Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 402 The Cruel Truth (Nine Thousand Characters)

Song Hongtao was initially quite calm.

He felt he had never been so lucid in his life. The pain in his body gradually became numb with the passage of time, while his consciousness became clearer and clearer. Many things that he couldn't see through before are now becoming clear.

Song Yan is terrifying.

He showed amazing talent from a young age.

According to the tutor of the Duke's mansion, Song Yan's talent was probably even greater than Song Zhe's. However, after Mei Yingxue was poisoned that night, Song Yan suddenly became somewhat neurotic.

Everyone in the Duke's mansion said that Song Yan was so frightened that he had lost his mind.

But now it seems that Song Yan was deliberately hiding his abilities and acting stupid in order to buy himself more time to survive. After all, no one would argue with someone who has a problem with their brain... Such a thing would be normal if it happened to a teenager or a young man in his twenties, but how old was Song Yan at that time?
Six years old!

It's likely that from that time onward, Song Yan was already plotting how to take revenge on Yang Miaoqing, on everyone who had bullied him, and on his own father.

This plan lasted for a full ten years.

If Song Yan hadn't been so young at the time, unable to do many things, and hadn't been confined to the courtyard under constant surveillance, people in the Duke's mansion would probably have started dying one after another long ago. For a six-year-old child to possess such cunning is truly terrifying; he's like a venomous snake, constantly lurking in the Duke's mansion, peering through the cracks in the door with chilling eyes at everyone coming and going.

Just thinking about it sent chills down Song Hongtao's spine.

Once upon a time, he and Yang Miaoqing both thought that Song Yan's marriage into the Luo family was done under their coercion. Now, looking back, how happy Song Yan must have been when he heard the news? How laughable, how pathetic, how lamentable... From beginning to end, he, Yang Miaoqing, and all of Yang Miaoqing's children were manipulated by Song Yan.

Song Zhen, Song Yun, and Song Zhe are all dead. Song Huai, Song Yi, Song An, and Song Jing have become wanted criminals. All of this was done by Song Yan... Perhaps even the fight between him and Song Lu just now was arranged by Song Yan.

He killed everyone, yet he remained completely clean.

Knowing that Song Yan would never let him go, Song Hongtao was prepared to die peacefully. Since he couldn't live on, he figured he could at least die with some dignity. Song Hongtao thought he was no longer afraid, but when he saw Lin Xiangwan carrying the child and walking towards him, he panicked.

Given Song Yan's ruthlessness, he would not let anyone from the Duke's mansion go unpunished.

What is that stupid woman, Lin Xiangwan, doing?
Can't she see what's going on here?

Song Qi, that was his only biological son.

He can die, but his own son absolutely cannot be harmed in the slightest.

He panicked and became frightened.

"Let, let Song Qi go." Song Hongtao felt his throat was dry, his teeth were chattering violently, and his eyes were full of pleading: "I know I'm sorry to you and Mei Xue, but Song Qi is innocent."

“You can kill Song Zhen and Song Zhe; they bullied you. But Song Qi did nothing. He really is just a child.” He didn’t shout and yell to let Lin Xiangwan escape. He knew very well that with a master like Ziyu around, Lin Xiangwan, a weak woman, had no chance of escaping with Song Qi.

The only way to save Song Qi's life is to pray to Song Yan.

At this moment, Song Hongtao's heart was filled with sorrow. The dignified Duke, who had clearly decided to leave with dignity, had no choice but to lower his proud head at this moment.

He regretted it even more.

I regret not being nicer to Song Yan and Mei Yingxue back then.

Or perhaps they regret not taking matters into their own hands and nipping Song Yan in the bud.

If it weren't for Song Yan, none of this would have happened.

puff.

Song Hongtao's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground, his upper body also collapsing, his forehead pressed against the cold ground: "Yan'er, I beg you, everything in the Duke's mansion is yours, I only beg you to let Song Qi go."

Self-esteem.

Decent.

A man's dignity.

The glory of the Duke.

I don't want any of them.

He gave up everything for his only biological son.

Even Song Lu, who was barely breathing on the ground, couldn't help but open his swollen eyes, his gaze filled with curiosity, wanting to see what the ruthless Ninth Brother would do under these circumstances.

Could they kill the baby, thus cutting off Song Hongtao's lineage completely?
A faint smile played on Song Yan's lips as he looked down at Song Hongtao kneeling before him, his smile growing increasingly mocking and cold...

Now you know how to repent?
Now you know how to beg?

What were you doing all this time?
I still remember when he was just a few months old, he caught a cold and had a fever. At that time, he couldn't even control his small body. Even though he had medicine on him, he couldn't do anything. He couldn't even unscrew the cap of the ibuprofen bottle, and his delicate throat couldn't swallow the capsule. His mother knelt at the gate of the courtyard and begged for medicine, just to see Song Hongtao.

However, Song Hongtao never appeared from beginning to end.

He vividly remembers when he first transmigrated, he was still quite naive. He once wanted to do something to change Song Hongtao's impression of him and improve his status in the Duke's mansion, so that he wouldn't be bullied all the time. But when he could barely stand and staggered out to sneak away, and finally found Song Hongtao, all he got in return was a slap.

I vividly remember the smugness and indifference in Song Hongtao's eyes when Yang Miaoqing was preparing to send him to the Luo family to marry into their family, and Song Zhen deliberately threw a chicken leg on the ground for him to pick up and eat.

Don't say things like he only had food to eat and was able to grow up because of the Duke's mansion, and that he should remember to be grateful... If Song Hongtao hadn't kidnapped his mother, she wouldn't have died young, and his sister wouldn't have been sold. He would have lived a completely different life now. Even if it was difficult and there were many dangers, Song Yan believed it wouldn't have been worse than the Duke's mansion.

“My dear father…” Recalling the moments of the past years, Song Yan’s face showed no bitterness; the bitterness had long since passed: “Don’t you think it’s too late for you to say these things now?”

Song Hongtao trembled, his face turning deathly pale.

He looked up and saw Lin Xiangwan, who was walking towards him at a faster pace. He took a deep breath and said, "I'll tell you another secret. I'll trade this secret for Song Qi's life." Judging from his expression, he seemed to have made a difficult decision.

Song Yan was somewhat curious, wondering what kind of backing Song Hongtao still had at this point: "Tell me about it."

"You have to promise me first that you won't hurt Song Qi," Song Hongtao said in a deep voice, gritting his teeth.

Song Yan's lips twitched. This man really doted on his youngest son. Song Yan was a little touched. Heaven knows how hard he was trying to hold back his laughter: "That depends on whether your secret is worth the price. If your secret is valuable enough, I guarantee I will never hurt Song Qi."

"Not only will I not harm Song Qi, I will also let Song Qi inherit the title of Duke of Song and let Aunt Lin Xiangwan become the mistress of the Duke's mansion."

"Just like you said, neither of them offended me, so your Song family line can be considered to have continued."

"How about this deal?" Song Yan smiled, seemingly dismissing the doubt in Song Hongtao's eyes: "Don't worry, I have no interest in the title of Duke of Song. To me, the title of Duke is just a piece of cake. Moreover, although I, Song Yan, have killed many people, I always keep my promises. I never go back on my word."

"Besides, do you even have the right to not believe it now?"

He pursed his lips, and although he was somewhat unwilling, Song Hongtao knew that he had no right to bargain with Song Yan now: "Have you ever heard of the treasure of the Rebel King?"

His voice was slightly hoarse, with an eerie and sinister quality.

Song Yan's eyes widened involuntarily. The treasure of the rebel king? Good heavens, I'm still Zhu San Taizi... Upon hearing these four words, Song Yan thought he had traveled back to the early Qing Dynasty.

Fortunately, before Song Yan could speak, Song Hongtao took the initiative to explain: "At the end of the Great Wu Dynasty, the Central Plains were in turmoil, and the people were suffering. Peasant uprisings sprang up like mushrooms after rain, spreading all over the Central Plains. Among these peasant armies, the most famous was a man called Chuang Wang (King Chuang).

"This person... could he be a courier?" Song Yan couldn't help but ask.

Song Hongtao was slightly puzzled: "They say they are peasant soldiers, so they must be genuine peasants. Although the post station soldiers are just minor officials, they still eat the government's food. Why would you think of post station soldiers?"

Song Yan breathed a slight sigh of relief. Thank goodness! If it really had been a courier, Song Yan would have suspected that Li Zicheng had also traveled through time.

"continue."

"Under the command of the rebel leader, the number of peasants was astonishing. At its peak, it was said to number more than 500,000. These peasants were like locusts, leaving nothing but desolation wherever they went. This man and his peasant army especially hated aristocratic families and civil officials."

"It is said that this person has a roster in his possession, which records in detail the large and small aristocratic families and clans throughout the Central Plains, numbering over a thousand. It also records all the civil officials of the Great Wu Dynasty. Whenever he arrives at a place and conquers a city, the first thing he does is to arrest people one by one according to the records in the roster, and then confiscate their property and exterminate their families."

"It is said that hundreds of powerful clans were wiped out by the rebel king. Each clan had plundered a large amount of gold, silver and jewels, jade and copper coins, and countless grains... The rebel king distributed the grains to the starving people. As for the gold and silver treasures, some were used as military pay, and some were kept by the rebel king for his own use."

"The rebel leader even occupied the capital of the Great Wu Dynasty. All the civil and military officials opened the gates and surrendered. The rebel leader then went door to door in the capital to call out names. In the end, those scholars and aristocratic families could not escape."

"However, this also brought disaster upon the rebel king's downfall."

“Throughout the Central Plains, there were hundreds and thousands of powerful clans. Although the rebel king had slaughtered many, he was only a part of them. The remaining powerful clans, seeing that the rebel king slaughtered powerful clans without batting an eye, did not want such a ruthless emperor who was so cruel to powerful clans. So they all turned to other rebel armies.”

"With the support of powerful clans, the rebel army had money, food, and manpower, and its power began to expand rapidly. In the end, the rebel king was defeated by the encirclement and suppression of various rebel armies. The rebel king fled, but since he could not take the countless gold and silver treasures with him, he found a secret place to bury them. This is the treasure of the rebel king."

"The strongest rebel armies among them became the present-day states of Ning, Chu, Zhao, and Liang."

"The Central Plains are temporarily stable, and even though a hundred years have passed, the legend of the rebel king's treasure still circulates." Now that he had spoken, Song Hongtao no longer concealed anything and told him everything he knew:
"The Song family ancestor once followed the orders of the Ningguo Taizu and led troops to pursue the rebel king. They even broke into the rebel king's camp. Although the rebel king escaped, a map was unexpectedly found among the things he left behind. The location pointed to by the map is very likely the place where the rebel king buried gold and silver."

"Although I don't know exactly how much wealth is in that treasury, I imagine that the combined treasuries of the four kingdoms of Ning, Chu, Zhao, and Liang are probably not as rich as it is now."

Gudong.

Even Song Yan couldn't help but swallow hard when he heard this.

Song Lu's expression was even more strange, clearly not expecting that the Song family would have such a secret.

Where is the map?

"In the study, on the left-hand bookshelf, there is a hidden compartment on the third shelf."

"Butler Wang." Song Yan looked up and saw Butler Wang had walked over at some point, casually picked up a rock, and was puffing on his pipe: "Could you please make this trip?"

Butler Wang reluctantly tapped his pipe. He had just arrived, ready to listen to the commotion, when the Ninth Young Master assigned him tasks, leaving him no free time at all.

Song Hongtao's face was gloomy. Looking at Butler Wang's expression, how could he not understand?
This old man, who has worked in the Duke's mansion for decades, has probably already been bribed by Song Yan.

No wonder Song Yan was able to target the Duke's mansion so successfully time and time again.

We should have gotten rid of Butler Wang sooner.

But now was not the time to care about Butler Wang. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he stood up, looking at Song Yan with hope in his eyes: "How about this secret? Can it be exchanged for Song Qi's life?"

"Of course." Seeing that Lin Xiangwan had already walked up to them, Song Yan looked at the chubby baby, his smile widening, completely uncontrollable.

In exchange for the life of a child with no blood relation to the rebel king, what would you do?

This Song Hongtao is truly selfless, kind, and compassionate; he is a role model for us all.

He felt it was about time to tell Song Hongtao the truth. However, Song Hongtao's health wasn't great right now, and he thought it would be better to be tactful. When it came to tact, he was a pro.

Under Song Hongtao's horrified gaze, Song Yan reached out and pinched Song Qi's face: "Actually, I never intended to kill Song Qi from the beginning."

"after all……"

"This isn't your son."

Rumble, rumble!

(End of this chapter)