The manuscript written by Shen Qingfeng was quickly delivered to Shen Shiqiu by the guards of the Shen family. As Shen Qingfeng's fiancé, Shen Shiqiu naturally couldn't sit idly by. Not long ago, he had just received news from Shi Hanqiu that Shen Qingfeng had been arranged by the king to enter the Wenshu Pavilion. With these two events overlapping, Shen Shiqiu, who had been busy in the prime minister's mansion, finally couldn't sit still. After learning the ins and outs of the matter, he handed over all his official duties to the deputy prime minister, Zou Han, and immediately returned to the Shen Mansion.
It was already late at night when he got home. As soon as he stepped into the mansion, he bumped right into Shen Qingfeng. Both of them were startled. When Shen Qingfeng saw clearly that it was his own father, he quickly asked, "Father, do you have any news from the palace?"
Seeing that Shen Qingfeng was extremely worried, Shen Shiqiu got even angrier. He directly dragged Shen Qingfeng into the room and scolded, "What were you doing in the palace! I've told you many times that Xia Yanhe is a madman. None of those people from the Xia family are normal! The more you associate with them, the more trouble you'll get into!"
Shen Qingfeng forced out a few laughs. Today's incident did make him feel disgusted, but after all, the matter was already over. As someone who would settle scores later, he didn't intend to worry about it at this moment.
"Don't worry, Father. I'm fine," Shen Qingfeng said, and even made a funny face at Shen Shiqiu.
Shen Shiqiu spat and said, "If the Marquis of Dingbei hadn't arrived in time, do you know what would have happened! You stay at home obediently now. I'm going to ask the king for an explanation right away!" Just as he said this, Shen Shiqiu suddenly thought of something and asked again, "Why did the king suddenly confer an official position on you?"
Shen Qingfeng didn't tell the truth. "Maybe he thought I was too idle?"
"Why would the king care about you for no reason?" Shen Shiqiu raised his eyebrows.
Shen Qingfeng thought for a while, coughed, and said, "Maybe he wanted to remove me from the position of the crown prince's tutor. After all, the king doesn't know about my... relationship with Lu Yan yet."
Shen Shiqiu was stunned for a moment. Thinking about it this way, it made sense, so he didn't think much about it. However, his son had been insulted, and Shen Shiqiu was determined to go to the Shanhe Hall to ask for an explanation. Shen Qingfeng knew that even if Shen Shiqiu went, at most he would just be met with the King Xia Jie's evasions. It would be better to talk about something practical. "Father, how is Lu Yan? Have you heard anything?"
Shen Shiqiu was so angry that his face turned green. He slapped the table and cursed, "I heard that although the king didn't punish the Marquis of Dingbei, he just fined him his salary. He only gave Xia Yanhe a verbal warning and didn't take any substantial punitive measures."
Shen Qingfeng said, "After all, the king is partial to Xia Yanhe. It's already good that he didn't convict Lu Yan."
Shen Shiqiu blew his beard and glared. "Feng'er! How can you think like this! What a crazy thing that beast Xia Yanhe did! No, I must get an explanation for this!" Shen Shiqiu was so angry that he stamped his foot hard. He turned around, put the official hat he had just taken off back on his head, and walked out of the door.
"Hey! Father!" Shen Qingfeng chased after him, but heard Shen Shiqiu shouting from afar, "Don't stop your father. I have to go about this!"
Shen Shiqiu walked with a brisk step, looking imposing. Thinking that his father was going to stand up for him, Shen Qingfeng felt even warmer inside.
Shen Shiqiu's figure was stretched very long. In the distance, it was as if a colorful glaze altar had been knocked over by a playful child, spilling half of the sky red. The glow was overflowing.
Shen Qingfeng stood in front of the door, making a trumpet shape with one hand and putting it to his mouth. He shouted loudly, "Father, come back early!"
"Got it!"
Tomorrow was the sacrifice at the Golden Summit Temple. Shen Yu would surely be busy arranging things in the palace all night. Shen Shiqiu entered the Shanhe Hall when there was still a trace of color left in the sky. He sobbed and complained to King Xia Jie, saying things like "My son's innocence is gone" and "My son's reputation for the rest of his life is ruined." His words made King Xia Jie annoyed.
Actually, it was Xia Yanhe who had offended first, so King Xia Jie was in the wrong. Moreover, although Lu Yan had beaten Xia Yanhe up, although he looked very miserable, Lu Yan's punches were all aimed at his face. It was more like he was scared fainted than beaten unconscious. After the imperial doctor applied some medicine, he said there was nothing serious. So King Xia Jie had no excuse. Since Shen Shiqiu, a high - ranking court official, was crying and complaining in the hall, he couldn't drive him out. So he had to grant Shen Shiqiu's wish and put Xia Yanhe under house arrest for half a month.
This incident could be considered to have come to an end.
But Shen Qingfeng knew that things weren't that simple. When the incident happened, Cang Hui had witnessed everything from the side. What exactly did he tell Xia Yonglin? What would Xia Yonglin think? Would King Xia Jie make a big deal out of this incident?
Shen Qingfeng didn't know. After all, many things had changed in this life. Now he could only face problems as they came.
Before that, he must arm himself well, because after all, reality always lies on the tip of the sword.
Not long after, it got even darker. Shen Qingfeng huddled in his room, quietly waiting.
Just as he finished drinking the tea in his cup, there were three knocks on the door.
Shen Qingfeng gently put down the tea bowl and said, "Come in."
Creak—
It wasn't anyone else who pushed the door open, but Rong Liu, looking dusty.
Rong Liu respectfully bowed to Shen Qingfeng and said, "Young master."
Shen Qingfeng responded, signaling him to continue.
Rong Liu understood and lowered his voice. He whispered, "Young master, I've searched all the villages at the foot of the Three Holy Mountains according to the location you pointed out to me, but I didn't see any imprisoned people."
Shen Qingfeng was stunned. "Are you sure there aren't any?"
Rong Liu nodded. "That village has been the place where people have lived for generations. Most of the houses are bungalows. Because of the geological conditions, there is a lot of sand and the soil is soft, so there are no basements or anything like that."
Shen Qingfeng frowned. He curled his index finger and tapped the table a few times with the first knuckle. He said in a deep voice, "It shouldn't be. Did you search a wider area?"
Rong Liu shook his head. "The Three Holy Mountains are very steep. The only place around with flowing water suitable for living is that village. There are no other settlements of common people in other places."
The more Shen Qingfeng thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Actually, he had sent Rong Liu to look for Xiang Cheng. As the deputy leader of the Listening Wind Pavilion in his previous life, Xiang Cheng was the only one in the entire Listening Wind Pavilion who was completely loyal to Shen Qingfeng. Unfortunately, later he was ordered to be executed by Xia Chuli to protect the Shen family and died miserably in the palace.
In his previous life, Shen Qingfeng had first met Xiang Cheng on the Three Holy Mountains. It was the nineteenth year of Qingfeng, which was next year. It was also the last Golden Summit sacrifice during King Xia Jie's reign. That year, perhaps there were omens. There was an earthquake in Lige before the sacrifice. King Xia Jie had been ill in bed for more than a month, so he was scared and advanced the date of the sacrifice. At that time, Shen Qingfeng and Xia Chuli had gone to the Golden Summit Temple on the Three Holy Mountains with the others. But on the way, he was framed and fell off a cliff. After being unconscious for a day, when he opened his eyes, he saw Xiang Cheng covered in blood.
At that time, there wasn't a single piece of intact skin on Xiang Cheng's body. He could hardly be considered a human being. His fingernails were as long as those of a wild beast, and his body was covered with wounds of different sizes. He made some sounds that were different from human language, crazy and blood - thirsty, and he didn't understand human nature.
Although Xiang Cheng had no human consciousness, he didn't intend to do anything to Shen Qingfeng. He didn't know where he had found Shen Qingfeng and took him back to the village at the foot of the Three Holy Mountains. He threw him into a firewood shed, and at night he even caught dead mice and threw them to Shen Qingfeng, who couldn't move, to eat.
But it wasn't until Xia Chuli led people to find Shen Qingfeng that he knew that Xiang Cheng had killed all the people in the whole village, but he hadn't touched Shen Qingfeng.
Out of curiosity, he pleaded with Xia Chuli to keep Xiang Cheng and secretly took him back to the Eastern Palace.
After Yu Shuang's examination, it was found that there was a kind of poison on his body that could drive people crazy. Yu Shuang drained his blood and scraped his bones. After more than a month of treatment back and forth, Xiang Cheng gradually regained his consciousness.
According to his later recollection, his memory when he was controlled by the drug was already very vague. He only remembered that he had never left the Three Holy Mountains. Someone had chained him up, and there were many people around, always watching him.
Some were laughing at him, some were pitying him.
The scene became more and more strange. When his anger had been suppressed for long enough, the ground suddenly trembled. The earthquake shook the chain that was binding him, and he escaped and killed all the people in the village.
After that, Xiang Cheng followed Shen Qingfeng whole - heartedly. Because he was highly skilled in martial arts and naturally very strong, and Shen Qingfeng saw that he performed well, he promoted him to the deputy leader of the Listening Wind Pavilion. Of course, this was all in the future. Now he was supposed to rescue Xiang Cheng first, but he had searched according to the place Xiang Cheng had described back then, but he hadn't found him?
Shen Qingfeng thought for a while and said, "Okay, I understand. You can go down first."
Rong Liu nodded and bowed as he walked out.
Could the reason for not finding him be Rong Liu's negligence? Although Rong Liu was also good at martial arts, after all, he wasn't a secret guard or an assassin. Maybe it would be better to send Yu Shuang to investigate later?
Shen Qingfeng pinched his chin and thought. His eyebrows were tightly knitted. Lost in thought, he didn't notice that the window of the room was slowly opened by someone. A black figure suddenly flashed into the room and rushed straight towards where Shen Qingfeng was sitting.
When Shen Qingfeng noticed the papers on the table being fluttered by the gentle breeze, the latter was already approaching him. Shen Qingfeng suddenly looked up, but his hand was grabbed by the person at this moment.
"I'm here, Qingfeng," Lu Yan looked down at him and smiled brightly.