Chapter 26: Giving Rise to Doubts

  This simple "hiss" didn't say anything, but it made everything clear.

  The autumn leaves changed color, carefully glanced in the direction of the main house, and then whispered: "Our old lady is convinced from the bottom of her heart that the white flag suddenly breaking off is the manifestation of the Duke's spirit! If she knew it was just your mischief... or if the Marquis' side found out..."

  The guard smiled, his tone full of absolute confidence: "Jiannan Hou won't know, my skill with the slingshot is a family heirloom, it's all about being stealthy and unnoticed. If it's easily discovered by others, I'd rather pack up and go home, what's the point of being a guard in the Guangping King's mansion? I guarantee that today, including you, Miss, no more than three people will know that I've made my move!"

  In autumn, half a point didn't think this was anything remarkable, but instead very surprised: "Three people? Besides you and me, who else is there? Will he tell the prince about it?"

  The guard raised his index finger and shook it: "Except for you and me, the only one who may know the truth is our leader, and the other guards in the palace will not know. The leader is naturally reliable and will not tell the lord privately, while Madam Zhao will not know if the girl does not say anything. So, miss, don't worry."

  Where can the autumn leaves be at ease? She was so anxious that she stomped her feet: "I naturally won't talk nonsense, but even I can see what you've done, how do you know there won't be a fourth person who sees it? If it gets out and people find out that the apparition of the Duke is actually our doing, the old lady's situation will be embarrassing!"

  The guard saw that she was really anxious and only then reacted to the fact that his words had caused concern, hastily saying: "Miss, don't worry, you can see it because your position is right in front of me. At that time, I was worried about Old Lady Zhao and happened to turn my head to stare at her, so I saw what I was doing. In fact, everyone was watching the Duke of Jianan and Old Lady Zhao at the time, no one noticed us few people, let alone me being surrounded by people in front and back. The stone was small and flew out quickly from bottom to top, it's not easy for people to see, after falling to the ground, it mixed with other broken stones on the side of the road, and there was no abnormality at all. As for General Tong, he didn't really see me do this thing, he just knew that I had this skill and could infer it. Besides, unless someone is caught on the spot, who can prove that I really did it? Now the Duke of Jianan is already a rat crossing the street, even if he says something plausible, people will only think he's making excuses."

  Autumn leaves heard his words and gradually calmed down. Thinking back to the situation at that time, she seemed to have only seen him pinching a small stone in his hand to pop out, but after popping out where the stone went, she actually didn't see it, just saw the white flag breaking, and then had this speculation, maybe really no one else saw what he did, even if they saw it, at that time didn't expose it, afterwards saying anything was useless.

  She still had some worries in her heart: "Don't take things into your own hands from now on, this time you were lucky to get away with it, but if there's a next time, it's hard to guarantee that no one will notice. You originally meant well and wanted to help our old lady, but don't end up making things worse!"

  "I swear I won't take matters into my own hands again. Just now, the commander scolded me in secret. I just can't stand the way Jian Nan Hou behaves, he clearly did something wrong but refuses to admit it, and even slanders Lady Zhao. Since he says that Zhao Gong cannot appear, I'll make him see Zhao Gong's spirit once, anyway, Zhao Gong won't really come out and say I'm lying."

  Qiu Ye couldn't help but glare at him: "How do you know he won't? The Duke's spirit really did appear, otherwise do you think it would be so easy for the old lady to believe just because you broke two white flags? She used to not believe in this sort of thing, always saying something about 'children shouldn't speak of strange and mysterious things'."

  The guard was surprised: "Did Zhao Jun Gong really show his spirit? When was it? How did he show it?"

  Just as Qiuye was about to respond, he suddenly heard the steward Wang Siping accompanying Zhang Jia's second uncle, Old Lady Zhang Chaoyi, coming this way. He hastily retreated a few steps and pretended to be walking from the corridor side towards the gate of the courtyard.

  The guard also cooperated with her movements and stood up straight beside the corridor pillar in a guarding posture.

  Zhang Chaoyi and Wang Siping entered the courtyard, Qiuye hastily came forward to greet them with a bow: "Second Uncle."

  Zhang Chaoyi recognized who she was and nodded: "Is your elderly lady at home? I have an urgent matter to discuss with her."

  "The old lady is talking with the commander of the guards in the Wang's mansion, Second Uncle asks you to wait a moment, and I will go and inform them."

  "Commander of the Guangping King's guards?" Zhang Chaoyi's eyes lit up, and he exchanged a glance with Wang Siping, becoming even more confident in what he was about to say.

  Zhang saw his brother coming over and didn't think much of it: "Have they arranged a place for you to stay? Zhao Jiong is really impolite, he only has the Qian family in his eyes, and has forgotten that Old Master Qin and you are his real uncles."

  The residence is nothing to talk about, Zhang Chaoyi is concerned about other things: "Why can't I see that Lord Commander?"

  "Mr. Zhang didn't want to say more: 'He had something to attend to and left first.' He also seemed a bit puzzled: 'Do you have business with him?'"

  Zhang Chaoyi coughed lightly: "I just heard the people below discussing that Zhao Jiong fell off his horse and might be paralyzed? That evil slave named Gao Cheng is busy inviting a doctor to treat his injuries, I heard he invited a very famous one, but thought the person was an incompetent doctor and didn't want him to treat him."

  Zhang said calmly, "Let him invite whoever he wants to go, I won't interfere with this matter. I won't report his disobedience and unfilial behavior to the authorities, which would be a capital offense, and that's already being extremely lenient. Must I also take care of whether he's ill or injured? Even if I did, I'm afraid he wouldn't believe me anyway."

  "Sister, I'm not asking you to get involved in this matter," Zhang Chao said. "Just now, Wang Si Ping arranged the mourning hall for my nephew and his wife, I went to take a look at how he did it, and asked about your experiences these past few days. Only then did I know that there were so many dangers. If not for heaven's mercy, allowing you and two grandchildren to escape with their lives, and also receiving the protection of Guangping King, perhaps Zhao Jiong would have succeeded in his calculations! He is so ruthless, just because he is paralyzed now, can't let him off scot-free, right? I know that sister has always been soft-hearted, but there is a blood feud between my nephew and his wife, even if it's for the sake of the two children's future safety, you cannot let him go!"

  "Alas, I never intended to let him off! But he fell off his horse for no reason, probably because the Duke's spirit is showing its power, wanting to teach this unfilial son a lesson. The Duke had always doted on his eldest son, now that Zhao Jiong is crippled, his future is ruined, and he will suffer for the rest of his life. The Duke can be said to have vented his anger, yet he still spared Zhao Jiong's life, which shows that he still has familial affection. If I insisted on having Zhao Jiong killed, my heart would feel relieved, but what would the Duke's spirit think?"

  Zhang Chaoyi disagreed: "Sister is indeed thinking about how her brother-in-law thinks, but now that people are dead, what can be done? Zhao Jiong killed sister's child, and killing should be punished by death, it's only reasonable. Brother-in-law may not be willing, but he cannot go against the law! Moreover, nephew unfortunately encountered difficulties, more than half of which was caused by brother-in-law himself. If he didn't insist on making a fake eldest son as the heir, how could Zhao Jiong, as a younger son, surpass the legitimate mother and brother? If he followed the national law and the rules of propriety, letting nephew become the heir, then no matter how much Zhao Jiong schemed, he would not be able to become the Marquis of Southern Building."

  Zhang's head drooped slightly, his voice tinged with sadness: "Why do you also think this way? The Duke had thought it through, and since Zhao Jiong is incompetent, let him enjoy the title of Marquis in peace and prosperity. Ruo Er is intelligent, and his path to success is smooth, entering officialdom through the imperial examination, he can reach an even higher position. If he were to inherit the Wang Fu at a young age, it would not be good for him to take the imperial examination again, and it would be impossible for him to become a high-ranking official. The Duke did not want the title to hinder Ruo Er's career, so he made such arrangements."

  Zhang Chaoyi was not convinced: "Brother-in-law's arrangement is not a big mistake, but the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is easy to cause trouble. Zhao Kuang has grown so old that he already has grandchildren, brother-in-law has been at home for more than 20 years, can't he see that Zhao Kuang's character is unreliable? He is old, if he really wants his two sons to get along, he should have made some arrangements, or divided the family property in advance to avoid his nephew being taken advantage of, or asked the emperor to intervene and give his sister and nephew a shelter. Or arrange for the aftermath in advance, so as not to let the two families quarrel over where he was buried, and also gave Zhao Kuang an opportunity to harm your mother and son. But brother-in-law didn't make any arrangements, after he died, Zhao Kuang easily harmed you, isn't it his responsibility?"

  Mrs. Zhang listened, and couldn't help but feel a surge of sadness: "The old master had indeed made arrangements, he even mentioned it to me, only it hadn't been implemented yet. Although he was advanced in age, he had always been healthy and robust, who would have thought that he would suddenly...". She choked back a sob, lowered her head and wiped away tears: "It's not that he didn't have the intention, but rather that there wasn't enough time."

  Zhang Chaoyi furrowed his brow: "How could it be too late? Even if he had a relapse of an old illness, he should have had time to see his children one last time. It's said that the Emperor holds him in high esteem, surely he would come to visit him when he's ill? As long as he mentions a word to the Emperor, Zhao Jiong wouldn't dare act rashly!"

  Zhang shook his head and shed tears: "It's really too late, even if it's just half a day's work, when the palace receives the news, his body will be cold..."

  Zhang Chaoyi was shocked: "Could it be that when he was critically ill, his sister was too flustered and forgot to inform the palace?" This shouldn't be, with her personality, she shouldn't have made such a mistake.

  "Mr. Zhang was still grieving and did not answer the question, it was Wang Si Ping who answered on his behalf: 'Second Uncle, that day, the old lady was not at home, the pillar country general's mansion was celebrating the birthday of the old lady, the old lady took the second lady to celebrate, the second master also went out to meet friends, only the brother and sister were at home, they were all in the yard, taken care of by the wet nurse. That day, early in the morning, the Duke was still fine, he ate a big bowl of breakfast, practiced three rounds of boxing, there was no unusual sign, and he even instructed the old slave to check the accounts of the shops on the east side of the fourth floor, he wanted to review them at night. The old slave checked the accounts halfway, then heard that the Duke was not doing well, rushed to the main courtyard, and saw the Marquis and his wife crying over the body, saying that while talking, he suddenly fell down, no matter how they called him, he did not wake up, they invited Dr. Liu who was familiar with them to diagnose and treat him, but when Dr. Liu arrived, the Duke had already passed away. They cried together, in the chaos, they didn't even remember to go to the palace to report the death, it wasn't until the old slave arrived that he sent someone to ask the old lady and the second master to come back, and also reported the news to the palace.'"

  Zhang Chaoyi's eyebrows furrowed again, he looked at Zhang Shi and saw her nodding, so he knew that Wang Siping was telling the truth. But this "truth" couldn't help but make people think more: "What exactly did Dr. Liu say? Why did my brother-in-law suddenly faint? At that time, only Zhao Kuang and his wife were in front of him, was the illness really unrelated to them?"

  Zhang was stunned.