly as he finally opened his eyes.

Through the blur, she saw Song Jincheng and her lips moved: "Second Uncle..."

What second uncle? You should call him father.

Song Jincheng felt a pang of sadness, and his eyes involuntarily reddened. However, he couldn't let Song Zhe see anything amiss, so he took a deep breath and tried his best to put on a smile: "Zhe'er is awake."

"Don't move around. Lie down quickly. The physician said you need to rest right now. If you move around, it might aggravate your wound and cause it to bleed again."

Song Zhe then lay down again.

Lying there for too long, Song Zhe felt numb. His consciousness was still somewhat hazy upon regaining alertness, and even his memories were a bit jumbled. However, this was only temporary. Soon, sharp pains shot through his lower body, stimulating his nerves and bringing back memories of what had happened not long ago. His baby face gradually contorted, his eyes filled with pain, despair, distortion, and madness: "Second Uncle, I..."

eunuch.

No eggs.

The voice still echoed faintly in his mind.

Song Zhe could no longer hold back and struggled desperately on the bed, wriggling around: "Second Uncle, my nephew..."

"膫儿" is that thing, but it's a slightly metaphorical way of saying it.

"Zhe'er, don't move rashly. You don't need to worry. Although there's something wrong with your body, it's nothing serious," Song Jincheng hurriedly said. In order not to make Song Zhe too agitated, Song Jincheng could only lie for the time being: "Although one has been removed, one is still left. It doesn't have much of an impact on daily use."

Such injuries cannot be hidden.

Song Zhe himself probably already had a guess, so it's better to be half and half, which would be more convincing.

As expected, when Song Zhe heard this, although his expression was still sorrowful, he was no longer as excited as before, and even felt a little relieved.

After catching his breath, Song Zhe quickly asked, "Has the perpetrator been caught?"

His voice was filled with hatred. He had not yet married or had children. In order to maintain his image, even when he came to Qunyu Pavilion, he only listened to music, drank tea and wine. He had never even been intimate with a woman, nor had he ever touched the maids around him.

In Song Zhe's view, how could such a lowly maid be worthy of him? Only the legitimate daughters of noble families, or even princesses, could be worthy of his status and talent.

But who would have thought that before it had even been used, one of them would be missing? How could he not be furious?
“We’ve captured two and interrogated them.” Song Jincheng’s face was also unusually gloomy. Although they were tight-lipped, as long as they were alive, he had plenty of ways to pry them open: “The two men are named Wolishan and Woliming. They are not Han Chinese, but Jurchens.”

Song Zhe was going crazy. Damn it, why did the Jurchens ambush him?
He had never had any dealings with the Jurchens in his entire life.

"According to their confession, more than two months ago, a man named Song Zhe led an army to massacre their tribe, and they came to seek revenge."

Song Zhe was so frustrated he felt like he was about to vomit blood.

In the past two months, he hasn't even left Dongling. How could he possibly have gone to that godforsaken place of Liaodong to slaughter the Jurchen tribes?
Even if he really had such thoughts, he would need to have such abilities.

Wait a minute, Jurchen?

Liaodong?

Song Yan?

Not long ago, Emperor Ninghe issued an order to confer upon Song Yan the title of Earl of Pingyang for his merit in beheading tens of thousands of Jurchens.

Could it be...

Song Zhe was clever after all, and he grasped the key in an instant. In that instant, Song Zhe's originally pale face turned crimson with rage, his eyes bloodshot and bulging with fury.
"Song Yan, I swear to kill you!"

The voice was shrill and filled with resentment.

That despicable bastard, he slaughtered the Jurchen tribes, yet he left his name behind.

He took the credit, but he had to bear the consequences himself.

How can there be such a shameless person in this world?
The thought of how he had shielded Song Yan from disaster, resulting in his current physical disability, caused Song Zhe to lose control. His entire body convulsed violently, and even his wide-open eyes rolled upwards, revealing only the whites of his eyes.

Seeing this, Song Jincheng was startled and quickly got up to call the physician. Just then, the door creaked open and a thin, hunched old man walked in.

"Wang Qingshan, who let you in?" Song Jincheng's expression changed, and he shouted sternly.

The visitor was none other than Steward Wang from the Duke of Song's mansion. Dongling was not too far from Songzhou; it would only take a day to reach the city by fast horse.

Although Song Zhe was Song Jincheng's son, he was still registered under Song Hongtao's name. Such an incident should have required an notification to Song Hongtao. Who would have thought that Song Hongtao cared so little for his son, simply assigning an old servant as a careless reassignment? Even though he wasn't your biological son, he had raised you for over a decade and called you "father" for so long. Does it really matter whether he's your biological son or not?
Ah, no, that turtle Song Hongtao probably doesn't know that none of his sons, except for Song Zhen, are his blood relatives.

I can only say that they are inherently cold-hearted.

Although he was old and looked like he was about to die, Wang Qingshan was not afraid of Song Jincheng's reprimand. He held a pipe in one hand and casually glanced at Song Zhe with his cloudy old eyes: "Hmm, it seems he's awake."

"Now that you're awake, the old man's task can be completed."

Butler Wang cleared his throat, and his tone suddenly changed:
“Song Zhe, you rebellious son of the Song family, listen to my command! You have colluded with treacherous officials, corrupted human relations, betrayed righteousness and acted in a lowly manner, bringing disaster upon yourself, harming your body, and becoming a eunuch. You have truly disgraced the Song family, and are disloyal and unfilial. Even though you are my son, I cannot forgive you.”

“I, Song Hongtao, as the head of the Song family, have ordered that my rebellious son, Song Zhe, be expelled from the Song family genealogy.”

Upon hearing this, Song Jincheng's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sharply, "You lowly servant, how dare you..."

Song Yan didn't care much about family trees or clans, but these things were extremely important in this era.

Being expelled from the family genealogy means losing the clan's protection and having no say in its resources. Such a person will be ridiculed, despised, and ashamed to associate with other prominent families. Furthermore, the accusations of disgracing the family and being disloyal and unfilial will directly affect the person's reputation, impacting their chances of passing the imperial examinations and entering officialdom. From then on, they will live a life of being talked about behind their backs.

Song Zhe's body convulsed even more violently, his face turned blue as if he had been poisoned, and some white foam even oozed from the corner of his mouth. Although his body was out of control, he could still hear the voices of the people around him. He... he had been expelled from the family register.
He is the prodigy of the Song family, and he is going to lead the Duke's Mansion back to the pinnacle of power in Ning Kingdom. How can this be allowed?
Also, he wasn't a eunuch; he had another one.

His lips moved, like a fish blowing bubbles: "I...I...I'm not...a eunuch..."

Butler Wang opened his mouth with a hint of pity, and Song Jincheng instinctively tried to stop him, but it was too late: "No, you are."

"I watched with my own eyes as the doctor removed those two things and stitched up the wound."

"Now you can find a job in the inner court, which will save you from that knife. The inner court is full of eunuchs, and it needs cultured people like you."

Song Zhe's eyes rolled back, widened, and looked round as if they were about to burst out of their sockets.

He doesn't even have that one left?

Has he really become a eunuch?

How could a scholar like him, the prodigy of the Song family, suffer such humiliation?

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't make a sound. After a few breaths, his body suddenly convulsed, and he vomited a large amount of blood and foam.

Song Jincheng stared intently at Wang Qingshan, his voice hoarse: "You old bastard, you're asking for death..."

As Song Jincheng roared, the guards who had been alerted rushed over.

Surrounded by people, Wang Qingshan showed no fear whatsoever. He even casually picked up his pipe, took a bit of tobacco from a cloth bag, carefully stuffed it into the pot, and pressed it down with his thumb.

He then took out a tinderbox, lit it, took a deep puff, and a wisp of smoke drifted into the room.

"It would be better if Minister Wang didn't take action. After all, I'm here representing the Duke, and I'm not the only one who came to Dongling this time. If I don't get back on time, someone will immediately go to the Prefect to accuse the Minister of Works of murder," Wang Qingshan said with a smile, unhurriedly.

"How could I, a high-ranking official, be afraid of your threats?" Song Jincheng's face darkened.

Wang Qingshan's smile deepened: "Of course I'm not afraid, but... as far as I know, the current Prefect seems to be a member of the Fang family, and his relationship with you doesn't seem to be very good."

"Second Master, you don't want to lose even the position of Minister of Works, do you?"

When it comes to matters between officials, nothing is more effective than directly handing over incriminating evidence to their rival.

Song Jincheng's face froze, his eyes filled with resentment. He, a high-ranking official, was actually threatened by a servant. It was truly a disgrace. Under normal circumstances, even if a servant died in the official's mansion, it wouldn't cause a ripple. But now, Song Jincheng was cautious and afraid of being caught with any incriminating evidence. For the moment, he really didn't dare to do anything to Wang Qingshan.

Seeing that Song Jincheng remained silent, Wang Qingshan smiled, leisurely puffed on his pipe, and left the Minister's residence. To actually threaten a minister was truly exciting... Even now, in the past, Steward Wang wouldn't have dared to do such a thing.

That concubine, Lin Xiangwan, was also clever. Originally, Song Hongtao was still concerned about the reputation of the Duke's Mansion and only wanted to reprimand him, not wanting to go too far. But Lin Xiangwan used some means to persuade Song Hongtao to directly expel Song Zhe from the family genealogy.

With Song Zhe eliminated, the child in Lin Xiangwan's womb would be free of a threat.

At the same time, suppressing Song Yan's enemies can be considered killing two birds with one stone.

……

a long distance away.

Haixi Snowfield.

More than a hundred warhorses are galloping across the snowy plains.

After shedding the heavy armor weighing dozens of kilograms, the warhorse's speed was more than twice as fast as before.

It was late at night, and all was quiet.

Even the sound of horses' hooves was not very noticeable.

Previously, thousands of black-armored soldiers marched together, their hooves thundering as they mingled. But now, with the number of cavalry reduced to a hundred and the thick snow acting as a delay, the sound of their hooves became extremely faint.

About an hour later, by the light of the bright moon, wisps of black smoke could be seen rising from the dense forest to the left.

That wasn't the way they came; they had deviated slightly from the correct path. Song Yan became increasingly convinced of his deduction that they had indeed taken a side path.

The cavalry exchanged glances and then sped off towards the direction of the black smoke.

Near the campfire, Wanyan Zongmin remained confident, completely unconcerned that the Han cavalry might suddenly turn back and engage in combat. He rested with a clear conscience. There was no other way; the long march through the snow had taken a heavy toll on his stamina, and without proper rest, he could easily have been exhausted to death.

Seeing that it was almost time, Wanyan Zongmin got up. Just as he was about to wake the others, his expression suddenly changed. He heard a faint sound, carried by the cold wind, entering his ears. It was... the sound of horses' hooves?

"who?"

With a loud shout, all the guards who had closed their eyes to rest instantly opened them and scrambled to their feet.

Just then, a piercing sound suddenly rang out.

All that could be seen was a long, silvery spear, like a white rainbow piercing the sun, heading straight for Wanyan Zongmin's chest.

At the same time, a burst of wild laughter echoed through the night:
"It's your grandfather, Song Zhe!"

(End of this chapter)