Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 150 The Romantic Widow

"Hiss!" Many people at the scene gasped!
"How dare you, you brat, bully me like this!"

Elder Xu was furious, his eyes bloodshot, and he pointed at Jiang Mingzhe, roaring, "I have devoted my whole life to this gang, how could I forge letters and frame the gang leader?"

"Come on."

Jiang Mingzhe put his hands behind his back, curled his lip, and said, "You old lecher, you almost let the Xixia dogs wipe us out in one fell swoop. What else are you incapable of doing?"

"You're talking nonsense!"

Elder Xu roared hoarsely, trying to argue, but it was a fact that he had almost missed a military opportunity. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, how could he possibly make a statement?
He subconsciously turned his head to look around, wanting to find someone to help him, but he saw that most of the beggars had disdain on their faces, and many of them were whispering to each other, their eyes filled with suspicion.

Elder Xu opened his mouth, his heart filled with grief and indignation, but he couldn't find the words to express them.

If I weren't lacking in talent, I probably would have recited on the spot: "The village children of the south, taking advantage of my old age and weakness, openly carried me into the bamboo grove, my lips parched and throat dry, unable to call out..."

Jiang Mingzhe's eyes were cold and sharp, but a smile played on his lips.

He had just used his words to first attack his kidneys with dirty tricks, and then attacked his heart with the infamous reputation of colluding with foreign powers and neglecting military affairs. Now he has finally succeeded.

Although the Beggars' Sect members didn't quite believe that the old man was really colluding with the Western Xia people, his persona as a "muddled old lecher" was already unbreakable. With his prestige completely destroyed, who would still believe him?

Elder Xu shook his head angrily, waving the letter in his hand vigorously, and cried out in a sorrowful voice, "Brothers, the contents of this letter are extremely important..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Mingzhe interrupted him loudly: "Yes, such an extremely important letter clearly states that it can only be opened in the presence of all the elders, yet you insisted on opening it without permission, hehe..."

He shook his head, pointed at the letter, and looked at Shan Zhengdao: "Old Master Shan, if I'm not mistaken, the contents of this letter are probably all words that are not conducive to Brother Qiao's consolidation of his position as gang leader."

Dan Zheng hesitated slightly, then nodded: "That's right! If what the letter says is true, Qiao Feng is indeed not fit to be the leader of this gang."

The beggars erupted in another uproar, but then Jiang Mingzhe suddenly clapped his hands: "Impressive, impressive! Truly painstaking and far-sighted, worthy of praise and admiration!"

Shan Zheng frowned and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Jiang Mingzhe looked at him with pity and said, "Old Master Shan arrived a little late, and there are some things he may not know. As soon as Elder Xu arrived, he withheld the urgent military intelligence that Chief Qiao was about to open, and asked everyone to wait for Madam Ma to arrive. It was only after I strongly urged him that he reluctantly showed the military intelligence when he saw the crowd was in an uproar. It turns out that the Xixia First-Class Hall has prepared extremely potent poison gas, intending to wipe out all the Beggar Clan heroes in one fell swoop."

Dan Zheng's expression changed drastically, and he looked at Elder Xu in disbelief.

Jiang Mingzhe said to himself, "It's all interconnected. Qiao Feng's internal strength is very high, so the poison gas probably won't be able to kill him. Therefore, the best way is to find a way to kill him first, or at the very least force him to abdicate and leave. The rest of the people will be leaderless, and once the poison gas is released, everything will fall apart."

As he finished speaking, he suddenly clapped his hands and exclaimed, "That's right! I think we should also frame Qiao Feng for a crime that everyone hates. At that time, the martial arts world of the Central Plains will rise up against him, and the Yipintang of Xixia will take advantage of the chaos to slaughter the major sects of the Central Plains one by one. When all the masters in the martial arts world are gone, Xixia will launch a large-scale attack, and the Yipintang will assassinate our dynasty's famous ministers and generals. Tsk tsk, in this way, the area west of Tongguan will probably no longer belong to our dynasty. Brilliant, brilliant, ingenious, ingenious!"

His words sent chills down the spines of anyone with a modicum of knowledge.

Elder Xu trembled violently, staggered a few steps, grabbed Shan Zheng, and cried out in anguish, "Brother Shan, we've known each other for so many years, you...you...don't you believe me either?"

Its sound was mournful and poignant, like the cry of a cuckoo bleeding blood. "This..."

Shan Zheng hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, "I naturally trust Brother Xu, but I haven't seen whether this letter is the original one that Madam Ma gave to Brother Xu."

Jiang Mingzhe laughed and was about to speak when Madam Ma suddenly stepped forward and said shyly, "Master Shan, the letter in Elder Xu's hand was indeed handed to me by me personally. I can testify to that."

Elder Xu seemed to have grasped at a straw and shouted, "Brothers, brothers, did you hear me? Did you hear me? If I were to forge this letter, may I be struck down by heaven and earth. Even if you don't trust me, you can at least trust the widow of the Great Yuan, right?"

The Beggars' Sect members all showed interest, and a murmur rippled through the crowd, like countless mosquitoes fluttering their wings.

Jiang Mingzhe laughed loudly, and said disdainfully, "Ridiculous! Do you think we should believe the words of adulterers who betray their husbands?"

The beggars erupted in uproar. Elder Xu, his face flushed, shouted angrily, "You little scoundrel, it's one thing for you to slander me, but at my age, I wouldn't stoop to arguing with him. But you're utterly depraved, shamelessly slandering even a widow of the Great Yuan! Brothers, brothers, this little scoundrel is deliberately trying to humiliate our Beggars' Sect!"

"Am I slandering her?" Before the beggars could react, Jiang Mingzhe raised his voice and shouted, "Have any of you here never seen a widow before? What are those widows like? They have a gloomy temperament, dark skin, and an unconcealable sense of sorrow. Look at her again!"

Upon hearing this, everyone recalled the widows they had seen in their lives, and indeed there were many as Jiang Minzhe had said. They all looked at Madam Ma, whose body trembled slightly, but whose chin was held high with arrogance, exuding an aloof and unapproachable demeanor.

Someone couldn't help but say, "She doesn't seem like a lewd person to me."

Jiang Mingzhe smiled and said, "Expressions can be faked, but some things cannot be faked. Please think about it, if a woman truly loves her husband, and he dies, would she have the mood to dress up so meticulously? When she is heartbroken, she has no appetite and cannot sleep at night. Can her skin be so fair and rosy, so moist and radiant?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked again and indeed noticed something amiss. Although Madam Ma's lips were unpainted, they were a vibrant, luscious red. Although her eyebrows were undrawn, they possessed a natural allure. Despite wearing mourning clothes, her eyes and brows held a subtle charm, making her appear like a red plum blossom in the snow, without a trace of withering or desolation.

Jiang Mingzhe continued, "Besides, as you all know, I have some skill in judging people. I previously discerned that Elder Xu had recently consumed a lot of potent drugs, leading to a deficiency of his kidney essence. Hehe, this Madam Ma walks like a willow swaying in the wind, her figure like a flower blooming in April, slender and graceful, her eyes flowing like water. She is clearly a woman thoroughly sedated by men, her alluring charm impossible to conceal. Then I can't help but ask—"

He paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping across the crowd. Most of the beggars' eyes gleamed, and despite the large number of people present, not a single breath could be heard.

Then he slowly said, "Which man, or which men, could have brought such satisfaction to a widow?"

Madam Ma slowly turned her head, her eyes filled with deep resentment and venom. She stared intently at Jiang Mingzhe and said, word by word, "I have never met you before, nor have I ever had any grudge against you. I do not know why you would go to such lengths to ruin the reputation of a widow like me."

Jiang Mingzhe sneered, "Madam Ma, your tricks may fool those lecherous men, but they are no match for me. What reputation do you have? You only have ambition and lust."

Madam Ma bit her lip tightly, then suddenly pulled out a small dagger from her bosom, drew it out with a whoosh, and pressed it against her swan-like neck, two streams of tears falling.

"Chief Qiao, elders, uncles! Da Yuan's body is barely cold, and you men are just going to stand by and watch a scoundrel bully me? I am but a weak woman, suffering such a terrible injustice, and I have no choice but to die to prove my innocence!"

After saying that, he slightly tightened the dagger, and a thin trickle of blood flowed down his milky white neck.

Many members of the Beggars' Sect exclaimed in alarm, interspersed with a concerned and panicked cry: "Xiao Kang, no!"

The beggars were slightly taken aback and subconsciously looked over, only to see Duan Zhengchun looking nervous, stretching out his hand and staring at Madam Ma without blinking.

(End of this chapter)