Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 316 My Son Isn't Bad, Is He? (Thanks to Yong Su for being the Alliance Leader)
It's 3:45 PM!

The stars twinkled in the sky.

A light drizzle fell, and carriages occasionally sped by on the official road along the Yi and Luo Rivers, splashing water everywhere. In the distance, a few lanterns hung on the city gate of Ningping County. Although the light was not very bright, seeing them in the dimness and autumn rain brought a touch of warmth to one's heart.

The rain curtain separated two worlds like a screen.

From dawn to night, for nearly a day and a night, braving the wind all the way, changing horses but not people, we finally returned to Ningping.

People are naturally a bit tired.

Months later, Song Yan felt a strange mix of trepidation and longing for home. After a few moments of stunned silence, he shook his head. How could a man like him have such girlish feelings?
"Let's go."

The warhorse slowed down a bit and slowly made its way toward the city gate.

Dozens of soldiers were on night duty at the city gate. The sound of their voices could be faintly heard, but it was muffled by the rain and they could not hear clearly. They could only vaguely see the soldiers wearing armor and holding spears or scimitars by the lanterns hanging on the city gate. Even though they spoke occasionally, they stood up straight.

Compared to the former Ningping County, the quality of these soldiers is obviously much higher.

It's clear that Luo Tianshu has managed this small Ningping County quite well.

These soldiers must have been recruited from the Japanese pirates.

According to Emperor Ninghe's decree, the anti-Japanese pirate troops numbered only five thousand, which was not a particularly powerful force. However, when Song Yan went to Liaodong, he took three thousand with him, and when Luo Yuheng went to find Song Yan, he took another two thousand. The anti-Japanese pirate troops remained here, still five thousand, neither increasing nor decreasing.

The layout of the city was largely the same as when Song Yan left, but some changes were still noticeable when looking around.

Perhaps because it was still the first month of the lunar calendar, the festive atmosphere hadn't dissipated, and the county town was much more lively than before. Although it was already night, most of the shops were still open, with bright red lanterns hanging high and flickering candlelight gathering together, casting a dim yellow glow over the entire street.

Under the orange light, raindrops fell from the sky, drawing thin lines in front of my eyes.

Many pedestrians were strolling along the street, holding oil-paper umbrellas.

Bah, bah, bah...

Accompanied by the crisp sound of horses' hooves, the group arrived at the gate of the Luo residence. Just as they dismounted, the gatekeeper, who had been dozing, opened his eyes at the noise. Seeing Song Yan's figure, he seemed somewhat suspicious, rubbed his eyes, and then cried out in delight:

"Uncle is back."

"Uncle is back."

Not long after, a series of hurried footsteps were heard coming from the inner courtyard.

It was Luo Tianchu, Luo Tianquan.

Braving the light drizzle, Luo Tianchu walked straight up to Song Yan, looked him up and down, and patted him on the shoulder: "You've gotten quite a bit stronger since I last saw you."

Song Yan smiled and said, "Tian Shu is the same. He's still quite useful as a county magistrate. He's much more authoritative than before."

"Haha, brother-in-law, please don't joke with me. I'm just a minor county magistrate, a lowly seventh-rank official. You're a third-rank official, a powerful regional governor. Shouldn't I pay my respects to my superior?" Luo Tianchu teased.

A black line appeared on Song Yan's forehead: "If Tian Shu were to greet me as his brother-in-law, then I, as his brother-in-law, would accept it without question, but I'd rather not have him greet me with official courtesy..."

"You two don't need to be so polite here. One of you is a third-rank official, and the other is a seventh-rank official. You're just minor officials. How can I, a county lieutenant of only eighth rank, bear this?" Luo Tianquan sighed from the side.

Luo Tianyang is now a lieutenant general.

In terms of rank, he was also an eighth-rank official, but he was missing the "cong" (从) character.

Of the three Luo brothers, he was the least successful.

Losing to his older brother is normal; after all, his older brother is intelligent, good at studying, and a few years older than him.

It's normal to lose to my brother-in-law. Although he never participated in the imperial examinations, he was good at fighting and earned a title through military merit, which is something he can't compare to.

However, losing to that fool Luo Tianyang was truly hard for Luo Tianquan to accept.

He could even picture the next time he met Luo Tianyang, how that smug and arrogant guy would look.

They entered the Luo residence in the midst of their conversation.

After arranging food and lodging for Nahetoya and the ten black-armored soldiers, Luo Tianchu led Song Yan to the dining hall. The three of them sat around the stove, recounting everything that had happened since they parted ways. Ningping County was alright; it was just that as the county magistrate, he had to handle a few complicated and tedious matters, and occasionally there would be some strange and unusual cases that were quite difficult to investigate. In comparison, Song Yan's situation was truly spectacular.

Song Yan also specifically inquired about the Japanese pirates.

Luo Tianshu then explained that perhaps because the weather was getting colder, even the Japanese pirates were unwilling to sail at sea at this time. In addition, Song Yan had a notorious reputation, and with ten mounds of Jingguan, even if the sea area near Ningguo's border was empty, no Japanese pirates would come looking for death.

"I have heard that a major Japanese pirate raid occurred in the Zhao state before winter."

"It must have been those damned Japanese pirates who wanted to make a fortune before winter. Several waves of pirates gathered together, tens of thousands of them landed at the same time, directly broke through a county town in Zhao, and slaughtered the entire town. Then they went west and slaughtered a neighboring prefecture."

"The entire city... was almost completely slaughtered. Tsk, the Fang and Cui families have business with Zhao, and I heard from them it was a terrible sight. The city was littered with corpses, and the ground was stained red. The governor was quick to run; seeing the situation was dire, he abandoned the city's guards and fled." Luo Tianchu sighed. Although it was Zhao, they were still Han Chinese. "Zhao's military preparedness was not much better than our Ning Kingdom's. They had 15,000 soldiers and city walls to rely on, yet they still couldn't stop those beasts. I heard that a wealthy family inside the city acted as an inside agent for the Japanese pirates, opening the city gates from the inside. I wonder if it's true or not."

Song Yan muttered, "Those damned Japanese, we'll slaughter them all sooner or later."

The three chatted until late at night before going back to their rooms to rest.

The next day, Song Yan gave Luo Tianshu and Luo Tianquan a few words of instruction and then left the county town.

He had a piece of paper in his hand, and following the address recorded on it, they quickly arrived at a place called Zhangjiawan in the west of Ningping County. It was named that, perhaps because most of the people in the village were surnamed Zhang. After making a few inquiries in the village, Song Yan and his group arrived at a house at the entrance of the village.

It's a very common adobe house, with a small yard in front, surrounded by a fence, where a few chickens and ducks are kept.

The slightly rotten wooden door in the middle of the fence could not provide much protection. Although it was something that had been prepared in advance, Song Yan still felt a little depressed when the time came.

Finally, I raised my finger and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

Soon, a crisp voice came from inside the house.

Then a little girl, about six or seven years old, with pigtails, came out of the house.

Perhaps worried that the little girl might be recklessly opening the door and encounter danger, two more people soon came out of the house. One was a woman in her thirties, holding a baby who was probably just born, less than a year old. Because of the cold weather, the baby was wrapped in layers of burlap.

Beside the woman was an old man in his fifties, holding a pipe.

He seems to have a problem with one of his legs, and he needs a cane to support himself when he walks.

The family went outside and looked towards Song Yan, their eyes filled with suspicion. Especially when they saw a group of burly men following behind him, the woman's face showed worry, thinking they had gotten into trouble. The old man, however, frowned deeply, his eyes fixed on Song Yan. After a long while, as if finally remembering something, he hurriedly limped towards the fence and opened the door.

"So it's Master Song..."

“Chuntao, hurry, hurry and kowtow to Master Song. Last year, our Zhangjiawan was flooded, and my leg was broken by a collapsed wall. At that time, all our family’s valuables, our grain, were swept away by the flood, and we could only beg. If it weren’t for Master Song’s kindness in giving us food to survive, our whole family would probably be reporting to the King of Hell.”

As he spoke, Old Man Zhang was about to kneel down on the ground.

Song Yan dared not accept such a grand gesture from an elderly man in his fifties, so he quickly helped the old man up. The woman named Chun Tao and the little girl knelt on the ground and kowtowed deeply.

Upon seeing his benefactor Song Yan, Old Man Zhang was overjoyed. His wrinkled face was beaming with smiles as he repeatedly invited Song Yan to come inside and sit down.

Upon arriving in the courtyard, Song Yan looked around. Chun Tao handed the baby in her arms to her daughter and hurried inside to brew tea. However, she was worried that her family, with no tea leaves, would be satisfied with just plain water.

"Grandpa..." Song Yan forced a smile, "How are you doing these days?"

Old Zhang hurriedly waved his hand: "I don't deserve to be called 'Grandpa' by such a distinguished person. Just call me Old Zhang, Old Zhang is fine." Then he smiled and said: "Our eldest son has joined the army, and our youngest son has entered the workshop of a distinguished family. We don't know anything about what they do, but they always bring back some money every month. The house has also been rebuilt. Compared to toiling in the fields, life is getting better and better every day."

"The current county magistrate is a good man. He said that since someone in our family has joined the army, he has distributed farm tools and grain for planting after the spring." He pointed to the location of the woodshed, where there were two hoes and a plow.

"What brings you here to my house so suddenly, sir? Could it be that Tiezhu has caused trouble in the military camp?" Old Zhang suddenly became nervous.

Song Yan's face darkened, and the ten elite soldiers behind him who had emerged from the black-armored warriors also couldn't help but feel a touch of sadness in their eyes at this moment.

For a while, the atmosphere was a little depressing.

Old Zhang seemed to have thought of something as well, and his face suddenly turned ashen, his wrinkles deepening.

Song Yan took a deep breath, stood up, and bowed to Old Man Zhang: "Zhang Tiezhu, squad leader of the Iron Cavalry, died heroically on the fifth day of the first month of the twentieth year of Ninghe, on the Haixi Grassland outside Ningguo Pass."

hum.

Upon hearing this, Old Zhang's body trembled violently.

Even inside the house, a cracking sound came from inside, as if something had fallen to the ground and broken.

Immediately afterwards, the woman rushed out of the house, her face already streaked with tears.

Only the seven-year-old girl was still somewhat confused, holding her younger brother in her arms, not knowing what had happened, she reached out and tugged at her mother's sleeve: "Mom, what's wrong? Is Dad not coming back for the New Year this year?"

Hearing that crisp, clear voice, the woman felt even more sorrowful and began to sob in suppressed sobs.

Old Zhang swayed precariously, as if he was about to faint, but he managed to stay upright. Seeing that Song Yan was still bent over, he quickly helped her up. Looking at her face, his eyes were already red.

Although these days, human life is as cheap as grass.

But... he's still my son.

Taking a deep breath, Old Zhang slowly looked at Song Yan and finally spoke:
"My son...isn't he good?"

(End of this chapter)