Chapter 17: The Slander of Small Men

  The one who was rescued is Akane Aoi.

  Zhang's family, with the support of Yan Xia, got off the horse and hurriedly greeted the returning guards of Guangping King. As soon as she saw a woman in her early twenties, tall and thin, lying on the back of a guard, drenched from head to toe, she recognized that it was her long-lost maid Autumn Leaf.

  Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf were the top two maids serving by Zhang Shi's side, besides them there were only two more. However, after Old Master Guo passed away, the younger branch of the family rose to power, and this line was forced to move to the old courtyard. The other two clever maids took the opportunity to switch jobs. Zhang Shi thought that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep people's hearts, so she didn't bother to argue with them and instead trusted Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf even more. Compared to Autumn Leaf who was bought from outside, Spring Grass was a native-born servant, many of her family members were serving by Zhang Shi and Zhao Zhuo's side, and she herself was clever and capable, therefore she was used more often. Autumn Leaf had always been a honest and quiet person, not fond of seeking attention, so it was easier for her to be overlooked. It wasn't until after the shipwreck rescue that Zhang Shi suddenly realized she had neglected Autumn Leaf too much in the past, but when danger came, Autumn Leaf proved to be loyal and reliable.

  Akiha was rescued safely, and Zhang's heart was truly delighted. She solemnly informed the people of Guangping Wangfu that Akiha was not only her loyal servant but also the savior of her and her grandson. Despite being exhausted, she insisted on searching for Zhao Zhuo's couple, who had gone missing, and asked them to rescue her. The Guangping Wang couple heard that Akiha was a loyal servant and respectfully paid their respects. They personally ordered Jiang Taishi to diagnose and treat Akiha.

  The fallen leaves were not seriously injured, and it was said that she was exhausted and unable to hold on, washed by the river water to the edge of the shoal, and only fainted. Because she was stuck between several stones, the guards of the Wangfu did not find her when they searched for the first time, until the guard who carried her back stood on high ground and looked around, saw her, and immediately rescued her. If it had been a little later, perhaps the river water would have risen with the tide and drowned her, and even gods would not have been able to save her.

  Yanxia changed into a clean set of clothes for Autumn Leaf and settled her in a tent. Madame Zhang stayed by her side, seeing that her complexion was pale and she didn't wake up for a long time, feeling very anxious in her heart. Jiang Taishou gave her an injection, letting Autumn Leaf temporarily wake up for a while. She saw Madame Zhang, and the first thing she said was: "Madame, I wasn't able to save Second Master and Second Mistress, I'm sorry..."

  Mrs. Zhang burst into tears, choking with sobs: "Good child, you've suffered so much, I know, I know!" She trembled as she gently stroked Akira's cheek: "Rest well now, I still need you by my side." Akira forced a weak smile before falling asleep again.

  Zhao stayed in the carriage, taking care of her little brother Zhao Wei. She heard that someone had been rescued and was eager to know who it was, but unfortunately, her grandmother wouldn't let her go with them. Later, news came that the person who had been rescued was a maid named Qiuye, and she felt a bit happy about it. Thinking back to last night's situation, Qiuye seemed young and strong, and good at swimming. Although rescuing people repeatedly was extremely exhausting, the possibility of surviving was also greater. However, now that Qiuye had been rescued, what about Nainai Zhenzhu? Zhenzhu didn't know how to swim originally, but last night she learned a bit in a rush, clinging to a wooden board and managed to stay afloat on the river surface for quite some time. Zhao only saw her being hit by the boat paddles of Jiangnan Hou's ship and sinking into the water, but in the darkness, maybe she also had hope of being rescued? After all, she was still relatively close to the shore at that time.

  It's the whereabouts of Zhao's parents, who are still unknown to this day, that make his thoughts more pessimistic. Not to mention that at the time, Father Zhao Zhuo was so ill that he didn't even have the strength to swim, and Mother Mi didn't know how to swim either, nor did she know if there were any servants who could save her. But at the time, she was holding onto little brother Zhao Wei when they fell into the water, so it's likely that mother and son were together. Autumn Leaf rescued Zhao Wei and sent him to his grandmother's side, so shouldn't he have seen her? At the time, no one rescued her, nor did anyone mention her... could it be that she had already sunk to the bottom of the water?

  Zhao's heart felt increasingly sorrowful, and suddenly she heard the little brother softly moaning. She hurried over to take a look, but found that he was just murmuring a few words in his sleep, and soon fell asleep again. She stretched out her small hands to tuck him in, then sat down beside him, lost in thought once more.

  Before long, the smoke and mist accompanied Zhang's family onto the carriage. Zhao helped lift up the curtain and saw that Zhang's eyes were tightly closed, her movements weak, as if she was about to faint at any moment. He immediately became worried: "Grandmother, what's wrong?"

  Mrs. Zhang sat down suddenly, closed her eyes and wept silently. Zhao Yu saw this and became even more worried. Yanxia comforted her in a soft voice, "Don't worry, Old Madam is just worried about Autumn Leaf. Dr. Jiang said she's fine, just exhausted." Only then did Zhao Yu feel slightly reassured. She carefully approached her grandmother and, seeing that the latter didn't stop her, leaned against her gently.

  Zhang's eyelids fluttered slightly as she wrapped her arms around her granddaughter Xiao Xiao, holding her tighter and tighter, tears falling once again.

  At this time, the guard who rescued Akane reported to Hiroo: "Two people were found on the beach, one was that girl, and the other was... Zhao Laojun Gong's second son Zhao Zhuo, who had been dead for a long time."

  The King of Guangping sat up straight: "Is it really him? You didn't mistake?"

  The guard shook his head: "When the old duke held a funeral, the emperor led the princes to pay their respects in person. At that time, Your Highness had brought subordinates with him, and I was one of them. I have seen Zhao's second master with my own eyes, although he looks thinner than before, but his appearance will not be mistaken. Looking at the situation, it should be that girl who brought Zhao's second master's body to try to swim ashore, but she couldn't hold on and was washed up by the waves onto the beach. It's only a few miles away from the sunken ship, and it's actually quite close to where Jian Nan Hou and his party anchored their boat. Fortunately, they were washed behind a pile of rocks, blocking their figures, otherwise, they would have been hard to escape the poisonous hands."

  The King of Guangping remained silent.

  The fleet of ships belonging to the Duke of Jianan has already left its original location, reportedly to rush back home, not even waiting for the two servants who were ordered to silence them to return and report back, leaving only a few people to clean up. But how can this matter be cleaned up? The entire ship's worth of people have disappeared, including his stepmother, brothers, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, and a large group of family slaves and servants - how will he explain their whereabouts? Duke Jianan Zhao Jiong is even more foolish than he imagined.

  The gentle voice of the Guangping Princess, who had been quietly listening by his side, advised him: "Now that things have come to this point, let's first have someone collect the bodies of the deceased. No matter what Jian Nan Hou did, Your Highness only needs to report it to the Emperor and let the Emperor decide. Since it involves the succession of the Zhao old Duke, the Emperor will surely handle it fairly."

  The King of Guangping sighed: "Now that things have come to this point, there is no other way."

  Zhao Jiong is dead, his only son is only five years old and is currently ill, unconscious and unresponsive. If something unexpected happens, Zhao Jiong's branch will become the only descendant of the old Duke of Zhao. Even if Zhao Jiong commits a heinous crime, the Emperor must have some leniency. Thinking this way, the King of Guangping couldn't help but feel sympathy for Zhang Shi and her son.

  He instructed the queen: "Don't tell Old Madam about this for now, wait until she's feeling a bit better and then break it to her gently, don't let her get too heartbroken. And as for the two children, you should also pay more attention to them."

  The Princess of Guangping smiled and replied: "Don't worry, Master Jiang said that as long as the old lady and young master Zhao are well taken care of, they will slowly recover. It's just that their little granddaughter is lively and clever, she gets along extremely well with our Zhen'er, let the two children keep each other company, it can also help alleviate the pain of losing a loved one."

  The King of Guangping nodded and ordered his subordinates: "Try to salvage all the bodies of those who have met with disaster, and... bring me all the people from the Jian Nan Hou Fu who stayed behind to clean up!"

  Zhao Kuai left seven people, led by the steward Wang Siping. He brought four male servants and two women to take care of the aftermath, which was to collect the bodies and then send the "deceased" Zhang Shi, Zhao Jiong, Mi Shi, etc. back to their hometown in Fengxian. The remaining servants were buried on the spot. As for those who had been sent out earlier to silence people, they were arranged to go to the Hou Mansion's estate in Shandong after returning to report, to hide for a while until the storm passed, and then return to Beijing to serve again.

  They are now located in Liulin Town, north of Linqing, Shandong Province. The Hou Mansion's estate is in Gaotang County, adjacent to Linqing, not far away, and it would take only a day or two for a horse-drawn carriage to make a round trip. When the guards of the Guangping King captured Wang Siping, he had already ordered his two servants to drive a cart carrying several corpses of family members and maidservants to the estate.

  Although Master Hou had ordered that the deceased servants be buried on the spot, Wang Si Ping thought it over and realized that many of them were born into servitude or had relatives still working in the mansion. They had names, surnames, and a history, so hastily burying them seemed too heartless. If their relatives found out, they would be furious, and even if they didn't dare blame Master Hou, they would hate Wang Si Ping, the head steward. It was better to transport all of them to the countryside for burial, so that in the future, their relatives could visit their graves to pay respects. Wang Si Ping instructed his men to leave early and return quickly, while he temporarily stayed behind to wait for his subordinates to find the bodies of Zhang Shi and Zhao Zhuo before catching up with the main group.

  Wang Siping did not know that this moment of kindness would end up saving his life.

  When he was caught and brought before the Guangping King, he had already fainted. As the chief steward of the Jian Nan Hou Mansion, his eyesight was not ordinary, and at the time of the Duke's funeral, the Emperor personally came to pay his respects, so he naturally recognized the Guangping King, this imperial son deeply favored by the Emperor. The first thing that came into his mind was "The young master is in trouble", and then, with the support of a maid, Zhang Shi entered the tent, and he was even more like seeing a ghost, collapsing to the ground.

  However, he was also a seasoned person and soon chose the most beneficial approach for himself, telling everything he knew.

  "In the evening, Master Hou heard that Second Master was seasick and unwell, but he didn't allow the boat to stop for the night. It seemed intentional. Master Hou said that Second Master should suffer a bit more."

  "The old lady and the second master and mistress's boat was stabbed at the bottom, it really wasn't Young Master's doing, at least he never mentioned it in front of me. Not to deceive Your Majesty and the old lady, Young Master rarely has anything that he would hide from me. The people on the old lady's boat were shouting that the water was coming in through the bottom and they were about to sink, Young Master was worried because of the wind and rain, afraid that his own boat would also sink, so he had them speed up and head for shore to escape. At the time, he really didn't think about rescuing anyone, just thinking of saving himself first."

  "After the young master ordered the boat to dock and found nothing unusual at the bottom, he thought of Old Madame and Second Master and became somewhat flustered. If it were true that Old Madame's boat had sunk and people knew he didn't try to save her, a complaint would be filed with the Emperor and he wouldn't be able to escape the crime of being unfilial and disobedient. At this time, someone floated down from upstream, begging for help, and the old slave recognized it was the wet nurse of Second Master's eldest daughter. The young master immediately ordered people to beat her back into the water, not allowing her to be rescued, fearing that she would leak out the news."

  The wet nurse quickly sank into the water, and the old slave was somewhat afraid afterwards. He advised Master Hou that there were over a hundred people on several boats, and even though it was windy and rainy last night, most of them hid in the cabins and might not have seen what happened on the river. However, someone must have seen something. Moreover, since the wet nurse could escape safely, there must be others who survived. Master Hou wanted to conceal the truth from the world, but how easy would that be? It's better to make amends early and rescue a few people back, which can also serve as an explanation. Just say that the wind and rain were too strong, and the rescue was not in time, so others won't blame you excessively. Unexpectedly, some villainous person spread rumors that the boat had already sunk, and now rescuing people would be useless. Those who survived will definitely harbor resentment towards Master Hou, even if they express gratitude on the surface; they will surely take revenge in the future. Master Hou immediately changed his expression and ordered people to search along the shore. Those people were all armed, but they didn't bring back a single living person or a corpse.

  Zhang's face turned red with rage, and he couldn't utter a single word. But Guangping King discerned a few clues: "You said there was someone slandering? Who is this person?"