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The next day, the Lu family received news that Zhao Yutan had woken up in the morning. Lu Songli heard about it and decided to take her mother out for a stroll as the weather was clear.
Lately, due to the trouble caused by the Zhao family, her parents were both under a lot of pressure.
She wanted to take her mother out to relax, originally planning to bring her father along as well. However, when her father heard about going out for a walk, he quickly declined, saying he wanted to rest at home and spend time with his two precious yellow canaries.
Lu Songli understood the reluctance of men to accompany women on shopping trips and did not force him.
Initially, Madam Jiang was not keen on going out. There were many rumors circulating about their daughter and Zhao Yutan recently, and the people in the Lu Mansion were often pointed and talked about when they went out. Although she didn’t care much, she also wanted to avoid the gossip.
“Mother, don’t worry, I guarantee that few people will dare to talk about us today.” Lu Songli assured her.
After coming out, Madam Jiang indeed did not feel the same oppressive atmosphere as before. She nodded to Lu Songli, “It’s much better now.”
“Exactly.” She knew it would be like this. Yesterday, the Zhao Mansion was in chaos, and after the incident of the Chang’an Mansion arresting people yesterday, even the common people fell silent. The previous rumors about them falling into the water were no longer mentioned, and today’s Chang’an City was much quieter.
Feeling better, Madam Jiang thought of going shopping.
After strolling through three streets, visiting various old shops and lively new stores, they bought a lot of things for themselves and their family.
Madam Jiang finally had a great time having a floral trailing skirt made for Lu Songli to wear next spring at the Jinxiu Pavilion. After they left the Jinxiu Pavilion, they saw the Sanweixuan not far away and decided to rest there and have something to eat.
Just then, a commotion came from the end of the street where they were, accompanied by screams and the sound of hooves.
“Make way!”
“Child, my child, help!”
“Lie down, quickly lie down!”
“My lychees! They’re ruined, all ruined!”
“Don’t step on it, my steamed buns!”
Someone was riding a horse on the street? Realizing this, Lu Songli quickly pulled her mother to the side to stand.
Just as they stood still, they saw a person riding a horse rushing from the end of the street.
Lu Songli stared closely at the rider. This person was so arrogant, riding a horse on the street, causing such chaos without slowing down at all. It was clear that he didn’t care about ordinary people at all.
As if sensing her gaze, the person looked straight at her, and upon seeing her face, his eyes narrowed slightly, with a hint of coldness and sharpness in them.
“Isn’t that Zhao Silang?” Madam Jiang frowned and whispered.
Lu Songli raised an eyebrow. Zhao Silang, Zhao Bin, Zhao Yutan’s brother?
Just then, a three or four-year-old child with short legs crossed the street, heading towards a thin man carrying a basket on the other side, shouting, “Father!”
Upon seeing this scene, the man was horrified and exclaimed, “Child, don’t come over!”
Others who witnessed this scene had only one thought in their minds, and that was it. The horse was just a stone’s throw away from the child, with only two body lengths between them. In the blink of an eye, it seemed that the child was about to meet his end under the hooves of the horse.
At the critical moment, a person suddenly flew down from the second floor of Sanwei Pavilion, kicking Zhao Silang off the horse with a direct kick. Then, leveraging the reactive force, he rolled and skillfully mounted the horse. The horse, startled, neighed and moved forward, but in the next instant, he tightly held the reins, causing the horse to rear up in pain, raising its front hooves high.
At that moment, another man rushed out, grabbed the child who was petrified under the horse’s hooves, rolled with him, and successfully rescued the child from danger. He then handed the child in his arms to his father.
Lu Songli had keen eyes and immediately recognized the person controlling the horse as Qin Sheng, and the person rescuing as Qin Heng. The two brothers cooperated seamlessly and were able to rescue the child from under the horse’s hooves at the critical moment.
“It’s the Marquis of Pingxi’s son and Young Master Qin!” Someone recognized the identities of the Qin brothers. Although they were not familiar with the Marquis of Pingxi’s son, Qin Heng, Qin Sheng often appeared in Chang’an City and was known by many.
Moreover, the Qin family had been guarding the borders of Da Li for generations, earning the respect and support of the people.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Zhao Bin, who was kicked off the horse by Qin Sheng, walked towards him with a gloomy face, pointing at him with a horse whip and questioning, “Qin Sheng, what is your intention?”
Qin Sheng was not afraid, “You rode a horse on the street, almost causing a loss of life. Do you have the audacity to question others?”
Zhao Bin scanned the surroundings and sneered, “I have urgent official business to attend to, and I have been loudly ordering bystanders to make way…”
His implication was that he had shouted a few times, fulfilling his responsibility, and whether they moved out of the way was their own fate.
The onlookers dared not speak out in anger. Your horse was riding so fast, thinking that shouting a few times would be enough? Everyone couldn’t react in time!
The disdainful looks from these people made him very uncomfortable. He swung his whip in an attempt to intimidate the commoners.
However, as soon as he swung his whip, it was grabbed by someone. Zhao Bin couldn’t pull it back, and he looked at Qin Sheng with hostility, “Qin Sheng, believe it or not, I will charge you with obstructing official duties later!”
Lu Songli watched from the side and felt anxious for him. Was Qin Sheng a bit foolish? Why argue with him and reveal his identity!
Forget it, she’ll handle this!
“Zhao Bin, you better have an urgent official business worth a hundred thousand, otherwise, the losses and grievances caused by your street riding, I don’t know if your Zhao family and your peak can handle it!” Adding fuel to the fire and kicking someone when they’re down, she was an expert at it. When dealing with enemies, if there’s an opportunity, you have to take it and go all out.
As soon as Lu Songli exposed Zhao Bin’s identity, the commoners instantly reacted.
“Zhao Bin, from the Zhao family, is it the Zhao family of the Minister of Rites?”
“It should be.”
“It sounds familiar. Isn’t his younger sister the one who fell into the lake while admiring flowers a few days ago and was saved by her best friend’s fiancé, and then she clung to that Zhao family?”
“Yes, yes, they are from the same Zhao family, are they siblings?”
“They should be siblings, one lascivious and the other arrogant, a nest of vipers.”
“No wonder.”
These whispers made Zhao Bin feel annoyed.
Zhao Bin turned around, his eagle-like eyes scanning the voices accurately, landing on Lu Songli coldly, “Lu Songli, you are – fine.”
“Of course, I am fine.” Lu Songli was not afraid of him, met his gaze, and took two steps forward.
She was gambling that his official business was not as urgent as he claimed, betting that he was simply holding a chicken feather as a token of authority, feeling frustrated and wanting to vent his anger on the common people.
“Lu Songli, this name sounds familiar.”
“Of course it sounds familiar, she fell into the water with Miss Zhao.”
“Is her father an imperial censor, the bad one?”
“Bad censor? What did he do?”
“He was the one who reported Wang Haiqing and Wang Qingtian and got them demoted.”
“But, the corrupt official Zou? was arrested, and it was also him who collected evidence and brought him down.”
As they spoke, even the common people themselves were confused. This Imperial Censor Lu accused both good and bad officials. So, is he a good official or a bad official?
In ancient times, the cognition instilled in the common people was that things were either black or white, that there were no gray areas, and that people were either good or bad, with no in-between.