FID – Chapter 551

  Chapter 551: What a Damn Shame

  ”Yes, yes. We have wronged you. Let’s go back and I will give you marinated chicken feet!” Grandma Liu said to comfort him.

  Qian Wanjin froze from gnawing on his drumstick and negotiated with a smile, “Grandma, can you change to another dish?”

  He had been eating chicken feet in the Xinliu Manor for more than ten days. No matter how delicious they were, he has developed shadows from eating them.

  Now he would tremble at the mere mention of chicken feet!

  ”Don’t you like them?” Grandma Liu immediately showed a hurt expression.

  ”How could that be?! Grandma, the flavor of your chicken feet is the best in the world!” Qian Wanjin laughed and squeezed between Feng Qingbai and Liu Zhixia. “Feng Qingbai, Zhixia, and Qinglian, my good brothers! Good things should be shared together. Let’s eat together later!”

  Feng Qingbai and Liu Zhixia backed away. “Grandma made this specially to reward you. We won’t compete with you. Take your time eating.”

  Xue Qinglian stopped at a place far away from him. “I haven’t slept all day and night, so I’ll catch up on sleep when we get back. No need to leave something for me. I’ll find something else to eat when I wake up.”

  The little Emperor said, “Uncle Wanjin, I really want to share it with you, but it’s a pity that I can’t leave the palace.”

  ”…”

  The others all looked up at the sky, turning a blind eye to Qian Wanjin winks, calling for help.

  It was not that they were unwilling to help. They lived in the Xinliu Manor and they ate chicken feet three times a day. They were more stuffed with the dish than Qian Wanjin.

  They couldn’t help. 

  They sympathized but there was no way they would help.

  ”We heard the results of the matter that the Liu clan did not succeed in their calculations. Xiao Jinzi booked a table in the Wanjin Restaurant for everyone to celebrate. Let’s eat dinner there, and you can tell us the specific inside story while at it.” Shi Xianrou walked to Qian Wanjin’s side and laughed.

  ”That’s right, I’ve reserved a table, and I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” Qian Wanjin found an escape route and immediately grabbed hold of it. “Grandpa, grandma, go home and have a rest for now, and I will pick you up when the time comes! I’ll go back and make arrangements first!”

  After finishing speaking, he pulled Shi Xianrou forward and left. As for Xue Qinglian, he just threw him a glare.

  He lacked a sense of brotherhood. Ignore him!

  ”Okay, then let’s go back for a break. When I wake up, I’ll cook chicken feet for you and bring them to the restaurant!” Grandma Liu raised her voice and smiled.

  Qian Wanjin staggered, got into the carriage and let the horses gallop, looking like he was fleeing.

  After the carriage had gone far away, muffled laughter burst out from behind.

  Grandma Liu laughed as well and quipped, “That brat, did he think I don’t know he’s tired of eating chicken feet? I was just messing with him, but look how scared he was.”

  Liu Yusheng was about to collapse on Feng Qingbai from her laughter.

  Whenever her Grandma jokes, most people couldn’t afford to hurt her.

  Under Feng Mohan’s reluctant sight, the Liu family left the palace and returned to the Xinliu Manor.

  At the same time, the court trial in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was also spread throughout the capital at lightning speed.

  The city dwellers had been paying close attention to the dispute between the two Liu families. After the yamen pronounced the verdict that day, the Number One Scholar claimed that he would file a grievance to His Majesty, and the people were waiting.

  His Majesty personally judged and decided. The trial was held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the common people had no way to spectate. However, crowds have been squatting near the Liu residence and the Xinliu Manor since the morning, waiting to catch the news firsthand.

  In the early morning, the people from the Liu clan who went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony never made it back, but soldiers came and ransacked the manor.

  The result of the matter unfolded before their very eyes.

  The Liu clan was defeated, and there must be some major things in it that the commoners didn’t know yet.

  Otherwise, how did everything end up so seriously, enough to warrant a house search and seizure?

  The search and seizure of the residence this time was even more thorough than the Fu residence previously, plus the entire clan was sent into exile! Even the servants were not spared!

  As the people in the Xinliu Manor returned home, follow-up news of the incident continued to spread one after another.

  For example, the Liu clan forged their genealogy, deceived His Majesty, and committed the crime of deceiving the Emperor. The patriarch was sentenced to be beheaded.

  Another example, the two Lius were indeed a family, but the real main branch was the Little Liu family, while the Liu clan was the branch.

  All of a sudden, it created a lot of hot topics for people in the capital to talk about after dinner.

  With the defeat of the Liu clan, they also lost the title of being once the richest clan.

  After that day, the Qian family took advantage of the trend and became the richest family in Nanling.

  In fact, even without this incident, the Qians already deserved being at the top. Besides, their wealth has long surpassed that of the Liu clan. 

  There was also the Little Liu family, after this turmoil, they became famous in the capital.

  Someone immediately predicted that the Little Liu family would join the top elites in the capital in the future, and might even live above the current prestigious families. There was no other reason for this other than the presence of the Regent of the current dynasty and the Emperor standing behind them!

  After the storm and under the close watch of the people, there wasn’t much change in the Xinliu Manor. The owners of the house still acted in a low-profile manner. The manor was calm and peaceful.

  In Yunzhou, on the other hand, thousands of miles away, an uproar ensued because of those involved in the incident. You could also call it a pandemonium. 

  Among them, Hou Deye, the prefectural magistrate of Yunzhou, bore the brunt.

  Once the emperor’s sanctions came down, all the officials, high and low, who had dominated Yunzhou for many years were all dismissed. Every day, people came to his residence to lament and spill their grievances. They pinned all the blame on his head.

  In addition to the outsiders who came to make trouble, the members of his family also made rackets.

  As a prefectural magistrate, he could have been a local despot in Yunzhou as long as he did his job well and made no major mistakes. How grand was the Huo family in the past?

  However now, he was ridiculed everywhere he went, and he was no longer treated like before. His wife couldn’t stand the gap and tearfully complained to him every day.

  The imperial decree has been issued, so the former magistrate of the fourth rank was now a guard of the seventh rank, and to stand guard of a barren land in Guinan at that. What future was there to hold?

  Without prospects, of course nobody would flatter him anymore.

  ”My Lord, why did you do such a thing? That’s a capital felony of deceiving the Emperor. If investigated, you will be beheaded! How dare you have someone change the records! Look at what our family has become now? There are endless people coming to the door to make trouble day and night, moving and smashing things indiscriminately. I can’t stand this anymore!”

  ”My Lord, you should think of an escape quickly! How could Guinan be suitable for living? It’s said that people there are so poor that they even feed on tree barks! Don’t you have many friends in the imperial court, My Lord? Ask them for help and plead with His Majesty. Maybe there is room for change!”

  ”Enough! What are you lamenting for?! Shut up!” Looking around at his wife and concubines, Hou Deye looked sullen. He was already physically and mentally exhausted but couldn’t even have peace at home. The faces in front of him, which used to look pretty, made him sick. They all looked like debt collectors. “Think of an escape? If I can find a way, do you think I need you to teach me? Everyone is hitting me now that I’m down, so there’s no escape I can think of! Since you are my wife and concubines, you have to follow me even if it means eating tree bark!”

  Don’t even think of running away!

  The women in the hall glanced at each other, hiding their inner thoughts.

  Someone on the other side said cautiously, “My Lord, haven’t you been in touch with the magistrate of Xiangshan County in the past six months? Some time ago, his daughter asked this concubine to help her find a husband for her close friend. At that time, I had heard from her that her father had a very good friendship with the Liu family in Xinghua Village, and the Liu family had asked her father for a lot of favors. The Liu family has ties with the King of Nanling. Do you think this path can be taken?”