Remarrying Chun Yuan

Chapter 141 Adopted Son

Liu Yuechu was startled and stared blankly at Yuan Cuo, not expecting him to suddenly say such a thing.

"You, that..." She didn't know what to say for a moment.

Yuan Cuo stroked her long hair with affection, "Although I wish I had made those 360 ​​cuts, it was definitely not me."

"Who is that?" Liu Yuechu couldn't help but ask.

"Hou Lai," Yuan Cuo said without hiding anything.

She was already his wife, and would gradually learn more. Besides, Hou Lai spent his days scaling rooftops and taking unconventional paths, and Liu Yuechu had never asked him about it, waiting for him to tell her on his own initiative.

Liu Yuechu breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt something was very wrong.

In her previous life, she was just a woman in a mansion. Every day when she woke up, she was surrounded by the big and small affairs of the inner quarters. The gossip she heard was nothing more than the scandalous stories of playboys like Pei Chun. She had never heard of anything about the martial arts world.

Is Hou Lai considered a江湖人 (jianghu person, someone from the martial arts world)?

She wasn't sure.

But why did Hou Lai become Yuan Cuo's page?

"Are you scared?" he asked, looking at her.

Liu Yuechu considered it for a moment and nodded. She was indeed scared, after all, it was a person.

Three hundred and sixty cuts is no different from being slowly sliced ​​to death.

Yet she also approved of Yuan Cuo's revenge, because all these reckless and cruel acts were for her sake.

In her past life, whatever she did, others expected her to compromise, yield, and submit. In this life, someone is willing to retaliate tenfold or a hundredfold for the hurt she suffered, so what's there to be sentimental about?

She is not a saintly white lotus; she enjoys being protected by a domineering attitude.

"Don't you want to tell me a story?" she asked directly.

She guessed that he had many stories, or perhaps those stories were painful, so painful that he didn't want to face them.

Yuan Cuo held her in his arms and patted her gently. He thought of many people, even the Empress Dowager who was on the verge of death.

He finally spoke after a long pause, “They were not my biological parents. Perhaps they were killed because they adopted me.”

Liu Yuechu shuddered; even though his face was pale, she could feel his heart beating faster.

She hadn't expected his background to be so shocking. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

She was indeed puzzled as to why Yuan Cuo was all alone, without any siblings, and whose parents' relatives never contacted him. But she never expected that they were his adoptive parents!

“There’s nothing I can’t tell you, it’s just that I don’t know who my biological mother is, and my biological father doesn’t want to acknowledge her either.” Yuan Cuo smiled, “Actually, I would rather not know the truth, but he insisted on sending someone to accompany me so that I would find out the truth.”

"Although I am not their biological child, they doted on me. Before I was ten years old, I had plenty of food and clothing and lived a carefree life."

After he turned ten, he lost everything.

That person sent Hou to his side and told him that the two people were not his biological parents and that he was in danger at all times and needed to be protected.

Looking back on the past, Hou Lai had followed him for more than ten years and had indeed suffered a lot.

That person, high above others, was someone countless people dreamed of being his son, yet he stubbornly insisted on knowing the identity of his biological mother, otherwise he would never acknowledge him.

So that person gave him a condition: he must personally travel all over the Great Qi to draw up the territory map, and upon his return, he would be told the identity of his birth mother.

But just as he was about to leave, he ran into Liu Yuechu... The initial attraction made him unable to leave, and Hou Lai continued to look down on him.

He had to admit that he had become bound by something.

Especially after today's danger, he dared not let her leave his side.

Seeing the flicker in his eyes, as if recalling pain, Liu Yuechu turned around and hugged him tightly.

She didn't press him further, and he didn't say anything more.

The two embraced quietly, listening to each other's breathing. The rhythmic interplay of their breaths gradually eased their tension.

"Yuancuo".

"Ok?"

"I've fallen for you," she suddenly said.

His head jerked, then he slowly raised it. "So you didn't like me when you married me?"

"I liked it, but not as much as I like it now." She bit her lip, making the cherry blossom red even more vibrant. "So whatever you do, I will support you."

"If I had made those 360 ​​cuts, would you still say you like me?" Yuan Cuo suddenly asked.

Liu Yuechu glared at him fiercely, knowingly bringing up a sore spot.

She thought about it very seriously, "At most, I'll just stop eating your cooking."

Yuan Cuo couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The laughter gradually faded, turning into affectionate whimpers.

Her soft, melodious voice flowed like a spring stream, its rhythm sometimes slow, sometimes fast, dreamlike and enchanting…

At this moment, Wei Gongming had no time for dreamlike fantasies.

He felt a chill run down his spine whenever he thought of Liu Yueliu's 360 cuts.

"Useless! You're all useless!" He could only roar and shout to mask his inner fear.

This person actually committed the crime in the county jail, before the verdict was handed down.

Moreover, it seems the person who killed her was mocking the county government. She was just a little girl with a face no bigger than the palm of a hand. How could they have made 360 ​​cuts so evenly?

The jailer in the county yamen had also gone mad. Even though he had seen countless murder cases, he had never seen anything so cruel and insane!

"Anyway, the person has already been buried." They dared not say that people could freely enter and leave the county jail; they could only claim to the outside world that he was beaten to death.

Wei Gongming took a deep breath. "Do you think you can keep this a secret?"

"Can we not report this?" the jailer asked, clearly reluctant.

If this is reported, the higher-ups will definitely blame them. Even if they manage to keep their jobs, their salaries will be significantly reduced.

With barely a few copper coins a month to survive, losing another piece of flesh would be worse than begging on the streets.

Wei Gongming naturally thought about money, and even about his upcoming promotion.

"How many people know about this?" He had a little ulterior motive.

"Six," the jailer said directly.

Wei Gongming instantly became furious, "Six? Why didn't you stand in front of the county government office and shout it out loud, so that everyone in the capital would know?!"

If it were only two or three people who knew, he could consider keeping it a secret. But with six people knowing, especially those gossipy blabbermouths in prison, the news has probably spread to the ends of the earth by now!

"Report it! It must be reported. This can't be hidden, and that person must be caught!"

Wei Gongming finalized the matter and reported it directly to the county magistrate. He hadn't officially taken office yet, so he let his predecessor take the blame for now.

When the magistrate saw him arrive with the coroner, he knew that his official hat was definitely going to be removed. He sent a memorial of apology to the prefectural government, which then passed it on to his superiors.

Layer upon layer, it was delivered to the palace.

Cheng Hai was the first to see the memorial; how could he not know who wrote it?

"With the Empress Dowager's birthday approaching, this trivial matter should be handled privately. Why bother coming here to disturb His Majesty's enjoyment? Are you all too idle? Perhaps we can find you some more things to do?"

In short, the memorial was rejected.

The matter was then passed back to the county government in the capital.

The magistrate of Jing County was indeed old and could not withstand the shock. He fell ill and never recovered after submitting his apology. Even when news came from the palace that the matter had been downplayed, he had no energy left to return to his post.

Seven days later, the Ministry of Personnel issued an appointment order: the magistrate of the capital city retired to his hometown, and Wei Gongming took over as magistrate, holding the rank of sixth grade.

The Zhenning Marquis's residence was filled with joy and celebration, and Lady Guan specially invited the ladies from other residences to have tea and a small gathering.

The ladies had no choice but to go.

Although the county magistrate was not a very high-ranking official, they all lived in the capital and were responsible for all matters, big and small, and trivial matters.

They could only find some gifts to celebrate, just to save face for the Guan family.

"Have you heard? It seems the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration has been held, but her health seems to be failing."