Chapter 435 - 168: A Visitor
Chapter 435: Chapter 168: A Visitor
The commoners muttered curses. "That bastard who deserves to be drawn and quartered is finally getting beheaded."
"It’s a shame, though. Who knows how many families they ruined and lives they destroyed."
"I heard a lot of people came all the way from Guyuan County just to watch them get beheaded..."
Chen Wanqing and Zhao Jing’s sharp ears caught something familiar in the crowd’s chatter. They hurried forward, intending to stop a few of the commoners to ask what was going on.
But just then, a man walked out of the Wang Family’s teahouse.
Who else could it be but Zhang Lanshan?
Zhang Lanshan was no longer a mere Scholar; he was now a proper scholar. The essay he wrote for the autumn provincial examination had been highly praised by the Lord Prefect and was ranked near the top of the collection of selected works published by Xinghuai Prefecture.
They saw Zhang Lanshan, and he saw them.
The three walked toward one another, exchanging pleasantries as they met.
Zhang Lanshan glanced behind them, as if searching for Chen Song. But of course, Chen Song hadn’t come. He was in Qingshui County, far too busy to get away.
Zhang Lanshan evidently realized this as well and couldn’t help but smile. "How silly of me. Before your father left the Prefecture, he made a point to bid me farewell. He said it would likely be two or three years before he returned. With his demanding duties, he couldn’t possibly make the trip so easily."
"If Father knew you’d become a scholar, he would certainly have come to congratulate you. It’s just a shame he’s too busy to get away. Plus, he has a real distaste for academic essays. I suspect that unless you reminded him yourself, he wouldn’t even know you’d passed."
Zhang Lanshan let out a hearty laugh. "Now that the weight is off my mind, how could I not continue with the examinations? If I can serve as an official, that means one less do-nothing bureaucrat to harm the people. Even if it’s just to build good karma for my wife and daughter, I must take up this post."
This wasn’t the place to talk, so Zhang Lanshan invited them into the teahouse for a seat.
But even as he spoke, his eyes were fixed on the departing crowd, and his feet were turned outward, clearly itching to follow them.
Zhao Jing and Chen Wanqing were not clueless. They wouldn’t dream of holding him back when they knew something was afoot.
But they were also dying to know what was going on, so they asked him about it.
Zhang Lanshan burst out into a gratified laugh. "A big event? It’s a fantastic one! That Cui Wei and his father—they unleashed their thugs on the innocent, treated human life as worthless, plotted treason, lined their own pockets, manipulated the examinations, deceived the court, and tormented the people... Their crimes are too numerous to count. After a thorough investigation by the Lord Prefect, they were sentenced to execution after the autumn harvest. And today is the day those scoundrels, father and son, will be beheaded."
As he spoke, his voice started to crack and his eyes grew red, but his aged face showed nothing but pure, cathartic joy.
"The heavens are just! That scoundrel dies today."
Caught up in his excitement, Zhang Lanshan completely forgot about Zhao Jing and Chen Wanqing. He strode away, laughing maniacally. "Mr. Cui dies today! His family’s assets seized, his clan wiped out! Evil is repaid with evil! It’s not that retribution is a myth, its time simply hadn’t come! And now it has! HAHAHAHA..."
Chen Wanqing nudged Zhao Jing’s arm. "Jing, want to go watch?"
"Do you want to?"
"I’m not going, but I think you should."
Zhao Jing caught her unspoken meaning and gave an exasperated little laugh. "Do I look like some kind of corrupt official? Why would you think I need a ’baptism’ at the execution grounds?"
Chen Wanqing turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Jing’s ambiguous, not-quite-a-smile expression was somewhat unnerving.
"Hey, you said it, not me."
"You didn’t say it out loud, but your expression said it all. Seriously, I don’t get it. How did you decide I’m going to be a scourge upon the nation? Is my bone structure really that ominous?"
"Oh, Jing, look who’s coming out of that alley! It’s De’an and Xiang’er. They must have gotten worried when we didn’t come back and came looking for us."
Zhao Jing glanced at De’an and Xiang’er in the alley, then at the maidservant and the old woman standing timidly a short distance behind them. In the end, he decided not to press the issue with her for now.
’A gentleman can wait ten years for his revenge,’ he thought. ’It wouldn’t be too late to get to the bottom of this tonight.’
That night, Chen Wanqing was subjected to wave after wave of exquisite, ticklish torment, her whole body burning with unbearable desire.
But that wicked man simply watched her by the dim candlelight, refusing to grant her release.
He blew softly by her ear and asked with a low, wicked laugh, "So, what did you mean this morning? Care to clear up my confusion?"
Chen Wanqing had no intention of explaining. All she could do was wrap her arms around his neck, murmuring incoherently as she pressed against him.
He never had much self-control around her. After just a little of her seductive coaxing, he had no choice but to surrender.