Chapter 76: Severing His Hand

The direct daughter of the Minister of Revenue, Miss Xue, was betrothed to the King Xuan as a concubine.

As soon as the news came out, half of the noble ladies in the capital were shocked.

It was inevitable that they would gossip during gatherings.

“Why would it be her?”

“Yeah, what makes Xue Qingyin qualified?”

“…Maybe her looks?”

“Nonsense! How could His Highness King Xuan only care about appearances and not her character and personality?”

“What about Miss Lu?” Someone suddenly asked.

“What? What does it have to do with Miss Lu?”

“Don’t you know? I heard she was supposed to be the King Xuan’s wife.”

“Shh, is Miss Lu here today?”

“No.”

“Maybe the imperial decree for the Lu family hasn’t come yet?”

“First issuing a decree for a concubine, then a decree for the main wife, that order doesn’t seem right.”

At the Lu Mansion, the conversation was pretty much the same.

Madam Lu’s brows were knotted together, and she murmured, “How could this be? How could this be?”

Lu Shuyi’s face was also very ugly.

She had been waiting until this age because she was always preparing for the position of King Xuan’s wife.

Her father had also said that the Emperor had hinted to him that he wanted to marry her to King Xuan.

On the day of the lake outing, he even told her to dress up carefully.

Why, in the blink of an eye, did she only receive this outcome?

Madam Lu asked desperately, “Is there really no news at all?”

Minister Lu looked serious and said, “No. I doubt there will be any later. Think about how the imperial decree was worded? ‘With the rites of a main wife.’ Doesn’t that mean that King Xuan won’t be choosing a main wife anymore? At least not for two or three years.”

The rites of a main wife.

The rites of a main wife!

Lu Shuyi felt like something that belonged to her had been snatched away. Every word on that imperial decree was mocking her.

Then she thought back to the banquet that day, when the three of them were called out by the Emperor.

The other two had been betrothed to the King Wei, but she had been left behind!

Lu Shuyi felt even more embarrassed.

“Husband, why don’t you ask the Emperor?” Madam Lu said anxiously.

Minister Lu rebuked her, “How dare we ask the Emperor about this? It’s a blessing to be chosen by the Emperor. If we don’t have this blessing, would you dare to hold a grudge against the Emperor?”

Madam Lu trembled, “But, but we can’t let Yi’er become the laughingstock of the city.”

These words pierced Lu Shuyi’s heart.

The Lu family waited in vain for a whole day, but they didn’t get the imperial decree.

On the other side, at the King Wei’s Mansion.

King Wei was still recovering from his injuries.

When he suddenly heard this news while recovering, he immediately knocked over the bird’s nest soup that the maid brought him.

King Wei grabbed the bedpost with one hand, squeezing the wood until it creaked.

He had never so strongly desired to sit on his father’s throne!

King Wei became increasingly agitated, muttering, “Go and call Manager Jiang.”

The servant replied, “Your Highness, Manager Jiang left early this morning, and we don’t know where he is.”

King Wei frowned and punched the bedpost.

When he retracted his hand, the skin had been scraped off, and blood beads seeped out.

King Wei didn’t care at all, he just angrily shouted, “Immediately bring people to find him and bring him back!”

In a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city.

A man dressed in silk lay prostrate on the ground, making noises like a broken bellows, “Save, save me… I am… I am from the King Wei’s Mansion…”

The temple was already sparsely populated, and no one noticed him.

He could only struggle to crawl towards the outside.

Yes, crawl, even if his face and body were covered in dust, he didn’t care.

He raised his head with difficulty, his gaze passing over the dilapidated threshold, but he couldn’t find anyone, so he finally fell back on his hands.

His hands were like they had been scalded with boiling water and then hit against filth. Large blisters were red and green. Some had burst, covered in filth, and emitted a pungent odor.

It hurt just to touch them.

Until dusk.

Just when he was terrified that he would die in the temple.

“Uncle Jiang(Master Jiang)?” A voice rang out, it was someone from the King Wei’s Mansion.

“Here! I’m here!”

The servants from the mansion who came to look for him quickly entered the temple, and then were shocked by the sight of Manager Jiang.

“Whoa, what’s that smell?”

“Master Jiang, what happened to you?”

“Ah, pain, pain! Don’t touch my hands! You fools!” Manager Jiang roared in pain.

“Master Jiang, what happened?”

Manager Jiang felt ashamed and refused to say anything.

King Wei liked beautiful women, and his subordinates naturally picked up the same taste. But Manager Jiang was especially different, he preferred married women.

Today, he met a beautiful woman on his way out of the mansion, and he wanted to trick her into going to the suburbs to do something.

He did trick her into going to the suburbs, but who knew that the woman’s husband was a strong, healthy man who carried a load of glutinous rice balls for sale. The water in the stove was boiling, and it all splashed onto his arm.

During the struggle, the man also pushed him into a dungheap.

Manager Jiang shouted the name “King Wei’s Mansion,” but the man was not afraid at all, and he said repeatedly that he would go to the door of the King Wei’s Mansion to throw dung, because he had nothing to lose.

Manager Jiang gritted his teeth and gave up the silver on his body. The man took the silver and threw him in the temple, leaving the load behind, and ran away with his wife.

Manager Jiang secretly gnashed his teeth, thinking that when he got back, he would have the prince take revenge for him.

Just say he was robbed.

Thinking this way, Manager Jiang managed to squeeze out a smile.

Several servants held their noses, enduring the smell and carried him back to the mansion.

Manager Jiang said, “I want to see the prince.”

A soldier came towards him and shook his head, “The prince said, first give you a few slaps, then you can see him.”

Manager Jiang was dumbfounded.

Why did he get beaten even when he came back?

He didn’t know that King Wei had been slapped a few times in the palace, so he had to be slapped twice as many times. Otherwise, where would King Wei vent his anger?

In the back garden of the King Wei’s Mansion, a pig-slaughtering-like cry echoed through the sky.

After the beating, Manager Jiang fainted.

In his hazy state, he heard a doctor come to see him. The doctor took one look and said, “There’s no saving him. These hands, maybe cutting them off can save his life.”

Manager Jiang never imagined that he, who had been successful for decades, would start to have bad luck today!

He opened his mouth, wanting to shout “No, don’t cut off my hands!”

But his throat felt like a piece of hot iron was stuck in it, and he couldn’t say anything.

…

At this time, the atmosphere in the Xu family’s house in the north of the city was a little tense.

After a while, Xu Qi’s voice finally rang out, “Are we about to become… relatives of the emperor?”

Lady Xue turned around and glared at him, “What kind of relatives of the emperor are we?”

Xu Qi said weakly, “We can’t let the Xue family take advantage of this. Anyway, the Xue family hasn’t been good to you and Qingyin.”

Lady Xue coldly said, “Yes, I’m going to divorce Xue Chengdong.”

Xu Qi said awkwardly, “Look what you’re saying!”

Lady Xue said, “I’m not saying anything wrong.”

Now, anyone with eyes could see that Lady Xue was angry.

The Xu family couldn’t figure it out. This was great news! It was even more important than when Lady Xue married Xue Chengdong! Why wasn’t she happy? Why shouldn’t we be happy?

Xue Qingyin had already returned to the Xu family. She put down the imperial decree and walked forward, hugging Lady Xue’s arm, “Mother, are you angry with me?”

Lady Xue choked back a sob, “No, I’m angry with myself. I’m thinking, is it because I’m not a good enough mother that you’ve grown up so quickly and are thinking about protecting me? Are you afraid that your father and I will be difficult? So, so you…”

Xue Qingyin burst out laughing, “Mother, where did you get that idea? If I didn’t want to, who could force me?”

Before she could finish speaking.

A servant of the Xu family carefully poked his head in and said, “The carriage from last time is here again, and it’s still looking for Miss Qingyin.”

Lady Xue reacted quickly, “Is it King Xuan? You went out in the middle of the night that day, saying you were dealing with the silk shop, I knew something was wrong!”

The Xu family was shocked and dumbfounded, “His Highness King Xuan… His Highness King Xuan came to the door… What should we do? What should we do?”

Xu Qi wished he could kneel down to Lady Xue, “Sister, don’t say anything stupid later! You can’t offend His Highness King Xuan!”

“Uncle, what are you panicking about? I’ll just go out and see him.” Xue Qingyin comforted him.

Xu Qi was still nervous, “How can I not panic?”

Xue Qingyin was puzzled, “It’s not like you’re going to marry King Xuan.”

Xu Qi choked, and couldn’t say anything anymore.